Crossing Over

Prologue - Eggman's Idea

Opening Theme: Someday by Rob Thomas

Ivo stood in his jungle base's hangar and checked his watch for the millionth time. He'd sent a retrieval ship for Orbot and Cubot a couple of days ago, and it should've been back by now. It had been a few months since his change in the pony world but, despite those changes, he still wasn't the most patient man in the world. Thinking of the pony universe caused Ivo's heart to ache. He really, really wanted to get back. Luckily, the time was almost upon him. All he needed was Cubot.

"Where is that retrieval ship!?" Ivo shouted at nothing in particular. Some of the robot drones working in the vast hangar turned their heads, but eventually continued on with their work after seeing that Ivo wasn't actually asking them.

Suddenly, as if on cue, a triangular craft descended swiftly out of the cloudy sky above the Mystic Ruins, what little light there was glinting off the ship's metallic exterior. Within seconds, the craft was entering the hangar and initiating its landing routines. Letting out it's landing gear, the ship hit the ground with a dull thud. The loud noise of its engines ceased and the room was silent once again, save for the occasional sounds made by the drones moving cargo throughout the hangar.

A couple seconds later, a ramp extended out from the bottom of the ship, hitting the ground with a quiet 'clang'. The hatch at the top of the ramp opened, and two familiar robots hovered down along the ramp's length. Reaching the ground, the yellow cube-shaped one turned and, seeing Ivo, sped towards the scientist and hugged him tight.

"Oh, boss!" screeched Cubot in his obnoxious, ear-grating voice. "I thought we'd never see you again!"

"Yes, I was worried you'd forgotten about us," the red-spherical one, Orbot, said in his sophisticated yet sarcastic tone, "you know, after you stranded us in deep space."

"I'm sorry about that," Ivo apologized, wriggling his way out of Cubot's iron grip. "I promise I'll make it up to you."

"That brings me to another point," Orbot replied, crossing his arms. "I was reading the news feed on the ship and I saw some surprising things. It said that you've built children's amusement parks, demolished old bases, donated to charity, and even won the global peace prize in the months we've been gone. Can you tell us why you'd do such things?"

"I thought that was weird too!" exclaimed Cubot, looking up at Ivo. "Is it some evil plan you're working on? If it is, I wanna help!"

Ivo sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Look guys, a lot has happened in the past few months, too much for me to explain right now. To make a long story short, I've changed and am no longer evil."

The two robots stared at Ivo as if he'd gone mad.

Cubot turned to Orbot and scratched his head. "Did he just say what I think he said?"

Orbot looked at Cubot. "Yes, yes he did." Turning back to Ivo, he said, "Are you serious?"

Ivo nodded. "Completely. Though the story behind why is too long to tell at the moment. As it stands, I do have something we need to do. Cubot, I have a present for you!"

"Really!?" the cube-shaped robot squealed. "What is it?"

Ivo reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, flat circuit board. "A new voice chip. I know you like your current one, but I thought you might like this one. I know you will Orbot."

Reaching up, Cubot plucked the voice chip out of Ivo's outstretched hand. After ejecting the old chip, the robot slid the new one into the slot. Cubot's system processed the new chip for a few moments before  he could finally speak.

"How does it sound?" asked Cubot in a very familiar English accented voice. After hearing his own voice, he jerked back a bit in surprise. "Blimey! That sounds brilliant!"

Ivo smiled. It had worked! The tone, the accent, the catchphrase-- a perfect recreation of the Doctor's voice! How he'd missed that voice; the voice of his only true friend. Hearing that the voice chip was working made Ivo very optimistic about the rest of the things he had planned.

"That actually does sound pretty good," commented Orbot, staring at Cubot in surprise. "It fits with mine!"

"It does, doesn't it? That's great!" Cubot exclaimed. Turning to Ivo, he added, "Thanks boss!"

Ivo waved it off. "No problem."

"So, you said before that you have something we have to do," said Orbot. "What would that be?"

"I need to test something I've been working on," Ivo replied, the eyes behind his glasses lighting up. "But I needed to wait for you guys to get back so that Cubot could test it." He turned and began walking towards the hangar's exit door, gesturing for the two robots to follow him.

"What is this 'thing' that you've been working on, exactly?" Orbot questioned as he and Cubot followed behind.

Reaching the door, Ivo punched in a code on the keypad that resided on the wall beside the door. The door slid open. "Follow me," said the scientist, walking through the doorway, "and you'll get your answer."