Sonic Runaways

"Your fault!" Bad Egg shouted, smacking Ivo over the head with a stick.

"Your fault!" Ivo put his Eggsack over his eyes.

"Why are you protecting your eyes? You already have glasses!" Ivo tried covering his head. "Why are you protecting your head? You have a very soft hat which absorbs my blows!" SMACK! Ivo protected his gut. "You already have a shirt!" Ivo put his hands over his crotch, only for Bad Egg to swing the stick from underneath, repeatedly whacking him in the groin and buttocks. He screamed. "Pants! PANTS! PANTS!" Ivo finally ran, Bad Egg chasing him through the hills of Eggman Island. The Meringue Cloud was left in ruin.

As Ivo ran from Bad Egg, he quickly found that she was the least of his concerns. Flashing lights began to appear. Abrasive, pulsating colors that seemed to shine from all directions. They almost appeared like flashlights. One appeared right in front of him, blasting his retinas and bringing with it a loud siren. He took a sharp left, almost sharp enough for him to fall over. Bad Egg followed him through the valley, into a tight damp corridor of moss and stone. She was no longer pursuing him to attack him, but because she too wanted to escape the lights.

"What's going on?! Why are these horrible things following me?" Ivo cried, seeing the lights flash overhead. He heard thumps as those orchestrating the lightshow jumped into the pit after them.

"Ugh… I dunno what they are, only that they're from SHELL," Bad Egg groaned. "Don't look at them directly. They can screw with your mind."

"Oooh-hoo-hoohoohoo! I should CAPTURE a few and bring them back home so I can study their mind-altering properties, then the world will bow to me!" Ivo cackled. He shook his Eggsack with both hands. "Even that STUPID hedgehog!"

"I oughta hold your eyes up to one, you delusional freak," Bad Egg said. They were coming up on a dark cave. There was no telling what was inside, so Bad Egg used the stick to pole-vault up to higher ground. Ivo looked all around for an exit, but didn't see anything. The lights then caught up to him, blinking on the ground as they slowly closed in. Ivo kept his eyes glued to the mine entrance, not turning around for a second. The lights then illuminated something right in front of Ivo, standing in the cave… A literal egg-man?!

"Aht-aht-aht, back up! Back up!" The egg-man shouted in a very plain voice. Ivo stopped running, and so did the creatures behind him. They then faded away. "Gawd jolly, those things sure. Piss. Me. Off. You're an Eggman, right?"

"Of course I am!" Ivo exclaimed. "Err, I mean— according to the others, I suppose." Ivo shrugged with a big toothy grin.

"Really? I thought you were one of those Beans," the egg-man mumbled. He pushed his stick fingers deep into Ivo's gut before pulling away. "Anyhow, welcome to my house. Come in, if you want." Ivo followed the egg-man inside the cave opening. "I am Grandpa Eggman, but my legal name is Ge. Meaning Grandpa Eggman is an illegal name? I think? I make inventions! My genius is recognized all over the place."

"Really? I don't know anything about your inventions," Ivo said.

"Ever hear of throat swabs?" Ge asked. Ivo hesitantly opened his mouth a little bit. "Great then you've heard about my inventions." Ge turned to a shelf. "These are my many awards." There was nothing on the shelf but an old and worn photo without a frame. Ivo walked over and picked it up carefully. It showed a kind blonde girl in a pumpkin patch. 

"Was this… taken on Erius?" Ivo muttered under his breath. Ge grabbed the photo. "Hey!"

"Don't touch that," Ge said calmly. Ivo eyeballed it a little longer as Ge tried to pull it away. "I said- hey- please don't touch my things."

"Hold on just a—" Ivo said, squinting.

"Don't touch thaaAAat!" Ge shrieked. The photo tore. Ivo stood there, stunned.

"Goodness, I am so sorry…" Ivo said.

"Doesn't matter, I actually don't even know who that really was," Ge said while discarding his half of the photo. He walked over to a strange contraption on the floor. Wires upon wires ensnared around a plank of wood. Ivo put his leaf of the photo in the Eggsack.

"Still, it was yours. I apologize for being so nosy." Ivo murmured, squatting down to look at the doo-dad. "Is this some kind of… primitive computer?"

"Yeah," Ge said. The two followed one of the wires deeper into the cave, until they reached a colossal, technologically advanced supercomputer. It stretched upwards for miles upon miles. "Do you know how to use it?"

"No!" Ivo replied.

"Oh, good. Me neither, but I feel like it's not to be messed with frivolously," Ge replied. Ivo and Ge stood there for a second, unsure how to move the conversation forward. "O.K. now get out."

"What? I thought we were in the middle of-" Ivo retorted.

"It's like. You came in here, I saved you, you ruined my stuff, and you don't even know how to use a computer to help me out?" Ge rambled. "Please, leave my house."

"I'm not familiar with the makeup of this computer, but if it's anything like how it works back home, I could probably figure it out," Ivo sighed. Ge started to whistle a single continuous note. He held up his stick fingers, and snapped them.

Ivo awoke in a cell.