If asked to describe himself, he'd have used the phrase, "Large and in charge!"
Anyone else would have just said, "He's a giant, talking egg!"
...Well, he's not called Dr. Eggman for no reason, after all!
Still, the not-so-good doctor had finished ironing out the details for his latest, greatest plan yet! One that was sure to finally get rid of that blasted blue hedgehog, and any of his friends that dared to get in the way. This time, he couldn't lose!
Well, except for the one, unforeseen glitch in his perfect plan...
Dr. Eggman just stared at his resurrected creation in complete bafflement. "What do you mean," he asked, "you can't find any Chaos Emeralds! There are seven after all, and we just need one!"
Metal Sonic was less than sympathetic. "I assure you, I searched the entire planet. There are no chaos emeralds out there."
Eggman briefly wondered what it was about the LIPS AI program that continually made Metal Sonic, in any incarnation, a wiseass. "Did you check the Special Zone?" he asked, referring to the dimension or alternate plane that consisted of pure chaos energy. The Emeralds had a nasty habit of hiding there...
"Of course I did. Not an Emerald to summon."
Eggman just stared blankly at that. "Then... then we'll just have to take the Master Emerald! We can re calibrate the systems to work with that..." He had wanted to avoid doing that, and thus hopefully avoid having to deal with the so-called 'Triple Threat' of Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. But, needs must...
"Already thought of that myself, 'Master.'" Metal Sonic replied. "The Floating Island is currently floating... in the middle of the Great Ocean. At water level, I might add. Whatever happened to the Chaos Emeralds must have gotten the Master, too. And the Echidna's gone as well."
Eggman just sat down. All his plans... ruined before they could even start! 'For Want of a Nail,' indeed.
Then his mind, one of the greatest on the planet, began to work on the problem. The Chaos Emeralds couldn't just vanish! They were a vital part of the world, after all. So... who could have taken all the Chaos Emeralds, including the Master?
His first thought was, of course, Sonic. But just as quickly as he thought of it, he discarded it. No, the Hedgehog only gathered the Emeralds when he needed the power... needed to assume his 'super' form. Otherwise, he was quite willing to leave them alone. And anything that would have driven him to that point, Eggman was sure he'd have known about it long before now. The same held true for Tails or Amy or even Knuckles. No Motive.
He lingered a bit longer on some other notables of his acquaintance... Rouge, the gem-obsessed spy, he could see going for them. But being able to hide them so well that his sensors couldn't find them? Doubtful. Nack the Weasel... he discarded that idea right away, that moron could not manage to pull off this feat without everybody and his brother knowing about it.
Shadow... if that hedgehog had somehow survived re-entry... he could do this. He might also desire the power enough to want to do it. But Eggman wasn't about to seriously consider Shadow alive based only on something he might have been able to pull off.
Then another thought hit him. After turning it over in his mind a few times, it made too much sense to him.
GUN.
The supposedly 'peacekeeping' private military force. And Eggman was one of the few people who realized that GUN had the same goals he, himself did. World Domination. In fact, Dr. Eggman would never had existed if GUN hadn't created him...
And they very well could have some reason to want all the emeralds. And have or hire the talent to get them... and have devised some means to hide them...
Eggman slammed his fist against the keyboard in front of him, breaking it in the process... but that was okay. He turned back to Metal Sonic. "I think it is time we re-educated GUN to who has the superior forces, Metal Sonic."
Metal Sonic didn't have a mouth to grin with, but Eggman could see the predatory gleam in his red eyes anyway.
***
Meanwhile, Eggman and Metal Sonic weren't the only ones who had noticed the new position of the Floating Island.
Sonic zipped out of the Marble Gardens. "Any luck, Tails?"
Tails hovered down to ground level. "Nope... he's not in the mountains."
Sonic was about to reply, when Amy ran up to them, slightly out of breath. "He, (pant), he's not in Sandopolis, either." Catching her breath, she then smacked Sonic. "And you didn't tell me there were Boos there, Sonic!!"
Sonic just chuckled, inwardly cursing that the Boos hadn't managed to scare Amy off the island. (While she had been getting better, and more independent, Sonic could still only stand to be around the pink female hedgehog for limited amounts of time...) "Well, I guess that settles it... Knuckles is not on the island."
Tails just shrugged. "I suppose something must have happened to the Master Emerald, and Knuckles has gone off to fix it."
"Yeah, I know," Sonic replied. "I just wish the Knuckle-head would think to ask someone else for help once in a while."
"He can take care of himself, Sonic, Tails said.
Sonic just nodded.
Amy rolled her eyes. "Oh, would you stop worrying, Sonic!" she said, exasperated. "Knuckles is just fine. I'm sure of it. In fact, I'd bet you that he's not as alone as you'd think."
Sonic and Tails just looked at her for a moment. "What makes you say that?" Tails asked.
Amy winked. "Oh, just call it... female's intuition," she said, with a small, secretive smile on her lips.
For a moment, both Sonic and Tails were struck with the idea that maybe, just maybe, there was more to Amy Rose than meets the eye...
Then Amy glomped onto Sonic's arm. "So stop worrying about him! C'mon! Twinkle Park is having a special, half off day today, Sonic!" She then began dragging the reluctant blue hedgehog to where they left the Tornado.
Tails just blinked, then shrugged and shook his head. He'd never understand females...
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(Posted Sat, 06 Sep 2003 08:25)
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