“Status report!” bellowed Dr. Robotnik from the Grand Master Planning Room of the Egg Bunker.
“The Badniks, Egg Pawns, and Heavy Duty Mechs are upgraded, activated, and ready for deployment, boss,” informed Orbot, who had the appearance of someone who had recently gotten into a scuffle. “Very good,” said Eggman approvingly, “And the Egg Bosses?”
“Their armor, weapon, and AI diagnostics are all green, boss!” reported Cubot, back to his default voice thanks to the aforementioned scuffle. “Perfect!” Eggman shouted in triumph, almost forgetting that he had to waste a valuable sixty seconds breaking up the ridiculous scuffle between his henchbots. “Lastly, how is our…bargaining charm doing?”
Orbot and Cubot clapped their hands and a purple, Mobian-sized sphere presented itself, hovering down from the ceiling of the large room. Once at ground level, the casing lifted to reveal Amy Rose, bound to a metal chair hooked up to the same apparatus that captured her. “Ah, yes,” said Eggman with a grin. “Comfortable, my dear?” In a monotone voice, Amy replied, “No, Emperor, I am not.” The doctor started chuckling like a child who’d just been given permission to tease his sisters. “Wonderful! And how are those visions coming along?” Amy answered, “I am coming close to reporting on one.”
Eggman frowned a little at that news. He was expecting the device he crafted for her to amplify her psychic abilities in that regard, but it seemed that area remained her weakest. He also hypothesized that using her telekinetic powers to operate the entire bunker didn’t help.
Still, everything else was going according to plan. “Excellent… EXCELLENT… HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA…!!!” He kept that maniacal laugh up for a good 5 minutes before he ran out of breath. He then asked an Egg Pawn to bring him a bottle of wine, and as he waited, Sage chimed in. "Father, I have...reservations."
"Hm? About what?" he asked.
"You've resorted to increasingly ruthless tactics in your plan to eliminate Sonic and the others before your conquest. I am not trying to object, but this does not seem, well, sporting." Eggman nodded with a sigh. His daughter hadn't wanted to get involved in this particular scheme after what Metal Sonic did to Tails, so out of generosity, he allowed her to sit these phases out. She hadn't said much of anything since, but Ivo figured she might still be upset.
"I know, dear, I know. But you know as well as I do that they have foiled my plans repeatedly, and I can't just expect different results by doing things the exact same way over and over and over again. I'm not that mad of a scientist, you know."
"Debatable," Orbot muttered juuuuuust low enough to avoid being heard.
"My adversaries are getting stronger, smarter, even a bit wiser," Eggman continued, "I need to do the same or the world will never be mine. And yes, this means being more ruthless in my tactics. I know you still care for our furry foes after the Starfall Islands incident, and believe me, I do understand why, but that was years ago."
Sage said, "Yes, Father. I suppose I am still not used to seeing the casualties first hand. I will...try to be more neutral." Eggman nodded. "That's all I ask, Sage." This conversation reminded him to put the finishing touches on her new digital construct. He'd spent years attempting to recreate her Cyber Space body, but that meant recreating the Ancients' technology, which was easier said than done, even for him. Finally, though, things were wrapping up.
A moment later, his wine arrived, and it was then that Amy spoke. “Vision inbound.” Eggman chortled in triumph, “At last! Now, then. Tell me, my new soothsayer, what does my future hold?” In the same monotone, she answered, “Your ex-wife is coming.”
“Hehehehehehehehe... HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! PERFECT! ABSOLUTELY PERFECT!! MY EX-WI-WI-WI-WI-WI-WI-WI-WI-WI-WI-WI-WH-WH-WH-WH-WH-WHA-WHA-WHA-WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!?!?!?”
"I have...a mother???"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*THUD*
For the next 48 hours since his first try, that was the sound made by one Sonic the Hedgehog when every attempt to surpass himself ended in utter failure.
He had been training to reach his maximum, barrier-breaking speed whilst in the Light State. Initially, he felt as though he were trying to run with lead attached to him, which reminded him of those stupid Slow-Down Boots Eggman made him wear years ago. With practice, of course, he got better and faster, eventually getting to the point where he was able to make it to half his normal maximum and not have it feel like a chore, whereas when he first came across the Ancient Light years ago, he made it a point to get out of the Light State ASAP. But, more often than not, he would get impatient and overconfident with himself – which was stupidly common with him – and force his progression further.
And of course, every time this happened, he would be met with a face full of wall, tree or whatnot as his punishment. Eventually, Cereza got so sick of this that she used her witchcraft to lock him into Light State, having all of his movements slowed up considerably (even moreso than previously) until he learned to be more patient with his progress. This, of course, was a miserable experience for Sonic. Being forced to move at barely more than a sloth’s pace (even Mobian sloths were notorious for being slow) was frustrating, and for the first couple of days, he made it a point to complain about it to his adoptive mother at every opportunity, though he was forced to stop when she sadistically slowed him down even further for an hour (resulting in an embarrassing accident), and threatened to do worse if he didn’t shut up and deal with it.
So, with no other choice, Sonic did just that. He kept quiet (an easy feat since his voiced was slowed, too) and focused, adjusting to his new, unfamiliar pace. It sucked, but he got used to it. On a whim, he even practiced a little bit of Linshao Kung Fu he learned a while back. It was then that he found himself practicing control and timing of the moves. Despite Linshao Kung Fu requiring both speed and flexibility, Sonic had to compensate in his current state, and sure enough, he got a good enough groove going.
He’d also discovered that his jumps were just as slow as his other movements, but what really surprised him was that his Light State gave him limited airtime, making his jumps last longer before gravity took hold. In fact, it was as if the gravity around him was weakened, which brought to mind the Arks of the Cosmos.
These revelations were just as cool as they were surprising. By the next day, Sonic found that his slowdown had lessened a bit as he gained more control over himself and stuck to his new groove. It wasn’t much, but it was something. As the days went by, he realized that the less he focused on how slow he was going, the more his attention was laid on his current flow.
Eventually, it got to a point where Sonic had returned to his natural movement flow – more or less, anyway – and had barely noticed. He was able to walk around normally and talk at a natural pace (which lessened the teasing he got from the kids at the orphanage since he didn’t sound like “a drag racer on permanent slow-mo” anymore), and he could perform his basic Spin Attack and Spin Jump.
On the fifth day of training, Cereza decided to release the spell, but only if he agreed to take it easy. Sonic did, if only to placate her; in spite of how much he learned, the last thing he wanted was to continue this slog. So, in the backyard of the orphanage, with all the kids watching along with their caretaker, Sonic stood, waiting.
Satisfied with what she saw, Cereza undid the magic that weighed him down, whilst keeping him in the Light State. Immediately, Sonic felt lighter (no pun intended), but what amazed him was the fact that the aura that usually surrounded him was nowhere to be seen. In fact, he looked completely normal, as if he hadn't charged up the energy at all.
Curious, he tried Spin Dashing, and to his shock, charged up the Light Speed State...again! Sonic couldn't believe it. His Light Speed State had reached a second level! This level brought with it the familiar feeling of slowdown, but it didn't even bother him this time. If this were possible, then there was no telling how fast he could go!
Before he got ahead of himself, Sonic began to run in place. It took some doing, but he eventually found a good flow going. Unlike what he used to feel, there wasn't quite as much obstruction. In fact, he soon felt just as fast as his normal state! Encouraged by this, Sonic kept going. It took a minute longer than normal, but this time, he was to move fast enough to make his legs blur. To him, it was time. He released the first level of his Light Speed State.
Just like that, his legs were now blurring so quickly, they resembled a red figure eight. Sonic had reached Mach 1 within the Light State, and the Super Peel Out technique was ready!
The hedgehog whooped in triumph, although he couldn’t be heard over the high whirring noise he was making. In fact, immediately after undoing the spell she had on him, Cereza had to use more magic to protect everyone’s hearing. Sonic was feeling so good about his progress that he decided to release the second Light State level and run normally. When he did, though, something happened. He started going even faster.
Instead of the maximum velocity he was used to, he began to move quicker and quicker, his legs now moving too fast to even be seen by the naked eye, and he hadn’t inched from that spot yet! The ground had begun to shake around him, and more than a few windows had shattered. Cereza shouted, “Sonic! You’ve got to MOVE!” Realizing the danger, Sonic did so and took off, disappearing from sight almost instantly.
Sonic was dumbfounded as he ran. This was a level of speed he had never reached before outside of his Super form. In mere seconds, he had ran across the ocean, far enough to reach the continent that held Adabat. He knew he had to return home before something bad happened (running into something or someone, for example) and, acting on instinct, grabbed the first wooden pole he saw and swung around, heading back the way he came.
Or, at least, that’s what he thought would happen. Instead, Sonic ended up yanking the pole from its resting place and tripping over it, hilariously careening up a crescent curved slope in spinball form.
At the rate he was going, he, of course, went soaring through the sky, straight back to Christmas Island. He smirked wryly at the turn of events, finding it funny that the weighted training he'd read about in manga ended up making him faster. He couldn’t wait to see how much faster he had become. Unfortunately, his excitement soon turned to dread as he realized he was headed to the very building he had been avoiding this entire time.
‘No. No no no no no no NO NO NOOOOO!!'
To bystanders, all of this would have appeared to have happened within the course of five seconds. To him, it may as well have been minutes upon hours with all the say he had in the matter. With no air maneuverability to speak of, and no control over his newfound speed, Sonic soared right past the orphanage…and crashed into the abandoned laboratory on the other side of the island.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was near pandemonium. Dozens of robots swarmed the outer perimeter of the Egg Bunker, cloaking tech activated, weapons locked and loaded. Anyone who came within 10 yards of the base would be shot on sight. Despite this, Eggman knew that wouldn’t be nearly enough security. He doubled the guards, doubled the weapons, doubled everything. There was no way he was going to allow that “arrogant, smarmy, short-sighted, micromanaging harpy” into his base without a fight.
“Did you upgrade the radars?” he asked Cubot. When that was confirmed, he asked Orbot, “Are the infrared and x-ray monitors online?” After that confirmation, he demanded of Amy, “When will she be here?” To that she answered, “I do not know.” The doctor was outraged. “How can you not know?! You’re a damn psychic!! You should know EVERYTHING!!!! All I am asking for is another vision!”
“You cannot force a vision, Ivo,” said a voice from behind him, “Everyone familiar with clairvoyance knows that.” Rolling his eyes, he spat, “Don’t start with me, Joann! I am in no mood.” Exactly 6.221949 seconds later, Dr. Robotnik yelped loudly, leaping 5 feet into the air in panic and landing upon his henchbots. While not the first time an adversary had caught him unawares, this was different.
He had no mech to posture within here. No, here, all he could do was growl in embarrassment from the floor upon where he lay. For the person that stood before him was his greatest rival, the one person he would never, ever, ever be able to (fairly) defeat. Clad in a dress suitable for a ballroom evening, a silk-polycarbon blend laboratory coat, ballroom dance boots and thin glasses upon her elegantly aged face, stood Professor Cynthia Joann Thatcher. “Surprised to see me, Ivo?” she dryly asked. “No, dear,” Eggman answered, “This was…inevitable.”
“The Badniks, Egg Pawns, and Heavy Duty Mechs are upgraded, activated, and ready for deployment, boss,” informed Orbot, who had the appearance of someone who had recently gotten into a scuffle. “Very good,” said Eggman approvingly, “And the Egg Bosses?”
“Their armor, weapon, and AI diagnostics are all green, boss!” reported Cubot, back to his default voice thanks to the aforementioned scuffle. “Perfect!” Eggman shouted in triumph, almost forgetting that he had to waste a valuable sixty seconds breaking up the ridiculous scuffle between his henchbots. “Lastly, how is our…bargaining charm doing?”
Orbot and Cubot clapped their hands and a purple, Mobian-sized sphere presented itself, hovering down from the ceiling of the large room. Once at ground level, the casing lifted to reveal Amy Rose, bound to a metal chair hooked up to the same apparatus that captured her. “Ah, yes,” said Eggman with a grin. “Comfortable, my dear?” In a monotone voice, Amy replied, “No, Emperor, I am not.” The doctor started chuckling like a child who’d just been given permission to tease his sisters. “Wonderful! And how are those visions coming along?” Amy answered, “I am coming close to reporting on one.”
Eggman frowned a little at that news. He was expecting the device he crafted for her to amplify her psychic abilities in that regard, but it seemed that area remained her weakest. He also hypothesized that using her telekinetic powers to operate the entire bunker didn’t help.
Still, everything else was going according to plan. “Excellent… EXCELLENT… HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA…!!!” He kept that maniacal laugh up for a good 5 minutes before he ran out of breath. He then asked an Egg Pawn to bring him a bottle of wine, and as he waited, Sage chimed in. "Father, I have...reservations."
"Hm? About what?" he asked.
"You've resorted to increasingly ruthless tactics in your plan to eliminate Sonic and the others before your conquest. I am not trying to object, but this does not seem, well, sporting." Eggman nodded with a sigh. His daughter hadn't wanted to get involved in this particular scheme after what Metal Sonic did to Tails, so out of generosity, he allowed her to sit these phases out. She hadn't said much of anything since, but Ivo figured she might still be upset.
"I know, dear, I know. But you know as well as I do that they have foiled my plans repeatedly, and I can't just expect different results by doing things the exact same way over and over and over again. I'm not that mad of a scientist, you know."
"Debatable," Orbot muttered juuuuuust low enough to avoid being heard.
"My adversaries are getting stronger, smarter, even a bit wiser," Eggman continued, "I need to do the same or the world will never be mine. And yes, this means being more ruthless in my tactics. I know you still care for our furry foes after the Starfall Islands incident, and believe me, I do understand why, but that was years ago."
Sage said, "Yes, Father. I suppose I am still not used to seeing the casualties first hand. I will...try to be more neutral." Eggman nodded. "That's all I ask, Sage." This conversation reminded him to put the finishing touches on her new digital construct. He'd spent years attempting to recreate her Cyber Space body, but that meant recreating the Ancients' technology, which was easier said than done, even for him. Finally, though, things were wrapping up.
A moment later, his wine arrived, and it was then that Amy spoke. “Vision inbound.” Eggman chortled in triumph, “At last! Now, then. Tell me, my new soothsayer, what does my future hold?” In the same monotone, she answered, “Your ex-wife is coming.”
“Hehehehehehehehe... HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! PERFECT! ABSOLUTELY PERFECT!! MY EX-WI-WI-WI-WI-WI-WI-WI-WI-WI-WI-WI-WH-WH-WH-WH-WH-WHA-WHA-WHA-WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!?!?!?”
"I have...a mother???"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*THUD*
For the next 48 hours since his first try, that was the sound made by one Sonic the Hedgehog when every attempt to surpass himself ended in utter failure.
He had been training to reach his maximum, barrier-breaking speed whilst in the Light State. Initially, he felt as though he were trying to run with lead attached to him, which reminded him of those stupid Slow-Down Boots Eggman made him wear years ago. With practice, of course, he got better and faster, eventually getting to the point where he was able to make it to half his normal maximum and not have it feel like a chore, whereas when he first came across the Ancient Light years ago, he made it a point to get out of the Light State ASAP. But, more often than not, he would get impatient and overconfident with himself – which was stupidly common with him – and force his progression further.
And of course, every time this happened, he would be met with a face full of wall, tree or whatnot as his punishment. Eventually, Cereza got so sick of this that she used her witchcraft to lock him into Light State, having all of his movements slowed up considerably (even moreso than previously) until he learned to be more patient with his progress. This, of course, was a miserable experience for Sonic. Being forced to move at barely more than a sloth’s pace (even Mobian sloths were notorious for being slow) was frustrating, and for the first couple of days, he made it a point to complain about it to his adoptive mother at every opportunity, though he was forced to stop when she sadistically slowed him down even further for an hour (resulting in an embarrassing accident), and threatened to do worse if he didn’t shut up and deal with it.
So, with no other choice, Sonic did just that. He kept quiet (an easy feat since his voiced was slowed, too) and focused, adjusting to his new, unfamiliar pace. It sucked, but he got used to it. On a whim, he even practiced a little bit of Linshao Kung Fu he learned a while back. It was then that he found himself practicing control and timing of the moves. Despite Linshao Kung Fu requiring both speed and flexibility, Sonic had to compensate in his current state, and sure enough, he got a good enough groove going.
He’d also discovered that his jumps were just as slow as his other movements, but what really surprised him was that his Light State gave him limited airtime, making his jumps last longer before gravity took hold. In fact, it was as if the gravity around him was weakened, which brought to mind the Arks of the Cosmos.
These revelations were just as cool as they were surprising. By the next day, Sonic found that his slowdown had lessened a bit as he gained more control over himself and stuck to his new groove. It wasn’t much, but it was something. As the days went by, he realized that the less he focused on how slow he was going, the more his attention was laid on his current flow.
Eventually, it got to a point where Sonic had returned to his natural movement flow – more or less, anyway – and had barely noticed. He was able to walk around normally and talk at a natural pace (which lessened the teasing he got from the kids at the orphanage since he didn’t sound like “a drag racer on permanent slow-mo” anymore), and he could perform his basic Spin Attack and Spin Jump.
On the fifth day of training, Cereza decided to release the spell, but only if he agreed to take it easy. Sonic did, if only to placate her; in spite of how much he learned, the last thing he wanted was to continue this slog. So, in the backyard of the orphanage, with all the kids watching along with their caretaker, Sonic stood, waiting.
Satisfied with what she saw, Cereza undid the magic that weighed him down, whilst keeping him in the Light State. Immediately, Sonic felt lighter (no pun intended), but what amazed him was the fact that the aura that usually surrounded him was nowhere to be seen. In fact, he looked completely normal, as if he hadn't charged up the energy at all.
Curious, he tried Spin Dashing, and to his shock, charged up the Light Speed State...again! Sonic couldn't believe it. His Light Speed State had reached a second level! This level brought with it the familiar feeling of slowdown, but it didn't even bother him this time. If this were possible, then there was no telling how fast he could go!
Before he got ahead of himself, Sonic began to run in place. It took some doing, but he eventually found a good flow going. Unlike what he used to feel, there wasn't quite as much obstruction. In fact, he soon felt just as fast as his normal state! Encouraged by this, Sonic kept going. It took a minute longer than normal, but this time, he was to move fast enough to make his legs blur. To him, it was time. He released the first level of his Light Speed State.
Just like that, his legs were now blurring so quickly, they resembled a red figure eight. Sonic had reached Mach 1 within the Light State, and the Super Peel Out technique was ready!
The hedgehog whooped in triumph, although he couldn’t be heard over the high whirring noise he was making. In fact, immediately after undoing the spell she had on him, Cereza had to use more magic to protect everyone’s hearing. Sonic was feeling so good about his progress that he decided to release the second Light State level and run normally. When he did, though, something happened. He started going even faster.
Instead of the maximum velocity he was used to, he began to move quicker and quicker, his legs now moving too fast to even be seen by the naked eye, and he hadn’t inched from that spot yet! The ground had begun to shake around him, and more than a few windows had shattered. Cereza shouted, “Sonic! You’ve got to MOVE!” Realizing the danger, Sonic did so and took off, disappearing from sight almost instantly.
Sonic was dumbfounded as he ran. This was a level of speed he had never reached before outside of his Super form. In mere seconds, he had ran across the ocean, far enough to reach the continent that held Adabat. He knew he had to return home before something bad happened (running into something or someone, for example) and, acting on instinct, grabbed the first wooden pole he saw and swung around, heading back the way he came.
Or, at least, that’s what he thought would happen. Instead, Sonic ended up yanking the pole from its resting place and tripping over it, hilariously careening up a crescent curved slope in spinball form.
At the rate he was going, he, of course, went soaring through the sky, straight back to Christmas Island. He smirked wryly at the turn of events, finding it funny that the weighted training he'd read about in manga ended up making him faster. He couldn’t wait to see how much faster he had become. Unfortunately, his excitement soon turned to dread as he realized he was headed to the very building he had been avoiding this entire time.
‘No. No no no no no no NO NO NOOOOO!!'
To bystanders, all of this would have appeared to have happened within the course of five seconds. To him, it may as well have been minutes upon hours with all the say he had in the matter. With no air maneuverability to speak of, and no control over his newfound speed, Sonic soared right past the orphanage…and crashed into the abandoned laboratory on the other side of the island.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was near pandemonium. Dozens of robots swarmed the outer perimeter of the Egg Bunker, cloaking tech activated, weapons locked and loaded. Anyone who came within 10 yards of the base would be shot on sight. Despite this, Eggman knew that wouldn’t be nearly enough security. He doubled the guards, doubled the weapons, doubled everything. There was no way he was going to allow that “arrogant, smarmy, short-sighted, micromanaging harpy” into his base without a fight.
“Did you upgrade the radars?” he asked Cubot. When that was confirmed, he asked Orbot, “Are the infrared and x-ray monitors online?” After that confirmation, he demanded of Amy, “When will she be here?” To that she answered, “I do not know.” The doctor was outraged. “How can you not know?! You’re a damn psychic!! You should know EVERYTHING!!!! All I am asking for is another vision!”
“You cannot force a vision, Ivo,” said a voice from behind him, “Everyone familiar with clairvoyance knows that.” Rolling his eyes, he spat, “Don’t start with me, Joann! I am in no mood.” Exactly 6.221949 seconds later, Dr. Robotnik yelped loudly, leaping 5 feet into the air in panic and landing upon his henchbots. While not the first time an adversary had caught him unawares, this was different.
He had no mech to posture within here. No, here, all he could do was growl in embarrassment from the floor upon where he lay. For the person that stood before him was his greatest rival, the one person he would never, ever, ever be able to (fairly) defeat. Clad in a dress suitable for a ballroom evening, a silk-polycarbon blend laboratory coat, ballroom dance boots and thin glasses upon her elegantly aged face, stood Professor Cynthia Joann Thatcher. “Surprised to see me, Ivo?” she dryly asked. “No, dear,” Eggman answered, “This was…inevitable.”
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