Author's Note: Thanks to
@Alex96 for helping write this Interlude.
"Rolling Stones"
--???'s Point of View--
While you might not have known where the doctor was, you knew he wasn't dead, even before all of.... "this".... so,while it was an unparalleled joy to know he was back, you weren't surprised. What was surprising was the Doctor's new mustache and lack of hair on his head.
"Papa's got a brand new stache!" He sing-sang in that glorious voice of his.
Taking him after the spin, you still saw the brilliance in his eyes; regardless of how much he changed, he was still your great Dr. Robotnik. Handing him a latte with steamed Austrian goat's milk, you welcomed the world's most brilliant man to his new sanctum "Welcome back sir, it's good to have you back."
"It's good to be back, Agent Stone; and Good-God have I've missed your latte's. I see you've followed my memoir and acquired a base, in the Blue Rodents' own hometown no less. What have you learned?" He notes, digesting his latte with enthusiasm.
Turning to the computer monitor behind you, you bring up the relevant files and start to bring him up to speed.
"Of course, sir; after you disappeared, I hired a team to steal your Badnik Glove back from the safe deposit box you left it in. Incidentally, the rodent arrived to stop them; luckily, he was so busy fighting the team he missed the drone flying off with the real prize."
"Ugh, even when I'm not on the same planet he's a problem," The genius groans, before calming himself "Please Stone, continue."
"After I had the glove, I became employed at what used to be Karen's Coffee. Using the badniks and their own flaws against them I positioned the others into positions to either be fired or arrested until I was in control. I still have an employee who runs the day shift, but everything here is hard coded our biometrics, he doesn't suspect a thing. Since I took over, I've been monitoring the Hedgehog; and since the merge I've also been doing research on other subjects."
"Excellent work, what has the hedgehog been doing and what have you learned"?
"Even before the Event Sonic's been busy, when he's not here in Green Hills he's been running around looking for crime to fight. Since the Merge he's been doing that and saving people, so not that much of a change. While I imagine it was a shock to realize that on this Prime Earth we're characters from a film adaptation of a videogame, I took the opportunity to research these games, if anything from them merged as well, I thought it prudent to be informed."
"I've been making my own preparations, so I haven't had the time to do more than some peripheral research, enlighten me."
"Yes sir, the easiest resource for my resource was the fan wiki, Sonic fans are if nothing through." Pulling up the relevant videos and articles, I couldn't help but notice the similarities between my version of the doctor and his videogame counterpart; the new mustache certainly made them look more similar, but Robotnik would have to gain a lot of weight for me to immediately buy them being counterparts.
"The first game I researched was a recent one, Sonic Forces. In it your counterpart took over the planet and captured Sonic, he had almost won until the player character busted him out of his prison. He did this through a mercenary by the name of Infinite and a magical gemstone called the Phantom Ruby. From what I've researched it can essentially warp reality, at least on a local scale. The greatest feat I've found footage of is when Infinite used it to summon a sun he was going to drop on Sonic. Sadly, I have no idea where it is. Which brings me to the second game I researched, the first Sonic the Hedgehog game. In that game, your counterpart and Sonic's are fighting because he invaded and tried to take over his home. What's really interesting is the reason why he invaded: because there were seven magical gemstones called the Chaos Emeralds."
"They can cause teleportation, enhance each other, and provide infinite energy, the best part is I know where to start looking for one.
I got in touch with a new info broker from the Event by the name of the Calculator and learned that a newly absorbed government branch by the name of Section 13 has one. They're from an early 2000's cartoon – starring Jackie Chan of all people –, I know they're based somewhere in San Francisco.
Sadly, the main entrance to their base was never shown, but give us some time and I can get in touch with people who've infiltrated their base before."
"Excellent work Stone, it feels good to have competent help again. I'm working on gaining more funding and rebuilding my Badniks, keep me updated on anything to do with the Blue Rat or any opportunities." The genius doctor says, setting down his cup.
"Actually, sir before you go there's something I have to show you." And with that, we took the Doctor to a special place…
--Transition , Ivo's POV--
You are Doctor Ivo Robotnik, and quite frankly you are ecstatic. You've regained the services of one of the few human beings who came even close to your intelligence and gained a lead on an artifact that could forward your plans by years.
At the moment you are parking by a warehouse on the edge of town you've already forgotten the name of, having been driven there by Agent Stone.
This had better be important, you want to get in contact with these men who had infiltrated Section 13 as soon as possible, when you do decide to take this Chaos Emerald you'll either need to rely on outside help or disguise your badniks, something to think about.
Any further thoughts on the subject immediately vanished once you saw what was in the warehouse. It was your mobile lab,
oh how you had missed it. On the surface the only discernible changes were some scratches and chipped paint, you'll need to fix that once you have the time. Stepping inside it's the same as you left it, Badniks included, except of-course your prototype the Azure Annoyance destroyed.
"Thank you, Stone, it's good to be home, now get back to the Mean Bean Machine and be ready for me to contact you, we have a lot of work ahead of us."
REWARD: New Hero Unit - Agent Stone.
Obtained the Mean Bean Cafè, you will now receive 1 Income every 2 Turns.
Obtained several Information about the world.
Unlocked Adventure: Searching for the Chaos Emeralds (1/7)
Obtained the Mobile-Egg Lab. Inside it, you found some left-over money (Obtained 4 Funds)