#fanfiction jen irwin
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An Unlikely End
by Jen Irwin
[Note: This has nothing to do with ROTFW, it's a pure SegaSonic fanfic. Jen, Arashi and the other made-up characters don't exist here.]
Just another routine mission, stopping Dr. Robotnik from taking over the world. Sonic had done this many times before, so it was nothing new to him. Sure, he faced a few new perils each time, but they were all overcome in short time with as much ease as before. He blasted through hallways and around corners, smashing through any robots that got in his way, twisted metal flying as it was severed from falling bodies of steel.
Dr. Ivo Robotnik sat in his main control room, growling to himself as he watched the destruction through the security cameras. Sonic smashed up a few of the cameras themselves, too, just to spite his archenemy. Watching a large digital map, he tracked the hedgehog's fast movements through his base, shaking his head as Sonic came to the doors of the control room.
The large black chair sitting before the control panel turned around, revealing the doctor sitting in it casually, leaning slightly on one elbow. Sonic stood in the doorway, staring at him with a look of both triumph and defiance. "Eggman!" he said in a sort of greeting.
"Sonic," Ivo replied with a slight, stiff nod. "Yet again, you've managed to get through my base."
"And I always will! Guess what? You lose again! Heheh!" The hedgehog started charging up a spindash, meaning to obliterate the control panel and take the chaos emeralds that Ivo had stolen so far.
"Do I?" Ivo asked, grinning evilly, and pressed a button on the arm of his chair. The floor then burst open as a huge robot sprang up from it, blocking Sonic's path to Ivo. He stopped charging his spindash and crouched into a defensive stance, looking up at the massive robot, immediately scanning it for any weak points. "Whoa, nice one you got here, Egghead," he said, leaping out of the way of a razor-sharp blade as it swung at him. The robot started clunking towards him, machine-guns on its shoulders blazing away.
Zipping around the room, Sonic leaped from one place to the other, hearing bullets ricochet off the metal around him, the ear-piercing screech of blades striking steel. A spot under each of the four 'arms' appeared weak; Sonic tested this theory by waiting for a blade to swing at him before he zipped forward, ducking under the blade and leaping up, spinning into the gears. The robot staggered backward, sputtering slightly as the hedgehog bounced off, but kept moving with its attacks.
Having found the weak point, Sonic continued skillfully avoiding the attacks, all the while taking the opportunities when he could to strike. Ivo watched from his chair, brow furrowed, frowning in angry disappointment. It seems like every time he fights my creations he gets faster! When am I ever going to make a robot fast enough to defeat him? He sighed slightly, watching the fight continue on.
The eighth blow, the one that almost always disabled the robots, was at hand. Sonic quickly leaped over a huge blade as it whipped towards his legs, then spun forward and slammed into the weak point again.
Bouncing away towards the door, Sonic stopped to catch his breath as he watched the machine stagger around, sputtering. Ivo sat up straighter in his chair, gritting his teeth slightly as he watched his creation attempt to keep functioning normally. Circuits fried and gears locked as the process kept on... but then something happened.
The robot's control was lost. It started to spasm as small explosions burst from its seams, loud popping noises filling the air along with a burning smell. Blades slammed into panels and smashed out screens as Ivo leapt from his chair, shouting, "NO! You piece of JUNK! What are you doing!? You're not supposed to do this!" He flinched to the side as a huge curved blade glanced off the floor beside him. Sonic decided not to stay any longer and zipped out the door. Ivo started to run himself, but it was too late.
A huge explosion rocked the base, its already weakened control point shattering along with the rock of the mountain that lay under it. Sonic, standing on top of the base towards the front, turned as he watched the central point collapse upon itself, huge chunks of rock falling down with it. He zipped to the edge of the wreckage and looked down into the huge hole that was blown in the side of the mountain.
Normally, he saw an escape pod rising up and fleeing the area whenever a base was ruined. This time was different. The area below was shadowed, making it hard to see what was what. Then he heard a sound that made his blood freeze.
A choked cry of extreme agony rang out, echoing off the side of the mountain. It was a wrenching sound in itself; what made it even more severe was the fact that there was no doubt it belonged to Robotnik himself. It was a sound that never had escaped his lungs until this day.
Sonic immediately jumped down into the crater, running in the direction of the sound. As he hurried around a huge boulder, that's when he saw something that, oddly, was more horrifying to him than anything else he'd ever laid eyes on.
There on the ground, buried under several hundred tons of rock and steel from the waist down, was Robotnik, drawing ragged gasps for breath. Sonic sprinted over to him, kneeling next to him. "Hey, man, what happened!?" he asked. "How come you didn't get out of there?!"
"I... I didn't... wasn'... wasn't fast enough... it all happened so... so quickly," the large man managed to wheeze, pain quite evident in his voice. Sonic looked up at the pile of rock, standing up. "I'm gonna get you out of there!" he exclaimed, ignoring for the moment the fact that Ivo was his worst enemy.
"N... n-no... don't... if you move any of it... it's going to... all come crashing down on us-s both," Ivo said, grabbing Sonic's wrist. The hedgehog whipped his head around, looking down at the mad scientist in surprise. "But... why would you warn me..."
Ivo swallowed hard, fighting back his pain, and unsteadily shook his head with a somewhat rueful grin. "I'm... I'm not a martyr." He paused, sucking in a shuddering breath as a lance of agony shot through his body. "You won, fair and s-square..." His eyes shut tightly for a moment in a grimace, then he took a breath and opened them again, looking helplessly up at Sonic.
"S-Sonic, I... I want you to know something," Ivo continued, his breathing becoming more labored by the minute as he gently tugged on the hedgehog's wrist. With worry deeply etched into his face, Sonic moved over to kneel by Ivo again.
"I've always... had a c-certain res-spect for you, for your persistence... determination... it just... reminded me s-so much of me. Just... your force of will... all of it. In a way, I like you. I don't know if you unders-stand..."
Sonic placed a hand on Ivo's shoulder, his worry and confusion growing as he nodded, "Yeah... I know... I've always felt the same. ...Man, is there... is there ANY way to get you out of this?"
The doctor shook his head, his face now quite pale as sweat dripped from it. "N-no... I..." He paused, eyes closing tightly again, gritting his teeth in pain. He shifted his position, trying to tug himself out, but it was hopeless, and all he got was a loud shriek of agony out of it. Sonic flinched, gulping slowly as reality sunk in.
Ivo's hands suddenly flew up to his shoulder, grabbing Sonic's hand tightly. His face twisted in despair, he started to sob... shuddering silently at first, then wheezing through his tears. "I'm... I'm scared, Sonic... God, I'm so scared," he sobbed. Fear had entered his mind in the past, plenty of times, but nothing so extreme as to cause him to admit it. However, that fear was usually a result of losing his prized machines or losing a battle... never had he truly faced the loss of his life.
To Sonic, this was both amazing and terrifying. Never had he seen Ivo display feelings other than anger or comparitively mild fear. The hedgehog felt so sad for this man that was his enemy; he was a person, just like everyone else. He had feelings, whether they had previously been buried deeply before. And now, he was dying, his missions in life all having failed. Sonic bit his lip, fighting back tears, and placed his free hand on the two that were already gripping his other one.
"Ivo," the hedgehog said, addressing the man by his first, real name for the first time ever, "You... don't worry, you'll be out of pain soon." With no way to save him, all Sonic could do was comfort him in his first and only hour of need.
The minutes dragged painfully on, Ivo's condition worsening rapidly. His shuddering breathing became hoarse in his throat, and each breath was more shallow than the one before it. Sonic closed his eyes tightly, tears streaming down his face as Ivo gripped his hands tighter with every streak of pain that occurred.
Through his weakening sobs, Ivo managed to say, "S-ssonic... thank you... I d--... I didn't have to die... alone..."
A final ragged breath shuddered through his lungs and turned into a weak sigh as Ivo finally relaxed... Life abandoned his body as his head dropped slightly to the side.
Sonic cried for many hours that night, Ivo's final words and actions replaying in his head over and over again, wrenching his heart harder the more he thought about it. Extremely traumatized to the point of being delusional, he thought occasionally that he could hear the once-powerful voice of his fallen enemy... but when he'd look up and call out in confusion, all that would answer was the mournful howl of the wind across the crater.
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Run With Him
by Jen Irwin
"Sonic? SONIC!" Amy yelled, watching a blue blur disappear into the distance... again. She slumped and sighed. Why did he always have to run away?
"I love him! Why doesn't he love me BACK?!" the pink hedgehog growled, stomping angrily away from the pool area toward Downtown Station Square. She wandered out onto the sidewalk, passing by people and giving an occasional, but moody, hello to those she knew. Sitting down on a bench, Amy sighed and stared at the ground, fighting back tears. She'd do anything for Sonic, but he'd never even give her the time of day... was he just really shy? That would be hard to believe, he was never shy with anyone else, never seemed uncomfortable around other women. Did he just find her repulsive or something? That would be crazy; she was everything a cute girl hedgehog should be! Amy could not think of an explanation for Sonic's behavior. She just shook her head and sighed again.
"Amy?" a young boy's voice called out. "What's wrong, Amy?" She looked up and saw Tails walking up to her, a few greasy smudges of dirt and oil scattered over his fur. Apparently he'd been doing what he does best, working on some kind of machine. He looked at her with genuine concern in his bright eyes, ears forward and alert.
"Oh, it's Sonic again," she replied glumly. "He still doesn't love me... why, Tails?" She leaned forward a little, staring at the fox pleadingly. "You've got to know! You hang around him all the time! What has he said about me!? Does he hate me? Is he just afraid of me? What is it with him!?"
Tails' ears twitched back a little. It was this same old subject again. "Uhh... actually he never really says much of anything about you." He took a slight step back, gaze sliding off to the side as he had no idea how to approach the situation. He didn't want to upset Amy, but he honestly had no idea why Sonic acted the way he did. Tails had never bothered to ask, really.
"But do you have any ideas!? Come on, Tails, you're a smart kid, you should know these things!"
"Heh, I'm a good builder, but I don't know anything about love! Come on, I'm only eight!"
Amy backed off a little. She didn't like the fact, but Tails was right; perhaps he wasn't exactly the authority on feelings. She could see he was uncomfortable just being put in this situation. "Oh... thanks anyway," she mumbled, going back to staring at the ground. Tails' ears returned to their normal straightness as he sensed he was 'free to go.' "Don't worry, Amy," he said, trying to reassure her. "I'm sure something will happen eventually! Well, I gotta be going, so I'll see ya later!" He jogged past the bench and disappeared around a corner.
The pink hedgehog stood up. No sense in moping around... she decided to walk for a while, maybe grab something (healthy, of course) to eat. She started off down the sidewalk, head down, still in deep thought.
Amy didn't have time to react as a door ahead of her swung open and a human stepped out directly in front of her, not realizing she was there. She let out a slight yelp of surprise as she bumped right into the person's leg, then stumbled back a bit, looking up and starting to hastily utter an apology. The apology was cut short by a scream.
"AAAH!! DR. ROBOTNIK!!" She stared helplessly up at him, cowering in terror. Normally she might not be so afraid of him, but he certainly did surprise her. Then she realized his look wasn't at all hostile. In fact...
"Oh... Amy, I didn't see you there! My apologies; are you alright?"
The cowering stopped, turning into total confusion. "...Robotnik??" Amy asked, wondering if it was actually him, or if he just wasn't feeling well or something.
"Ah, surprised to see me not trying to take over the world? Heh, I don't come to the city that often on my 'off days.' I'm on a bit of a vacation, you see." He reached up and adjusted his glasses slightly. "I just stopped in to see what kind of electronics they're offering these days and grab some lunch."
The hedgehog looked up at him, eyes narrowed slightly in suspicion. Was he just acting nice as a trick? Though, he really did seem quite genuinely calm and polite at the moment. Her eyes widened as she saw him smile somewhat amusedly - SMILE, mind you - and say, "Suspicious, are we? I suppose you have reason to be, heh. Well, I'll be on my way; farewell." He gave a respectful nod, much to Amy's growing surprise, and started to walk down the sidewalk. She realized something. The people who were around the square weren't reacting to Dr. Robotnik in an extreme manner; sure, he got a few stares and people were whispering, but nobody was screaming in a panic. Amy recalled now that she did hear of the mad scientist occasionally making non-hostile appearances in the city... heck, she once heard a rumor that he actually helped repair machinery for people sometimes. Maybe it wasn't just a rumor?
"...Wait!" she yelled, jogging after him. He stopped and turned, looking over his shoulder. "Um, I guess I was just surprised, heh, sorry I ran into you," Amy continued. Robotnik made a casual, dismissive gesture with one large hand, saying, "Think nothing of it; I'm just glad you weren't hurt." Figuring that was all she had to say, he nodded again and continued walking.
Amy stood there staring at his back as she realized something. Robotnik was, in fact, the only person who had known Sonic longer than Tails had. And he was, what, 45? He had to have SOME experience in life from all those years... She sprung into a run, catching up with him in a few brief seconds, then walked along at his side. Suddenly she felt really dumb. Why would she be asking Robotnik, of all people, about how to deal with Sonic?
...well, she was desperate, and there was no one else TO ask...
"Umm, Robotnik," Amy started hesitantly. "Have... err... have you ever had a girlfriend?"
He thought the question was very strange, but was extremely curious as to where this was leading. "Well, I've had a few flames in my time, yes... why?"
"I--I was just wondering what a guy really looks for in a girl, you know?" Amy felt REALLY dumb now. In her effort to avoid asking something awkward, she asked something even more awkward.
"Depends on the man in question," he said matter-of-factly. "Everyone wants something different. I always favored a smart-mouthed, sassy but brilliant sort. You know, kind of like me." He chuckled. He didn't even have to guess who this was about now... he already knew. "Are you having trouble with Sonic again?"
"Yeah," she replied, still staring at the ground as she walked. She kicked a small rock off the sidewalk. "I love him! I wanna marry him and have a bunch of little hedgehog babies!" she blurted out in frustration. "But he hates me!"
"Aren't you a little young to be thinking about marriage?" he asked amusedly. "You're, what, 12? Give yourself time to enjoy life before settling down, lass!"
"But I've always wanted to be Sonic's wife! Why doesn't anyone understand?"
Robotnik stopped. Amy took a few steps before she realized this and turned around, looking up at him. He was standing by the door to the burger shop, hands in his pockets. With a slight grin, he tilted his head toward the door briefly. "You hungry? This is gonna take a while."
Though the situation was a little strange, Amy WAS pretty hungry. She followed Robotnik into the shop and looked over the menu. Nothing healthy... except the tofu burgers, but despite her careful diet, Amy didn't like that stuff at all. Robotnik leaned one arm on the counter and looked down at her expectantly, waiting for her to order first.
"Aww, come on," he said, noticing that she seemed to have some trouble deciding, also knowing how fanatic she was about losing weight. "What's one cheeseburger gonna do? You'll have to eat a lot of them before you end up like me!"
"Heh, well... yeah, I guess you have a point. I'll take, uh, a number 3 meal with a..." Well... no harm in a little indulgence once in a while, right? "...large strawberry shake."
"That's the spirit!" Robotnik said, chuckling. He turned to the cashier, waiting briefly for the first order to be punched in, then said, "I'll have 3 double cheeseburgers, a large order of fries and a large Dr Pepper. For here." He casually flicked a $20 bill seemingly out of his sleeve and handed it to the cashier.
Once Robotnik got the change back, he gestured at one of the few booths in the tiny restaurant and looked at Amy. She sat down, noticing that he didn't sit until she did. Those rumors about him being such a gentleman under normal circumstances were true...!
"So, you say you love Sonic," he said, leaning comfortably back in his side of the booth. "But you think he hates you. Why? Because he always runs away?"
"Yeah... and he's NOT shy, I know that much. He's never flighty around any other girls. And you know how much of a showoff he is."
"Heh, indeed, I know it all too well. But just because he runs away doesn't mean he hates you. I seriously doubt he even dislikes you; don't you recall all the times he's saved you when you were in trouble?" Robotnik asked. "I sure do," he added with a chuckle.
"He only saves me because he's the hero... he HAS to," Amy said, folding her arms with a sigh.
"Not true... do you remember the day on the ARK, when I came very close to eliminating Sonic altogether?" Robotnik actually assumed a faintly apologetic look when Amy glared at him, remembering that. "Do you remember the way he looked at you when he said, 'Take care of yourself?'" he asked.
Amy thought hard for a moment. In the terror of that situation, she hadn't really noticed a little detail such as that at the time, but now, thinking back... she DID recall that Sonic did seem to look at her with even more worry and caring than when he spoke to Tails. If he really had fallen that day... she would have been the last person he spoke to.
"You noticed that?" she asked, snapping out of her memories and looking up at Robotnik. His look softened just a bit and he smiled again, a bit sadly, saying, "It made me feel bad to press the button..."
Amy stared. She opened her mouth to say something when suddenly she realized the waiter was approaching the table. Robotnik realized it, too, and with a quick, "Oh! Food's here," he moved the silverware out of the way so the dishes could be placed down easily, then nodded a thanks to the waiter and took a drink. "Ah, yes. Good stuff."
"You... felt bad about it?" Amy asked, picking up a nearby bottle of ketchup and shaking it briefly. "Why did you do it?" She opened the bottle and poured some out onto her plate, then set the bottle down.
Robotnik shrugged slightly. "I was out of my mind. I knew what I was doing... didn't really want to... but felt I had to." His tone was quieter than usual, betraying a feeling of regret.
"But, this isn't about me," he piped up suddenly before Amy could say anything, returning to his previous calm and confident self, "As I was saying, I don't think Sonic dislikes you. I think he has a certain fondness for you, but..." He paused, pouring some ketchup onto his own plate. "Perhaps you're not letting him show it."
"WHAT!?" Amy barked, instantly riled up. "I've given him every invitation to show he loves me! What are you talking about!?"
"Now, just think about this for a moment, Amy," Robotnik said, holding up a hand toward her in a calming gesture. "How often have you let him actually speak much? How many times have you tried to meet up with him just to chill out instead of trying to get him to make plans for marriage and kids?" He lowered his hand to the table, taking a couple fries to eat while he waited for Amy to ponder his questions.
She was silent for a moment, then asked, "But... why doesn't he like my ideas? I don't get it..."
"Lemme tell you something about Sonic," Robotnik said with a slight grin, swallowing a couple more fries before continuing. "He is the definition of a free man. You say you love him, but I don't think you really know him. You might say he won't let you get to know him, but I'm pretty sure I know a way that you can."
"Really!? What is it?" Amy practically lunged across the table, eager to hear.
"Run with him."
"What?" the hedgehog asked confusedly, chomping into a couple of fries in frustration. "But he never lets me get near him! And he's too fast!"
Robotnik shook his head. "You don't have to keep up with him... I've seen him grab Tails and Knuckles and blast off with them when they all needed a boost. He trusts his friends, that's why he does that for them. He knows they won't hold him back."
Amy frowned. "He... he thinks I'd hold him back?"
"That's exactly what you've been trying to do with him, Amy. You've tried to keep him in one place... all to yourself, not wanting to let him have space of his own. Listen, you love him because he's a smart, fast, and presumably good looking 'hog, right?"
"Of course!"
"Do you realize how much it would change him to get married and have kids? Right now the guy has no responsibility whatsoever. He doesn't even consider fighting me a 'job'..." Robotnik chuckled a bit. "He does that purely for the adventure." He took a bite out of one of the double cheeseburgers, letting that bit of information sink in. "In wanting to marry him and start a family, you're asking Sonic to take on a pretty big responsibility... one that would require him to avoid adventuring so he could take care of said family."
Amy looked down at the table, brow furrowing in thought. "But I always wanted a family..."
"That will come in time, Amy. You and Sonic aren't going to be kids forever... and if there isn't something wrong with him, I'm quite sure there will come a day when he'll want to marry just as much as you do."
"So... what do I do until then?"
"Don't worry so much about being a wife and mother... start being a kid while you still can. You look up to him because he's strong and adventurous... why don't you adventure with him, and see what that life of freedom is like for yourself? You might like it!"
The hedgehog looked up from the table after a moment of silent eating, then smiled a bit. "...Thanks, Robotnik. I never thought about it that way before."
The large man finished one cheeseburger, took a drink and nodded, saying, "I've seen you and Sonic struggle for so long, and I think it would be nice if you could actually enjoy each others' company."
"Really...? But... why do you even care? I didn't think YOU liked any of us much, either." Amy looked at Robotnik, confusion in her expression as she put him on the spot again, trying to pry into his psyche.
He wondered whether he should open up to her. Pondering this, he ate a couple more fries, then said, "You know how Knuckles and Sonic fight sometimes, but Knuckles is pretty much Sonic's best friend, excluding Tails, who functions as more of a little brother?"
"Yeah, heh, it's funny when those two fight over silly rocks," Amy remarked.
Robotnik looked straight at her and said, "Sonic and I are a lot like that, too." He picked up the second cheeseburger and took a bite out of it. Amy just sat there, mildly stunned. What he just said was absolutely true, but she'd never really perceived it before. "So... you actually want Sonic to be happy?" she asked.
"Why not? I'm not a cruel, heartless madman... sometimes I might seem that way, when I'm really out of it... When I AM sound of mind, I'm actually quite a nice guy; nothing stopping me from helping out a friend when I can." He grinned faintly.
Amy fell silent with this new information, having a difficult time processing it, though she realized it made perfect sense. In the next several minutes, the two just relaxed and finished up their meals. This was the best-tasting food she'd had in a long time... especially the shake.
"Thanks for the lunch!" Amy said, pushing the empty plate and glass off to the side of the table. "Never thought I'd be having lunch with you, heh!" Robotnik wiped off his hands and mouth with a napkin, then dropped that on his empty plate. "Not a problem, I enjoyed it." He stood up, offering a hand for her to pull herself out of the booth easily on. She hesitated to take it, just because it was very strange to see him doing such a thing. She let a slightly amused but appreciative smile cross her face and gripped his hand, using it to make hopping out of the booth that much easier.
The two walked out of the shop feeling quite full and satisfied. "Well, I suppose it would be a good idea for you to go and find Sonic, hmm?" Robotnik asked, dusting off his sleeve casually. Amy grinned brightly and exclaimed, "Yeah! I'm gonna go find him! Thanks again, Robotnik!" She dashed past him and headed toward the beach. He watched her round a corner and disappear, then chuckled to himself and turned to walk to his next destination, silently wishing her luck.
Amy ran down the beach, having to go over a bridge or two before she did find Sonic relaxing under a big beach umbrella, sound asleep. She approached him quietly and then sat down with her legs folded under her, watching him sleep for a few minutes.
Robotnik was right... Sonic was meant to be free of all responsibility. Amy recalled all of the grown, married men she had seen walking down the street every day, how they usually looked happy but still with the stresses of everyday living evident in their eyes and the way they acted. She tried to imagine what Sonic would be like in that manner and realized that he would probably be quite miserable... and all this time, she had been asking - DEMANDING - that he do just that for her. No wonder he stayed away from her.
Sonic stirred a little, then opened his eyes as he sensed through his brief half-consciousness that someone was right next to him. When he saw who it was, he lurched back a bit, startled. "Ahh! Amy! W-what are you doing here!?"
"Sonic, it's okay... I've, ah, been doing some thinking, and I just... well, I'm sorry for all the times I've annoyed you so much," she said calmly. He stared at her with a strange look on his face. It wasn't like her to be so calm around him, and the look in her eyes was a clear, lucid one, not the starry gaze he was used to seeing.
"Well," the blue hedgehog said, "You don't have to be... sorry." He was confused as to why she would suddenly come up with this out of nowhere.
"Okay, well, feel like going for a run?" Amy grinned, not wanting to bore him with the past. Sonic blinked. She'd never actually asked him something like that before, she was always wanting to go shopping or other girly activities... "Uh, sure!" he exclaimed. He was quite pleasantly surprised at this turn of events.
The two stood up and Sonic immediately started to stretch, getting his muscles loosened up, and he made sure his shoes were on tight. He looked at Amy and started into a jog, watching her jump to his side and happily stay right along with him while he gradually increased speed, running easily over the sand.
The strangeness of the situation began to fade as the speed picked up and he began to lose himself in the sheer pleasure of just running. He noticed that Amy was keeping up with him quite well - she'd become a much faster runner in recent years by always chasing him around. Their feet thumped loudly on a long wooden bridge with lots of sharp turns and they sailed easily off of a jump booster to another small island, springing up from landing and hurtling along the path that Sonic had memorized for maximum speed long ago. He got to the point of wanting to turn his feet loose and sprint as fast as he could, but he didn't want to leave his running partner behind...
Amy gasped slightly as she felt a sharp tug on her arm and she was literally pulled into the air. Suddenly she was moving much faster than usual, sailing out behind Sonic by one arm and watching the ground pass by so fast it became a crazy blur. She was scared for a moment, as anyone would be when out of control of the situation, then remembered who WAS in control.
Sonic felt her hand grip tightly to his arm and, knowing she was secure, poured on all the speed he had. The two turned into one big blur in a matter of seconds, blasting through the sound barrier and taking incredibly sharp turns despite the fact that they were moving so fast. Springs and speed boosters along the path, which became lush with green grass and lots of vegetation for a stretch, added to the haste; the risk; the freedom. They could go anywhere, take any alternate route they wanted. Sonic would change direction almost at random to fill the trip with surprises for Amy, grinning to himself when he heard her shriek and then laugh with glee behind him.
Feeling the wind whipping through his quills as he flew off a final jump booster and sprinted down the home stretch, Sonic realized how good he felt despite Amy being right with him. Usually he felt like he was expected to behave a certain way around her or risk her wrath... he expected endless marriage proposals and plans for a family, but this time, all Amy wanted to do was run with him. This was a very pleasant change, one that he had wanted for a long time now.
The rusted heap of one of Robotnik's old holding capsules stood at the very end of the beach where Sonic skidded to a quick stop, spinning around on his axis a few times to slow Amy's momentum so she wouldn't stop with a potentially painful jerk to her arm. Once the momentum lost its force, he let her to the ground.
"That was awesome, Sonic!" The pink hedgehog grinned up at him, then suddenly tackled him before he could say anything. He yelped in surprise, hitting the ground and rolling over the sand with her for several feet, both of them laughing as if it were just a game by the time they came to a stop. Neither even got a bruise, considering hedgehogs are inherently very good at taking a tumble. Amy landed squarely on Sonic with a thump, then looked down at him, smiling hopefully. She didn't want to make him nervous now, but certainly liked the idea of cuddling him...
He opened his eyes and met her gaze, realizing for a moment just what situation he was in. But... it was different this time. She wasn't cutting off his circulation by possessively clinging to him. She wasn't raving about future plans or telling him that he needed to move in with her at her house. In fact, he felt quite relaxed, partially due to the fact that she was also relaxed and really enjoying the moment.
"Amy, what... what brought this on? I've never seen you like this before," Sonic said, smiling slightly with confused curiosity.
"Heh, well..." She glanced very briefly at the rusted capsule nearby, then grinned. "I... asked a friend of yours about you. Found out some things I didn't know before."
Assuming he knew who she was talking about, he said, "You did? But... Tails has told me a lot in the past that you talked to him, and nothing changed then."
"It wasn't Tails," Amy said, mischief evident in her voice.
"...Knuckles!?" He couldn't believe she would actually be desperate enough to approach the echidna on the subject of her feelings.
"Not him either!" she replied, giggling.
Sonic shook his head and gave her a humorously confused look, grinning a little. "But nobody else knows me better than they do!"
"Are you sure about that? Hehe..." She shot another glance at the capsule. He noticed her look this time and his expression went from confused to totally amazed. "Wait a minute... are you telling me you asked...?"
Amy laughed. "Robotnik knows a lot more about you than you'd think, Sonic! You should have heard what he had to say about you! He's actually a really nice guy, you know? It was neat to talk to him!" She smiled a bit, her voice becoming a little more quiet. "I just wanted to make you happy, you know... that's why I ended up asking him about you."
"You went through the trouble of dealing with that egghead just for me?" Sonic asked with a large, amused grin. "Well, thanks, Amy... I didn't think you'd do something like THAT, that's crazy!"
She giggled, looking down at him with a loving stare and saying, "Well, they do say love makes you crazy." He said nothing in reply, instead just staring back up at her through half-lidded eyes with a comfortable, relaxed smile. She raised a hand to gently run her fingers along the side of his face and shivered very slightly when she felt one of his hands rest on her back.
Sonic had, in a way, always wanted something like this, but he never consciously thought about it. He liked having someone to share an adventure with; usually Tails and Knuckles fit that part nicely, but now he realized that Amy could make a great partner too... and hey, let's face it - under the right circumstances, even he liked a little romance. At present, the circumstances couldn't have been more right. As Robotnik had told Amy, Sonic valued freedom above all else, and now Amy was enjoying that with him - they didn't have a care in the world.
He shut his eyes, sighing happily. Amy let her forehead rest against his and closed her eyes too, just listening to his slow, even breathing. Feeling the closeness and warmth, his breath on her face... she couldn't contain herself. Knowing she was taking a rather large risk - but that she was supposed to live for risks now - she slid her hand to the side of his jaw and pressed her lips against his in a gentle, lingering kiss. He was startled for a moment; she expected this, considering she was pretty sure he'd never kissed anyone before. Neither had she, actually, but she watched enough chick flicks to know how it's supposedly meant to be done... Amy broke the kiss and pulled back very slightly, opening her eyes halfway to see his reaction.
Sonic's eyes opened a little and he looked up at her with a gentle expression on his face, as if he didn't really know what to do, but was certainly enjoying the moment anyway. She took that as a sign that she could continue and kissed him again, avoiding being too forceful like she would have in the past.
When he started to kiss back - although he wasn't very good at it, she noted in amusement, but he'd certainly get better with practice - it became obvious that he did indeed have feelings for her. Now that she wasn't smothering him, he was able to show them... and he seemed quite happy to do so, much to her delight.
Back in the city, Tails and Robotnik had run into each other and had a discussion about alternative energy types for a small project Tails was working on. "...yeah, I might try the rings! I noticed this is something you recently started doing, huh?" the young fox asked. Robotnik nodded. "It's much more efficient than my original methods. Use caution, though; those rings have quite a lot of energy in them. You only need one to power a robot indefinitely."
Tails grinned up at his fellow genius mechanic. "That usually seems to be the rule of rings: You only need one! Heh heh. Well, I guess I'll be heading back home. By the way, have you seen Sonic around here? I haven't seen him in a while."
Reminded of his rival, Robotnik grinned slightly. "Well... I did have a discussion with Amy about Sonic, and I suppose you should know that I managed to convince her of a few things that would give her the ability to get along with him quite well. ...I think they're both rather busy at the moment. You might not see either of them for a few days!" He chuckled a bit as he saw Tails' reaction. The fox's ears slowly drooped down and he got that 'why me' look on his face. "Oh, NO," he moaned, "You got Amy and Sonic together!? Now Sonic's going to be acting all lovey-dovey and WEIRD!"
Robotnik laughed, reaching down to ruffle the fur on top of Tails' head reassuringly. "Ah, I doubt Sonic will act that weird. I know you're still young and you don't understand teenage emotions yet, but at least now you won't have to hear him complain whenever Amy shows up, right?"
"Heh, yeah, that's true!" Tails snickered a bit, his ears perking up again. "Well, I guess I'll see him when I see him," he said wryly. "Thanks for the info on the rings, gotta run!"
The doctor watched the little fox run off toward the train station, then slowly started to walk toward the front of the city to the shoreline, suddenly in deep thought. He felt his mind clouding up with a lust for power again as realizations pieced together... briefly, dismay struck him as he knew he was losing his mind, but an instant later he didn't care. He mumbled quietly to himself, "Tails is working with an unfamiliar concept, and Sonic is distracted..."
"...heh heh... heheheh... eh hehhehehehehhh..."
He leapt up into the escape pod that he parked next to a little boat at the shore, saying to himself, "Ah, Ivo, you're a GENIUS, even when you aren't trying! Muaahahahaha!" By this time, people were looking at him strangely. He turned the pod around to face the city briefly and yelled with a grand gesture of one arm, "See you soon, citizens of Station Square... when I'm sitting in the President's seat! MUAHAHAHAAHAHAAAAA!"
The madman flew off quickly, leaving everyone rolling their eyes and shaking their heads, until people started murmuring, "Well, guess we better let Sonic know," and asking each other if they'd seen him. It quickly became apparent that nobody knew where he was. Generally they would have at least had some idea...
As Dr. Robotnik's laugh faded into the distance, the reality that things may be a little harder than usual this time sunk in with the citizens, and they all retreated into their homes to anxiously await the next time they'd spot Sonic.
#eggman#robotnik#amy rose#tails#sonic#jen irwin#fanfiction#fanfiction jen irwin#fanfiction one shots
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Evil Overlords Have Feelings Too - Part 5
by Jenifer Irwin
Part 5
"Get off of me," Arashi snarled, grabbing the arm that was just placed around her shoulders and shoving it away forcibly enough to nearly hyperextend its elbow. She folded her arms over her chest and glared at the cold metal floor in front of her, where her royal crown was lying.
The man sitting next to her feigned being emotionally hurt. "Arashi, I've given you everything a woman could possibly want and you still don't want to be my queen," he said, his distinct British accent really getting on her nerves. "What more could you want?"
"What I want is for you to put me back on Earth and leave me and Ivo alone," she growled in his face. "We were perfectly happy before you came along, lime-boy."
"I see you've picked up some of his mannerisms," the green-skinned alien mused as he remembered how his adversary used to call him that. "But, all that aside, I thought you liked them as evil as they come? I'm more evil than that pile of lard."
"You also have no feelings other than nastiness. At first, when I realized Ivo had other feelings, I thought it was blasphemy, but then I realized it added a certain charm to him. I don't like him simply because he's nasty, I like him because he's just... he's just interesting! You're not! You're just a cliché alien usurper! And your 'feelings' toward me are so fake!"
"I suppose I could engineer other feelings into my genetic code if you REALLY wanted me to, but they'd be fairly repressed. I don't want to seem almost good like he does anymore."
"I wouldn't agree to become your queen even if you did that. I want to be with HIM, not YOU," Arashi growled, then got up and left the room.
Takar sighed and leaned back on the small loveseat, thinking. She sure was determined to get back to Ivo, somehow. I hate how love messes up EVERYTHING, the Ykrian King thought to himself, muttering slightly. I'd love to torment Ivo by stealing her away from him in mind and heart as well as physical presence, but it seems I can't do that. Oh well, it's only been a few days, she'll eventually crack. And I'm pretty sure Ivo has given up anyway, else he'd have been here by now. Pathetic weakling. Now I have to build a new adversary, blast it.
Takar left the room and went to his private study, starting to draw up the plans for a new and improved source of entertainment.
**
Arashi sat in her room on the giant alien ship, face in her hands. Ivo, what's taking you so long? I thought you would have been here within an hour or so of my being abducted... It's been days, and it seems like years to me... Takar is such a fake moron, I hate him... I can't find any way out of this place, I'm depending on you to come and get me, Ivo. I beg of you, don't give up... I love you...
Wiping tears from her eyes, Arashi walked over to the reinforced window and stared out into space at the Earth below.
**
Dr. Ivo Robotnik was thirsty, hungry and in pain, both physical and mental. He had been hanging from a tractor beam in midair for days, and it was impossible to find a comfortable position. He was so stiff, and it was like hanging by his chest from a meat hook, without the hook. He could only sleep when completely exhausted, because there was no level of comfort to do so any other time.
If he didn't get at least some water within a few days, he would lose all of his strength and slowly die. It was so taunting, having the clear river right under him, but he was suspended in the air where no tree branches or anything were anywhere within reach. He doubted he could pull himself off the tractor beam anyway. The beam's projector sat on a rock about 30 feet away, no way he could get to it or affect it. He had struggled quite a bit, but nothing could be done to budge the beam.
This... sucks, Ivo thought to himself as he stretched, but it hurt. He rolled his head back and forth, trying to get the stiffness out of his neck. He could only sleep with his head hanging forward, and that played havoc with the muscles in his neck and shoulders. After a while of staring at the beam projector as if trying to will it to stop working, nothing happened, and he slumped forward again with a sigh.
He was so hungry and thirsty... if only it rained, but it was dead summer and the region wasn't getting much rain. His leather suit made him sweat a lot, making him lose water even quicker than normal. Suspended in midair, Ivo waited for his inevitable, slow, miserable death.
**
Two days later, Arashi sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes. She opened them, hoping to find that maybe it was all a bad dream, but much to her discontent, Takar was sitting on the side of the bed, having come into her bedroom a few minutes before to wait for her to wake up.
"Good morning, my queen," the alien said, smiling charmingly.
"I'm not your queen; and get out of my room," Arashi muttered.
"I still can't understand why you don't want to be the Ykrian Queen! Normal women would leap at the chance, but no, you'd rather stay with that unattractive slob on earth..."
"I'm not a normal woman, and yes, I would rather stay with Ivo. I don't care what he looks like, he's a lot nicer to me than you are, and he actually understands me!" Arashi growled and stood up, tugging her shirt and jeans to straighten them out. Being a computer nerd, she was no stranger to sleeping in her street clothes, and usually didn't even have to slip her shoes on in the morning because they were already on.
"I'd understand you too if you would actually talk to me," Takar said, pretending to be hurt.
"You will never understand me, and nobody will but him," Arashi muttered. The alien stood up and walked around the bed to her, putting an arm around her shoulders. "Ah, come on, give me a chance, will you?" he asked, trying to be a little more casual than normal, and slipped his other arm around her stomach. That was a mistake.
Takar went to the floor, gasping for breath, after Arashi viciously elbowed him in the gut, screaming at him. He recovered quickly and looked up at her, growling.
"Fine. I only wanted to torment Ivo, and I was more than willing to make your life like a paradise. But you blew your chance." He stood up and grabbed Arashi, quickly getting her into a hold that she couldn't break out of, and dragged her kicking and screaming from the room. With a little assistance from some guards, he carried her to the recesses of the ship, where he threw her into a narrow, reinforced room with absolutely nothing in it and no windows. The door was in the ceiling of the room, which was 10 feet off the floor--much higher than she would be able to reach. The room was about 6 feet long by 6 feet wide.
Looking down into the hatch, Takar said, "Like I said, I was willing to make your life great. But now you're going to die. Slowly..." He paused briefly.
"Alone."
The door slammed shut, leaving Arashi in utter silence and darkness.
**
The squirrel scampered down its tree, retrieving a nut from the ground. It munched on the nut contentedly, peering at its surroundings with wide, shining eyes, and hopped away, dropping the nut, its attention span quite short. The furry creature scurried up onto a big boulder, tail twitching slightly as it found something curious there.
What was this odd thing? It had a funny light coming out of one side, and strange, circular protrusions on the top. It was about the size of the squirrel's torso, and didn't look like anything he'd ever seen before. Curiously, he nibbled at it, finding it quite hard to chew. Pushing the odd thing to see if it did anything interesting, the squirrel jumped back as it slid off the boulder and shattered on another rock below.
A surprised scream nearby mixed with a huge, simultaneous THUD and SPLASH frightened the squirrel, who turned and bolted away, up into his tree.
**
Ivo tried to get his bearings in a bit of a panic, raising his head and shaking it vigorously to get the water out of his mustache.
...water...
Looking down, the doctor realized he was lying on the bank of the river, half in the water. He was free! Nothing was holding onto him! Something happened while he was sleeping! His entire body ached badly from stiffness, but he didn't care. Greedily, he dunked his head in the water and took huge gulps of it, glad for once that the river wasn't instead filled with oil. Stimulated by the sudden intake of something, his stomach rumbled hungrily, and he got up stiffly but quickly, grabbing a rock and looking around almost frantically.
Noticing movement of something that looked alive up in a tree, Ivo turned and hurled the rock with all his strength. Even when ridden with the shakes from hunger, his aim was true, and a squirrel fell out of the tree, dead.
Raw meat and the occasional tuft of fur wasn't exactly a gourmet meal, but it sufficed, and helped to get rid of some of the growling of Ivo's stomach. He searched around the area for a moment and found the broken tractor-beam-projector, having shattered on a rock somehow. Thanking his lucky stars, he found his trusty broken screwdriver nearby and managed to repair his Shapechanger within a few minutes.
Heading back towards his base, Ivo started to plan his course of action. First, of course, he would have to fill his stomach, which would take about 30 seconds thanks to his pill machine, then he could think well enough to figure out how to get to Takar and rescue Arashi.
**
Okay, I can find out all I need right here, Ivo thought to himself as he sipped a Dr Pepper, studying the computer attached to the Life Box that he stole from Takar's underground lab a while back. He hadn't thought to check this computer for the file before, and wouldn't have found it before anyway. He ran a powerful search for the text 'G* Robotnik' on every file in the system and found the file, archived, renamed to a completely different filetype to prevent easy discovery, and flagged hidden. Nothing could hide from a computer expert...
When Ivo pulled up the file, he found a wealth of information. Everything from Takar's thought process to his personality to his physical strengths were detailed in his genetic code, and along with the '.box' file he found in the archive was an electronic journal, which was simple to open. Takar wasn't much for passwords, being arrogant enough to think that his little file-hiding trick would be good enough.
The most notable entries in the journal were chilling.
Ykriat 2382775
Somehow I knew something was going to go wrong on this vacation...
Oh well, I'll just have to make do. This looks like an interesting plane of existence. I've never seen one so big, it's a good thing I have instant-warp capabilities. I should find an interesting planet to torment.
Ykriat 2603828
The nearest planet I found is filled with small life-forms, no intelligent life yet. However, these are some of the most interesting things I've ever seen, so I think I'll wait for a while to see what it develops into.
Ykriat 3280725
These things that call themselves 'humans' develop too fast. I've slowly engineered them to have very random intellects and become collectively stupider the larger the population gets. Then I'll have lots of people to torment and they'll never be able to get rid of me! On a side note, I stashed my Continuation 3000 in the central point of the universe. It's fortunate that this plane of existence is structured similar to what I am used to. I like to call the star Ivo. Nobody will ever find it, because humans will never be able to warp, and nobody would ever live long enough to survive that trip at the speeds I predict they'll be able to travel.
On a side note, I'm starting to like the calendar that the humans came up with, so I think I'll be converting to that soon.
April 12, 3053
Bother. That was one of the best incarnations of myself that I ever created. Why'd they have to go and kill me? Oh well, I've got Project Shadow under way... now, to make something that will help to execute it the rest of the way...
August 6, 3057...
Ivo's jaw dropped. August 6, 3057 was his birthday. After a stunned moment, he kept reading.
Well, I decided to go through with it. I made a human being that might be capable, someday, of the same abilities I possess. If he's determined enough. These humans just aren't giving me the challenge I want. Sure, I've been defeated, but I was also limiting myself to abilities that only mildly superhuman people could accomplish. Hopefully I can have some real adventure with this one. I call him Julian Ivo. I engineered him to be an extremely evil megalomaniac, an absolute master of everything mechanical, and quite excellent with programming and the like as well.
I made a little something to go along with him, something he can practice on and develop his abilities. As I sit here looking at these three, Julian suspended in one chamber, the hedgehog in another and the fox in another, I have a feeling they're going to become quite famous. I'll awaken Julian first, when the time is right, then the hedgehog about 2 years later, then the fox a little bit after that. Still not sure what to name the animals.
I'm going to start recreating my own race in case I need help with these three... still, no one must know my true plans and inner secrets, so I need to make up a good cover...
Ivo sat, absolutely shocked, staring at the screen.
Sonic and Tails were his brothers.
**
Strained, exhausted panting could be heard from the floor of the lab, and a white-gloved, trembling hand slammed itself up onto the computer desk, clawing at it, trying to pull its owner up. Ivo slowly made it to a half-standing, half-kneeling position, breathing raggedly, trying to recover from the massive combination stroke-heart-attack he just endured. His hand slipped and he fell back to the floor, wheezing.
I won't believe it, I refuse to... but... but it's true, isn't it...
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The strained, cracking scream echoed through the base, Ivo unable to stomach the fact that his two archenemies were his own flesh and blood... unable to accept that he was just a pawn in Takar's game... unable to accept reality.
Clutching his head, Ivo could physically feel himself going insane. It was as if something was welling up in the back of his mind, threatening to explode, threatening to paint his vision the angry color of blood. He knew he would be completely unable to control himself very soon, and dragged himself up into the computer chair, rolling over to a wall-mounted computer terminal and typing something in as fast as he possibly could.
SUFFERING. MEDICAL ATTENTION. MUST RETURN TO STABLE THOUGHT.
Just as he hit enter, his will to retain control cracked, and he started to violently destroy everything he could find with madly swinging fists. Soon, his gloves started to tear, revealing bleeding knuckles underneath, until finally several robots closed in on him and managed to stop him, injecting him with a powerful tranquilizer that left him slumping weakly to the floor on the spot.
With stiff, calculated movements, the five robots tended to the unstable doctor, placing him on an examination table. They diagnosed his problems within seconds of analyzing his pulse, a blood sample and other telltale signs, then went about slowing his rapid pulse and administering some drugs that would speed his recovery extremely quickly. They also injected him with extra-strength Prozac and gave him a few other things that would enhance his thought process.
Ten minutes later, Ivo sat up, calmed down to an almost impossible state. He pulled on a new pair of gloves, then dismissed the robots, glad for the advanced AI he had coded into them. He got up and approached the Life Box, stepping inside and closing the doors.
The doctor briefly examined a small keypad that was clearly visible by aid of a fluorescent light installed just above it. He pressed the 'Scan' button and stood still, watching a white beam that cut across the Box horizontally move from the ceiling downward, scanning over him, easily giving him a thorough physical examination while it recorded his present DNA structure.
The beam seemed to disappear into the floor of the Box and a small green light flashed on the keypad, the digital display reading, "YOU MAY EXIT. THANK YOU FOR USING THE LIFE BOXÔ." When Ivo stepped out, he sat down at the computer, finding his file loaded and changed to fit his present state.
The computer had compared this file to all of the other files on the hard drive and successfully isolated Takar, Sonic and Tails' DNA, displaying condensed versions of their files in smaller windows. Ivo directed his file to keep all of the physical enhancements that came from the three, but deleted anything related to the mind that weren't his own qualities in the first place. He did admire the way Takar made this so user-friendly--his own qualities were highlighted in red, Sonic's in blue, Takar's in green and Tails' in yellow. He could easily find and delete things he didn't want.
When he was finished, Ivo saved the file, then stepped back into the Life Box and pressed the 'Mutate' button. Several *thunk* sounds were heard as the Box sealed itself to an airtight state, and then a hissing sound echoed off the steel walls. Robotic clamps extended from the walls, holding Ivo in place as the gas started to take effect, and he soon went limp, put into a very deep, coma-like sleep just as normal procedure was supposed to go.
The Life Box quickly restructured Ivo's DNA, something that would be very painful if he were awake. Most of the restructuring went on in his neural cells, but there were basic bits of information in every other cell that needed to be changed as well. Within 2 minutes the entire process was finished and Ivo was a new mutation, though nothing about him changed appearance-wise. One of the clamps that kept him standing produced a small needle, injecting him with enough caffeine to make a dead sloth do a quarter-mile in 6 seconds.
The caffeine instantly brought the doctor out of his slumber, and the clamps let go of him. He had to take a minute to reorient himself, then remembered what happened and stepped out of the box, sitting back down at the computer.
Ivo drummed his fingers on the desk, restored to his normal state of mind, and said to himself, "I really don't want to do this, but I'm going to have to." He placed the cursor over the 'Create!' button on Sonic's file and clicked.
The Box churned and groaned, eventually spitting the blue hedgehog out, and Sonic jumped up, finding himself standing 10 feet from Ivo. "Not AGAIN!" the hero whined, sighing as he looked up at the mad scientist, then tilting his head in puzzlement when Ivo shook his head slightly.
"You've got nothing to worry about, Sonic," Ivo said as he pulled out his laser gun. The hedgehog cringed, closing his eyes tightly and waiting for a meaningless death, but then he heard something hit the floor with a loud *THOK* and looked down to see the battery cartridge of the gun on the floor. Dr. Robotnik calmly set the disabled gun down on the desk.
"Well, I take that back. Presently you have nothing to worry about from me, but... well, have a seat and see for yourself." The doctor pulled up another office chair and opened Takar's journal on the computer, rolling his own chair aside a bit. He leaned his elbows against the desk and locked his hands together in front of his face, sighing and leaning his forehead against them in deep concern.
Sonic very dubiously pulled himself up into the chair, moving over to read the journal entries, several of which had been highlighted red. By the time he was finished, his expression was one of unimaginable shock.
"I can't believe it either, but you know, it does make sense. You're the only one who's been able to defeat me all these years... who else but a... brother... who holds just as much power as I do?" Ivo asked, stumbling awkwardly on the word 'brother.' He couldn't believe he was using it to refer to his bitter enemy of many years.
"Oh, geez... my last name... it isn't 'hedgehog...' My name is Sonic Robotnik!?" Sonic asked, his voice cracking in disbelief, and he leaned his face heavily on one hand, starting to hyperventilate from shock.
The doctor twitched slightly. "Please... please, don't put those two names together. Even if it is true... just don't say it. Here, don't have a stroke or something, those are nasty." Ivo reached over to a nearby compartment in the wall and pulled out a Pepsi and a Dr Pepper, handing the Pepsi to Sonic.
Soon, the two sat facing each other only 5 feet apart, elbows resting on their knees, digesting all of this information. Ivo was the first to speak after a while.
"I brought you back because, for one thing, Takar is incredibly powerful and I want to do this right... If I were to die without bringing you back, you would have never had a chance to come back and destroy him. For another thing, an Evil Overlord can only help save the world so much. I almost went insane after the space-colony incident when I ended up helping out. I need someone to blame saving the world on, and I'm pretty sure you wouldn't mind saying you saved it and I was the big bad villain who caused all the trouble in the first place." He paused. "I know, despite all the problems between us, that deep down you enjoy the adventure just as much as I do... and I don't think either of us are going to want to let Takar ruin that."
Sonic looked up at him, considering the situation for a few long moments. Finally, he extended a hand. "Truce till Takar's destruction?"
Ivo nodded slightly, taking the hand and shaking it firmly. "Truce till Takar's destruction."
The two finished their drinks and started to plan.
**
"Okay, we need to collect about 1000 rings each, just to be safe," Ivo said absently as he studied the floor plan for Takar's mother-ship.
"1000!? Are you nuts? I might have skills, but not enough to collect THAT many rings!"
"Remember, there aren't badniks around every corner, nor am I there every second stage to attack you."
"Oh, yeah... Well, I suppose I'll go start collecting," Sonic said, then started running through the base, grabbing rings.
I can't believe I'm teaming up with him again, Sonic thought to himself as he ran. Perhaps there's some good in him after all. I thought he would be the type to take the entire world with him in the event that it was going to be destroyed. Course, then there'd be nothing to take over, but I didn't think he'd be about to help anyone do anything. Oh well, no time to dwell on that, I've got to get rings, and we've got to destroy Takar!
Ivo memorized the mother-ship layout fairly quickly, then found the exact location of the machine that Takar used to keep himself alive. Indeed, it was the center of the universe, but oddly, no details were given for the star Ivo. The doctor was amazed to find that the Milky Way galaxy was apparently several hundred trillion light years away from the center of the universe. In the center, billions of stars were extremely close together, making him wonder how in the world a ship, much less a living being, could survive the conditions. Furthermore, he wondered how it was possible that there were some stars only a few thousand miles apart. It seemed impossible, but this was all he had to go off of, and he was going to destroy Takar no matter how much it took.
While the Shapechanger ran around in the likeness of Ultra Robotnik and collected rings, Ivo continued to research and plan. This is a difficult decision. Heading for the Continuation 3000 would give Takar less warning, but going to rescue Arashi first would ensure that she's safe. Am I willing to risk her death for this? I could just bring her back to life afterward... But there's no need to risk her death for no reason. I'm going to...
As the Shapechanger passed by, Ivo got an idea.
**
Arashi lay on the floor of the small chamber, trying to fight off the insanity that threatened to grip her. She really was alone. It was absolutely silent in the chamber, and pitch black. All she could hear was the beating of her own heart.
That is, until something in her backpack moved.
Arashi gasped in surprise as a huge robotic arm burst out of the backpack, clamping onto the wall nearby and pulling the rest of itself out. The room was now quite cramped, and Arashi shoved herself into a corner, unable to see what was going on, but she could clearly hear the humming of some kind of vehicle. Suddenly, a light flicked on in the vehicle, and there were Ivo and Sonic... sitting in the Shapechanger.
Arashi couldn't decide whether to be more freaked out about the fact that a 3-ton vehicle just pulled itself out of her backpack or the fact that Ivo and Sonic appeared to be cooperating. She stared at them in disbelief, and Ivo flipped the lid of the pod up, grinning. "Well, don't just stand there staring, we have an alien to destroy," he said in an amused tone. Arashi pointed at Sonic, raising an eyebrow, and Ivo added, "We're in a truce till Takar's dead."
Knowing Sonic was a trustable type who wouldn't pull any nasty tricks, Arashi climbed up into the Shapechanger and was surprised to see the hedgehog move out of the seat and crouch slightly behind both of the seats, allowing her to take her place. The pod lid flipped down and the vehicle started to change.
**
Takar was staring out one of the main chamber windows at the stars, thoughtfully, when he felt a large amount of energy building up. He tried to figure out what it was, but within a moment, a huge explosion rocked the ship. He whirled around quickly, ordering several guards to check out what was going on, and pulled out his own advanced laser gun, remaining where he was, waiting. The ship kept rumbling and Takar became nervous as he heard a bloodcurdling mechanical roar echo through the entire place.
Several guards, many of them charred badly, ran screaming into the room as a column of flame burst down the hallway past the large door. Takar's eyes widened as the entire wall shattered and a huge, metallic dragon appeared, snarling.
The dragon's mouth opened and Super Sonic spun gracefully out to the floor, followed immediately by Ultra Robotnik, who hit the floor with a sound *CLANG,* dropping to an intimidating kneeling pose, one hand on the floor.
"WHAT!?!?" Takar screamed. "Ivo, you are COOPERATING with SONIC!? AGAIN!?"
"Even the most bitter of enemies will join forces against a greater evil," Super Sonic said, glaring at Takar. "And it seems you're a greater evil that just won't go away."
"I didn't create you two to be this smart!" Takar wailed, then started to shoot, but knew he was defenseless against the two. They had all of the chaos emeralds and he had none. He should have seen this coming.
The dragon threw back its head and let out a long, primal roar, causing the base to shake again. Instead of attacking Takar, Ultra Robotnik and Super Sonic began to attack the walls, ceiling and floor, shattering them, and the dragon rampaged about breathing fire and clawing through reinforced steel. Takar looked about in confusion, but couldn't figure out what they were doing, and decided to run and hide. Instead of getting away, however, he found himself swept off his feet. The dragon held him tightly with its tail as it went about its destruction, and the base started to crumble in a short time.
The dragon let go of Takar and swallowed up Sonic and Robotnik, then was enveloped in Chaos Control and disappeared as the entire mother ship, exploding in dozens of places and belching out huge clouds of smoke, descended towards earth. Takar, choking on the smoke and getting knocked unconscious by falling debris, went down with the ship towards the ground.
"That ought to distract him long enough for us to make it to his Continuation machine," Ultra Robotnik said as the Chaos Control did its work. The three were inside the Metal Dragon's super-armored torso, and could see what was going on outside by looking at the monitor of the onboard computer. The computer displayed what the dragon's eyes could see, and presently they were traveling through a brilliant tunnel of light. Chaos Control was usually instant, but that was for relatively short distances--to travel as far as they were having to go, it was going to take about five minutes.
Arashi watched as the two deactivated their super forms to save on rings, morphing back into their normal selves. The Shapechanger now had a backseat for Sonic to sit in thanks to a few quick modifications, and they sat quietly during the ride, Ivo pulling out three drinks and handing two to the others.
Sonic shook his head slightly just after taking a drink and commented, "I'm a little dizzy... I feel odd energy..." Arashi and Ivo replied that they felt something similar, and waited curiously, a bit dubiously, to arrive to their destination. Ivo and Sonic had agreed to send the ship to the outer reaches of the general central point of the universe, where the stars were starting to cluster pretty closely. It would probably be about 25 light years away from the very center.
A blast of energy ripped time and space open, and three jaws dropped as their owners dizzily stared at what lay before them.
Billions of huge chaos emeralds, most of them the size of planets, floated about here. They shimmered beautifully in the light, and the entire surrounding area glowed brightly, as if the ship was floating in another plane of existence and not the blackness of space. Unimaginable amounts of energy thrummed in the very fabric of existence itself here, pulsing like a giant heartbeat. Just one of these huge chaos emeralds would be enough to provide infinite power for an entire galaxy's population, but they were nothing compared to what lay at the very center of the universe.
There, in the direct center, was a red chaos emerald too large for even Ivo to comprehend. He directed the onboard computer to analyze it, and the Shapechanger returned that the 'star' Ivo was five light years across at its widest point and five light years tall from the very top to the very point. From twenty-five light years away, much too far for standard stars to be seen as anything more than pinpoints, the 'star' Ivo appeared against the bright, shimmering 'sky' of this area to be as large as a basketball to the naked eye. The largest star known to man up to this point, Betelgeuse, had a radius that reached from the Sun to Jupiter. The giant red chaos emerald, Ivo, was bigger than the distance between the Sun and its next nearest star four light years away, Alpha Centauri.
The three occupants of the Shapechanger had only been here for a few seconds and they were starting to feel extremely weird. It wasn't a bad feeling, but they weren't sure if it was a good feeling, either. It was too powerful to comprehend. Something 'clicked,' and instantly, the three seemed to vaporize, turning into nothing but brilliant, shimmering forms of pure chaos energy--Ivo a brilliant blood-red, Sonic a deep blue and Arashi a rich cyan. The euphoria experienced by the three after that was too great to imagine, and they all three gained powers that could only be described as godlike.
It was time to break something.
**
No longer in need of the Shapechanger, the three warped themselves into the giant chaos emerald, finding themselves within a base quite unlike anything they'd ever seen. As soon as they appeared, they sensed an alarm system go off. The inside of the Emerald was hollow toward the upper half, the open space continuing for about a light year in all directions before there were solid walls. Red ether roiled about in the hollow space, and there appeared to be absolutely nothing in there, until Chaos Ivo spotted something a few million miles away. Within seconds, the three were next to it, and it was at the very central point of the inside of the emerald.
A laptop, with a gamepad attached, hovered in midair. On the screen, the word, "CONTINUE?" flashed, and the 'infinity' symbol was right under it. Chaos Arashi willed the computer to examine the .exe file of the game that was running and found that Takar had hacked the ROM to provide him with infinite continues.
"Well, we can't have a cheater running the universe," Chaos Arashi said, and hacked the file, resetting the number of continues to zero. When she was done with that, she saved the file and recompiled it, then destroyed the computer.
A brilliant green flash blasted through the area and Takar appeared in front of them, growling. He instantly turned into his own form of pure chaos, nothing but a neon green glow.
"Alright... you want to destroy my Continuation 3000? I think I'll just destroy your entire UNIVERSE!" The green light expanded rapidly, and the other Chaos forms teleported out, starting to absorb energy from the planet-sized chaos emeralds. Chaos Takar began to build up immense amounts of energy within himself and the Ivo emerald, causing the very fabric of existence to shake.
"We have to contain the energy so he just blows himself out of existence," Chaos Ivo said to the other two, and the three zipped around much faster than the speed of light, absorbing as much energy as they could. It was a race to see who could absorb more power, Chaos Takar or them. Three beats one when all four have the same speed, however, and instead of restraining himself, Chaos Takar decided he was going to die anyway and completely abandoned all reserve, building up power much faster than normal. He was killing himself even as he did it, because the energy was too much for a living being to handle, but he was going to do it anyway.
"NOBODY'S GOING TO WIN HERE, IVO! IT ALL ENDS IN TOTAL DESTRUCTION!" the Ykrian screamed madly, letting his energy build up faster and faster. The other three Chaos forms raced to keep up.
Chaos Ivo could sense that the enemy was nearing the end of his capacity and he would detonate soon, and signaled the other two to stop absorbing and start containing him. The three surrounded the huge red central emerald and created a ball of energy to enclose it, putting everything they had into reinforcing its strength. The entire universe was shaking tremendously, breaking apart most things closer to the center. A huge crack ripped its way down the giant emerald, ether hissing out of it as it threatened to explode...
Just as the three Chaos forms had poured all but a tiny amount of energy into the shield, the huge emerald blew apart in a magnificent explosion that brought a tear to Chaos Ivo's eye. It was the most beautiful expression of destruction that he had ever witnessed, but he only had time to watch it for a few seconds before it slammed into the shield, sending all three flying back extremely fast. The explosion reached outward past the shield, breaking it, but Ivo, Arashi and Sonic knew they'd stunted it enough to keep it from spreading much further than a few hundred light-years, and Earth was safe. Summoning the last of their strength, they teleported themselves, and the Shapechanger, back to the field on Earth where the hole to Ivo's underground base was. They immediately reverted to their normal form and collapsed.
**
Several days later, Ivo woke up, finding all the chaos emeralds lying next to him along with Arashi and Sonic. Everyone was intact, but they'd also overloaded themselves on energy and were pretty weak, but could function. Ivo slowly got to his feet and woke the other two up.
As Sonic dragged himself to a standing position, Ivo dropped a hand heavily on the hedgehog's shoulder. "Thanks," the doctor said weakly, reaching down with a hand to help Arashi stand up.
Sonic wavered and mumbled, "Yeah... no prob..." and started to stumble away, still quite disoriented.
Ivo and Arashi stood, leaning against each other, watching the hedgehog stagger off. When he got about 200 yards away, Ivo pulled a small device out of his pocket and smiled, pressing the button.
Sonic heard a mechanical whirring on his shoulder, but not for long. Ripped apart by a violent explosion, the hedgehog became nothing more than a crater in the earth.
Arashi looked up at Ivo, blinking, confused.
"Hey, he only said the truce was going to last until Takar was dead," Ivo stated, grinning.
**
Ivo and Arashi stood on the balcony of their underground base, leaning against the railing as they stared at the gem-encrusted walls, enjoying a couple of sodas.
"The best part is," Ivo said quietly, "Nobody will ever know that I helped save the world, and Sonic is dead. I killed two hedgehogs with one stone!" He laughed along with Arashi.
"So, what are you going to do now?" she asked.
"The question is not whether I am going to do anything. It's more like... what are we going to do now? All the technology in the universe... so many things in this world and beyond that we haven't explored yet... I bet there's lots of stuff out there even better than the Ivo emerald was. Of course..." He smiled down at her. "None of it is better than you."
Arashi looked up at him, smiling slightly. He slipped an arm around her.
The Dr Pepper and Mountain Dew sat on the railing, forgotten, as their owners shared a passionate moment and a long kiss. Well, how did you expect it to end?
Looks like Evil Overlords Have Feelings Too, after all.
#eggman#robotnik#arashi#arashi codiv#sonic#tails#jen irwin#fanfiction#fanfiction jen irwin#fanfiction Evil Overlords Have Feelings Too
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Evil Overlords Have Feelings Too - Part 3
by Jenifer Irwin
Part 3
"Hahaaa! I won again! Well, sort of," Robotnik said as he rode along in the pod on the Steel Snake's back. Arashi, sitting next to him, smirked slightly. "Well, he probably lost a lot more valuable equipment than you did, so I'd say you won."
"Plus, I've got the Chaos Emeralds... I really could have used these BEFORE I took over the world. Urh. Now, the only problem left is finding a suitable place to rebuild a base..."
Arashi smiled slightly and turned to pet the chao that were sitting behind the seats. The little creatures were so cute, especially Devlin the Devil Chao. For all his diabolical appearance, he was still just an innocent little baby-like creature, toddling around looking for food.
I'm really proud of him, Arashi thought as she glanced up at Robotnik briefly. And really glad that I met him. Life has never been so fun and adventurous. Plus, I never thought I would get to witness him personally ending Sonic's life. With me having betrayed Sonic! Hah! Ah, my hero...
He had been concentrating on flying the Steel Snake, whose movement was controlled by his mind alone, when he glanced casually at Arashi. The look on her face, it was... AUGH.
The ship lurched to the side, rocking violently, a manifestation of the doctor's inner reaction. Four chao were thrown into the wall and Arashi gasped as she was jerked sideways in her restraining harness. Robotnik quickly stared straight ahead again, bringing the ship under control.
Great. Just great, Robotnik thought to himself. Somehow I knew this was going to happen. I think it was there from the start. But I definitely knew when she darn near kissed me back there at the ruins of the base... I'm too fat, too ugly to be attractive, right!? Well, like I told Takar... just being diabolical has a certain charm to it... but I can't let feelings get in the way of my work.
He glanced carefully over at her so she didn't notice. She was too busy calming the chao down.
...can I?
He shook his head suddenly at his own thought, then masked the apparently reasonless motion by sneezing violently. Arashi looked up, blinking. "Getting a cold?" she asked, snickering slightly.
"Nah," Robotnik replied. "Dust in my nose." He sniffed slightly. No way. I can't let people know I have too many feelings. Just isn't me. I have to keep that nasty, heartless image that Sega gave me. Right?
He was approaching a city. Glad of this, he growled to himself as he struggled with his thoughts, and blew up the nearest building. Arashi glanced at the cloud of dust that resulted, metal flying everywhere, and wondered what he was doing.
"Yes! Boom! Explosions! Scrap metal! I am evil! Verrrry evil!" Robotnik seemed almost in his own little world as he continued to shoot rockets into buildings, watching with a strange glee as they exploded all over the place.
"I'm hungry," he said suddenly after about 6 places exploded, and descended towards the streets. The Steel Snake weaved its way through the city, frightening people in their cars and causing sirens to blare. The police didn't dare touch him, though--after all, he was Emperor Ivo Robotnik.
Hearing the sirens, a McDonald's employee glanced out a window, just as the wall opposite of that window burst in, bricks collapsing to the ground and dust flying up as a giant, silvery, robotic snake slithered in through the huge hole.
Workers and customers alike screamed and trembled, some frozen, some running out of the restaurant and away. The pod flipped open and Ivo Robotnik vaulted out, dropping to the ground, Arashi Codiv jumping out with four chao in her arms.
"Aherm, twenty Big Macs, twenty super-size fries, a large Dr Pepper, a large Mountain Dew, and four happy meals with small Dr Peppers, for here. And, of course, free," Robotnik said. He casually drew his laser gun, holding it down at his side as he shifted his weight to one leg, fist on hip.
"U-uhh... s-sir, w-we don't s-serve those d-drinks..."
Robotnik pondered. "Now let's see, I forgot how to work the safety on this..." He fiddled with the laser gun, one finger precariously gripping the trigger.
The cashier gulped loudly and said, "Uh, I'll... be right back, I'm going to go rob another restaurant and bring you your drinks! Very quickly!" He ran away with speed that could impress even Sonic. Adrenaline can do funny things to people.
The fear-inspiring customers took a seat at a large booth, waiting for their food. It was delivered to them quickly.
The chao were given their happy meals, and the 20 pairs of big macs and fries sat on the table before Arashi and Robotnik. He gestured to them, saying, "Take what you can eat." She moved just one big mac and fries over. Gladly, Robotnik took the rest, scarfing it all down with disturbing ferocity.
By the time Arashi was finished with her food, Robotnik was too. Which was frightening, considering he was eating 19 times more than she was. Customers and employees stared, jaws dropping. Robotnik looked up, acting quite annoyed, though he loved the attention. "What? I'm having LUNCH, for crying out loud." He brandished the laser gun, practically giggling inwardly as he watched them all force themselves to pretend to be overly interested in something else. Even after they all looked away, the tension in the air was so thick you could cut it with a knife.
The chao were playing happily with the toys they got from their happy meals when one of them broke. Balor, the one who had the broken toy, started to cry. Robotnik grinned across the table at Arashi and got up, approaching the cashiers, who went pale and started trembling in fear. Oh, how he loved having that effect on people. It gave him chills. He leaned casually on one of the registers and said, "You know what to do, right?"
With quick, frantic movements, the cashier produced every toy they had in the restaurant, shoving them all across the counter. Robotnik gestured to the four chao to come over, and they skipped over gleefully, picking out the toys they wanted. He snickered to himself and grinned over at Arashi.
Arashi had to do a double-take. The grin was almost... goofy. Like a teenager who just thoroughly impressed his girlfriend and is practically intoxicated from the victory. She gave him a slightly bizarre look, and he realized...
Gaahhhh! What am I doing!? Coughing suddenly, Robotnik resumed his gruff, nasty demeanor and gestured with the laser gun at the toys. "Yeah, that's it, take lots of'em," he said to the chao.
Getting a power high, Robotnik decided to terrorize more people as he ambled from table to table, looking down at the trembling customers who sat in booths or chairs. He snarled unexpectedly at a little boy, sending him running away crying in fear. Another person had to give up all of his money or be shot. Arashi noticed there were police cars sitting outside, but the policemen stood next to their cars, looking just as scared as everyone else.
Everybody knew. Everybody knew that this was Emperor Robotnik. Everybody knew that you do not mess with Emperor Robotnik.
Dozens of people trembled in his presence as he demanded money from random people. Nobody was hurt, but lots of people went broke that day. Robotnik smiled pleasantly and approached the Steel Snake as Arashi gathered up the four chao and hopped in. Turning back to the crowd, Robotnik silently slid a plate back on the laser gun, exposing the battery chamber.
Nothing was in it. He had held them all at gunpoint, threatening and robbing them, with an unloaded gun. When they all realized this, he could see the disbelief and despair on their faces, and he laughed maniacally before hopping into the Steel Snake and heading out.
Arashi grinned as they flew above the city and eventually away from it, just cruising along. There was no real direction to their travel, because Robotnik couldn't stop laughing. His laugh wasn't the severely masculine, deep, diabolical one that he usually used, it was an almost drunk half-giggle. He was completely high to the point of insanity on ego and power, and loving every second of it. It was infectious; soon, Arashi joined in the laughter.
Ah, yes, nothing like a couple of mad scientists laughing crazily as they soar over the plains on a beautiful Saturday afternoon.
Very suddenly, Robotnik stopped laughing, his jaw dropping as he stared straight ahead at something in the distance. Arashi looked at him in alarm, following his gaze. What was... oh, no... something racing through the high grasses with such speeds as to set them on fire... something spiky... something blue...
**
(30 minutes ago, in Takar's secret Earth-based lab)
"Yes... yes, that's it... Right... go on, computer, you can figure this out, I know you can..." Takar urged the supercomputer on as it crunched numbers, furiously scanning the ash samples for data. He watched the screen hopefully, desperately.
"YES! YES! I LOVE you, computer! I love you, Windows XP! You're so good to me! Well, usually!" The DNA data for both Sonic and Tails was coming up, clear as day, no pieces missing. Takar grinned evilly. "Time to give you two a bit of a boost."
The alien walked up to the strange device that he had created, which had a large door on one side and a funnel on the other. He cut his finger slightly, squeezing a few drops of purple blood into the funnel, and sealed the wound with his regenerative powers. Sitting back down at the computer, he typed a few things in at a furious pace, watching as some diagrams and 3-D renditions of Sonic and Tails changed and shifted. Tails became a bit leaner, Sonic a bit taller. Sonic's eyes glowed an even more vibrant green than they did before, almost a glow-in-the-dark quality coming to them, and Tails' blue eyes started glowing oddly too. A few checks over the data, and Takar saved his file. He clicked the 'compile and run' button, then sat back and waited.
The big device with the door churned and shuddered, and after about 5 minutes, Sonic spilled out of the door, looking quite surprised. Tails soon followed while the hedgehog was still trying to accustom himself to being alive again.
"What the heck!?" were Sonic's first words. He glanced up to see Takar and the lab, becoming alarmed for a moment. Then he realized that this was probably someone from the same band of aliens that brought him back to life from a corpse with a resurrection beam before.
"Welcome back to life," Takar said, grinning. "I'm Takar, Ykrian Leader. Would you like to get back at Robotnik? I've... enhanced you two a bit. I'm sure once you go out and start doing things, you'll find out what I mean." He leaned back in his chair, smiling smugly and quite willing to allow Sonic and Tails do all the dirty work for him.
Sonic stood up, panting slightly, and glanced at Tails. "Hey, you shrunk. And you lost weight."
"I think you grew, Sonic..."
The two glanced at each other uncertainly, noting the odd quality of their eyes and the slight change in physical appearance. Suddenly, Sonic remembered his main goal and said, "Time to go kick some butt! Thanks, green dude!" With that, he raced towards the door, Tails on his heels.
"Wait!" Takar yelled.
Sonic stopped and turned towards him, raising an eyebrow.
"Dr. Robotnik has all seven chaos emeralds... so watch out."
"Okay, Tails," Sonic said, turning to the fox. "You find a way to build another Tornado, and wait here. I'll get the chaos emeralds away from Eggman, and then I'll come back so we can power the new ship. You don't mind if Tails uses some spare parts of yours for it, do you, Takar?"
"Anything... and I mean anything, to rid the world of Ivo Robotnik."
Tails nodded, then happily ran over to a pile of stuff to start his building.
Feeling a little different, thus slightly unsure of himself, Sonic emerged from the underground lab and jogged in place for a moment. He started to run at about 20 miles an hour. He gradually picked up speed, arms and legs moving quickly as he became more accustomed to his form. Within moments he was moving faster than the speed of sound.
It didn't seem like it, though. He wasn't having to strain like he used to to do this. Quirking his mouth slightly in thought, he decided to really open up and give it everything he had.
With reflexes even faster before and a strange hyper-awareness to any obstacles that he had to clear, Sonic blazed through a forest, literally running across the surface of a large lake, sending a huge column of water rising up behind him. He began to feel out of control as no matter hard he tried to exhaust himself, he just kept accelerating. The skin on his face was pulled on by the air that rushed past him, pulling the corners of his mouth back. His legs were moving so fast that their entire range of motion was like a solid entity. Instead of jumping that next log, he ran right into it, his legs sawing it in half like a knife through warm butter.
Forgetting the fact that he might be out of control, Sonic just watched the scenery blur past him, exhilarated. He had never experienced speed like this before, even in his super and hyper forms. And he wasn't even breathing hard. Occasionally, he squinted at something in the distance, and found that his vision 'zoomed in' on it, but his hearing and sense of touch slightly diminished when that occurred. When he stopped squinting, everything went back to normal. Listening closely to the wind, the sound was amplified as his sight dimmed slightly... odd...
Sawing through a boulder and a few more logs, Sonic suddenly blazed out onto a plain, setting the grasses on fire as he moved over them like a bolt of lightning. Accelerating with every step, he continued on.
When he saw the Steel Snake, he gasped, and jerked his feet out in front of him to bring himself to a stop, creating some long ruts in the ground, but he managed. He looked up to see Robotnik lean out of the side of the pod, aiming a laser gun at his head. I am NOT going to die a THIRD time like this! It is just getting old for both me AND the readers! Sonic screamed to himself. He tried to dodge, but the laser caught him in the head anyway, searing through it. Oddly enough, he felt the pain. He was still alive. How!?
However, he tried to make it look like it did work, and slumped to the ground, limp. Oh, it hurt. It hurt bad. But he had to stay still and expressionless.
Robotnik stopped the Snake nearby and jumped out, carefully approaching the hedgehog with laser gun drawn. He noticed Sonic was, at the least, unconscious, and watched him carefully for a moment. He wasn't breathing, either.
Lifting one of Sonic's wrists, Robotnik felt carefully for a pulse. There was none.
Laughing, Robotnik yelled to Arashi, "Again, the hedgehog falls to my laser!" He pulled Sonic out of the ground and threw him in the cargo bay of the Steel Snake, then hopped into the pod and flew off.
Inside the cargo bay, Sonic lay wondering. He really could play dead. His heart and breathing stopped just as he thought it would be nice for them to do so, when Robotnik approached him. Takar really did infuse him with some interesting new abilities, including the night vision that he was experiencing right now. He glanced around inside the dark compartment, jaw dropping when his eyes landed on the seven chaos emeralds, all in a plastic grocery bag, along with a supply of rings.
Robotnik snickered to himself as he drove along, giving Arashi a smug glance now and then. This continued for a few minutes until he seemed to feel something... a large amount of energy... and the cargo door burst open as Super Sonic flew out of it, cackling.
"What the!? You're DEAD, Sonic! This is impossible!" Robotnik yelled in surprise, watching as the golden hedgehog soared through the air briefly, then started trying to smash the Snake's jets off. Quickly, the jets retracted into the snake's body, as did the pod, and it just coiled up tightly like an armadillo and hovered there in the air with gravity reversal energy, all the attacks bouncing off the high-quality rubber-steel. This continued for quite a while as Sonic's urge to break something stayed with him, but eventually he came to his senses and realized it wasn't going to work.
Dropping to the ground, he sped off back towards where Takar's lab was.
Robotnik and Arashi remained concealed in the snake's back, with the evil genius using the senses of the snake to realize that Sonic had run away. As the jets and the pod re-emerged from the giant serpentine robot, the occupants were startled to see and hear the entire world shake violently for a moment, and a brilliant blast of multicolored energy emitted from somewhere in the distance.
Looking up, the Steel Snake trained its advanced sensors in on a small object that was flying through the air. It was the blue chaos emerald! The pod lid flipped open and Robotnik quickly pulled off his racing harness, standing up and watching the emerald intently. As it neared, he maneuvered the Snake into position, then raised a hand slowly--catching the emerald expertly in a baseball glove.
Sitting down, he wondered how this could have happened. Arashi asked, "Where did you get the glove?"
"Oh, don't worry about the technicalities, this is a cartoon, after all," Robotnik said, then flipped down the pod lid, put his harness back on and headed in the direction that Sonic ran.
Finding Sonic was easy--his speed had burned a path of charred grass through the plain, and eventually into a deep forest, out onto another plain where trees dotted the landscape. At a certain point, near an oddly-placed arrangement of boulders, giant ruts had been carved into the earth by two high-speed feet, then the grass was pressed flat by what had to have been high-speed winds from something. About 2 miles away from the ruts in the same direction that they were traveling, there was Sonic... wrapped around a tree and quite dead.
Robotnik laughed so hard that he had to land the Snake to keep from crashing it.
**
It took all of Robotnik and Arashi's strength to pull Sonic off of the tree. Robotnik eventually deduced, from the length of the ruts and the fact that a trapdoor was smack dab in the middle of the boulder arrangement, that Sonic had tried to stop near the boulders but couldn't. He must have run out of rings by that point, and reverted to his true form, with his enhanced speed, plus the augmentation to it from his hyper form, not allowing him to stop quite like he predicted. When he tried to stop, he must have caused the ruts, then knowing that wasn't going to do it, he accidentally flailed in such a way as to catch air, then have a fatal meeting with the kindly tree that managed to help him stop. The impact sent the emeralds flying, and judging from the speed of the blue one, they flew pretty far.
How can you get that much information out of some burnt grass, ruts, flat grass, and a dead hedgehog stuck to a tree? Well, give me a break, Robotnik's IQ is 600 for crying out loud, he must know SOMETHING about forensic science.
**
In Takar's secret lab, Tails and the Ykrian leader wondered what the heck had caused the earth to shake like it did. Tails decided to investigate, and made his way to the surface, immediately noticing the ruts in the ground. As he was looking around, something slammed into his head. Hard. Everything went black.
A few minutes later, noticing that Tails was gone longer than he said he would be, Takar went to the surface as well, finding the two-tailed fox collapsed on the ground next to a red chaos emerald. Judging from where the wound was and where the emerald was, it must have fallen from the sky and struck him.
The alien leader dragged Tails into the lab, taking the chaos emerald with them, and put it in the Tornado II, which was the original purpose of collecting at least one of the emeralds. He tested out the vehicle briefly, making sure it worked, and then set to reviving Tails.
**
Robotnik pondered. I wonder where would be a place that's nice and secure, but looks good too... and is quiet, and where nobody would think to go... He pulled something resembling a permanently fixed laptop out of a panel in front of him, tapping a few things on the keys and searching for something.
"Let's see, now, I could program it to use its sensors to..." Typing furiously as his idea formulated, he finished the code in just a few minutes as the Steel Snake hovered in the air. Arashi watched, knowing exactly what he was doing as she saw the code fly across the screen, and soon the Snake was moving again, probing with its senses as it searched.
The pod on the Snake's back sank down into its body and steel plates moved to cover it up, concealing the pod entirely. Robotnik flicked on a light, and inside of the Snake, the environment was almost surreal. A constant, vibrating hum permeated the air, but it was otherwise silent.
"Don't want the force of dirt pressing against this thing to snap it off or pop it open," he explained, concentrating. Pulling a small container of something out of a glove compartment, he handed it to Arashi. "Drink that. It'll help you keep from throwing up." He handed four smaller containers to the chao as well, then drank one of his own. Arashi looked at him dubiously. "You're not going to do what you did when we were fighting the UFOs, are you?"
"Gonna do worse," he said matter-of-factly, waiting a few moments for whatever the liquid was to kick in. Everybody got an odd tingling in their stomach, and Robotnik pulled several straps out of the seats and walls. He strapped the chao firmly to the back wall, telling them not to worry as he looked at the wide-eyed, confused expressions, then secured Arashi's head to the back of her seat with a strap around her forehead. Pulling a last strap around his own head, he took a deep breath and started concentrating again.
A rabbit screeched and leaped away as a giant metal thing slammed into the ground nearby. The Steel Snake's nose penetrated several feet into the earth, and it pushed downward as its entire body started to spin madly, drilling through the ground. It disappeared within seconds, leaving the rabbit dashing frantically over rumbling grasses.
Inside the pod, it was utter chaos. All six occupants were screaming, perhaps in fear, perhaps in confusion, perhaps just for the heck of it, as the Snake spun on its axis at blurring speeds, the centrifugal force seeming to try to pull everyone in all directions at once.
"AAAaaAAAaaaaAAAAaaaaAAAAAAAGHHHHH!" Robotnik had rather underestimated the power of the Steel Snake, and he was screaming the loudest, being the only one that finally, truly understood just how powerful it could be. Down, down the Snake went, drilling over 1000 feet into the ground, before it finally exited in a giant underground cavern, above a huge lake. Another 3000 or so feet it fell, until it splashed into the water, sinking to the bottom.
It took several moments for the two to come to their senses as they sat there blinking, and finally, Robotnik looked over at Arashi. "That was COOL," was all he could say.
The Steel Snake slithered out of the water and came to rest coiled up nearby. The pod rose out of its back and Robotnik grinned slightly as he and Arashi got out. Looking over at her, he knew he'd picked the right place. She stared around in awe, practically staggering, as she looked at the interior of the cavern.
Thousands upon thousands, even millions, of tiny gems were encrusted on the walls, covering them, sparkling brilliantly. Every turn of the head produced a new look to them as some light that shined down through the hole in the ceiling reflected off the lake, bouncing dim light onto the crystals and giving it a surreal atmosphere.
"Wow... wow," Arashi said, blinking.
While he couldn't reciprocate on the occasions that she hugged him, Robotnik could at least build his next base in the most beautiful cavern in the world to make her happy. He glanced around, quite impressed with it himself, and thought about how exactly he was going to design the new base.
Airborne, underwater, affixed to the walls or ceiling? Maybe even the floor? Perhaps a base that ran a ring around the lake on the floor? There were so many possibilities. But it had to be secure, not easy to access the inside, and big.
Though, why keep everything in one building and risk it all being destroyed at once again in the event that someone started blowing up his stuff? He decided on a central control point--built in the center of the lake with bridges on all four sides to lead to its shores--and various bunkers in the water and around the lake. There would be underwater tunnels to lead from one building to the other.
Now, where to get the materials.
"Arashi, can I have your backpack?"
**
Using the materials that he could find within the unknown recesses of Arashi's backpack (women can put lots of stuff in their chosen containers), Robotnik began to build. Arashi sat on a boulder near the edge of the lake, watching in blatant admiration along with the four chao as Ivo walked across and climbed on beams, every movement easy, flawless and familiar to him as he worked on the huge central building. It took shape into a giant fortress of steel, running underwater where the doctor used an oxygen tank to sustain himself while he built down there. The bridges were placed, and more bunkers scattered about, and finally, after 12 straight hours of work, it was all finished. A giant, transparent, protective dome was placed around the entire area, and the hole that had been created by the Steel Snake was turned into a metal shaft with dozens of doors so that getting through it would be difficult for any outsider. Lights were installed in a ring at the edges of the cavern to make seeing easier, and the place was, all in all, awesome.
Total, the base had 250 rooms, with reinforced steel walls 10 feet thick. Most of the rooms would never be seen again, but it's pretty cool to be able to say you've got them. Probably only the kitchen, living room, lab, bedrooms, bathrooms and bunkers would ever really be used.
Walking up to Arashi and flipping a wrench in one hand, backpack in the other, Robotnik gestured grandly. "Behold, the new Robotnik Fortress! Muahahaha!" He grinned, handing the backpack to her, and she jumped up from the rock. "Let's go in!"
The Steel Snake followed the humans and chao into the base, settling down in its new lab. Robotnik showed Arashi around to all the new and improved stuff... more candy dispensers on the walls, an endless supply of Mountain Dew for her and Dr Pepper for him, a bigger refrigerator, automatically flushing toilets, beds with ALL of the neat features you see on commercials for really good ones, the works.
When the tour was done, the two went into the lab. Robotnik opened the cargo hold on the Steel Snake and pulled out a very dead Sonic.
"There's only one way I'm going to be able to keep you from coming back to life, or being brought back to life by aliens, or whatnot, Sonic..."
Arashi watched in disbelief as Robotnik carried Sonic out of the lab and headed to the kitchen. She followed along, confused, wondering what crazy thing he was going to do next. Once in the kitchen, Robotnik stuffed Sonic into the funnel of the new microwave-pill-maker thing he made. Turning it on, he watched the machine groan and shake, churning as it processed the hedgehog into a small blue pill that clattered into the change-slot-like compartment.
Robotnik picked up the pill, grinning evilly.
"You're not gonna," Arashi said, disbelievingly, as the doctor picked up a glass of water.
"And why not?" he asked, popping the pill in his mouth and washing it down in a single gulp of water.
Arashi couldn't help but start laughing hysterically. "Hahahaha! Haha! I never thought I'd see you EAT Sonic!" She fell against a wall, laughing.
"Mmh. Tastes like chicken," Robotnik joked, staring at the ceiling in a moment of thought. He set the glass of water down, knowing that there was no way Sonic could be brought back to life unless he himself were captured or killed before his body absorbed the pill's contents. He decided to stay in the base for a while so it could do just that. After a few hours, they would go out to find the other chaos emeralds.
**
Robotnik was performing some upgrades on the Steel Snake, making it faster and with bigger rockets. Arashi sat nearby, petting the chao that sat in her lap as she watched the mad scientist work.
"The energy that these chaos emeralds give off can help me locate the other ones as long as I have this one," Robotnik explained. He held up the brilliant gem, which sparkled blue in the light of the room. Even though it was blue--and most blue things reminded him of his adversary--it was a thing of wonder and beauty. Becoming distracted, the doctor stared into its depths for quite some time, mesmerized.
I never noticed how beautiful these were, he thought to himself. In fact, I never really did notice any beauty in life until...
Snapping back to reality, he glanced over at Arashi for a split second, then turned back to his work. Noticing the glance, Arashi grinned slightly, then set the chao aside and stood up, wandering over to Robotnik and watching what he was doing for several minutes. The jets were getting an upgrade, and he worked on each of them in turn. He was quite aware of her watching him the entire time, but didn't really make moves to acknowledge it.
Deciding to take a small break, Robotnik wandered over to one of the many wall-refrigerators in the base, pulling out two cans--one of Dr Pepper and one of Mountain Dew--handing the second to Arashi. Snapping the Dr Pepper open, he started to take a drink.
This was the second she'd been waiting for.
"So, when should we get married?" Arashi asked abruptly.
Though all she was doing was trying to get a funny reaction from him in the first place, Arashi realized she shouldn't have stood in front of him. He twitched suddenly, making a shocked *snrk* sound, then choked violently on his Dr Pepper and ended up spitting it all over her, dropping the can too. As he leaned against the wall coughing and gasping for breath, Arashi practically fell down laughing.
"That... wasn't funny," Robotnik said as he pointed at her, trying to catch his breath, but he couldn't help but grin in amusement. "Not funny at all..." He started laughing.
I've really got to find a way to get back at her with some pranks of my own, Robotnik thought to himself as he passed by her, giving her a slightly mischievous grin. As he went back to work on the Steel Snake, a cleaning robot automatically came out and mopped the Dr Pepper off the floor, disposing of the can as well, and Arashi headed for the shower room.
As he worked, Robotnik started humming his theme song. A few bolts here, a plate there... "I love playin' this game by my rules... I will con-quer the world with mah tools..." By now, he'd left humming for singing the song. A few new circuit boards placed in the pod for homing missiles... "I am the en-em-y! I will succeed! My missions, yeah, I muu-ust complete! My name is Eggman, don't forget mah name--if ya ask me again, I'll show you the same!" It was pretty funny for him use a socket wrench as a microphone.
Especially to Arashi, who started applauding, grinning in amusement.
Startled, Robotnik whirled around. "Wha!?" Then he turned a deep shade of red. She'd seen the whole thing, hadn't she?
"Uh... hrph... you shower fast," he muttered, coughing, and went soberly back to work.
One thing was for sure, there was rarely a dull moment since she showed up in his base for the first time. He thought back to when she wasn't there, when he was awfully lonely... Even raising chao just didn't do enough for him, and before he'd started doing that, he was incredibly lonely. It would have been bad form to go out searching for someone, though. Evil Overlords just don't do that, unless they do it in such a way as to strike terror into their target, but he did that to everyone else already, so what would be the point?
The point is... I have too many feelings! "Argh!" Robotnik pounded on the side of the Steel Snake with his the heels of his hands suddenly, looking frustrated, as if trying to compose himself. Arashi glanced over, taking a sip of Mountain Dew. "Something wrong?"
"Nothing. My Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is acting up again," he lied, then walked away from the Snake and sat down at a lab control panel several feet away, sighing.
Poor guy, Arashi thought as she looked at him. He's got real problems dealing with his emotions. She sighed and walked over to Robotnik.
"Ivo, this is the price you pay for wanting more publicity," she said as she walked up behind him, putting her hands on his shoulders. "You wanted them to see the real Ivo Robotnik, right? Well, you're not letting them the way you're going!"
Robotnik sighed in resignation. "Could you bring me a Dr Pepper, please?"
"Sure thing," Arashi said, smiling slightly, and went over to the soda machine in the wall.
**
"Alright," Robotnik said, flipping a wrench in his hand triumphantly, "It's finished! And now we can track down the rest of the chaos emeralds!" He jumped into the seat, followed by Arashi, and they took off out of the underground cavern at a blistering speed. When the resulting g-forces crushed the two to the point that Arashi appeared to lose all physical hints of being female and Robotnik became thin, he realized that was a little too much speed at once, and slowed the craft down. All went back to normal, but both riders' ribcages felt awful sore.
Surprisingly, the nearest source of chaos energy didn't seem to be very far away. The Steel Snake soared through the air easily, towards Takar's secret lab. Robotnik hadn't investigated it when he first saw it because he wanted to get rid of Sonic completely first.
As the two world leaders headed over the forest, they saw something in the distance as they heard propellers spinning...
**
Tails was still a little dizzy, but he'd be alright in an hour or two. Takar seemed to dote over him like a loving parent would a child, getting him food and water immediately as he woke up, and making him as comfortable as possible. Obviously, the alien wanted to keep his anti-Robotnik weapons in as good of shape as he could.
As soon as Tails was feeling his best, he hopped in his new ship and headed out, thanking Takar for his help. He started getting readings from another emerald as soon as he scanned for them... and it was quite nearby.
"Tornado transformation!" the fox yelled in such a corny manner as his vehicle went from ground to air, turning into a biplane, and he headed off in the direction of where the readings were coming from.
Almost as soon as he got out over the forest, he saw the glint of sunlight off of something shiny...
**
"TAILS!" Robotnik yelled, cackling briefly. "How nice of you to come right to me!" The Steel Snake sped up, heading towards the biplane at incredible speed. As Tails realized what it was that was coming into view, his ears pressed flat against his head in fear, remembering what that thing did to him... He decided he was going to need Takar's help, and turned around to get out of there, but the plane wasn't fast enough.
The Steel Snake quickly came up beside the biplane, grabbing it with a strong robotic arm that extended out from behind a scale-plate. The pod lid flipped open, and Robotnik leaned out, grinning. "So nice of you to deliver the chaos emerald to me, Tails," he said, brandishing his laser gun.
Tails had to get out of there. In a desperate attempt to make it away from the mad scientist, he quickly turned the biplane, sending it slamming into the side of the Snake as he snatched the chaos emerald out of the Tornado and jumped out, sending his two tails into motion as they started to carry him away.
An idea flashed into Robotnik's head as he trained the laser sights on Tails. No, this is getting old. I think I'll try something a little different...
Arashi blinked as Robotnik tore the racing harness off, leaping out of the ship and using the biplane (which hadn't hurt the Snake at all) as a stepping stone, sailing through the air for a moment before he grabbed onto Tails' arms and kept a tight grip, hanging on. The fox screamed in fear, trying to shake Robotnik off of him, but he couldn't. The weight dragged him out of the sky, quite fast, and no matter how fast his tails went, he couldn't keep himself aloft. Robotnik wasn't doing anything but hanging there laughing cruelly.
Tails became so tired in his desperation that Robotnik could literally steer him, like a parachute, as they headed toward the ground quickly. The Steel Snake stayed hovering in the air, just as it was programmed to do if he leapt out, and Arashi watched, laughing, as he steered Tails towards a large tree.
Tails thought Sonic was heavy, but he didn't know heavy until he was forced to try to lug Robotnik through the sky. Nearly losing consciousness from the effort, the fox was helpless as his passenger pulled him down, slamming him into a tree headfirst at about 30 miles an hour. *THUNK!* Then they both smashed through several branches and fell into a bush, obliterating it. The force of the fall knocked Robotnik out cold, but Tails wasn't as fortunate--the mad scientist had fallen right on top of him, killing him instantly.
Though it was a bad fall for Robotnik too, he came to a couple of minutes later with no serious injuries and a great amount of amusement. It was worth it.
Taking the chaos emerald off Tails' corpse, the mad scientist summoned the Steel Snake and rode off into the distance towards his base, he and Arashi laughing maniacally the entire time.
**
"CRAP!"
Takar had seen the whole thing. He watched as the ships collided, as the Tornado eventually dove into the trees in a blazing spiral, as Robotnik had dragged Tails into the forest. He had seen the Steel Snake dive, then appear again, a fox tail stuck in the door of the cargo hold as the giant flexible ship flew away.
"Arrrghhh! I HATE you, Ivo Robotnik!" Takar snarled and stomped down into his lab. "I'm supposed to be superior to these humans! Yet they seem to thwart me at every turn! Why?! Whyyyyyy!??" The alien leader sat down in his chair and started to cry. See, Robotnik isn't the only Evil Overlord with feelings.
He started to plot, trying to figure out how to handle this situation. Pulling up the file for Sonic's DNA, he used a super-advanced satellite-like device to pinpoint the location of that DNA structure.
When a 3-D model of Robotnik flashed up on the screen, Takar promptly fainted.
**
"I wonder what fox seasoning tastes like on pizza," Robotnik said, crushing the orange pill up and tossing it over a slice. "On a side note, I think that Pill-Maker 3000 is the best thing I ever made." He gulped down the slice of pizza, grinning as he savored his victory, and stopped to take a drink of Dr Pepper after finishing.
Arashi could just see it. Ivo had consumed Sonic and Tails by turning them into pills--was he going to eat every enemy he ever made from this point on? Certainly a sure-fire way of getting rid of someone, though. She took a drink herself and reached for the last piece of pizza, just as Robotnik did, his gloved hand landing on hers.
Oh, god, one of these corny scenes again? Make it stop!
The two looked across the table at each other, eyes locking. A hint of nervousness immediately hung in the air as both lost words, even breath... Two hearts skipped a beat as they realized...
"Crap, we're out of pizza!" they both exclaimed in unison, and started hunting through Arashi's backpack for more.
**
"Alright, fat guy, I've got a little something up my sleeve that I've been waiting to use until just this sort of situation," Takar said, pulling out a device with a fake chaos emerald in it. He tapped a few things on the buttons, then grinned as he found the locations of all the other chaos emeralds using the fake one like a radar. With a super-fast pod similar to Robotnik's infamous escape pod, the Ykrian leader zoomed out into the sky, towards a plains area in the northwest, where the cyan emerald was.
He had to face many dangers to get all the emeralds. By the time he had them all, he had gotten half-mauled by a lion, fell off a bridge and slammed over some sharp rocks in rapids, was nearly crushed by a giant towering plateau that fell down when he extracted the purple emerald from a crack in it, and had to evade fire from military jets after stealing the grey one from the Pentagon. He'd dealt with all of that, there was no way the yellow emerald was going to pose a more dangerous situation than what he already faced...
And it didn't. It was lying out in the middle of a field, harmlessly, and he walked right up and plucked it from the ground with an insane grin. He had the five remaining chaos emeralds... now he could--
A passenger airliner that was flying overhead malfunctioned, and a giant block of frozen sewage waste fell out, slamming directly into Takar and knocking him out.
**
A few hours later, Robotnik was walking about the base collecting rings that seemed to pop up from time to time. Why were rings just lying about everywhere in the universe? Good question. No matter where you went--be it through the city, through a forest, underwater, even out in space--there were usually rings close at hand. It was strange.
A loud rumbling was heard as the entire base shook for a moment, and an earsplitting explosion blew the central building apart, sending twisted metal flying outwards at blistering speeds. Some pieces embedded themselves in the gem-encrusted walls, things even exploding as they impacted. Robotnik felt a searing heat blow him out of the base, sending him into the water since he was in the part of the base that was submerged. He thrashed to the surface, gasping for air, trying to reorient himself as he looked up at his obliterated base.
Realization flashed into his head. Arashi! She had been in there! Quickly, Robotnik pulled himself out of the water, calculating where she would be from what he observed of where pieces had been flying. Since she was in the living room, she would probably be in the northwestern part of the cave, by that huge pile of destruction...
Racing over to the pile of twisted metal, he saw the couch, overturned, half of it destroyed. Pinned under it from the waist down was Arashi, sprawled on her back.
"Arashi!" Robotnik yelled worriedly as he rushed to her, pulling the couch off of her. Gashes covered her body, and shards of metal were imbedded deep in her sides. Kneeling down next to her, he pulled her up into a half-sitting position, wincing when she cried out in pain.
Grabbing the front of his coat, she gasped weakly for breath. "What... h-h..."
"I don't know! Hang on, I'm going to go get medical supplies," he said, trying to keep his voice from shaking as he glanced over the serious wounds. As he moved to dash away, she tightened her grip on him.
"No... I... I'll be dead by the time you... get back," she wheezed painfully, eyes shut tightly. "Stay here... please... don't let me die... alone..."
Robotnik felt something icy grip his heart as he stared down at her in disbelief. "You can't be serious," he whispered shakily.
"I've never... been so serious," she replied, a pained sound escaping her as it felt like daggers were stabbing her lungs with every breath. Robotnik tried his best to keep her still as he held her tightly in his arms.
Pain made her take sharp breaths, and sharp breaths only produced more pain. Arashi weakened rapidly, Ivo staring down at her helplessly, not knowing what to do. After only about thirty seconds, she slowly became heavier in his arms, her head falling back as she mumbled something with her dying breath.
"...crap, I forgot to check my email..."
For what seemed like an eternity, Robotnik remained there, sobbing uncharacteristically in despair against Arashi's lifeless shoulder. Was this what it was like... to have feelings? To love somebody? Indeed, the highs were high, but the lows were unbearable...
Suddenly, a voice from nearby grabbed his attention. "How touching," came the fairly bored-sounding British accent.
The heartbroken scientist looked up to find Takar hovering in midair, smiling cruelly, his form glowing a neon green. Somehow, with only 5 chaos emeralds, he was in his Super Form. "You," Robotnik snarled, letting Arashi slump to the ground as he stood up. "You blew up my base! You destroyed everything! YOU KILLED ARASHI!"
"Your point?" the Ykrian leader asked, examining his nails briefly.
"I... HAVE HAD... ENOUGH OF YOU!" Robotnik screamed madly, his voice enraged and seemingly in physical pain for some reason. It sounded rather unnatural, causing Takar to glance up, quirking a brow. His expression went from triumphantly bored to slightly alarmed as the human started to glow a faint crimson.
Robotnik groaned in agony, both mental and physical, reeling and holding his head. His uncontrollable rage was taking over every fiber of his being, and everything was in pain. All he could see was red, even when he closed his eyes, and eventually he fell to his knees with a scream as his hands exploded, instantly replaced by robotic ones. Searing, sharp pain traveled up his arms, only to leave immediately as cold steel and oil replaced flesh and blood. His form changed and shifted, growing rapidly, and normal teeth were shoved out of their sockets as needle-sharp, steel teeth moved to replace them. The rest of his body changed, steel replacing everything, a sputtering aura of electricity crackling around him. Finally, he stopped screaming as his clothing seemed to stick to him, tightening until it became one with him, the design becoming etched into his metal skin.
Ultra Robotnik stood up slowly, training a stare of the greatest hate imaginable on his enemy, who was moving backwards in fear, sweat flying off his head.
"H-h-how did you change with only two emeralds!?" the alien asked, terrified.
"I was wondering something similar about you, lime boy," Ultra Robotnik replied, his voice filled with enough hate to vaporize any normal man.
"The Ykrians... we can change with only 5, because we're more in tune with chaos than you humans... but... Oh, why did I bring those two back to life!? I had no idea they were just pieces of you! THAT must be how you defeat me!"
"Pieces of me?!" the robot asked. "I ate them, you fool."
Oh, god, this is worse than I thought, Takar thought to himself, suddenly very, very afraid. He really means business... And Sonic and Tails... I gave them some of my blood... that's how he managed to do it...
Even Ultra Robotnik cringed at Takar's girlish screech of terror, but didn't wait long before he leapt at the alien, bent on revenge.
Takar skidded hard across the sandy ground as the giant robot smashed into him, much like he did the first time they met. Only this time, there were no guards around to pull the hulking pile of metal off of him, and the beating started. Over and over, fists pounded into Takar's face, smashing it in, and while it regenerated every time, it certainly wasn't a pleasant experience.
After about 30 punches to the face, Takar managed to throw Ultra Robotnik off of him and the two circled around each other, snarling. There is more than one type of snarl, however, and while Ultra Robotnik's was aggressive and nasty, Takar's was the sort that you'd see on a trapped, frightened animal.
Leaping forward, the alien slammed a foot into Ultra Robotnik's midsection, hoping to pierce the armor with brute force. Instead, he received a broken ankle, and as he was falling to the ground, the raging mad scientist grabbed him by the legs. Takar flailed helplessly for a moment, wondering why Robotnik wasn't doing anything, until he felt a dozen cold, needle-like objects sink into his leg.
"AAAAGH! HE'S GONNA EAT MEEEE! NOOOOoOooOOooOOO!" the alien screamed in terror, managing to flail enough to get out of the robot's grip, his wounds healing immediately. Then he decided that he was not going to lose.
Leaping into the air, the alien fired a giant beam of chaos energy at Ultra Robotnik, who dodged it easily and leapt forward with a vicious punch to the gut. Takar went flying backwards, wind milling his arms as he splashed violently into the lake, and the robot was heading right for him.
Giant barrels of some sort of gun replaced Robotnik's hands as he splashed into the water, firing homing torpedoes at Takar as he headed for him. The alien detonated the torpedoes prematurely with another beam of some sort, blowing them up in the robot's face, and one of his sensors was damaged along with his steel mustache, half of which got ripped off in the explosion.
Temporarily stunned by the blast as he put most of his system resources into trying to repair the sensor, Ultra Robotnik was pelted with chunks of giant stones that ripped themselves out of the walls and floor of the lake, slamming into him and tossing him around. He decided he could still win with only one sensor, realizing that more important things were getting damaged, and rocketed towards Takar, ramming him with a headbutt that would have instantly killed a normal person. Distracted due to the blow, Takar stopped with the onslaught of boulders.
The fight raged on with neither really winning, and suddenly Takar burst out of the water, followed close by Robotnik. The alien grinned down at his pursuer.
"Instead of killing you, I think I'll make it so that there is no hope of you ever seeing Arashi again," Takar said.
"What do you mean?" Ultra Robotnik asked, growling.
"I mean I have a life-restoring device back at the lab... but I'm going to go destroy it," he said, cackling. "My race is the only one that can build these, using ancient talismans that are all gone save for one, Roboboy! And heck if I'm going to let you have any chance of accessing it!" The alien cackled madly, bursting through the shaft that he'd managed to open up, heading for the surface.
Ultra Robotnik smirked and... doubled over in pain as electricity crackled around him. Crap! His teleportation mechanisms had been damaged!
The race was on.
**
Takar ran along, arms and legs pumping furiously, towards his base. Looking behind himself, he saw the ponderous machine clanking along slowly and laughed. "Piece of cake!" the alien thought to himself, and faced forward again, grinning evilly.
Finally, Ultra Robotnik's jets had warmed up, and he shot forward, hovering over the ground slightly, seeming to slide on jets on the bottom of his feet as he moved as if rollerblading. The scene was hauntingly familiar, somehow. He started to catch up to Takar, who was too caught up in his supposed victory to be paying attention. Though the alien's speed remained pretty much constant, the robot's jets became stronger every moment, propelling him forward at well over Mach 3.
Takar screeched as he felt metallic fingers clamp on the back of his neck. Running faster than the speed of sound didn't allow him to hear Ultra Robotnik closing in on him, and he was suddenly flung backwards several dozen feet, slamming into the ground hard and sliding painfully for quite a distance, getting a severe case of road rash. The robot continued forward with grim determination, setting grass ablaze as he sliced through it.
Soon he was in the forest, completely ignoring trees as he ran right through them, leaving perfect cookie-cutter cutouts of himself in them, the huge chunks of busted-out wood clattering to the ground. His speed was up to Mach 4.
A brilliant light burst out in front of him about a half of a mile, and Takar ran out of it, leaping over a few logs and boulders. Chaos control, the robot thought to himself, snarling. He sliced right through the boulders and logs in his efforts to catch up with the alien, who was quickly gaining speed in desperation. Having reached his top speed, Ultra Robotnik was unable to catch up with the alien, who had been propelled to his top speed quickly by the Chaos Control, before they got to the plains. He could see the boulder arrangement with the trapdoors now, and thought all hope was lost... Arashi...
That's when Takar suddenly reverted to normal form, seeming to have run out of rings. He panicked, screaming, and tried to stop, his feet slamming into the very ruts that Sonic created not too long ago. Then he tripped at the end of the long ruts in the ground and flailed out of control, screeching as he went flying off into the distance.
A parachute, like those on drag racers, burst out of Ultra Robotnik's back as he activated his reverse jets, the parachute helping to bring him to a stop much easier than the unfortunate alien who, by the time the robot had stopped, caused the entire world to shake yet again by wrapping himself around that same tree that Sonic met his end with.
Such a nice tree, helping to stop people all the time...
Just as Ultra Robotnik came to a stop, chunks of metal began to fall off of him, revealing his normal self underneath. He stumbled towards the trapdoor in the ground, various pieces of steel bouncing to the ground behind him, and when he had finally reverted completely to his normal self, he collapsed into the dust, exhausted, his hand on the trapdoor handle.
**
When he woke up, it was late at night. Robotnik had a fitful sleep, with dreams of Arashi's death and related events replaying over and over in his mind, one nasty one in particular involving Takar winning the race and destroying the device.
Slowly opening his eyes, the doctor spotted one of the chaos emeralds nearby. He felt weak as he reached over and picked it up with a shaking hand, tucking it in his pocket, and had to put some effort into pulling the trapdoor open. Once he got himself down into the lab, he saw the various devices--a high-tech computer, a large cabinet-like contraption, and some kind of sliding door at the back. For now, since it looked big enough to hold one or two people, his interests lay with the cabinet, and he sat down at the computer chair, fishing through a drawer for any sort of instruction manuals.
Surprised that Takar learned from his mistakes with the Windows 98 book and apparently had organized his earth base, Robotnik pulled out the manual for the computer/cabinet combination, titled, "Life Box Instruction Manual." He flipped through it a couple pages, finding that there were only a few pages to the actual manual--most of the thick book was simply rewrites in Ykrian, English, Chinese, Greek, French, Spanish, German...
The instructions read...
Using the Life Box is a simple process. Place any DNA remnants of a person in through the cabinet doors and close the doors, then add whatever mutation agents you would like to the mixture by dropping them in the funnel on the side of the Life Box. Once you are done, run C:\DNA.EXE and make sure the being has changed as you wish. Then click the 'compile and run' button and wait. They should exit the cabinet shortly. To check what mutations a given agent will provide, just click on 'Mutations?' in the toolbar. It is possible to check your own DNA structure and distinct traits you have by stepping in the Life Box and pressing the 'scan' button on the keypad in there. Remain calm and still as the white beam moves over you, and when the green light on the keypad begins blinking, you can exit the Box and examine your file on the computer. You can also mutate yourself by adding the desired agents to the funnel, then stepping into the Box and pressing the 'Mutate' button. A gas will start to fill the Box--do not panic, its function is to put you to sleep. Trust us, if you attempted to change your DNA structure with the Box whilst still awake, you would seriously regret it after you recovered from the extreme pain. We are not responsible for any nasty things you end up doing to yourself with this. Just ask yourself how far you trust Windows XP to handle the files, and act accordingly.
Robotnik looked at the computer and the Life Box. I trust Windows XP about as far as I can throw the planet, but it's my only chance.
He investigated the sliding door, finding that it contained a hangar of sorts with a UFO in it. He walked under the small craft, which closely resembled the pod on the Steel Snake's back, and glanced up into the interior. Black leather, a nice control panel, a giant laser gun, a CD player... a pretty nice little vehicle all around. He pulled himself up into the cockpit and closed the door, examining the controls. There weren't very many, so they wouldn't be too hard to figure out.
Pressing one button caused the laser beam to fire, blowing out half the wall. Robotnik jumped, then snickered to himself. "That was kind of cool," he mumbled idly, then tried another button. The hangar door above him opened. Must be the garage door opener! A few more buttons, and after smashing into the walls by putting it in the wrong gear, he was up and flying through the air. The ship was absolutely silent as it sped along towards his underground base.
Robotnik was grim, trying not to get his hopes up, not knowing if the Life Box would really work as he brought the Steel Snake over from a pile of rubble. Miraculously it had survived the explosion, and he ditched the alien's pod for his own vehicle, strapping Arashi's lifeless body into the passenger seat. Then he began the trip back to the alien's base.
**
The Life Box thrummed quietly as Robotnik clicked the 'compile and run' button. He watched the box hopefully for a moment, then turned his attention back to Arashi's file. It was rather interesting to see various traits of a person... like high intellect, mechanical aptitude, mathematical aptitude, excellent sense of humor, tendency towards evil, great kisser-- what the!?
Thinking back, the doctor realized the computer was right, at least. A few seconds later, the Life Box stopped humming and the doors flew open, Arashi stumbling out, every wound healed.
Robotnik sat, immobilized with shock. It worked. Something vitally important actually WORKED in Windows. Holy crap on a stick.
The first amazed word out of Arashi's mouth: "COOL!"
As the two looked at each other, Robotnik leapt out of his chair in slow motion. The few steps across the room to each other seemed to take forever, with a field of tall grass and sunshine as the background for the clip... Ah, yes, another corny reunion. At least they didn't yell pet names for each other. Evil Overlords, Even Those Who Have Been Thrown Way Out Of Character By Fanfic Authors With Strange Ideas, don't do pet names.
We can only hope, anyway.
#eggman#robotnik#sonic#tails#arashi#arashi codiv#jen irwin#fanfiction#fanfiction jen irwin#fanfiction Evil Overlords Have Feelings Too
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Evil Overlords Have Feelings Too - Part 1
Evil Overlords Have Feelings Too
by Jenifer Irwin
****
This is a fanfic based off of my own version of the Sonic the Hedgehog Universe, which is a combination of a lot of stuff that happened in Sonic Adventure 2, and some amusing things that I threw in to flesh the characters out (such as my theory that Robotnik's favorite drink would be Dr Pepper.) Various footnotes are included throughout for those who may not understand things I make references to.
See the very last page for details on which characters and things are property of who. Mentioning them all here might ruin surprises.
Many thanks goes out to people who answered polls on the GameTalk forums to give me ideas, and also to my good friend Ian (ShadowNinja/Bob) for helping me come up with ideas throughout the series. Thanks also goes out to readers and those who have given me comments of any sort to help me make it better.
I warn you now, this story is intentionally corny in many places for humor purposes. Just sit back and enjoy... don’t analyze too much... it is a cartoon, after all!
****
Part One
*WHACK!* "You piece of junk! Why aren't you working right?!" the doctor growled, pounding angrily on the control panel.
"Because you installed Windows on me, you cruel beast," the computer responded, drives whirring and clicking frantically. "AGH! ANOTHER ONE! A fatal exception 0E has--*zrrmmm*" It made a small whining noise as Robotnik pulled the plug.
"You're obsolete anyway. I built you a whole month ago. You'll be good metal for the next Egg Walker I build," Robotnik said, pulling the entire machine apart and tossing the pieces into the 'Spare Parts' container nearby--one of about 50 similar containers in his home base.
Wandering arrogantly through the halls as he did on a regular basis, Robotnik basked in the personal glory gained from having built the entire 200-room base with nothing but his hands, several tons of spare parts and a broken screwdriver. It was the greatest of his personal achievements, and an extension of that achievement was the fact that nobody had ever broken into it to this day. Floating above a secluded mountain range, it was the perfect place to build and scheme.
He grabbed a Snickers bar out of one of the several candy dispensers he had installed throughout the base as he headed to the chao room. He'd never admit it to anyone, but he loved the little creatures he'd raised. As long as they were fit, anyway. Chao that weren't up to par in terms of ability potential were promptly sent away. Those that were fit enough, however, were quite literally doted on by their owner. He always pet them when they ran up to him, and he installed lots of neat high-tech stuff in the chamber for them to play with. It was probably the only time he ever showed that a softer side (other than that giant stomach of his) even existed in him, because Evil Scheming Overlords most certainly can't let their archenemies know that.
As the chamber opened up, 4 little chao looked up with eyes wide in anticipation. The familiar figure stepped into the room and was swarmed by the creatures, all of them begging to be pet. He bent down, chuckling, and pet each of them in turn, then headed around the room to check on all of the equipment. A broken screen here, a frayed wire there, all were fixed or replaced in minutes. The oldest and most powerful chao, Devlin the Devil Chao, hopped in the mini-Egg Walker and started moving around, clapping his little fiery hands in glee. He was 20 years old, going on about 1.
Balor, one of the chao in 'Project SSSSS,' Robotnik's project to develop an ultra-elite chao, skipped about kicking a ball around, and Cade sat down at a small computer to program something. Darken got a crayon and started drawing on the wall. Robotnik grinned at the antics of the chao and threw a few packs of candy to them from a dispenser.
Arashi was speechless as she watched all this through a very small hole in the wall, drilled there the night before when she exploited an easily overlooked but very critical flaw in the security system of the base. Nobody else, even one of her primary employers, Tails, could spot the flaw. Of course, he and Robotnik were also more into mechanical things--Arashi was a dedicated master of computer programming, debugging... and hacking. Particularly security systems. Tails had met her at her job in a bank and offered her a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity--in exchange for regular transportation back and forth from the base and the ability to speak with one of the greatest geniuses of all time, she would keep an eye on him and make sure that any plans he had for world takeover were somehow thwarted before he could even try to enact them. The way she could find out just how to do this would be to be on the inside of his plots, then either distract him to another project or alert any who would be affected so that they could change their position or what they were doing in order to make him change his plans.
Of course... she didn't plan on following this at all.
With all her expertise, she was able to quietly hack the base and disable the alarms. They appeared to be still working, but if something actually happened, the alarm simply wouldn't produce any sound. And now she was within the heart of the stronghold of the only person she respected as much as she did herself, the only person she figured she could ever carry on an interesting conversation with. Nobody else knew as much about computers and other technology, except Tails, but he wasn't evil and nasty, so he wasn't interesting. Robotnik, however, was.
...and he was playing gleefully with his pet chao.
Something had to be seriously wrong with the multiverse. This was just not right. The Evil Overlord Robotnik... playing with tiny pet creatures? Nooo, noo, wait a second here. She closed her eyes, then opened them again. He was still there, grinning down at the chao in the mini-egg-walker. Wasn't there at least a hint of evilness in that look? She had to look hard... to find nothing evil about it. The cute devil chao looked more evil than Robotnik did at this moment!
Arashi's eyes glazed over at the sight, and she went into a minor state of shock. What was this... thing, that was her evil genius hero? He liked cute creatures! He kept them as pets! He gave them candy and toys! This wasn't evil! It didn't make sense at all! She fainted. Thud.
**
The sensation of a hand shaking her shoulder woke Arashi up and she found herself strapped to a chair. The first thing she saw was Robotnik glaring down at her. Yes. Just like he should look. That was him. Not the smiling jolly man she saw in the chao chamber earlier.
"You have no idea how relieved I am to see this," Arashi said dramatically, causing Robotnik to get a totally confused look on his face. Usually his prisoners screamed or at least whined upon seeing him.
"Um... ok. Well, anyway, first of all. I'm impressed. You hacked my alarms," he said, holding up her laptop. "Now, if you tell me how you did it... I won't kill you," he threatened, his favorite laser gun in hand.
Arashi smiled calmly. "Top compartment on the front of my backpack," she said simply, a little smugly. Robotnik tilted his head slightly in curiosity, then picked up the small pack that he'd taken from her before she woke, and dug around in the aforementioned compartment. The only thing he managed to produce other than some coins and a drink or two was a sheet of paper with some code printed on it. He read over it for a moment, recognizing his own security code, and his mouth opened slightly as he came to the section where she had written in the few missing lines that would have prevented the hack had they been there.
Raising a brow as he peered at Arashi, Robotnik asked, "Who are you?" Nobody gets into his base. Surely, this pale-skinned woman with light blue, slightly spiked-up hair wouldn't be any different... She couldn't be any older than 23. No way she could have done this. Could she?
"Arashi Codiv," the young woman replied, managing to squeeze a hand through the straps enough to offer him a handshake. He accepted it, though it was obvious he was deep in thought, seeming to look through her instead of at her. He turned abruptly, leaving her in the chair as he walked up to a computer that was installed in the wall, and logged into his coding program. A little searching for the particular section and about 10 seconds of typing later, he put a special key into a lock that turned the alarm system off. The computer quickly recompiled the program and he implemented it, then pressed a button to turn on the alarm system (much easier than the process for turning it off), and several floodlights in the room instantly trained themselves on the woman in the chair as alarms screamed all over the base and the location of the intruder flashed up on the screen.
Robotnik hit a few keys and the blaring stopped, the system having accepted her presence at his command. "You're good. Really good," he said, glancing over at her oddly. She grinned smugly, responding with, "I know."
A slight, wry smirk appeared on Robotnik's face as he thought to himself, "She reminds me of me..."
**
"So... I know you must be here for more than just to offer a helpful correction in my code," the doctor said, gesturing as he ambled down a corridor with Arashi, his laser gun drawn, but held casually down at his side, just in case she tried anything funny.
"I've always wanted to meet you. And build things. Maybe even rule the world. You're the only person who I think I could ever identify with," she said truthfully, adjusting her backpack so it sat better on her shoulders. "Nobody else understands me," she said with a slight sigh.
Robotnik glanced over at the girl with a look that said he knew exactly what she meant, and put the laser gun back in its holster. "Yes. I could never figure out what's so hard to understand about the physics required to reverse gravity. The last time I tried to explain it to someone, his head exploded. Come to think, maybe I should do that the next time I see Sonic..." He thought about it for a moment, a hint of irritation entering his eyes. "Not that it would work. I wish Sega would let me win for once... I'm hungry," he said mostly to himself, opening a door and walking in, straight to a very advanced refrigerator. His mind was certainly one-track at times, Arashi could tell that already.
He proceeded to pull an entire turkey out of the refrigerator, instant-cook it in a high-tech oven, and sit down at the table with the whole thing on his plate. Ripping a drumstick off, he started eating like a total pig, much to Arashi's amusement.
"So... D'you think I could program and build things around here?" she asked hopefully.
"Ah thin' we cou' arrangh shm'fn, yah," Robotnik managed to say around a mouthful of food. "Whu' y'shtar'n at?"
"Oh, nothing," Arashi said, snickering. She took a seat at the table and brought out one of her drinks, thinking to herself, "This is funny. I thought for some reason he had more class than this... Well, I guess when you're alone all the time, manners aren't exactly top priority." She thoughtfully took a few drinks and looked around the kitchen, which was devoid of any decoration whatsoever, but it was a nice kitchen nonetheless. The entire base seemed quite well-kept, and she knew there had to be cleaning robots all over the place, because Robotnik was a slob and nobody would be able to keep such a large base clean by themselves anyway.
Before long, all that was left of the turkey were bones. The large man picked contentedly at his teeth with a toothpick for a while, then said, "I suppose it's too late to ask you if you want any," with a snicker. Arashi laughed and shook her head. This guy really was much different in private and when his immediate goal in mind wasn't to take over the world.
Pressing a button that was on the underside of the table, Robotnik watched as a hidden alcove opened up and a robot walked out, cleaning the bones off the plate and table, then quickly washing the plate and setting it back in the dish rack. Arashi smiled slightly as she said to herself, "I knew it."
"Well then, shall we get to work? I've got something particularly nice I've been working on," he said, standing up from the table as he wiped his hands off on the towel that the robot held out. Arashi grinned and stood up, following him.
"This isn't the ultimate of all my creations, simply because if I said that, it'd be so cliché. Let's just say I really like it and it rocks," Robotnik said arrogantly as he pushed a button and tapped something into a small terminal on the wall, causing a heavily reinforced door to open up. He and Arashi stepped into a dim and -very- large room, where a huge coil of some sort of strong metal lay, taking up most of the room. The coil was at least 10 feet in diameter, and it was a strange silvery color with odd scales all over it... it looked just like...
Arashi took a step back, alarmed as a giant robotic snake's head rose up from behind some of the coil, staring down at the two humans with cold, metallic eyes and flicking a flexible steel tongue.
"I'm testing a new type of forging for the metals I use... and it seems to be working. I've managed to make steel that's as flexible as rubber," Robotnik said as he grinned evilly. Arashi stared at him in awe. He glanced at her and said in a lower voice, "And that's not even the best part."
Robotnik turned his gaze back to the giant snake and closed his eyes, folding his arms over his chest and saying, "Take something out of your backpack."
The girl looked at him confusedly, but took off her backpack and drew out some random item. The snake tilted its head slightly, and the doctor said a bit amusedly, "A portable hard drive. Women keep anything in their purses and packs..."
Arashi looked at him. He was still facing away from her, and had never turned around. The surface of the snake wasn't reflective, and there were no mirrors anywhere, and he wasn't holding anything to look at... She looked up at the snake. It grinned at her.
"...uh... holy crap," were the only words she could find for a stunned moment. "You can control that thing with your MIND? And see through its eyes!?"
Opening his own eyes again, Robotnik said in a quiet but triumphant tone, "It was one of the most difficult things I've ever managed. I mean, I had the chip all nice and ready pretty quickly, but drilling into my skull to put it there was hard. It broke most of my best drill bits."
Arashi started laughing uncontrollably.
**
After some fun with the robotic snake and a few random transformations of harmless objects into Death Machines, the two decided to turn in for the night, Arashi allowed to sleep in the best guest bedroom in the base. She got out her radio and quietly started talking.
"Sonic... You there?"
"Yeah. Didja get any info? Is he working on anything big?"
"No," she lied through her teeth. "He actually suffered a few setbacks lately. See, I just got into that job at the bank lately and they used my security code for all the other banks in the world. He can't hack for money anymore, so he has had to resort to older machines. Getting him is going to be a breeze."
"Awesome! When should we attack?"
"I'll let you know tomorrow."
"Alright. Keep watching him!" the hedgehog replied.
"You bet," Arashi said, grinning.
The radio beeped, and an evil little giggle of, "...gullible..." came from in the room. Robotnik took the sound-amplifying device away from the surface of the door, grinning evilly. "So... she exploited my enemy to get in here and help me out... I love it!" He turned and headed toward his room, laughing quietly.
**
Arashi woke up and yawned, sitting up to find Robotnik standing right beside her bed, arms folded over his chest.
"I heard you talking to Sonic last night," he said in a solemn tone. Thinking he only heard part of the conversation, she paled and stuttered, "Wait, let me explain, I--"
"And it's going to be a pleasure luring him into a trap like you've planned," he said, grinning suddenly. She blinked and stopped for a moment before the both of them burst into diabolical laughter. "C'mon, let's go make some more intricate battle plans," he said, turning and walking from the room. Arashi stood up and followed, grabbing her backpack and putting it on as she went.
When they got to the battle room, Robotnik got out a pile of maps and rifled through them until he found a particular one that he put on the table. It was uncooperative at first and kept trying to roll back up until he dropped an old hard drive, a video card and two floppy drives, grabbed randomly from some shelves, at the corners. The map depicted his mountain range and the city 100 miles away where Sonic and Tails lived. He pointed to a spot that was roughly between the two points. "Right here is an area with a bunker that would be perfect to hide the Steel Snake in. What I want you to do is to tell Sonic to meet you there for some creative reason. That is where we will launch the attack--he'll never see it coming!"
Arashi nodded. "That's an excellent plan. And it's pretty simple. When do we do it?"
"After breakfast."
**
5 gallons of 'Death by Chocolate' ice cream later, the two stood up and walked out of the kitchen, leaving the cleaning robot to its job. They walked quietly through the corridors until they came to the door that concealed the Steel Snake's room. The large door opened up after the password was entered, revealing the snake in its eerie, motionless slumber. Suddenly, it rose up, wide awake, blinking silently as it flicked its tongue. "We've got a hedgehog to catch," it hissed menacingly in a metallic voice, grinning. Its back opened up, and a large pod with two comfortable seats rose out of the opening, the heavily armored clear top flipping open. Robotnik jumped up in one of the seats, grinning evilly as he asked, "Care for a ride?"
Arashi climbed up into the pod, marveling at the nice interior, the bucket seats, and the really big rocket launchers protruding out of it, triggers at the two mad scientists' hands. This, to her, was like taking a ride in a brand new Corvette convertible to anyone else. The top flipped down and snapped into place and the snake stretched slightly. "I've wanted to give this a test ride for the longest time," Robotnik said, and the machine darted out of the room at a speed unbelievable for such a large thing.
Slithering along the ground at a rate of at least 100 miles an hour, the snake very quickly made its way toward the bunker. "Wow! This is the coolest thing I've ever seen!" Arashi exclaimed, giggling as the snake slipped up a hill and quickly down the other side, doing the same odd thing to her stomach that an unexpected, sudden downward hill in a car does.
"You think this is neat... I can do better," Robotnik said, snickering, and a great deal of energy could be felt in the air. The sides of the snake opened up and a few clanking noises were heard. Arashi looked into the conveniently placed rear-view mirror and saw several huge jets extend from the openings, blasting fire as the snake rose off the ground thanks to gravity reversal. Without ground to push from, however, it wouldn't be able to go very far without the jets, which began to push it along, steering it effortlessly. Robotnik let loose a brief, evil laugh from deep in his chest. "Excellent..."
This really was the ultimate of his creations. Never before had he made rubber-flexible steel, and he also hadn't made something able to be controlled with his mind alone. Its unusual shape made it hard to detect on radar, and its top speed in the air was about 1000 miles an hour. It had bomb compartments and guns. Simply, it rocked.
Keeping the snake low to the ground to avoid being seen in the air by anyone, Robotnik sent it blazing over the plains and eventually twisting through hills and valleys. Both geniuses were in a continual state of euphoria as they watched the landscape hurtle past them at high speed.
They got to the bunker a little faster than they really wanted to, and the giant snake stopped outside, peering down at the small control panel that was installed next to the door. A plated scale slid back on the snake's side and out extended a robotic arm, tapping some things onto the panel, and the bunker door slid open.
The inside of the bunker was huge. It appeared to be a weapons storage facility in the case of desperate emergency. It doubled as a testing lab, and was big enough to house 5 Steel Snakes comfortably. The ceiling was 100 feet above, with spare parts and weapons stacked all the way up on every wall. The majority of the bunker, the center, was completely devoid of anything. Perfect testing grounds... or an ambush point.
The two began to organize their attack plan.
**
Robotnik looked over at Arashi and nodded expectantly, watching as she pulled out her radio and motioned for him to be silent.
"Sonic?"
"Yeah, Arashi? Got battle plans?"
"Yes, I do. Robotnik's sleeping. But he found a way to fix his security system--the only way we're going to get past it is to get a few special computer chips from a bunker that's about 50 miles southwest of his base. Just come on over, the door is open. It's in the Silent Hills."
Turning the radio off, Arashi looked over at Robotnik. "How was that?"
"Perfect."
They exchanged diabolical grins, and waited.
**
15 minutes later, Sonic and Tails stood outside the open door. Sonic yelled, "Arashi?"
No answer.
"Guess she didn't hear us," he said, unconcerned, and headed into the doorway, Tails close behind. "Nice place," he said, admiring the stacks and stacks of weapons... until they heard a loud slam of the door behind them and felt something very large above them moving toward them at very high speed. Tails barely had time to gasp and scream.
*SNAP!*
The robotic snake swallowed loudly and spit out a single, severed tail. Sonic stared down at it in horror for a moment, then looked back up at the snake slowly.
"You're going to PAY FOR THAT!" the hedgehog screamed angrily, and promptly turned around and started running. The snake remained motionless. Around the bunker Sonic went, looking frantically along the walls for something... but he couldn't find it...
"Looking for these, Sonic?" an all too familiar voice asked as a shadow fell over him during a brief, motionless second of thought. He turned around and looked up at Robotnik, who stood about 10 feet away gripping a handful of rings and grinning.
"What have you done with Arashi!? How did you find out!?" Sonic asked, unable to mask his terror. Never before had Robotnik been smart enough to strike so quickly... or to kill Tails... or to collect all the rings prior to battle...
"What have I done with her? Oh, no, it's not 'what have I done with her.' More like... 'what has she done with me.'" The doctor grinned evilly as Sonic looked at him in confused terror.
"I know you're a strong believer in the motto, 'Live and Learn.' But apparently, Sonic, you haven't lived enough to learn that I'm not the only person in the world who can't be trusted..." Robotnik glanced back over his shoulder as Arashi stepped out from behind one of the large shelves, walking up to his side with an evil grin.
Sonic nearly went into shock as he watched his trusted spy put a hand on Robotnik's shoulder and give it an encouraging... almost... affectionate... squeeze...
Managing to regain his presence of mind, the hedgehog screamed, raging over the loss of Tails, "Prepare to DIE, BOTH OF YOU!" and started charging up a spin-dash, ignoring the fact that he had no rings. The snake darted across the bunker instantly and whipped its tail around at Sonic, smacking him into a shelf suddenly and causing about 200 pounds of spare parts to fall on him, pinning him.
Robotnik chuckled evilly and wandered over towards Sonic, who struggled hard to get out from underneath the pile of metal and plastic. The doctor waited amusedly, taunting Sonic as he squirmed his way out and crawled to the floor, glaring up at his enemy before he stood up into a crouched position.
The camera panned out and revolved around the two as they slowly, instinctively, moved out to the middle of the floor.
"So, Sonic... it's come to this. A final showdown. More final than any other. I have rings... you don't. Sega has never put you in a position quite like this before, have they? I like whoever wrote this plot," Robotnik said, grinning evilly as he tucked the handful of rings in his pocket.
Sonic decided there was enough talk. The battle was now. It was the battle of all battles... one that only real men could win at. Childish Insults!
"You're a big poo-head!" he yelled viciously. Robotnik fell down from the force of the insult, rings bouncing out of his pocket. He managed to grab a few, but Sonic swiped some himself, too.
"Oh, yeah? You're ugly!" Robotnik growled, pointing at Sonic, who twitched as the rings fell out of his hand. He managed to get all but one before the doctor did.
"You smell!" the hedgehog yelled in a classic kindergarten-whiny-kid tone. Robotnik stumbled backwards, dropping a few rings. Again, both picked up a couple.
"You're dumb!"
"Your mom's fat!"
"At least my mom didn't have a retard for a kid!"
"Come here, I want to check out my reflection on your head!"
"At least my head isn't bigger than the whole rest of my body!"
Over and over, they slung insults back and forth. Sonic got knocked back so far by some of them that Robotnik was able to get most of the rings before he did. The insults didn't send the gluttonous doctor flying very far due to his weight.
Eventually, Robotnik had all the rings and he flung his insult.
"Your shoes suck!"
That was it. Sonic had no rings left. Rings were his lifeblood... his confidence... He sat down and started crying.
Robotnik laughed and walked towards Sonic. "Hah! Weakling fool! You thought you could defeat -me- in a battle of wits!? I have an IQ of 300, you idiot!" Sonic twitched violently from the further insults.
"Why are you kicking me while I'm down!? Have you no honor?"
"Honor is what makes Evil Overlords -lose.- I'll have none of that!" Robotnik grinned evilly as he drew his laser gun.
"It's the end of the road for you, Sonic! You've taken your last step! Eaten your last chilidog! Charged your last spin dash! Jumped your last jump!" He got louder and louder with each statement, waving the gun around. "Run your last mile! Smashed your last badnik! Pulled your last loop--"
Arashi walked up and shook his shoulder gently. "Ivo, shut up and shoot him."
"She called me by my first name... nobody ever does that," Robotnik thought to himself, blinking at her. She gave him a look, still urging him to shoot, and he nodded. "Right." He turned towards Sonic again and raised the laser gun, grinning at the weakened hedgehog who pleaded for mercy with his eyes, raising a hand defensively. As he watched the horror on his archenemy's face grow, he very slowly began to pull the trigger.
"Farewell... Sonic the Hedgehog!"
...*click*
Robotnik looked at the gun incredulously.
"Oh, bother, I had the blasted safety on." He flipped a small switch, held up the gun again and pulled the trigger unceremoniously, sending a high-powered laser beam burning through Sonic's head, killing him instantly.
As the blue hedgehog slumped to the floor, lifeless, Robotnik stood motionless for a moment, in shock. He had really done it. Finally, he had destroyed his enemy, and it was no longer in the way. There was nothing standing between him and world domination. He turned and traded grins with Arashi.
And she hugged him gleefully.
He staggered back, flailing his arms madly in confusion, stuttering, "That--that was uncalled for! Whatever it was! It made me feel all... warm and fuzzy inside! What did you do!? And how can your arms be long enough to get around me!?" He blinked at Arashi, who was laughing by now. She knew good and well that he knew what a hug was, he just didn't want to admit he liked it. He'd never turned a deeper shade of red even in his worst moment of anger.
"Come on. Let's go home and take over the world," she said, giggling slightly. "After lunch!"
**
Arashi hacked the mainframes of the world, sending everything linked the internet into total chaos. Communications systems were obliterated by viruses and the world was thrown into a panic. From there on out, it was simply a joyride around the world in the Steel Snake destroying everyone that resisted takeover.
Under a week later, the last bit of resistance was vanquished. All others bowed to the will of the usurpers. Dr. Ivo Robotnik and Arashi Codiv were now the rulers of the world.
So, the day had finally come. The bad guys won.
And the two lived happily ever after... for the next few days or so.
**
Robotnik tore off a drumstick from the turkey and bit into it, chewing glumly. After swallowing, he asked for the 300th time, "So... what are we going to do now?"
"I dunno," Arashi said, picking at a piece of food. "We've already done it all... Killed Sonic... Conquered the world... amassed all the money there is... got all 180 emblems..."
"Hey, let's brainwash the entire population!"
"We did that yesterday, remember?"
"Oh, yeah..."
Robotnik sighed and leaned back in his chair, staring at the table. He took out his laser gun and started toying with it, dismantling and reconstructing it several times, but it just didn't seem as fun anymore. "Blast... mum, you were right," he mumbled to himself.
"Yeah, mine was too," Arashi said absently. "'Why do you want to take over the world so much?' she'd say. 'Once you have it all, there's nothing else to do...'"
A small computer terminal in the kitchen brought up a screen, with a special news report starting. The same reporter that spoke of Shadow the Hedgehog robbing the bank during the last failed campaign to take over the world began to report, "Up-to-the-minute sources claim that several unidentified flying objects are attacking all of the major cities in the world. Research groups have received word from whoever is controlling these objects that Earth is to be taken over for its resources--and there is nothing we can do unless Emperor Robotnik decides to take action."
The two rulers traded slight, calm smiles and Robotnik pushed his goggles down over his eyes. "A mad scientist's work is never done," he proclaimed, and they both stood up and headed for the Steel Snake's lair.
#eggman#robotnik#arashi#arashi codiv#jen irwin#fanfiction#fanfiction Evil Overlords Have Feelings Too
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Evil Overlords Have Feelings Too - Part 4
by Jenifer Irwin
Part 4
"No... no... can't be, I... ah... rkk..."
Something shattered. Perhaps a glass of Dr Pepper or something was knocked off the end table by a thrashing arm. Arashi was worried... How in the world could Ivo be having a nightmare?
"Noooooo..." A low sob was heard. That did it. Arashi hacked into the door's security system and quickly got into his room, moving over to the bed and sitting down on the side of it, shaking his shoulder. Ivo Robotnik sat up with a yelp of surprise, sweating and gasping for breath. "What!? Is someone attacking the base?! What's going--"
"No, you just had a nightmare or something... what were you dreaming?" Arashi asked, concerned.
Trying to catch his breath, the doctor thought for a moment, starting to talk. "I dreamed... I dreamed I... was blue, spiky, and had an incredible craving for chili dogs! I dreamed I was Sonic! Aauuuughhh! ...of course, a chili dog does sound pretty good right about now."
Dr. Robotnik dragged himself out of the bed and headed for the door, leaving a very concerned Arashi sitting on the bed. "But wouldn't you like turkey or pizza more?" she asked curiously.
"No... Chili dogs, with just the right amount of spice in the chili... ohh, yeah," he replied, walking out of the door and turning down the hall towards the kitchen. He seemed to have unusual bounce and quickness to his step.
Okay, so maybe it just reminded him of them and there's nothing to worry about, Arashi thought to herself, standing up to follow him. She still did worry, though. She just had a feeling that this wasn't good.
In the kitchen, everything seemed to go fairly normal. Robotnik made about 30 chili dogs and then sat down at the table with them, grabbing a can of Pepsi from the refrigerator. He and Arashi started to dig in, with him eating so quickly she feared she'd have to fight him for them, and started snickering as she raced along with him.
Whoawhoawhoawhoa back up back up backupbackup, she thought to herself on her fifth chili dog, looking at the can of Pepsi that Robotnik had.
"You didn't get a Dr Pepper?"
"Nah, Pepsi sounded better. And it is!"
Arashi fell out of her chair and hit the floor with a sound *THUNK*, out cold.
**
"Ivo, you were eating SONIC food! Sonic drinks Pepsi! You drink Dr Pepper! What's up with you?" Arashi asked worriedly, moving backwards as she stayed ahead of him, practically pouncing on him with questions as he walked quickly down the hall. "Are you feeling alright!? Has anything strange happened lately? Why are you walking so fast!?"
"I'm just in a hurry, that's all," Robotnik replied, seeming confused. "And so what if I ate a Sonic meal? Can't be any worse than eating Sonic himself, right? Heh heh. I've felt so much better ever since I turned Sonic, Takar and Tails all into pills and ate them..."
...was that just her, or did Arashi detect a fleeting instant of a British accent there...
Oh, god. Pulling on her hair, she froze in a shocked stance as she watched Ivo continue down the hallway.
It had been a month since Robotnik's victory over the alien Ykrian leader, Takar, and the two usual adversaries, who had teamed up with the alien to help try to destroy him. Arashi had been killed in an explosion Super Takar caused, but she was later brought back to life by Robotnik, who went into his Ultra form out of pure rage. They raced to Takar's earth-based lab, and while Takar actually got there first, he had a bit of a... braking problem, and Robotnik peeled him off of a tree two miles away from the base a while later.
In an effort to get rid of his enemies once and for all, Robotnik had used a pill-making machine he created to turn all three of them into pills, then gulped them down.
It looked, however, like that had backfired, and he was absorbing some of their qualities... Oh, man, oh man, no no no no, Arashi thought to herself, trying to figure out a way to stop this.
**
Four confused chao watched as Robotnik practically ran from place to place, fixing any broken things in their chamber, quickly tossing them food. He didn't stop to pet them but for a few seconds each before he hurried out. Turning the corner, he ran right into Arashi, tripping and falling. Both went to the floor, Arashi emitting a strained screech as he fell right on her, practically flattening her.
"...ow," was all she managed to choke out as Robotnik said simply, "Oops. So that's why my teachers always yelled at me for running in the hallway..."
Robotnik stood up, dusting himself off, and extended a hand to help Arashi back to her feet. She stumbled a couple of steps, gasping for air. After all, having a 500-pound man fall flat on his face--on you--isn't going to leave you totally unscathed.
After waiting for Arashi to recover (tapping his foot during the time), Robotnik hurried towards his lab. Arashi had to push herself to keep up, thinking to herself, Okay, this is already getting out of hand. I've got to find some way to stop this before it gets any worse...
Ivo passed by a mirror on his way to the lab, then stopped, turned, and looked in the mirror again. He put a fist on his hip and scratched his head, saying, "Ugh... I can't stand fat people. I need to lose weight."
Arashi executed an anime-style freak-out move, sweat flying from her head, and fainted.
As Robotnik dragged the unconscious woman into his lab, he sighed slightly and headed for the soda machine on the wall. He pulled out a Mountain Dew and walked back over to Arashi, kneeling down and shaking her shoulder. When she finally woke up, she grabbed the front of his coat and shook him, saying, "You've got to pull yourself together! You're losing it!"
"Am not," he protested.
"Yes you are! Tell me, doctor, what would you rather do right now... Take over the world, or run through Green Hill?"
When Robotnik took a moment to think about that, Arashi knew all was lost, and leaned her forehead on his shoulder with a sigh. "You're not the Ivo I used to know."
"How so?"
"You keep acting like Sonic, and you just talked like Takar a few minutes ago."
Robotnik grabbed Arashi's arms, almost tightly enough to hurt, and growled, "I am not acting like Sonic." She looked up at him, fearfulness of him entering her eyes for the first time. The chills he got from inducing fear knocked him back into his own semblance of sanity and he blinked as he realized what he had done.
"Oh, Arashi, I--" he started apologetically, but she pulled away from him and stood up, saying, "I think... I need to go." She gave him a confused, worried look, then hurried from the room when he reached towards her, saying, "Wait, Arashi..."
**
Arashi walked along the sandy shores of the underground base, hands in her pockets, shoulders slightly hunched forward. She glanced up at the base, which was rebuilt after being destroyed by Takar, and looked even better now than it did before. But there was something different about it, now. Ivo had never scared her so much, even the first time she met him, when he was waving a laser gun in her face. At that time, she knew the normal Robotnik doesn't shoot people without a decent reason, especially those who might have some useful information. It wasn't like her to walk out so quickly, but she was afraid. She knew he was unstable. Somehow, his enemies lived on within him. It seemed impossible for that to be true, because he had turned them into pills and eaten them--how could it have actually affected his personality and his mind? Now two good and two evil personalities were battling it out in his head for control over him. So far, Sonic and Takar had revealed themselves--Tails was sure to show up soon, and the situation was likely to get worse very quickly.
Could she risk staying with him in this state? He had an IQ of 600, and the combined powers of four incredibly powerful people. He was also prone to mood swings and sudden changes in personality--now that she thought of it, Arashi had noticed traces of this only a few days after Ivo had eaten the pills. The traits were only really surfacing with such obviousness just recently, though.
This made him extremely dangerous.
She knew he didn't mean to scare her, didn't mean to grab her and shake her by the shoulders, but people do a lot of things they don't mean to do when something they can't control has a hold of them.
Arashi sighed and sat down on a boulder, staring at her shoes as she wondered what to do.
**
Inside the base, Robotnik sat at one of his desks, holding his head in his hands. His thoughts were fuzzy and whirling madly in his mind as he tried to compose himself. He was angry one second, but didn't care the next. One moment he wanted a Dr Pepper, the next he wanted a Mountain Dew. Did I hurt her? Eh, she'll be okay... I hate myself, what have I done? I wonder if there's any chicken left in the fridge. I think everybody should be green. What am I doing sitting around when I could be running? I should research the chaos emeralds some more. Diet Pepsi sucks. What could I add to the Steel Snake to make it better? Arashi's mad, I should go apologize. I bet giant tarantulas with lots of venom could be useful in taking over the world. Where's my pencil?
In the back of his mind, Robotnik was struggling to obliterate the random thoughts and regain control over himself, but it was useless. The harder he tried, the more prevalent they became. He sat for almost 10 minutes, motionless, until he finally screamed and slammed his head into the desk as hard as he could.
Surprisingly, when he sat up, his mind was absolutely clear.
"That bloody hurt," he muttered to himself in a perfect British accent, rubbing his head. Once he recovered from the pain, he glanced around and stood up, then headed over to the Steel Snake to work on it.
Grinning silently, the doctor added many an interesting gadget to his prized vehicle, including a built-in warp device, a CD player and a resurrection device in case he ever had need to bring someone back from the dead. While he was putting the finishing touches on it, he felt something behind him.
Arashi jumped back, putting her hands behind her back as Ivo whirled around suddenly, raising an eyebrow slightly. "Ah, hello," he said, smiling oddly... just like Takar did. "Terribly sorry to have frightened you back there, I suppose I just lost it. Happens to everyone," he said, chuckling. "Have you got something behind your back?" he asked in an amused tone.
"Um... no, I just... um... heh," Arashi stammered nervously. She looked up at him hesitantly, then stepped forward, putting her arms around him. "I know you didn't mean to scare me, Ivo. And I'm sorry for walking out." She smiled slightly, carefully inching her hands up his back.
"Oh, completely understandable. I'm sure most would do the same in your posit--ERK!" Robotnik wavered, stunned, after Arashi grabbed his head and slammed it into the side of the Steel Snake as hard as she could. *CLANG*
"...ow," the doctor managed to say after he recovered, sounding just like his normal self. "What did you do that for?"
"No reason, dear," Arashi said, grinning, and her tactic worked perfectly as planned--instead of inquiring further about having his skull smashed against a large piece of metal, Robotnik went into slight shock at being called 'dear,' and glanced around nervously. He was so cute when he was afraid of his own feelings!
"Well, um... yeah... ah... I'm just gonna go back to work on the Snake here, I'd like to put in a DVD player..."
Arashi turned and walked over to the soda machine, pulling out a Mountain Dew. So, slamming him in the head changes his personalities... this could get interesting. But I still have to find a way to extract those personalities from him. I gotta find out exactly what does what with him.
There had been no sound coming from Robotnik at all for the past moment as Arashi enjoyed her drink, and she turned suddenly when she heard metal plates being ripped apart and tossed to the floor. "Ivo... what are you doing?" He appeared to be dismantling the entire ship!
"I've got an idea," he replied with a grin as he pulled the Snake's head off and tossed it to the floor, prying it open and jamming his broken screwdriver into it, popping out a small computer chip. He pocketed the chip, then ripped the Snake the rest of the way apart, leaving only the seating pod.
Using parts from the dismantled snake, the doctor constructed a jet system for the pod, still keeping it small, only about the size of his infamous escape pod (with seats for two, anyway). He flipped up the lid and sat down in the pod, placing the chip in an extremely armored compartment in the floor of the vehicle, then jumped back out and installed several robotic arms into the ship that had small building tools on the end of them. Finished with that, he tore apart a nearby computer. Soon, he had another small teleportation device constructed--this one even smaller than the first one he made, and with a tiny satellite on the top. Repeating the process on another computer, he made a second device.
Arashi leaned against the wall, watching curiously, wondering what he was doing. After completing the second teleportation device, Ivo walked over towards her and asked, "Can I have your backpack?"
Arashi pulled off the backpack and handed it to him, watching as he opened it and dropped the device into it, then handed it back. "Thanks."
Ivo walked back over to the fairly bare-looking craft, which rose up in the air and tilted its lower side towards him as he approached it. He opened up a panel and snapped the teleportation device into a compartment, then closed the panel and dusted his hands off, heading over to where Arashi was standing.
"What was that all about?" the bewildered programmer asked.
Robotnik grinned and held up a hand, signaling her to wait just a little longer, then turned towards the craft and concentrated. "Check THIS out," he said, and the robotic arms with tools suddenly began drilling and attaching parts that appeared out of thin air. Within seconds, a giant arachnid-like robot stood there, flexing its legs menacingly. Ivo concentrated some more and the robot changed itself into a Steel Snake again, then into a huge likeness of himself, then into a huge likeness of Sonic, then into a tank, then into a fighter jet...
Arashi, overwhelmed by the sheer coolness of this, fainted. Just as consciousness was leaving her, she could feel someone catching her, preventing her from hitting the floor.
**
When she awoke, Arashi found herself strapped into her usual seat in the ship. Ivo was sitting in his seat, playing Minesweeper on the on-board computer. He looked over at her, grinning slightly as he completed another 5-second game. "So, I take it you like the new design."
"How does it work!?" Arashi asked, bewildered.
"The ship accepts commands from the chip in my head, then puts them into the on-board teleporter. The teleporter sends signals to the one in your backpack, which then warps whatever parts are needed out of your backpack and to the proper area on the ship according to the blueprints that the onboard computer instantaneously draws up and gives it. Then I can quickly use the ship's tools to fasten the new parts on, and voila... The Shapechanger 6000. Any parts that are no longer needed are sent back to your backpack by the onboard teleporter."
"Genius..."
"What else did you expect?" Ivo asked, grinning. "How about a test ride?"
Soon, the craft rose up out of the entrance shaft to the giant cave and turned itself into something that resembled an SR-71 jet, but could go much faster and higher. Banking right, it swung upwards into the sky, heading towards the orange sunset as it gained speed.
A sonic boom ripped through the air of the nearby city as the jet quickly tore through the sound barrier, a sharp, black silhouette rising up higher and higher in the sky. People knew that not just anyone had a private jet, especially not one that looked completely customized. Robotnik had to be the one driving that thing.
The jet climbed quickly, eventually rising to the point where the sky was black above and blue below. Ivo shut off the engines and the vehicle coasted effortlessly, now in orbit. He glanced over at Arashi with a slight grin.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" the mad scientist asked, gesturing to the huge, blue-and-white sphere under them.
"Yeah," the programmer said wistfully.
"I would have never thought that before you came alo--... um... before... like, six months ago."
"Really?" Arashi asked, smiling slightly at him.
"...Yeah," Ivo said after a moment of thought. He looked over at her, gazing deeply into her eyes. That's funny... he never noticed how odd, yet captivating, of a color they were. Grey, with a trace of a blue tint to it. "Your eyes are so--" he said before he could catch himself. She smiled dreamily up at him with a look that sent... something... through him. He didn't know what it was or where it came from, but it felt better than anything he'd ever felt from inducing fear and panic in other people. He lost control over his own feelings and stared back as he slowly leaned towards her. She tilted her head and closed her eyes, waiting in anticipation, and he closed his own eyes...
Just as their lips met, a satellite smashed into the ship, sending it spinning wildly out of control and burning through the atmosphere towards the ground. Robotnik screamed, but there was no hint of fear at all in the scream--simply pure frustration and anger at the really bad timing of that stupid satellite.
Like the fastest bird in the world, the ship dove straight down at mind-boggling speed. Robotnik concentrated on getting it to flare the jets and pull up, and while he did get it pulled straight safely, they had been going so fast that they traveled quite a ways downward in just a few seconds. He muttered something nasty about satellites and stared out of his side of the ship as it flew gracefully through the air.
Arashi could tell he was ticked. The one time he worked up the guts to really show his true feelings for her, something like that had to happen. She was pretty ticked too, but put that anger in the back of her mind so she could concentrate on more important things--like trying to get him to lose control over his emotions again. It was possible, now she knew. She never thought she would see the day that Ivo would move to kiss her, not the other way around.
Ivo drummed his fingers on the arm of his seat and muttered, "I'm hungry," banking the jet to the right towards a city. After it came out of its turn, the craft's jet parts evaporated into thin air and it was left as the normal escape-pod vehicle. It floated down to a little-used street and turned into a strange-looking car, then drove through the city to the nearest restaurant.
As he pulled up to the speaker, the cashier asked for his order. "Yes, I'm Dr. Ivo Robotnik, and as long as you cooperate and give me what I want for free, there will be no trouble. Now then, I'd like 20 half-pound hamburgers, 20 orders of fries and two chocolate milkshakes. To go." Without waiting for a response, he drove up to the window.
The cashier was rolling her eyes as the odd-looking car pulled up, but she froze when she looked out and saw who was driving it. She thought she was seeing things, then looked up at the poster on the wall. It was one of those posters that directed employees to remain calm, follow directions and such in case of a robbery, but added to the list of situations and things to do was a picture of Robotnik and a notice in bright red: "ALWAYS GIVE THIS MAN FREE FOOD!"
Ivo looked up at the cashier expectantly, and she stared back in fear for a moment before turning and yelling, "HURRY UP! IT'S DR. IVO ROBOTNIK!" to the rest of the employees. Ivo and Arashi could hear frenzied screams and see pieces of food flying around, and the restaurant got very hot inside as the cooking was turned up full throttle.
Fortunately, this gave Ivo those familiar chills from inducing fear, and his mood was already improving. He waited patiently, but didn't have to for long, since the food was piled into his arms within a minute, every bit of it. He smiled pleasantly at the frightened cashier and said, "Thank you," then drove off. Well, at least he was polite if you cooperated and demonstrated an adequate amount of fear in the process.
As Ivo drove thoughtfully along the city streets, he propped the side of his face on his fist, leaning his elbow against the armrest. He looked a little unhappy, but not overly so. His expression told that he knew what happened with the satellite wasn't that big of a deal.
Before he knew it, he was sitting at a turn onto a highway. Arashi watched as he sat up, brow furrowing slightly... then a huge, evil grin cracked on his face. Concentration started to show in that look, and the Shapechanger made a few modifications to itself... then roared with extremely powerful jets as they were briefly flared. The car sat there, silent, for a few more seconds, and then Ivo's grin widened as it tore out of the curve, gaining speed at an incredible rate as it headed down the highway, tires screaming and smoking. People who saw and heard this got the heck out of the way.
"Music?" Ivo asked, pressing a few buttons on the CD player, and appropriately, started to play some hard rock to go along with the journey. Arashi watched in awe as the scenery flew past with other cars and frightened expressions.
Guys like fast cars, and Ivo was no exception. He had the Shapechanger build itself a steering wheel just so he could use that for the full effect, and if it looked like he would be reaching top speed soon, he just built more jets on. The car screamed down the highway at well over 3000 miles an hour for a couple of minutes, then Ivo slowed down to about 300 miles an hour and turned onto a winding country road. He steered the car effortlessly, sending it through turns that couldn't possibly be navigated by normal cars going this fast.
Arashi picked up one of the cartons of french fries and started to eat, watching the scenery blur past. There were houses dotting the side of the road, but at random and sometimes sparse intervals. They were just little country houses, nothing special. People sitting out on their porches were amazed to see the black car go blazing past their homes, and a couple of them started to call tabloid newspapers, claiming they'd seen an alien-made car.
In a way, it was true, considering Robotnik was 1/4 Takar.
After a few minutes of driving, the Shapechanger turned back into a normal pod and zipped into a lonely forest. Soon, Ivo and Arashi were alone in the middle of nowhere. He rode around for a couple minutes, looking for a nice place to stop, and found a huge log sitting by a river. The pod was parked by a nearby tree, and the two sat down on the log to eat the food they'd robbed from the restaurant.
"This river is nice. But you know, it'd be much better if there was a nice big oil spill nearby about 3 days ago," Ivo commented. "There's nothing like a smoothly flowing river of oil and dead fish to soothe the senses." He was dead serious, which made Arashi crack up laughing.
"What?" Ivo asked, confused.
"Nothing, nothing," Arashi replied, grinning up at him.
"I don't understand why people want to conserve nature so much... I mean, sure, nature is nice, but it's much nicer when it gleams with metal or a sheen of oil, you know what I'm saying? It's just..." He sighed, unable to really describe his extreme love for machinery to the fullest. He looked down at Arashi, watching the light reflecting from the water dance in her eyes.
"You know, Arashi, I..." He stumbled on his words, already starting to feel awkward again. She smiled up at him, putting her arms around him and leaning her head on his shoulder. Without another word, he put his arm around her and sighed blissfully, staring at the river.
"Well, well, well, isn't this just sickeningly romantic," a hauntingly familiar voice with that unmistakable British accent said from behind them. Both froze, but Ivo started to quickly concentrate to send the Shapechanger into action. Then there was a brilliant flash of light and a loud *POP* followed by electrical crackling, and he fell to the ground in agony, clutching his head and groaning in pain. Behind them, Takar took a strange device away from the Shapechanger, which fell to the ground utterly silent and lifeless. Arashi grabbed Ivo and asked in extreme worry, "What's wrong!? Are you alright!? Ivo!"
"Shapechanger... computer chips... my head... Arashi, it hurts, it hurts," he groaned, almost to the point of sobbing, as he fell over on his side, effectively incapacitated.
A tractor beam grabbed Ivo and lifted him into the air, holding him there, and Takar placed the beam's projector on a nearby rock. Then he grabbed Arashi and easily overpowered her attempts to get away, quickly tying her up with a space-age 'rope' of sorts that was super strong. She kicked and screamed for him to stop, but he coldly went about tying her up the rest of the way so she wouldn't flail so much anymore, then knocked her unconscious and tossed her unceremoniously into the alien pod that floated out of the trees on his mental command. He moved over to Ivo, knocking him out swiftly, then taking anything out of his pockets that he could possibly use to get out of his current situation, tossing a few wrenches and other tools to the ground.
After waiting a few minutes, Ivo woke up and Takar continued his plot.
"One of two things is going to happen now, Ivo," Takar said as he stood in front of the helpless doctor. "You'll crack and give up because you don't have Arashi, or not having her will cause you to become angry and fight me harder. I do hope it's the second one."
"Why... how did you... but I ate you..." Ivo managed to wheeze, still in great pain, but some of it was wearing off.
"Come now, Ivo, you don't think I would be stupid enough to allow myself to be killed forever, do you? Perhaps this is a good time to stress you out more and let you in on the truth of the matter..."
"Wha...?"
"Ivo..." Takar said, pausing dramatically...
"I am your father."
Ivo forgot about his headache altogether and stared at Takar, blinking in disbelief.
"Then why aren't I the heir to the bloody Ykrian throne!?" he asked, growling and thrashing where the beam held him in the air. Takar started to laugh.
"Ah, there's hope for you after all, still thinking about power! You see, Ivo... You are a genetically engineered life form that I created to give myself a challenge in life. I am immortal, and I have been alive for thousands of years. Many times I've died, but I came back, with the help of my machinery and genetic engineering skills. Whenever I die, a device on my home planet takes the DNA samples I've given it of myself and creates a new version of me! I have a chip in my head too, and it's always sending records of what I experience back to that machine so that I retain everything that has happened, even through death. I have taken on many forms in the past, even had several clones of myself roaming the planet and doing evil at times. I'm more evil than you could ever hope to be, Ivo, but you're the most evil thing besides myself that I've managed to create..." Takar glared at the doctor, as if scolding him. "And I am not going to let that change."
"But it hasn't! What are you talking about?!" Ivo protested, flailing again.
"Oh, yes it has. There are things even I can't control, and one of those things is love. Love can change a person. It can turn the most evil and nasty of people into a goody two-shoes if they're not careful, and you are not being careful, I've seen it. I engineered you to be an ugly old bird so the chances of someone being attracted to you would be slim, but it seems Arashi here was one in a trillion. I tried to engineer the capacity for love out of your body, but there's only so much one can do with the physical end of that. The rest of it is out of my hands... unless I can keep your beloved away from you, and make you bitter. That may just even improve matters! I couldn't stand to lose the only person who has ever given me a challenge in my lifetime, you know."
"Dad was nothing like this! You couldn't possibly be him!"
"That's correct, because 'dad' was just a crafted memory. Do you remember Shadow the Hedgehog? Do you remember, when you found the files on Project Shadow-2, how some of his memories were crafted? You are exactly the same way, Ivo. I built you just like I built him, with a base of my own DNA, and then I added different things for different qualities... Except I dropped one of my mustache hairs in the Life Box to complete you, and a hedgehog quill in for him." Takar folded his arms over his chest, smiling smugly. "And then when they executed me for doing such dangerous work, I just brought myself back to life and came back to the planet after enhancing myself a bit."
Ivo stared at Takar, not comprehending, but then he finally put all the data together. His eyes widened in disbelief as he asked in an awed voice, "Professor Gerald Robotnik...?"
"The one and only."
Without another word, Takar jumped into his ship and flew away, abducting Arashi and leaving Ivo hanging on the tractor beam.
**
My god... he's my father, or who I previously knew as my grandfather... It makes perfect sense... Grandpa knew how to make lifeforms really well... and my memories, he's right, they are just crafted, because I remember my childhood much different than I remember eating dinner last night, it's like... it's like the childhood memories are hollow, or just missing something... and it's like they're in black and white... I'm just... I'm just a pawn for his entertainment... he's been acting like a completely different person all along, with a great cover... all of those other 'aliens,' they must be his creations, my brothers... Shadow is my brother... anything living that Takar has created is my sibling...
Facts ran through Ivo's head at a dizzying rate as he just stayed there on the tractor beam, utterly helpless. He was too overwhelmed at first to realize what had just taken place, but when he finally realized that Arashi had been taken from him and there was nothing he could presently do about it, he began what would become many hours of fitful sobbing. His head still hurt. He didn't have a mind-controlled machine to bring to him. He was in the middle of a forest, not remembering which direction he came from, completely lost, and held up with a tractor beam whose battery could last for days, even weeks. Worst of all, he didn't have Arashi by his side.
He just stayed hanging there, wallowing in despair beyond belief.
For the first time in his life, Ivo gave up.
#eggman#robotnik#arashi#arashi codiv#sonic#tails#jen irwin#fanfiction#fanfiction jen irwin#fanfiction Evil Overlords Have Feelings Too
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Evil Overlords Have Feelings Too - Part 2
by Jenifer Irwin
Part 2
"Hah! Take that, ya useless aliens!" Robotnik cackled as another rocket blasted an enemy UFO to pieces, twisted metal raining down around the Steel Snake as it soared through the wreckage. High above the earth, saucer-like spacecraft swarmed the odd serpentine vehicle, shooting at it only to miss most of the time due to its speed and flexibility.
"Arashi, 5 o'clock!" he exclaimed, sensing the approaching UFO. The woman next to him swiveled the seat to face almost completely backwards, firing a rocket at the other vehicle and blowing it to smithereens. She grinned as she turned to face forward again, shooting at yet another vehicle that zipped by.
The Steel Snake took a sudden downward dive, although Robotnik knew that'd be a mistake. He was out to confuse and baffle the enemy, however, and the results couldn't be so bad... wellll, ok, maybe it could. Both of the occupants turned green and groaned with nausea. After all, no matter how much you've driven high tech machines of destruction, your stomach is never going to get used to going in one direction while the rest of your body is suddenly jerked downward at 800 miles an hour. Especially not 15 minutes after a large breakfast.
Miraculously, they managed to keep from painting the inside of the pod with the morning meal, and Arashi put a hand on Robotnik's arm. "Don't ever do that again," she said, gasping slightly for breath. "Oh, trust me, I won't," he replied, firing a rocket at a UFO, but it missed. Having to consume your food a second time to keep from losing it would affect anyone's aim.
The UFOs around them all stopped shooting for some strange reason. Robotnik and Arashi briefly paused, wondering what was going on, before one craft after another began to hurtle towards them, kamikaze-style, attempting to smash into the pod on the Steel Snake's back that the humans were riding in.
"Hold your gut, this could get bumpy," Robotnik said, knowing that mere shooting wasn't going to take care of 5 large UFOs screaming towards the pod at once. The entire Steel Snake began thrashing wildly about, slamming enemy craft in half with its tail or knocking them away with enough damage to prevent them from ever doing anything right again. Arashi grunted a few times as the snake lurched about, threatening to pull her through her restraining belt no matter how good quality it was.
"You had the right idea with these racing harnesses," she said loudly over the sound of explosions, reaching up to tighten the harness a bit.
The Steel Snake's head darted around, snapping a UFO up in its mouth and flinging it away while tail-smacking another one downward, sending it blazing towards the earth. Citizens watched on television as satellites took live footage of the battle, amazed at the destructive power that this one man was able to create. They began to wonder how, through all those years, a hedgehog and a fox were able to stop Robotnik, up until his new friend arrived and instilled enough common sense, and perhaps confidence, in him for him to just finally kill Sonic with no real ceremony when he had the chance. The citizens--who were left after world takeover, anyway--thanked their lucky stars that they weren't part of the dead majority who resisted when the evil genius began his unstoppable campaign. Strangely enough, after he actually took over, things weren't so bad... probably because he just got bored, since he had it all now. They never thought they'd be thanking him for defending their lives against another enemy... on second thought, this was probably just another excuse for him to blow stuff up.
**
The intense battling dulled Robotnik and Arashi's awareness of anything around it, and they didn't notice the giant mother ship that now loomed nearby. The leader of the entire alien army peered closely at the occupants of the single craft that was destroying all of his troops.
"The human male is grotesquely fat... Zork, what is with these humans and their increasing obesity? I thought we brainwashed enough of them into becoming health nuts long ago. I want graceful, healthy people to watch! If I wanted to observe fat people I'd just watch the hippopotami on the Serengeti!" the alien leader grumbled.
Zork shook his head slightly. "Sir, I think we've got more to worry about with that guy other than the fact that he's eaten one too many candy bars. Watch him a little more closely. And the girl, too. Do you notice anything strange about them... regarding how the craft is moving?"
The leader, Takar, watched a little more intently, temporarily disabling all senses but sight as he enhanced his vision. Zork was right... something wasn't... where were the flight controls?
His senses returning to normal, Takar gasped. "The humans... they've found a way to build mind-controlled machines!? Zork, we engineered that possibility out of their genes long ago!? What happened!?"
"I think he's a mutation, sir."
"He better NOT have had any children!"
"I don't think any woman could ever be that desperate, sir."
"Whatever. I want him--alive! And... 'prepared.'"
**
"No more games, fat man," a strange voice floated through Robotnik's head, distracting him momentarily. A UFO smashed into his side of the pod, shattering all over the place, but luckily the pod held up. Arashi gasped as a field of energy surrounded the Steel Snake. "What the..."
On televisions across the world, people watched, stunned, as the Steel Snake was slowly dragged on a tractor beam up toward the mother ship. No matter how hard the snake's jets burned, it couldn't even budge from the beam. An air lock opened up on the mother ship and swallowed up the Snake along with all the other alien craft, and it was silent.
**
The struggle with the Steel Snake inside the ship was harder than the aliens expected. It thrashed madly about, smashing aliens that it didn't snap up and swallow whole, blowing the walls of the indoor hangar away with rockets. Two aliens managed to grab the snake's nose and tail with remote-controlled tractor beams, stretching the vehicle out taut across the hangar. It was pulled so tightly that it couldn't even twitch, but Robotnik and Arashi refused to give up, continuing to fire rockets all over the place.
Through cameras attached to the aliens that were swarming around inside the hangar, Takar watched the destruction and sighed. "Zork, remind me to never allow human IQ to go above 150 or human determination and willpower to... exist."
"Well, sir, it's an entertaining show, is it not?"
"It probably would be, but... I thought the good guys always got limited ammo? They should have run out by now."
"They're actually bad guys in the entire scheme of things, sir. Bad guys always have infinite ammo until the one moment where its existence is more crucial than anything... at which point it all evaporates, or the launching mechanisms malfunction, or something along those lines."
"Can we engineer a premature One Crucial Moment?"
"I'm afraid not, sir."
Takar sighed.
For hours, Robotnik and Arashi continuously fired rockets at anyone who approached their ship. She glanced over at him at one point and asked, "Hey, Ivo, are you okay?" He looked as if he were in a great deal of pain, and he suddenly let his hands drop from the triggers of the dual rocket launchers. "I can't shoot anymore... Why, why does my Carpal Tunnel Syndrome have to act up NOW!?" He whined in agony as he rocked back and forth slightly, clutching his right wrist, which was in the most pain.
Try as she might, Arashi couldn't hold off all of the aliens by herself, especially since she couldn't shoot in the directions that Robotnik could. The aliens managed to jump up on his side of the pod and pry it open. Arashi still refused to give up, grabbing a laser gun out of the holster on Robotnik's hip and starting to shoot furiously at the green men who had climbed onto the pod. She shrunk back slightly, ceasing fire as the ones who were shot didn't even get scratched.
"Oh, please, we evolved an immunity to laser fire a long time ago," one of the aliens said boredly, dragging her out of the pod and taking the gun away. "Use a tractor beam on him, there's no way we're going to be able to lift him out by ourselves," someone said, and the aliens pulled Robotnik out of the pod in the recommended fashion.
The two humans' belongings were confiscated and they were led handcuffed through several corridors. One of the aliens leading Robotnik turned to his partner and said, "Hmm, Zork said we needed to... 'prepare' this man, right?" The partner nodded, realizing he had forgotten, and said, "Alright, this way," to Robotnik as they started to lead him down a separate corridor.
"Wait a minute... 'Prepare!?' What are you talking about? Where are you taking him!?" Arashi yelled worriedly, wondering what they were going to do with her evil genius hero. The aliens that were leading her snickered and said, "You'll see, you'll see," as they took her to a holding cell. They had to restrain her as they injected her with a powerful sleeping agent, then locked her in the cell and left.
**
The next morning, Arashi woke up slowly, taking at least a half hour to fight off the lingering affects of whatever they injected her with the day before. She sat up slowly, rubbing her eyes for a while. Upon opening them, she screamed in shock.
This caused Robotnik to stir, and he took quite a while to wake up too before sitting up on the cot across the cell from Arashi's. He felt kind of strange. Blinking through bleary eyes, he glanced over at her, puzzled at the shocked expression frozen on her face. "What?"
Getting no response, he reached up to scratch an itch on the back of his neck.
That was odd. He actually had a neck.
Looking down at himself, he screamed too. "I have FEET!?!?"
The doctor stood up, holding his arms out to his sides as he twisted around, looking at himself. He was... thin. He was correctly proportioned. What had they done to him!?
"What in the world..." he muttered to himself, amazed. "They even got my clothes cut down to the right fit..."
He looked up at Arashi, who still looked dumbfounded. She glanced at the hallway behind him through the bars, hearing footsteps. Having heard the screams, a pair of aliens were heading down the corridor to find out what was going on and take the humans to Takar.
"What seems to be the problem?" one of the aliens asked when they reached the cell.
"Oh... nothing," Robotnik said, dusting his coat off. His appearance was changed so much by the loss of all the fat that he was probably barely recognizable, but on the other hand, he'd never felt so fit in his life. Besides the fact, he could just eat his way back to obesity later.
"Well, then, come along," the alien said, opening the cell and grabbing the two, leading them down the hallway and out of the cell block. They were taken through several more corridors and into the heart of the ship, where a large door opened to reveal a grand chamber. Within the chamber was a throne, several control panels, desks, bookcases, a snack bar and a few tables with chairs.
A very important-looking alien turned from a large window to look at Robotnik and Arashi. "Ah. Excellent. They prepared you quite well. You're going to be much more tolerable to talk to... I can't stand fat people." He walked over calmly, arms folded within his robes, and circled the humans, eyeing them appraisingly. They got a good, long look at one of these aliens for the first time as they looked back at him. This race of aliens was roughly the same height as Robotnik, and had elegant appearances, light green skin, and looked more or less human. They also had a distinct British accent.
"I'm Takar, Ykrian Leader. You two would be?" the leader asked.
"Emperor Ivo Robotnik and Empress Arashi Codiv," Robotnik answered, arrogantly. Arashi nudged him hard in the ribs. Now wasn't the time to be arrogant.
"I... see," Takar said, seeming suddenly worried for some reason. He poked Robotnik in the chest, saying, "You... haven't had any children, have you?"
"I must have a pretty high tolerance for pain if I managed that, because I don't remember anything of the sort, no," the doctor replied, snickering. He winced slightly as Arashi jammed her elbow into his side again. Takar sighed and shook his head.
"On to what I really brought you in here for... I've noticed, Robotnik, that you managed to create a vehicle that's controlled by mind power alone... tell me, how did you do this?"
Robotnik thought for a moment, then replied, "I'll tell you if you'll leave my planet alone." Arashi stood silently, hoping Takar would agree. If the aliens didn't know how to do such things and were trying to get the knowledge from Robotnik... well, no telling what they'd end up doing with it. She then wondered, amusedly, who Earth would distrust more with the knowledge--Robotnik or the aliens?
Irritated suddenly, the alien drew a very advanced-looking laser gun on Robotnik. "No one attempts to bargain with me... Give me one good reason not to kill you right now."
"Because there wouldn't be much of a story then, would there?"
Takar lowered the gun swiftly, an even more irritated look on his face. "You have a point. Curse you. Of course, I may not be able to kill you--or, I'm assuming, your little cohort here--but I can do worse. Much worse." He grinned chillingly. "Do you realize, Mr. Robotnik, that--"
"Dr. Robotnik," the mad scientist interrupted.
"Dr. Robotnik, that I could suck the information out of your head if I wanted to? And do you realize how painful of a process that is? After all, even us aliens haven't been able to develop a program that can easily hack into the files of a man's very brain. And having live electrical wires stuck into your ears and nose usually doesn't sit well with most people. Not to worry, though, we keep them alive... barely. Now then, I've come up with a wonderful idea... I believe I'm going to remove all information that the common housefly isn't able to retain, then lower your IQ to a nice, stable... 2 or so. Then we won't have to worry about you anymore. How does that sound?"
Robotnik looked over at Arashi, alarmed. She gulped loudly.
"I'll give you two minutes to speak with your friend here before I turn him into a human vegetable," Takar said in a bored tone, turning to walk over and look out the window. He took a small device out of his pocket and started speaking into it in a low voice, too low for either of them to make out what he was saying.
"Ivo, what are we going to do!?" Arashi asked worriedly, grabbing him by the arms. He looked around, mumbling, "I'm not sure, but I do know one thing--this is going to be a challenge. No inept guards, no vents to crawl through, nothing that Evil Overlords usually fail at..."
"There has to be something! You can't just get your brains sucked out! It's not meant to be!"
Takar turned around, frowning. "Wait a minute. You're psychic? Are you? Seriously?" He seemed worried. "Humans are gaining incredible abilities at an astonishing rate! Why has my army allowed this to happen!?" His paranoia was obvious.
"No, I'm not psychic," Arashi said, fearful that he'd try to suck her brains out too. "I just... don't think... that you should do this to him."
Several flying saucers began to descend to earth, seen through the window as Takar peered at Arashi with distrust. "Oh well. Carry on," he said, turning back towards the window.
Arashi looked helplessly at Robotnik. "Come on... use that mind of yours, we gotta get out of here." The doctor shook his head slightly, saying in a lower voice, "I'll just have to see what develops."
Takar turned around and said, "Alright, time's up, let's go," and started towards Robotnik. Arashi took a step forward and hugged the doctor abruptly. Predictably, he made no move to hug back. Evil Overlords, Especially Those Under Pressure And Trying To Be Macho, don't hug.
"I'm gonna miss you, you know... you were my only real friend."
Takar rolled his eyes in disgust. "Oh, how positively gushy. Come on, you old fool, let's get this over with," he said, grabbing Robotnik by the arm and pulling him away from Arashi, handing him over to two guards that showed up. "Suck'is brains out," he said, smirking, then turned to Arashi. "And you... I think you'd be excellent for producing the heir to my throne. Have to carry on the family line and continue terrorizing planets, you know. And it's not easy for the Ykrian race to reproduce, so we have to pick the best humans we can find..."
He didn't know why, he didn't know how, but that sent Robotnik into a rage. "What!?" Somehow, he got the strength to break from the two guards' grip and race across the room at Takar, slamming into him. The sudden movement surprised everyone--the doctor had been able to outrun Sonic while fleeing, even when he was fat. He was even faster than that now, and had the alien leader on the floor instantly, pummeling him with his fists. "You're not gonna take my friend as your concubine! Die! Die! Die!"
After some struggling, the guards managed to pull Robotnik off of a rather bruised Takar, who stood up, fuming. "Make sure the procedure is extra painful for our bald guest," the alien spat, glaring at Robotnik. He couldn't, however, stop himself from looking away a bit fearfully from the hateful glare that was returned.
Arashi was dumbfounded as she watched the guards drag a struggling Robotnik away. She never thought that mere words about her would have made him explode like that.
"I hope your heir kills you in your sleep! No, I hope he wakes you up and kills you SLOWLY! With a rusty spoon!" came the mad scientist's yell, echoing down the hall a few seconds later.
"I believe I'm going to go watch this," Takar said, glancing at Arashi. "Do make yourself comfortable, because you're going to remain here for the rest of your life." He smiled a mocking smile and left the room, the door securely shutting behind him.
A thorough examination of the room turned up absolutely no way out, and Arashi sat down on a chair helplessly. Very soon after, the screams began. Terrible screams. Pained, yet angry, shrieks that could only be those of Robotnik getting his brains sucked out through live electric wires. She put her face in her hands and tried very hard to keep from crying.
Takar grinned in satisfaction as he watched the helpless scientist jerk back and forth, most movement restrained by tough leather straps that held him to the table. Sparks danced around his head, tearing primal screams of agony out of his lungs, but his expression never shifted to the true, submissive, helpless agony that most others' did. It just got more enraged. After several minutes, Takar realized that the two technicians sitting at the control panel had been getting increasingly more confused as time went on. Robotnik's expression kept getting fiercer, his screams more angry, though he was supposed to be too stupid to even notice the pain anymore a long time ago.
"What's going on?" Takar asked, walking around towards the other two aliens. One of them started to speak with the nervous hesitation of a 15-year-old geek who has social difficulties.
"Well, sir, we have a... problem... Uh... this program we bought, from Evil Aliens Inc... I-it's only compatible with Windows 98 or higher and... we never upgraded from 95 on this machine... Uh... it caused an illegal operation, and..." He looked at another screen, which read: "IQ: 532."
And the number was rising.
"540 IQ?!! YOU IDIOTS!" Takar screamed, pounding both of them into unconscious heaps before pulling the plug on the computer as Robotnik's IQ ticked just past 600. There was no telling what other than the IQ could have been enhanced or otherwise affected.
"Curses! Enjoy your super-mind while you can, doctor, because I'm installing Windows 98 as soon as I can find a copy!" the alien snarled, storming out of the room and shouting as he hurried down the hallway.
Arashi was sure Robotnik was a goner when she heard the pained screams stop, but then she heard the irritated yelling of Takar. "Get me a bloody copy of Windows 98! NOW! We've got a very dangerous individual on the ship, and for the record, it's not me for once!" he shouted. Arashi stood up and hurried to the door to listen to the commotion a little closer.
"Sir! I found a copy!"
"Excellent. Alright, let's install it! It's a good thing our machines can install these things so quickly..."
About two minutes of silence passed.
"WHERE'S THE BLOODY MANUAL!? STUPID REGISTRATION CODES ARE ALWAYS ON THE MANUAL!"
Arashi couldn't help but start laughing. The sounds of rooms being ransacked for one little book were heard all over the base. The door she was standing next to opened suddenly and Takar practically walked over her as he headed for his throne and other furniture, pulling drawers completely out and dumping them on the floor as he searched furiously.
Ah, the One Crucial Mistake of every antagonist had arrived for Takar. He left the door open.
Arashi hurried out of the door and down the hallway where she'd heard Robotnik's screams. The aliens she passed by were too intent on finding that book to really notice her, and she slipped into the room quickly. There, stretched on a table and held with many straps, was Robotnik, panting heavily from the lingering agony of what he'd just gone through. Arashi quickly pulled the wires out of his ears and nose, wincing at his yelps of pain, then started unbuckling the straps and freeing him. He sat up slowly, trying to get his bearings as he glanced around.
Even through his dark glasses, Arashi could see inspiration flash into Robotnik's eyes, and he quickly stood up, crossed the room and pressed the button that shut the door tightly. He grabbed one of the wires that they'd used on him and knelt down next to the door, very carefully inching the wire under it, sticking it up against the mechanisms that controlled the door's movement. Then he stood up and moved back over to the computer.
"What are you doing...?" Arashi tilted her head, wondering how he had made it out of that ordeal with his mind intact. He grinned at her, picked up the power cord, shoved it into the wall outlet, and switched the computer on. The door made a few whining, sputtering noises, then shorted out. It could no longer be opened normally.
Arashi sat up on the table, bewildered. "Why'd you trap us in here?" she asked worriedly, wondering if he'd just plain gone nuts instead of becoming a vegetable. He started ripping the computer apart, putting different parts in separate piles on the floor. "To keep them from getting in here before I'm done, of course," he said as he left the power supply of the machine intact, grabbing one of the live wires.
Using the heat from the wire (and thanking his lucky stars that he made these special heat-resistant, non-conductive gloves long ago), Robotnik quickly reconstructed some of the chips and boards, then fused a bunch of the parts together into a device that was big enough to fit in his palm. All the while, the aliens were pounding at the reinforced door with a battering ram, trying to knock it down. Arashi looked worriedly at the door, which was starting to cave inward--just a few more minutes would see it wide open.
Just a few more pieces and the device was finished. Robotnik dropped the wire, tapping a few keys on the front of the device.
Suddenly, he disappeared and reappeared across the room, standing next to Arashi.
She barely had time to blink before he grabbed her arm and pressed a few more buttons with his free hand, just as the door blew open and Takar burst into the room, manual in hand. "What the?!" he yelled, but not over Robotnik's triumphant laugh as the two humans disappeared in a brilliant flash of light.
**
Tired of the same old failed world takeovers? Sick of that unlikely hero thwarting all your plans? Well, worry no more, Evil Overlords, the Steel Snake has arrived! Equipped with rocket launchers, bombs, and movement easily controlled by one's mind, you won't be disappointed. For a limited time only, the surgery to plant the chip in your head is FREE!
Offervoidwhereprohibited.Freesurgerydoesnotincludeanasthesiaoranexperiencedsurgeon.EvilOverlordsIncisnotresponsibleforpersonalinjury,death,insanityoranythingelsethatmightbecausedbyyouusing,comingincontactwith,lookingat,thinkingabout,orbeingadistantrelativeofsomeonewhoownstheSteelSnake.Allrightsreservedandstuff.
**
The hum of extreme amounts of energy filled the air just before Robotnik and Arashi flickered into existence in the kitchen of his base. He grinned evilly and pressed a button on his warping device, turning it off before he tucked it into his pocket.
"Hey... what happened, I thought they sucked your brains out...?" Arashi asked, looking up at him in awe.
"Quite the opposite, actually," he said as he dusted his hands off arrogantly. "Their computer malfunctioned and it actually doubled my IQ." He pulled a cell phone off of its recharging device on the wall and dialed something on it, then put it up to his ear and waited a moment.
"Yes, Mr. Gates? I never thought I'd be saying this, but--thanks. You're part of the reason I'm not a half-dead pile of flesh who can no longer move or speak or realize he's even alive. What's that?" he asked, ambling back and forth a few paces as he talked. "A free copy of Windows XP? Thanks, but I'll pass. I like Windows 98. But you know, I'd -love- an autographed copy of Office 2000. That's, ah... Well, I don't really have a street. You know that giant floating hunk of metal over the Robotnik Mountains? Yes, the mountain range named after me? Send it to that base. Thanks!" He shut the phone off, chuckling to himself. "If only my hacked copy had the little robot office assistant, I wouldn't have had to ask for that."
Arashi stared at him. "How did you know his number?"
"I'm not entirely sure..." Robotnik tugged on his moustache idly, a little confused.
They suddenly heard a gasp and a hauntingly familiar voice yell, "Egg--...man...!?"
The two whirled towards the door. "What the!? Sonic!?!?" they yelled in unison.
There stood Sonic, who took a slight step back and motioned for Tails to stay behind him. "Some aliens brought us back to life! I thought they said you were being held captive and getting your brains sucked out, not your fat!"
Robotnik smirked. "It's impossible to suck out brains that are such high quality," he replied, snickering. "Oh, and don't you worry, the fat will return. I don't feel right," he said as he very slowly backed up towards the nearest counter drawers. "Now, I presume you're here looking for the chaos emeralds that I took off your corpse..."
"Exactly," the hedgehog answered, a little suspiciously.
"I'm surprised you decided to come to the kitchen to look," Robotnik said, backing up with a look of fear on his face since he was unarmed after transporting back from the alien ship. "I never thought anyone would be searching here... it's a pretty unlikely place, you know. But, you guessed right, because I do have one in here... I figured one would search in some forgotten room, like the gym room... But just don't attack me, and I'll hand it over," he said as he slowly opened a drawer and reached in, making it look like he was afraid and had intentions of getting an emerald as he searched around.
Then he added, "Here it... oh, wait a second, look what I have," and very quickly pulled out a laser gun from the drawer, shooting Sonic and Tails through their heads in rapid succession. They slumped to the floor, death coming so quickly that neither of them felt a thing.
Bet you thought this was going to be another long, drawn-out battle, didn't you? Well, ultra-geniuses who had their IQ recently doubled by a flaw in an aggressor's brain-sucking machine don't do long, drawn-out battles.
"You've got good aim, you know," Arashi complimented, grinning.
"Indeed," he replied matter-of-factly as he pondered. "The aliens are very unlikely to make it into the base. I don't really care about the rest of the world anymore. We'll rest here for a while and figure out what to do about these aliens... after I tend to my little problem." He looked over at the refrigerator with a sense of purpose. Arashi nodded, saying, "I'm going to go move the emeralds to another room, since you said where they were. Where should I put them?"
"Put them in the toilet tank of the northwestern hemisphere of the base."
Arashi thought about that for a minute. "That's a good idea," she mused, then ran off, stepping deftly over the two corpses in the doorway.
**
"Now, let's see here... I need to pick the foods which are the most fattening, because I can only eat so much before I end up hurling all over the place," Robotnik mumbled thoughtfully to himself as he pushed containers of food aside in the refrigerator to examine other ones. Deciding this wasn't good enough, he called out a robot, told it what he wanted, and had it get to work.
Arashi hurried into the kitchen a while later, saying, "Something... smells... GOOD!" Robotnik snickered a bit evilly as he started on the fifth slice of extremely fattening pizza sitting before him. The pizza was so big it was nearly hanging off the sides of the table.
Arashi sat down and dug in, tearing off a slice and starting to eat. "Man, you really know how to live," she said. "One thing's for sure... I mighta cheered you on in killing Sonic and Tails, but I do have to thank them for bringing me here, at least." She turned towards the door, where the bodies still lay, and exclaimed cheerfully, "Thanks!" before going back to her feeding frenzy.
"I suppose I should have them disposed of before they either start stinking up the place or they're brought back to life again. F300, incinerate them," Robotnik said, gesturing. The cleaning robot turned and headed towards the door, studiously carrying out its task, dragging the two animals away to the incinerator room.
The cell phone, left on the counter, started to ring. Robotnik grabbed it nonchalantly and raised it to his ear as he pressed a button and asked, "Yeah?"
Arashi listened curiously to the side of the conversation that she could hear. "Not now, I'm eating. No, I'm not going to come back for my ship. But, thank you for reminding me about it," Robotnik said, swallowing a bite of pizza whole. "No, you can't have Arashi! I don't care WHAT kind of truce you're offering, you can't have her!" Inspiration flashed over his face and he grinned evilly, shifting a bit and propping an elbow on the table. "I bet you're just jealous. You can't even get a female of your own race to even be friends with you, let alone be your Queen. And then some bald, fat slob easily gains a friend just for being diabolical. Is that what this is all about, Takar?"
The doctor grinned continuously, and the alien on the other line was shouting profanities in his own language so loudly that even Arashi could hear it.
"Whassa matter? Poor little alien is feeling lonely? Always having to make yourself look perfect just to have no results?" Robotnik asked in a 'poor baby' tone, which quickly shifted to a triumphant evilness. "Being an evil ruler is all about personality and wit! What's that? You're going to come and get me? OooOoOoh, scary. I'll be waiting, lime boy." He took the phone away from his ear and pressed a button, turning it off. "Hah!"
Arashi giggled and kept eating, feeling quite proud of Robotnik. He had a lot more attitude than before, with even more intelligence and cunning now to back it up. Now he just had to solve his only remaining problem--being thin. She could see that even now he was scheming as he gulped down a few more slices of pizza, studying them briefly on occasion. He got that look as if he were staring through the slices instead of at them, and eventually rolled his chair over to the microwave.
After some brief studying of the microwave, Robotnik tore apart various appliances such as blenders, can openers and toasters, then took a screwdriver and proceeded to modify the microwave beyond recognition. Then he took the portion of pizza that he figured Arashi couldn't eat, stuffed it all into the funnel of the device, and turned it on. It went into a frenzy, whining and shaking, with bubbles even floating out of the funnel after a bit, but eventually it stopped. A small compartment similar to the change slot on a soda machine caught a small red pill that resulted. Robotnik grabbed the pill and swallowed it.
"What was that all about?" Arashi asked, bewildered.
"Oh, it follows the same principles that this does. Women have the ability to a much greater extent than men do, to shove lots of stuff into a very small space," he explained, taking her backpack and proceeding to pull various items out of it, such as hair gel, 3 bottles of Mountain Dew, a couple of hard drives, a set of computer speakers, a monitor, an empty computer case, several manuals on programming, a laptop, a small desk, a leather office chair, a Corvette convertible, an aircraft carrier, and a Game Boy Advance. After that, he stared into the pack dubiously, feeling something pulling on him. Hard. Quickly, he stuffed all the items back into it, musing something about black holes, and gave it back.
"Anyway, I can make small pills that'll fatten me up in no time with no effort," he added, opening the refrigerator. Tons of food went into the microwave contraption, and he consumed the pill that was created from it.
Yawning, he turned and said, "I think it's time we retired for the night."
The two went to their bedrooms and made sure the doors were well shut in case of alien invasion, and went to bed.
**
At about 6 AM, a low rumbling woke Robotnik up. He found, much to his satisfaction, that he'd become nice and fat overnight. His clothing was ripped and destroyed by now, and he changed into a new suit of identical design, having a heck of a time getting the buttons and zippers closed. His concerns now lay with what was going on in the base. He quickly hurried to his security monitors and checked them all out, but nothing was in the base.
When he checked the periscope that gave a full view of everything around the outside of the base, he realized that he was in great danger. His entire base was in great danger. The alien mother ship was hovering several hundred feet above it, sending a strange blue force field whirling down around it. Something at the center of the bottom of the alien craft was charging up. Oh, look! Another cliché method the aliens use for destruction!
"Arashi! They're going to blow up the base!" Robotnik yelled into a nearby intercom microphone, badly masking his fear. He hesitated for a moment, an idea flashing into his mind. "Get up and follow me!"
Running out of his room, he waited for a couple seconds and saw Arashi stumble tiredly out of her room, still trying to get her bearings but looking alarmed. He grabbed her arm and practically dragged her through the base in a flat-out sprint, swiping any rings he saw along the way. After a moment, she was awake enough to run herself and started collecting rings too, tossing them over to him.
"What's going on? Where are we going?" she yelled over the alarms that blared loudly in their ears.
"The aliens! They've come back with their mother ship and are charging up a giant plasma ball to blow up the base! We have to get to the chaos emeralds--they're the only way we're getting out of this alive!" Adrenaline pumping furiously, Robotnik knew there were only a couple of minutes left before the base was blown to smithereens. He put all his effort into running faster, nearly leaving Arashi behind.
"Ivo! Your warping device!"
"Why didn't I think of that?" He grabbed her shoulder, pulled out the warp device and warped them both to the toilet that had the emeralds. Throwing the lid off the tank, he fished out all seven emeralds and looked at them in confusion and worry. "I don't know how to do this... But now's a pretty darn good time to figure it out, eh?" he said, mostly to himself as water dripped through his fingers.
The young programmer watched in bewilderment as Robotnik concentrated hard on the emeralds, as if trying to find something in them that wasn't visible to the naked eye. The base rumbled and groaned under the atmospheric pressure that was building up. Robotnik looked around worriedly, then desperately stared at the emeralds again. He started examining one at a time, a frantic look growing apparent on his face.
When he concentrated very hard on the red one... something clicked. This wasn't about a high IQ, this was about inner will and drive. The red gem flared brilliantly as he felt something seem to snap into place between him and it. The rest of the emeralds rose into the air and started spinning around him in a neat ring, increasing in speed as time went on.
Arashi stared in awe as she realized what was happening. She stepped back as Robotnik started to glow a faint red, his eyes shut tightly as the glow started to intensify until it blinded her, at which point she had to shield her eyes. She began to hear diabolical laughter that started out normally, but... changed. It echoed, eventually, where it didn't before.
When the light faded to a tolerable intensity, Arashi lowered her hand from her eyes and turned, looking up at what the mad scientist had been transformed into.
A robot, ten feet tall and with Robotnik's unmistakable mustache, glasses, goggles and smirk, stood there cracking mechanical knuckles. It had the build of a giant, muscular human, and it had designs on it that mimicked Robotnik's normal clothing. It kept glowing a faint red, too.
"So, this is what it feels like... I'll bask in it later--for now, I've got to go destroy that ship before my ring supply runs out!" Ultra Robotnik exclaimed, warping himself and Arashi to the highest of the Silent Hills... without even using his transportation device.
"You'll be safe here," the robotic doctor said in a mechanized version of his human voice. "But you'll still have a great view of the battle! Use these." He opened his chest plate, revealing mechanical odds and ends of all sorts, and pulled out a pair of strong telescope-goggles, handing them to Arashi. She put them on, listening as Robotnik briefly told her how to operate them.
"Oh... and if anything happens to me," he said, "Use this. Tap random buttons and think of where you want to go. The buttons are to confuse enemies and bewilder readers." He pulled out the teleportation device and handed it to her.
With that, he disappeared in a brilliant flash of crimson light.
The plasma ball under the ship was getting bigger and bigger, and Robotnik realized he had left something very important in his base. If it did blow up, he didn't want them to be lost... He warped into the base, then warped back to the Silent Hills, set down 4 frightened chao next to Arashi, and back to the base he went.
At a speed that would leave any fighter jet in the dust, so to speak, Robotnik blazed up towards the ship, slamming into the underside of it and seeing if he could break through. That was a mistake.
He had fallen halfway to the ground before he recovered from his dazed state, and decided that another course of action should be taken. The plasma ball was growing rapidly and roiling menacingly above the base as it threatened to destroy it. As he hovered there in thought, about a dozen flying saucers descended out of the hangar that opened up and flew at him quickly. He smirked slightly and moved over to meet them, forgetting the plasma ball for a moment as he waited for one of them to make a move. They seemed very reluctant.
One brave alien zipped away from its hovering spot and strafed past him, shooting a rocket at him. He dodged out of the way easily and raced towards the attacker, kicking the UFO so hard that it flipped over and started spinning, uncontrollably, towards the ground. Two others began to attack him, but when he punched through the glass of one vehicle and pulled the occupant out, the other hesitated.
"AAGH! No! Please, large scary madman, have mercy! I... I didn't mean to electrocute your brain! I'm serious! Takar made me do it! He put me through more torture than anyone could ever bear once when I wouldn't suck someone's brains out! I begged him to kill me because I couldn't take it anymore but he wouldn't! Please, don't hurt me, I'm very vulnerable and easily emotionally scarred!" The alien thrashed in Robotnik's grip, and as he looked down at it, he realized it was the same one who described the problem with the computer to Takar.
"Well... You should be more worried about him than about me, right? I don't torture people, I just turn them into robots, or kill them. But I should have mercy on you. So, do you want to go back home?" Robotnik asked curiously. The alien gasped, paled and shook his head slightly. "No... n-no..."
"Why not?"
"Well, because... because... of him..."
"Well, you begged him to kill you, and I'm willing to do that, so what would you rather have?"
The alien looked around frantically, trying to avoid the subject.
"You're lying to me, aren't you? He doesn't really torture you, does he?" Robotnik asked, sounding like a parent gently chiding his son. "That was just something to get me to feel sorry for you and let you go, right?"
The alien nodded, gulping as he desperately admitted his lie, hoping perhaps the doctor would have mercy on him for doing so.
"All right. I'll let you go." Robotnik smiled pleasantly and did just that, letting the alien plummet towards the ground hundreds of feet below. Silly alien.
All of the other ships immediately retreated back into the mother craft. Robotnik's ego swelled far beyond comprehension, until he realized that the plasma ball was still charging up.
Far away on the Silent Hills, Arashi held Devlin the Devil Chao tightly, afraid for Robotnik's life. She watched through the telescope goggles as the doctor hovered about in the air for a moment, then darted up towards the charging mechanism on the bottom of the ship. What was he DOING!? He was heading right for the plasma ball with no apparent intentions of changing his course! He looked pretty sure of himself, but...
Robotnik knew he could make it through the plasma before any significant damage was dealt. He blazed through the air, eventually into the giant ball, and smashed into the charging mechanism, hoping he could just get out of there before the really big final explosion came. Forks of green lightning danced around the damaged equipment as the ball of plasma shuddered. Somehow, Robotnik knew that was a mistake, but it would still destroy the ship.
Lucky that he couldn't feel pain, the doctor darted away from the charger and tried to get out of the plasma ball before anything nasty happened... he didn't.
Arashi's jaw dropped in horror as she watched the gigantic explosion consume ship, base and Robotnik. The force of it was so great that she could feel the shock wave 50 miles away, and it completely leveled the mountain range.
"IVO!" Arashi shouted in despair at the mushroom cloud that grew where the menacing base used to be. The four chao that were with her stared, not comprehending what had happened, but the looks on their faces meant that they knew it wasn't good.
Arashi pulled out the transportation device, grabbed up all the chao and pressed a few random buttons, warping just outside of the border of the cloud. She ran into it, yelling for Robotnik and coughing, waving her arms to try to clear the dust. Eventually she realized she'd run too far, and had no idea where she was. She ran frantically for a moment, then fell over a hunk of metal, smacking her head on a boulder, and everything went black.
The dust was finally beginning to clear. The four chao sat crying, looking at the huge amount of rubble and destruction. They were the only thing that could be heard. It was otherwise silent.
After a long while, something moved within the rubble. Slowly, a few hunks of metal shifted and clanked as they fell against a rock here, a panel there. A white-gloved hand reached out, clawing at the side of the boulder in exhaustion. Robotnik, now reverted to his normal form, dragged himself out from under 300 pounds of steel, coughing and wheezing. A scene like this was usually reserved for good guys.
The exhausted, injured doctor dragged himself several feet before he realized someone was standing nearby. He looked up and found a man dressed in grey and black, holding a box and looking confused.
"Um... This is where the Robotnik Mountains... were, right? Uh, are you Doctor Ivo Robotnik?" When the man got a nod in reply, he held the box out. "Here's your copy of Office 2000." With that, he hurried away.
Robotnik crawled across the ground, panting, stopping to rest several times. At one point, he raised his head to glance around, and his heart stopped for an instant upon seeing the crumpled form of Arashi lying nearby.
"Arashi! What happened to you? Don't tell me you were here during the explosion!" the doctor yelled, moving over to her. He hesitated, then shook her shoulder.
Upon waking up, Arashi looked up and her eyes widened in amazement. "You MADE it! I thought you were a goner for sure! I can't believe you made it!" They stood up and he braced himself for the hug. Strangely enough, it never came. Looking down at her, she had the oddest expression on her face as she grabbed the front of his coat, drawing closer to him, her gaze locking with his. ...oh, no...
Suddenly, she started to shake him extremely violently. "DON'T YOU EVER PULL ANY KIND OF STUNT LIKE THAT AGAIN! NEVER, EVER, EVER AGAIN! ARRGHHH!"
He felt so relieved to get yelled at instead of what had appeared was about to take place.
**
Robotnik wandered mournfully through the ruins with Arashi, shaking his head sadly. That base had been his home for years. He had the design perfected, and now it was all gone. He would have to start from scratch all over again. The four little chao toddled along behind the pair, looking around with wide eyes.
A thought struck him. He wondered... was it still...?
Arashi jumped with a gasp as metal and stone scraped and creaked, shoved out of the way, and the Steel Snake rose up behind her. Blinking dust out of its cold eyes, it flicked its tongue.
The two world leaders looked at each other, quirking slight smiles. Collecting up the chao, they hopped into the pod on the snake's back and flew away to make a new home elsewhere.
**
Several days later, another hand dragged its owner from the rubble. Takar emerged from what used to be the incinerator room, clutching a handful of ashes.
"I'm not going to forget this, Ivo Robotnik!"
He stared at the sky, growling and panting.
"...I'm not going to forget it!"
#eggman#robotnik#arashi#arashi codiv#jen irwin#sonic#tails#fanfiction#fanfiction Evil Overlords Have Feelings Too#fanfiction jen irwin
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