Sonic Rush: Max Impulse

Badnik Beginnings

Prologue

Dr. Eggman woke up sometime past noon feeling groggy and achy. Forcing himself out of his bed patterned with splash art of himself, he walked towards his window, opened the curtains and grunted, shielding his eyes of the accursed light. He'd been waking up like that for a while, longer than he cared to remember.

It'd been roughly six months since Dr. Eggman's last scheme to build Eggmanland. Unsurprisingly, the Dr. wasn't too happy, having victory usurped by a certain meddling blue hedgehog and pesky purple cat in a dimension that wasn't even his own. Losing the Jeweled Scepter, a weapon that was quite possibly stronger than the Chaos and Sol Emeralds, at the hands of Blaze the Cat was more than a simple defeat; it was a rage inducing humiliation. Thinking back at how he could've been ruler of both his and that foul feline's homeworld made him cringe. The plan he and Eggman Nega, his alternate dimension counterpart, came up with to triumph over their nemeses and take over both worlds was complex, methodical, and outright ingenious. In less than a year they were able to have thousands of robot pirate troops storm Blaze's home planet, almost overpowering her, until Sonic came along and wrecked everything.

Now Eggman was back on Mobius, shamed from another demeaning defeat. He could only dream of what things would have been like if he had succeeded. He could have stabbed Nega in the back, had Eggmanland all to himself, the lowly people of Station Square and his robots loyally serving him. He could've been a king, yet all he was now was a nothing.

Dr. Eggman was in his old base on South Island which sat above Labyrinth Zone on the top of a mountain. He resided there ever since his last defeat, both because he wanted to remember the days when his job was more fun and easier to accomplish and because he wanted a private place to mourn where he knew no one else would find him.

Walking away from the window, he left his now brightened bedroom and entered the den that stood over the main area of his hideout. Woefully, he strolled by his rooms of spare eggmobiles, deactivated eggpawns and E-series robots, and the room that housed his badnik generator. He looked into the room with the generator and entered feeling nostalgia of the simpler times. He remembered back when trying to take over the world was an easier task. Turn animals into badniks and steal the Chaos Emeralds; everything went smoothly until Sonic came along. Throughout all their endeavors, no matter how much he put into the scheme, Eggman couldn't help but notice Sonic was always the one in control in the end. Whether it was how Sonic could somehow access Special Stages and retrieve the stolen Emeralds without even entering the base in which they were kept or that Sonic had somehow had the strength to take on all of Eggman's robots, it was glaringly obvious that Sonic would always be able to adjust to the environment around him. This was especially evident in their last encounter in the Sol dimension.

"Loss is such a stinging feeling," a frowning Eggman said aloud to himself, as he adjusted his glasses. "One I know all too well. That's the life of being a villain I suppose. Try as you might, the 'hero' is always the one who's large and in charge. If it weren't for that blue rodent, I'd have the entire Eggman empire fully realized, conquering the world by now! I'd be the one in control...! If only I could have my vision be reality."

Eggman began to walk away from the machine when something clicked. He stopped in his tracks. Pacing back to his badnik generator, he began to come to a stunning realization.

"Hmm... It would be nice to have my ideals fully realized for once," Eggman mumbled to himself. "Especially with ambitions as big as mine. Forget needing to conquer this world, I could have one entirely to myse-"

He froze. Taking a moment to think about the implications of such a plot, he looked back at his badnik generator. A machine that let him take flickies and other animals and turn them into any robot he desired.

"A world entirely to myself... One at which I could change at my disposal." For the first time in a long time Eggman grinned to himself, eliciting a devilish smile that could cloud even the happiest mobians' day.

"Yes... Yes of course!" Eggman exclaimed. "Why didn't I think of it sooner? I can create a world to rule my empire on. No, even better! I can create a world that would be a deathtrap for Sonic, ridding me of him once, and for all!"

Eggman hurriedly paraded up the steel black steps that were behind the generator towards his control room. Inside was a supercomputer, three large monitors, a widespread keypad and a deactivated camera system. He switched on the computer and began to fish through his files.

"If I want to do this, I'm going to need a mind as smart as my own, and the only one who has that is the man who's almost just like me!"

Of course Eggman was referring to Eggman Nega, the same man whom he asked for assistance in their last two battles with Sonic and Blaze.

The mad Dr. laughed maniacally at his brilliant plan. His depression cured at last, he decided he'd reactivate his base on South Island and find a way to make a world of his own. It didn't matter what the cost, he planned to end Sonic. Forever.