Eggman Outpost Theta

Doctor Eggman stroked his mustache at the lit up screen that took up most of the wall in front of him. On the screen were pages of countless blueprints for brand new creations, all meant to destroy that blasted blue hedgehog, Sonic.

There were dozens, if not hundreds on screen, all ideas plucked from the vast ocean that was his intellect…. And none of them sounded good.

He sighed before plopping onto the chair behind him, swiveling it around on impact as he looked up in exasperation and fatigue. Ever since The End was defeated at Starfall Islands, he had been laying low, trying to come up with new plans to conquer the world. Key word being trying.

Just as soon as he started moping, he heard the door open. He turned his head towards the noise and saw his assistants Orbot and Cubot enter the room, steaming mugs of coffee in their hands.

"Here you go, boss!" Orbot cheered, raising his hands to give him the mug, "Just the way you like it!"

"Thank you, Orbot," Eggman said, leaning down and grabbing the mug from his hands, raising it to his lips but not before watching Cubot take a sip of a mug of his own. How he was able to drink coffee without getting his circuits fried, or even spill all over the floor, confused the scientist to no end, but he stopped trying to make sense of that a long time ago for the sake of his sanity.

He sipped the coffee and felt rejuvenated from such a long day of planning and scheming. As he sipped some more, the screen flashed red and blue before showing the face of his latest, perhaps his greatest, creation: Sage.

"Hello, Father," she said with a small smile, her form in the ethereal white dress with sky blue eyes that signified a happy and calm mood.

He smiled, "Hello, Sage."

"I have been checking on your latest progress regarding the latest plan to conquer the world and…, I am a bit troubled with the lack thereof with said progress," she whispered the last part in a solemn mood, "what is troubling you, father?"

Eggman's lips thinned, "nothing is troubling me, Sage." He retorted.

Unfortunately, Orbot and Cubot seemed to disagree, "you know, it is weird that you haven't come up with one, yet," the former commented, "by now, we would have been in on it doing menial tasks for some overly complicated scheme."

"Well, you can't rush perfection!"

"Yes, perfection like snatching flickies like you've done for the past few years?" Orbot snarked, which got on the doctor's nerves that he didn't even bother hiding it.

"Ok, fine!" He groaned, nearly spilling his coffee in his sudden movement, "I've made no progress!"

Orbot smiled, "See?" he droned, "doesn't it sound better when you say your problems?"

"Shut it, Orbot!"

Sage tilted her head, "no progress?" She muttered, loud enough for Eggman to turn his head to her, "that is rather concerning, father."

"It's not that I don't have any plans, Sage," Eggman reassured her, "but it's that I have too many plans! A whole ocean of plans and I can't pick one!"

Sage put a hand to her chin, a billion conclusions coming to her in the span of nanoseconds, "perhaps you need some rest?" she queried, almost a suggestion, really.

Eggman's eyes lit up beneath his glasses. A break? But of course! He did feel a bit more tired recently, and the coffee didn't really help in the long run. I mean, it's not like the world is going anywhere if he did. Who really is there to challenge him at this point?

He nodded to both himself and Sage, 'Yes, yes I think I will take a nap. And when I come back to my plans, I'll be freshly rejuvenated and-'

Suddenly, an alarm from the corner of the computer screen flashed and interrupted his thoughts. Before he could even groan in annoyance, Sage spoke up.

"Curious," she muttered, "An unknown entity is approaching the outpost perimeters."

The doctor raised a brow, "who or what?" he asked, slightly worried it could be Sonic or one of his friends as the computer screen changed from the set of blueprints to a view of one of the many cameras that dotted the outpost walls.

Without command, Sage zoomed in and enhanced the image and all of them saw a green-cloaked figure heading into view. Said cloak was a bit tattered and scorched and from what they could see from his limbs, they were covered in armor. The damage was likely superficial as he wasn't limping or hobbling towards them in any way.

"Did this guy get lost on his way to a LARPing convention?" Cubot wondered as Eggman thinned his lips at the intruder.

"Send in a squadron to detain him. He could be a spy."

"Seems like a bit of paranoid thinking, sir." Orbot replied.

"Considering all that we've gone through, I, and especially you, should have many reasons to be suspicious of a weirdo in a cloak."

"His conclusion is logical," Sage added, "I would add examples, but I believe that would be redundant."

"Very good, Sage." Eggman responded as the camera rolled to show a transport show display the the figure pulling back and… immediately all hell broke loose.

All of them were shocked at his display of power. Sure, those regular badniks weren't the most durable robots around, but they were designed to overwhelm their opponents with sheer numbers. A badnik squadron of that size would have taken out any normal human, let alone someone in a cloak, but here, he was taking them out with his bare hands and marvelous feats of power that can only be described as magic.

Eggman was both impressed and annoyed. He watched as he turned an entire squadron into junkyard scrap with ease. The only people who could have turned a squad of badniks into that were Sonic and his annoying friends. And this man was just doing it all by himself!

He slammed a fist on the console in front of him, "Send in a behemoth-class Motobug at once!" He ordered, startling everyone in the room before adding an addendum, "and prepare my Egg-Mobile and get me Metal Sonic!"

The carnage looked worse in person.

What remained of the badniks were either completely flattened or in pieces all over the place. The grass and soil were either scorched or marked with giant tracks from the behemoth motobug's tire.

Speaking of the behemoth motobug, it was currently a heap of scrap metal that was on fire. And standing in front of it was the intruder, his cape billowing in the wind.

Eggman grit his teeth as Metal Sonic glared down and readied his claws to attack, but the doctor held out a hand to halt him. The robotic hedgehog moved his optics to him, seemingly annoyed at the thought of being held back.

Sage stared at the man, her white dress and blue wireframes and eyes have changed to a more aggressive and sinister looking black and red respectively. Inside her processor, she analyzed the footage and already began forming several methods to defeating what she saw from the intruder.

Eventually, the Egg-Mobile began to lower itself and Eggman spoke to the intruder, "well then," he commented, his voice loud enough to be heard in the raging fire that consumed the giant motobug, "what do we have here?"

Doom turned and stared at Eggman and his companions. For the longest time, there was a silence, with only the raging fire and the faint hums of Metal Sonic's internal systems keeping him flying. Eventually, it was Doom who spoke first.

"You must be the one they refer to as Doctor Eggman." he said, folding his arms, "if so, you have much to explain sending your drones to attack me."

" I have much to explain!?" the rotund doctor was flabbergasted, " you're the one who turned an entire squadron of my badniks into scrap metal! Do you think those things grow on trees!? Not to mention, you destroyed one of my giant moto bugs and blew up one of my sentry towers!"

He pointed to the sentry tower that was currently on fire. Doom turned to see its current state. No doubt the beam he used to destroy the moto bug caused it. Collateral damage and nothing more.

He turned back to face the doctor, "My apologies," he casually muttered, hiding his annoyance under his breath, "but in spite of the regrettable damage, your robots were ultimately the aggressors. Before I even had a chance to compose myself from being approached, I found myself assaulted by your infernal contraptions."

"Well, my apologies for not installing proper houseguest protocols," the rotund man sarcastically commented, "it still doesn't excuse the fact that you created this mess."

"A regrettable act of self-defense."

Doom could tell the doctor was really starting to get annoyed, "who do you think you are?" Eggman coldly asked, his brow furrowed beyond belief.

Doom unfolded his arms and introduced himself, "Doctor Victor von Doom, ruler of the nation of Latveria!"

Sage tilted her head at his response, "Latveria?" she muttered before tapping into the Eggman datanet and finding nothing regarding it. She turned to Eggman, "I can find no results for Latveria. Whatever this nation is, it does not exist."

"Maybe my presumptions of him being some sort of larper were correct," Cubot muttered to Orbot, who only nodded.

Doom narrowed his eyes at the robot's comments, "Doom's ears are sharper than any blades," he spoke, getting their attention and surprise,

"Oh, great, he speaks in the third-person," Eggman muttered.

Doom continued, "and to answer any questions you have, the reason Latveria does not exist in your records is because it exists only in my world."

Ivo leaned forward, "your world?"

"I came here in search of what I can only describe as eight gemstones."

"The Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald?"

"If that is what they are called, then yes," Doom intoned, "what little information I acquired told me about the world where they are from. I came here via a Norn Stone before a pathetic group of so-called heroes nearly intervened, depriving me of the only method of travel here and back to my world."

As Doom explained, Eggman took note of what he said. Norn Stone? Heroes? While he was annoyed at the fact that yet another interdimensional visitor has come to his world, he couldn't deny that there may now have been a prospect he could exploit for his own ends. He allowed the monarch to continue.

"All I need are the Chaos Emeralds of this world so that I may return to my own and liberate it from its evils."

"Oh, so you're some kind of hero?"

"I am the only hero my world needs!" Doom declared, "under Doom's rule, the world will be ushered into a new golden age of peace. Even the very gods themselves decree his rule as the only option for humanity to prosper!"

"Did this guy hit his head coming here?" Cubot muttered to Orbot, receiving a shrug from him.

"Ok, hotshot, I'm sure that's working well for you." Eggman said, dismissively, "and, humor me for a moment, just why should I let a potential rival like you even take a gander at the emeralds?"

Beneath his mask, the Latverian's brow raised, "you also have aspirations to rule your world?"

"Well, duh!" Eggman spat, "that's what the robot army is for!"

"Interesting…" Doom narrowed his eyes before his suit diagnostics notified him that his rocket boots were back online. He instantly formulated a plan, "surely a conqueror like yourself would understand my current predicament."

"More than you think," the scientist muttered before composing himself, "but surely you're not suggesting I help you?"

"That is exactly what I am suggesting," the monarch retorted, resisting the urge to insult him as his rocket boots turned on. He slowly rose up to Eggman's eye level, which made everyone back up as Metal Sonic zipped to his front in a defensive position. Doom continued, "I can see we are like minded individuals, Eggman, with a love of science and technology as seen by your machines, simple as they are."

Eggman let Doom continue, even if he felt that was a backhanded compliment. He then checked out the rockets from beneath the monarch, "rocket boosters built into your suit?"

Doom nodded, "this suit is my own design. The rockets are but one of many features."

"Not bad…"

Beneath his mask, Doom smirked, "See? Already we are finding common ground."

Orbot turned to Eggman, "Sir, you're not seriously considering-"

"Silence, Orbot." the scientist harshly interrupted before he turned his attention to Doom, "continue."

"My request is simple, Eggman," Victor proceeded, "I will help you gain the means to rule this world in exchange for your help in gaining the Chaos Emeralds so that I may not return to my home empty handed. And from then on, we shall go our separate ways."

Sage turned to her creator, "Father, I-" but she stopped when Eggman held up a single finger. That was more than enough for her to stay silent. Orbot and Cubot simply looked at each other, a bit nervous as to what the next move was. Metal Sonic, meanwhile, moved one of his optics back to Eggman's eyes, as if waiting for the order to sic the intruder.

Eggman, on the other hand, was in deep thought. This guy, decked out in armor and a cape, dare speak of an alliance? After destroying several squadrons, a giant badnik and blowing up his property? He should just order Metal Sonic to shred him to tinsel. But at the same time, something was calling to him. Perhaps this was the spark he needed to get the fires of his genius working properly…

He snapped out of deep thought and ordered Metal to move to the side, maintaining full eye-contact with the Latverian, "Listen closely to me, Victor," he spoke in the most direct tone he could muster, "I've worked with many wannabe rulers, many of whom had just as much of an affinity for technology and science as I do, including my own descendant from the future and even my past counterpart!"

The doctor took a breath and continued, "and yet, in the end, there was always just one thing that held us back… And naturally, things get ugly quickly. The only one that went rather smoothly was my past counterpart, and even then, there was still some bickering every now and then," he then tented his fingers, eyes looking directly into the eyeholes of Doom's mask, "so I have but one question for you, Doom… How can I possibly trust you?"

Doom paused. His arms crossed as his eyes remained neutral in deep thought. Finally, after a few moments, he answered, "You can't."

Eggman raised a brow, as if waiting for Victor to continue, which he did, "but if our positions were reversed, I imagine you would say the same to me." Doom added, interrupting Eggman, "neither of us have any reason to trust each other, Eggman, but…"

"But what?"

"For what little it would likely mean to you, I am a man of my word," Doom folded his hands behind his back, "the choice is ultimately yours."

Eggman once again was in deep thought, no one dared try to break him out of it.

He looked upon Doom's armor yet again, "what material is that suit?"

Victor raised a gauntlet, "a specific titanium alloy that is both lightweight and durable. Thanks to Doom's genius, it is capable of competing with the likes of Vibranium and Adamantium."

"What kind of materials are those?" Eggman asked with a raised brow.

"The most durable and versatile metals on the planet," Doom responded, "or at least my planet. I assume no such metals exist in your world?"

"No. And I take it you don't have any samples on yourself?"

"Your presumption would be correct." Doom placed a hand on the chin of his faceplate, "but I do know the chemical makeup necessary to create the artificial versions of them. Inferior to the real deal, yes, but nonetheless it can be used to make your army less… fragile."

Eggman ignored the insult to his badniks and leaned forward. "Tell me more."

Before long, both of them were having a very civil discussion over how their worlds worked in comparison to one another. The level of technology, the different nations, societies, etcetera, etcetera. Orbot and Cubot quickly tuned out, while Metal Sonic remained by his creator's side, his optics never once moving away from Doom's frame.

Sage, meanwhile, was far too suspicious of Victor. Already, there was a high chance of this resulting in total disaster, she calculated over a thousand different scenarios at the speeds of a supercomputer and found very few of them ending well for either the Eggman Empire or the new stranger. For her family's sake, she will keep a very close eye on Doom…

Holoska

"Thank you for taking me here, Amy!" Cream exclaimed, adorned with many layers of snowgear, "even if it's pretty cold!"

Amy chuckled beneath her scarf, shuffling a deck of tarot cards, "And this is just summer! You haven't experienced the winter!"

It's been a few months since she, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles left the Starfall Islands and since then, she has gone out and traveled the world with her friends. It was Cream and Cheese's turn to experience some of her travels and she happened to choose Holoska for her destination, much to Vanilla's many many concerns. Amy would alleviate these concerns by saying it was just for the day and nothing else.

Amy continued to shuffle her cards as Cream sipped on a mug of hot cocoa, Cheese downing their entire cup in seconds, the ball above their head changing shape to a heart to signify his elation.

As the pink hedgehog finished shuffling her deck, the outcome suddenly seemed to… change. Like how the direction or intensity of a breeze can change the mood of the location. This mood seemed… cold. And it wasn't just because of all the ice.

"Huh," she tilted her head, "that's strange."

"What is it, Amy?" Cream said, looking over at her laid out deck.

Amy picked up the card, showing it to the rabbit, the image shining in it for a bit before dissipating and only showing a figure on a throne wearing a green cloak and metal armor, the letters "THE EMPEROR" emboldened on the card.

The pink hedgehog and the tan rabbit's eyes widened, "that can't be good…" the latter said as Cheese let out a mewl, their orb changing shape to an exclamation point.

"No, Cream…" Amy added with dread dripping from her tone, "it can't."

West Side Island

Tails hummed to himself as he worked on the latest upgrades to the Tornado. The ratcheting can be heard even from his garage before he pulled away and wiped his brow, his gloves stained with oil and his protective goggles have left a stain on his fur. All in a days work.

"Alright, now let's run some diagnostics…" he muttered to himself as he hopped into the cockpit and fired up the engines, the LED screen built into it analyzing all systems.

"Ok… all systems running normally," he muttered, flipping several switches on the console, "now let's see how it handles being turned up to eleven."

The engine noises intensified, but the systems never once reached levels of concern. Excellent. Things were going perfectly!

Suddenly, the sound of the air cracking in two made his ears twitch and a loud boom echoed across the island, shaking it to its core as Tails nearly jumped out of his seat.

"Whoa!" he yelled, quickly shutting off the Tornado and hopping out of the cockpit and hurrying out of his hut. He looked around for any possible source of the noise and saw a plume of smoke in the distance and ran towards it with haste.

When he reached the source of the smoke, he saw it was a large crater, turning a patch of what was once green grass into dirt and forming a notable wound in the ground.

"No way…" he whispered, excitement and wow present in his voice exclaimed. In the center of the crater was a small rock, roughly the size of his palm. "Incredible," he muttered, the giddy side of him overtaking his common sense as he rushed to grab the meteorite, only realizing too late that it was likely still hot from reentry.

Only it wasn't hot. It was cool to the touch and it wasn't just because he was wearing protective gloves. It was as if all heat had dispersed the moment it landed on the ground. Scientifically impossible? Absolutely. But Tails was rather used to the impossible.

Upon closer examination, Tails was even more perplexed by it. Its shape was perfectly intact, even though most meteorites were jagged and uneven thanks to reentry damage. With the exception of a few cracks and strange runes all over it that was written in a language he didn't recognize, the meteorite was perfectly smooth, like refined granite.

Now this was something that needed to be shared.