-Chapter 145-
Sunblock Solution
Robotropolis
Three weeks had passed since the Space Colony ARK incident. Amino had spent the entire time locked in a cell deep within Citadel Robotnik. One day found him visited by Robotnik.
"Enjoying your stay, Doctor?" Robotnik asked.
"Not the first dungeon I've been left to rot in," Amino said casually.
"Shockingly, that doesn't surprise me," Robotnik confessed.
"So... what exactly do you plan to do with me, Ivo?"
"At the moment, I have more pressing matters to deal with. You're just staying in here until I can decide on just how useful you are to me, and whether or not it's worth the risk you might stab me in the back as you did my grandfather."
"I never meant for what happened-" Amino began.
"Ah-ah-ah." Robotnik held up a hand. "It doesn't matter. It happened, and that's that. More than that, it's clear you don't feel an ounce of remorse for what your actions caused."
"Do you?" Amino retorted. "Quite a bit of blood is on your hands as well, Doctor."
"Yes, but I always did so with purpose. With greater goals in mind. You sold my grandfather out and caused the ARK massacre out of nothing more than envy and spite."
"And that's not what you're doing? I seem to recall an incident where you hijacked an entire TV station because they portrayed you in a buffoonish manner."
"That was a one-off thing. The people of Mobius needed to know I'm not some silly Saturday-morning cartoon villain in real life." Robotnik shook his head. "The point is you've proven yourself untrustworthy, Amino. And you're staying here until further notice."
He stalked out of the cell, slamming it shut and locking it. He then began heading up into the main area of the citadel. There, he spotted Metal heading out of the kitchen, a tray of food in hand.
"I'm assuming that's for Agatha," he asked.
"Indeed," Metal nodded.
"Let me take it to her." Robotnik held out a hand.
"She's still upset with you," Metal pointed out.
"I'm well aware of that, Metal," Robotnik deadpanned.
Metal shrugged, then handed him the tray. "She's in launch bay 2, platform X."
"Thank you."
Robotnik headed that way, seeing Eggatha seated before and putting the finishing touches on a mini-rocket. He set the tray down and she didn't say a word, just focusing on her work.
"What are you working on, Agatha?" he asked.
Once again, she remained silent.
Robotnik sighed. "Look, I know you're angry with me. But Shadow will make a powerful ally, and if the Freedom Fighters found out, they'd storm the base and deprive us of his aid. I hope one day, you'll understand why I did this."
Agatha finished her final touches, then closed the panel on the mini rocket. She then turned to her uncle.
"I'm starting the launch sequence," she said simply. "I suggest leaving unless you want to get burned by the jet engines."
Robotnik nodded before heading out of the room. As he did, he heard the rocket power on, then take off into the sky. Eggatha exited not long after that.
"Metal!" she called. "It's time to go!"
Metal entered at that, taking her hand. Together, they walked out without so much as a goodbye. Curious and suspicious, Robotnik ventured into Eggatha's lab, opening her computer.
"Just what are you doing, my little morally grey niece…" he mused.
He cycled through her files, soon coming across the plans for the rocket. As he looked them over, he stroked his chin in thought.
"Hmmm... perhaps this could work in my favor."
Station Square
At the Thorndyke Mansion, Chris and Hope were having tea and discussing their latest projects when Mr. Tanaka entered.
"You two have a guest," he informed them.
Eggatha walked in, hand in hand with Metal.
"Hey Hope," she greeted.
"Aggie!" Hope greeted.
Chris tensed. "And Metal?!"
"Relax," Eggatha assured. "He's here as my protector, nothing more. Right, Metal?"
Metal nodded. "I'm off the clock as Badnik Horde Commander right now. You have nothing to fear from me."
"So, I take it you're finished?" Hope asked.
"Yep," Eggatha confirmed. "I need your help with step two though. If you don't mind."
"Sure," Hope replied. "Right away."
"Wait, what's going on?" Chris asked, confused.
"Just let the girls work," Metal told him. "You'll see."
Across Mobius, various monitors flickered on and off before their images were replaced with Eggatha's.
"Good morning, people of Mobius," she greeted politely. "As you may know, I am Agatha Robotnik, niece of Dr. Ivo Robotnik. Some of you with the proper technology may have noticed a rocket that was recently launched from our base. Have no fear. It's my way of mending the moon after my uncle blew it up during the ARK incident. It wasn't easy, but with a little luck and a whole lot of elbow grease, I'll have it patched up in a jiffy."
The monitor then switched to show the moon, still in half after what happened. The rocket struck the center of the severed half, then something began to happen. Large pieces of metal began to extend outward, curving perfectly into the second half of the moon.
"I even installed specialized engines to help the moon regain its original orbit," Eggatha added. "With luck, Mobius will soon see a regulation in tides and weather patterns. And don't worry. There's no catch, no plot, no strings. My uncle is a genius, but he has an uncanny tendency to pull off grand gestures without planning for or considering the long-term consequences. Blowing up the moon with the Eclipse Cannon demonstrates that perfectly. Thank you all, and have a good day."
All the TVs returned to normal.
Knothole
At Freedom HQ, Hope and Chris explained what happened.
"So Eggatha's been working on a way to patch up the moon this whole time?" Tails asked.
"Yep," Hope confirmed. "She just needed my help with calculations, trajectory, and finding the proper orbital placement."
"And making sure the missile wasn't shot out of the air," Chris added.
"Um, it's nice that she fixed it," Cream began. "But do we really need a full moon that badly?"
"Yes, actually," Keith confirmed. "You see, the moon is best friends with the ocean, and the ocean was really sad when the moon got hurt. So it stopped making waves. It even began to leave the shore, not wanting to do anything without its friend. But now that the moon is full again, the ocean's happy and is making waves again."
"In plain talk, the moon regulates high and low tide," Sonic said bluntly. "Without the moon, the tides were all messed up and would've resulted in big floods and the like. Like Eggatha said, Eggman did not think his cunning plan all the way through."
"What he has in smarts, he lacks in basic common sense," Hope mused.
"I'm just glad someone figured out how to fix the moon," Tails remarked. "I was wracking my brain trying to solve that particular mystery."
"Aggie had it covered," Hope said. "Eggman's rubbing off on her. She keeps calling her little creation the Egg Moon."
They all shared a laugh.
"I just hope that's all that she gets from Eggman," Sonic confessed.
Three days passed without incident. The Egg Moon functioned as Eggatha promised, and life went on. Then, on the fourth day, dawn never came. The day remained plunged in darkness, much to everyone's surprise. Sonic looked up at the sky.
"Who turned out the sun?" he asked.
He then took a closer look and his eyes widened.
"Wait a minute…" he realized. "The sun hasn't been turned off... it's being blocked!"
Indeed, the Egg Moon was eclipsing the sun, cutting off its light. Sonic's fists clenched at the sight. He then zipped all around Knothole, waking everyone up. When they saw the endless eclipse, everyone began to panic.
"Hope... you don't think Eggatha had something to do with this, do you?" Sally asked.
"I... I don't think so," Hope said uncertainly. "Maybe?"
"Only one way to find out," Tails declared.
Robotropolis
Robotnik was sitting on his throne when the doors were suddenly blown open by Shorty's cannon. The Freedom Fighters stormed in.
"Must you always be so dramatic?" Robotnik demanded. "Agatha's still asleep, you know."
"Wake her up," Sonic ordered. "We need to talk with her."
"Are you nuts?" Robotnik asked. "It's still dark out, and she's still growing!" He scoffed. "And you call me the villain."
"It's still dark out because her Egg Moon is blocking out the sun!" Tails snapped.
Robotnik blinked. "Wait, what?"
He checked his watch, seeing it was almost 10:30 am.
"I just thought it was daylight savings," he said. "You sure it's not just a solar eclipse or anything like that?"
"Eggman, you're smarter than that," Chris retorted. "The moon and Mobius are in constant orbit. If the Egg Moon had stopped or whatever, it wouldn't keep blocking the sun like it has."
"Right, right," Robotnik conceded. "I'll wake her up."
He left, coming back a few minutes later with a groggy Eggatha. She was in black footie pajamas covered in images of nuts, bolts, and Robotnik's insignia, and her hair was wilder than normal. She yawned, rubbing her eyes before addressing the group.
"What's all the fuss?"
"The Egg Moon, Aggie," Hope explained. "It's been eclipsing the sun since daybreak."
That woke Eggatha up.
"What?!"
She quickly scrambled over to her laptop, opening it and accessing the Egg Moon's mainframe. What she saw sent her into a full blown panic.
"No, no, no, no! Something's tampering with the guidance system! I don't have any control over it!"
"So it's just an engine malfunction?" Sally questioned.
"I swear, I never planned this. I just wanted to fix the moon, but something's caused the engines to go out of control and block the sun. You have to believe me."
Hope looked her in the eyes, reading her expression before nodding.
"Okay. I believe you."
"Intentional or not, this is a massive issue," Tails pointed out. "With the eclipse in place, we'll have even more problems then we did when the moon was broken."
"Well, we'll have to work on that issue, won't we?" Robotnik remarked.
"And why should we trust you?" Sonic demanded.
"Would you rather the eclipse remain in place and everyone on Mobius freeze to death in darkness?" Robotnik asked rhetorically.
Sonic's eyes narrowed, but he remained silent.
"I'll focus on a way to provide some means of sunshine to the planet," Robotnik decided. "This will leave the rest of you free to figure out just what is causing Agatha's Egg Moon to go against her."
Sonic seemed about to retort, but Sally touched his shoulder.
"Sounds like a plan," she agreed. "C'mon, we don't have time to lose. Eggatha, why don't you come with us? You can set up at the Thorndykes and work with the Brain Trust."
"Metal goes with her as an escort," Robotnik insisted.
"Right," Eggatha nodded. "I'll do what I can to fix this. But it'll take time. I'll have to run tests, write new software. If we act hastily, no telling what could happen."
"Get what you need, as well as some clothes," Sally insisted. "And Metal can come, but he remains in guard mode only. Any hostile actions, and he's scrap, got it Eggman?"
Robotnik nodded. "Yes, of course."
Eggatha quickly packed a suitcase and headed out with the group. As they cleared the city limits, Sonic turned to Sally.
"Sal, you can't honestly buy into anything Eggman says," he insisted. "I've got a gut feeling he's up to something."
"We don't know for sure," Sally replied. "But we won't rule it out. Just be patient. We'll get to the bottom of this."
Sonic just barely managed to keep from reminding her that patience was not one of his virtues.
Station Square
A few days later, the Freedom Fighters had gathered at the Thorndyke Mansion to discuss things, and were currently watching news coverage of the eclipse.
"For several days now, the endless eclipse has blocked all sunlight from reaching our planet," Scarlet said. "But thanks to the work of Dr. Robotnik, our world will soon be bathed in a new form of light."
She was handed a piece of paper. "And now, a word from our sponsor."
The screen cut to a commercial, a cutesy rendition of the Robotnik Empire insignia along with the words "Robotnik TV Shopping" on screen.
"Are you feeling bad because it's always night?" the 6-S sang offscreen. "Robotnik TV Shopping helps you see the light!"
Kat snorted a Chao Cola she was drinking, coughing a bit. Keith patted her back a few times, just staring at the TV.
"You've gotta be joking…" he muttered.
"So he's graduated from amusement parks of doom to home shopping," Amy remarked, unsure of what to make of the spectacle.
The scene on the screen cut to Robotnik and the 6-S in a sunny environment.
"Living in the dark is not only depressing and a public safety hazard, but is bad for your lawn too! The solution…"
He left the screen, allowing Scratch and Grounder to pull the cover off of an object, revealing a spherical object on a pole.
"Ta-daa!" The two declared, gesturing to the strange device.
"The Sunshine Ball!" Robotnik cheered. "Thanks to my new invention, even the dingiest darkness can now be filled with luscious luminosity."
"Copyright Robotnik Enterprises, patent pending, all rights reserved, some restrictions apply," Cubot declared, speaking with the voice of an auctioneer.
Orbot just pulled out a kazoo, playing two notes on it, and launching a small burst of confetti.
"If you call within the next twenty minutes, you can take advantage of our special offer!" Coconuts promised.
"New customers are eligible for free delivery, and installation is half-price," Decoe informed the camera.
"I wish I could offer installation for free also, but the robot union won't let me," Robotnik quipped.
"We robots gotta pay for oil too, y'know!" Bocoe pointed out.
"Call to order your Sunshine Ball today," Orbot concluded. "Our operators are standing by."
The phone number 1-88-ROBOTNIK appeared on-screen.
"Well, at least he finally found a proper use for those buffoons," Metal remarked from where he was leaning against the wall.
"I knew it!" Sonic exclaimed. "I knew Robotnik was behind this! This was his plan all along!"
"A TV infomercial?" Knuckles questioned.
"These Sunshine Balls! He's actually charging people for freaking sunlight!" he jumped up. "Well, I ain't buying anything with his sleazy name on it!"
"But you'll need sunlight," Eggatha pointed out. "Especially for the Chao. I'm sure their gardens aren't doing well without sunlight."
"I'm with Sonic on this one," Sticks agreed. "The Eggman's up to somethin', I know it!"
"Up to something or not, these Sunshine Balls may be our only chance of getting some actual sunlight until we get to the bottom of this mystery," Sally said. "We may need to bite the bullet and buy one. If for no other reason then for the Chao Garden on Azure Lake."
Sonic was flabbergasted before shaking his head.
"No, no, NO!" he screamed. "Eggman's the bad guy! Anything he invents is evil! We smash them up and kick his ass, and that's it!"
"Sonic!" Sally snapped. "Will you just calm down, sit down, and think for once in your life?!"
Sonic sighed before doing so. Sally ran a hand through her hair.
"Look, I don't trust Robotnik any more than you do," she admitted. "But the fact is we need sunlight. This isn't about trusting him. This is about survival."
"Sally's right," Rotor agreed. "Without the sun, we'll lack a massive amount of Vitamin C."
"She's right, Sonic," Tails pointed out. "Whether we trust Eggman or not, we need those Sunshine Balls. But, if it'll make you feel better, we'll buy an extra one for the sole purpose of dismantling it and making sure it's legit."
"Wow…" Metal vented. "I can't believe I'm about to say this, but you should listen to your friends, Sonic. I may not care what happens to you or the rest of the Freedom Fighters, but I know Agatha needs sunlight, and since she's stuck with you guys until the end of this crisis, I would prefer to know that she's okay."
"I didn't ask for comments from the peanut gallery, Metal!" Sonic snapped before sighing. "Alright, fine. You win."
"I'll make a call," Chris decided. "How many do we need?"
Sally sighed. "Too many."
Robotropolis
At Citadel Robotnik, they were being flooded from calls all over. Cubot was handling the calls, rapid-firing claims and whatnot in his auctioneer voice.
"I have fifty!" he said quickly. "Do I hear fifty-five?! Fifty-five Mobiums for a brand-spanking new Sunshine Ball!"
"How's it coming, Cubot?" Robotnik asked.
"Coming along great, Doctor!" Cubot exclaimed. "I suspect we'll be out of Sunshine Balls before the day is up!"
"At this rate, the Mirror Towers I have set up may not be enough to gather the necessary solar output," Robotnik noted. "I may need to construct some more. Orbot! Get me a line with the United Federation President! We need to talk about funding for a new set of Mirror Towers!"
"Right away," Orbot assured him.
Just then, Bokkun came flying it, laughing and cheering with a big grin on his face.
"Doctor! Doctor!" he exclaimed. "You're never going to believe who just called and ordered several Sunshine Balls! The Freedom Fighters!"
"Well, well, well," Robotnik mused. "So Sonic swallowed his pride for the betterment of his team. That must have been a blow. Send out a team to have them installed immediately! After all, we are partners now."
"You got it!"
-X-
Some time later, the 6-S members were discussing who would go where to install the Mirror Towers.
"No way!" Coconuts exclaimed. "I ain't going to Angel Island, or within a hundred yards of that hell-Kat!"
"Well, I'm not!" Scratch insisted. "She plucked me last time! And I don't even have actual feathers!"
"Gentlemen, there's only one way to solve this," said Grounder. "Rock-Donut-Thursday."
They all nodded, raising their arms. "Rock, Donut, Thursday, SHOOT!"
Angel Island
Sometime later, Bocoe and Decoe were installing the Azure Lake Sunshine ball, under the watchful eye of Locke and Drake.
"Man, we lucked out," Bocoe remarked. "I thought for sure she'd be here."
"Yeah, super lucky," Decoe agreed.
"Now watch it. It's wobbly," Bocoe told his partner. "We'll have to install it at the base. Remember: righty tighty, lefty loosey."
"I know, I know," Decoe shot back. "I'm not Cubot."
Station Square
Before long, Station Square was dotted with Sunshine Balls, illuminating the otherwise darkened city. The duo installed one at the Thorndyke Mansion before turning to Sonic and the others.
"So you ordered a spare," Decoe remarked. "So, you ordered a spare or whatever. I'm guessing for your base in Knothole. Transport there will be an extra hundred Mobiums."
Kat appeared at that moment, looming behind Sonic with a dark grin.
"Oh, no you don't," she said. "We were told free delivery. So we're gonna get it for free. And if you don't drop it in the next five seconds, I'm flattening you both into frisbees for Muttski. One-"
Decoe and Bocoe immediately handed it over.
"Pleasure doing business with you. Have a nice day."
Both fled as fast as they could.
"Ah, intimidation at its finest," Kat sighed.
Porker picked up the dropped Sunshine Ball. "Now, let's see what makes these things tick."
"Just keep it away from Metal," Sonic warned. "I'm not sure that I trust him. Sure he may be here just to keep an eye on Eggatha, but for all we know, Robuttnik is spying through his eyes."
"Sheesh," Knuckles let out. "You're starting to sound like Sticks."
"I know Eggman better than anyone, Knuckles," Sonic shot back. "He's rotten to the core, and only cares about establishing his empire. Just you wait. Tails and the brains will dismantle the Sunshine Ball, and we'll have proof that this whole thing was just a cover for another 'conquer Mobius' scheme."
Author's Note:
Yep, an adaptation of Sonic X's Egg Moon arc. With a few adjustments here and there.
For starters, the characters are smarter. The only reason Robotnik's Egg Moon/Sunshine Ball scam got half as far as it did in the show is because no one, not even the most intellectual of characters like Tails or Chris' grandpa, remembered that both the moon and the Earth are in constant orbit, and if it had malfunctioned and stopped it would not remain stationary to the planet's sunlight as a result. Sonic himself has to point this out to them, and he only does so after smashing up the Mirror Towers, making himself public enemy #1, and fighting off GUN and Knuckles like a maniac. Here, the Egg Moon was a genuine attempt at repair and doing good by Eggatha; Robotnik just takes advantage of it.
Next chapter, the Freedom Fighters take apart the Sunshine Ball to see what makes it tick, while Team Chaotix does a little investigating of their own.
Please R&R. Until next time!
