Sonic the Hedgehog

Forced AU

Rating: R

Pairings: None (Undecided)

A/N: Follow story development on tumblr blog sonicforcesau

He learnt his lessons. All those years of constant trying, experimenting, and battling has led up to this moment. All his experience were going to be needed now. Him, Doctor Eggman, is going to take over the world.

And this time, it shall, and will succeed!

Because he had learnt his lessons, and instead of going about his plans and revealing everything to his enemies, he had kept a low profile all this while this time. And he was going to get busier; for he had already collected the Chaos Emeralds while Sonic and his friends thought that he was taking a little hiatus from his attempts to take over the world.

Well, that negligence towards his actions; or lack of, rather - was going to cost them dearly.

For now, he had six Chaos Emeralds. And it looks like it was going to stay that way until he attracted the attention of Shadow the Hedgehog. That black-furred GUN agent always kept the green Emerald on his person. And him, Doctor Eggman, was going to find a way to acquire that final emerald!

He has already spent quite a lot of time tracking down, collecting the emeralds, and making sure that his actions went unnoticed by anyone. The Chaos Emeralds had a nasty habit of reacting to one another under close proximity, and he had to find ways to regulate the chaos energy signals of each emerald before they could be safely kept in storage without attracting attention.

And he had done it. He had collected the Chaos Emeralds; save for the final one. He had to think about that one later. But for now, it was time to plan some schemes that would involve the use of the huge amounts of energy granted to him by the Emeralds.

With all the effort put in, his plan had to succeed this time. It had to.

Eggman typed something on the keyboard of his computer before drawing some designs on his tablet hooked to his very own mech-designing computer programme. He was using SAI too, but he wasn't going to tell anyone he that didn't pay for it.

"Orbot, make me coffee!" he suddenly ordered out loud, making his robot minion jump in surprise.

"Right away, boss!" the red robot left the room after the heavy metal doors slid open, following his maker's orders.

Hey, have he ever created a robot that can directly manipulate and use Chaos energy? Maybe he could design a robot that can Chaos Control, or even attack like Shadow the Hedgehog's signature moves - Chaos Spear and Chaos Blast! Or, even better; improved versions of those moves! Then, with those functions, he can finally defeat Sonic the Hedgehog's resistance against him! Thanking his brilliant mind and creativity, the fat man excitedly typed in ideas into his computer.

"Your coffee, Doctor Eggman." informed Orbot as he presented Eggman with a mug of his ordered beverage. Taking the mug by the handle, he drank a few sips.

Well, it is time to start designing!

It was already a few months after Eggman had collected the six Chaos Emeralds, and his secret laboratory was filled with posted up designs, concepts, and calculations that could have made his grandfather's project research on Shadow go to shame.

And here he was, sat in this same chair for who knows how many hours, as he obsessively planned new robot concepts that could possibly take out Sonic the Hedgehog and all of his friends and allies that could possibly side with them; such as Team Dark, and the Chaotix.

And of course, the general public of Mobius who didn't want to be ruled by a scientist obsessed with building an empire to worship himself.

The more he drew, the more memories and flashbacks of every attack, every defeat, and every humiliation was brought back into his mind. It was a good thing he was drawing on a tablet - a real pencil might have already snapped with how tightly he held the thing.

He didn't even have the time to celebrate Christmas last year! And all those sitting down only using his brain probably made him gain even more weight. The thought made his mood turn sour.

"Doctor Eggman!" a frantic cry of his name from Orbot. "It's an emergency!"

"Orbot!" the fat man responded with a cry. "Didn't I tell you not to disturb me while I'm designing mechs?"

"The Chaos Emeralds have disappeared!"

"What!?" The effect was immediate. Eggman stood up instantly, nearly knocking over all the paper and even the computers from his workstation. "What do you mean they disappeared?"

"Like I said, Doctor Eggman," Orbot repeated. "They really just disappeared without a trace!"

"I don't believe it." grumbled Eggman as he turned to face his computer once more. Typing into the keyboard and navigating the control panel, he brought up a feed of the security cameras installed in the base.

And he recovered the recorded footage of the room where he stored the Chaos Emeralds in, and played the video back:

It was the usual thing he saw; the Chaos Emeralds glowing dimly in their own colour, with the occasional spark of additional colour being spiked off from the emerald. And suddenly, a static had interrupted the video footage slightly, but he could still see what had happened.

The six Chaos Emeralds suddenly glowed a brilliant white, and blinded the camera with their white light. And then when the light dimmed, the emeralds disappeared along with it.

"Hmm…" Eggman pondered, lightly tapping the desk with his fingers as he came up with possible answers as of to what could have possibly happened. "Could it be… some form of Chaos Control?"

"But, Doctor-" Orbot interrupted his thoughts. "-Chaos Control under natural circumstances require all seven of the Chaos Emeralds."

"I know, and the Emeralds spread themselves across Mobius again." Eggman responded. "But then, they have never been kept like this before…"

"Boss!" Cubot interrupted as he joined the two. "There's something strange that the base sensors are detecting! We're surrounded by them!"

"I'll teach them that Doctor Eggman can't be taken down easily!" said the rotund man, as he furiously swiped at the screens and pulled out another live video footage of cameras monitoring the base's exterior, and he was greeted with the sight of… the vast emptiness of the desert.

"You sure those sensors aren't malfunctioning?" Eggman narrowed his eyes at the yellow robot.

"I'm sure of it! There are six energy signatures surrounding the base!" Cubot defended himself as he took out a tablet to show his maker the radar.

"Well I don't see any-" the fat man suddenly stopped speaking, as a sudden twinkle in the corner of his eyes caught his attention. It came from the camera feeds. "-wait… What are those?"

As Eggman mumbled to himself, he zoomed in a camera to aim for a closer look at the unknown object. "They're energy signatures, you say?"

"Yes boss!" replied Cubot.

"They could be the Chaos Emeralds. Let's go take a look."

And so, the red robot, the yellow robot, and the red-dressed fat man took a walk outside of their base, for the first time in a long time. But it seemed like the walk was a short one as they were immediately greeted with the sight of a purple gemstone, half buried into the ground.

Squatting down with some effort, Eggman picked up the gemstone with his gloved hands and stared down at the object.

"Well, it doesn't look like a Chaos Emerald." he commented before looking back up.

It was everything he could have ever dreamt about! Eggmanland: The big, beautiful theme park; full of statues of himself where living beings all over the world come to visit and worship him - the great Doctor Eggman!

His jaw dropped open in bewilderment, as he unconsciously let loose of the object that was in his palm in the shock. It had only been a millisecond of whatever fantasy world that the universe decided to bestow upon him - and he was already absolutely loving it.

And suddenly, it disappeared.

The shock had dissipated, and he admit that he felt disappointed that Eggmanland was gone. Was it a hallucination? Did he work too much on designing those robots that he had finally lost his sanity?

Another glint caught his eye for the second time that day.

Perhaps… it was that jewel?

Maybe it was the jewel, that was now on the floor again, appearing to be almost inviting the scientist to hold it once more.

Normally, he would feel excited about discovering a new material for his plans. But with this one - the strange unknown jewel - made him feel uneasy. Why? Was it because they appeared just as the Chaos Emeralds disappeared into thin air? And coincidentally; six of them, too?

A link clicked in the scientist's brain.

'No. It wasn't a coincidence.' thought Eggman, as he picked up the jewel for the second time. This time, no fantasies of his appeared before him.

"Orbot, Cubot." called the fat man. "Collect the jewels, and analyse them in the lab. Cross check their energy signals with Chaos Emeralds data."

"Right away!" replied the robot minions as they went to do exactly what their maker ordered.

A few hours after the gemstones were discovered and analysed, Eggman's suspicions were confirmed to be true: The jewels did contain significant amounts of Chaos Energy and had traces of material similar to Chaos Emeralds.

"Right." Doctor Eggman suddenly spoke up after reading and going through the results of the analysis in his head. "I have come to the conclusion that these six jewels are the Chaos Emeralds."

"That's excellent, Doctor Eggman." responded Orbot. "Then perhaps you can now continue with your plans!"

"Not quite." the scientist grumbled, slightly annoyed for some reasons. "Although they contain Chaos Energy, the energy signatures produced are vastly different from the original Emeralds."

"Then maybe they are another form of the Emeralds?" Cubot chimed in his two cents.

"Excellent conclusion, Cubot!" Eggman exclaimed. "Perhaps you're not such an idiot, after all."

"I want to call them 'Spooky Sapphire'!"

"I take back my words; they're not even blue, you stupid robot!" Eggman snapped, before calming down once more. "Anyway, with my great mind, I've already come up with a brilliant name - that none of you dimwits could ever come up with."

"It shall be named: the 'Phantom Ruby'!"

And it is also time to find out exactly how this newly named Phantom Ruby caused that illusion.

Alarms blared throughout the whole base suddenly, and Eggman rushed into his Egg-Mobile and started the machine up in order to hasten his journey outside of the base to investigate. The engines powered up and the vehicle started to float, as the thrusters burst out flames.

Who dared to attack him - Doctor Eggman?

Could it be Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends? He had kept a low profile all this time! And usually, if he didn't attack, they didn't fight back. Such are the actions of a hero that don't start conflicts - what pacifists!

So, if it wasn't Sonic and his friends, then who - or what - might the invaders be?

A few minutes earlier in his laboratory, he was still analysing the new batch of results that the damned Phantom Ruby produced. Not one data matched with another in the two days of constant testing.

Whatever the Phantom Ruby was, it was incredibly unstable as an energy source; it turned out.

And right after the conclusion was made, the alarms began to rang. In his haste to respond, he didn't have time to properly store the ruby back into place and instead shoved it into one of his pockets.

"How dare they attack me!" he exclaimed in anger as he approached the entrance of the base. "And I wasted all my precious time on that glorified stone instead of building my new batch of Egg Pawns!"

Ah, no matter. He had enough weapons on his Egg-Mobile to take out most enemies anyway.

In this instant, a strange phenomenon - never seen before by the scientist occured before him. Hundreds of robots with Egg-shaped designs and simple weaponry appeared out of nowhere and seemed to take form before his very eyes.

Was it the Phantom Ruby? With some confusion, Doctor Eggman took out the jewel once more from his pocket. It glowed a menacing purplish-red.

A grin spread across the fat man's mustached face - It really was the Phantom Ruby's doings.

"Right then…" he worked himself up to shout out his infamous line. "Robots, ATTACK!"

And they responded, breaking through the main entrance, revealing the bright light from the afternoon sun, and five armed jackals wreaking havoc to the guard robots stood outside their base.

Oh, they'll learn about thinking twice before attacking the brilliant Doctor Eggman!

In the other side of the fight, Finnigan the Jackal cut down robots like they were paper with his sharp, red, scimitar blade; making the defeated robots spark, or cause a small explosion in the process.

"I'll handle Eggman!" he informed his squad loudly as he charged through more mechanical foes, swiftly approaching the fat man on the vehicle who maniacally shouted orders to his creations.

"Okay, boss!" came the reply from the young thief - Clyde the Jackal. He had improved in his craft, and now he wielded his flamberge like a skilled swordsman - cutting through the steel hull of the robots like it was nothing.

The Jackal Squad members had improved under the guidance and leadership of the Ultimate Mercenary, as expected. The simple robots of the scientist stood no chance against them.

The hundreds of robots that were once standing as obstacles to Eggman slowly reduced to none.

"Damn!" Eggman cursed as he cast a furious look to the Phantom Ruby held firmly in his right hand. "I need more robots; much more! Thousands of them!"

And like a wish being granted by a genie; his desires turned into reality, and a huge new army batch of robots appeared around him, ready to attack.

The jackals were surprised by the sudden turn of events. Robots suddenly took form right in front of their very eyes. What happened?

Were the robots camouflaged before? If so, raiding Eggman was even better than they thought - these advanced technologies would surely bring in a bigger profit than they originally expected. But then, it meant more danger than they thought.

The new perceived information presented to the jackals put them on higher alert as they fought back harder in the effort to counteract the new wave of Egg Pawns.

However, despite their increased efforts, it had seemed hopeless with the enormous swarm of robots around them. The jackals could not dish back attacks quick enough to counter the countless attacks from their enemies.

"I've got you, fat man!"

Finnigan had managed to sneak around the evil genius, and he stood atop of the Egg-Mobile. His red scimitar threatened to slice open the scientist's throat.

"Call off your robots." ordered the Ultimate Mercenary menacingly as he positioned his blade even closer to the scientist's throat.

Eggman completely froze in the seat of his Egg-Mobile.

"Robots!" called the scientist, as he worried about the sharp object at his neck accidentally cutting him as he spoke. "Stop the attack!"

And they did. The jackals that were once fighting stood in confusion as their enemies stopped moving.

The glinting, shining gemstone held in the scientist's palm caught Finnigan's attention.

"What's that?" he asked.

"It's uh..." Eggman panicked as he laughed nervously. "It's nothing of value, don't worry about it."

"Hand it over."

Unable to refuse with the blade practically touching his throat, Eggman reluctantly handed over the Phantom Ruby, offering the other to hold it while he held it in his open palm.

The other grabbed.

And he noticed his surroundings change out of the corner of his eyes:

It was not a pretty sight. Finnigan saw a vast, dystopian desert, filled with damaged buildings and cracked grounds, and he immediately gasped in shock, unconsciously letting loose of the Phantom Ruby.

Bizarrely, although the sight was bleak; the Ultimate Mercenary felt strangely captivated to the destructions of the land. He had no idea why.

And because both individuals were in contact with the gemstone at the same time, Eggman saw the visions too.

While the jackal was distracted, Eggman grinned evilly at the window of opportunity presented to him. With his other arm, he violently shoved the jackal. Finnigan lost his balance, and he found himself falling off of the floating vehicle - the vision was now gone.

"Get them, Robots!"

In an instant, the Egg Pawns surrounded the jackals, and their firearms were ready to shoot through each and every single member of the Jackal Squad.

'Damn it!' thought Finnigan angrily. He had lost his focus, and now they were held at gunpoint by the enemy - they had zero chance of fighting back in this position.

The evil genius laughed at the jackals being held at gunpoint by his very own creations, and also at the visions he shared with the jackal that had came into contact with the Phantom Ruby held in his palm.

"I saw what you saw, jackal." Eggman stated. "A dreadful place indeed; and somehow, it is the thing you desire the most."

The maned jackal stared at the scientist. That harsh, bleak place was what he desired? The most? It didn't make any sense - it wasn't like he woke up everyday wishing for the world to burn down to the ground.

"But anyway-" Eggman continued speaking. "-since your friends and yourself are now captured by myself; I'll give you two choices-"

Finnigan the Jackal fumed at his humiliating, stupid, careless loss.

"-work for me, or risk getting shot by one of my robots while trying to escape." the evil genius listed. "So, which one would it be, jackal?"

And the jackal glanced at his friends.

"Don't be threatened by him, boss!" Clyde shouted. "We can get out of this!"

Could they really? Finnigan simulated multiple situations in his head; but they were all hopeless. No, they could not. One move, and bullets would be fired out of those robots into their heads. The Ultimate Mercenary had no other choice.

He didn't want to, but he had to do it.

"Fine." Finnigan growled. "I'll accept your proposal."

"Excellent! Welcome to Team Eggman!"

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