The story so far: Bark has returned to his boss, his mission complete. Meanwhile Sonic has returned to a hero's welcome in the Green Hill Zone.

Robotnik clenched his fists. When he was fighting Sonic in the tower he hadn't known it, but checking now he'd realised that his mind control device had been sabotaged. Since his Chaos Compressor had been set off twice, all effects of it had been cancelled out. Setting it off on the whole of Mobius was an accident; Robotnik was merely going to test it on Bean. Of course Robotnik had no idea that Bean was one of the Servers of Chaos. Robotnik banged the desktop fiercely; his latest plan had proved a failure. He was frustrated with himself; he had exactly everything where he wanted it. He had Sonic trapped, he had Mobius under his control, and at one point he had a Chaos Emerald in his hand.

Robotnik consoled himself slightly. He had to admit he had no idea that Kintobor was in the Emeralds. Robotnik realised that it was Kintobor's interference more than anything else that had ruined his plan. Robotnik smirked slightly, perhaps one day he would retry this plan, aware of Kintobor's presence.

Robotnik stood upright, wobbling slightly as he did. He looked around his quarters, admiring the luxury of the place for a moment. His robots had done an excellent job in putting out the fires of the Flying Egg V2, and making the place function as an underwater fortress was a masterstroke of design. Robotnik sat in another chair, and glanced out the window. He looked out to the ocean briefly, dismissing the few fish and dolphins that swam past. Robotnik looked amongst the data he had in front of him. He'd guessed that someone would hack into his computer network, and had set up hundreds of dummy files. The thought of Tails trying to make sense of plans that were flawed made him chuckle quietly to himself.

Despite its main purpose being to amplify the Compressor's blast, Robotnik's latest satellite was still in orbit. With a few modifications Robotnik was sure he'd be able to use it again. Likewise the Chaos Emeralds were now in an alternate dimension, ready for the taking. All Robotnik had to do was find out how to get there, and beat Sonic to them.

Robotnik had already sent out his robots in the escape pods to look for the entrances. Not only did that move guarantee Sonic wouldn't check in the ocean for the newly formed fortress, but it also gave Robotnik a head start on those Chaos Emeralds. Robotnik wanted the emeralds more than ever now. Not only did having them ad to his life expectancy, but now that he knew he was one of the Servers of Chaos. As such he should be able to harness there power. He thought back to the times he'd seen Sonic do it, if he could get hold of that kind of that kind of power, Robotnik mused, then he would be unstoppable, and the whole of Mobius would quickly bow before Robotnik as ruler, and leader of the Eggman Empire.

Robotnik went to bed wearily. Changing into his pyjamas, and placing the night cap on his head, he took off his glasses, and rubbed his eyes wearily. Robotnik hoped that returning into the emeralds, and getting his body back from Kintobor would be enough to rid Kintobor from his mind, and allow him to sleep peacefully. He laid his head on his pillow, as thoughts of the destruction of Westside Island entered his head. His plan might not have worked, but there weren't many failures that had culminated with such a spectacular amount of destruction. Robotnik sighed slightly as he realised he'd never be able to make that kind of quantity of Mega Mack and oil again. Through his mind, Robotnik began to consider other explosives he could use.

There was a quiet beep from his computer. Robotnik got up and looked, rubbing his eyes. Squinting to read it without his glasses, he fumbled them back onto his face. He looked on the screen to the sight of a familiar two tailed fox sleeping underneath a palm tree. Panning the camera to the left slightly, Robotnik caught a glimpse of a blue hedgehog, firmly asleep.

"Sleep while you can dear Sonic," Robotnik said quietly, "You may have won today, but tomorrow is another day," he chuckled smugly. A paw reached out to the bug, and swiped at it, ceasing the image. Robotnik smacked his table angrily, before smirking. Robotnik had just been given another idea. He began to type into his keyboard excitedly, noting down theories, requirements, ideas, and mathematical formulas. Looking at the data, Robotnik knew it wouldn't be enough to take over the planet alone, but he was sure he could use it combined with something else.

Clicking the save icon, the screen flickered. Robotnik looked on shocked, as the screen read, "Eggman virus activated. Deleting key components."

"What!" Robotnik screamed angrily. He ran through all his security protocols to no effect. Desperately trying to halt the virus he began coding his own anti-virus code, and frantically tried to disable connections amongst the rest of the ship. The light in his room flicked off briefly, before turning back on. Robotnik looked to his screen and saw a familiar red face on his screen, as the lights cut out a second time.

A small Flasher appeared in the corner of the room. Engaging its bright bulb the room was soon returned to light. Robotnik tried to get the computer back on, to no avail. Robotnik looked around the room. Nothing in his room would respond without power. He looked for another robot, before finally conceding defeat. Carefully picking up the flasher he attached a small portable sound device to it, and holding the microphone to his mouth he said, "I want the power to this place restored immediately. All non essential robots are to get the power working again."

Robotnik opened the door to his room, and ordered the flasher to send that message through the entirety of the place. The Flasher blindly obeyed its orders, leaving Robotnik to sit in the darkness. The doctor pulled his hands down his face, over his moustache, and sighed loudly. Fumbling around his room, he made his way back to his bed. Without any light or power, all he could do was sleep. Hopefully, he thought, tomorrow would be a better day than today. Consoling himself again with thoughts of the destruction of Westside Island, Robotnik slowly eased himself into a deep sleep.

It didn't last long as a pipe burst above him, pouring a sticky purple liquid known as Mega Mack over him. Robotnik sat upright, and screamed, "I hate that hedgehog!"

The End

Just what has Robotnik come up with? Will he succeed in getting the Chaos Emeralds? There's only one way to find out... wait for the follow up. That's it for this story folks. I'd like to thank anyone who read this story to the end. I hope you've enjoyed reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it. Leave your opinions in the usual place, and I'll see you in the side story "The Misadventures of the Missing Emerald" (working title), real soon. Hopefully that will answer a few of the loose ends this story has created.