Author's notes: Nothing new on ownership. I only own this fan-made alternate story and OCs, unless listed otherwise, either at the start of the chapter, or the end if a sudden new character appears; OC or otherwise. I own nothing else, everything else belongs to its respective owners.
CHAPTER 36
Continuing off from Chapter 35a, Death of a Tyrant...
Three weeks after the defeat of Dr. Robotnik...
A blue blur shot across the surface of Mobius, the blur weaving through the many territories of Mobius effortlessly before coming to a stop atop a ruined SWAT-Carrier transport. The now still figure looks like Sonic but a quick shimmer of a hardlight disguise field reveals Shard.
"Remind me why I am the one in disguise when we have another organic hedgehog." said the robotic Sonic copy through his comm-link.
"That hedgehog hates fur dye." came Eggman's voice in response, "And unlike Shade, you don't have those surpression rings and Shade still has fangirl issues here. "Plus, he's too brooding."
"I HEARD THAT!" came Shade's voice.
"Anyway, with Sonic's disappearance and most of Mobius not knowing it save for the Freedom Fighters, we need someone to pretend to be Sonic. Hence, you're the only option Shard."
"Again, why?"
"You don't realize it, do you Shard?"
"No."
"You're the only Sonic impersonation robot that is almost a clone of Sonic. Your adaption protocols even had you give yourself up so Sonic wouldn't risk his life to save you from the lava and I qoute "there can only be one Sonic the hedgehog" if I remember correctly. I don't even know how you survived the lava. I only dug you up in my time because I found your weak signal at where you had been consumed by the lava, which was now mostly solidifed molten rock. You were not easy to repair. And to top it all off, you developed an independence streak. You turned on me, disguised yourself as me and then tried to take over the world in a really terrifying plan. I don't know why I kept you around but when I look at it, you were one of the better Metal Sonics and even though you became unpredictable, you were also originally close with Tails before I sent him out to be found by Sonic."
"I still resent you for that."
"You're becoming more alive than you realize Shard. You may deny that you're alive because unlike Tails, you're only circuits, wires, metal, hydrualic fluid and oil; you're gaining emotions because you resent me for the past yet you also gave your life to help Tails after Mecha-Sally killed him. You're the closest to Sonic we can get right now."
"I cannot beat Project Infinite, if I encounter him though."
"But, you can adapt to fighting him and even if he learns the truth about our Sonic lie, he won't be able to beat you as easily as Sonic."
"The chance of me beating Infinite alone is one thousand to one. Reinforcements would be unable to arrive in time for support."
"Shard, you forget you can run away."
"Oh."
"Maybe instead of thinking solely like a computer, you should also start thinking like a Mobian. Tails Doll has done a decent job at that."
"I was designed to be another infiltrator, but I was only a doll and being able to shift between Mobian and doll form has been a terrifying if unique experience just so you know! I FUCKING BLEED NOW!" came TD's voice over the comm-link.
"WOULD YOU PEOPLE STOP INTERRUPTING ME WHEN I'M THE ONE TALKING?!" yelled Eggman.
"But you weren't talking."
"Oh shut up."
Shard ended the call and reactivated the hardlight disguise as he continues to look around. He then took off for the ruins of Robotropolis, just incase Snively decided to scrounge around that old place for any salvage worthy equipment.
Back at the newly restored Knothole command center...
Eggman walked back into the command center after leaving for a moment to go get one of the few still in circulation newspapers, since it had remained neutral during the start of Robotnik's real war, since early on he had originally been a villain that was just trying to conquer Mobius one sector at a time before he suddenly "changed his ways" and tried a more peaceful approach, which went wrong and then he did the whole robotic invasion. Eggman sat down in a chair and opened the newspaper.
"Sports are already back? Three weeks and people are reclaiming things." mused the reformed future doctor as he looked it over, "Weather, weather, Smiley's reopening the old Casino Nightzone, Mama Robotnik's escaped again..."
He keeps flipping through the page before his glasses hit the floor as his saucer wide eyes were too big to hold them in place. He quickly flipped back to the page.
"MAMA ROBOTNIK ESCAPED AGAIN?!" yelled the reformed scientist as he lost his relaxed posture and began reading the story, "Mama Robotnik, who had remained imprisoned within the Mobian Retirement Home for Evil Mothers, escaped two days ago after a disturbance at the halfway transferred retirement home resulted in the building being temporarily expelled from the Warp of Confusion. Sources believe that Mama Robotnik will either go after Snively Robotnik to join forces with him in order to destroy the Freedom Fighters or...{slow gasping wheeze}go after the futuristic reformed, formerly Doctor, Eggman who has been identified as a future version of Doctor Robotnik but fights for good. Oh why did I give an interview to that reporter? Of course I still have some vanity!"
Eggman rips apart the newspaper story of Mama Robotnik's escape and rolls up the rest before throwing it aside and he quickly gets up and activates his comm-link for two dumb-bots.
"Scratch! Grounder! Code Mama!" said Eggman urgently.
"Code Mama? What's that one stand for again?" came Grounder's voice on the other end followed by the sound of metal punching metal.
"You bolt brain! It stands for Mama Robotnik's escaped again! MAMA ROBOTNIK'S ESCAPED AGAIN?!" came Scratch's aggitated voice followed by it quickly turning to suprise.
"Yes Mama's escaped again! And she'll either join up with Snively, or come here to punish me!"
"But why would she punish you? You're her son, albiet from the future." said Grounder.
"You idiot! I'm good and she hates goodness!"
"Oh. I knew that."
Eggman face-palmed before his eyes widened again.
"And she had help escaping! D'oh! I knew putting that retirement home halfway into the Warp of Confusion was a bad idea!" said Eggman in annoyance as he rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"Your cousin?" came both Scratch and Grounder's voices.
"Yes, my cousin helped her escape. Either that, or she forced him to help. Scratch, Grounder, prepare the Egg-Mobile. I have to get away from Knothole before Mama Robotnik shows up."
"But why leave?" asked Scratch as he thought about almost all outcomes.
"I knew I should I have given you actual computer chips instead of those cuckoo water dipping bird things for brains. Knothole has seen enough combat from Mecha-Sally's rampage, we don't need Mama Robotnik coming in, armed for a war just because she's after me you doodoo brain!"
"But what about your other robots?"
"They're more reliable than you two and at least I can easily rebuild you two out of the other more advanced ones."
"Awwww, we can be easily rebuilt." said Grounder with pride.
"Mainly because you're partly cardboard." muttered Eggman as he ended the communication with the two super old models.
Eggman then activated the comm-link for Tails.
"Tails, you read?"
"Yeah, I read you. I don't think Shard really likes pretending to be Sonic by the way." replied Tails.
"We've got bigger problems. Two actually. Mama Robotnik's escaped again-" he's interrupted by the sound of metal hitting metal and then several curses being shot off in short succession.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN MAMA ROBOTNIK'S ESCAPED? AGAIN!?" yelled Tails.
"Oh calm down. If I know her, she'll be after me since I'm technically a good guy so I'm leaving Knothole to avoid causing trouble there. I need you and Tails Doll though to investigate the Warp of Confusion."
"Isn't that where your cousin Doctor-"
"Yes, my cousin Doctor Warpnik is still trapped within the Warp of Confusion. Remember Tails, the time travel done by your future self, myself and Shade has altered events heavily. How far back they've been altered, I don't know but we have to deal with whatever gets thrown at us."
"So, where are you going?"
"I'm heading to the ruins of Robotropolis. There, no one of Knothole will have to suffer Mama's warpath, which I have no doubt she won't give a care about who she hurts in her attempt to hunt me down so getting away from Knothole before she causes a problem for this place is my best course of action."
"Good plan. I don't think anyone wants to leave the place again. Especially since we just got everything fixed. Except for the Deroboticizor."
"Still having difficulties?"
"Yeah."
"I SAID I WAS SORRY OKAY?!" yelled TD, causing Eggman to pull the comm-link away from his ear due to the feedback.
"And Tails Doll still feels bad about breaking it I see."
"Yeah...we need to stop bringing that up."
"Indeed. I'll leave you to work on your projects then." said Eggman as he ended that call as well.
After a bit of walking, he arrived at his Egg-Mobile. Nearby, Scratch and Grounder are waiting. The reformed future maniacal genius climbs into the machine, removed his glasses and then grabs Scratch and Ground by their necks.
"You two will meet me at Robotropolis. If you encounter Mama Robotnik and you join her like you did all those years ago because she spoke honeyed words into your robotic analogues for ears, I will not be generous this time when you come crawling back to me. I will dismantle you, melt you down and turn you into spare parts for another robotic minion. Like Decoe and Bocoe. Do I make myself clear?" said Eggman, his black eyes with red pupils glaring angrily into the two's optics and the two nod rapidly and salute.
"Yes sir! We'll be sure to join Mama Robotnik!" said Grounder before Scratch slapped him.
"You idiot! We're not supposed to join her!" snapped Scratch at the smaller robot.
"Oh. My bad."
Eggman growled before he slammed them both into the ground and put his glasses back on.
"Make sure you get it right. This is your ONLY warning." said Eggman as he worked on the Egg-mobile's controls before it took off and headed towards the ruins of Robotropolis. Eggman thinks silently as he cruises through the skies of Mobious at a decent pace aboard the Egg-mobile. His mind turning to previous experiments, enemies, allies, events. Project Infinite had failed in his timeline but in this one, it had succeeded. Could other failed experiments become operational here? Could previous inventions also come back? Come to think of it...Snively is now in charge of what remains of the Robotnik Empire so that means...
The reformed scientist is pulled out of his musings by the ship's proximity alert. He looks up and quickly grabs the controls to avoid flying right into an old industrial smokestack within the ruins of Robotropolis. He smirks as he looks back after having avoided the crash before he crashes into an old billboard with a picture of a heavily industrilized mountain on it.
"Where did that billboard come from?" muttered the doc as he recovered before an airbag exploded in his face. He works on getting the airbag out of his face before climbing out of the hovercraft on the small walk rail of the billboard and looks around at the old ruined city.
"Can't believe I used to build this kind of shit. Honestly, now that I think about it...where did I go wrong?" mused the doctor to himself a moment before he shrugged the thought away and began working on getting the hovercraft out of the billboard. Once it was free, he climbed back in and headed for the control center within the city's relatively short flight, billboard crashing free of course, the hovercraft lands and Eggman exits the craft in front of the ruined central control tower of the city. He silently looks up at it, memories of the past going through his head. Way back in the past, when he didn't use the tower's landing platform, there was always a row of SWAT-Bots, Badniks or Robians to salute him as he entered the tower. The memory is bittersweet now. He heads inside silently, having to force the two formerly automatic doors open due to a lack of power. However, upon entering, his ears catch the sound of a generator running which means there's power but whoever is using the power has it directed away from the doors which means that the power is running low which also means that something big is in use.
He pulls out a laser pistol and cautiously heads for the control room. The corridors and rooms are empty of threats as he walks which either means the one operating the machinery either isn't cautious, or is but doesn't feel threatened. As he finally nears the central control room, he takes cover behind the wall next to the door and looks in and sees the big screen operational, but with data for...creating a new robot being worked on? He enters the room, weapon ready and he looks around before he spots Shard working on a terminal.
"Shard? What are you doing here?" asked Eggman, lowering his weapon as he realized that there was no threat.
"Greetings doctor. I am working on a little practical joke against your nephew." replied Shard as he continued to work on the terminal.
"A practical joke? That requires a robot?"
"Yes. Do you still have data on Chao model OM0-CH4O?"
"OM0-CH- Shard, NO!"
The metal hedgehog looks at Eggman and his optics have a happy "U" shape to them.
"Shard, yes!"
"Oh, this is so mean but that little shit has it coming. Stand aside." said Eggman as he cracked his knuckles and began inputting data into the terminal. After about an hour, Eggman finishes and the data goes to the only functioning production line within the city and the new robot is soon finished and a pickup signal is sent. The two quickly hide within the ruins as a SWATBot Dropship flies into view and picks up the container with the new robot within and flies off.
"Okay, now, you need to get back to the others Shard." said Eggman once the dropship was long gone.
"Why?" asked Shard taking a Sonic-like stance.
"Mamma Robotnik is probably going to be hunting me down and I don't need you damaged trying to help me fight her. If any bots should be damaged, it should be the two doodoo brain bots that I reactivated."
"Your mother escaped?"
"Yes! Now get going!"
Shard goes to ask another question but then decides against it, reactivates his Sonic disguise and zooms off. Once Shard was gone, Eggman looked out across the ruined city before him and removed his glasses, revealing his eyes. He takes a deep breath and slowly exhales.
"Alright, now to prepare." said Eggman before he turned away from the view and walked into one of the back rooms within the tower.
Bean Folk Territories; 4 hours later...
"Alright, let's see what new model was picked up. Didn't even know JULIAN still had new models being worked on. Seemed to stop once he had the SWAT-Bots and Robian Mark Threes." said Snively to himself as he walked towards the landing platform after the dropship dropped off the new containment unit. He input the code to unlock the container and the main doors open, "Hmmm. A bit smaller than normal."
Two yellow optics suddenly start glowing in the dark before a small Chao-like robot zooms up Snively.
"HI! I'M OMOCHAO!" said the small flying Chao-like robot.
[Any theme that fits Omochao goes here]
"What the hell?!"
"Did you know you can use the X button in the top right corner of your browser to close the current browser? You can also press the X button on the current tab to close it. You can also use the mouse wheel, or your finger if you're using a mobile device or touch screen, to scroll the page up and down. You can also use the back arrow in the top left of the screen to go back a page. You can also hold down your computer's power button to shut it off. Control, Alt, Delete can be used to open Task Manager which can be used to also close the current browser, or if you're more computer savvy, to close the current page. Just don't shut down your computer if its in the middle of an important update!"
The robot's head is suddenly cut off by metallic claws and the body falls to the ground with a crash.
"That should shut that thing up." growled Infinite, his facial bandages freshly changed but also already stained red.
"Did you know that the Phantom Ruby originated from Sonic Mania? Did you also know that only certain robots are effected by having their heads severed from their bodies while others are unaffected? Did you also know that this story is going darker and darker but the author wanted to do this as an obnoxious but comical joke? I have no point in the plot! Did you also know that the author ran out of things to type? Isn't all of this information interesting?"
A gunshot rings out and Snively is holding a laser pistol and a smoking hole is burned through one of the optics on the head.
"Did you know lasersssssss arrrrrrrrrrre maaaaaaaaaaaaade offfffffffff liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight..."
"NOW it's shut up." snarled Snively before he slicked back his three hairs and calmed himself down as a new transport landed. He opens the new container up and instantly gains a "oh no!" expression as the container is FULL of freshly produced Omochaos. He then notices a "from Uncle Eggman" note on the side of the container with a redesigned Eggman symbol used as Eggman's signature.
"I HATE MY UNCLE! FUTURE OR OTHERWISE!" yelled Snively as he began shooting every Omochao within the container.
"Did you know the ending for the current chapter is below this statement?" said one of the Omochaos before a laser bolt blew its head apart sending bolts and pieces flying.
END CHAPTER
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