Jump 3: Director's Cut

"A whole new world...looks kinda dreary, doesn't it?" Rouge murmured, stepping out of the strange portal even as white mist clung to her form. Indeed; the world around the portal was incredibly dreary. The sky was blotted out with black clouds, the earth was cracked and barren, and even the very air itself was tinged with a chemical stench that was hauntingly familiar to the bat Mobian-and not in a good way. "It's like something out of old Eggy's dreams..."

"That's because it is, my dear chiropteran associate." A mature and confident voice answered. Next from the portal came Omelette, not a day older than when she arrived in Camelot and yet somewhat more...generous, in feminine curvature. The royal lifestyle had quite agreed with her. She adjusted her round glasses, though paused as she noted the white mist emanating from her form as well. "Perhaps a 'first come, first served' sort of scenario? But then why would Genesis be consistently augmented? Bah, something mull over later. What is important, dear, is that this is almost certainly the work of my dear old uncle-or at least, one of his many, many alternate selves. Perhaps one from an earlier timeline; I can recognize his handiwork anywhere, but the particular chemical mixes I'm smelling do not bear the later refinements and improvements that my uncles would go on to achieve."

"So we just ended up back on Mobius?" Rouge asked.

Omelette shook her head. "Not exactly."

Before she could continue, Dinya shot out of the portal to fly above their heads. "Helloooo new worl-ack!" Almost immediately she started coughing, unprepared to go straight from Camelot's pristine air straight to the smog-filled urban hellscape around them. "What the heck, did we end up back in the Chemical Plant Zone somehow?" She asked, floating down to the rest of the party. 

Omelette shook her head as Bump emerged from the portal, and continued. "No, this is not the Mobius we know. Though this location bears evidence of my uncle's hatred for biological life, it does not have the heavy urbanization that would normally be required to maintain a proper hold on this area against pesky Freedom Fighters. Only at his absolute peaks of power would my uncle have allowed such laxity of space when resources could be used to fuel his eternal war machines. In other words..."

"We're looking at a world where Eggman won." Gen's voice finished Omelette's words. She emerged from the portal last, and rather than merely closing it seemed to collapse and fill her with strange light-light that didn't quite seem to have a color, and twisted into strange shapes. The light disappeared a moment later, and the purple hedgehog flexed her hands. "I've gotten faster again..." She murmured.

"Precisely, my dear!" Omelette continued, not having heard Gen's murmuring. "From the toxic stench, quite early on as well-this may be a world where Sonic and his plucky friends were simply never born. Without the greatest obstacle to his total domination, my uncle would not have been pushed to advance as far as he had in our Mobius, hence the less refined chemical mixes I'm smelling."

Genesis shook her head. "A good theory, but the truth is a bit stranger." She declared. She turned to Bump. "Bump, would you mind doing a quick reading of both past and future? I want to confirm something."

"Anything for you, Genny!" She cheered. She quickly pulled out a very unique case of dice, coins, and specially prepared cards, and began to fiddle with these things. This was a set of unique equipment that Genesis had taken the time to forge for her back in Camelot, designed to interface with her innate capacity to view both past and future. Or rather, this was the latest of that line; the first set of augural equipment was far from perfect, and it would take several dozen attempts across the years as well as Merlina, Omelette, and Dinya's help to craft a set of specially prepared dice, mystically infused coins, and unique tarot cards that-when used together-could be used to accurately predict the future with near-perfect reliability.

Thus it was understandable that everyone save for Genesis herself was shocked when several dice and coins shattered while the tarot cards burst into flames. "What the heck?!" Bump shouted, backing away from the burning mess that was her augury tools. "I-I'm sorry Genny, I just don't know what went wrong..."

"It's alright Bump; nothing went wrong. It merely confirmed what I was previously suspecting." She said, gathering up the broken augury tools in a telekinetic grip and stowing them away for later. Making something the first time was always hard-remaking something, especially with proper documentation, was much easier. "Dinya, Omelette, you know how much work we put into these tools. You know exactly how powerful a clairvoyant Bump can be on my request. You should know what the implications of what we just saw are."

Dinya didn't seem to get it at first, but Omelette took a nervous step back. "T-time...time itself is broken!" She declared. "Past and future are colliding chaotically, and reality itself is tearing at the seams. But then-we should be seeing events flickering back and forth, effects without cause. What is the origin of this seeming island of temporal stability?"

"The answer...well, it's coming right for us." Genesis said. She pointed off to the distance, and the party as a whole turned-only to see a rather large army of approaching Badniks. They were still a great distance away, so they had plenty of time to discuss and prepare...but given an hour or so, they'd be fighting hundred-to-one odds.

"Of course...of course! It all makes sense now!" Omelette declared. "Who else would have the genius to shatter time to their will, unmaking and remaking it as they please? But my uncle clearly did not perfect the process; the continued shattering of time and fraying of reality speaks for itself, really. We may be dealing with not just a singular victorious Eggman...but anywhere from two to seven, all collaberating across fractures of time to reform reality in their own image. I would estimate that four is the most likely number-any further, and even their combined intellect would not be able to keep a total lid on causality fracturing."

Genesis nodded, walking to the front of the group. "Girls, we've got some goals going into this world." She said, turning around and surveying her companions. She had grown used to authority back in Camelot-for how little it was worth-and her various companions paid attention as she spoke. "I'm going to scout ahead, destroy Badniks, and survey the situation. In the meantime we're going to need a base to fall back on; Omelette, can I count on you for that?"

"Of course; such a thing is simplicity itself for a Robotnik!"

Genesis nodded, then immediately turned to Rouge. "Rouge, you're in charge while I'm gone. Make sure Omelette doesn't go too overboard, please?" 

Omelette immediately began to steam in offense, while Rouge gave Genesis a wink. "Sure thing, hon."

"Alright. Dinya, Bump, take these." A moment later Genesis threw out a set of unique spooled wires, hammers, and stakes carved with runes. Both girls' arms were all but overfilled with the strange equipment. "I forged these just in case, and it looks like they're gonna be useful; the hammers gather up Soul energy by swinging them, the wires gather and circulate Chaos when a circuit is established, and the stakes have a preset amount of Hyper energy I distilled into them over the course of several weeks each. Once Omelette begins setting up our base, use those to create warding defenses; put the stakes down, hammer them in until they're glowing, and connect them with the wires. Their power will circulate through each other and create a moderately-sized but potent spherical barrier which can ward off most reality warping, though they won't last forever-maybe two, three months at maximum. We shouldn't need that long though."

"And me, my lord?"

Genesis nodded. "Merlina, you're in charge of overseeing the chronology situation; keep an eye on how time's warping..." Genesis paused for a moment, something tickling her brain about this situation. A moment later her eyes widened and she stared in absolute shock at the innocently-smiling elfin woman who had somehow appeared in their midsts. "Merlina, how the hell are you here?"

Said woman placed a finger against her lips and made an expression of purest childlike innocence and curiosity. "Why, I don't know what you mean my lord. I am simply fulfilling my duties as your court magi, no matter where your questing may take us."

Genesis raised a finger, opened her mouth, paused, closed her mouth, sighed, and rubbed her nose. "I'm not dealing with this." She decided. "Keep an eye on the fluctuations of time; Bump, once you're done setting up a perimeter, help Merlina. Dinya...please don't mess with Omelette while she works." And then she was gone-all that remained was a fading purple streak. In the distance, Badniks began to explode for seemingly no reason.

"Well, you heard Gen. Let's get to it, girls!" Rouge called out.

0-0-0-0-0

From the time that they arrived, to the destruction of four interconnected and cooperating Eggman Empires, exactly seven days-168 hours-had passed. Two of those days were spent surveying the land and Omelette setting up the "Egg-Genesis" base. One of those days was spent with Genesis simply running around, tapping into the Chaos Force, learning her new limits and powers. 

Those powers...were considerable. More than considerable, really. The speeds she could move at now...comparing her previous top speed to her current top was like comparing the average Mobian's top speed to Sonic. And the speed was only the first part of her new gifts; the Insta-Shield was incredible, granting her what felt like limitless invulnerability given how swiftly she could move and how accelerated her perception became at those speeds. A half-second's cooldown was similarly an eternity at those speeds, but careful management and usage would ensure that when she was truly moving, she became utterly unstoppable.

Perhaps the most powerful of her new abilities...was her fluid and total understanding of Chaos. Power enriched by the heart; she'd understood the idea before, she'd wielded Chaos to achieve a Super state time and again, and she'd even weaved complex spells by pouring her heart and soul into the Chaos. But not until she came to this world could she say she fully, /truly/ understood Chaos on an utterly intuitive level. Chaos was a part of her. It was a part of her body, her mind, her soul. It filled her, guided her. In many ways, it WAS her. But she was not Chaos. She was the Heart, she was the soul, the guide and form that Chaos took. 

On the third day, she achieved a state of pure distilled Chaos in perfect harmony with her heart...a "hyper" form which dwarfed the "super" form she had previously learned to tap into. She circled the world a thousand times over, and not a single second had passed; the speed of light was the most mild whisper of a suggestion to her in this state. She flew away from Mobius and stared at the sun, frozen in time. In this eternal moment, she wondered if this was what it felt like to be a god. But this was not her limit. There was further heights she could reach. The power of "Hyper", the power of "Soul"...she could achieve something /transcendent/ if she so wished. But could she return from such a state? Would she still be "Genesis"?

She backed away from the sun, and returned to Mobius-which, from high in the atmosphere, she could see was being torn apart and sectioned up by the rifts of time. She returned to the Egg-Genesis base, powered down, and spent the rest of that day simply cuddling Rouge and lazing around the base-living with her family and trying to feel connected to them. She would calm down, and slowly come to accept the power that rested within her. It wouldn't happen that day. Nor the next. It would take years, in fact. But she knew that she had to acclimate to that level of power...because this journey had only just begun, and there were heights to climb to that she could not even imagine yet.

On the fourth day, she approached the Eggman tentatively identified as Eggman Origin-the Eggman who was "earliest" in the clashing timelines. She wasn't in her Super form, and didn't even bring any weapons save for the Iblis Ring eternally bonded to her wrist. If it was up to her, Gen would have just gone Hyper, destroyed all four Eggmen in a single instant along with their armies, and have been done with it...but Omelette had requested she do this, so she would instead approach each Eggman individually. Omelette wasn't so sentimental or naive about the alternate versions of her uncle to request that Genesis attempt diplomacy with them. Instead, all she requested was that Genesis be sporting about it; not to use Super or Hyper unless she actually needed it, and not to just destroy the entire army and base all in one instant. Play "Sonic" for the Eggmen, in essence.

Seeing no particular harm in it, Gen agreed. That was the only reason that the destruction of the cross-temporal Eggman Empire took seven days, rather than four.

Eggman Origin's technology was not quite as advanced as the other Eggmen, but he made up for it with zeal and chemical weaponry; the amount of toxic smoke, liquids, and nasty chemical concoctions that Genesis had to avoid while fighting this Eggman simply boggled her mind. And of course, she also had to fight the Super Silver Series-Silver Sonic, Silver Tails, and Silver Knuckles, all implanted with Chaos Emeralds and regulated by a Master Emerald embedded in a massive mech that Eggman Origin himself was riding in. Via specialized platforms on the Eggman Master Mech, the Super Silvers were capable of recharging and re-synching their Chaos Emeralds...allowing all three of the Silvers to basically go Super and /stay/ Super for as long as they liked as long as at least one of them was parked on the mech. 

And of course, that was not mentioning the sprawling island-spanning complex which was the base itself, or the hundreds of thousands of Badniks that she had to blast her way through just to get this far.

Despite facing such odds at the end, Genesis held back on using her Super transformations or drawing on any of her unique energies. She didn't touch on her Hyper power, her Psychic abilities, her Soul, her Chaos, she didn't even draw on her living shadow. All she did was rely on her speed, the powers she gained in this new world, and the strength of her body. Maybe it was in furtherance of good sport. Maybe it was just to test herself, see how far she could go with just this much.

If Gen was running with just the speed she had gained in this world, then it might have been impossible. Mach 25 was incredible, but was nowhere near fast enough to match even the comparatively primitive Mecha series when they were empowered by the Chaos Emeralds-even if she only had to face two at a time, it would have still been mind-bogglingly difficult. But she wasn't just running with the speed this world had granted her. She ran with the speed of a Knight of the Wind, the speed of a Wanderer's Special Power. Those added together, perhaps multiplied...and what came out the other end was nigh-impossible to match, even when she moved with just the speed of her own body.

It was still difficult, but she had further equalizers in this battle. The Insta-Shield let her pierce the near-invulnerability of the Super Silvers, her perception and reaction times were vastly better than even those mechanical beings overcharged with Chaos Energy, and the simple Homing Attack-augmented several times over-allowed her to swiftly focus her movements down on her enemies. All together made her a terrifying force that could do incredible damage in half-second bursts, then had to back away and dodge for a half second, only to shoot back into action for a half-second all over again. Fighting her, Eggman Origin would scream in frustration partway through the battle, was like fighting a pinball on crack.

Ultimately, the Silver Series of robots was clunky and glitchy in its own right; even with the empowerment of the Chaos Emeralds, it wasn't enough to overcome Gen's sheer speed, skill, and their own hardware limitations. Soon enough all three of the Silver Robots were destroyed and their Chaos Emeralds taken-along with Eggman's Master Mech. 

Eggman Coeval, or the Eggman from the present, had a much more advanced set of robotic warriors and Badniks; rather than the primitive Silver series, he utilized the Metal series. Super Metal Sonic, Super Metal Tails, and Hyper Metal Knuckles, specifically. Eggman Coeval had largely solved the issue of needing one of the Metal series to stay docked on the Master Mech in order to keep up the triple-Super state for his Metals, but with a stopgap; a rather large module that could be destroyed with enough focused attacks served that purpose. Once destroyed, they had to fall back to the original synchronization and empowerment method. This made for a powerful initial offense, a cutdown on pressure once Genesi managed to destroy the Super Maintenance Module, and a return to doing her best to dodge around at absurd speeds to get her licks in where she could.

Like before, she restricted herself purely to her speed and the powers she'd gained here. It was certainly much more difficult; the Metal series was much faster, much more /powerful/, than the more primitive Silver series. Clever usage of the Insta-Shield wasn't enough against these enemies, not when they were mpowered into Super forms and could freely move at the speed of light. She was forced to be clever, to harness ricocheting homing attacks, to stun and block attacks via Sonic Wind and actual defensive use of the Insta-Shield. And yet, the sheer speed gap meant that no matter how clever she was, she kept getting whittled down. So, she pushed herself to be faster. And faster. And even faster.

Clash, bounce, ricochet, insta-shield, tear through defenses and block giant lasers, insta-shield down, drop dash out of attack, spin out-even with her capacity to view the world at such incredible speeds, her enemies were moving just as fast if not faster, and for perhaps the first time in her life this battle became a matter of pure instinct and reaction. Pushed to such limits, she found herself breaking her own; her speed just kept growing, her eyes sharpening, her heart pounding harder, a grin pulling at her lips.

Super Metal Tails was the first Metal to break, torn apart by an Insta-Shield clad fist. Next was Hyper Knuckles, taken down in a sudden punch-out match where Genesis just kept her fists moving faster, faster, /faster/, until Metal Knuckle's body broke trying to keep up with hers. Her own knuckles split and bleeding, cuts and bruises all over her body, a vicious grin was still pulling her face wide as Super Metal Sonic came off of the Master Mech, surrounded by all seven Chaos Emeralds and glaring her down with blood red eyes. Genesis screamed, and her Soul burst forth-and an instant later the two beings clashed.

Super Metal Sonic was a cut above the other Metals, and fought harder than Metal Tails and Metal Knuckles combined. It didn't help that Metal Sonic was fresh, having largely hung back to maintain the Super states of the other Metals after the Maintenance Module had been destroyed, while Genesis had fought her way through two Super Metals already. And yet with every hypersonic lightspeed clash, every impact of metal on flesh or flesh on metal, Gen's Soul just kept surging and her grin stayed strong. And all the while, with the surging of her soul, she just kept getting /faster/.

Colors blurred away, the world streaking by her as she fought, until suddenly Super Metal Sonic Stopped. She stopped as well, wary...until she began to actually /see/ Metal Sonic. The first thing that struck her was that it was missing an eye entirely, along with a leg. The other eye was glitching and sparking, and the golden color was leeching out of its shell by the moment. Just a moment later Metal Sonic was purely blue once again...and then, quite literally, fell apart into a bunch of scrap. After that, the Master Mech was a breeze to defeat-and with that, a second set of Chaos Emeralds was attained.

Merely touching Excalibur's Scabbard was enough to heal her of her injuries that battle-in fact, it was more of a struggle to /not/ heal during the battle than it was to heal herself...but Genesis discovered a side to herself that she hadn't realized she had until that very day. She had avoided battle except for in the highest stakes back in the original Mobius, and even then harnessed overwhelming power to tip the scales of the battles as hard in her favor as she possibly could. Fear and coursing energies kept her from truly realizing the feelings pulsing through her were anything except adrenaline and agony, and afterwards she simply never pushed herself that hard.

In Camelot she had been trapped in a malaise of the realization that everything dies, then had been suffering from having her soul constantly be burned away, then finally was brought to continuous heights of rage and despair by the sheer insanity of her court and kingdom. Between all that, she had never actually fought an equal in Camelot-at least, not when she wasn't in enough agony that the point was moot.

It was only now, facing the Super Metals when she knew that she could trivialize the battle in an instant but was actively holding back from doing so...that she realized just how /fun/ battling an equal could be. 

On the sixth day, Genesis went forth to face Eggman Alpha-the one tentatively identified as belonging to a "bad" future where Sonic hadn't been around to defeat him for one reason or another. This Eggman, far and away, had the most resources-apparent in how, while the other Eggmen were fielding thousands of Badniks around their territories and bases, this Eggman was fielding /millions/. The entire continent he ruled-and it was a full continent-was entirely roboticized and urbanized; the whole of the landmass was practically a part of Eggman Alpha's powerbase.

And yet...and yet, letting go of worries, letting go of extant thoughts, simply allowing herself to flow with the wind and /move/, she found herself actively enjoying what was once a chore. Bounding from one Badnik to the next, running circles at just barely sub-sonic speeds around particularly large ones, spinballing her way across the continent...she finally began to understand why Sonic frequently took things so paradoxically "slow" compared to his actual speeds. 

She still made speedy time-with the continued crumbling of reality, she couldn't truly afford to play around like Sonic would-and soon enough she was facing Eggman Alpha and his own robotic replicas of Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. Eggman Alpha fielded the Super Mecha Series-bulkier than the Metals, but with similarly boosted specs and sheer strength behind them. Perhaps most threatening, he'd perfected the Super Synchronization issue that the previous two Eggmen had to deal with; none of the Mechas needed to rest on the Master Mech to keep the others in Super mode. 

Genesis didn't hesitate; she tapped into her Soul the very moment the battle began, accelerating herself to light speeds and then some. Even then, she was still struggling to keep up with the Super Mechas-it was all she could do to keep moving and dodge their attacks while her Insta-shield was down, and get what few licks she could while she had the Insta-shield to support her attacks. And yet...for some reason, she just couldn't stop smiling! Her body was pushing right up against a metaphorical wall; with just the power of her body and her Soul, she could go no faster. At least, that's what she thought. 

Her toes curled in her shoes, and she /sprang/ instead of stepped. She let her arms fall back, pulling herself tighter. She launched attacks with tighter margins, dodged by closer measures. No one measure made her that much faster, but with every little refinement of her techniques and every subjective moment that passed, the impossible began to happen...she got even /faster/. Overwhelming the Super Mecha robots with sheer speed simply wasn't in the cards, not if she wasn't going to bust out the Hyper power...but instant by subjective instant, it started shifting from "overwhelming odds" to "even grounds". And that was all that Genesis needed to turn this battle around.

The actual battle itself would take over three objective hours of non-stop clashing, battling, and environmental destruction that would see the entirety of the continent they were fighting on outright sunk. Afterwards Genesis was a bloody wreck missing teeth and with both arms broken...at least for a few moments, before she healed herself with the Scabbard. 

And then came the seventh day...

0-0-0-0-0

Genesis walked through the blasted landscape of Eggman Omega's domain, similar yet subtly different to Eggman Alpha's. Machinery and signs of utterly excessive urbanization lay everywhere...yet, she hadn't encountered even a single Badnik since she entered this area. In fact, most of the machinery was actively shut off, even. The entire effect left things feeling rather...abandoned. 

"Well well, if it isn't Genesis! I've been looking forward to meeting you." A voice called out. Up in the sky, seated comfortably in a flying egg-mobile, Eggman Omega grinned malevolently at the purple hedgehog below. "My apologies for not having a welcoming party prepared for you, my furry fellow. I've been quite busy preparing a present for you instead."

Genesis grinned, falling into her role. It was getting easier to act as the cocky and confident hero that Omelette wanted her to play for these Eggmen, though it was still somewhat uncomfortable for her. "Ah, don't worry about it Eggy! I can make my own fun just fine!"

"Grr...you even /sound/ like the blasted hedgehog. But I suppose that's to be expected. You see, I've got you all figured out, Genesis the Hedgehog. You practically told us Eggmen right in your very name, after all!" Eggman Omega declared. "We had expected some form of backlash from our destruction of the Time Stones and the variant Genesis Wave we'd released to co-mingle our timelines and overwrite the local multiverse to our will. Reality would shatter as timelines clashed rather than hybridized, and eventually we may even face predation by creatures from beyond spacetime-all of this was within our calculations. In fact, we Eggmen even managed to analyze and bait a particular 'Time Eater' that we judged was particularly susceptible to Roboticization efforts; once it arrived, we could harness its time-consuming powers to prune and refine our shared timeline until we forged it into a perfect Eggman ********!"

"But, for all actions there is a counter-action. You, my dear, are that counter-action. Appearing out of nowhere just as we had completed the initial stage of the plan? Possessing speed and strength greater than any version of Sonic on record, yet nowhere near his noted combat experience? It was patently obvious; you were born from our cumulative erasure of the blue hedgehog from the fused timelines. An amalgamation of Sonics, mutated by the clashing timelines into your own being."

Genesis shrugged her shoulders. It was a good theory, but built on a faulty premise...but it wasn't like she was going to tell Eggman that. He was her enemy, after all. "So? I've kicked three of your butts already, and you're about to be number four. Then, once I've got all the Chaos Emeralds from all the timeperiods, I can fix all this time destruction stuff you Egg-bozos did."

"Ah, but do you not see, Genesis? All this 'time destruction stuff' is the only reason you exist!" Eggman declared. "If you were to set the timelines right, sure you'd save many lives and clean up the world...but you yourself will certainly cease to be-pulled apart and unmade into the constitutent Sonics that you are composed of! Don't YOU deserve a chance to live too?"

Genesis almost lost her cool and began laughing right there-Eggman was clever, and if his theory was true then the outcome he was predicting may have had some truth to it as well. But he was working from a faulty premise; it doesn't matter how much of a genius he is if all his work is based on a false assumption. Only just barely managing to keep her composure and maintain her facade, Genesis answered back. "Maybe I will be pulled apart. Maybe I won't. What I do know is that neither this world nor I will survive if you and the other Eggmen are left to do as they please for much longer, so the only way for me to go is forward."

Eggman's grin only widened. "Somehow, I knew you'd say that. But your inexperience as a Sonic shines through here; I've held you in place long enough for our preparations to be completed!"

And then the world exploded into pain-without warning, strange electricity lashed at Gen's body. It felt as if something was passing through her, trying to rip something out of her-but her will and Soul were strong enough to resist the pull. The strange force finished passing through her body and suddenly disappeared. Only now, panting on one knee, did Genesis notice the strange electrical towers that had suddenly blended out of the background and launched a sudden assault on her. "What...the heck?" She asked.

"Hmm...It seems a direct Roboticization won't work. A pity. Oh well, we got the data we needed." Eggman mused.

"Who's...this 'we' you keep talking about?" Genesis asked, swiftly recovering.

Eggman grinned...but when his voice next came out, it wasn't him speaking it. "You didn't think you'd ACTUALLY defeated us, did you?" Eggman's voice called out as a /second/ egg-mobile pulled up from behind a nearby building. And sat within it was Eggman Origin, looking just as hale as when Genesis first encountered him.

"That's a lesson Sonic would learn yet you clearly haven't." Yet another Eggman declared; Eggman Coeval was the one to appear this time, twirling his mustache.

"Eggman ALWAYS has a backup plan!" A fourth Eggman appeared-Eggman Alpha. 

""""OH-HOHOHOHOHO!"""" All four Eggmen crowed in perfect synch. 

Eggman Omega picked up where the others left off. "Not only have my compatriots escaped destruction, but...well, there are quite a few opportunities one can tap into with a set of Chaos Emeralds and Time Stones on hand. We've been studying you. Analyzing you. And rebuilding our forces-faster than even you could imagine! And now, with the life-data attained from the Roboticizer Towers along with the combat data accrued from your previous battles, we have just about completed your surprise!"

"But, we've decided to be sporting about things." Eggman Origin picked up. 

"With four Eggmen and all the time in the world, we can put all the finishing touches on your 'present' that we want!" Eggman Coeval said.

"But we wouldn't want to leave you bored and alone in the meantime, so we've decided to leave you something to keep you occupied while your 'present' is being finished!" said Eggman Alpha.

Underneath the four Eggmen, three cylindrical pods began to emerge. Out of each of those pods emerged a figure-one shining gold, one bright yellow, and one glowing pink. "Behold, the ultimate Metal series!" Announced Eggman Omega. "Harnessing the strengths and intellect of four Eggmen from across time, redesigned specifically with your combat data and specifications in mind, and remotely imbued with the power of the final set of Chaos Emeralds such that they /never/ drop out of their Chaos-enhanced states! Every weakness corrected, every strength magnified; these are the Metal Origin Series!"

Each of the three Metal Genesis robots were a clear and incredible design evolution off of even the Mecha series-combining the more directly Mobian body-shape of the Silver series, the advanced technology and power of the Metal series, and the sheer depth of resources and refinement that was a hallmark of the Mecha series, it was clear that each of the three robots were a collaborative work of all four Eggmen. Metal Origin Sonic most closely resembled a version of Sonic from the original Mobius-one who would have been a roboticized master who combined technology from the Mega Man multiverse with roboticization from the Sonic multiverse. Metal Origin Sonic lacked the arm cannon that marked that version of Sonic, but instead possessed a far cleaner and sharper design-quite literally, given the claws on his fingers and the sharp edges of his quills. Metal Origin Tails and Knuckles possessed similar design philosophies-a close analogue to their true Mobian analogues, sleek and enhanced in every possible way. 

"And don't think we forgot about the little stunt you pulled against the Metal and Mecha series robots." Eggman Origin chided.

"These three will push you to your absolute limits-ferretting out any little secrets or final surprises you might have in store, even if it costs them their lives!" Eggman Coeval chuckled.

"And we'll be watching all the while-perfecting your little 'surprise' with all the data they provide." Eggman Alpha declared.

"But who knows? You might not even live to see it!" Eggman Omega concluded.

""""OH-HOHOHOHOHO!""""" The four Eggmen laughed in perfect unison once more. The four Eggmen promptly disappeared, revealing that they'd merely been holograms all along...and the eyes of the three Metal Genesis robots began glowing crimson as they activated.

Genesis grit her teeth, surged her Soul through her form, and launched herself from standing still to her maximum speed in a single instant.

It wasn't enough. The only thing that kept her alive from her foolish action was the Insta-Shield she had activated in the moment that she began moving; MO Sonic had knocked her back at utterly blinding speed-speed that she couldn't process even while moving faster than light. Then she was knocked forward by MO Tails, instantly reversing her momentum harshly and painfully even through her invincible shield. Then MO Knuckles caught her Insta-Shield clad body, wound up for just a moment, and lauched her skyward with an uppercut that caused a visible thermonuclear blume on contact. Flying into the sky, Genesis thought she'd get at least a moment's time to process things...only for MO Tails to suddenly appear, and knock her back down to the earth.

According to Special Relativity, time dilation increases exponentially as one's speed approaches the speed of light. Once one hits lightspeed, time truly and utterly freezes-no time passes, period and full stop. Past the speed of light, time begins to move in reverse-not by a very large amount at first, and it would take manifold times the speed of light for it to be truly noticeable, but it happens.

Genesis, and mobians who could move at the speed of light, were an exception to the rule. She didn't even pretend to understand the physics of it, but according to Omelette something about mobian biology and Chaos Energy interacted with physics in such a way that speedsters were "locked" at the furthest edge of time they'd personally experienced; without moving a large field at least two to three times their volume backwards alongwith them, speedsters like her were simply incapable of moving backwards through time. She could move as many times the speed of light as she liked, and not once would the clock tick backwards for her-only frozen at the edge of time.

All that was to say was that when time began to move ever-so-slightly backwards in the world around her compared to her still-normal movements, Genesis noticed. And she got scared.

"Metal Origin Sonic is preprogrammed to play this recording as Stage One of the battle concludes; how are you liking your new toys, Genesis?" Eggman's voice emerged from the Metal Origin robot, who had come to a full stop in front of her. The other two Metal Origin robots were behind her to her sides, forming a triangle around her. "Quite swift, yes? You probably survived their opening attacks with nothing but that super shield of yours, didn't you? Quite the powerful and unfair technique I must say; perfect invincibility for a full half-second? That's essentially handing the entire battle to you every time you move at the speed of light!"

"But my associates and I found a clever little solution to this issue. Mobian speedsters don't usually need to care for relativity...but by infusing the energy of the Time Shards into the Metal Origin series, we can force even unruly hedgehogs like you to play by the rules of the universe. But here's the kicker: nothing the previous Metal series have done could ever break through your shield...but why break through it, when we can simply make it so you never put it up in the first place? OH-HOHOHOHOHO!"

Genesis blinked, and stared at the sphere that surrounded her...and noticed it was glowing brightly, as if she had only just barely put it up rather than having it up for a few moments now. She grit her teeth, realizing Eggman's plan; unlike the rest of her body which was stuck at the edge of objective time and thus unmoored from the rules of relativity, her Insta-Shield functioned on the objective passage of time; it stayed active for half a second, and then couldn't be activated for half a second afterwards. It was very directly tied to the passage of time, unlike her. Normally her own strange interaction with relativity ensured that it stayed up while she was moving just fine, but with the Time Stones applying the laws of special relativity to her...

Reaching a peak of brightness, the Insta-Shield around her simply flickered out. Genesis immediately attempted to activate it again...but it simply wouldn't. The Insta-Shield required time to be flowing in the correct direction to activate; it activated for half a second, then winked out. Moving backwards from the point of its activation, even by a singular attosecond, meant that no matter how many times she willed it the shield simply wouldn't materialize. "Well...Shit." Genesis muttered to herself.

And then there was no more time to stay still; Genesis ran harder than she'd ever run in her life, dodging slashes, punches, and kicks coming from all around her by only the barest of margins-and then, only because she had gained incredible mastery of the Soul Surge pushing her to react and move faster and more perfectly than she could normally imagine moving. She could never get enough distance to escape the time-influencing grasp of the Metal Origin robots, couldn't activate her shield, couldn't do anything except run and dodge...and she couldn't dodge forever. She smiled a predatory smile full of teeth. "Fine, if that's how you want to play it...I'll play your game! COLORS!"

Prismatic light exploded out of Genesis with her shout, blasting away the temporal warping around her and staining her fur the colors of the rainbow. Her Hyper power had grown immensely since the days she'd first attained it, and in this moment she was pushing it to its peak. This alone could qualify as a kind of super mode, but even now she didn't have the reserves to maintain such a state for long. After a few subjective moments she pulled her Hyper aura close and allowed most of it to retreat back into the core of energy that laid within her-keeping only a token amount of prismatic power hovering just above the surface of her once-again purple body.

The Metal Origin robots recovered swiftly, regrouping and staring her down as they seemed to process this new development. Genesis smirked at them. "Where you looking, metal-butts?" Her voice asked...but not from where she'd been previously standing. The Metal Origin bots whirled around to see Genesis standing just behind them. Metal Knuckles went for a straight punch while Metal Tails went for a tail-whip...but she easily dodged both of their attacks, slipping through and redirecting them at each other such that the two robots went flying in opposite directions. Then she sprang forward, landing a mule-kick on a much more prepared Metal Sonic, only knocking it back a few steps. Genesis recovered from the kick with a backflip, crossed her arms, and smirked once again. "Now we're on more even footing, I'd say." She declared.

0-0-0-0-0

Despite her words, the full battle with the Metal Genesis bots would take approximately three hours-multiple eternities when moving at lightspeed, with time passing only when damage was inflicted on a given combatant to slow them down enough that time could move forward to a degree. It was something Genesis had privately called the "de-sync" effect; knocking something hard enough that it moved out of lightspeed and into a future moment where she currently didn't exist meant she couldn't interact with it until she slowed down enough that time could pass for her again. This "de-sync" effect was why fights that should be happening at absolutely insane lightspeeds still ended up taking multiple hours; each opponent had to get their licks in, then back off and slow down enough so that they could interact once again. 

Unfortunately for her, the Metal Origin bots didn't entirely play by those rules. They functioned off of the strange interaction Mobian speedsters had with the laws of physics, after all...and the Metal Origin series could enforce more natural physical laws rather than those strange variants. Fundamentally, this meant that when Genesis attacked the Metals, she couldn't attack again until she slowed down enough to re-sync with them...but if they attacked her, they could just /keep/ attacking her all they liked without even the barest flicker of de-synchronization.

All that meant that she had to fight to win, and /keep/ winning; if she ever started getting hit by them, she might not ever be able to recover. And they'd always have an advantage of being able to re-orient after every bout, while she'd have no such thing. 

All of that meant that the battle seemed to drag on and on and on...but the longer the battle went on, the better, because it meant she /kept/ winning rather than the Metal Genesis robots getting the upper hand. One after another, the Metal Origin robots were destroyed-with Metal Origin Sonic lasting the longest, and even seeming to evolve somewhat to counter her Hyper power by overcharging itself with energy from the Time Stones near the end. As incredible as it was, it was too little too late-and at last, Genesis stood triumphant amongst the ruins of Eggman Omega's empire...

Except, of course, for one final building. One last tower, shielded by a crackling shield of Chaos and Time Stone energy. And at its peak, a holographic screen displayed Eggman's visage.

"And so the Eggman empire falls and the universe is saved by a speeding hedgehog, the genius once known as Ivo Robotnik undone once and for all..." Eggman narrated, seeming quite melancholic. Only a moment later he began grinning and laughing. "NOT! Us Eggmen still have one last trick up our sleeve! Behold! The creation of four Eggmen working in perfect harmony with limitless resources, limitless time, every single scrap of combat data you have ever produced, and even your very life-data for maximum synchronicity!"

From within the Egg-Citadel, one final machine began to emerge. A machine that held a hauntingly familiar silhouette. A hauntingly familiar shade of purple for its chassis. Glaring red eyes set into a hauntingly familiar face. Eggman continued, "Behold; Hyper Metal Genesis! A perfect robotic replica, forged entirely in your image...designed to surpass you in every conceivable way! She is our ultimate creation and, if need be...our final will and testament. Metal! Timeshatter!"

The Metal Gen's red eyes burned brightly for a moment, and she stuck a clawed hand out to the side. Then her eyes were swamped in a deep darkness that held a subtle /wrongness/ to it...and in the same moment, a hungering darkness began to swallow up the land where she was pointing-consumed and unmade. Gen's senses screamed at her, and her every instinct told her to stay away from that area...and her eyes couldn't help but be drawn to the Mecha Gen's shadow, which twisted and warped into eldritch shapes. Occasionally those shapes would form a face framed in clockwork gears, eating at the land that was consumed in darkness where Metal Genesis pointed. A creeping horror began to grip Genesis.

"Ah, I see you understand." Eggman continued. "Yes indeed; Metal Genesis is not a product of mere machinery alone! With the brilliance of four Eggmen, we were successful in capturing one of the approaching 'Time Eaters' and have painstakingly forged it into the heart and soul of our creation. Even should the timeline be utterly rewritten and all of us Eggmen cease to exist, she will simply consume the paradox of her own existence and continue existing regardless! No matter how many times she is destroyed, the essence of the Time Eater within her will simply allow her to rebuild and recover safely outside the timestream! She shall hunt you across all eternity...and once you are dead, our own life-data will be safely recreated from her databanks, allowing us to reincarnate into a timeline purged of all remnants of Sonic and any resistance, shaped to perfection by our ultimate creation! She surpasses you in every single way...which, of course, means that she will surpass every single Sonic that can possibly exist, as you exist as a mutated composite of Sonics. She is our final and ultimate creation, our final and ultimate victory!"

"Now..." Eggman pointed dramatically towards Genesis. "Metal, destroy Genesis!" He declared, allowing his hologram to wink out just a moment later. Metal Gen's eyes glowed a much brighter red than before as she acknowledged the order.

"Grr...fine! It's time I REALLY go all out anyways!" Genesis declared. She sent her Soul surging, her Hyper energy coursing through her body, and even dragged her shadow up and around her body like an armor-empowering her to an incredible degree. In the same moment Metal Genesis began glowing with Chaos Energy, Time Energy, and her own shadow dragged upwards and flowed around her body like a cloak filled with clockwork shadows-seemingly boosting the mechanical replica to a perfectly equal degree as Genesis herself. In an instant the two clashed, bounced back, and clashed again.

The two jumped across the landscape, two near-identical black and purple streaks cutting trenches into the land beneath them with their every step. Over and over they clashed, bouncing from one spot to the next. Genesis noticed it rather quickly; whenever she dodged, Metal Genesis would always know where she was dodging to. Whenever she moved to attack, Metal Genesis would attack in the same place. The inverse was also true-it was effortless for her to realize where exactly Metal Genesis was going to dodge to and account for it, effortless to judge exactly what Metal Genesis was going to do...

The two of them clashed once more, butting heads and falling back to normal speed despite-or perhaps because of-how much pressure they were putting on each other to keep moving faster. "You might know everything I'm going to do, but that's not going to help you because I know everything YOU'RE going to do! Strange, isn't it?!" She declared. Metal Genesis seemed to beep in agreement, and the two of them quickly bounced away from each other and resumed their constant clashing.

After perhaps an hour of constant clashes and battle, Genesis stopped...and Metal Genesis stopped just in front of her-both of them had their arms crossed and were staring at each other. "This...isn't going to work. Not as we've been going at it." She decided. Metal Genesis nodded and beeped in agreement; as the two of them had clashed, they'd been dealing damage to each other...but also healing in the same moment. Genesis healed through the power of the Scabbard, while Metal Genesis healed by drawing from her innate Time Eater essence and shifting her own timeline about. The end result was the same; they both healed near-instantly from whatever damage the other did to them. "If we keep fighting like this, we could just go on forever..."

"But, I'm sorry to say, I'm going to be cheating now. See, you may have copied nearly everything about me...but you need the Chaos Emeralds to keep up this level of power. This level of performance IS your 'Super' mode. Whereas for me..." Genesis closed her eyes, waved her hand to the side, and let out a gentle breath. The next moment there was a flash of prismatic light, and Metal Genesis was ripped apart in a thousand pieces. Even at beyond lightspeed, where time did not move, it was still too fast for Metal Genesis to process. "I've been holding back the best this whole time. Sorry, Metal. But I've got a world to save." 

Before Metal Gen's parts could reach the ground, they dissolved into fading black smoke and disappeared-gone from reality itself. "Huh." Genesis noted. "Guess I might see you around again pretty soon."

0-0-0-0-0

"Now...this, this is the life I've been waiting for." Genesis muttered, splayed back on a towel. The sun was shining above, warming her body pleasantly. The sound of water crashing against the beach was soothing to her ears. The air was clean and untained by even the slightest bit of urbanization. And her right arm was slightly numb...because Rouge was asleep in it, cuddling her close.

She had gathered up the last of the Chaos Emeralds and the Time Stone Shards, and brought them back to the Egg-Genesis Base. There, she had initiated a Grand Chaos Control to rewrite reality one final time-repairing the Time Stones, restoring the timeline, and purging Eggman from the timeline altogether. What was left was a beautiful and peaceful Mobius where Sonic ran freely with his friends, the Mobians and Flickies lived in peace and joy, and she could relax on a beach and have fun in the sun all she liked. 

So that's exactly what she did. She ran around, having fun getting into races with "classic Sonic"-a version of Sonic who was much slower and younger in this timeline than the one she originally came from. She sat around the Egg-Genesis Base, refurbished so it didn't produce any chemicals and was only a mild deathtrap as is keeping with the Robotnik traditions according to Omelette. She read books and relaxed. And she laid on the beach, soaking in the son with her wife and love while everyone played around her. It was comfortable.It was the life she'd love to live forever and ever.

Drifting in and out of consciousness as she was, she was utterly content...

Between one instant and the next she went from laying down comfortable to teleporting Rouge away as she herself jumped backwards-and not a moment too soon, as Metal Genesis appeared from a black portal in the sky and went straight for the kill. "Hey, you're back!" She declared, feeling her blood beginning to pump in her veins. Metal Genesis beeped several times and flexed clawed fingers. "I agree; it was a bit rude of me to cut our last fight short like that; how about we have some real fun this time around?" She asked, a sharklike smile on her face. 

A moment later Genesis and Metal Genesis clashed, soon bouncing across the beach and then the ocean as hypersonic blurs. By seeming mutual agreement they kept from harnessing empowering methods for now-no Soul, no Chaos, just their pure speed and body. Even then, the fource of their clashing would knock up waves that sent practically everyone washing up back on the shore of the beach. 

Some hours later Genesis would defeat Metal by the barest of margins, knocking the Robot apart and back outside the timestream. This wouldn't be the last of it; she would face Metal Genesis dozens of times afterwards, subtly improved and adapted each time. And yet the two of them began to forge a camraderie in battle. It wasn't an easy thing, requiring years of effort and battles, but when Genesis would one day extend her hand in friendship to Metal, declaring that there was more to life than just battle and fulfilling Eggman's will...Metal Genesis would take her hand, and agree.

And in between all that, Mobius was a peaceful and beautiful planet.