Sonic Universe 7 Eggman

Chapter Six - Eggman

"We're in another reality."

The first thing Knuckles did after hearing this was slap Maxwell upside the head. "Shouldn't extend further than the lab, you said!" he roared, advancing on the scientist. "We'd be safe outside in the hallway, you said! Nothing would go wrong, you said! Well, something did go wrong! And now, no thanks to you, we're in a totally different universe!"

"Hey, hey, HEY!" Rouge exclaimed, quickly stepping between the two as Knuckles's hands curled into fists, and Maxwell started to pull something menacing from an inside pocket of his vest. "Fighting isn't going to help anything!"

"Maybe not, but it'll make me feel better!" Knuckles retorted, still trying to approach Maxwell, starting to push Rouge backwards as she struggled to slow him down.

"Whoa, easy there, big fella." Rouge remarked.

"I am not big!" Knuckles roared, taking the remark the wrong way.

"Hey, take a chill pill, Knux." Sonic remarked, still at the window. "Rouge's right. Fighting isn't going to do us good, regardless of however it makes you feel."

"Besides, this can't be my fault." Maxwell said, pulling out his handheld computer and working with it. "I triple-checked the math, and it checked out each time..."

"You and your stupid math!" Knuckles roared, but he threw his hands into the air, and stopped trying to get at the hedgehog scientist.

"Max, couldn't you have possibly gotten the equations wrong?" Tails suggested, looking over Maxwell's shoulder to look at the display of the handheld computer. "I mean, no one's tried this before to our knowledge. Couldn't it be possible that something happened we didn't expect?"

"No, the equations were very thorough." Maxwell insisted. "I've studied this for years, I know what I'm doing."

"At least that's what you hope." Knuckles said, venting his anger by kicking a nearby wall and leaving a dent in it.

"I'm more worried about getting home, and quickly, than what went wrong." Sonic said, eyeing the window. He saw that the metropolis outside was populated mostly by robots, and a lot of them looked a little too familiar. "It looks like the Eggman of this universe finally got his wish and founded that Eggman Empire he's always raving on about."

"Hey, wait a minute..." Rouge said, furrowing her brow, but did not elaborate further as she started wandering around the room.

Amy came over to look, and trembled at the sight. Sonic noticed how scared she looked, and permitted a break in his policies, wrapping one arm around her and bringing her into a comforting hug.

"It still all checks out." Maxwell suddenly announced. "This shouldn't have happened."

"Quit looking at the math, and start looking around you, Maxwell!" Knuckles said, motioning his arms at the massive and empty room they stood in. "You have all the proof you need that this could happen!"

"No, you don't understand!" Maxwell said. "The universe, parallel or not, is very tightly restricted by math, more than you think. If the math doesn't check out, especially when you know it's right, then something's not right. At all."

"Well, if you ask me..." Rouge began suddenly, hands on her hips.

"And we didn't." Knuckles remarked.

Rouge ignored him. "...our Eggman friend from the alternate reality is behind this." she finished.

"And what makes you think that, Rouge?" Maxwell asked, looking up from his handheld computer.

"You mean that I'm the only one who's noticed that he's missing?" she exclaimed, annoyed.

Everybody looked around, and realized she was right. No Eggman of any sort was anywhere in the room.

"Maybe..." Amy said hesitantly, "...he regained consciousness first and escaped."

"Already checked that." Rouge said. "No trace of him."

"How can you be sure?" Knuckles asked.

"You think I didn't make a career in jewel theft and spying and not learn how to do stuff like this?" Rouge said. "All I know is that Eggman is not here."

"...when he should be." Maxwell added, frowning as he saw her point.

"Yeah, I bet that's it!" Tails said. "Chaos Control doesn't necessarily have to affect yourself. Theoretically, you could get it to, in this case, teleport someone else, but leave yourself, and I bet that's what Alternate Eggman did! Right Sonic?"

"Probably, little buddy." Sonic agreed.

"But, why?" Maxwell asked. "He had everything he wanted right here. Why would he want to stay in our universe and get us out of the picture?"

"I don't know." Sonic admitted, turning away from the window and rejoining the rest of the group, bringing Amy with. "But I still say we need focus on getting back to our universe. And do it quickly. I don't think we're going to be exactly welcomed here."

"You're right." Maxwell said, rubbing his orange-tipped quills as he thought about all that would need to be done. "Okay, first we'll need a Chaos Emerald."

"Easier said than done." Knuckles remarked. "We don't even know where they are in this universe!"

"We can track them down, Knuckles, we always have in the past." Sonic said confidently. "Besides, we only need one, and it shouldn't matter which."

"Plus, you've got an expert jewel hunter with you." Rouge added.

"Oh please." Knuckles snorted, rolling his eyes.

"Second, we need some way to convert it into a Super Emerald." Maxwell went on.

"Okay, the best way probably would be to track down the Master Emerald and use it." Tails suggested.

"No it won't." Knuckles added. "I don't know if I'm the guy guarding the Master Emerald in this universe, but it doesn't matter. Whoever it is won't let us near the thing."

"Without a fight, anyway." Sonic added.

"I agree with Knuckles." Maxwell said. "We probably should focus on finding a way to recreate the Eggman of our universe's device, the one he used to make the Super Emerald."

"How are we going to do that?" Rouge asked skeptically.

"You've got me." Maxwell admitted. "I studied the machine before we ended up here, but nowhere near enough to rebuild it. Still, I might be able to jury-rig something."

"Good enough." Sonic said. "Anything else we need to do?"

"Just stay out of trouble, and probably avoid letting too many people know were not from this reality, I guess." Maxwell said.

"Then we aren't off to a very good start, then." Amy suddenly remarked, pointing down the length of the room.

They all turned, and saw a small brigade of robots approach.

"Freeze." one of them, built differently from the others, spoke. "You are under arrest by order of Dr. Ivo Robotnik, emperor and ruler of the Eggman Empire."

"Yeah I'll freeze." Knuckles growled, charging the robot, "Right after I've done you in!"

"Knuckles, wait!" Maxwell exclaimed, who had been studying his handheld computer again.

But it was too late. The lead robot fired some sort of weapon that encased Knuckles in a bubble of energy, trapping him. letting out an angry yell, he tried to force his way out, punching and kicking the energy bubble in anyway he could, but to no avail. Sonic moved to react next, and as a result, the robot fired the weapon again, also trapping Sonic in a bubble of energy, lifting him off the ground.

Rouge started to go next, but Maxwell held her up. "No, don't!" he said. "You'll only get trapped too."

Rouge seemed hesitant, but nodded. The robot detected their submission, and turned to go, the rest of the robots moving to encircle them.

"Follow me." the robot spoke. "Dr. Robotnik has been expecting you."

"Expecting us?" Amy repeated, and exchanged glances with Maxwell.

They were lead down the many long and complex tunnels of what seemed to be some sort of fortress. Maxwell thought is would've looked impressive was it not for the fact that it was rendered inhuman and heartless by the fact that it was filled with cold metal and oily machines. Eventually they arrived in what seemed to be a throne room, for a strip of red carpet lay on the floor, and a big, gold chair sat on a small podium at the end of the room. And in the chair sat...

"Eggman!" Sonic exclaimed from within his energy bubble as it floated along behind the lead robot.

And so it was, the Eggman of their universe, dressed in his typical attire of the red jacket, black pants, and sunglasses, and he had the overall science feel to his that his alternate reality double did not. He sat luxuriously in the throne, being hand-fed food from a service drone. He grinned when he saw his visitors.

"Ah, I've been wondering when you'd all get here!" Eggman exclaimed joyfully. "Took you long enough! Surely it didn't take you that long to figure out what happened, did it?"

"What do you want?" Amy asked.

"Well, I figured you'd try to come and get me, so I had these robots lie in wait for you to come." Eggman explained. "And they did just that, too, thank you very much." he patted the lead robot on the head, like one would pat a dog on the head. "You're dismissed, be sure to leave guards at the door, though, and stay within hearing range. I'll want you back in a few moments."

The robots nodded, and left, leaving their prisoners where they were.

"Hey!" Knuckles exclaimed from within his bubble. "Can't you take the time to free us, first?"

"Oh, sorry about that." Eggman said, and waved a device strapped to one hand absentmindedly.

The bubbles instantly seemed to pop, freeing Sonic and Knuckles. Knuckles got up with a growl, moving as if he planned to attack Eggman, but then thought against it. He clearly feared that he'd end up in a bubble again, for the robot responsible for that had remained to guard the door, and was watching intently.

"Now," Eggman said, sipping a drink, and standing up, straightening his front. "Where were we?"

"Explaining what you wanted, I believe?" Maxwell offered flatly.

Eggman glanced at him. "Who's this?" he asked. "Another hedgehog for me to worry about?"

"My name is Maxwell H. Galilei." the scientist hedgehog stated,

"What does the 'H' stand for?" Eggman asked, curious.

"Headache." Maxwell quipped, "Which I hope that's what you'll have when this is all over."

"A wise guy, huh?" Eggman said, frowning. "Not like it'll do you much good."

"What do you want with us?" Amy asked again.

"Nothing much, just a guarantee that I can stay in this universe." Eggman said.

"Like it here, do you?" Sonic asked sarcastically.

"Oh, it could use a thing or two here and there, but overall, yes." Eggman said, pulling the tip of his moustache.

"But what about us?" Rouge asked. "Are you going to send us back?"

"And let all of you, my long time enemies (with the exception of Mr. Galilei here, of course) get away?" Eggman asked. "I think not. Alternate reality or not, you all still make for good prisoners, so that's what you'll be."

"But you can't stay here!" Maxwell said. "You don't belong in this universe! Any great number of terrible things could happen!"

"Do I look like I care?" Eggman asked, sitting back down in his chair and accepting another grape from the service drone. "Besides, I've been here for several hours now, and nothing wrong has happened."

"You know, he's got a point." Tails said. "Shouldn't any negative effects turn up by now?"

"Not necessarily, Tails." Maxwell said. "Whatever the case, he can't stay here. In fact, none of us can! We could be risking all of our lives by doing that!"

"You are starting to annoy me!" Eggman exclaimed loudly at Maxwell.

"And you're starting to annoy me, fatso!" Maxwell yelled back.

In a flash, Eggman had lifted the device strapped to his hand, and it released a wave of energy that hit Maxwell with enough force that it sent him across the room. Eggman stared at the scientist hedgehog pick himself back up while breathing heavily in his rage.

"You know, if it helps things," Sonic quickly said, "We were going to let you stay here Eggman. We were just going to..."

"Robots!" Eggman yelled. "Come and take these furballs and lock them in the dungeons! Don't let them out for anything!"

The robots returned, encircling the group. Sonic sized them up for a moment, and decided now would probably be a good idea to be submissive about this. But as they were escorted away, he gave Eggman a glare.

"As always, Eggman, you'll pay for this." he vowed.

"Same goes for me." Knuckles echoed.

And then they let themselves be taken from the room, going back through the winding hallways, this time taking a different route that lead them down into the depths of the fortress. It wasn't until they had long left the throne room that Maxwell took a step closer to Sonic.

"Hey Sonic." he said, whispering in his ear. "Just fast can you go?"

"I dunno." Sonic said with a shrug. "How fast do you need me to go?"

"Fast enough to take out that lead robot so we can escape?" Maxwell proposed.

"Sure thing." Sonic said, and suddenly vanished in a blue blur. The next thing they all knew, the lead robot was down and deactivated, quickly followed by two more.

That was all that was needed. The others charged the remaining robots, taking them out in their various special ways. Very soon, all the robots had fallen.

Sonic screeched to a halt next to Maxwell, who wasn't even out of breath. "That fast enough?" he asked.

"Very, thank you." Maxwell said. "Now let's hurry! Someone's bound to have heard that battle."

They hurried down the nearest corridor, hoping it had a way out.

"Okay, Maxy, what's the plan?" Rouge asked as they sped along.

"I don't know, I'm making this up as I go along!" Maxwell said. "For now let's focus on escaping."

"Good enough for me!" Sonic said. "Getting right down to business is my specialty!"

"Okay, but how do we escape?" Knuckles asked as they turned a corner.

"I'm betting those big doors there lead outside." Sonic said, pointing directly ahead of them. "Of course, that might be why the big sign with the word "exit" is hanging over them..."

"Let's go, before more robots get here!" Tails said. "I can hear them coming!"

"I'll get the door!" Knuckles said, and with a yell, charged the doors, punching them with his powerful fists. They swung open with a crash.

The others sped through them only to come face to face with a whole armada of robots.

"Okay, maybe going outside wasn't the greatest idea after all..." Sonic remarked