Sonic Runaways

The journey there was long and arduous.

After that, Ivo finally arrived at the island. It was just a barren, dusty rock. Hardly big enough for a simple shack. He huffed and puffed, looking around for anything useful. He couldn't tell sweat from egg droplets as they ran down his entire body. He gritted his teeth in frustration, seeing no materials that could possibly help him build anything of value. "This… is… A NIGHTMARE!" Ivo shouted, jumping up and down and stomping his feet into the sand. "Just a nightmare, JUST A NIGHTMARE! Wake up! I'm dreaming, I'm dreaming!" He left very real footprints in the very real island. "What am I supposed to do here?! I have nothing! I am nothing! What am I supposed to create with these meaty hands and a whole island full of SQUATTILY-ZILCH?!" Ivo let his clawed hands fall from the air and back down to his sides.

Ivo suddenly felt something squishy under his slipper. He jumped away, putting his arms up defensively. It was some kind of bean which was green. "Dear god…" Ivo sighed tremulously. He knelt down and uprooted the bean. "Well, at least I have FOOD." He brushed the dirt off the bean, and it opened its eyes. Ivo dropped the bean and started sulking. "This place is insane…" The bean bounced over to Ivo and rested on his lap. Ivo began stroking its weird jelly belly just to feel something. "Maybe you're not such a Puyo Puyo after all…"

Ivo took a deep breath. "In fact…" He stood up and wiped away his tears. "If there are enough of you little kernel critters, it may be feasible for me to program some kind of analogue grid-based mechanism to build a rudimentary fort out of the lot of you. Which can then serve as the foundation for a grand city! YES! I'm a genius!" Ivo strutted around the island, pulling up beans from their soily slammers.

 He stuck them together, bean-by-bean. He stuck them together, in a lean mean machine. A complex scene of queen-sized beans. A fine four-piece row of—

POP!

The beans exploded only one second after Ivo placed the fourth segment. All that hard work, his precious row of beans, gone in an instant. Their lukewarm remains splattered on his face. Tasted like dirt and coffee. "Phooey," Ivo spat.

"You look like you could use some eggsistance!" An annoying girl's voice exclaimed from overhead. Ivo turned around and looked up. Standing on a solid Meringue Cloud was an annoying girl. She juggled a yellow bean repeatedly.

"Excuse me? I still exist! I think!" Ivo exclaimed. He averted his eyes, patting his stomach. "I hope so, anyways…"

"I meant 'assistance', you bloody mary!" The girl cackled loudly, dropping the yellow bean into Ivo's hands. She stopped laughing suddenly, and started flipping through a yoke book. "Ohnononono… Bloody marys don't have eggs in them! DAMN IT!" In a fit of rage, she tossed a blue bean to the ground like a bullet, having it bounce into Ivo's hands all dizzy.

"Enough with the extraneous egg puns!" Ivo shouted. "I can't even crack the case of what you're trying to say!" She closed the book and put it in her pocket, staring down at Ivo in jealousy yet… also intrigue. "Look, thanks a dozen for the beans, but I just… CAN'T… with the egg theme you all have going on here." Ivo frowned bitterly and sat with his back turned to the girl. He tried forcing the blue and yellow beans together. "Why are there beans, even? Why not make them… I dunno, more eggs?" Ivo tossed the two incompatible beans in different directions. "What are the rules, what's the point?" Ivo began stacking beans again, making no headway. "This is stupid." The girl commanded Meringue Cloud to slowly descend to Ivo's island.

"Ivo, right?" She asked, stepping foot onto the wasteland.

"Yes, that's me. I am Lord Ivo Rrrrrrobotnik! What's your name?" Ivo asked. The girl paused.

"I can't quite remember," she muttered. Ivo glanced to her with a surprised expression. "I have no ties to my old life, just like everyone else here. Since waking up in the O-Void, I've been called 'Bad Egg'. You are aware of what this place is, right?"

"G-Mari told me. It's a place where our family can live on once we pass on from the real world," Ivo sighed, as he and Bad Egg sat down by the shore and stared off at a distant star. They felt the water softly splashing against their soles. "Now I know your name, but I still have no idea who you are. How were we related?" He smelled the salty ocean air, a scent reminiscent of clams. Specifically, clam chowder. "A cousin, perhaps?" Ivo asked, wracking his brain for memories of a specific relative of his. He could hardly assign a face or a name to the memory.

"No. That's impossible," Bad Egg derailed his train of thought, her arms tightening around her legs as she looked away from Ivo and over to an island beyond the clouds. Ivo looked up at that island as well.

"Why… a floating island?" Ivo asked, mouth agape. "This place gets more outlandish every minute, it seems." Bad Egg got to her feet.

"Eggman Island, and I agree. That's why I'm trying to get out. I'm not even supposed to be here at all. Despite all my attempts to insert myself into the fold with these jokes, I know I'm not related to anyone in this world. I am not an Eggman," Bad Egg grumbled. "And we are not family." Ivo felt a sting in his chest as she walked off. He didn't know why he even cared, he had only just met Bad Egg.

"I'm not an Eggman either!" Ivo exclaimed, running after her with his stubby little useless legs. "I don't know why everyone keeps calling me that… it's just a kiddy nickname made to mock me. At least in the real world, people somewhat recognized my greatness." Bad Egg turned to Ivo.

"You still remember the real world?" Bad Egg asked. Ivo nodded. "That means you're not too far gone. No matter who I speak to here, they never seem to care about the real world. Not caring about something means it'll eventually fade from your memory. I think that's the fate that already befell all members of the Eggman family."

"Yeah, everyone here has gone completely nuts!" Ivo stated. "I just want to reassemble the Chaos Egg and leave the nest already." Bad Egg shot a piercing glare his way.

"You're trying to fix the Chaos Egg too?!" Bad Egg exclaimed, pointing at Ivo as she called for Meringue Cloud. It swooped by and lifted her up. She began to hover into the sky. "Nuh-uh, no way, tough luck! That thing's mine. Once I find all the pieces on that horrid floating island, it'll grant my wish to see the real world again. I can't let you have it." Ivo ran towards Meringue Cloud, jumped forward, and phased through its tail end. He looked up from the dirt as Bad Egg flew off atop it. He turned back around to his scattered collection of beans.

"Am I going to let it end here? Stuck on an isolated piece of land with the lot of you?" Ivo clenched his fists, hunched over a crowd of beans as they looked on in wonder. "Must I choose between going mad here or going mad back at my loony parents' farm?" Ivo channeled his passion, his drive, his willpower. "No! I will NOT! My name is Lord Ivo ROBOTNIK! I will most definitely achieve my goal!" Ivo stacked beans atop each other, and began to climb towards the sky.

With every bean he stacked, he climbed that much higher. He eventually reached Bad Egg and Meringue Cloud, now miles above the island. She turned to Ivo. "You again?!" Bad Egg shouted.

"I will not give up! I will escape this place!" Ivo exclaimed. He jumped from the tower and stood atop Bad Egg's shoulders. She tried to shake him off, but before she could, they crashed into the island above.