Dr. Robotnik's trip to New York City was rather uneventful. He ate six Big Macs and drank a whole 2 liter of Coca-Cola beforehand. And then he couldn't fall asleep on the Gray Hound but couldn't figure out why. Nobody recognized him, which he was grateful for. He couldn't believe that he had fallen so far down the social ladder as to resort to such a filthy means of transportation. He would much rather have been flying first class, up in the sky, sipping champagne, and living the life.

He had sold everything he owned to afford the Gray Hound ticket, including his beloved baby grand. He had just a few months left on the lease, so he was hoping the landlord would just let him slide. Of course, he never told the landlord he was leaving. But he made sure to leave his apartment clean and empty, so the landlord would be able to put two and two together, he figured.

He was happy to leave LA. These had not been his best years, having lost almost his entire net worth to his gambling addiction. And then being diagnosed with Diabetes. Plus he was getting tired of it always being hot outside. Hopefully, New York would be a fresh start with new opportunities. He wasn't really looking forward to having to live with Shadow, but perhaps the black hedgehog would be able to give his music career the boost it needed.

While it had not always been evident, despite his natural knack for science, Dr. Robotnik's true passion had always been music. But his parents never let him pursue that passion, instead leading him on the path of science and "innovation." Well, he decided he had grown tired of the whole "mad scientist" stereotype and wanted to reinvent himself as a musician. What better place to do that than New York?

As for Dr. Robotnik's love life as of late, well, let's just say it was even worse than his financial situation. See, Dr. Robotnik had always given off creepy uncle vibes. But, at least when he was rich, some women were willing to see past this. In fact, the only women in his life with whom he has had a semblance of a relationship were with him only because of his money. But now he's fat, ugly, and poor, and the ladies want nothing to do with him.

At one point, he was indeed very rich. AGES had paid him handsomely back in the 90's. He had built up quite an estate, only to slowly watch it crumble after he was fired. He was forced to file for bankruptcy and shut down his robot factories back in '98. The US Government seized all his robots and turned them into scrap metal.

And then, of course, after that, he went on a crusade to collect the seven Chaos Emeralds, which he somehow managed to do. Perfect Chaos was thus unleashed, and that was almost the end of the world. Of course, until Sonic saved the day. Dr. Robotnik's reputation in the eyes of the public went down the drain as a result. But with the help of some friends in high places, he managed to wiggle free of any legal responsibility for this incident.

So, in the fallout from that episode, he had just been trying to keep a low profile these past years in LA working as a car mechanic. And in his spare time, he worked on building robots for fun, along with his music. But one day, he decided to hit the casino. And ever since that day, slowly, his gambling addiction grew like a cancer.

He had hired Rouge basically to do all the tedious work around the house: cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc. But, of course, he kept her around for other, more dubious favors as well. But now she had gone and betrayed him, having left his sorry ass behind.

. . .

Shadow and Dr. Robotnik, now officially roommates, sat in their apartment around the living room table just as the sun was beginning to set. An amber hue shone upon them. A fresh pepperoni pizza from Ray's Pizza lay there in the middle of the table, just waiting to be eaten by our dastardly duo.

"I tried getting you a meeting with every Broadway exec in town, but no one was interested…" said Shadow as he opened the pizza box and served himself a slice.

"Why…" said Dr. Robotnik, dumbfounded.

"Probably because, you know, you almost caused the end of the world and all," said Shadow, biting into his slice.

"I'm a changed man, god damn it!" said Dr. Robotnik as he went to serve himself a slice.

"Yeah, well," said Shadow, chewing on his pizza "Tell that to them."

"It's no fair!" said Dr. Robotnik, putting the entire slice of pizza in his mouth in one bite.

"You're probably not going to have any luck with traditional means," said Shadow, now finishing his slice.

"I'll show them… I'll… I'll…" said Dr. Robotnik in between chews.

He then proceeded to shovel the rest of the pizza from off of the table into his mouth. With no hesitation whatsoever, he proceeded to chew and chew on it as if he were a pig. Pizza sauce splattered all over his face and on Shadow as well, who was sitting right across from him looking at him in sheer terror. It took him about five minutes to finish it. And then he let out a belch that practically shook the entire apartment. The two sat there for several minutes, not saying a word to each other.

"I think you might have an eating disorder, professor," said Shadow, breaking the silence.

"I don't got no fucking eating disorder!" shouted out Dr. Robotnik, "Now go get me another."

. . .

Shadow had just returned from Ray's Pizza with the second pepperoni pizza. It was now night. Shadow was rather annoyed at Dr. Robotnik. Even if, secretly, he was happy to finally have a roommate for companionship. He even bought him the most expensive piano he could find in town as a welcome gift. It was to be delivered tomorrow, so Dr. Robotnik didn't know about it yet. Still, Shadow had an uneasy feeling about what was to come living with this man for the foreseeable future.

"Now, professor," said Shadow, placing the pizza on the table, "Didn't anyone ever teach you to share?"

"Yeah, well, sorry," said Dr. Robotnik as he went to open up the pizza box and grab a slice, "I was hungry. I can't think when I'm hungry. What were we talking about again?"

"I was saying that you're probably not going to have any luck pursuing your music career through traditional means," said Shadow as he went to grab his second slice of the night, "And then you fucking destroyed the pizza."

"When you gotta smash, you gotta smash," said Dr. Robotnik, chewing on his eighth slice and already grabbing for his ninth.

"I guess…" said Shadow, trailing off, "Well, anyway, I got an idea… Have you ever heard of YouTube?"