A cancer is an uncontrolled multiplication of cells; the population explosion is an uncontrolled multiplication of people. Treating only the symptoms of cancer may make the victim more comfortable at first, but eventually he dies-often horribly. A similar fate awaits the world with a population explosion if only the symptoms are treated. We must shift our efforts from treatment of the symptoms to the cutting out of the cancer. The operation will demand many apparently brutal and heartless decisions. The pain will be intense. But the disease is so far advanced that only with radical surgery does the patient have a chance of survival.

Paul Erlich, cited in Richard L. Harriman's How to be a Survivor (1971)

Cancer

"Beautiful...isn't it?"

Sonic the Hedgehog blinked, not sure which part of Robotnik's statement surprised him more. That in light of his falling empire, the three children of Queen Aleena having reunited with their mother and setting about fulfilling the prophecy in a rather destructive manner, the (former) tyrannical ruler of Mobius had time to make such statements. Or the equally surprising notion that he found the city beautiful in the first place.

"Robotropolis?" the hedgehog asked, walking towards the tub of lard as he stared out over the megacity. "You're calling that beautiful?"

Robotnik remained silent, making the only sound in his control room that which was coming from various terminals. Of laser fire, SWATbots calling out "priority one! Hedgehog!" before being destroyed by said laser fire... (or Manic tearing up the house literally as well as figuratively with his drums). Still, Sonic was able to ignore it. He'd had years to get used to those sounds and had reached the stage where they no longer bothered him.

After all, moving faster than the speed of sound made one hard to hit...

"Anyway, I should probably wait for the family," continued the Resistance member. "But I've got a plate of chilli dogs waiting back home, so I think we can celebrate our victory then."

Robotnik chuckled. "Victory, rodent? You think you've achieved a victory on this day?"

Sonic shrugged. "SWAT-"buts" are falling left, right and centre, metal mouth. So unless you have some plan of last resort tucked away, I don't see anything that could stop us from taking Robotropolis back and turning it back into Mobotropolis."

Robotnik chuckled. "Your funeral."

Sonic remained silent. Ro"butt"nik was arrogant, but this...this was something else. And turning to face his greatest enemy with triumph shining in his red eyes, the hedgehog realized that "something else" was an understatement.

"You think you've won?" Robotnik whispered. "You think you can change the world overnight? Say what you will about my rule, hedgehog, but I've brought order to this world. I've kept freedom in check."

Sonic snorted. "You didn't keep freedom in check, you removed it completely! And why bother in the first place?"

"Because keeping order is what a ruler does!" Robotnik shouted, thumping his arm down on his command chair. "In the past, you have said that Robotropolis' urban sprawl was like a cancer, an uncontrolled spread of a city across the planet. But Mobians are no different, hedgehog. You can treat the symptoms all you want but that doesn't remove the cause."

Silence filled the room again. Complete silence, not one punctuated by the sounds of battle. No, it was a silence only broken by a single sound. A small guitar rift, prompted by the Resistance fighter activating his medallion, a guitar appearing in his arms. Not for music however. Any sound following this appearance would either be speech or the sound of a laser. Well, not that lasers themselves made sound per se, but Sonic hoped Robotnik would get the point.

"You've got a big mouth, lard lord," the hedgehog snarled, tightening his grip on his weapon. "I'd watch what comes out of it."

"What, like you watch goes into yours?" Robotnik sneered. "Unrestrained consumption of foodstuffs? You're a prime case of the typical Mobian, young prince. Unrestrained, only driven to order by circumstance. You think that Aleena's rule was a utopia. But that was nothing but a dream. A utopia can't sustain itself, Sonic. If people have everything they want, what do they have to strive for?"

"Why are you asking me?" the hedgehog asked. "You had everything you wanted. The tax returns speak for themselves."

Robotnik sighed, turning back to look over Robotropolis. "Such is the burden of a leader, to keep his subjects out of harm's way. Can you take up that burden, rodent? You as a rebel following orders, your sister raised in luxury and your brother a common thief? Your mother on the run for over a decade, letting fate take its course as per the will of the Oracle? Do any of these qualities sound like those of a leader?"

Sonic remained silent.

"Of course not," the tyrant continued, turning back to face his enemy. "You know nothing of leadership. If you did, we wouldn't still be here. You would have acted decisively and finished me off long ago."

"Is that an invitation?" the hedgehog asked sarcastically.

Robotnik laughed. "Rodent, your will is your own now. Whether you continue to ensure Mobius is kept under a rule of law is up to you. But after this time of battle, I can say with certainty that you'll let your fellow fur balls run rampant, taking everything for themselves, spreading like a cancer over the-..."

Robotnik stopped talking.

That's what came from having a laser go through your chest.

That's what happened when you drove your greatest enemy past breaking point.

And it was to be expected really, as the hedgehog stood over him, a blank look on his features. Not from inaction, but from surprise. He'd followed Robotnik's advice and things had actually worked out.

For years, he'd treated the symptoms of Mobius' ills.

And now, with the tyrant dead, he'd removed the cause.

A/N

I wouldn't say I'm exactly known for taking obscure references and expanding on them, but I seem to do them a lot. Case in point that the idea for this oneshot came from an excerpt from the Sonic Underground story bible as provided in the first DVD volume of the series, where Sonic compares the spread of Robotropolis as akin to a cancer. Pausing to reflect that it was unlikely that Robotnik would see urban sprawl as being such a thing and...yeah. Came up with this. Go figure.