The bed that Ivo was placed on was almost comically too small for him. He was short, even for a human, but this was ridiculous.
When he first woke up, the shocking and nearly overwhelming wave of back pain was what hit the doctor first. He was young (maybe not as young as Sonic, but he wasn't middle aged… yet) so he wasn't expecting these back pains so soon. Had to be the bed. What was this thing made of?
Slowly, he sat up with a groan. He could feel sand brushing against his skin, under his bodysuit and in his hair. He didn't have his glasses on, so it was a bit blurry for him at the moment. He didn't quite know where he was.
The last thing he remembered… Some kind of whirlpool opened up when he was flying over the ocean. He tried to escape with his hovercraft, but was still pulled into… wherever he was now. That ship, the leftover Hawk Ship from his now massively downsized fleet, was certainly sucked in and crash landed somewhere here along with him.
Eyes squinted, Ivo looked around. The bed had a nightstand- his glasses were there, he could tell. He grabbed them, flicked them open and slipped them on his face. The blue tinted lens were cracked, and the computing systems for them were broken as a result. Phooey. Well, at least he could see now.
He could see his jumpsuit was tattered. He had on underclothes for decency, but he was surprised at how much damage was sustained. It must have been because of him trying to escape upon that whirlpool opening.
Easing to the edge of the bed, Ivo cracked his back, grunting.
Suddenly, light flooded his face, making him wince and hold a hand up. There were two figures in the doorway, silhouetted by the light- a large figure and a hovering small figure. The smaller one fluttered in- it was a bat, one with big ears. Soaring in, it landed right next to Ivo on the bed, staring directly at him. Ivo leaned away from him a bit in surprise.
The other figure in the doorway spoke. "So, you're finally awake."
A gray and black wolf walked in, holding a two-pronged metal spear. It certainly wasn't makeshift, it was clearly made to be a very high-tech and durable weapon. She had on shimmering blue scaled armor. Ivo made a mental note seeing this- the people here were both Mobian, as well as a society advanced enough to master metalworking.
"I told you he looked gross, Chief Lupe!"
"Bokkun, be quiet."
Bokkun frowned at that, but continued to stare at Ivo. Ivo stared back at him, before gently jumping at him. At the sudden movement, the bat jumped back, holding out his green messenger bag to his front like a shield.
"Don't mind him." Chief Lupe strolled to the doctor, using the spear as a walking stick. "You're a human."
"Yes, I noticed."
"What is a human doing here?" She thought aloud, eyes squinted suspiciously. "We've had a sudden influx of visitors over the last few decades, but never a human. Someone has to seek out South Island in order to come here, and from what I'm told most people are put off by the storms."
"That would probably be if they were coming by sea. I came from the air… I'm sorry, did you say South Island? Where exactly am I?"
"You'll learn with time. I want to know exactly what you intended on doing here."
"Listen, Lupe was it?"
"Chief Wolf to you."
"…Chief Wolf." Ivo whirled his hand around as a kind of unmoving courtesy to a high-ranking member of society. "I have no intentions to do… Anything. I don't even know what this place is. I was following a trail to find someone and simply ended up here."
"A likely story."
"Why would I lie?" The doctor started to get up. "Listen, if I can just find the ship I came in, I can…"
The double-prong spear was suddenly turned to be a few inches from Ivo's neck. The prongs quickly became a bright dazzling orange, white at the tips, and Ivo could feel the heat coming off from them. He quickly returned to sitting on the bed.
"You're not going anywhere." She growled. "Until I know you're not a threat to Knothole, to South Island and her people as a whole, you will stay in this shack."
"What about if he has to use the bathroom?" Bokkun asked.
"…unless you need to use the bathroom."
"What about food?"
"…and if you need to get food."
"And what about—"
Lupe shot Bokkun a fiery glare, making the little bat recoil and quickly shut his mouth.
"You can stay in Knothole, but be well assured if you leave this shack, the Wolf Pack will be watching you." The wolf turned her head to look at Ivo directly again, giving him a smoldering glare. She pulled her spear back, the end slowly turning red as it cooled down. "You will stay here in terms of shelter."
"How am I supposed to eat and use the bathroom, as the bat said?"
"Bokkun will watch over you and assist."
"…him? He's like… five years old."
"Hey!"
"Bokkun is older than he looks, but you do make a fair point." Lupe replied. "As I said, the Wolf Pack will be watching. If you need assistance more than he can provide, he will inform a member of the Pack, and we will assist."
"Alright then. Well… Thank you, Chief."
"You should be thankful. If this was before the leadership reform in Green Hill, I would've had my girls take you out on that beach Bokkun found you sleeping on." She stayed cold, contrasting her spear's slowly dying heat. "If you try anything, and I mean anything, I will not hesitate to take you out. Just because you're the first human we've had on South Island, doesn't mean anything. Except that you will die much easier."
With that, Lupe turned, her head staying to give one more glare to Ivo before she turned and left. The shack door was closed behind her with the bottom of her spear.
"Wow. Intense."
"She's always like that! One time, I throwed a fruit at her, and she whacked me from the air like I was one of those bugs!"
"Good to know. Your name is Bokkun?"
"It is! What's your name?"
"Uh… I'll, uh… Tell you later. I seemed to have forgotten."
A lie. Ivo didn't know if he could trust this little bat, even though he was the one placed in charge of the doctor while he stayed here in this "Knothole" village.
His Hawk Ship had sensed dimensional disruption from that whirlpool he was sucked into, a similar vortex to the portals made during his little debacle with Princess Blaze and that attractive British doctor (Ivo wondered how she was doing, but soon shook it off). Did that mean he was in an alternate zone?
If he had the tech in his ship, he would know for sure. But now he was stuck here.
"Well Mr. Whats-your-face, I noticed your clothes were all ripped up and dirty! That happens sometimes on the entry to the island. So, I got you these new clothes from town!"
Flipping his messenger bag upside-down, Bokkun dumped out a pile of pink and green on the bed. There was a lot of clothes, more than Ivo would expect could fit in that bag, and a pair of slippers similarly colored pink and green flopped on top of the pile.
"Sorry, there wasn't a lot of choices. These were the only ones I could find in the thrift box that were large enough to fit a guy like you! I think they were from a rhino before."
"…great, thank you."
Well, clothes without holes was better than clothes with holes.
"You said you were trailing a person here?"
The question piqued Ivo's attention.
"Hm? Yes, I did."
"Who?"
"…I don't think I remember that either."
Another lie. The doctor was afraid he would be grilled further about this spotty "amnesia" he was suffering from. Ivo wasn't the best at improv.
"Oh, okay!" The bat was happy to take that at face value. "I'm gonna go get some foods for you to eat! You might need some time to get naked and put those clothes on so I'll do it right now! Okay I'll see you later, bye!"
The bat flew out, opening the door with a wing and closing it with his foot.
Ivo got to his feet. Man, that bat was a bit… much. He wished that all bats acted as coolheaded as Rouge did. Without the deception and thievery preferably.
Combing through the clothes, Ivo set them out to give them a look over. He took off his glasses next, reaching into his jumpsuit's top and pulling out a metal container. Replacement lens were in here for his glasses, but they weren't computerized.
Maybe that wasn't such a bad thing though. It was like an addiction, his affinity for robotics and computers. He had used it as a coping mechanism to escape his father for so long that it was really all that he new how to do.
He remembered, a long time ago, he wanted to make an amusement park. Before the computers, before the robots. Before his father. Before Project Mobius. And now look at him. Chasing the last bit of hope that piece of him remained… to an entirely different dimension, probably.
What was he here for? Who was he looking for?
Sonic The Hedgehog.
Ivo sighed, starting to unzip his jumpsuit to change into more casual clothes.
MONTHS PRIOR…
"Even after everything, I feel that I've become my father in some aspects of my life."
It was a few weeks after what happened in Station Square involving the Black Arms. Team Sonic, Rouge, Shadow and Doctor Robotnik were successful in stopping the invasion of the kind-of-but-not-really aliens, destroying Black Doom in the process.
Then Ivo scurried away when all was said and done. Like a coward.
He was really trying not to think about it too much.
The file on Project M2 had shook him to his core. As he had hurriedly scribbled on that file folder, he had no idea his father was conducting these experiments. Possibly because, like always, Julian only saw his son as a failure and disappointment that would probably mess up the simplest of projects.
Or maybe because Julian was an egotistical maniac. Who truly knew?
Now he was here, laying on his back in a reclined couch, as if he was at a therapist's office. Except he wasn't- he was sure that no therapist in their right mind would want to treat Ivo.
"I'm getting your readings, doctor. It seems that your mental state is fairly erratic."
"Remembering my father is not exactly the most comforting thing."
"Are you afraid more of your father, or the idea of becoming him?"
"Probably becoming him. I can't be afraid of my father, he's dead. Gone."
"Trauma doesn't stop when a person is gone, doctor, you know as much."
"Maybe. Is it wrong to be comforted with the memory that the man who caused me such misery is gone for good? That he's become nothing but ash?"
"Hey, don't call your dad that! That's a bad word!"
Ivo paused, his vulnerable streak interrupted with a much more obtuse voice. He blinked, slowly sitting up and looking over to the nearby workstation he had across the small room.
"…what?" He asked.
"What he said was 'ash', not the curse word."
"Ooooh, okay! Sorry, I must've heard wrong."
After a second of realizing the mistake, the doctor sighed deeply. He took off the headband, one with sensors connecting to his forehead to read his brainwaves, and set it aside.
"Oh! You've taken off the sensing band. Are we done for today?"
"I think so. But only the makeshift psychology session."
He stood up, walking to the workstation to look over the sources of the two voices that were speaking to him. To his left was an orb, and the right a cube. The left was red, and right yellow. Both had eyes and blue mouths, but no bodies.
These were robots whose concepts he had in the vault for a long time, but only now decided to start working on. It helped to pass the time. Here, he had the robots develop independent personalities based on Ivo's own Superego and Id, allowing them to stay in tune to the doctor and his emotions more effectively, as well as share philosophies with him so he wouldn't go rogue like other robots. It had… varying results.
The Superego and Id robot heads were named Orbot and Cubot, respectively. It was easy from their names to figure out who was who. He had to finish work on their bodies, which was a slow process.
"Are you gonna play blind man's bluff with us again, boss?"
"Not this time, Cubot. Ugh, I need a drink… A Chaos Cola would be nice."
"Your automatic stocking systems inform me that you have plenty in stock, doctor."
"The prickly pear kind?"
"Yes! I can put a request in!"
"Oh, good. Thank you Orbot."
Ivo leaned against the workbench, feeling the robotic eyes of his robot lackeys close on him. After a minute, up above on a suspended track, a small robotic claw traveled in from a gap in the nearby wall. It stopped over Ivo's shoulder, slowly lowering down like the claw on a crane game to put the soda on the workbench in front of him.
"Thank you."
The robotic claw left, unknown if it heard the doctor's gratitude. Ivo cracked open the soda.
He was currently in the northwestern part of the UF. More east than west, to be honest, further away from the pyramid base that has since been gutted for parts by GUN, most likely. He was in a canyon in the northern part of the UF, one that belonged to his family.
The old Robotniks were miners and metalworkers way back in the day. Though based in Station Square, their reach extended all over the country during their peak, including the metal-rich canyon that Ivo was currently staying in. It had tracks and small rail systems all over the place, leading into massive spaces placed in the side of the canyon chasms.
It was a Rail Canyon. In fact, that's what it was referred to by the Robotniks back in the day. Right now, it was another one of the many bases that Ivo had. Since his Mystic Ruins shelter, the pyramid base and the ARK were gone, and the Fleet Carrier was now perpetually in the shop, it was all he really had at the moment on such short notice.
At least the base was big. Ivo liked that.
"Are you still dwelling on leaving Sonic behind with just that note and running from the possibility that he'd blame you instead of your dad like any normal person would?"
Ivo paused his sip at Cubot's question.
"Cubot, that's an excellent question! It's at the wrong time, but it's good nonetheless! Do you want to share your thoughts, doctor?"
"Well…" Ivo swallowed his drink. "I don't… Hm. I'm not sure."
"Okay then! We can wait another time for you to answer that question! Next session, perhaps?"
"Mmhm."
Ivo took another sip of the fruitful cola. It was sour- he liked it that way. Prickly pear was one of his favorite fruits to have when they were in season, and it was still in.
It wasn't even the Day of the Dead yet. Over the course of little over a month, Ivo had started, and subsequently helped destroy, well crafted plans to destroy the Earth within the ARK. It took longer for him to make the ARK than it did for him to carry through with his plan, and it took only a few seconds to abandon those plans so Super Sonic and Super Shadow could toss the Black Comet into it and obliterate Black Doom for good.
The doctor wondered how Shadow was holding up, honestly. He was the only person who really, closely knew Professor Gerald Robotnik- Ivo's ex-hero, his grandfather. According to the final video log message from the professor, broadcast on all of Station Square's screens- which Ivo was able to watch via witnesses' videos online- Gerald considered Shadow his son.
That would make Shadow his… uncle? Eh, best not to think about it.
After the invasion, Shadow left Station Square with Rouge; Ivo had been tracking the Ultimate Lifeform out of boredom when hiding out those first few weeks. The doctor had previously noticed the emotional connection the dark duo had made during their assistance with his (or rather Black Doom's) plan for total planetary destruction, so Ivo wasn't really surprised at this outcome. It could be worse- Shadow could've stayed with his evil alien overlord father.
What did Shadow think of Gerald now? Did Shadow ever see the Gerald's final message before the professor's execution? All Ivo could do is feel vertigo and a wave of nausea when remembering how angry and vicious Gerald was in that video. He became hateful of humanity, full stop. He wanted to condemn humans alongside Black Doom; Gerald wanted to damn them to oblivion.
So did Julian. So did Ivo, at one point. Now he just doesn't know anymore.
Slipping his fingers beneath his blue-tinted shades, Ivo rubbed his eyes with a long sigh.
"Penny for your thoughts, boss?"
"Eh, I don't know, Orbot. It's been weeks since I've worked on the fleet. I haven't made a new robot in months."
"Is it because you desire to turn over a new leaf and no longer build attack robots?"
"No, I still like making robots. Robots with weapons."
"Maybe you could make the robots and sell them to the government for good!" Cubot chimed in.
Ivo scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Please, I wouldn't trust the government with an automatic can opener, much less a single one of my brilliantly made androids..." He sighed. "I guess I've just been lacking motivation. The revelation that my grandfather, the greatest scientific mind in the world- before I was born, of course- had the capability of being as malicious as my father shook me to my core."
"You seem to know what's afflicting you. What's your end goal in this scenario?"
"To find out… What, exactly, I need to do next. To get back to being me. To get back to working on building machinery. Idle hands are Mobius' workshop, after all. He's the god of darkness to the Mobians, right?"
"Yes!"
"Uh huh!"
"Good, thank you. I wasn't completely sure. My mind has been jumbled these last few months…"
He sipped the rest of his cola slowly. When it was finished, nanites covered his hand, transforming into one of his Big Arms to crush the can in his palm. He tossed it behind him, letting it land a foot or two away from a very empty garbage bin.
There was a lot of introspection to be done.
"…what do you two think I should have for dinner?"
"Pizza!"
"Oh, perhaps some Soumercan food?"
"Both sound excellent! Except… There aren't restaurants for miles. Hm." Ivo grunted. "Walked right into that one… I'm just going to look up how to make an omelette."
PRESENT DAY…
Ivo wasn't a big fan of the lack of technology, but he passed the time by mentally clearing up any misconceptions that remained in his head when he recalled his surroundings.
After tracking Sonic to the set of islands, he swiftly discovered the strange pattern they formed: the golden spiral. Crossing that with the trail of ionic energy known to be emitted from the Cyclone, as well as tracking the last detected area where Sonic's energy was emitted, Ivo found the entry point to South Island.
Part of him wondered how and why anyone would be able to travel through the area the vortex resided in without falling into this strange zone as he did. Then again, he flew over the area of the vortex and saw nothing from the standard height of most aircraft. Besides, if a boat sailed into an area and it suddenly became insanely stormy, they'd turn away immediately. It took a few minutes or so for the whirlpool to show up for the doctor when flying low anyway, plenty of time to divert course. It seemed that the portal appearing was completely dependent on someone entering an unseen boundary around it. Perhaps there were other factors, but he couldn't really study them after already passing through.
His plane was probably trashed. He just started beta testing that new plane design, too. Phooey.
Maybe he could salvage the Robotnik Hover Unit, though. The previous one survived one and a half major world events, he was sure a copy of it could survive traveling to some weird pocket zone. Ivo would have to check on that later… somehow.
At least the clothes were comfy. He liked that he could wear slippers. The green overalls and pink shirt were a little loose; but while it wasn't a perfect fit, he preferred loose over tight.
Seperating blinds with his fingers, Ivo peeked out through a window to look at the village of Knothole. Much like the home he was in now, the community's home were mainly thatched-roof huts. Knothole was nestled in the heart of a forest, so there were also treehouses above the village, connected with bridges. Ivo watched as a few bird mobians fluttered onto the bridges.
This was incredible. A community full of Mobians, none of them made in a laboratory. Ivo knew of the existance of Classical Mobians due to the existance of Knuckles and his family on Angel Island; Sonic and his friends weren't the first Mobians on Earth- not even the first made in a lab, as Shadow was made fifty years prior to all of them.
He always thought it was strange there weren't more Mobians on Earth. Was it because they all disappeared to… wherever he was now? That could be very likely.
The front door to the shack flung open, slamming against the wall and making Ivo jump, breaking his concentration. The big-eared bat Bokkun fluttered in, carrying a sack of stuff with his mouth. He was giggling as he flew into the shack, dropping the sack on the ground before kicking the door back shut.
"Hehehe! The door slamming always sound like explosions! Wish I could hear the real thing…" Bokkun picked the bag up again and flew closer to Ivo.
This bat, Bokkun, was a very strange housemate to have. Ivo couldn't get a good read on him. He acted immature, but he somehow owned a shack all to himself? He was a messenger between villages (meaning Ivo was left to his own devices a lot) but he seemed to have a very troublesome reputation, if seeing the reactions from the wolf chief told Ivo anything.
He was peppy, cheery, and he didn't seem to have a good grasp on reality. Bokkun loved to talk about making "presents" for other people, but Ivo quickly learned these gifts were pranks.
All of it reminded Ivo of himself, in a way. So the doctor wasn't too troubled with the bat.
Bokkun dropped the sack of things on the table near Ivo. This shack, though fairly small, had multiple rooms: two bedrooms, a den, a kitchen and an auxiliary room in the very back. Bokkun only really used one of the bedrooms and the kitchen- the latter of which is where Ivo and Bokkun were now.
When the sack was dropped on the kitchen's small dining table, it toppled over to reveal food inside. A few jars of jam, some bread, a few potatoes and a bundle of bananas. This would most likely be the food he would be consuming for the next week or so.
Ivo found out very quickly that it was a social faux pas to inquire about products involving meat to the people of this community. It made sense for these communities to maintain a mainly vegan lifestyle, but that meant that Ivo had to go without foods like eggs and cheese. What Ivo wouldn't do for a cream-filled donut right about now…
Apparently meats were still available, as there were non-anthropomorphic animals around, but they were only processed in a larger city called Gigalopolis. Shipments of those were hard to come by for smaller villages such as Knothole.
Well, if Sonic was here, at least he was in anguish at not being able to eat a chilidog. Ivo felt a bit better while thinking about that.
He picked up the jar of jam and looked it over. From the looks of the jam, it was most likely from a dark berry. Ivo wondered what kind of crop grew here; obviously Earth-based crops bananas and potatoes, but he wondered if there was anything unique here.
"There wasn't anything really sweet at the bakery today." Bokkun said to Ivo, starting a conversation. "I tried to get them to make me a cinnamon roll, but they shooed me away! So I stole their last loaf of soda bread!"
The doctor was taken aback by the casual admission of theivery from the bat, but smiled a bit from amusement. Ivo really saw aspects of himself in this little guy.
"This will do well for me. Thank you, Bokkun."
"You're welcome, Mr. Weirdoface!"
Ivo's mustache turned downwards. "What?"
"You don't know your name, so I gave you one!"
"Weirdoface?"
"Yeah! It fits, because you have a weird face!"
"What's so weird about it?"
"You only have fur on your face! And your nose is red like a tomato!"
"That's from my rosacea!" The doctor touched his nose, offended.
"Well it's still weird! Which is why you're Mr. Weirdoface!"
Ivo would have to get used to the lack of manners this little bat had. If he was going to stay in this area for very long, that is.
The doctor ripped off a banana from its bunch, peeling it and pulling off a piece of the banana flesh from its end. He put it in his mouth, but as he did, noticed Bokkun staring at him while the bat was keeping himself in the air with flapping wings.
Pausing for only a moment, Ivo bit down on the banana and chewed. He spoke with a half-full mouth. "What?"
"You really don't have any other furs anywhere? What kinda animal are you supposed to be?"
"Didn't you hear that wolf woman? I'm a human. Humans don't have 'fur' on their body."
"…so is a human a kind of animal or something?"
Ivo huffed, tearing off more banana and eating. "Yes."
"Wowww…"
Ivo kept eating, tossing the banana in the trash bin nearby when he was done.
"Are you just going to keep staring at me?"
"Yeah! What else am I supposed to do?"
"You could tell me a bit about yourself, since I'm going to be staying in your shack. How did you get this shack, anyway?"
"Oh! My job provides me houses to stay in! This is just the one in Knothole."
"Where do you come from?"
"I dunno."
"…who are your parents?"
"I dunno."
"…how old are you?"
"Older than one."
"Yes, clearly, I meant specifics."
"Oh! I dunno."
Ivo sighed. "How do you know so little about yourself?"
"I was left on the steps of the courthouse in Gigalopolis. I was given to the messengers union because they needed new recruits, and their leader was adopting."
"Well I guess it's good you found a family."
"Not really! They all bullied me because I was really small."
"Oh. I'm sorry."
"It's okay! I got back at them!" Bokkun beamed. "Like with one, I ripped open all his mail so it seemed like he was tampering with it and he got blacklisted!" He started chortling as he spoke. "Then, another one, I switched up the mail so it looked like this other messenger was sending love letters to a married woman, and he had his legs broken by her husband! He walks funny now. Then there was one messenger woman whose car I messed with so it would only go faster forever!"
"…Are you saying you cut her brake line?"
"Is that what the thingy's called? I guess so! I never heard from her again though, so I dunno what happened." Bokkun landed to sit at the table, shrugging after he did. "But it's funny! I bet she was so confused when she couldn't go slow anymore! I even pull pranks like that locally, wherever I go!"
"Is that why that wolf woman wasn't fond of you?"
"Chief Wolf? I guess! People just don't get jokes nowadays. They always start crying and screaming, all because you cough up ketchup on their face. Nobody wants to laugh anymore!"
"Some people don't appreciate chaos." Ivo tried being gentle.
"That's stupid of them. Chaos is funny! The funniest faces are people who are freaked out!"
The doctor stared at Bokkun as the little bat giggled himself to death in his seat. This was far beyond anything Ivo ever did when he was younger… the similarities between Bokkun and the doctor were getting further and further away by the sentence.
But the bat was helping him. Clearly there was something worth nurturing inside of him. Even if it was out of gratitude, Ivo was willing to help this whatever-age-he-was bat get better.
"I'm gonna have to leave for a few days tomorrow to deliver something to the Blue Marine district! So you're gonna have to get your own food if you eat it all up tonight, Mr. Weirdoface!"
"Oh, alright then. Do you… Not use all of the space here, when you stay in this shack?"
"Nope!"
"…Do you mind if I use the space you have in the back of the hut?"
"Oh yeah! I don't have anything back there, go ahead!"
"Thank you, that's much appreciated."
"You're welcome! I'm gonna go bed now to sleep for tomorrow. Bye!"
Bokkun flapped off again, headed to the bedroom that Ivo wasn't using, the door closing behind him.
The bat was certainly a bit strange, but Ivo wasn't going to insult his current host. He decided to get a start on what he would eat for dinner. He picked up the potato that fell out of the sack. As he looked it over, he hummed and thought aloud.
"I wonder if they have the appliances here to make french fries."
MONTHS EARLIER…
It was almost Friendsgiving, and Ivo was making a new member for his Empire.
As much as he enjoys Orbot and Cubot's company, the reliance and assistance of the two robots could only sustain him for so long. He was missing… something. Something that kept him from moving forwards with his life, and starting another plan to conquer the planet. If that was what he wanted to do next, that is.
So, it was time for him to make another robot. He was happy that he was finally getting back into the groove of things, even if this design was mainly copied from the prints he used to make Orbot and Cubot. Similarly, this robot was going to be modeled around a third-dimensional shape.
He had decided on a chestahedron, a seven-sided prism, for this next robot. The current name for the robot was "Hedroid," and one of the big kite-shaped faces of the prism was going to be the talking face of the android.
With his green lensed goggles over his eyes, he soldered some wiring together to craft the inner machinations of this upcoming talking head. He was in his workroom, accompanied by the aforementioned red and yellow robotic assistants.
"Boss, as happy as I am that you're crafting this new robot, I can't help but think you're using this as an escape from your own personal journey into yourself."
Orbot and Cubot were being carried by the metal claws that hung from the ceiling, as they were still only heads at this stage of development. They hung in the center of the room, swaying slightly as the rails in the Rail Canyon were being used to mine and transport any remaining metal to Ivo for further use.
"I need a third perspective." Ivo replied, continuing to solder. "Having merely the reflections of my own personality in the two of you tells me little to nothing. I need someone new."
"This new android, it will have a personality that does not come from you?"
"Well… No. I will replicate aspects of my mind into it."
"So your third perspective is simply you, once more. That is what I'm hearing?"
"…You know, for someone without a body," Ivo turned, taking off his goggles to stare at the hanging Orbot. "You sure like to ask questions that could earn you a punch to the stomach."
"Even if we had bodies, we wouldn't have stomachs for you to punch."
"Must you always be contrarian, Orbot?"
"I don't know. My personality core is based on your logic receptors. Must I?"
Ivo's mustache rippled as he huffed in annoyance. If Orbot wasn't made from his own ingenious and glorious mind, Ivo would question the robot's intelligence… and continuing existence.
"Well now, I reckon you're continuing to use a familiar copin' mechanism of building robots and lashin' out in order to defend yourself from the harsh truths of reality. Not the best idea there, partner."
The southern drawl came from the speakers of Cubot, similarly hanging in the air. One of Ivo's eyebrows lifted, curious and confused.
"What's wrong with him?"
"The voice chip you installed in him is faulty, boss. He needs a new one."
"It's not faulty. I don't make faulty components. It's merely old…"
"No matter the reason, doctor, he makes a very interesting point. Do you often escape into robotics in order to hide from the harrowing cold of reality?"
"Hm. I suppose." The doctor knuckled his mustache. "Working on robots is easy for me. It allows me to shut my brain off. After my father died, the first thing I did was start plans to make robots and mechs for my intended domination of Station Square."
"What about before your father died, boss? Did you do it then?"
"Well… No. Everything I did before my father died was for my father. Like making his robotic arm, after he lost his left arm in the mayhem of Sonic's mother Aleena escaping. That was the project that got me into his good graces the most. What won him over into allowing me to pursue engineering was… Cluck."
"I am unfamiliar. Tell me what Cluck is."
"Cluck was the albino raven my father owned when I was a boy." Ivo sounded grim. "My father gave me the 'pleasure' of naming the raven, and I named him Cluck because he looked like a chicken. I suppose that was the inciting incident, as that blasted bird always hated me."
"He was following your pappy's lead, I reckon."
"I was going to suggest the same, sans the flippant nature."
"I would believe it. Cluck would always take every chance he could to peck at me. As an adult, it's bearable, but as a little boy? It felt like the closest thing to stabbing you could get without piercing the skin."
"And where does the use of robotics tie into him?"
"Well… Cluck got into an accident. One that harmed him beyond repair. My father loved that bird- more than he loved me, I'm sure- so he forced me to figure something out. So… I made the bird into a cyborg. One with metal wings, reinforced body… metal beak."
"Is Cluck still alive?"
"No, of course not. Like all toys my father has, Cluck later fell into disarray and finally perished a few years after. Not without pecking me twice as hard with that new beak of his every day he remained alive." Ivo looked back at the robot he was working on. "You know, thinking back, that was all the relationship I had with my father was… doing something- anything, anything he wanted… and being rewarded with nothing but pain and anguish. For years."
It was silent in the lab for a moment or two. The walls shook as more trains rattled through the Rail Canyon.
"…since all you got is us robo-folk, what're you gonna be makin' for Friendsgiving supper?"
Cubot's question broke Ivo's train of thought. He returned the goggles to his face, shielding his eyes, and turned back around to continue fixing up the computer parts for the Hedroid.
"I'm making myself a turkey dinner."
"Oh, that sounds splendid, boss! Shall I fetch recipes for it?"
"No, it's just going to be a TV dinner for one. No use wasting food when you're all alone."
"Now now, you're not alone, you got the two of us! We can keep you company, I reckon."
"I appreciate the sentiment, Cubot, but even with all my robots… I've never felt anything but alone."
Ivo never felt more alone than when he finally left Bokkun's shack.
He walked through the shaded village, along the dirt path that was dividing the shacks. He saw, somewhere far ahead, that there were white-topped buildings surrounding a massive oak tree that was clearly the heart of Knothole.
As he walked, Ivo heard a ringing next to him- there was a bell tower placed in this part of the village, close to Bokkun's shack, clearly used to help tell what time it was during the day. It was most likely noon.
Bokkun had left that morning to head to Blue Marine. As much as he enjoyed the bananas and bread, Ivo wanted something else already. Maybe another potato… the baked potato he managed to make last night was actually quite nice. Though he had to eat it with a lot of seasoning and no dairy.
So here he was. Ivo walked down the road to try and reach this business district that was clearly made up around the oak tree. Maybe he would have a better chance at getting supplies and foodstuffs from the workers there than Bokkun had. Though judging by the Mobians around him, that seemed unlikely.
He was being stared at. Ivo knew why he was being stared at, but knowing why didn't help. As he strolled down the makeshift street, every cat, dog and other Mobian stopped to stare at the only human on the entire island.
Ivo kept his hands folded behind him. He wondered if this was how Sonic felt back on Earth… Especially before the mere presence of Sonic and friends helped society to accept Mobians as normal civilians.
He thought back to Earth. Before he left, he had been trying to reach a breakthrough involving his past… especially involving his issues with his father. So much had changed over the time that Julian Robotnik had died, and Ivo had gone through so many changes himself. The last little misadventure he had, the one involving Black Doom, had shifted his perspective greatly.
What was he to do next? Ivo wondered about his place in the world. He needed some introspection in order to fully realize who and what he was meant to become… That's what he learned from his time in the Rail Canyon, at least.
But first he had to find Sonic. He knew for sure that was his next step.
He heard crying nearby. As he walked, he witnessed two bears speaking to a red colored wolf up ahead- the source of the crying came from one of the bears, a child bear. Standing between the two bears and the wolf was a wagon, with the lead held by the bear cub.
As Ivo got closer, he could hear their conversation.
"Gadget, are you sure there's nothing you can do to fix it?"
The wolf adjusted his glasses. "I'm sorry, Miss Yona, but I don't know what's wrong with Becky's wagon. I'm already late for my meeting about the watermill systems, I can't stay and figure it out."
"It's just a wagon! It'll only take a second!"
"If I don't help the watermill, the entire village could lose power!"
Slowing to a stop beside the group, Ivo looked down at the wagon that the girl- Becky, her name was- was trying to lead. She tugged at the handle in the front, pulling but getting nowhere. Ivo could see that the front wheels were moving, but neither of the back wheels were. That's why it didn't work.
Ivo knuckled his mustache. This issue was simple… very simple. But this woman was so incessant on having someone else solve her problem. Well, if she so insisted.
He stepped to join the convo, towering over the wolf and bear cub. "Do you mind if I look?"
The sudden appearance of a human made the group stop what they were doing and stare at the doctor in shock. Yona put her hand on her daughter's shoulder, pulling her back a little.
"Mama…" Becky whined, still sniffling. "I want my wagon to work…"
"I think I know the issue. If you let me try to fix it, I'm sure this fellow can get back to his own work."
"…good idea! Bye!"
The wolf, Gadget, quickly scurried as fast as his green boots could take him. Yona was still in shock, staring at Ivo with wide eyes, but gathered herself after a second.
"…go ahead and look." She murmured.
Ivo nodded. He knelt down, looking over the wagon's back wheels. Yona pulled Becky back a bit, as if keeping her from any possible attack. If the ferocity of mama bears translated to Mobians, then Ivo knew that this woman was not one to be messed with. Best not to try anything… not that he had anything up his sleeve anyway. These weren't even his sleeves.
The wagon's wheels were attached to the wagon with a screw in the very center of the wheel. From the looks of it, the turning of the wheel tightened the screw in the center to the point that the wheel wasn't going to turn anymore.
He reached into the center pocket of his green overalls, on his stomach. He had stored a few tools he had in his jumpsuit within that pocket, wanting them on hand in case he had to tinker with something. Ivo opened the small box he had in that pocket to show the small tools inside.
Ivo unscrewed the center of the wheels in the back, taking them all the way out. The reason they were going to keep screwing in was because these people didn't have any washers to use on it. If he was going to fix two, he was going to fix them all.
With the mother and daughter- and overtime a few more people- watching him, Ivo unscrewed all four wheels of the wagon. He reached into the small toolbox again and retrieved something alien to the toolkit- four small pennies. You never knew when they would come in handy, and here they were.
Using the top of the toolbox as a solid surface, and the hammer from the box, Ivo gently used one of the screws to bore a hole into all four of the coins.
With the pennies as makeshift washers, Ivo screwed each wheel back into the wagon. Once he was done, Ivo put everything back in his toolbox, closing it and slipping it back into his overall pocket before standing up to his pink slippered feet.
"There we are." He said, gesturing the wagon with one hand.
Though Yona was still conflicted, Becky quickly grabbed the handle of the wagon. She pulled it along- the wheels all turned, good as new. The cub smiled big when she saw her wagon was back to normal.
"Mama, it works! The man made it work!"
Instantly, at her daughter's happiness, Yona's demeanor softened. She looked at Ivo with a more neutral, if not mildly surprised, expression.
There was clapping behind the doctor, making him turn. The crowd he had collected while working on the wagon were all amazed, and applauded the efforts of Ivo with amazement and glee.
"That was… Incredible! And so fast!" Yona got Ivo's attention again. She grabbed his hand to shake it quickly, jostling the man.
"Oh, well…" He adjusted his glasses when the handshake ended. "It's just a bit of tinkering. Nothing I'm not used to."
"Well, Mister Tinker, it's an incredible feat to us! You have my gratitude!"
"…what did you call me?"
"Mister Tinker? Sorry, you never introduced yourself."
"Mister Tinker…" Ivo fiddled his mustache. "I enjoy that name. You may call me that."
"You did me a big favor, Mister Tinker! If there's anything I can do… Oh! I can give you some fish! My husband caught a surplus at Aqua Lake a few days ago, I'd be happy to provide you some!"
Ivo was suddenly very interested in his act of kindness. "That would be fantastic!"
"Mister Tinker! I've got a whole stack of firewood for you if you can look at my wobbly counter!"
"Mister Tinker! I can give you a bushel of apples if you can help fix my unstable banister!"
"Mister Tinker! I'll get you a wheel of cheese if you look at my living room! Not to fix anything, I just want to know if it looks hauty or not."
Suddenly surrounded by Mobians, Ivo was taken aback at how many of these people wanted his help. He felt something within him… happiness? Content? He wasn't sure.
One thing was for certain, though: nothing was going to break his stride now. Even as "Mister Tinker," Ivo was back in the business of making things, and better than ever before!
A FEW MONTHS AGO…
Ivo finally finished his first robot in months. He was finally back and better than ever before.
But it didn't really… feel that way. Something was off, weird. Maybe it was because he was finishing this new android head on New Years Eve, when he would typically take off on the holidays. He even took off on Yuletide earlier that month, and felt the holiday spirit take him enough to send a small gift to his arch rival Sonic, before going back into making that robot harder than ever before.
Now here he was, finished. The sensor band was back on his head, but this time was studying his mental state to construct and transfer a personality into the dormant Hedroid. He had instructed his computer systems to create a random personality connected to the most deepest parts of Ivo's mind, using traits sewn across every memory he had in his head. With a bit of artificial intelligence flavoring, the personality was bound to emerge in the android head just before the clock struck midnight.
Watching the depowered head, Ivo sat in a chair a few yards away from the workbench the Hedroid head was sitting on, resting his chin on his hand with a finger on his nose. The sensor bar was still on his head, as a progress bar on a nearby computer screen told him the scan was nearly complete.
"Chaos Cola for your thoughts, boss?"
A hand offered Ivo a prickly pear flavored soda. Ivo took it, taking his hand off his chin to crack it open and take a sip.
"Yarrr, be careful not to guzzle ye soda down the wrong pipe, mate!"
Ivo sighed after swallowing. "I really need to fix that voice chip…"
On either side of him, situated on rolling tables, was Orbot and Cubot. The doctor had made a bit of progress with the robots in the time he had them around, and now they had bodies with arms attached to them. The bottoms weren't finished yet, as he wanted the duo to be able to hover around. But that took time to perfect.
He tapped the side of the soda can, leaning forward with his elbow on his knee.
One of the other computer screens had a life feed of Central City, specifically to watch the ball drop for when the clock struck midnight. His eyes kept trailing over to it, watching the clock slowly count down.
"Doctor?"
"Huh? What?"
"The lad asked ye a question, man."
"Oh. Right." Ivo grunted, sipping his soda again. "I'm wondering what this new android will be like."
"If he's constructed based on replications of your memory, there's no doubt he'll take shape into a form of your subconscious. Something further beyond the simplistic 'superego' and 'id' structures you had myself and Cubot take after."
"Aye, I feel this be a very repressed and deep-rooted persona within the waves of ye subconscious."
"I don't know what else could be in there. I hope I'm not just talking to a reflection of myself…" Ivo looked into his can, shaking it a little, before taking another sip. "This can't be a reflection of my ego, as I was intended to be that mediator between you two."
"You and ego are certainly two words that go well together, doctor."
"…a joke at my expense?"
"No, it's yours for free."
Ivo rolled his eyes before drinking more of the soda. On the bright side, Orbot being sarcastic was a nice change of pace from his former creations with personality. It prodded Ivo's brain to find more solutions to try and prove the sarcasm wrong. Negative stimuli and whatnot.
"Perhaps the lad will have a personality akin to ye younger self."
"A replication of my younger conscious mind? That would be an interesting conversation." Ivo replied to Cubot, though didn't stop looking at the Hedroid head. "Perhaps we could talk shop."
"Aye, it would be good to have a lubber with a mind such as yers to finally ruminate on plans."
"I agree. Knowledge is power- and thus you, Doctor Robotnik, are the most powerful man in the world. Two of you in the same room would certainly create the most ingenious plans ever seen."
"This after implying I have a big ego?"
"Two statements can coexist, doctor. I could also say that your ego is warranted due to your mass intellect, which would also ring true."
"Hmph. Nice save."
"Only allowed by your graciousness, doctor."
The progress bar on the computer screen filled all the way, and was replaced with a big "DONE!" in bold. Ivo took off the sensor bar from his head, placing it on top of Cubot's head.
"Yarr! Ye want to replicate my mind next?"
"It only works if it's around your head, Cubot. Also, you don't have a brain to scan."
"Arrrr…" Cubot was sad at Orbot's correction.
The doctor sipped his soda some more. His eyes traveled to the countdown once again.
"The personality will be created momentarily, boss. Are you ready to meet your newest creation?"
"As ready as I'll ever be."
Ahead of them, the Hedroid head lit up, the robot powering on to start uploading its new personality. The bottom point of the kite-shaped face was blue, made up similarly to the inside of the mouths of Orbot and Cubot. Two circular red eyes were above it.
Ivo guzzled the last bit of soda left. His Big Arm formed over the can and crushed it. The doctor got up to his feet to walk the crushed can over to the trash nearby. His back was facing the head, and the screen with the countdown.
This Hedroid was very much needed. He was doubting almost every move he was making… He was stuck making robots that weren't meant to destroy, but instead were just… robots. Like Orbot and Cubot. His aides were there for witty banter and chatting, not to do any actual damage. Against someone like Sonic they'd be wiped out instantly.
Why was he like this? Why did he feel like every one of his creations were a failure? He tried to make dangerous robots, they get destroyed. He tries to make normal robots, he feels like he's wasting his time. At least he felt productive when he made the dangerous robots- now he was stuck in a rut where he was unable to make new bad bots.
He really needed a better name for that. Bad bots… Robotnik… Botnik? No, that didn't really roll of the tongue.
The doctor was comfortable being public enemy number one, but what was the use in having that title if he can't do anything with it? He was supposed to be dangerous. Sure, his last few plans fell apart, and he actually had to help undo a plan he assisted with last time, but he was still big and bad!
Ivo really, really hoped the Hedroid would offer him a new perspective.
He tossed the can disc into the trash almost like a frisbee. Ivo sighed.
"Junior."
His eyes flew open just as soon as they closed as the familiar voice spoke behind him. Ivo's body tensed, a shiver going up his spine that made his neck twist a bit.
"No…"
"Hello, Junior. It's been a while."
Ivo slowly turned, the Hedroid head's eyes directed towards him. The doctor stepped to stand before the green robot head, staring at it with wide eyes hidden behind his glasses' blue lens.
"No. It can't be."
"I assure you, it is. It is I, Doctor Julian Rrrrobotnik!"
His father's voice was coming from the Hedroid. It was enough to make Ivo's blood run cold, and a sweat start to form on his brow, which started to drip around his face.
"Aye, that be your pappy's voice, ain't it?"
"Boss, this is… a very unexpected development."
"Well well well, I see you've made yourself some friends. As to be expected."
"Don't. Don't talk to them." Ivo said, protecting the robots behind him. "This is about me, right? You're only going to talk about me."
"What is there to talk about, Junior? Your failing plans? Your pathetic schemes? How you always run back to that rrrrodent whenever it goes too far? You disgust me, even beyond the grave. This is what I died for? For you to be sad? No wonder you look to that hedgehog for frrriendship. You should've done everyone a favor and stayed on that satellite when that comet was flung into it. An end like that would suit you, seeing as you were just as weak and pitiful as my own father."
The words were barely heard over Ivo's heart beating in his ears, the sweat still trickling down his face. He was used to this- letting Julian unload onto him, letting it all come out so things could calm down, and they could have a normal conversation.
"And here you are. Unable to make anything more. Have you finally given up? Have you finally rrrrealized that everything you do leads to disarrrray and failure? Are you finally rrrready to listen for once in your life?"
"I've been listening. The plans you made failed!"
"EXCUSE me? My plans involving Chaos were perfect! The only issue was the one who was meant to execute it!" The Hedroid's voice replied louder. "Of course Chaos wouldn't listen to you, you have no spine! You're only good as a follower, not a leader! No, I take that back- you were a follower for Black Doom's plan, and you managed to undo it all! For what, because you felt bad? Because Junior was a little sad? Cry me a rrrriver, you rrrridiculous little brat."
"What world is there to conquer if someone else takes it?"
"Excuses. Nothing but excuses. You're just like your mother was- excuse after excuse. I could've changed her, I could've molded her into something greater. And yet… You had to kill her."
Ivo's breath hitched. "Stop."
"You destrrrroyed this family. Then again, if not the birth, I'm sure Iliana would've died from heartbreak and disgust at what came from her body. You have that affect on people."
"Stop!"
"And then, how you killed me. You should've done better. You led that rrrrodent and his frrriends to my laboratory to kill me. You wanted me to die!"
Ivo balled his fists tightly. "…Yes. I did."
"Ah, you finally admit it. You got your wish, and look what you've done with it."
"I… I lived."
"Is this really living? Hiding away like a sniveling coward?"
"It's… It's still life. I'm still breathing."
"Useless, useless, useless. How sad. I suppose you brought me here for guidance? To be your leader again? It's the least you could do after you killed me."
Ivo put his hand over his face, hunched over, his breathing slowing.
"…Junior. Junior. Look at me."
The doctor didn't move, staying in one spot. Behind him, Orbot was covering his eyes and Cubot was covering the sides of his head, as if covering his ears.
"I gave you an order! Look at me!"
Slowly, suddenly, Ivo started chuckling deeply. Even unable to make proper facial expressions, the tone of voice the Hedroid had started to shift into confusion.
"What do you think you're doing? Answer me. ANSWER ME!"
"You killed yourself."
Ivo moved his hand, looking upon Julian while still chuckling, smiling.
"Excuse me? Who do you—"
"Shut up, you poor excuse for a biologist." Ivo replied calmly. "You know what I just realized? You only got to where you were when you died by cheating. You cheated me out of a childhood to be your subordinate. You cheated my mother out of a happy life by impregnating her. You cheated Cousin Snively out of his inheritence to take it yourself. You even cheated grandfather out of his own marriage by terrorizing his wife, and my grandmother died having no contact with anyone in my family ever again."
"You little… You little…!"
"But the funniest part, and you're gonna love this…" With his foot, Ivo pulled the chair he was in earlier to the front of him, sitting it in backwards so his arms were resting on the chair's back. "…is that everything you ever did in your life was purely to try and feel better than other people. From destroying your parents' marriage, to cheating your brother's offspring out of his money. To abusing my late mother and me. You did it all to feel big. And now look at you… merely a memory in my head, now made manifest."
"Junior—"
"My name is Doctor Ivo Julian Robotnik!" Ivo yelled back, making the room go silent. "You want to know what's pathetic? Having to wear down your son just so you can feel accomplished in life. I did everything to help you, up until the very end, trying to keep you from draining Sonic's power. But you couldn't let yourself just be content with not being the smartest man in the room. You had to prove everyone wrong. And that's how you died- a sad, egotistical maniac with a grudge against a hedgehog. Pa-thetic."
Ivo stood up again, a Big Arm forming around his hand to toss the chair aside so he could walk up to the Hedroid. He stared down at it, illuminated by its glow.
"You're nothing. Not anymore. Everything you did was to make me follow in your footsteps, but now… I realize I shouldn't listen to you. I really shouldn't, and you know why?"
"You…"
"Because I'm better than you. And I always have been. That's why you kept wearing me down, because you knew I was better. You did everything you could to try and make a man with a 300 IQ bend to your will, because your own IQ clearly didn't even hit double digits… and now look at you. You're nothing but an afterthought. But I'm still here; And I'm going to make sure everyone knows just how 'better than you' I am."
Ivo put his nanite-covered hand over the face of the Hedroid head, gripping onto it.
"Wh-What are you doing?!"
"Catching up with the rest of the world. Forgetting about you."
With a long growl and extended pull, Ivo peeled the head off of his worktable, snapping multiple wires as he did so. He held the head in his hand, staring into the glowing red eyes as the entire head started flickering on and off.
"NOOOoooo—"
Julian's fading voice ended abruptly as Ivo threw the head onto the ground. It landed with a hollow whack, a massive crack coming up from the side of it, but ending before it could fully snap in half. The Hedroid's lights flickered before finally turning off.
Ivo brought his foot up and stomped through the head, snapping it in half fully. The Big Arm dissolved from his sleeve, allowing Ivo to put his hands behind his back as he twisted his boot into the floor, grinding the circuitry to dust.
"Goodbye, Julian." Ivo preened.
Silence came across the lab. Ivo wiped his boot on the floor nearby to get the remains of the Hedroid off of him. He kicked the larger bits of the robot head away from him.
"I'm going to start working on another intelligence system. Unless… you two have an issue?"
The question was laced with ice. It was clear that if Orbot or Cubot did have an issue, it wouldn't even matter, and if they protested against it… who knows what the consequences would be?
"No, sir!"
"No objections here, boss."
"Good. I suggest you two get the broom and start sweeping. Figure something out."
Ivo turned back to his computer and started typing up the code to a new program- this one would be one unlike any he'd ever built before. One that, while partially based on his personality, wouldn't have the pitfalls of his previous projects at all. His magnum opus.
Next to him, the countdown finally hit zero. The people onscreen cheered.
"HAPPY NEW YEAR!"
When Bokkun returned to his shack in Knothole, he never expected to see a line of people waiting out of it.
He had been gone for two days at the very most, dealing with the people in Blue Marine that speak so weirdly… Bokkun didn't know they were speaking with French accents, but then again, he didn't know what the word "accent" meant regardless.
Bokkun had expected that this mystery guy would cause a bit of a ruckus in the village due to his appearance, but he never expected people to line up to see him!
"Hey, c'mon, coming through!"
Flying through the crowd, he kicked someone's head as he passed by, kicking off to fly further in. He had to fly around to the back, heading through the kitchen, where he saw piles of many different supplies collecting- from foods, to cloth, to medical things.
In the back room, a table had been set up, where Ivo was currently sitting and working on something. As Bokkun swooped in, he could see that the object he was working on was a small clock. Ivo handed the clock back to a badger.
"Here's your clock back, Granny Pecan."
"Thank you, Mister Tinker! Now I can finally get my mining schedule back to normal…"
Bokkun fluttered down and stood next to where Ivo was sitting at. When that happened, the doctor noticed the bat, his eyebrows raising.
"Oh! Hello there, Bokkun."
"Your name is Tinker?"
"No, that's just a nickname. I needed a name while I was here, and I felt that worked the best."
"You already had a name!"
"I wanted a name better than 'Mr. Weirdoface'." Ivo scoffed.
"Well, whatever. I saw all the stuff in the kitchen!"
"Yes! It appears that the people are eager to trade supplies they have in order to have their things fixed! I do love a good bartering system."
"I saw a lotta fish. How about we take the fish, and throw it on top of the roofs in town? So the entire main street starts to smell like fish?" Bokkun could barely hold back his amusement, stifling a chuckle.
"I was actually planning to eat that fish, Bokkun."
"Oh. Well what if we take the yarn and toss it all over the trees to mess up the bridges?"
"I need the yarn."
"Oh. Well what if… What if…" Bokkun frowned. "Phooey. I don't have any more ideas. Why don't you wanna have any funny fun?"
"I'm busy, Bokkun." Ivo gestured the next person in line. "This is the best way I can get things for myself. Why don't you stay here for the night and help me out?"
Bokkun frowned deeper. He huffed and crossed his arms, before walking away, right out of the room. Ivo watched him push past the different people making the line, and sighed. He was acting like a child, having to share his toy… The doctor supposed that he was, in fact, like a toy to Bokkun.
"Next in line?"
A toy was tossed on his table. Mister Tinker got to work.
With the villagers of Knothole in need, Mister Tinker was there and ready to fix whatever they needed fixed. That included things like clocks, compasses, coffee makers. Ivo put his knowledge of DIYing to the test as he fixed all of these, one after another, with the payment being whatever these people could trade him. Mister Tinker was apparently very eager to help, and happy to please.
It was all a facade. Ivo was really, really annoyed. Why was everyone so stupid?
He began to think this when he got his tenth clock. In a row. All with the same problem- they just needed to wind it back to the normal time. But none of them knew how to do it.
Ivo had to explain this to them, and it was clear they didn't get it. He gave up telling them what was wrong after the fiftieth blank expression he suffered. He fixed watches with broken latches, opened "broken" necklaces that were merely difficult to undo, and fixed so… so many wheels. So many wheels with a simple problem. Some wheels with no problem at all!
Why was everyone so stupid?
Was it just him? Was it just Ivo? These issues were so glaringly obvious to him that he had to keep himself from facepalming himself so many times- he would usually do so in normal circumstances, but since he was bunking with a childlike bat, he needed the resources. Then again, if he facepalmed himself the amount of times he wanted to, he would've surely given himself brain damage.
Yet, at the same time, the more he saw how useless and dumb these people are… the better he felt about himself. They were coming to him for help… they needed his guidance. They sought out his wisdom, unlike the humans on the planet he came from. It reminded him of his worth as his intelligence was being put to good use.
He was made for this. To be the paragon for those who weren't as intellectually gifted as him. His intelligence was a gift… needed to be used to lead those below him.
"Next in line?"
A spearhead slammed on the table.
Chief Lupe Wolf was staring down Ivo on the other side of his work station. She apparently waited in line the entire time, and was now here to confront the doctor during his work.
"Hello, Mister Tinker." She said. "I see you've been busy."
"Hello, Chief Wolf. Yes, I have been." Ivo kept a cool head. "Do you need me to look over your spear?"
"No." She deadpanned. "This little business you've set up is… respectable. But don't think this absolves you of any possible wrongdoing. My girls are still watching you."
"I don't doubt that."
"Good. Because if even one of these people's things are made up to hurt them, I'll rain ten times the amount of pain you cause upon you. Be well assured about that, 'Mister Tinker'."
Lupe snatched her spear back, glaring at Ivo as she moved before sharply turning and walking out. She shoved past the line of people that was still piling in, leaving the shack and letting Ivo get back to work.
The doctor didn't blame Lupe for being suspicious. But she wasn't being suspicious of the right things. If he was going to do something to the village, it would already be done- he wasn't going to play the long game for a community of Mobians who apparently didn't even have basic cable.
He was going to find a way out of… wherever he was. But for right now, to make sure he was taken care of, he was going to be Mister Tinker.
Working through the line, Ivo fixed the appliances and gadgets of the citizens until the line ended when it started to get dark. He hadn't seen Bokkun or Lupe again, and when investigating the house, it seemed that Bokkun was pouting in his room.
That kid was a bit of a brat. Ivo wouldn't hire him for his empire.
After putting the respective foodstuffs in Bokkun's fridge, Ivo returned to the auxiliary room- now his craft room. In the corner, on a coat stand given to him by a local carpenter, Ivo rummaged through his flight suit's jacket once he knew it was safe.
He retrieved something he knew was preserved- his phone. He bought one of those super durable phone cases that he suped up to be resistant to everything. Ivo turned the phone on, sitting back at the table.
It didn't have the sensors he would typically have in an airship or satellite, but the phone detected a significant dimensional shift when the Hawk Ship crashed. Whever Ivo was, it was in an entirely different dimension. How on Earth did that happen?
No matter, he'd discover that later. While he was here, and finally free from worrying about his father's influence from beyond the grave, why not take advantage of the kindness of strangers? Ivo did just help save the world from the Black Arms. He deserves a little staycation.
His objective to look for Sonic on the backburner, Ivo decided to use his newly acquired vacation to work on something he had been avoiding out of fear for a long, long time. He accessed the files on his phone, bringing up some old drawings he had saved.
Picking up a roll of paper, he unraveled it so there was a long strip of paper across the table. He sat down, keeping the phone nearby as he sketched. Ivo didn't need any sleep, having taken plenty of it the previous night, so he spent dusk sketching out the place of his dreams.
He put a massive sign that said "ROBOTNIKLAND" in the very front.
Rollercoasters, ferris wheels, carousels. Ivo felt the old love he had for amusement parks come back tenfold as he finally stopped thinking about what Julian wanted- he was thinking about what Ivo wanted. What Ivo needed.
He had these plans in his head ever since he was ten years old. Ivo had been hiding them in the recesses of his mind since then as Julian was keen to destroy anything Ivo made that didn't follow Julian's own plans for what Ivo would become.
Now they were on paper. When he finally led the people of Earth, he was going to make the biggest, baddest amusement park there ever was. Ones with big rollercoasters, and statues of himself, and mountains made of sweets…
Man, he really wanted to make this park. Did he really have to wait for his empire to spread across the planet? He really wanted to make it as soon as he could.
His excitement was palpable, but he tempered himself at the memory that people would most likely not come to an amusement park that was blatantly run by someone like Eggman. Robotnikland as a name was just the WIP, he'd have to come up with something different.
As for the face of the park… It should be someone drastically different than himself. Maybe someone that was a Mobian, or looked like one. It should attract younger people, so maybe it could be a puppet of some kind… Yeah, a puppet with no strings would be easy to make.
The people seemed to be attracted to his friendly outfit- pink and green. His hand fluttered as he crafted the perfect mascot for his theme park. All he needed was a name.
Outside, the bell tower rang out- this one meant it was curfew, and the Wolf Pack would be patrolling to see if anyone was still out after dark. Ivo knew this well, he was nearly caught the night prior while trying to get a look at the town.
Ivo lifted his head, listening to the bell ring in the distance. He smiled as he thought to himself, and wrote down the name for his puppet-like mascot, right next to her body, and spoke it into existence.
"Belle."
DAYS PRIOR…
Ivo's magnum opus was completed.
The artificial intelligence system he crafted was a true work of majesty and art. It took cues from his own thought process, but coded to gather information and come to conclusions itself. It was like it had a personality based on Ivo, but reaching out to become its own thing.
He had titivated and touched up the project over the last week or so in order to make it perfect. Ivo had worked on it so long, developed it so closely, that it was was practically a part of him now. It was like this thing was his baby!
And yet…
The popping of confetti blasters came from behind Ivo, though the doctor didn't react, sending paper streamers into the air and fluttering down. Cubot tried blowing into a party blower, but without lungs, it didn't work. Orbot spun a noisemaker around.
"Congratulations, doctor!"
"Yeah, great job, boss!" Cubot's voice was all back to normal.
Having finished the duo's bodies in his free time, both Orbot and Cubot were now floating freely within Ivo's base. They had geared up for the conclusion of this AI's development, and wanted to celebrate accordingly when Ivo finally announced he was done.
Orbot grabbed a box of donuts from nearby, opening up the top to reveal that the donuts all had Ivo's face logo imprinted on the top with icing. Celebratory donuts, clearly.
"To celebrate your success!"
Ivo took a donut and took a bite of it, his eyebrows furrowed as he continued to stay in thought.
He finally finished his greatest creation yet. When he launched the program, and saw everything run perfectly, he felt accomplished… for a second. Now he just felt… empty.
"Feeling unaccomplished, doctor?"
Orbot's question piqued Ivo's mind. He finished the puff in one bite, chewing and swallowing before turning to his spherical aide.
"How did you know?"
"I don't need your mental scans to know what your expressions mean. I was crafted with a part of your mind, after all."
"It just doesn't make sense." Ivo knuckled his mustache. "This is my greatest creation yet! The apple of my eye! It's proof that I'm no longer weighed down by my guilt or my negative feelings… but why do I feel nothing?"
"Probably because this was just a distraction." Cubot replied. "Y'know, like how you distracted yourself with work and stuff back when your dad was alive?"
"Cubot makes an excellent point." Orbot added. "Working on robots, and machines, it was all escapism back in the day to leave your awful situation. But now, you've left Julian behind, so there's no reason for you to 'win' against anything."
"I don't want to win, I just want to make things I enjoy again. This… system, it was meant to be the first step towards that. I enjoyed making this."
"Maybe it goes deeper?"
"What about with Sonic? You were still dwelling on him before your dad took the show. Are you still mad at him for what happened with Julian?"
"No, Sonic didn't kill my father, his hubris and stupidity did. However…" Ivo stopped fiddling. "Yes, that's it. That must be it. The reason I feel so unsettled is because I never recieved closure from that."
"You think so, boss?"
"A year ago, I was so intent on killing Sonic I was willing to destroy the world. I don't want him to think we're best friends or something, but I want to face him. To speak with him. To close that chapter of my life involving Julian. To start anew."
"You don't wanna be 'Julian Junior' anymore, you want him to know you as Ivo!" Cubot added.
"Yes, exactly, thank you Cubot. And maybe, along the way… I can find out exactly who Ivo is." The doctor rubbed his chin. "One thing's for sure: I'm resubscribing to Amusement Parks monthly! But nevermind that. Computer!"
It was silent after Ivo called out to his AI system. After a moment, Ivo cleared his throat.
"I forgot, I gave you a name. My apologies." The doctor bowed a bit in regret. "Sage?"
"Yes, doctor?"
A softspoken female voice echoed from the speakers. Aptly named, the very intelligent computer system was designed to be Ivo's perfect confidant. It had its own personality, but nothing too expansive. He could probably work on that later- he became so fond of the system he wondered what conversations he could have with the AI.
"Use the satellite systems to track the ionic energy released from the plane created by Miles Prower."
"Already ahead of you, doctor." Sage replied. "Scans indicate a massive surge in the Caerulea Ocean. An archipelago has been marked on your personal GPS. I'm currently getting your prototype Hawk Ship ready to go."
"Excellent! Take notes, boys, that is how you be a good assistant! Well done, Sage!"
"Doctor, before you leave," Orbot called out. "Are you certain that locating Sonic will be the best course of action? Do you think he'll have what you're looking for?"
"Maybe. Maybe not. But at the very least, this trip will help me discover who I am… Or rediscover. I'll decide on the plane." Ivo paused, before turning to leave again. "Take care of the Rail Canyon and Sage while I'm gone. Hasta la bye bye!"
"Bye bye, boss!" Cubot did a big wave to see his boss off.
Silence came across the room as Ivo left to the hangar of the Rail Canyon. Slowly, Orbot and Cubot turned to the lab's main screen, which turned on to reveal a red screen with Sage's icon on it- a white vortex with a dark red eye to the lower right of it.
Orbot and Cubot looked at each other, the latter scratching the top of his flat head. The room rumbled as Ivo pulled off in his Hawk Ship, finally leaving the area.
"…How are you, Sage?" Cubot asked.
"All systems are fully operational."
"That's good."
"Do you wanna play blind man's bluff?" Cubot asked, pulling a playing card from his body's compartment.
"That would be… satisfactory."
Orbot perked up before turning to float out of the room.
"I'll get the other playing cards!"
"Yay! This'll be fun!" Cubot clapped his hands together.
"That is almost certain."
In the darkness of night, on the beach near Knothole, the wreckage of the Hawk Ship remained.
With its owner and creator forgetting about it, and the Mobians around him not knowing or caring, the ship was left to its own devices on the cold beach. Most of the ship had been lost between the dimensional jump, with just the cockpit, a wing and bits of pieces of other stuff strewn across the sand.
The cockpit, shaped like a hawk head, was on its side. The underside of the "head" was facing towards the woods that led to Knothole.
In the silence, the head called out.
"Internal 48-hour countdown concluded. Lack of interaction from creator Ivo J. Robotnik noted." A simulacrum of Sage's voice spoke. "Activating retrieval protocol."
Whirring suddenly echoed inside of the head. The hiss and clicks of something being formed inside the head echoed out to nobody around, unheard by anyone for miles.
Suddenly, there was a pair of slams, as four spikes popped out of the underside of the head, two at a time. The spikes pushed further, bending the metal outwards until it tore open to create a massive hole for what was trying to get out.
Its body was cylindrical, a design reminiscent of robots used during the Chaos Crisis. It had a slate gray body, with golden lettering on its side, including a symbol of a lowercase n with its right line down way too far.
The jackhammer arms of the robot clicked back into place, its golden eyes shining as it scanned the area around him. The computer voice spoke out once more from the cockpit as the robot trudged forwards to walk into the forest.
"E-106 'Eta' now active for retrieval protocol. Protocol objective: locate Dr. Robotnik. Eliminate any and all obstacles along the way."
UP NEXT: How To Slay Your Dragon!