20 Minutes Earlier…

Tristan frowned as he looked over the photos.

'I'm playing games with people's lives,' he thought to himself. 'Even if I don't plan to go through with this.'

He wished that he had been able to join Tea in getting a breath of fresh air. He desperately wanted to talk with her and go over the plan that had been forming in his head. He worried that she thought he was buying into Johnson's garbage. That he was actually thinking about making trades to determine who on the blimp was safe and who had their lives taken. As much as Tea had changed in recent months, thanks to spending more time with Edwin as well as the events of Earth-2, she still tended to look at things at face value. When Edwin lied she believed him… and Edwin tended to lie a lot. He had been hopefully that eventually she would figure it out and realize how much he played them all but she never did.

'Edwin even tried to teach her how to lie herself…'

He remembered well that day.

~One Month Ago~

"Grandpa, are you sure this is something you want Edwin to teach us?" Yugi asked nervously.

"Of course it is!" Mr. Muto said firmly from his chair, the teens all sitting on the floor and Edwin holding court in front of them. "This is a great skill to have!"

"But lying is… wrong," Yugi said.

"The people that believe lying is wrong are the ones that fall for the lies," Solomon said.

"Yeah but gramps," Joey chimed in, "Yug could use what he learns here ta trick ya!"

"I wouldn't do that!" Yugi protested.

"He could decided ta tell ya all sorts of whoopers! Tell ya that him and Tea are just goin' ta the movies when really they are off at Make Out Point!"

"I wouldn't do that either!" Yugi exclaimed.

"And why not?" Mr. Muto snapped, glowering at Yugi. "Tea is a pretty girl… she isn't going to wait around forever for you to make the first move, Yugi!"

"Grandpa!" Yugi exclaimed in embarrassment while Tea blushed.

Tristan though shook his head. "This is such a weird conversation."

"I agree," Bakura stated; he had joined them for the talk and was looking rather awkward about it.

"But Gramps, Yug could lie about other things! Like where the money from the register went-"

"I'm not stealing from my grandpa!" Yugi whined.

"-or sneakin' beers-"

"Ugh, no thanks," Yugi said in disgust.

"-or other things."

Edwin chose that moment to speak up. "If Yugi is able to tell a lie that Solomon believes then he needs to be shipped to a nursing home because he can't manage himself anymore." The teens all looked at him and Edwin scoffed. "Rule One when it comes to being a Liar, kids: A Liar can tell another Liar."

Mr. Muto nodded sagely at that. "You might not know exactly what the lie is… but you will know that someone is prone to lying."

Tristan frowned at that. "So… can you trick a liar then?"

Edwin nodded. "You can, if you are clever and then are off their game. But that gets into the territory of Confidence Man and while I'll be showing you some of the tricks… you aren't ready to pull those hustles." Edwin paused. "Pegasus… I was able to trick him. Make him think I was a private investigator. If he had been in his right mind and not so focused on you, Yugi, or saving his wife or the tournament or anything else… he would have never fallen for it. That should have been my first clue that something was wrong with him." Edwin shrugged that. "It doesn't matter though for this conversation."

Tea finally spoke up. "But why do we need to learn any of this?"

"Because we are living in dangerous times," Edwin said firmly, his tone making it clear he wouldn't accept any backtalk from them on this subject. "You think Pegasus is going to be the only one that hungers for the Millennium Puzzle? It has been whispered about for thousands of years and that means there are going to be people that have heard about it and want to claim it. And even though you four-" he gestured at everyone but Yugi, "-don't hold Millennium Puzzle you are friends with Yugi. That means that you will be targets. Weapons to be used against him. So being able to lie will help you." He paused at that. "It might just save your life.

"Lie, cheat, steal. Do whatever you need to. I'm not saying to make that your sole method of functioning. I'm not suggesting you five all cheat at math tests and steal from your classmates or anything like that. This is a tool… a weapon to use. Lying is like Monster Reborn: you use it when you need to and not a second sooner."

"I… guess that makes sense," Yugi admitted. "I mean, its no different than bluffing someone during duel monsters."

"Right. And there are other times it will help you." Tristan didn't miss Edwin glancing at Joey and Tristan at once understood: sometimes, to avoid his drunken father's blows, a lie might help out Joey.

'And then there is the fact that Joey is going to be getting into situations where it won't be safe for his dad to know anything,' Tristan thought. 'I can see that bastard ratting Joey out if it meant getting some booze money.' But as soon as he thought that he also thought of his own parents… and how it might be wise for them not to know everything he was doing. If only to keep them from worrying about him.

"Now, we're going to start by understanding how to craft a lie. Because you can be the best actor in the world but if your lie is unbelievable than it isn't going to work out for you at all. So… lesson the first: A lie should be better than the truth."

"Better than the truth?" Bakura said, confused.

"Exactly," Edwin stated. "People want to believe lies. Lies are more entertaining than the real world. Mom and dad put the money under your pillow and toss away your baby teeth? Or that there is this magical little fairy who collects them and leaves you money to celebrate that milestone? We want to believe that the magician can saw a woman in half and she'll be fine and dandy. That a man can fly without wings. Life is mundane and sometimes a bit of whimsy and magic make it so much better. That's what makes a good lie… the person doesn't question it because they want to believe it is true. They want it to be reality. So that when it is revealed to be a fake and you a fraud they are mad not because they were sucked in but because they want to live in the reality where its true. Heh… sometimes they'll still believe, even after you've been caught out, because they prefer the lie to reality. It's the comfort. The kindness.

"Lesson the Second: A good lie is so wrapped up in truths that it is impossible for one to truly find out what the lie is. Why waste your time an energy creating a bunch of insane lies when the truth often will help you out just as easily?" Edwin paused and considered them all for another moment. "Tristan, did I ever tell you about the time I almost died riding a four wheeler?" He shook his head. "I grew up in farm country. Fields as far as the eye could see. And my grandpa, who lived next door to us, had lanes I could drive down to get to the farmland that was already worked so I could just race around, having fun. Well, the lane had to pass over a ditch… and I don't mean those pathetic little ditches that you see on the side of the road that are like a foot deep. I am talking 6 to 7 feet deep ditches and they are 5 to 6 feet across. Deep ditches.

"So I am driving along on my blue four wheeler and I'm going fast and something just tells me… well, I'm going to fall in the ditch. I had never had that feeling but I had it. Kept going. Ignoring the feeling. And sure enough I get too close to the edge and I slide in. Last thing I remember was some white PVC piping that was sticking out, not sure its use, coming right towards my head.

"When I come to I'm in the bottom of the ditch in the puddle. My right leg is on a cinderblock and the four wheeler has pinned my leg on the cinderblock; its flipped completely over. I scream for help but no one can hear me and I realize if I don't do something I will be stuck out there for hours. I don't know when someone would find me. And I refuse to lie there. Nothing is broken. Nothing hurts. I don't know how I managed to not have a scratch but that is my first break. So I fight to get free and I can't lift the four wheeler… but I wiggle my leg and eventually I am able to slip out of my pants, because they were caught on the four wheeler, and I get out. I claw my way up the ditch and walk the mile back to my grandparents' house, covering in mud, no pants, cold and scared. Well… they find me at the door and get me home and my dad gets the four wheeler out and its perfectly fine and he drives it home."

Tristan looked at Edwin carefully. "You actually crashed?"

"I did."

"But you weren't pinned."

"I was," Edwin stated.

"… okay, the entire story was true."

"Nope." Edwin smirked at him. "The Four Wheeler was red, not blue."

Tristan just stared at him. "Why would you lie about that though?"

"To test you? To see what you would pick up on. Maybe in a few days I tell the story again but I say it was red, just to see if you pick up on that detail. If I were playing a long con, trying to set you up to believe a string of lies, I'd need to know how gullible you were." He held up his hand. "I'm not saying you are gullible, Tristan. I'm saying that I'd need to know how gullible you were. Because that's important. You have to know your mark, especially if you are going to be around them a lot. That tells you so much about a person, how many lies they catch you in."

"And what?" Tea said. "When Tristan would catch you then you'd… admit you lied?"

"Oh fuck no!" he replied with a laugh. "I'd say he misheard me. I always said it was red. Red is my favorite color and I love that four wheeler and I would know that it was red. And if he pressed me I'd be mad. Insulted. Calling me a liar, Tristan? Is that it? Saying that I was lying about my four wheeler? Why would I do that? What would I have to gain?"

He smirked.

"Lesson the Third: You commit to the lie. You have to treat it like it is the greatest truth in the world. Because if you aren't believing it… your target won't either."

~MC~MC~MC~

That's what Tristan was doing at that moment. He was committing to the lie that he was buying into Johnson's bullshit. That he was willing to sacrifice Rex or Kaiba. That he could live with it. It couldn't be Tea. It would have been better if she had joined him but that was never going to happen. 'Tea's no good at that. Lying. Not unless its bluffing during Duel Monsters. So it falls to me. Keep Johnson talking, keep him distracted. Keep him from going after our friends because they can't do this.'

People didn't understand the dynamics of his friend group. Oh, they got some of it. Yugi was the leader because he was famous. Tea was Yugi's girl. Joey was the muscle. And Tristan was the 'lackey' who just hung around with the rest of them. But that wasn't the truth of it at all. Yugi was the heart of the group who kept them honest because without him all three of them, even Tea, would have broken bad. She couldn't lie but Tea could be a sneak and there was a difference. Edwin had explained that and Tristan agreed. Joey fought but he was also street wise and could sniff out trouble. Tea was fierce like a jungle cat and could hold a grudge.

And Tristan?

He was the one that did the messy things his friends couldn't handle. That was his role and he was fine with it. Enjoyed it, even. Like right now, how he was playing Johnson. Leading him along, stalling for time, hoping that Edwin or Mai or the like would show up and bring everything crashing down on Johnson. Or the Pharaoh… he could be a big help in all this. But Tristan had to keep lying to him til then.

Even though he knew that Johnson had his own angle that he was playing. He was after something more than this deal. Just as Tristan was playing his own.

A liar could tell another liar.

'Either he realizes I am playing with him and he wants to find out what my plan is… or he doesn't realize because he's so focused on his endgame. That's entirely possible as well.' Tristan had a feeling that Johnson would either be so overly cautious because of being near his endgame that he would do anything possible to ensure that he achieved what he wanted… or be blinded by his assumed victory that he wouldn't notice that Tristan wasn't swallowing what he was shoveling and was in fact trying to shovel his own shit. It was a toss up. 50/50.

He didn't know what it would be like when that coin finally came up heads or tails.

"You know… your friend has been gone for a while," Johnson stated. "I hope she is alright."

"Tea has a kind heart," Tristan said. 'Wrap the lie in as much truth as you can.'

"So I've heard. Her father often spoke of her. Her sister as well but not in as many glowing terms. I rather got the sense that he wasn't pleased with Yuri Gardner as much as he was with Tea… despite the elder following in his footsteps." Johnson paused. "That is the way with parents usually… they want their children to be miniature versions of themselves, rather than being their own people."

'You've been reading my file,' Tristan thought. 'You know about my dad and I.'

Elliot Taylor had grown up the middle child in a house filled with kids that needed attention but got very little of it. One that, from what Tristan had gathered, had been heavy on love but light on cash. As such Elliot, upon deciding to take what he had learned watching his father do woodworking down in the basement, had sworn that he would be able to give his son both love and wealth. And, perhaps, in his own way Elliot had done that. The wealth obviously… no one would ever call the Taylor family poor. They weren't rich like the Kaibas or the Chaoses but they did have a good amount of wealth to their name that allowed them to throw their weight around. After all, Tristan had been able to buy a motorcycle with all the money he'd saved up working as Burgerpalooza, not needing to save it for food or school supplies like he knew Joey or even Yugi would need to.

Love though? Well… Tristan knew his father loved him. It was just how he expected that love that caused problems. Elliot Taylor thought the best way to show his son he cared was by keeping an eye on him and involving him in everything. Removing any doubt or concerns about his future. Elliot had taken a job making furniture in a small run down building on the East side and turned it into an empire. There were 30 different Taylor's in Japan and they were moving into America as well, starting on the West Coast and moving Eastward. Same as South Korea and there was talks getting into China as well. And Elliot wanted Tristan to take over the whole damn thing. Not right away, of course.

"You'll start after high school working at the store," Elliot had told him. "I think I'll put you in charge of inventory. Jordy is looking to retire in a year or two so he wouldn't mind showing you the ropes. You can then attend business classes at Domino U, get a bachelors in business even though I think that's a waste. I never needed a degree but a lot of people nowadays won't give you the time of day without one. Once you have that then you can run the main location, the original one. Prove your worth before I begin promoting you."

Tristan's entire life was mapped out for him, with a few sections left open for when he got married and when he had kids. But his father had removed any doubt about his future.

And clearly Johnson knew that.

But rather than respond to that Tristan instead decided to deflect. "Well, considering he ended up rotting in a prison cell for stabbing one of her friends? I don't think she'll mind. Especially since she and Edwin have adopted each other."

"Hmm, that is curious. Then again the comments about blood being thicker than water were never actually true, both in a meta sense and in reality. Yes, blood is thick, but I've seen plenty of runny blood myself."

Now he was just dicking around with him.

'Well… I can do that too,' Tristan thought before folding his hands and asking, "They want to be proud of their children… and often times people are egotistical and think they are the best thing in the world so why shouldn't their kids also be the best things in the world? And if they don't think they are the best then they live through their children. The Dance Mom. The Football Dad. You know the type."

"Quite," Johnso stated.

"So… which was your dad?"

Johnson stared at him before smiling slightly, opening his mouth to respond.

Tristan didn't let him.

"Because I could see him being either or. I mean… the lawyer who wanted his son to be a lawyer? The man that wants his son to take over the family law business? It's almost a cliché at this point. Though I suppose you had a way to rebel, didn't you? Not fight for the little guy but the big man in the corner office?" Johnson opened his mouth but Tristan pressed on; that was something he'd learned not just for Edwin but Mai and the Pharaoh and even Kaiba: talk right over your foe and never let them get in a word until you had hit them with so many verbal body blows they weren't seeing straight. "That was the way you mocked him, wasn't it? He wanted you to defend the little guy, the mom and pop place where they struggle to deal with the big box chain that wants to gobble up all the sales. But you wanted something more, didn't you? You saw him in his patched suit and his shoes with frayed laces and dreamed of something better for yourself. And it doesn't matter that you paid off his house and let him retire early… he still looks at you even now, assuming you were actually there with him, and shakes his head in annoyance and mutters that you 'went corporate'."

Johnson stared at Tristan for a long moment.

"Or I could be wrong. If you don't feel like sharing you don't have to…"

"I think I need to take a walk myself, just to stretch my legs." With that Johnson rose up. "I will return shortly."

"Of course." Tristan watched him go… and remained sitting in his seat. 'He wants me to do something. Probably has cameras up, hoping to see something going on that he can use against me.' Without moving his head Tristan began to scan the office just like Yuri had shown him and Tea one day when Joey had been busy with detention and Yugi had to help his grandpa with something. Allowing his eyes to slowly sweep across the room while making it seem like he was just sitting there, deep in thought.

The problem was, he realized rather quickly, the office wasn't like any actual office. It was a fake one. A digital one. Made of Ones and Zeroes. Which meant that Johnson wouldn't actually have to worry about the normal clues that an office might have. He could hide them away, assuming he had enough control over the room.

'And I need to assume that he does have full control over it,' Tristan thought to himself… just as a door opened and one of the KaibaCorp staff walked in. Tristan tried to place him, thinking over what name belonged to that face. 'Caesar,' he finally remembered. 'His name is Caesar.'

Except he wasn't dressed like Caesar. His outfit was too punk, with leather and spikes and the like. And a lot of buckles. So many buckles. It reminded him a bit of the Pharaoh, honestly enough, and how he seemed to love buckles and belts to the point that he wore extra ones for no good reason.

"What are you doing here?" Tristan asked, standing up.

"Sorry 'bout this," Caesar drawled lazily, "but looks like the game is up for you."

"And what does that mean?" Tristan asked.

"Well… looks like your friend Tea? She took a runner. And Mr. Johnson ain't pleased with that. He brought you both here, he thought you would show him respect and hear him out, and she runs off? Most likely to try and stop him? Well… he can't that slide. So sorry…" With that Caesar held out his hand and a Duel Disc appeared on his wrist, "…but he needs to make an example of you. You broke the deal… so now he's breaking his. You are targeted, Taylor… and now you are going to lose it all."

Tristan's mind raced even as he activated his duel disc. He had accepted that he'd need to duel but hadn't thought for a second it would be because Tea had run off! 'Did she really think it was hopeless and try and save herself? Did I convince her that I was with Johnson? Or is it something else… some other plan that she has in mind to try and save the day?' He mentally shook his head. 'It doesn't matter… I need to win this duel now and then when I find her I can find out what is going on.' Out loud he declared, "Very well, Caesar… I'll take you down right here and right now! I'm not going to let you claim my body so you better be ready to lose. It's time to duel!"

~MC~MC~MC~

Marik snarled as he stared at the door.

It STILL refused to budge.

"You dare stand against me!?" he growled low in his throat. "I will tear you down with the might of my Millennium Item and you will suffer greatly for holding your secrets from me!"

He knew he was being irrational. He was talking to a DOOR. But he refused to care. He knew that whatever was beyond that door had to be special. Powerful. And he wanted to hold it in his own hands.

All his life Marik had hated secrets. The ones he kept and the ones that he wasn't supposed to know. He had so many questions but every time he tried to ask one he was told that it wasn't time for him to find out the answer. And it wasn't time for the world to know of him because they weren't ready to know of things like Zorc and the monsters from other realms and all that. No… just hold the line, don't question and don't speak. It wasn't his job or his duty to do either. Not yet.

Eventually though Marik had come to realize that the time was never going to come. Even when his father passed on and he was head of the Tomb Keepers his sister and his brother would be there, ensuring that he kept doing as his father had ordered. And when they passed… well, what would it matter then? Who would care what an old man had to say? His children would have their minds corrupted by his siblings, filled with his father's nonsense, and they would be horrified by him trying to reveal things or asking questions.

Then the nightmares had started. The dreams of his father performing the ritual and once it was completed he would take Marik into a secret room, one that he had never been allowed into… never even told about… and when he opened the door Marik would come face to face with his grandfather. And his great grandfather. And countless other Ishtars, all stretching back to the time of the Pharaoh. And they would reveal the truth: he would never lead. He would never have his time. Because they were immortal and they would govern every aspect of his life forever. The dreams ended with their claw-like fingers reaching for him, trying to ensnare him and force him to stand this way or that… forever.

The ritual… it had been the breaking point for him. But not the sole reason he had killed his father. No… it had merely been the last in a long line of failures and issues the old man had heaped onto him.

'My only regret in killing him as I did is that I know he took so many secrets to the grave!' Marik thought bitterly as he stared at the door. 'I know there were things he was holding back from me… things he was refusing to tell. And they died with him. Knowledge and secrets and power that I will never get a hold of!'

He glared at the door.

"Which is why I will open you!" he roared. "You will not hide them from me!" And with that he threw himself at the door. But not to claw and scratch at it like some manic dog. No no… he did so because he wanted to try and find some hidden weakness. A flaw that he could exploit. He knew that there had to be one and if he just-

He paused.

Marik slowly pressed his ear to the door.

Yes… he hadn't been merely hearing things!

There were people on the other side of that doorway!

He rubbed his hands together and cackled in delight. That made it all the better, knowing there were innocent little souls waiting to meet their maker!

Marik returned to attacking the door with a gusto.

~MC~MC~MC~

Tristan watched as Caesar held out a card. "Alright then, guess I'll start off with this: My deck master Fire King Avatar Arvata!" A large pink humanoid elephant appeared on the field, a sword bathed in pale purple flames in one hand, an axe with the same fires in the other. It twirled them in a ritualistic dance before bowing its head and moving to stand behind its master. "And next I think its time I made things a bit less bland and boring, you know? Do something a bit more daring. So I will activate the field spell card Fire King Island!"

The world trembled and then the walls crashed down around them, slamming into the black sands of the shoreline. They were now standing on a tropical island that had formed around a large active volcano, the sea far below them due to how the island sat amongst the waves. The trees were thick and green but there were paths where the lava had flowed and burned away everything that were still visible.

"Now then, I think I'm going to do something you aren't expecting: I destroy the Fire King Avatar Kirin that is in my hand, which allows me to send Fire King Avatar Garunix to the graveyard."

Tristan frowned at that. 'Alright… so he must have some way to bring that monster back to the field. I just wish I know how so I could counter it…'

"And because I destroyed my Fire King Avatar Kirin I can summon forth this: the evolved form of my monster!" Caesar twisted the card around. "So come forth Fire King High Avatar Kirin!" It was a great white alicorn, adorn with fine armor and ribbons, green flames burning along its body. It rushed onto the field before coming to a stop, noble and proud. "And I'm still not done! Because I can also summon Sacred Fire King Garunix!" A huge red firebird, wearing armor similar in design to High Avatar Kirin, only its flames with golden in color, appearing on the field with a lyrical cry. "And finally I will use my Sacred Fire King Garunix's effect, allowing me to destroy one Fire King Monster in my deck. So I choose this one:

Legendary Fire King Ponix." And with that he paused. "And I end my turn."

'So, that's what is deck's deal is then,' Tristan thought to himself. 'Its all about destroying monsters so he can activate effects. And I bet that when they are in the graveyard they also can do nasty things to me… or set up for themselves to return to the field!'

And that was very worrisome.

'I haven't even played a single card yet and already I'm worried about what Caesar is going to be able to do to me. If I'm not careful I might only get a single turn before he wipes me out!'

~MC~MC~MC~

Chaosverse Omake

Earth 1991-M

Something I had come to realize about Dr. Robotnik was that he suffered from a condition that my English professor had warned me about back in college.

Basically, he had told us all that agents and publishers always told newly published writers to go out into the world after their first book. Don't quit their jobs. Don't lock themselves away, obsessing about their second book. Because just like how solitary confinement was ruled torture for what it did to a prisoner's mind having an author not have anyone around caused them to get a bit… weird… in their writing.

It was something I myself had noticed when it came to Television Shows, something I had called "Isolated Writer's Room Syndrome" or IWRS. What happened was that writers would lock themselves away in their writer's room, plotting out a season of a show and thinking they were so amazing and smart… only to discover halfway through the season, when it was too late to change course, that they had forgotten key things and thus the audience was confused and pissed and didn't understand what they were going for.

Robotnik, in his desire to not deal with fools, spent a LOT of time all by himself and as such it made him a bit… well…

"Hey dad?" I said, raising my hand.

"Yes Errol?" he said as he looked up at me.

"Just throwing this out here by why are you making your robots fire such big missiles?"

Robotnik frowned, spinning around in his chair from the badnik he had been working on. It was larger than most of the egg-shaped drones that he used, about the size of a small car. Really honestly impressive, I had to admit, since it would be able to fly despite its size. Which was honestly another issue but I needed to first deal with the missiles.

"Weeeelllll," he drawled out like I was the biggest moron in the world, "the bigger the missile the bigger the boom, which ensures bigger blast radius and gives us a better chance to destroy that pesky menace Sonic!" He tilted his head as he stared at me. "Are you sure you are my son and your mother didn't fuck a mailman who had suffered from brain damage?"

I chose to ignore that insult. "I know how blast radiuses and payloads work. My point is that we are trying to take out Sonic, not destroy entire cities."

"Oh, what do I can about cities?"

"Well, the grant money we are losing out on is a pretty big motivator."

"Grant money?" Robotnik stated.

"Uh, yeah," I said. "I mean… if we want to make the best possible badniks we can we need grant money, at least until we are able to get our patents out there."

Robotnik just blinked at me.

"For fuck's sake," I groaned, rubbing my temple. "Dad… listen to me. Working for the government is risky ass bullshit. Sure, they never cut the defense budget but they are always looking for some scapegoat when they fuck things up. That's why we pilot these things ourselves… you know if we tried to hand them over to someone else they would just break them."

We had faced off with Sonic once on the road, Cyclops from the X-Men helping him out. Thankfully I had been able to distract Robotnik enough that he didn't actually get a good look at what Sonic looked like, just that he was a blue blur as he'd raced Tom out of the house. I had an…idea… that was crazy but might just work to fix things so that Sonic was protected and Robotnik was willing to cool off on hunting him without the man ending up trapped on another world (I at least knew that much when it came to the films). And during the fight it had been just me and Robotnik and Agent Stone handling things, which had been stressful as I had been trying to get Sonic without actually getting him.

"You hate dealing with those meat heads, right?" I asked him. "The morons who compensate for their tiny brains and tinier Yankee Doodle Dandies by wanting big ol' guns on big ol' tanks?"

"Ugh, they are the worst, aren't they?"

"Yeah, especially General Damien Dahrk," I commented softly before raising my voice. "We are doing it right now because they pay the bills but we want to go independent. The Egg Empire, right?" He bobbed his head up and down at that; I had been worried he would be insulted by the name but thankfully he liked it for "branding" of his badniks, especially when I pointed out that calling your product BAD-anything wasn't the best idea in the world. "Well, how exactly are we going to get people to buy your products if the first public demonstration of it is us blowing up buildings?" Robotnik opened his mouth to complain but I cut him off. "We both know that nothing works the first time perfectly. You didn't make the perfect badnik on the first try and we won't shoot down Sonic the first time either."

"Well, what are you suggesting then?"

"That we work smarter, not harder," I said. "Missile are army moves. Army stupidity. The weapons of big dumb brutes. We… work smarter." I began to tick off points. "Lubricant that makes it impossible to run. Or the reverse and constraining foam. A tagging system that allows us first to lock onto him and then fire off lasers and weapons. Restraint traps."

Robotnik's eyes began to grow bigger and bigger in delight with each idea I came up with. I knew I had him because my ideas would allow him to actually experiment and tinker. That was something else I had noticed about him; he HATED doing the same thing over and over. He always was searching for a new thing, to improve his designs or take them to the next level. So my ideas…

"Well said, my boy, well said!" He patted me on the shoulder and moved to his work bench.

"I see what you are doing," Agent Stone said.

"If its making everyone happy why do you care?" I teased.

Stone… merely grinned and nodded in acceptance.

'You know… as weird as it is… I guess that this life is pretty decent. Do wonder why I ended up here when I have no idea what is going on… almost like I ended up in the wrong world…'

~Meanwhile, in another universe…~

"-why we need your help, Prof. Babel!" Cream said, hugging Cheese close. "You are the greatest expert on ancient Mobian culture! There must be something that can help us cure the Metal Virus!"

The bipedal dark blue wolverine, wearing a sleeveless dress shirt, a brown vest, and leather bracers with golden accents, adjusted his glasses. He was careful when he did it, as his claws allowed him to create hardlight constructs. Too fast and he would end up destroying the glasses.

"…yeaaaaaah," the figure, who had been human when he'd woken up only a few hours earlier and literally had no idea what Mobian Culture was as he had ONLY seen the Sonic Movies, replied.

INTRODUCING PROF. BABEL

The Chaos of Mobius-1991I