Sonic Runaways

"It's… a password?" Ivo asked, staring at the login screen on the Electric Egg's monitor. "That's what you need help with?" Ge twirled around.

"Yeah, it's all the darned thing displays," Ge said, punching the Electric Egg. The monitor flickered. "And then when I get mad, it does that…" Ivo put his grubby little hands on the keyboard.

"Do you have anything lying around that could give us a hint?" Ivo asked. Ge hummed, before going into the living room and coming back with a miniature ship in a bottle.

"This is very important to me, I might have set my password in its honor and then forgot," Ge replied. "I call it… the Ark."

"Has a P-A-R-A-B-O-L-A!" Ivo exclaimed, grinning and typing in the letters as he sounded them out. BZZZZZT! 

"Access denied."

Ivo was sent to a separate login screen. "Hrm, first pet?" Ivo asked.

"I set it to my favorite grandchild. Ignore the pet part," Ge replied. "But… ah… I can't remember. I'm everyone's Grandpa Eggman, it's so easy to lose track." Ivo stared up at the screen. It stared back at him. Swallowing his nervousness, he typed in his own name…

BZZZZZZT! "Access denied."

"It wants an eye scan," Ivo grumbled.

"Eyes…" Ge mumbled. "I had registered for this computer account back in the Real World, it's probably set to the eyes I had before." Ivo let his fingers slip off the keyboard. "It has data from that realm still, which is probably a big reason why I was banished here."

"I'd almost forgotten about the Real World," Ivo muttered. "That vision I had of Golden Bay, it's almost like the Chaos Dimension was a dream I'm only now waking up from."

"Dreams and reality are not as far apart as we may think," Ge replied, looking down at his bottled ark. Examining it from all angles. "Perception is a fickle thing, but here… here there's nothing tangible. Have you noticed how there's no tide? How things seem to flip and change on a whim, outside of your control? Eggman Island was meant to soar, but instead…?" Ge smirked cynically, leaning on the desk with one elbow. "Instead it just floats in limbo. That's what this all is. Limbo, a world where we can only preserve and perceive. The uncooked egg slips through your fingers. The bean bursts no matter how you stack it. Your warm breath is the only thing that keeps the air in motion, Robotnik. Don't let that go." Ivo furrowed his eyebrows, looked down, and tapped his forehead.

"I understand." Ivo turned back to the computer. He was then blasted in the retinas by a red beam of light. It felt like it had pierced his skull and then gone out the other side. "MY EYES!" Ivo cried, holding his peepers.

"Access permitted." Ivo shook his head, and looked into the monitor as the white dots faded from his retinas. The monitor opened to a desktop. The wallpaper seemed to have trouble loading. Was this it? Was this Ivo's ticket out of the O-Void at last?

"Finally. You and I always did have the same eyes, Ivo," Ge stepped towards the desk with a smile. Ivo stepped back, and watched as Ge looked through his old computer. The display was very low quality, the desktop was disorganized. But it was an anchor to the real world. Ge began flipping through very old photos of Maria, many of them were just like the one taken at the pumpkin patch.

"We were both similar in many ways, especially after I died… and you kept living." Ivo stopped smiling, his expression replaced by one of discomfort as the photos transitioned from natural landscapes to the Space Colony Ark's Greenhouse District. Ivo then had his attention grabbed again by an early Badnik he and Gerald Robotnik had made in the workshop.

"Hey, look! That's Bubbles!" Ivo exclaimed, taking in the old Badnik's blue blobby glory. Ge selected the next photo. "You remember BUBBLES, right?" Ivo jumped up and down.

"Yeah, sure. Technology must have progressed so much back on Erius, it's a shame my life was stripped away from me before ever getting to see it unfold." Ge punched the wall. Ivo continued flipping through the pages of this wonderful digital scrapbook, completely engrossed in his own artistry with every Badnik that appeared.

"And then I got STUCK in this hellhole, unable to leave." Ivo's rapid tapping of the right arrow key faltered, as the photos of his innocent creations turned to videos. Gerald's ramblings and drug-fueled hysteria all of which took place in the very room Ivo had built all those early Badniks with his grandfather. "All because my IDIOT son Benjamin married into this insane Eggman family. I don't even get a human-ish form at all. I get an egg body. I'm not an egg. I'm a practitioner of science! How insulting!" Ge walked back to the computer. "Well, I guess I don't need to hunt down some elusive Chaos Egg anymore. It's time for us to leave this place, what do you say, Ivo?" Ivo jumped for joy.

"Yes! I can't wait to go back to my empire and…!" Ivo looked back at the cave opening. Meringue Cloud was coiled around the doorway. Ivo raised an eyebrow.

"Do you remember the way back to Erius?" Ge asked. Ivo snickered.

"Yeah yeah, grandpa," Ivo said, finger-gunning his way to the living room. Ge typed away at the keyboard.

"Then here's your car back. I'll follow you once I reactivate the elevator on the Electric Egg," Ge said. He hit enter. Ivo watched as Meringue Cloud began to glow. It reformed as… the Rob-O-Matic! Ivo laughed, jumping into the seat and squishing around. "Its thrusters should be strong enough to let you break out of the O-Void. Fly it as high as you can, then you'll be back in the Robotnik Empire. You're going to be free to rule once more."

"It's perfect! Thank you, thank you! See you on the other side, grandfather!" Ivo activated the Rob-O-Matic with a flick of a switch, and it began sputtering out little meringue clouds. He took off into the O-Void skies, Ge watching with a smile.

As Ivo flew, he noticed something below him racing through the mountains. "Sonic…!" Ivo muttered, watching the blue menace intently. He immediately piped down when Sonic looked over his shoulder, and smiled at Ivo confidently. Ivo felt a tightness in his throat, while his face scrunched and he began to blubber. He realized that just like him, Sonic's decisions propelled everything forward. Their actions combined were a wind current, that kept the world from becoming static. No matter if they were in the world of Erius, or the O-Void. Ivo took a deep breath.

"Soniiiiiiiic!" Ivo called, swinging his Eggsack around to get Sonic's attention. "I've learned to change and grow no matter what!" Memories rushed through his mind, everything from their many bouts to the hedgehog trying to push him to be better during his stay here. He just couldn't realize it when it was happening. "Thank you. Oh, thank you! I'll live for my dreams!" Sonic looked forward, rushing way into the distance before he disappeared over the horizon. Ivo pulled the Rob-O-Matic's levers until it was facing almost directly up "And I'll get you yet, you dastardly hedgehog!"

Ivan watched from afar as Ivo crashed through the Orbital Eggshell, rocketing out of the O-Void. "Hasta la-bye-bye, suckers!" Ivo put the pedal to the metal, speeding even higher. Ivan, backed by the rest of the Eggman family, shot his hand in the direction of the Rob-O-Matic without a word. 

Ivo's breaths became heavier as his oxygen levels dropped. "Just… a while… longer!" Ivo grunted, reaching for the fan so he could pump just a little more oxygen into the cockpit. But his hand grew colder as he slapped away at the button, just out of reach. It eventually froze completely. Ivo felt a presence next to him in the Rob-O-Matic.

"Ivo, come down! You're gonna get hurt," Yaki Tamago said. clumsily trying to push the lever down. She seemed not to understand that this would make them both nosedive. "I'd hate to lose you again." The pod shook, it tipped to the side and started to lose altitude.

"Listen, I don't even know you!" Ivo shouted, trying to keep his grip on the other lever. The warmth returned to his arm, but he was almost back on the Orbital Eggshell. He slapped Yaki's hand away, and pulled the Rob-O-Matic back up to the sky. "You need to move on. I can't stay your baby cousin forever!" Yaki gasped.

"Then you won't come back to Hangtown?" Yaki asked, wiping frozen tears from her eyes. Little bits of her skin flaked away as they re-entered the outer reaches of the O-Void. "Don't you remember how we would play in the park?"

"Yaki, if you're here, you're dead. I don't think Hangtown is even a real place!" Ivo muttered, gripping the levers tightly and kicking a blue button on the control panel. The windshield opened, and Yaki almost went flying out. She grabbed onto the roof for dear life. "I'm terribly sorry." Yaki turned to dust in the abyss. Ivo noticed that a little piece of eggshell had appeared on the seat next to him. "What? Even NOW?!"

Ivo reminisced on Benedict's words as he stuffed the eggshell into the Eggsack with his hands while tending to the controls with his feet. "The Chaos Egg, once assembled, will grow a special being known as a Fallen Star. It will grant any wish you want. It could even send you home. SHOULD you find all the pieces of the Chaos Eggshell…"

"... But, are you sure you want to do that? We have everything we need right here in the O-Void." Ivo shrieked, Benedict's voice coming from right beside him. G-Mari was to his left, the two of them squeezing him with unconditional love. He felt like he couldn't move.

"Ivo, this is a bad idea. Something terrible is lurking in the Real World. The truth is, we're here to keep it from getting out of the main server the O-Void branches off from. If you go back to Erius, THE END will be released and you won't even know it!" G-Mari wept. "We love you, Ivo. We want what's best for you. You should become a doctor."

"I AM a doctor!" Ivo yelled, the space around him flashing all different colors as he barrel-rolled the Rob-O-Matic out of the way of black holes and supernovas. His mustache was wrapped around his head as it was nearly torn from his neck by the velocity.

"No talking back, your mother is going to ground you," Benedict muttered, slapping Ivo twice very gently.

"Mother… father… I'm sorry," Ivo held his fists. "But you're standing in my way." Ivo tossed Red Beans everywhere from the Eggsack. The Rob-O-Matic exploded from the force of the pop, blasting Ivo into the sky hugging the two pieces of eggshell his parents left behind. He flipped out of control in the abyss, but he saw stars in the distance. He was almost there!

"TRAITOR!" Ivan shouted, appearing above Ivo on a Meringue Cloud of his own and striking him with a royal scepter. Ivo meteored down at twice the speed he had been ascending at. "I gave you everything! Why forsake your family for a world that despises you?!" The old man pulled the scepter apart, revealing it to be a sheath for dual katanas. He slashed Ivo multiple times, the right side of his mustache was shaved away, now just loose hair adrift in the wind. Ivan then grabbed Ivo by the other side of his stache. "I haven't had any trouble here until you came along, you know. My Sentries keep everyone in line, but they could never work on a will as strong as yours. But if I kill you now, you'll become just like the rest. You'll come right back here, finally understanding the ways of the Eggman. FINAL EGG BLASTER!" Ivan shot a laser out of his hands. It was momentarily blocked by an elevator being towed into the sky, and for a few fleeting seconds, Ivo saw Ge through the window.

"Hey, Ivo… Wowza, looks like I got here just in time," Ge said, turning to Ivo as the Final Egg Blaster began to tear apart the elevator doors. "You got into a fight during the getaway? That's pretty metal." Ge looked behind him. "This… sucks, I really wanted to go back to Erius. But when I saw the others disappear like that, I realized I probably wouldn't have escaped either way. I guess I'd rather go out like this than anything else, actually helping you MAYBE get out and all." Ge smiled, putting his stick fingers on the window. "I don't have much time, I just have something very important to say. Do you remember where our workshop was?! I left notes there, a diary. Find it, and the world will belong to you!" The elevator was blown to bits, the blast spreading through the Orbital Eggshell and setting the entire fortification ablaze. Another eggshell landed in Ivo's hand, as he landed on the burning structure.

"Oh NOW look what you've done!" Ivan shouted, lowering down to Ivo and slowly redirecting the blast back to him. Ivo watched as it neared him, left with one choice.

"FUS RO BOTNIK!" Ivo roared, his voice fighting back against Ivan's laser as he relentlessly screamed at the top of his lungs. Ivan struggled to keep the laser going, as Ivo started to turn red with breathlessness. He then held up the Eggsack, frying it but also further pushing back against the Final Egg Blaster. Ivo shoved the laser into Ivan's hands, burning him alive. As his skin peeled against his own attack, as he screamed and threw his arms into the air, he disappeared into ash. In his place was… another eggshell piece. Ivo grabbed it, as the Eggsack turned to dust and the eggshell pieces began to encircle him.

"I see now…"

Ivo floated in the abyss that was once the O-Void, limbs wrapped around the Chaos Egg as it floated midair. This egg was his lifeline, and it felt so very warm. "They all had pieces of the Chaos Egg. They all carried their own tiny wish, but were completely dysfunctional with each others' wants and needs." Ivo stroked the Chaos Egg gently. Feeling everyone's wishes at his very fingertips.

"But now that we're all together…"

The egg shined brightly, cracking apart with water seeping out. "We can make just one wish come true."

"Mine." 

Ivo looked up at a tall, humanoid, watery apparition. Determination shining brightly in his glasses, he reached his hand forward. "Mr. Fallen Star, it has come to my attention that you can grant wishes. Please, I have but one," Ivo said.

"I have a name, it is Master King," the Fallen Star said. "You will address me as such." Ivo gulped.

"I–I'm Ivo Robotnik," Ivo mumbled.

"A human? I see, you aren't like the others. You're not dead yet," Master King hummed. "What is your wish?" Ivo cleared his throat.

"I wish to go back to Erius! In the Real World," Ivo said. "I'm not sure how long it's been, but I need to return." Master King was silent for a moment.

"You've done well to get to this point," Master King said. "Though you are deeply evil, you are full of potential. You can, and will, change the world. Your proud visage will be visible from the stars." Master King bowed. "After your wish is achieved, you will most likely never see any of us again. The blue hedgehog will continue to spite you, but you have the power to keep him at bay. Use it well. Maybe… you can even be a force for good one day." Ivo looked up at Master King, before a devilish grin grew across his face.

"Are you kidding? This just made me even more evil! I will make the world pay for my suffering!" Ivo danced around, jumped up and down as the space around him began to fade to white. "Do you hear me?! I AM LORD—!"

Robotnik awoke in his chair, looking at his giant monitors. They only showed harsh static. "What in the—?! I'm back?! Is it real this time? Is it—?" Robotnik felt his face. His stache. He could… actually feel it. He wasn't a robot in the form of a human anymore, he was ALIVE. "OHOHOHOHO! I did it! Take that, weird plant-wall thing!"

 Robotnik heard some commotion outside. Sounded like Swatbot sirens. "With any luck, that's the Phantom Thief being arrested." He hopped into the prototype Robo Walker, and hovered downstairs slowly. "Oh, hello, Pico and Susie!" He exclaimed, floating right over the junior special units.

When he stepped outside, he was met with sunny yellow skies. The hot sun beat down on him with every step he took in his mech. He had no idea how much he'd missed this view, the smell of oil and rust. The sense of pride he felt when waking up to the empire he and his robots had built. He put his hands behind his head and basked in it, in total peace, until the Robo Walker stepped on something. "YOWCH! Watch it, Eggm-I-mean-Lord Robotnik!"

Robotnik looked down at a brown hedgehog in a red sweater. "Sorry about that," Robotnik said, shrugging with a grin. "Wait a minute… no I'm not! What are you doing so close to my fortress?! You're not one of those Freedom Fighter pests, are you?"

"No sir, I'm just visiting home over the summer. I'm Nicky Hedgehog, and I go to college at…" The hedgehog tapped his foot a little before stopping himself. "Grand Metropolis?"

"So you flew all the way over here even WITH the worldwide airlines all discombobulated? I see… Well, I hope you have a pleasant time in my empire, I know I will!" Robotnik laughed. "Aaaahh, it's good to be home, eh?" Nicky watched as Robotnik walked off into the city, then took a deep breath.

…

Robotnik stood at the Sunset City graveyard, an umbrella over his bald head as rain splattered onto the ground. Was it toxic and green? Yes, but that's how he liked his rain. It certainly beat egg water. Looking at the diamond tombstones for his family that took up more space than ten normal graves, he knelt down and placed a wilted sunflower atop Maria's empty coffin. "Ivo! There you are," Agent Stone exclaimed, running towards him.

"What did I say about first names?" the mad scientist asked grumpily, turning around and slapping Stone on the chest. Stone took a second to catch his breath after that. "State your business, Agent Stone."

"I just came here to report that Sonic has been captured by GUN, they're taking him to Prison Island. Do you wish to intercept the flight?" Agent Stone asked.

"You could've just called me, I have business in the United Federation area anyways," the dictator chuckled, rubbing his gloved hands together as he and Agent Stone walked out of the graveyard together.

"You have a plan to take out GUN and Sonic at the same time? The empire will become unstoppable, Lord Robotnik," Stone said with a smile. Robotnik looked back at the tombstone, reflecting on his adventure through the O-Void. He then grinned.

"Don't call me that anymore. From this day on I am…" he rose his arms to the sky, as his heart started beating out of his chest. "LORD EGGMAN!"

End of Sonic Runaways: HATCHED! To be continued in… Sonic Runaways: MANIPULATED. But you already read that, huh? I guess whatever comes next will be a surprise!