For The Love of Speed

Chapter 21: Rotten Egg

POV: Eggman

It's been a few days, and we have scanned the entire world looking for the master emerald. We have located all but one Chaos Emerald, and I have been brainstorming a way to combine the emeralds to make a new Master Emerald. As I'm studying my notes for the thousandth time, I flip a page, only to realise that it was two pages stuck together. I face palm and grumble. "All this time?! The answer was probably here this whole time, and I missed it because of some sticky paper?!" I carefully separate the pages and groan again. Of course, this happens to be the page that explains how they were able to melt and form the Master Emerald and its 7 Chaos Emeralds. I study the page, quickly figuring out what I have been missing. I gather everything I have on hand and send another team of robots out to search for the remaining materials. I set everything up that I can and place all the emeralds together. (You may be wondering why I haven't just taken over the world since Sonic is gone. Well, the real reason is it's no fun if there's no fight and I win by omission. I need to find out what happened to that hedgehog so I can conquer the world the old-fashioned way. By defeating my enemy first.)

I radio to all my teams I have out searching, updating their commands: [Find the remaining Chaos Emerald, and find my missing materials.] By the end of the day, I sigh, knowing I need to sleep. I head to my room, but on the way, I hear my radio going off. I answer it, and it is one of my robots updating me. "We found the last Emerald, Sir. Do you want us to continue searching for the materials? Or do you want us to return with the Emerald?" I smile widely. "Return with the Emerald, give it to me, and then head back out to search for the listed materials." The robots do as told, taking an unbearable 3 hours to return. When they finally return with the Emerald, I take it and send them on their way. I quickly go add it with the rest of the Emeralds and watch for a minute, making sure they don't have any residual power activated by being all together. After seeing no change in their lack of glow, I return to my quarters for some well needed rest.

After I wake up, I head to my lab and check on the Emeralds. 'Yupp. They're still there' I wait for several more hours that feel more like days. I was working on various inventions as I waited, wanting to be prepared for the fight with Sonic. I am repositioning a piece when I hear a loud sound, signaling a bot was trying to reach me. I drop the peice and curse before answering my radio. "We have collectively located the rest of the ingredients. We are ready to head back at your command. " The robot sounds from the other end of my radio. I shout into the mic. "Come now! You completed your mission. You don't need permission to return. I wanted them yesterday!" I hang up with a huff and await for my bots to all arrive. After more hours of waiting and tinkering, I finally hear metal footsteps coming towards me. I turn to the robots and grab the needed supplies, sending the robots out of the room, out of my way.

After lots of adjustments and lots of lost time, I finally have the Emeralds melted and fused together. The new Master Emerald is an obsidian color, probably due to mixing the colors of the emeralds together. 'Hmmm, if this isn't the Master Emerald, then I should call it something else. Like... the Scrambler. Since I scrambled the Chaos Emeralds. Oh ho ho. It's perfect.' I smile at my new creation, The Scrambler. 'Maybe now I can charge it with artificial Chaos energy and open a portal to Sonic.' I turn back to my table and continue working on the device that will act as my artificial Chaos energy. After many long hours, I finally complete it before looking at the time and realizing I had used up a whole day. I set everything down and head to my food chambers and make two egg salad sandwiches and drink some eggnog. After my meal, I head to bed, tossing and turning for a while until I fall asleep. First thing in the morning, I wake up and head to my lab, setting up my device.

I finally get it situated and pull the lever, watching as the Scrambler begins absorbing the grey and orange energy from my machine. After a while, it seems to glow, the colors reminding me of a town on fire. Once my machine shuts off, I study the Scrambler. The energy seems to be enough, and it is charged. I spend most of the day working on a device to harness the power and open a portal. I took a break for lunch, not wanting a repeat of yesterday.

I test it multiple times, each time the portal is obviously getting stronger. The last time I tested it, the portal opened and was about the size of me, but only lasted for about 3 minutes before sizzling out and disappearing. Looking at the clock, I realise another day has gone by, and I go to sleep with the hope that tomorrow will be successful. In the morning, I head back to my lab, working on improving my device. I finally finish and turn the machine on, watching it whir to life, surrounded by the energy from my Scrambler. The portal opens, and it looks much stronger than before. After 5 minutes, it's still going strong. I peek my head in and look around. In front of me is a town. This town is very big, much like the one back on Earth. There are tall buildings, businesses, and factories. But the most noticeable part about this town is my face on every sign. Before I'm able to figure out what I'm looking at, I feel a boot to my face, and I'm back on my lab floor.

I look up to see... myself... stepping through the portal. He- I- The other Eggman walks up to me, stepping on my chest and pushing me back down towards the ground. "Who are you, and why do you keep opening a portal to my world? Why do you look like me? Only..  softer." He spat. I groan when he says 'softer' "I am Dr. Robotnik. I'm searching for the blue rat called Sonic. And what do you mean your world?" He laughs my signature laugh, only, sounding deeper. "You still haven't killed that blue flea? He was nothing. I enjoyed watching his friends squirm as I killed him in front of them. I then killed them all one by one. Then I took over the world and built it better." He glances at my creation and smirks. I feel a hard hit on my head and black out.