Chapter Four:

Regrouping Villains

Eggman returned to his lair with his counterparts, their robotic forces pulling out of the village. The doctor was fuming, perhaps underwhelmed to put it mildly.

He couldn't believe that the attack had backfired, Sonic was still alive and he'd just made the Eggman Alliance look like a joke. If there had been more Sonic variants there, that would have made things more complicated.

"FAILED!" AoSTH Robotnik screamed, "LIKE EVERY TIME!"

"Don't fret, doctor." Boom Eggman suggested, "We can still succeed, we just need to figure out new strategies. By the end of the week, we WILL crush that rodent!"

"And hopefully before one of us decides to backstab the alliance or THE OTHER SONICS show up!" Classic Eggman remarked, glaring at all of the other Eggmen in a distrusting manner. He may not have been his future self (yet), but it did freak out the others.

"Heh, well said, Doctor Eggman of the Past." Eggman told his younger self.

"I don't see how one of us will betray this alliance…" Sat AM Robotnik purred with a smirk, he looked at the other variants and, out of all the others, he stared at Eggmandorf, "Do you see it happening, my lord?"

Eggmandorf gave the dictator a shrewd expression. "No." He said bluntly, "I definitely do not."

The Eggman Alliance walked through the mechanized corridors of the doctor's lair with robots patrolling the halls, looking out for intruders and carrying out their creators' will. Swatbots from Sat AM Robotnik's world marched alongside the Egg Pawns, whirring and beeping with one Swatbot saluting Eggman and saying, "All secure!"

Orbot and Cubot were waiting for Eggman and the others at the near end of the hall, waiting near the large doors leading into the mad scientist's lab, the two lackey robots were accompanied by a tall gray-blue chicken Badnik and a green-blue Burrow-Bot with a mouth and robotic eyes.

Scratch and Grounder, AoSTH Robotnik's dim-witted robots, also known as the S6.

"Welcome back, Doctor Robotnik, sir!" Grounder said in his deep dummy voice.

"Nothing to report!" Scratch said in a scratchy tone, "No intruders, your inventions are safe and the base is well-guarded."

"Cubot and I agree with our cartoon-y counterparts." Orbot intoned, "But aside from a Ricky wandering past and a Flicky flying over the base, we've had no intrusions in the slightest, so we have proven that we aren't as dumb as most people make us out to be..."

"ENOUGH CHATTER!" Eggman snarled.

The Badniks saluted and the doors opened, allowing the Eggman Alliance to enter the dimly-lit lab filled with robot parts and mechs in production as machinery operated like clockwork. However, there was already someone else in the room aside from the Badniks, and that was Mama Robotnik. As soon as Eggman saw her, he and the rest of the Robotniks yelped.

Mama Robotnik stomped towards the others, glaring angrily at each and every single one of the supervillain variants as she smacked an umbrella into her hand.

"I was observing through one of that muscular dimwit's fly cameras…" Mama Robotnik growled, "…AND YOU BOTCHED IT AGAIN, DIDN'T YOU? THAT BLASTED HEDGEHOG OUTMANEUVERED YOUR ATTACKS AND YOU SUFFERED GREATLY; YOU PLANNED IT ALL OUT BUT FAILED AGAIN?!"

"T-T-Take it easy, m-m-ma'am." Boom Eggman stammered.

"Mrs. Robotnik, do you forget that I am the leader of the Eggman Alliance?" Eggman asked calmly.

"AND DO YOU FORGET THAT I AM THE MOTHER OF A ROBOTNIK, MAKING ME THE MOTHER OF ALL OF YOU MUSTACHED IDIOTS!" Mama Robotnik shouted, "WORST OF ALL, YOU DIDN'T INVITE ME ALONG. I could have motivated you, BUT YOU EXCLUDED ME FROM THE ATTACK, ASSIGNING ME TO GUARD YOUR LAB INSTEAD!"

"W-W-Well, s-s-someone h-h-had to h-h-help g-g-guard our l-l-lab, mother." Fleetway Robotnik said nervously.

"I see things did not go according to plan..."

Eggmandorf's predecessor Doom emerged from the shadows, eyes gleaming with immense power as he crossed his arms with a chilling smirk upon his human-like face, sending a chill down the spine of every Eggman in the room except for Eggmandorf... or Sat AM Robotnik.

"Very funny!" Eggman remarked, "I could have brought you along, but your successor over here suggested reserving you as an ace in the hole for a later battle... if Sonic survived. And now, it looks like I'M GOING TO HAVE TO DEPLOY YOU IN BATTLE IF WE EVER FIGURE OUT A STRATEGY THAT INVOLVES THE LIKES OF AN EGGMAN WHO DOESN'T LOOK LIKE AN EGGMAN!"

"You can deploy me at any time, doctor." Doom said, "Just give the word and I'll hunt down that blue rat to give him the fight of his life."

"By all standards, he's already facing the fight of his life!" Lord Eggman quipped, "That was just the first match and I say we were just warming up; we will strike back at that muskrat as hard as possible and we'll blast his friends to the regions of the Great Beyond, then use those gemstones called the Chaos Emeralds to aid us in our final conquest of the universe!"

"One step at a time with our plans." Eggman Nega said, "We probably should have planned our attack more efficiently and effectively, what we need is a more coordinated stratagem..."

"A STRATAGEM THAT WILL INVOLVE ME!" Mama Robotnik whacked Eggman on the head and glared at the others, "And because you failed on your last attack just a short time ago, I'M STEPPING IN AS THE NEW EGG-STRATEGIST! Eggman #1 is still the leader, but I am a Robotnik's mother and I EXPECT YOU TO FOLLOW MY STRATEGIES AND SUGGESTIONS THOROUGHLY!"

"I say, this is going to complicated matters…" Eggmandorf whispered to Sat AM Robotnik.

"Not unless we play along." Sat AM Robotnik whispered back.

"ENOUGH CHATTING BACK THERE!" Mama Robotnik snarled, "The Council of Robotniks is in session, Doctor Eggman, STEP FORWARD!"

The main version of Eggman gulped, then he recalled that he was still the alliance's leader, AoSTH Robotnik's mother was only stepping in a partial second-in-command. Nervously, he pressed a button and mechanical chairs floated in.

Every Eggman and Robotnik sat down in the room with Mama Robotnik and Eggman sitting on chairs in front of the others, even with Eggman trembling nervously.

Regardless of the matter, the council was in session and it was time for more planning...