Eggman tensed as he heard Knuckles screaming, it was a faint noise, from a fair distance. But he heard it. And he was not happy about it.
"Whatever you're doing to him..." Eggman began softly "I strongly advise that you stop it."
"What are you talking about?" Giovanni demanded innocently, but Eggman was tired of games. His base back in Mobius was swarming with this mans Pokemon, he hadn't been able to sleep in his own home for weeks. He'd been forced to stay with the professor and that dumb child with his Pikachu.
He'd had enough. Pulling out a small control pad, he pressed a button and the floor rumbled with the force of an explosion.
"I believe that will have taken out your guest rooms." He hissed and they glared at each other. Eggman was full of hate that he'd never felt before, not even for Sonic. With Sonic, it had almost felt like a game, but this was business. It wasn't even personal. Giovanni would only see him as an irritance. The boss murmured something to Sonic and Knuckles stopped screaming.
"I see you know what you're doing. Just how many bombs do you have exactly?" Giovanni asked, leaning forward with interest.
"Enough to take down your entire mansion, and the floors below." Eggman answered honestly, without flinching or blinking at the amount of power he knew he had. Giovanni gave a soft, thoughtful hum.
"What is it that you plan to do with Sonic, then? Get revenge?" Eggman realised Giovanni was looking through his options. If he did let Sonic go, what would happen to him? Was it worth the risk? If he said yes, was he only delaying his death instead of preventing it?
"I want to go home." He replied, honest once more "You may have realised that my base isn't from this planet. These creatures are just children, Sonic himself is only just fifteen." Eggman frowned "Usually, I take an interest in owning planets that are so vast and have advanced tecnology such as yours, but Pokemon... there are many and the risks are too big. Even I can see the downfalls in attempting to own a place like this. So all I want to do is forget it exists. I want to cut off all ties to it, but I can't do that if Sonic is still here."
"Why not?" Giovanni narrowed his eyes.
"Because he's Sonic." Eggman folded his arms "He'll do everything he can to get back to his friends if he knows they're in trouble and I'm not exactly prepared to go soft on them when they're in the way of what I want. If I cut off the ties, he'll remake them somehow, and he'll find me. You'll find me, if he stays." Knuckles came in at this point, carrying Tails, who was unconcious. Sonic glanced at his friends and swallowed guiltily, before flashing Giovanni a look of pure poison, but he wasn't paying attention to him.
"How about this, then? You let me and my workers leave in peace and I'll leave Sonic here with you." Giovanni straightened as he spoke and Eggman eyed him suspiciously, before setting a timer with his control panel.
"Everyone has ten minutes to leave before everything blows." The genius snapped "Better hurry."
"You idiot!" Sonic cried as soon as Giovanni was gone "I can't leave, or I'm as good as dead!" He held up his wrist and pointed to his collar "As soon as I step out of the front door I get killed."
"I hope you realise who you're talking to!" Eggman half roared "I have an IQ of 300! Do you really think I'll have trouble with a bit of electronical leather?!" He turned to Amy and slashed at her jacket with a knife. The bombs slid off of her to the floor and relief filled her features. He did the same to Knuckles, who gave a small nod of thanks. "Get out of here as quickly as you can, me and Sonic will catch you up!"
"Don't take too long!" Amy chided and followed Knuckles as he started to run out. Eggman turned back to Sonic and folded his arms.
"I lied."
"I know."
"We're probably going to die." Eggman murmured softly.
"We?" Sonic glanced up at him suspiciously "Aren't you going to make some sort of dramatic escape and leave me to die?"
"I don't feel like running." He half whispered and pulled himself a chair from the dining room table. He slid down into it and sighed. Honestly, Eggman had never seen himself dying this way. He thought he'd be killed by Sonic, or maybe by something he'd made to kill Sonic. But here! To be blown to pieces... It hadn't crossed his mind. He heard a sniffle and looked over in surprise. The blue little hedgehog had gritted his teeth, he held himself stiffly upright, clenching his fists as tears pooled and spilt down his cheeks. He noticed Eggman staring and looked away in embarrassment.
"I-I just didn't think... I'd never be able to-" His words caught and he trembled slightly "I didn't know I was scared of dying."
"Well, it would be hard to realise I suppose. Usually you have a ton of adrenalin in you, I suppose that would keep your spirits up." Eggman grinned lightly, but Sonic barely glanced at him. The genius softened and put a hand on the hedgehog's shoulder. "Do you know what you're really bad at?" He asked quietly. Sonic gave a small shake of his head as a new stream of tears glistened on his face. "You suck at dying." The hand on the hedgehogs shoulder shot to the hedgehogs wrist while the other grabbed at the knife. Electricity poured into him, but in his determination he managed to pull off the bracelet with sheer force as he slashed at the collar with his knife. He gave a small grunt and fell to the floor as the current made his muscles lock- He was forced to keep a hold on the bracelet that was slowly killing him.
"April fools, hedgehog!" He gasped to Sonic "Run! Get them home!"
