Oh, Maria. He was the cause of the time anomaly. Or at the very least, the one who gave Black Doom the opportunity to use it for his own ends.

"It's...it's a long story," Eggman sighed. "But whatever you're talking about, this is a very different sort of power, I suspect. The people who brought us here plucked us from two different points in our lives."

He...he smiled, despite himself. For what it was worth, for all his envy of her reputation in his family, for all his jealousy for stealing his grandather and parents' attention, none of it had led to resentment towards Maria herself; only curiosity over what the girl herself had been like. And now that she was before him, he could only be reminded of Sage, his daughter.

"It's so wonderful to finally meet you, though. I've wondered what you were like, for so very long."