Back to Now
Now the only thing left was to put one on each roof of Floral Forest, and real ones, not just makeshift turbines made of simple plastic and metal. For that, I needed materials, materials that I just knew rested under the village, and I knew how to bring them out while also not touching the forest, without having to exhaust myself. Plus, there were a few dozen people that wanted to help me make their lives better.
Unfortunately, not all materials we digged could be used for building or recycled in any way: dirt, (bad) stone, living but annoyed and/or frightened underground animals, bones, trash that some idiot had buried instead of throwing it into a dumpster or recycling bin... The first days we had enough space in the village for it, but the pile was getting bigger and bigger with each turbine I made, and the villagers, while thankful of my job and happy at lending me a helping hand, didn't fancy having a pile of debris growing in their small quaint town, while also refused to let even a single rock on their forest, if only because it would look out of place.
Another thing, that's when the Chaotix had found me, but seeing that I was, of all things, doing seemingly helpful things for Floral Forest, they decided to wait and see what else I would do.
Now, back to the pile o' trash. It was getting bigger, and we were running out of space. It wasn't actual, reeking trash (at least most of it wasn't), but we didn't want it forming a pile.
That's where the mass driver cannon came in. You already knew what it does (firing trash into space), so I won't tell you more, only that a good portion of it, instead of flying off, stays in orbit, from which I would retrieve it in the future after thinking a purpose for it. After all, even at hypersonic speeds, gravity is a factor, especially when the stuff is not continually powered by a rocket. As for any satellite that definitely was hit by it, well, I would eventually either pay for the damage done or repair/rebuild them myself. Eventually.
If you're wondering why a mass driver cannon instead of, say, just vaporising it, well, blame Halo and Mass Effect for that; coilguns are cool. Plus, I did say I would find a use for that debris. As of what is it made of, the Chaotix had driven a dumpster truck full of metallic objects and a van with electronics. I don't know how did they know I needed the metal and wire, or where how did they get all that stuff, since I'm pretty damn sure they didn't buy it with how thrifty Vector is, but I was grateful for it.
It was because of that gesture of goodwill that I decided to make the three know I knew they were spying on me. You wouldn't believe how long can an anthropomorphic crocodile jaw fall when they're shocked enough. I mean, Vector is as tall as me, yet his chin touched the ground. Not just the grass, the ground.
Three days before Sonic came, Floral Forest Village had an entirely new power grid, and several hovecars moving around. You probably wonder why I build hovercars despite the villagers lacking need for airborne-capalbe vehicles, and vehicles in general. Well, if I wanted the world to advance, I had to start somewhere didn't I? That, and, well, just because. I mean, working, reliable hovercars that used clean energy to work!
As for why turn into a taller, fitter version of the Engineer, aside from deciding to swap pure science with simple engineering and liking to speak with a southern accent... chalk it up to playing it several days straight and watching videos of texan midgets dancing, then exploding. Plus, that'd give me an excuse to use weapons despite being a good guy.
No way I was gonna cut off my hand to replace it with a robot hand though, even if I could mount mini-sentries and gib people with it.
I think that's good enough explication. Let's go back to the present.
"So" Sonic said ", you basically had an epiphany from which you finally realized that being evil is bad, and decided to turn good... for good?"
"It wasn't that simple, but yeah." I replied with a nod. "No more evil from me."
"Well, it's a bit hard to believe..." Vector began to say before Espio interrupted him.
"I'ts VERY hard to believe."
"But also makes perfect sense!" Charmy said merrily. "I mean, years and years of losing, and he finalyl gets that being the bad guy is not just wrong, but bad for your health, both physical and spiritual!"
That and wanting Eggman to be genuinely good instead of just Affably Evil with emphasis on 'Affable', little bee boy. Boom Eggman was funny and had standards, but still saw himself as evil. Me? I'm going to atone and not become one of the most unsympathetic Eggmen in all of Sonic history. I mean, unleashing a zombie-robot apocalypse? It's not on the same level of blowing up a planet, but still.
"Well" Sonic said as he stood up. ", I guess I can trust you to keep your promise and stay a good person. But if it turns out that all of this is just a ruse, I WILL kick your butt." He said, eyes narrowed and looking up at me.
"You do that before proving that I'm lying, I kick yours to the moon, son." I replied black before smiling, with him smiling back. "You know, I'm planning on building a theme park for all the family." I said before he could leave. Sonic turned and stared at me with an annoyed look. Obviously he wasn't amused by my plan of building a possible Eggman Land, even if it wasn't going to be a monument to my ego.
"Seriously? A theme park? Haven't the Chaotix told you what happened last time you build one?"
I shrugged "Kids like theme parks, and by what I gathered it's my longlife dream or something. Besides, it wouldn't be about me, but science! You know, magnets, space, that kind of things. No one would get hurt." I said, before doing as if thinking it over. "Unless they don't follow the security rules. Then it'll be out of my hands."
"Technically, if someone gets injured at a theme park, it would also be the staff and the owner's fault to some degree, especially if the victim is a minor." Charmy said, finger raised in an explanatory manner.
"The only one here who will get hurt is you, Eggman!" Exclaimed a... not exactly intimidating voice behind, before I heard the last noise an engineer wanted to hear.
One of his creations being wrecked.
I had to stop myself from yelling and focus on where the others were staring in horror at.
There he was, standing on a roof Shadow the Hedgehog, possibly the worst written Sonic character ever written, standing next to a smiling Rouge the Bat, the most risqué. And he was glaring at me.
Too bad I was busy staring down at the broken turbine laying in front of me.
"Oh no." Cream whispered in horror
"Who the heck is this?" I asked Sonic, even though I already knew who the black hedgehog was, not looking away from the machine I built. Call me overly dramatic, but I really, REALLY hate it when my creations get deliberately destroyed by an asshole instead of a kid, an idiot or a drunk shoving a stick on the mechanisms. The latter is an accident, the former is ruining someone's work!
"Shadow. Hedgehog. Created as the Ultimate Lifeform. Doesn't like villains, doesn't pull punches, and very, VERY dangerous when he gets mad." Sonic whispered.
"Uh-huh. Well, I don't like people ruining my hard work either. And I can get mad too." I whispered back.
"Yeah, but this guy is way out of your league! Only I can match him in a fight!"
"And yet according to your friends I managed to defeat you a few times." I retorted, making him shut up. I had a point, though to be fair, those victories didn't last long, sans Forces.
"I'll destroy you first!" He screamed as he jumped down of the roof and stomped to me.
Anyone else would had been terrified of being Shadow the Hedgehog's (the 'Ultimate Lifeform', Punisher fanboy and edgy pseudo-Vegeta of Sonic) object of wrath, to the point of begging for their life.
Me?
I slowly put myself between the EDGY-hog and the village, pushing the girls behind me, and glared back at him. I knew who he was, and what he could do, but given what Eggman could do too, and my memory lapse, he was just some black-furred hedgehog that wanted to kill me for everything I did and blatantly ignoring what I did for Floral Forest. At that moment, I was a simple man who was being threatened by an agressive hedgehog.
Yeah, not the best way to put it.
"Well, I don't know who in tarnation you are, but I don't like strangers sneaking on me and wrecking my work." I said, glaring down at him and stopping Sonic from moving. No way I would let someone protect me when I could defend myself. "Leave before I get forceful, and trust me, you don't want to see me when I'm mean."
"Yeah, right! You're just waiting for the right moment to strike this defenseless village, or brainwash them further with your toys!"
Hearing him say that, and resigning myself to the fact that a peaceful explication ending was not an option, I did the one thing he (possibly) nor anyone else ever expected.
I crouched to put myself to his level and, enjoying the sudden confusion on his face when he saw me do that, uppercuted him with just enough strength to send him flying.
Which given how buff I was now, was still a fucking lot: I punched Shadow the Hedgehog in the jaw hard enough to send him flying a dozen meters up, then crash down on a wind turbine. Vanilla's wind turbine, to be exact.
Yeah, I know, counterproductive of me of avenging a broken machine by breaking another, I'm a mad scientist-turned-relatively-sane engineer, not a gunner!
Maybe not the smartest thing to do, but damn if I didn't feel (half) good!
"Mr. Eggman!" Cream exclaimed, pointing at the spot Shadow landed on. "Mr. Shadow broke another turbine!"
"Don't worry sweetheart, I can fix them both later." I said to her before looking back at Sonic and the others.
All of them were looking at me with shocked/awed looks on their faces. Even Rouge, who had been smiling until now, was staring at me with VERY wide eyes. She probably didn't expect the suddenly-buff Eggman be brave enough to use his fists for once, and with the possibly strongest creature in Mobius.
"Eggman." Vanilla said, fear in her voice. "Do you know what did you just did?"
I only had one thing to say.
"Punch an annoying guy in the chin." I replied. "What? He nearly attacked me first."