Chapter 50: Eggman Returns...Again:
By 7:00 the next morning, the four robots had arrived at the Station Square Cemetary, which was positioned on a hill a good four hours outside of the city, (though the city could still be seen from here). They parked their car on the side of the dirt road (the road was no longer made of asphalt beyond this point) right by the iron gate and got out.
Due to the lack of care for the cemetary, kudzu was growing all over the fence and even obscuring some of the graves from view, the grass was on the verge of death due to the overabundance of weeds (including poison ivy and oak, though the robots were unaffected by this), the willow trees were overgrown and surrounded by large mushrooms, and the pond that invitees gathered around during funerals was murky brown and full of trash. Even the gate had been carelessly left open by the last person who had taken the time to care for this place. The four barely said anything during their search.
"Personally, I think we should have come while it was still dark. If someone sees us digging up graves like this, it's curtains for us." Orbot said, looking around nervously.
"I think we'll be fine. We're all the way outside of town, we're on a side road that almost nobody goes on, the next neighborhood isn't for another 40 miles, and there's nobody here. We'll be in and out in a flash!" Tribot confidently replied, not making eye contact, "And besides, we couldn't have gotten here any earlier with that 90-minute traffic jam on the way."
{A cutaway began, showing a loop-de-loop in the road that was full of traffic, with the car that the four robots were in stuck at the top. "Eveyone's buckled in, right?" Tribot asked. "Yup." Orbot and Cubot replied. Outside of the car, everyone was honking their horns non-stop and trying to look past the traffic jam to see what the hold-up was. Miles ahead however, it was shown that a semi-truck with a trailer full of electric shields had crashed and tipped over, blocking the entire road. He was positioned in one of the upside down sections of a corkscrew. The truck driver was unharmed as he stood to the side and waited for assistance to come. He shook his head and sighed heavily, gravity somehow allowing him to stay in the position where he was.}
"You know, I'm seeing a lot of Robotnik graves here." Cubot noted from behind the group, eyeing the tombstones scattered everywhere but the stone path, with many of them having the Eggman symbol carved into them, "It's a little unsettling, isn't it?"
"Well, the boss did say once that his family has been attempting to conquer the world for over 50 generations. I guess all of them must've met the same fate and gotten buried here." Orbot replied.
"...Which would also most likely mean that Sonic's family has been saving the world for over 50 generations too then?" Cubot replied.
"That's probably the smartest thing you've said in years." Orbot chuckled.
"And I just got an idea from that! How about we resurrect the old Eggmen too so we can be truly unstoppable?!" Cubot suggested.
"Not possible." Hexbot replied, "The resurrection gun will not work on beings who have been dead for any longer than two years. If a dead body passes that limit by even a nanosecond, then they're stuck like that. Fortunately for you guys, you were just under a month away from reaching that limit yourselves."
"Aaaand, you blew it." Orbot said.
Soon, the four found the tombstone of the most recent incarnation of Dr. Eggman. It was positioned on top of an equally tall hill right next to the one that they had been climbing, separated only by a small three-foot dip in the ground. Unlike the rest of the cemetary, this tombstone was not in the shade, and the hill it was on was weed-free and unoccupied by any other tombstones (at least for now).
"Well, here he is." Orbot exclaimed.
"Care to do the honors?" Tribot asked, handing the resurrection gun to Cubot, who excitedly took it and started to aim at Eggman's tombstone.
"Not yet! We have to lift the tombstone first!" Hexbot clarified, as he and Orbot worked together to uncover the hole where Eggman's body lay.
After briefly sweeping away the dirt on top, they combined their strength and lifted Eggman's remains out into the sunlight. All that was left of him was his skeleton that had tiny bloodstains scattered all over each bone, his ripped clothing, and a small piece of his mustache.
"Okay, here goes." Cubot said, firing the gun.
The surge of power from the gun caused the lifeless body to shake out of the grip of Orbot and Hexbot, who both stepped back behind the others. All four of them watched in horror and excitement as they saw Eggman coming back to life. Flesh and blood started to appear out of nowhere and cover his skeleton, as did his clothes. His pince-nez sunglasses and aviation goggles levitated out of the hole where he had just been and applied themselves to his now complete face once more.
As Dr. Eggman came back to life, so did his memory and thinking abilities. He stared down at himself as more and more parts of himself came back into place, until all that was left was the hole that Sonic had previously rammed through him, which promptly began to close and repair itself. The flesh that once covered his stomach reappeared and the hole in his clothes magically stitched itself shut. Eggman stood on the hill, examining himself before noticing a piece of his mustache reattaching itself. He was finally complete again.
"Boss!" Orbot and Cubot cheered in unison as they both ran up and each hugged the revitalized doctor around one of his legs.
"My minions! What the hell happened to me?!" Eggman asked, hugging them back. "...And why am I hugging you?!"
He kicked his legs forward to shake them off.
"You were dead, boss." Orbot replied.
"And so were we." Cubot added.
"Wha? How did that happen?" Eggman asked, obviously not remembering anything that happened after his death.
"Well back at the Death Egg (which was destroyed by the way), Sonic turned hyper and rammed right through you, effectively knocking you out." Orbot explained.
"What?! So Sonic won again?! Rrgh, this is really starting to piss me off!" Eggman said, immediately becoming angry.
"Well, it's nice to have you back regardless of how pissed you are." Cubot replied.
"Oh, shut up, you metallic bastard!" Eggman replied, "And just who are these two?"
"I'm Tribot. And he's Hexbot." Tribot explained.
"We work for Dr. Eggman Nega. You may know him." Hexbot added.
"Do I know him?! Hells yeah!" Eggman exclaimed.
"Yeah, well we decided to let those two tag along and help us find him, and we decided that we would help them find you too." Tribot explained.
"Wait! He's here? Well let's hurry up and find him before Sonic does. Then we can take over this world and rule it together!" Eggman said.
"Okay then." All four robots said in unison, as they proceeded to leave the cemetary.
"Well, sweet ride. But I'm driving." Eggman said selfishly as he got into the front seat of the car.
Everyone shrugged at this. Hexbot moved into the back due to his previous position being stolen, and Tribot remained in the front passenger seat.
"Alright, let's get out of here. I'm assuming you have directions?" The doctor asked.
"Yup." Hexbot replied.
"Heh heh, well let's go! All this excitement for getting my revenge is making me itch!" Eggman said, now in a black leather jacket with rhinestones sewn on every single rim, as well as a pair of larger rhinestones positioned on his chest as he swapped out his traditional sunglasses with reflective white shades that had a black tint on the upper half of each lens.
He turned on the radio.
"Oh, speaking of itching, we've been itching to say this: Happy 50th birthday, boss!" Cubot said.
"What? My birthday's not for a long time!" Eggman countered.
"Well, we were planning to throw you a surprise party the day after the Death Egg exploded, but you died, so I'm telling you now!" Cubot replied.
"Actually, that's not the case," Hexbot said, "When someone is resurrected, they will start off at the same age that they were right before they died, so Eggman here still has another day."
"Aww." Orbot and Cubot groaned in unison. Dr. Eggman proceeded to turn on the stereo, but the song that came on was 'Sonic Heroes'.
"GAH!" He shouted, quickly flipping a few stations, before stopping on 'Stayin' Alive'.
That mishap out of the way, the gang then headed off towards the direction that Eggman Nega was last seen heading in.