For The Love of Speed

Chapter 16: Scrambled Egg

POV: Eggman

It's been a few days since we discovered the pests had disappeared, and I have stayed on edge. My robots watching for any sign of movement anywhere in, or around the building. I have been looking around, finding no signs of the blue rat, or his friends, anywhere. We also haven't been able to locate the Master Emerald anywhere. There's only one way this could have happened that I can think of, and I have to run a few tests in order to confirm it.

I head to my lab room and begin setting up the tables and tools I will need. I get to work to create a special scanner. 'This better work' I think to myself as I work on my new invention. I work late into the night before I get anything that resembles what I was imagining in my head. I yawn, signaling to myself that I need some rest before continuing. I had written down everything I had done so far so I wouldn't forget a step assuming I had done it. I place the half invention and notes in a secret compartment in my lab. I wash my hands and head to my room to get some well needed sleep.

In the morning I quickly get to work after breakfast. I work for hours, skipping lunch. I finally finish my invention and head to the main computer room, needing all the monitors. I hook it up and enter the code needed to search for the specific chaos signature, so I could do what I had planned to do. Locate Shadow. I watch as the screen loads, and loads, and loads. Before saying 'search: failed'. I groan and bring it back to my workshop, tinkering with it and making the signal stronger. After a couple hours work, I return to my computer room and hook it back up only to get the same message. "It should have worked!" I complain, racking my brain for any possible reason why it didnt. I get an idea, rubbing my moustache in thought. "Unless he's not in this world, but a different one." I push a button, extending my radio tower on top of the base to double its height. "If Shadow is anywhere in the universe, it should reach him now." I run the code again and it loads for what feels like forever. Finally words pop up on the screen 'search: failed"

I groan and head back to my lab room, back to the drawing board. After ruling out several ideas, i finally come up with one that makes the most sense. 'If they're not in this universe, then they must have teleported to a different dimension.' I sigh and think for a while before coming up with an idea. I begin working on a second invention. This one is simple, so I finish by the next morning, having worked throughout the night.

"Finally" I say as I hold my newest invention in my hand, examining it. I take it into the room where I keep my Chaos emeralds, and find my guards I placed there, still keeping watch. There are about 10 guards surrounding the room and hallway, to make sure no one gets in without being spotted. I enter the room, and I'm greeted by more guards inside. I walk up to one of the chaos emeralds and remove it from its chamber. I use my device to scan it, and read the energy levels.

"No. It can't be." I say in disbelief. "There's nothing." I am about to put it back, before I get an idea. I take the Emerald with me back to the lab in order to run some tests and study it. 'I'm going to have to make artificial emeralds. But how? I know it can be done. Maybe I can cross reference it with my previous studies done on them, to see what has changed to make them lose their power.'

After many tests I can't come up with anything. This is going to take a while. I groan and grab one of my old useless inventions that didn't work and smash it on the ground. I take my eggmobile and head back to Angel Island by myself, looking around to try to find any kind of info that might be helpful. I find a cave that has a lot of cave drawings, depicting the creation of the emeralds. I jot everything down and hightail it out of there, not wanting to alert anyone who might still be around. I make my way back to the base and begin studying my notes to figure out how to make a faux chaos emerald.

As I'm studying my notes I come across a shocking discovery. "Hmmm" I say as I translate the drawings I found in the cave. "If the original Master Emerald was made from the same material the Chaos emeralds are made from, maybe I can find a way to fuse the emeralds together. But first. I'll have to confirm the Master Emerald doesn't exist or we won't be able to do so." I send several teams of robots out to search for the five missing emeralds, and to look for any signs that the Master Emerald is still around.