He stroked his mustache and smiled, gently petting the little blue creature that rested on his lap. It had been some time since his last scheme went awry, and while he still desired conquest and the defeat of that hedgehog, Doctor Eggman found some relief in the Chao Garden with the precious Chao.

While the doctor was a villain, he was still human, and he had no wishes to harm the creatures, especially as they served no purpose other than comfort and happiness. Eggman had no quarrel with them, the Chao weren't giving him trouble and he wasn't putting them in robots.

And most of all, nobody bothered the doctor while he was in the garden with the Chao. The birds were singing and the Chao were playing, not even caring if their visitor was a sinister man bent on ruling the world.

Regardless, some of the Chao had mutated into Dark Chao after their interactions with Eggman.

Just then, Eggman heard his Egg-Pad beep and he picked it up, seeing a notification appear, telling him there was a message for him. He tapped the 'read' icon and the screen flashed red, then it turned into a sinister hue of black-red and the message appeared.

'I come for your delicious Chao.'

Below the message, an icon appeared, resembling Sonic's face, but with red eyes and menacing teeth. Eggman was terrified, the Chao resting on his lap looked at the screen and seemed to yelp.

The screen blinked and an electronic cackle emitted from the speakers, then the device blinked one more time and the screen flashed blue. Eggman stood, processing the situation; A sinister entity, an entity resembling Sonic, was coming for his Chao and would likely ravage the Chao Garden, it probably wanted him too.

"No one hurts the Chao!" He growled.

The doctor tapped a button on the device sitting upon his wrist and summoned his robots, ordering them to prepare to defend the Garden at all costs. Eggman brought out a blaster and a pair of Dark Chao came to his side, sensing his urgent distress as though they could read his mind.

Despite his sinister nature, Doctor Eggman was ready to defend his little friends at all costs, even if the real Sonic wasn't around to help fight off the coming threat.

And just then, the sky turned a sinister red hue and a demonic cackle echoed across the air. The entity was coming. Eggman's pad beeped again and a message read; 'Beware EXE, beware his evil, beware the monster who takes the hedgehog's form.'

Chao whimpered in fear and many of them fled to the cave near the waterfall, all hiding from the incoming enemy. Every Badnik stationed in the garden primed their weapons, the Crabmeats clicked their claws, the Egg Pawns inspected their blasters and the Buzz Bombers floated around the trees full of coconuts.

Sinister footsteps approached, followed suit by the horrid laughter. Chao whimpered, robots beeped, and Eggman gripped the handle of his weapon. No monster threatened his Chao, nobody.

He stood his ground, the footsteps came closer and closer, a sinister growl in the darkness along with the gleaming of red eyes. Closer, closer, closer, more whimpering from the Chao.

Then, he appeared, his fur a dark shade of blue, mouth lined with teeth, eyes black and crimson. EXE, Sonic EXE, hungered for Chao, hungered for flesh. The sinister entity stepped into the garden, like a demon possessing a corpse, growling menacingly with his eyes fixed on Doctor Eggman.

The Badniks attacked, leaping to the defense of the garden on their master's command.

First the Buzz Bombers, they fired on EXE, hitting him with their lasers until he dispelled them into thin air with the wave of a hand. EXE turned towards the Crabmeats coming his way, lasers shooting from their claws, and snapped his finger, making them explode.

Then the Egg Pawns stood in his way, determined to stop him at all costs. Down they went, obliterated by a single spin-dash. More Badniks took their place, stepping in to oppose Sonic EXE on behalf of the Chao and the mustached doctor.

More than determined to ensure the protection of the creatures, Eggman stepped forward and pressed the trigger, letting EXE have it with every shot he could fire. He aimed for the head and aimed for the eyes, unloading every ounce of ammo that his blaster could let loose without a hint of hesitation.

EXE approached the doctor, growling menacingly, even with all the blaster shots. Eggman fired hard, trying to keep the evil hedgehog monster at bay. One shot, that's all it took, one lucky shot and the sinister hedgehog went down, growling softly before he was out like a light.

His fingers twitched, Eggman fired more shots at the fallen enemy, and Sonic EXE lay still before vanishing away. It seemed like it was over, then Eggman heard an alarm and turned around, watching with shock as another visitor appeared; one that looked like... him.

Bearing a red-black outfit with a yellow cape akin to one of his outfits, the being sported a red head with black eyes. Starved Eggman snarled menacingly, growling in a hungry manner.

The sinister Eggman double pointed to a pair of Chao near Eggman, not even mentioning the Dark Chao, and licked his lips with a sinister and craving smile.

"Food, Chao food!" Starved Eggman said.

"You're not touching these creatures, you deranged faker!" Eggman yelled.

Starved Eggman made his move, coming towards the doctor and the Chao with every intent of eating the Chao and harming them, finishing what EXE had failed to do.

Eggman punched Starved Eggman in the face, knocking him to the ground, and fired at him, even as his Starved counterpart got back up and moved towards him again. PYEW-PYEW-PYEW! Eggman cut loose, firing hard from his blaster, until he struck the monster in the face.

Starved Eggman fell, another threat to the Chao defeated. Eggman's robots ran a scan of the vicinity, making sure this was it.

Nothing else appeared, no other monsters came with desires to hurt the Chao, the nightmare was over.

Up above, the sky became blue again, and a warm breeze swept over the garden.

Eggman scratched a Chao's head in a gentle manner and put away his blaster, the robots leaving with their tasks complete. The Chao resumed their normal activities, playing with coconuts and just having fun together.

One Chao nuzzled it's head against Eggman's shoulder and Eggman patted it on the head with a smile. "Don't worry about nasty evil hedgehogs, little one." The doctor said, "You got me, even the real Sonic's more than glad to protect your friends if I give you trouble..."

The End