September 10th, 2:34 AM

Eggman sighed. Outside was dark, though inside Eggman's plush study was brightly lit. He was at his expensive wooden desk, surrounded by multicolored pens and crumpled up pieces of paper. His computer was open in his patented EggoBlueprint design software, which was entirely blank.

It was a terrible thing for a mad scientist to have writer's block. Curse that hedgehog. It was bad enough that his last scheme had fallen apart. Now just coming up with a new one was being a nuisance!

An Egg Pawn walked in, struggling to balance a very large black ceramic coffee mug on a tray. Eggman took it, and quaffed the whole thing in one gulp. "Eugh," he said, grimacing into the cup, "I hate this blend."

He turned to further express his displeasure, but the Egg Pawn had already scampered away with the tray.

Eggman growled, and swiped at the papers on his desk, knocking several to the floor. They softly crinkled away in response to his rage.

Well, fine. He leaned forwards to his computer, deftly typing on the keys to search within his EggoBlueprint files. It's gauche to repeat a plan, but it's not breaking the rules to throw something he's already got at Sonic to give him inspiration. And if it were a rule, who cares? He was evil! Breaking rules was the whole point.

Eggman squinted at the results. Those were so old. So were these. That was just Metal Sonic, but huge and red. He didn't even remember making that...sheesh, did he still make those spiky snail things? He'd never built this thing, but...seriously, an egg carton ship? What was he thinking? Where was the art there?

Oh, wait a second. He scrolled back up to examine one. Ah ha, he still had several of those! Their function had just...had just been disrupted by bad luck, that was all. That was hardly his fault. They worked fine; it was the rest of the world that was the problem! Honestly. Everyone he wanted to conquer was so uncooperative.

A direct attack was tempting, but having his dear robots shredded immediately was, unfortunately, extremely likely. That outcome would be so unsatisfying.

They were a little out of date. If he just tweaked some of them… made them smarter...

He smiled. New ideas began to fill his formidable brain. Now he had it. Sonic would never know what hit him.

September 10th, 3:03 AM

A jet airplane soared under the night sky of a country very much like, but not actually, the United States. The plane had departed from California, or possibly Japan, depending on who you asked.

Athena was bolt upright in her seat, the very picture of energy. She had Widget's floating blue screen on, and was energetically scrolling through it. "One...more...hour!"

Phoenix mumbled something, his head leaned back as far as the airplane seat would allow. He wore both a sleep mask and a travel pillow around his neck. With no case at the moment, he was actually casually dressed. Maybe a little too casually. Sweatpants were involved.

"I'm shocked you can even try to sleep!" Athena said. She was still in her bright yellow uniform, for brand recognition. "You remember where we're going for our vacation, right?"

Picking the overnight flight to save money on plane tickets had seemed like such a good idea at the time. "It's 3 in the morning, Athena..."

"Justice never sleeps, why should I?"

"You nap in strange places all the time..."

She was tapping away at her screen, apparently not hearing him. "It sucks that everybody else couldn't come. Apollo is still in Khura'In, Trucy's magic shows are booked all week… What did Maya get tied up with, again?"

Phoenix was still refusing to take the sleep mask off. "Won a tour of the Burger King headquarters."

"Oh, right. And she could bring one guest...so she took her little sister. I'd take that super personally if I were you!"

Phoenix shrugged. He had no interest in the place. He was just happy for Maya; she was finally getting some quality burger time after the wrongful murder accusation. How many times has she ended up in court, now? Five or six?

"At least I'm not paying for it." Phoenix said wryly. Wrightly, even. "Like the flight. And the snacks. And the $30 wifi."

"I need the internet to live, Boss!" Athena waggled a cheeky finger at him. "Besides, how else would I find out about Station Square and everything I have to see there?" She pointed at her screen. "They have everything: casinos, fancy hotels, a beach… This article is even saying they've got a Sonic!"

"You're looking up...restaurants?"

"What? No!" She shook her head. "It's not a business, I don't think. This actually seems to be something else. Something about hedgehogs?"

"...Can't we figure it out once we get there?"

"No way." Athena leaned in closer to her screen, bright-eyed and eager. "I'm getting to the bottom of this or my name isn't Athena Cykes!"

Phoenix sighed, but said nothing else. The chances of him getting any more rest on this flight were dwindling away. Just an hour more...