Chapter 12: A Doctor's Check In

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"Move it, Egg Pawns! I want all edges of Hyrule covered so no resistance has time to build up!" Eggman commanded, hovering safely in the Egg Mobile above his legions of mechanical minions as they marched across the open Hyrule Field.

"Father, it appears that the Egg Pawns have overwhelmed the soldiers in Kakariko Village" Sage's voice announced through the doctors on-board computer. "However, the boy known as Link and his fairy companion Navi appear to have evaded capture for now."

"Blast…Perhaps I should have led the charge on that location myself…No matter. Thank you for the update Sage, for now let's check-in with the others." The doctor replied, pressing some keys to open up four small displays inside the cockpit of the Egg Mobile. The feed was staticy at first, but soon enough Eggman was able to see his fellow evildoers in their own respective campaigns of conquest. Well, most of them at least, Bowser Wily and Ganon's faces were present, while one of Ridley's subordinates had answered for him.

"Gentlemen, how is everyone's side of the invasion proceeding?" Eggman asked, hands together as he awaited their answers.

"GRAAAAAAAH!" "EXCELLENT! My mighty minions have easily overtaken these pathetic humans and their outposts in the area, and soon enough we will storm that Station Square! Bowser roared, seeming quite proud of himself. We also caught that lousy mouse and fox you mentioned, and I blasted them clear out of the sky!

"Really?! You actually got them?" Eggman replied, flabbergasted at the idea that the two were shot down so easily. "Did you recover them from the blast, where are they now?!" He pressed, eager to see the defeated duo.

"Graaah.." Well, I didn't exactly SEE the plane after that, I was busy celebrating with my minions…But I did blast it! Bowser admitted, arms folded, smoke billowing out his nostrils.

"..." Eggman had to restrain himself from facepalming hearing that, knowing that there was a very real chance that pesky fox Tails either built a plane that could withstand that kind of blast, or the two merely escaped in the water. "Great…Wonderful. Ganon, Wily, how about you, and where's Ridley?"

"These puny robots and the humans that built them haven't had any time to stop my army. We're easily advancing into this city, and we're closing in on that other doctor you mentioned. What was his name, Blight? Fright?"

"It's Light you demon, you know what it is!" Wily complained, slamming his fists on the dashboard of his ship. "But yes, you are likely closing in on that pest. What about Mega Man, have you encountered him yet?"

"Ah, that blue robot you mentioned? My witches disposed of him easily. They got the drop on that puny machine and blasted him." Ganon smirked, as Wily nearly fell out of his seat.

"Yes yes YES! Finally, someone that can put down that pesky blue bomber once and for all! But don't let your guard down, he has allies who likely are looking to stop you too." Wily retorted, fingers teasing the end of his mustache. "As for me, these Federation fools Ridley warned me about are a bit of a joke. My Robot Masters are easily overwhelming their forces, soon enough we'll have taken complete control of this outpost!"

Eggman nodded at his colleagues' updates before turning his attention back toward the space pirate on Ridley's feed. "Well, what's going on over there? Where's Ridley?" He asked, occasionally looking down at his own forces as they fanned out, heading further into Kakariko and the other settlements across Hyrule.

The pirate grunted as his translator sounded out what he was attempting to say. "General Ridley is engaged in battle currently with the two Bowser warned him about. The rest of us have apprehended the residents of the Kingdom" The space pirate turned his feed to show the Mushroom Kingdom wreckage, toad houses totalled or set ablaze, the once noble Peach's Castle ablaze and slowly falling apart.

Bowser stared slack-jawed at the video feed of his beloved Peach's home, a mix of awestruck and terror across his reptilian face. "GRAAH?!" Good grief! I know Ridley said he would make Mushroom Kingdom burn, but that is WAY more damage than I was expecting! The Koopa King was used to just waltzing in and taking the castle with little effort, having to actually damage or destroy it was not something he was very familiar with.

"It is a lot…But if it works, then that's fine I suppose" Eggman mused, impressed by the destruction. "Though make sure to try to keep casualties to a minimum, we're not looking to exterminate people, we're here to take over!"

"Affirmative, I will let the General know after he…finishes up, with the two plumbers" The pirate replied, saluting as he seemed to struggle to find a word to describe how Ridleys battle would end. Bowser didn't seem to catch that but both Wily and Eggman's eyebrows raised slightly, as they each locked eyes for a moment, but only just.

"Hmm, it seems most everyones doing well. My forces are easily overwhelming the soldiers across Hyrule, but the one Ganon said to focus on has evaded capture for now. We're still on the hunt for him though!" Eggman reassured, seeing Ganon's normally smirking face turn to a scowl upon hearing Link was still on the move. "Oh, and I almost forgot. I had Sage get to work researching other potential realities to explore for us, and she stumbled across a few more that I've archived for us to discuss after this."

"Excellent to hear, Ivo!" Wily replied, sitting up with excitement. "What standouts did you find from these worlds, if anything?"

"Well, Sage showed me three. One of them was another pocket in space, but I did see some fancy looking spaceships flying past in the distance, a much larger, four winged craft following slowly behind them." Eggman noted, sending a picture of the spacecraft to the others feed. It appeared rather futuristic compared to most of them, save for Ridley's space pirates, with a large pair of cannons below the main bridge, the ship carrying four huge metal wings in an x shape with a large fin atop it near the back thrusters. There appeared to be some sort of red insignia on the fin but it was too distant to make out easily.

"Fascinating…More space fairing creatures means more advanced tech to play with" Wily smirked, imagining the possibilities with this reality's technology. "What else did you find?"

"This one is much more low tech, but you Ganon, I imagine may get a kick out of this." Eggman smirked as he loaded the next image. An imposing view of a large castle appeared on screen for everyone, illuminated by a bright full moon behind it. The castle was vaste, a slew of smaller buildings adorning the outer wall as towers raised high above, connecting to one another like a vast labyrinth of stone and metal, all seated atop a mountain of stone. A swarm of bats seemed to be gathered over top of the castle, far too many for a normal human settlement to have allowed to stay. "I may not be an expert in castle building, but anyone that's got a design like that can't possibly be a good guy, and may be useful to us"

Ganondorf stared at the image before him, the scowl from earlier seeming to grow slightly as his fist clenched. "Lousy…castle doesn't hold a candle to mine…"

Eggman had to force himself not to laugh seeing the normally stoic yet menacing Ganon potentially perturbed by someone else's castle design seeming more imposing than his. That didn't stop the mad doctor from grinning mischievously however, at least until Wily interrupted his train of thought.

"Very interesting…Alright, now what about that last one, Eggman?" Wily asked, his curiosity wanting closure on the last of these areas.

"Ah…I don't know."

"...Excuse me?" Wily asked.

"I don't know what it was that I saw in there. All I know was I didn't like it and I had to get out of there FAST." Eggman explained, as he showed the group the last picture, if he could even call it that.

It was not clear exactly what the picture was of, a strange possible landscape that was barren of life, a grayish-green hue to the area along a somewhat rough pathway high above…something. Whatever was below was unclear, a thick, equally gray fog obscuring the view. Wherever this was, there did not seem to be any traces of civilization. Or life.

"...Concerning." Ganon ominously said, chin resting atop his fist as he observed the picture. "What could possibly have created a world like this…It goes beyond any magic or technology that we've known."

"If only we knew. Sage did warn me however that there was a reading of energy nearby that area. That reading however, was utterly gigantic, and likely belonged to whatever entity did…This." Eggman explained. "It was far greater than anything I've seen at least. Naturally, I have no desire to set foot back in there until we are better equipped for whatever is residing in that reality."

"GRAWR" Probably a smart move. Don't wanna go messing with something we don't understand while we're all busy doing our own thing Bowser agreed, nodding his own head. The Koopa King had his own fair share of meddling with powers he didn't really understand, and it tended to backfire…terribly.

"Agreed. For now I'm marking down the dimensions IDs for reference should we decide to explore them more." Eggman's fingers quickly wrote out the numbers in his notes, keeping a tab for them when they eventually got back to exploration. "For now, let's get back to work!"

The others agreed, as Eggman closed his feed and turned his attention back to his legion of robots. "Sage, where was Link last seen?" He asked his AI, peering down towards the red clad metallic machines as they started to patrol Kakariko, having incapacitated its armed forces and captured the had rounded up the inhabitants and had warned them not to resist, lest they be arrested and jailed like the guards.

"Life signs in the area do not indicate a presence of any fairies in the village, Father. Link most likely has escaped the region." Sage explained, an overhead map of Kakariko appearing on Eggman's display. "There are 3 exits out of the village, one north to the graveyard, one south back to Hyrule Field which we have control over, and one to the west to Death Mountain. My sensors indicate a 95% chance Link had escaped through the western exit, as the northern exit does not have any other escape points."

"In that case, send a patrol of Egg Pawns that direction, and a smaller one to scope out the Graveyard, just in case. Better to cover our bases than to let him slip under our noses."

Meanwhile…

BOOM!

The blast cleared away the stones blocking the passage, as Link peered his head around the corner. His pointed hylian ears listened closely, as he heard a familiar tune from far down the tunnel.

"You hear that Link?" Navi asked, hovering close by him. "I hear it too, this has to lead back to Lost Woods! Let's hurry, there's no telling when those guys may try to attack this place, and with so few Gorons around, Goron City won't be able to hold them back!"

Link nodded, taking a deep breath before he started to head down the tunnel. We gotta get to the Forest Temple…Saria, please be safe.