Get Back to Research!
Eggman growled as he looked over the map of the ARC on the central computer screen. On it, there were three Emeralds.
"They appear to have a fake Chaos Emerald," the Egg Brain in their latest body observed aloud.
"You think?!" Eggman hissed in frustration, turning to the mechanical version of Tails next to him. "There's only
one actual Emerald! The other two will blow us up if we put them into the cannon!"
"Eliminating the Emerald we currently have in my workshop," the Brain stated, "that leaves the two Emeralds with Sonic as potential real Chaos Emeralds. I shall get ready to engage Tails again while you bring down Sonic, and Rouge and Shadow can fight Knuckles and Amy before turning to assist us."
Eggman thought for a moment.
"No," came his reply.
"No?" the Egg Brain inquired. "Care to explain?"
"Rouge in the Pyramid Base," Eggman replied.
Rouge darted into the shadows as beetle flew into the room, bathing the room in a green glow as it did so. A dozen Egg Flappers followed in its wake, with a mechanical version of the Emerald Guardian she had tried robbing a few days before surrounded by them.
As the beetle flew out of the room, her foot lunged at the Mecha Knuckles, destroying it in a single blow and sending the key it had flying against the wall.
Keeping in motion, she grabbed the key before it could hit the floor, and then followed the momentum upwards against the wall as the room became bathed in green again. Egg Pawn after Egg Pawn streamed in, the Egg Beetle returned, and Rouge saw two more Beetles approach the room's exits.
With a grimace, Rouge dug through the wall and into a new room.
"Her actions pointed out a blind-spot that has since been patched," the Egg Brain explained itself.
"Tails on Prison Island," Eggman continued.
Tails himself was hampered by the poor condition of the Scrap Tornado. Befitting its name, it was made from whatever metal he could scavenge from what used to be his workshop in a rush to save Sonic. He had no homing shot, and his accuracy with the gun on his Walker left much to be desired. On the other hand, despite the superior Walker, the Egg Brain was clearly not used to combat itself; its own accuracy system was even wilder than Tail's own.
Eventually, after repeated shots, the Brain's Walker collapsed.
"Interesting," the Egg Brain stated. "It appears I need more training before I can fight you effectively. I will take the data gathered from this fight and prepare for our next encounter. Withdrawing to base and destroying Avatar."
With a boom, the metal imitation of Tails exploded, leaving the charred remains of the Walker it had been using.
"While it would have been helpful to destroy the Scrap Tornado to hamper Tails," the Egg Brain explained, "the true purpose of the fight was to buy time for everyone else to swap the Fake Emeralds and the real ones. We avoided the necessity of blowing up the island to cover our tracks through my buying of time."
"Knuckles in the Pyramid Base," Eggman listed.
"I cannot let you do that," said a mechanical voice.
Knuckles turned from the door he had been about to unlock, and came face to face with a mechanical version of himself.
"You're the Egg Brain that Tails mentioned?" he asked.
"That is correct," came the mechanical reply. "After the previous infiltration, I decided to take stronger measures. Now, prepare to die."
EGG BRAIN AVATAR: MET-
"Wimpy," Knuckles stated, withdrawing his fist.
"I thought I fixed that," the Egg Brain stated from its position of being embedded in the wall, somehow giving off a whining tone. "I will leave you, then, with King Boom Boo. Transferring to next Avatar and destroying current Avatar."
With a fizzle, the robot slumped.
"King Boom Boo?" Knuckles asked.
Eldritch laughter echoed from behind him.
"Oh."
"Corrections of higher durability have been made, so that-" the Brain explained.
"And last but not least," Eggman interrupted, "Sonic himself in, again, the Pyramid Base."
"Whew," Knuckles gasped, watching the door open.
"You did it!" Tails cried out.
"I knew you could do it," Sonic stated.
"Let's go!" Amy cried.
"Not so fast," came the mechanical voice again.
"You again!" Tails called out.
"Don't you ever give up?" Sonic asked, looking up at the command pod hovering in the air, where a mechanical version of Dr. Eggman sat.
"If one method doesn't work," the Brain explained, "then another will be attempted to achieve the same goals. Now, go forth, my army! Bring me their heads!"
EGG BRAIN AVATAR: METAL GENERAL ROBOTNIK
EGG ARM-
"That it?" Sonic asked, looking at the pod with boredom and annoyance in his eyes. All around him, small animals floated or hovered down towards the platforms, with pieces of scrap metal scattered on the platforms or in the quicksand below.
"Back to the drawing board…" the Egg Brain growled. "Father, care to take this from here?"
"…I have since made several edits to blueprints so that the Egg Pawns will be faster with the next batch," the Egg Brain admitted.
"You're good with research and development, Egg Brain," Eggman stated. "But you've failed me on the battlefield too many times with my most recent plan. Shadow will fight Sonic, Rouge will deal with Knuckles, and I'll take down Tails.
You will be in the ARC research lab, taking notes of my Grandfather's work and using it for improvements to my own Badniks."
"…Understood, Father," the Egg Brain relented, silently observing something. "Father, I believe we have an opportunity. It appears that Knuckles bailed on the others on the trek here, and Tails and Sonic have split away from Amy. I propose you capture Amy, and then use her to force the others to give up the Chaos and Fake Emeralds."
"Workable," Eggman grumped. "Climb into my Walker; once we capture Amy, here's what we're going to do…"