#I told you more Tikal work was on the way guys

[galaxylover06]

Just got this fun piece done! really proud of that water effect!

The sketch I worked with was made by the awesome @samoirax (and its for there AU so seriously if you haven't yet, go check out there stuff, it's way past cool lmao)

[allhailshadamy]

[A/N: UHH ok so this chapter will involve Sonally/Sonal (which ever you perfer) and well, I don'twant anyone to think that I hate that ship or hate Sally due to what happens. I'm trying to stay as close to the series as possible. Once again the reactions of the characters and their actions are all part of the series. I don't hate any ships nor any Sonic characters! Without further ado, enjoy and once again thank you:)]

As Sonic and Amy returned to the Clinic, Jane looked at Sonic and let out a sigh of relief when he saw Amy was with him. She smiled at them, Sonic smiled back then let out a happy sigh when he turned to look back at Amy. Her green emerald eyes piercing right through him. The feeling he had gotten on their first date coming back to him. Her cupped her face and gently kissed her forehead then planted a soft kiss on her lips. Amy more than happy returned the sweet kiss and smiled as they pressed their foreheads against eachother.

"I have to go. Tails has been trying ro reach me the entire night." He said softly as he held her hand and brought it to his lips kissing it softly. She let out a small chuckle as she nodded, "Sure. Plus, I'm getting tired. Today has been one hell of a day." She giggled then sighed, she stared at the blue hedgehog for a longer while before finally letting go of him. Before he left Amy grabbed one of his arms.

"What's wrong?" He asked, Amy scratched the back of her head as she looked at him.

"I know I'm asking for a lot but can you please keep all of this a secret? Don't tell anyone, not even Tails." Sonic's eyes widen, he got closer to Amy.

"Amy...Tails is my best friend..."

"I know and I'm sorry I'm even asking but I'm just afraid of how he would react and knowing him he will probably run some expirements and I'll have to be stuck in his shop all day. By the time you know it Eggman will attack and well..." she said refusing to imagine what Eggman might do to her. Sonic looked at her, a small smile forming on his face.

"I understand, don't worry. I won't let anyone know about any of you guys okay? I promised I'd protect you and I am going to." He planted another kiss on her forehead, Amy smiled she finally let go of his hand and he waved at her goodbye. She watched him run off until Jane approached her taking her somewhere she could sleep in.

-

The next morning Amy woke up to the sound of birds chirping. She sat up from the single bed she had slept on and then stood up making her way to the restroom where she began to get ready for the day. When she started to get undress she looked at herself in the mirror, a huge cross across her stomach could be seen in her reflection but when she looked down at her stomach nothing but fur could be seen. She formed a small smile then went into the shower where the stubborn graveyard dirt finally lost the battle to the soap. When she was done she got out to the smell of breakfast being served. Jane had arrived early to bring them their first meal of the day. Amy walked towards her, Jane noticing almost immediately, looked at the pink hedgehog and smiled.

"Early bird gets the worm huh?" She teased, Amy smiled and nodded.

"I guess so, the worm smells delicious by the way." She continued making Jane giggle. Amy sat down after grabbing the plate Jane offered her. She began to dig in after thanking her, the food melting into her mouth and a memory coming back to her. She recalled a morning like this one where she woke up to the smell of burning food only to find out Sonic had almost burned down her kitchen trying to cook her something. She soon snapped out of it and let out a small laugh, she was just so happy to be back. To be back with the person she always loved and in the town where she had stayed in almost her entire life. Everything was just too perfect.

"So how did you and Sonic meet?" Jane interrupted her eating. Amy jumped a little, she took a napkin and cleaned her mouth before speaking up.

"Oh right, I never formally introduced myself to you. I'm so sorry. I'm Amy Rose, to answer your question well we have to go back about fifteen years?" She said with a small laugh, Jane's eyes widen.

"That long? You guys been dating for that long?" She asked, Amy shaking her head almost immediately.

"No, Sonic and I met when I was eight. He saved me from an attack from Robotnik and well it was love at first sight for me." She said looking down at the cup of coffee she was cupping, a small blush coming onto her cheeks.

"I was always after him, I always told him how much I loved him and I never gave up on him which seemed to work because well we started dating when I was nineteen. We dated in secret for a while because Sonic was so afraid of commitment and well I'd say he still is but he still the inevitable happened and The crew found out." Amy let out a small smile, Jane returning one herself.

"Sally, Tails, and Knuckles?" Jane asked, Amy raised an eyebrow taking a bite of her food.

"Sally? You know her?" She asked after swallowing her food, Jane simply nodded, her lips formed into a clueless pout.

"Uh yeah, is she not who you're talking about? The crew?" Amy shook her head, "The crew is Knuckles, Tails, and Sticks. Is she no longer around? Don't tell me she died too?" Amy said as her eyes began to tear up. Jane shook her head, "Oh no no she left about two years ago before I came into the picture. Sonic and Tails told me she wanted to complete a mission of her own and we haven't heard of her since." Amy sighed in relief then smiled, "Typical Sticks." She muttered with wiping a tear off her face before taking a careful sip of her hot coffee. It didn't take much time before the others woke up and join Amy at the table. Soon Sonic had arrived and Amy ran to him hugging him tightly, he happily returned the embrace.

"Hey, you missed me?" He asked as she smiled, nodding.

"Of course I did. Where have you been? We almost finished all the breakfast!" Sonic smiled as he began to walk towards the others, his hand holding onto Amy's.

"Well it's fine. I just ate so don't even worry about it."

After greeting everyone he took out a small note pad and looked at everyone around.

"So I have some information about you guys. Before heading home last night I went to the graveyard. I have a few names here that'll hopefully help you remember something." He informed everyone, "Before I continue, I would like to let you guys know that you were dead before." He said, the echidna and Chameleon's eyes widen. The racoon simply scoffed, letting a small chuckle out afterwards.

"Dead? Right." She said not believing it. Amy turned to the racoon and nodded, "It's true." She backed Sonic up, Sonic nodding.

"You may not believe me but this is Amy, my girlfriend of four years, she's been dead for about three years." Amy nodded, the racoon simply shook her head.

"Do you remember dying Amy? Because I don't and I feel like something like that would stick by me." She said, Amy simply glared at her. "You know he's right..." she said then looked away as Sonic opened his notepad and began to read.

"Espio age twenty seven when he died. You've been dead for about seven years." Sonic read, the Chameleon began to nod.

"Yeah Espio that's it..." he muttered as he had finally remembered his first name. The Racoon rolled her eyes as Sonic read the next name.

"Tikal, died age twenty one." The orange echidna looked up at Sonic, a small frown coming upon her face. The racoon let out another scoff shaking her head. "You're seriously not believing this are ya? I mean the doctor here examined us. Do we look like zombies Doc?" She asked looking over at Jane who simply shook her head. The racoon turned to look at Sonic who despite the racoon's remarks, kept speaking. "There was a tomb that had been messed up, all I could see was Marine, missed by Blaze..?" the racoon's eyes fell. Her expression sadden as she recalled her own name and the name of whoever had missed her. "Blaze..." she muttered, the rest took a few seconds to think about the information Sonic had just given them but a wince and grunt coming from Tikal made them turn their attention to her.

"Well I'd say Tikal needs to go to a hospital right about now..." Amy suggested, Sonic sighed and nodded as he carefully started to pick her up but another complain came out of her. He quickly and very carefully put her down.

"Are you okay? I'm so sorry." He sighed, Espio immediately stood up and helped Tikal by taking one of her arms and putting it around his shoulder.

"I think we should use the doctors van..." the chameleon suggested, with a sigh Sonic nodded.

"I guess you're right. Jane do you mind?"

"Not at all, go ahead." She said with a smile and taking the keys out of her pocket she handed it over to Sonic. The blue hedgehog and the chameleon made their way out of the clinic with the orange echidna holding onto them. After carefully putting her in the van and Espio going with her Sonic closed the doors to the van, just when he was about to hop on Amy appeared behind him. He looked back at her and smiled, she was quick to hug him and he happily returned the warm hug. She then pulled away cupping his face, Sonic kissing her forehead and smiling.

"Be careful okay?"

"I will don't worry Ames. I'll come back in one piece."

"Afterwards can we head home?" Amy asked, Sonic simply smiled and gave her a small kiss before finally getting into the van and driving away. Amy smiled and walked back to the clinic where she was left with Jane and Marine.

-

Driving towards the bridge that was used as an entrance and exit to hedgehog village, Espio and Tikal who had been resting her head on the chameleon's shoulder, started to feel a bit uneasy. The closer they got to exiting, the weird feeling inside worsen. It wasn't until Espio noticed Tikal's eyes bleeding that he turned to inform Sonic.

"She's bleeding..." he called out as Sonic looked at the rear view mirrored looking back at him.

"You are too..?" He said as Espio started to cough as well as Tikal, Sonic's eyes widen as he started to drive back until they were no longer feeling sick.

"You guys okay?!" He asked, Espio turned to look at him nodding.

"We're okay..."

-

Back at the Clinic, Amy had been reading a book that she had left behind a few years ago. The folded page still intacted reminding her where she had left off before the war had begun. As she folded back the corner of the page a flashback begun inside her head. Sonic was talking with Tails when she overhead something about Eggman and his new plan, she remembered asking what was happening and Sonic refusing to tell her ending them in an argument. Her flashback once again interrupted by a knock on the door. Amy immediately snapped out of her flashback startled but then smiled widely when she though Sonic had returned. Just when she was about to go open the door, Jane stopped her.

"Go hide in my office and do not come out okay?" She said, Amy nodded after realizing she couldn't open the door at all costs due to her condition. She took Marine with her to Jane's office where they both started looking around. Jane sighed and walked towards the door opening it just enough for her face to be seen. She saw knuckles smiling at her.

"Hey Jane! Can I come in?" He asked, Jane bit her lower lip and then looked back at the clinic.

"I'm with a patient Knuckles, is it something important?" She lied, Knuckles simply scratched the back of his head apologetically.

"Oh well, I just wanted to speak about the cemetary business last night? I mean I can wait inside till you're done." He suggested, Jane immediately shaking her head.

"It wouldn't be appropriate Knuckles... maybe some other time yeah?" Knuckles scoff with a small smile.

"I mean I guess so, I'll come by when it's appropriate yeah?" Jane nodded at Knuckles statement. He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion then turned around to leave.

"I just can't believe it... he's wrong." Marine complained, Amy letting out a sigh.

"What he said is true Marine. You have to listen to him... you're dead..." she calmy yet annoyed tried to explain to the racoon who was still stubborn about it.

"I have to go see it and confirm it." She said as she went out a window from the office.

"Shit! Marine, come back!" Amy complained as she followed Marine. It wasn't long when Jane came back to inform the girls that Knuckles was gone but to her surprised they were gone as well. Jane sighed and softly slammed her palm against her face, her fingers going through her own quills.

-

As Marine walked barefooted around the road that led to the graveyard Amy followed, they soon arrived at Marine's tombstone where he name and information where written at, just like Sonic had said. Marine's eyes widen as she began then began to crt rapidly digging through her own grave.

"No no no no..!" She exclaim as she cried at the sight of her own headstone. Amy hugged her and tried to calm her down,

"Marine, Marine, Marine, calm down it'll be okay I promise..." she said and eventually she ended up consoling Marine. Soon they were back on the road and onto the Path to Amy's hut which had always been near.

"I think I remember now Amy... I think I died when my ship began to sink... my cremated and I must've all died..." she said in a shaky voice, Amy looked at Marine and put an arm around her giving her a side hug.

"It'll be all right Marine! Plus, you're here now! You get a second chance!" Amy tried to cheer her up, Marine simply glared at her then looked away.

"Easy for you to say, you have your house and boyfriend around..." Marine made a side remark, Amy simply sighed.

"Maybe some of your crew mates survived Marine, maybe you still someone around here..." she said as she picked up the pace when she saw the top of her hut. Amy smiled widely as her eyes winced in happiness.

"This is my place!" She exclaimed happily looking at Marine who looked back at her.

"How do we get in?" She asked as Amy made her way to her front door and picked up a flower pot that was beside the door. The key to her place was there just where she always left it at, she took no time in opening her place and walking right in after letting Marine in first. She closed the door behind them and then furrowed her eyebrows.

"Oh I guess Sonic changed the furniture..." she said as she looked back at Marine. "I used to have the cutest lavender couches ever!" She said with a small sad smile, she then shrugged it off and began to walk towards her room.

"You want any clothes Marine?" She offered, Marine muttered a simple sure and Amy began to look through her closet. She let out a pout when she looked through the clothes and all she saw were some blue vests and some navy blue shorts. She began to open some drawers and saw some of Sonic's scarfs neatly folded in them. When she didn't find any of her dresses and over night tees she turned to look where she used to keep her jewelry but all she found were some bracelets similar to hers but in a light blue color. Along the jewelry box she found a small wedding ring.

"These aren't mine..." Amy said, Marine who had been looking around the hut then locked her eyes on a picture of Sonic and a chipmunk hugging lovingly, the chipmunk wearing a wedding dress. When Amy started to come out of her room she noticed Marine staring at the picture and she turned to look at it too. She saw the picture and one of her eyebrow rose, Marine looked at Amy's reaction which was hard to read until she began to talk.

"That's... that's my friend... Sally..." she said with a scoff coming out of her. Marine looked at Amy who was in disbelief.

"I'm sorry Amy..." she said, Amy ignoring her comment, she had all her attention on the situation at hand. Amy let out another shaky scoff as she then began to walk circles in her living room.

"How could he..?" She asked as she held back some tears. "Oh shit..." she said under breath as she started to feel the tears coming closer to rolling down her face. She walked to a small table that was near the window which had a picture of Sally and she pushed it down. Suddenly footsteps approached, Marine looked at Amy.

"Someone's here..." she informed, Amy taking Marine's hand and quickly yet carefully walked towards her former room to hide. Sally started walking to the front door holding some groceries bags. She put them down picked up the flower pot to find the key missing from its place. While Sally was looking for the key Amy and Marine took advantage to escape. Amy took Marine and went out through the garden where she hid behind a large tree. Sally slowly opened the door and as much as she wanted to stay outside she built enough courage to go in.

"Sonic..?" She asked, taking a knife from the kitchen. Sally walked out of the back door and looked around to see if she could find anyone but when she didn't see anyone she let her guard down and walked back into the hut. Amy caught a glimpse of her before she disappeared, she had seen to be a bit bigger than usual. Her stomach was round and her feet were swollen. Amy's tears finally rolled down her cheeks as she then began to quickly walk away from her own hut and away from Marine who tried to stop her.

"Amy wait!"

"Stop following me!" She cried out, Marine furrowed her eyebrows.

"Why are you yelling at me? I didn't do this to you!" She replied as Amy began to slow down, a sob coming out of her.

"I know..."

"Where are you going?" Marine asked as Amy began to pick up her pace once again.

"Anywhere but here!"

-

Back with Sonic who had finally arrive back at the clinic. He honked and then got out to open the van doors for Espio and Tikal, Jane came out and looked at him.

"You need to check on them. Make sure they're okay." He said, Jane simply nodded as she helped Sonic get Tikal and Espio out. After Jane examine them and made sure they were okay Sonic took her out of the office to speak to her.

"Jane, as soon as we approached they bridge they started to bleed from their eyes and they started grunting in pain. Do you have any explanation to this?" He asked, Jane simply shook her head speechless.

"Well we're going to have to tell them to stay close to town. Where are they?" He asked and Jane bit her lip looking guilty.

"Knuckles came earlier...he asked questions so I told them to hide but when I came back they were gone..." she said, Sonic looked at Jane then sighed as he started to walk out the clinic to look for them. While he was on his way out he got a call from his communicator, he immediately answered.

"Sally?"

"Sonic I just got home there was someone in the hut."

"Wait wait wait what?"

"They went out through the back door."

"Did you see them?"

"No but they were in the hut when I came in, I have no idea what they've taken yet..."

"Okay get out of the hut now."

"No, it's alright. They're gone now." She sighed then began to walk through the hut to make sure nothing was missing.

"I could've chased them if I was as big as well Big himself!" She said referring to their feline friend.

"No, no. Listen, just stay inside and lock the doors. Are you okay?" He asked as Sally kept looking around.

"Yeah I'm fine."

"Well, call Tails and Knuckles."

"Okay okay!" She hung up. Sonic cursing under his breath as he started to run. It wasn't long till he bumped into Marine, he immediately stopped and looked at her.

"Marine, where is Amy?" He asked, Marine stopping in her tracks and glaring at Sonic.

"She is gone... she's leaving town... she knows about you and Sally..." she mentioned, Sonic's eyes widen, a worried look planted across his face. He then sighed.

"Get off the road and go back to the clinic. I don't care what happens don't leave okay? The clinic is two blocks on your left." He said as he started to run through town looking for Amy. Eventually he found her, she was walking towards another exited Hedgehog town had, another bridge. Sonic began to jog towards her trying to talk her.

"Amy I'm so sorry I meant to tell you!"

"When?"

"Please stop Amy..."

"It's alright, you have Sally now!"

"You were dead! I thought you were dead!"

"You said I died three years ago," Amy turned around to face him. "How long did you wait till you hooked up with her?" She asked, Sonic looked at her staying quiet which enraged Amy more. "Just fucking tell me!"

"We've been married for eight and a half months..." he confessed, Amy grunted in disgust as she began to walk towards the exit again.

"What about the baby?"

"It's due in two weeks..."

"Ugh! Where you seeing her while I was alive?!" She asked as she kept walking. Sonic followed behind her.

"No! Of course not!"

"Am I suppose to believe that?"

"It's the truth!" He exclaim as Amy let out another grunt of disgust

"Well it worked out for you. It was just me you didn't want to commit to." She responded, Sonic caught up to her and held her arm.

"How can you say that? My life ended when you died Amy..." He replied to her as he looked into her eyes. Amy jerked her arm away from him.

"Then why her, why my bestfriend?"

"Because she was in as much pain as I was." He said softly but loud enough for Amy to hear.

"Yeah right..." Amy kept walking eventually making her way mid Bridge until she back away. Her eyes bleeding, she collapsed and began to shake uncontrollably.

"Ames what's wrong?" He asked as he made his way towards her, Sonic then noticed her bleeding as started to back her away.

"No no no I've seen this happen." He informed as Amy tried to pull away from him but her body had been weakened.

"Let me go!" She yelled as she let herself collapse in his arms. He picked Amy up and started to jog towards the clinic.

"It's going to be okay..." he reassured her as he picked up the pace and ran towards the clinic.

[geek-gem]

You know ever since yesterday or whatever. But also today after finally watching the 2002 Resident Evil movie fully. Because me and my friend(Who had seen the video twice he told me) watched the, “Making Sonic Forces Again” a great video I watched yesterday which I’ll share later. One of the thoughts that came to my mind that Sonic Forces in some way seems like if Paul WS Anderson was handling the Sonic franchise or like a movie.

Again I don’t dislike Paul WS Anderson. Yet the idea and concept of, “If Paul WS Anderson made a Sonic movie” is seriously intriguing. I will say I have thought of making the joke of he makes his own character and the other characters aren’t the stars. Similar to how Alice is in the Resident Evil movies despite the first film I understand his reasons of why he went with the direction he went. 

But I’ll be honest, and considering in those old leaked Sony emails talking about the idea of a Sonic movie franchise being successful like their Resident Evil movies. This was mentioned in the 4 Cancelled Sonic The Hedgehog Movies by PatMac. Also remembering back to that fake leaked movie info from Reddit of the Sonic movie. That contained Perfect Chaos, Rouge, Madonna, and other stuff. Along with my ideas which I realized why the actual movie we are getting is going in the direction it’s in....I’ve rambled on too much yet I hope you understand. Yet I think this joke may not make sense. But I’m gonna try it anyway.

Paul WS Anderson: Okay I just wrote a script for the Sonic movie. 

Sega: Woah woah.....a loose Sonic Adventure adaption, Rouge is in there, along with GUN too, Madonna is a character too, no Knuckles....I take your taking some liberties with the source material Paul.

Paul WS Anderson: Yes I know that. But if dealt with right, it can probably be a good movie. It respects the source material as well.

Sega: I mean...it’s risky...

Paul WS Anderson: Also there is this other one but it wasn’t made by me, but it’s not a script.

Sega: What...I think someone liked your script and ideas. It’s another loose Sonic Adventure adaption, Rouge is in there. But Tikal is in there actually. Also the human character is a GUN soldier played by Chris Pratt, and not a journalist named Grant. 

Paul WS Anderson: Yeah he also made another one that’s not a script, but a first draft in a way that had Metal Sonic and Silver Sonic. Yet he really liked my ideas.

Sega: Okay Paul I get it, I appreciate the ideas. But I don’t know if a 2 hour movie can handle a lot of this? We are introducing Sonic to a new audience. We are worried this would be too much. Besides your reception with films like the Mortal Kombat movies, and the Resident Evil films don’t help ease a lot of people’s worries.

Paul WS Anderson: Yes I know of my reception. But hey at least it’s not Uwe Boll, besides I don’t what critics say about me. Along with the fact you have to trust me this will work.

Sega: I mean you seem like the kind of guy who wants to respect the source material. But I mean...this is still risky. Also the other guy with his ideas who was clearly inspired by your work. Who casts four actors from Steven Universe? Especially one of them voicing Rouge? Who does that? Especially to have Brad Peyton or Jordan Vogt-Roberts as the director for his movie ideas?

GeekGem:

Paul WS Anderson: Guess he really likes Steven Universe and wants to make some little refences by using actors from the show.

Sega: Yeah most likely. But I wanna ask you an important question about your adaption.

Paul WS Anderson: Yes what it is?

Sega: Would your wife Mila Jovovich be in your movie? Maybe Madonna? 

Paul WS Anderson:...….maybe. :)

So yeah I forgot the funny idea his wife would probably be in a film like this. Also I’m on Wikipedia, I found out that Paul considers himself a, “populist filmmaker”, who only cares if his movies entertain people and not, and doesn’t care of what critics say. Honestly this speaks volumes and explains a number of reasons why those Resident Evil films kept getting made. I mean the box office returns make sense. Originally I was gonna have him in the part where he doesn’t care what critics think, I was gonna have him say he takes pride in his work. I was kind of right or guessed it some what.

Besides I haven’t played any Monster Hunter games if I recall. But hopefully his Monster Hunter film will be enjoyable, and maybe good. I saw the teaser online months ago or so. Including I feel like maybe getting Monster Hunter World just to have some experience with the franchise. Yet also it could be a good game I could check out. Also to just be in preparation for that film despite it will be released September 4th 2020. I’m rambling on too much. Edit so considering I reblogged the trailer, found out it was from June. So I was correct on the months thing.

I just wanna make sure people know what I’m speaking about. This was the fake leaked movie info of the Sonic movie.  https://www.reddit.com/r/SonicTheHedgehog/comments/7e8a15/some_info_about_the_upcoming_sonic_film/ Turns out it was posted by someone named, “Sonicfilmanon”...so my joke of Paul making the movie his script can be a realistic joke. I’m sounding stupid, besides whoever made that leak was detailed and I liked what they did. Alright so I put the tags down, I don’t wanna forget. I did think when making this it could be Sonic Team would be talking to. But they would be working on a game or whatever, or it’s just easy to make it Sega. Besides I put Sega’s name already. I’m sorry this went on too long. Well my third edit because the second I put a new tag which was the W.S. and considering I just looked at the tag. Hopefully this gets more attention. Especially when making this I realized it was spelt that way.

[rachelbethhines]

The Antoine and Bunnie Retrospective - 134

“Sonic’s Angels” - Sonic the Hedgehog #152

So this is quite the controversial issue for many reasons. Mainly because of the way it resolves the whole Evil Sonic mucking with Sonic’s love life plot. In that it doesn’t resolve anything.  

The freedom fighters are sent on a mission to stop a bunch of nanites from destroying the ecosystem. And the group is split into two teams, the “brain trust” (ie the smart guys) and the psychical fighters. Only without the Chaotix or Antoine around, most of the heavy hitters are all women save Sonic himself. 

This leads into my first problem with story and possibility with the whole of the Sonic franchise. There aren’t any super smart women! 

In all of the games, cartoons, and the majority of the comics (I haven’t read Fleetway so forgive me if I’m wrong) most women in the franchise can be roughly categorized into five groups. 

The Cute Bruiser or Action Girl - Amy, Bunnie, Julie-Su, Barby ect. 

The Serious No Nonsense Leader or Loner - Lupe, Sally, Madonna, Topaz, Blaze, Shade ect. 

The Innocent - Hope, Maria, Cream, Elise, Tikal, Mina, That genie from Sonic and Secret Rings, ect. 

The Femme Fatale - Rouge, Breezie, Fiona, Lin-da ect. 

The Mothers - Vanilla, Rosie, Bernie, Lara-Le, Aleena ect. 

There’s nothing inherently wrong with any the above tropes and it’s good there are enough differences between theses characters to make them unique from one another.  But it’s telling that the only genius women, like Wave and Relic, are fairly new additions to the franchise. ( I think Fleetway has one, Tenko, I believe?) And anyone else who doesn’t fit into theses categories are often outliers like Sarah, Merlina, Regina, Sonia, Marine, or Sticks. (though Sticks is becoming more prominent) 

Basically what I’m getting at is, due to the nature of the series, there’s an over abundance of psychically strong women and few that have equal but differentiating strengths. Especially since the innocents tend to be plot points and/or motivators for male characters. Cream and Mina being the exceptions. 

So I can’t really fault Penders for wanting to do a story that highlights the fact that over half of the comic’s warriors are women. But I can gripe about how he merely uses them to further forced relationship drama and how none of them, save Bunnie, actually do anything productive. With character’s like Mina being outright redundant with the comic actually stating that she is. 

So what does Bunnie do? Well she get captured by the nanites who thinks she can be converted into the collective because of her cybernetic limbs. 

Now I don’t have a problem with this scene necessarily, unlike many others who seem to, and here’s why....

It’s a logical conflict that’s true to the unique nature of the characters. Robotization already involves natnite technology and Bunnie is one of only two people in the world who still has this technology present in their biological system.   

This ties into Bunnie’s already established internal conflict about her identity but puts a new spin on it where she realizes that who she is now is better then some of the other alternatives out there. This could also potentially tie into future conflicts as her cybernetics could be considered a danger to herself but it’s not one that’ll come up often.  

Some have argued this scene is too “intense” for children but I grew up with late 80s/early 90s cartoons where crap like this was deemed ok. 

I’m of the mind that as long as it doesn’t involve outright gore and has a happy ending you can go as dark as you want with kids and they’ll be fine. Usually. I do recognize that there are exceptions to this rule. 

Last off, there is a happy ending and she’s not permanently psychically harmed by the event.

No, what I have a problem with is what happens after she’s freed. 

Ya see Sonic outwits the nanties with logic in order to free Bunnie. 

Grateful and relieved to be herself once more, Bunnie gives him a kiss. 

Now this isn’t a problem within of itself so much as every thing revolving around it is awful. Bunnie’s already interested and Sonic and believes he has feelings for her because of Scourge lying to her and Sonic himself is unaware of both Scourge’s actions and Bunnie’s new found feelings. So instead of responding to this action in an believable manner or trying to to set the record straight he just goes along with it. So I guess they’re dating now, only no, wait, they’re not, because they never follow up on this ever! 

This is indicative of a larger problem within the Sonic franchise as whole. I mean, yes, it’s also because Penders is mainly a shit writer, but hear me out. From Ben Hurst to Pontaff, 90% of conflicts in Sonic are reactionary. Most characters simply react or respond to events going on around them. Rarely does a character initiate conflict themselves. The few that do, Eggman, Lyric, Metal Sonic, ect. often have very base motivations and rely heavily on mindless monsters to do their dirty work. 

(Note: I do know there are exceptions to this rule such as Shadow in SA2 or Merlina in SatBK) 

In short most Sonic stories tend to be Overcoming the Monster plots. Therefore, external conflicts like Man vs Technology or Man vs Supernatural works for the most part. However when trying to introduce any other potential conflicts, like say love triangles, the writers tend to cock it all up because they’re still running off of that reactionary mindset. 

In order for a Man vs Man conflict to work, which is what relationship drama is based off of, then characters have to have basic motivations, make consciousness decisions, and initiate action. The conflict then comes from two or more characters having conflicting desires and needs.     

By having outside forces like Scourge and Patch be the instigators of the love triangles you then take way any agency on behalf of the other characters involved. They merely become participants reacting to events rather then characters with real agency. 

Now I still defend Penders idea to turn Evil Antoine into Anti-Antoine as Bollers original plan also had that same lack of agency problem with having the Source of All be the manipulator of events. But the entire Bunnie/Sonic/Antoine/Sally triangle is such wasted potential. Because there is a story to be told there, it just required everyone to maintain their agency.     

Bare with me if you will as I explain how I would have written out this love triangle. 

Sonic is believed to be dead and trapped in space as in the real comic. Meanwhile Antoine becomes more serious and over protective as he doesn’t want to lose anybody else. He spends more time training and becomes something of a workaholic. He also becomes more attentive of Sally as she’s in mourning and in need of friend. He and Bunnie grow ever more distant as his new goals shifts his focus away from her.  It’s not that he’s become colder or uncaring, the opposite in fact, but rather they just start spending less and less time with one another. 

When Bunnie confronts him over his obsession, they eventual, but reluctantly, agree that things aren’t working out like the once were and break up. Or at the very least agree to give each other some space to figure things out. During all of this Sally and Antoine become even closer as they find they confine in each other about their problems. Then Sonic returns. 

Every thing in Home plays out more or less the same minus some bitching between Bunnie and Antoine and less slapping on Sally’s part.But the end result is Sally realizing that, while she does still love Sonic, they have very different goals in life and he’s not ready to commit the way she needs him to. But Antoine is. He’s been the study rock she’s leaned on and her shoulder to cry on for nearly a year now. And after his break up with Bunnie they’ve only gotten closer. So eventually after her break up with Sonic, they start dating. 

So that leaves Bunnie and Sonic both feeling lonely and dejected. Since they’re already friends and now have some common ground with their former significant others braking things often to date each other. Well you could see how they would eventually become closer, and may even agree to try dating one another. 

From there you have multiple ways which this could pan out. You could have the clean “happy” ending where everyone eventually realizes who they really love and both couples return to the original status quo. You could have the bitter sweet complex ending where only one couple works out and the others are left to grow from their experiences. Either Bunnie and Antoine get back together, leaving Sonic and Sally to press on, or have Sally and Antoine remain a couple and Sonic and Bunnie break up to figure out who they are without a relationship to depend on. You could also have Sonic wind up permanently with either Sally or Bunnie and leave Antoine and one of the other girls alone, but knowing Sonic it seems unlikely. Finally you can have the unhappy ending where none of the potential pairings work out. 

Either way, regardless of the outcome, the story becomes more compelling as the motivations involved stem from real issues, not evil forces manipulating events. No one turning out to be evil, no one losing their shit and slapping someone just force a plot point, no miscommunication driving the conflict, and no one responding to events just because, but rather making active decisions. It’s people learning to deal with life and how it changes  both themselves and others. Its real, complex, and mature. And because all of the people involved are already close friends with established histories and chemistry; any of the potential outcomes makes internal sense regarding the characters. 

Well enough fanfiction, back to the issue at hand. 

Since Sonic “out logic-ed” the nanites they release everybody. Meaning the rest of the girls didn’t have use Snively’s plan to short circuit the city. Oh yes, did I not mention that Sinvely’s in this and by the end he’s now joined the Freedom Ftighers? Yeah he’s here now and no one manages to accomplish anything, making the rest of girls completely pointless and the “brain trust” a good three or four too many. 

That’s it for this weeks review so tune in next time on the retrospective as we dive even deeper into the final days of Penders run. 

[myyearinhonduras-blog]

Part 1: The good - Vol 2

Boxing day was the start of our diving course and it didn’t consist of much but watching the TV screen and filling in sheets. The next day was more interesting because we actually got into the water. We had really great instructors: Sammy, Erin, Nina and Victoria. They were all very patient and calm with us and gave us space to learn, make our own mistakes and they were very kind about correcting them. We only got into the water that day to do our swimming proficiency test (I just passed it). To be honest, I wasn’t a huge fan of the feeling at first. I felt very claustrophobic and it’s strange just using your mouth to breath. The visibility was good but not being able to see like we can up here is slightly off putting. The next day was better and we went deeper  into the water to do more skills. While I still wasn’t totally comfortable with the feeling of the water yet, it was getting better and being deeper helps a lot. On the fourth day we did skills in the morning and then had a proper dive. The reefs down there are incredible. We did more deeper dives the next day too and I can’t remember on which days we saw what but we saw crabs, lobsters, eels, blue tang, sting rays, the fish that looks like “Gill” in Nemo and my personal favorite: a barracuda!! (The fish that kills Nemo’s mum). It was so intimidatingly still, like it was just waiting to strike us, it was about a meter and a quarter long and shiny silver. We got down to 18 feet and I’m now a certified open water diver! New years was also really fun but, again, it ended at about 10:30 for me in a hammock with both my wallet and my phone on me... unfortunately I didn't wake up that way but more on that later. New Years day I didn’t get up to too much except talking to family and walking around the island.

We said goodbye to everyone on the 1st and then headed off ourselves at 6am on the first boat out of Utila and started our trip to Tulum, Mexico. We didn't make it as far as we had wanted to on the first day and actually, didn’t even get out of Honduras but on the second day, we covered A LOT of ground. The day of traveling started at 6am and didn’t end until about 5am the following day. We traveled from Honduras to Puerto Barrios in Guatemala to Punta Gorda in Belize, up to Belize city then got a night bus from Belize city to Tulum. Unfortunately for us, we hadn’t thought about Tulum being a very popular destination for Americans at this time of year. All of the hostels were completely full when we arrived and after trudging around for about an hour trying to find somewhere to stay, we went back, defeated, to the bus terminal to wait until 11 when everyone checked to see in we could squeak in somewhere. We managed to find one, finally but, it was $23 per night. We only stayed in Tulum for one night but managed to make it over to see the ruins. They were stunning. I couldn’t believe my eyes. They’re right on the coast and the water in this part of Mexico (the Yucatan Peninsula) is crystal, crystal clear turquoise. A combination of the water and the ruins just took our breath away. We took a bus that afternoon to Cancun where it was still high season but where the beds were back to $11 per night. Cancun is famous for it’s nightlife and we thought we should go out as much as we could while we were there so we went out the first night to the strip only to find out that the good bars were around $65 to enter. We were stunned and quickly removed ourselves from the scene. Eventually, we found a rep that let us into a club called Mandala for free, provided that we tipped him generously. The atmosphere wasn’t great inside the club but we still managed to have a good time. The next day I, personally was exhausted and couldn't leave my bed until 1:30 (The Crown is a must watch Netflix binge). We made friends with one of the guys in our dorm and he told us that he would be able to get us into one of the good clubs that night for $25 each with open bar. We took the deal and went off to see if we could get to the Chichen Itza Mayan ruins. We were completely unaware about how long it took to get from Cancun to Chichen Itza - about 5 hours so we opted for the beach instead that day. There was a storm brewing and the black clouds juxtaposed against the blue water was something I don't think I’ll ever be able to see again (pictures to follow soon). We made our way back and got ready for the night. It was a good night, I’ve had better but it was definitely an experience I won't forget. The next morning we boarded a 5 hour bus to get to Chichen Itza. The ruins are totally different to those in Tulum - they are grand and awe inspiring while the ones in Tulum were a lot smaller. The area they were in was completely different too, it was totally flat with no sign of sea in sight. Despite the ruins being incredible, it did remind me, somewhat of Disneyland. Long lines to get in, everyone milling around, taking family photos, souvenirs being pushed at you left, right and centre. Just a lot more touristy than we had grown accustomed to. We spent two more days in Mexico, one traveling to Chetumal and one venturing out to Bakalar to see the lake of seven colors. It was actually only turquoise but it was more turquoise than even the sea in Mexico. We spent the day swimming in the refreshing water and sunbathing on the dock, finishing the day with pasta from one of the shops.

Unfortunately, that was it for Mexico, we traveled down to Flores, Guatemala the next day where (shoutout to Lucy) we found the coolest hostel. It was called “Los Amigos” and had a loungey bit with a definite “bali” vibe, further back was a restaurant that served HUGE portions of food and then up the stairs, even further back was a sound proof bar. We were staying in Los Amigos 2 which was down the street and nice and quiet to sleep in and had beautiful elephant tapestries on the walls. We were very tired on the first day so only Sara and I went out to the bar, we got a beer, had some free tequila shots and called it a night. The next day we were all a bit tired so didn’t stir until later. Lucy and I decided to take the opportunity to take some pictures of the beautiful little town.

At about 3 we decided to get a water taxi over to a rope swing where we spent the rest of the day until the sun went down. The little business was very well run - out of a man, named Jose’s, house. They had a little restaurant and drinks, it was only 10 quetzales (about £1) to enter! So we spent the rest of the day throwing ourselves into the lake and lounging in the hammocks. We got picked up by the water taxi again at 6 and went back to our hostel. We all went down to the bar that night and enjoyed big Jenga drinking games. The next day we headed to Tikal which were our last mayan ruins of the trip and they did not disappoint. We had to do a bit of hiking to get to the temples (flip flops are maybe not the best choice for every activity) but when we got there we could climb all the way to the top and look out. It’s one of the less touristy sites so you can still really see where the city had once been. We went for the sunset tour (mainly because we didn't want to get up at 3am for the sunrise tour) and the light was beautiful over the temple faces. Definitely my favorite ruins of the whole trip. We chilled out for most of the day after Tikal (we were all a bit tired) and got a night bus all the way down the country, first to Guatemala City and then to Antigua. Getting off the bus in at 6am was freezing! We definitely weren’t prepared with our shorts and t-shirts. It warmed up during the day and we took a few little wanders through the town, it was gorgeous and so colorful. We decided that it was a “soft city” no high rise buildings and a lot more relaxed than most of the cities we’re used to but it still had that city “buzz” to it. We stayed with the same company of hostels that we had stayed in Leon, Bigfoot. This Bigfoot was a lot more low-key though and they had the comfiest beds we’ve had the whole time with cozy duvets and curtains around each individual bed for a bit of privacy. We stayed in Antigua for three nights, not getting up to too much but enjoying the fresh weather and the scenery. I left the group for three days to spend some time in Guatemala City before an exam that I had to take to get onto my university course at Queens. So, while the rest of the group traveled to Lake Atitlan, I spent three days in the City. Not much to report as I spent the majority of my time in my hotel room cramming Chemistry into my brain.

I came back to Antigua after the exam and we spent two more days there before coming over to where we are now in El Tunco, El Salvador. It’s a very quiet beach town and it’s A LOT warmer than Antigua. Its a good way to finish up the travels, lazing by the pool and the beach before we have to get back to work in Candelaria on the 2nd of February! We have a few more days to go and I’ll just do some individual blogs for anything of note that happens!  

[drtanstravels]

I have finally got around to wrapping up a journey that I had already written three pieces about previously, but this post contains the sole purpose for that particular trip — Anna, her friend and colleague Fatimah Gilani, myself, and some other volunteers going on a mission trip to provide free eye surgery for people in a reasonably remote area of Honduras.

So far on this trek, one that took place almost three and a half years ago, I have covered:

Central America, pt. 1: Christmas in Guatemala: Anna and I had spent a strangely warm Christmas Eve in New York City watching the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular, completed a hellish check-in at Newark Airport in New Jersey, flew to Guatemala, and then spent Christmas Day exploring Antigua; chocolate museums, monasteries with deep pits full of human bones, that sort of thing.

Central America, pt. 2: “Hey! Let’s Go Climb an Active Volcano!”: We ate a heap of incredible food including pig face stew, went through some pretty cool markets, and climbed an active volcano, all before getting plastered in a hidden mezcal bar on our final night in Antigua.

Central America, pt. 3: Our First Visit to Mayan Ruins: We then flew to the Guatemalan city of Flores to explore Mayan ruins, as well as some flora and fauna at the Maya Biosphere Reserve.

In this, what was initially going to be the second instalment of my ‘Tales I’ve Forgotten to Tell‘ series, I will look at some old photos, check up Wikipedia, and ask Anna a bunch of questions, as well as try to recall whatever I can to tie up the loose ends and complete the story of what was one epic two-week getaway. As is always the case with these types of posts, there will be a ton of pictures.

Wednesday, December 30, 2015 Similar to how we had spent the previous day, Wednesday was also going to consist of walking around Mayan ruins, this time the ancient city of Tikal:

Tikal is the ruin of an ancient city, which was likely to have been called Yax Mutal, found in a rainforest in Guatemala. It is one of the largest archaeological sites and urban centers of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. It is located in the archaeological region of the Petén Basin in what is now northern Guatemala. Situated in the department of El Petén, the site is part of Guatemala’s Tikal National Park and in 1979 it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Tikal is the best understood of any of the large lowland Maya cities, with a long dynastic ruler list, the discovery of the tombs of many of the rulers and the investigation of their monuments, temples and palaces.

Also worth noting:

There are thousands of ancient structures at Tikal and only a fraction of these have been excavated, after decades of archaeological work. The most prominent surviving buildings include six very large pyramids, labelled Temples I – VI, each of which support a temple structure on their summits. Some of these pyramids are over 60 metres (200 feet) high. They were numbered sequentially during the early survey of the site. It is estimated that each of these major temples could have been built in as little as two years.

We spent most of the day on a guided tour around Tikal. One of the highlights was when our guide told us about an area where the ancient Mayans used to play a ball game resulting in a team, sometimes the winning team, being sacrificed to the Gods:

For the Maya, human sacrifices were associated with the ball game. The game, in which a hard rubber ball was knocked around by players mostly using their hips, often had religious, symbolic or spiritual meaning. Maya images show a clear connection between the ball and decapitated heads: the balls were even sometimes made from skulls. Sometimes, a ballgame would be a sort of continuation of a victorious battle: captive warriors from the vanquished tribe or city-state would be forced to play and then sacrificed ​afterwards. A famous image carved in stone at Chichén Itzá shows a victorious ballplayer holding aloft the decapitated head of the opposing team leader.

This was our tour guide’s reasoning as to why Guatemala are terrible at football, they simply killed off all of their best players. Anyway, a bunch of photos can probably describe the place better than words can. Some of these pictures may also begin to look similar after a while, but Tikal definitely was beautiful:

Where we’d be strolling around

A scale model

These people traveled halfway around the world to take a photo with the first punk they’d ever seen

Might steer clear of there

Lemurs?

Our first pyramid

Looking down from the top

One of our tour guides

Me inside a temple

I secrete my own salt

After Tikal we showered and went back into town to grab some dinner and find a bar to kick back in. We might have washed ourselves, but we were still so sweaty that if we did tequila shots, we wouldn’t need the salt, we could just lick our arms, which is probably what I did (right).

Thursday, December 31, 2015 It was New Year’s Eve and the plan was to travel down to Guatemala City to ring in the new year, but first we went to have a look around Lake Petén Itzá, as the city of Flores, where we had stayed for the previous three nights, lies on an island near the lake’s southern shore. Once done with the lake we went to the adjacent municipality of San Benito, another small town, but this one had somehow managed to double in size over a period of 10 years! Again, we ate well, had a look around a really sad shopping mall and some markets, having our photos taken with random strangers and trying to fight the urge to buy fireworks, before stumbling upon one of the most miserable looking amusement parks I’ve ever encountered. The park had a giant billboard for the Bolontiku Boutique Hotel, a beautiful five-star resort, however, the park itself was located directly in front of Hotel Pinita (not to be confused with the far nicer Hotel Leo Y Pinita), a place that looks like the kind of motel in which hookers get murdered in seedy films and TV series’, and one which is so bad, even their Facebook page doesn’t have photos! It’s hard to tell if the amusement park was still operating, but I doubt it, either that or they haven’t had any fatalities requiring them to move to another town yet, hence why the grass was so long. We wandered around the deathtrap rollercoasters and Disney knockoff rides before stopping in at a bar prior to making our way to Guatemala City.

After a short flight and a couple of run ins with some dodgy characters we were in the squalid heart of Guatemala City, but there was a bit of a problem — It was now 9:30pm on New Year’s Eve and we were staying in what was supposed to be the safest area of the city, mainly surrounded by embassies and very little else. We found ourselves walking around looking for a bar to celebrate in, but initially with little success as the few that were there were either full or closed. At first only two options presented themselves; there was the bar in a nearby hotel, which was where we began, one that had a two-piece band and contained a combination of some lonely-looking friends of the band and a couple of elderly people who very probably were crying into their drinks, or there was the local Hooters. Yes, we almost ended up spending New Year’s Eve in a Hooters. Hey, at least we know the wings would’ve been good, but it too was closing when we arrived. We had had a great time in Antigua and wished we had just stayed there, but we eventually found ourselves in a relatively empty bar, possibly even crashing their staff party, because it seemed that everybody drinking in the room was an employee or at least dating one. One of the significant others’ of a bar employee was an osteopath from a small town in the USA whose girlfriend only spoke Spanish, thinking this gave him a licence to say whatever he wanted in English, as she had no idea what he was saying. I got talking to this douche while Anna danced with his lovely, friendly girlfriend and it turned out he was simply an awful person. I told him that we were in Guatemala for a holiday, but were traveling to Honduras so Anna and some others could perform volunteer eye surgery in a rural community where it is difficult for the citizens to seek medical attention. His response? He said he does similar mission trips, but he doesn’t see the point because you don’t know where the money goes. I tried to explain to him that that wasn’t really the point and that it was more about helping people, a statement that led to a rather loud argument and him demanding to speak to my wife about the subject instead. This was a rookie mistake on his part, because he probably assumed that not only wouldn’t Anna be able to speak English particularly well, but she must also be yet another subservient Asian woman who will just go along with whatever he says, boosting his fragile ego. However, nothing could be further from the truth — First of all, English is Anna’s first language and secondly, anyone who has ever met Anna knows she does not back down from anyone and this guy had just opened a can of whoop-ass when he asked to discuss what he thought were the cons of Anna’s biggest passion with her. She explained the auditing process that is involved with mission work, but he tried to point out that he himself was a big deal because he works with orthopaedic surgeons. He then went on to tell us in front of his oblivious girlfriend that you simply can’t help Central American people due to them being lazy and continued to use a lot of other disrespectful terms, knowing he could get away with it, because we were among the only other people in the bar that spoke English. This just triggered Anna further, igniting a heated argument between the two. By this time it was almost midnight so we counted in the new year with the staff, had a few more drinks while ignoring that particular asshole, and then made our way back to the hotel. We couldn’t have a massive night anyway, we had to fly to Honduras the next day. A look at the final day of 2015 from our perspective:

Anna on Lake Petén Itzá in front of some cool houses

One of those houses

Our view during lunch

Not a bad place to stop off as long as you don’t have a gun. That bug on my arm is enormous!

One of many sculptures scattered around San Benito

A good example of the locals in town

So many fireworks if one were so inclined

Tempting…

Anna and a pillar

A guy who makes wire ornaments in a mall that wanted a picture with me

Approaching the dilapidated amusement park

The luxurious Hotel Pinita

I like the clown at the back the best

Michael Mouse?

A good place to stop before we get on our flight

The sad hotel bar we went into first in Guatemala City

What we thought was our only other NYE option…

…until we found this

Anna dancing with the American guy’s girlfriend. Shame she had no idea he was such a prick.

Friday, January 1, 2016 It was the first day of the new year and the main purpose of our Central American journey was finally here. We’d be flying into Toncontín International Airport, located just 6km (4 miles) from the centre of Tegucigalpa, the capital city of Honduras, and the one that was ranked second on the History Channel’s Most Extreme Airports. In fact, interestingengineering.com listed Toncontín International Airport as the eighth most dangerous airport in the world due to this little tidbit:

As you may be noticing, airports in mountains become very hard to land at due to the variant terrain and often short approaches. Toncontin Airport is no different. In order for planes to prepare for the descent, they must make a quick 45-degree bank turn to reach the runway in a valley. After this bank, planes must rapidly drop in altitude, being careful not to scrape the terrain directly underneath. High altitude makes flights to this city a real challenge.

Yes, we needed to land in one of the world’s most dangerous airports from a technical standpoint to arrive in what was once the world’s most dangerous country from a murderous point of view. I’m not kidding!:

In 2012 Honduras had the highest murder rate in its history. It also had the highest murder rate in a non-war country. In 2012, 7172 homicides were recorded. On average, there were 20 homicides a day. There was a 6.2% increase in homicides compared to the previous year. 83.4% of these homicides were committed with firearms.

Between 2011 and 2015 the murder rate in Honduras decreased by 30% (rate claimed by government, not independently confirmed). Homicides went down from 88.5 per 100,000 residents to 60.0 per 100,000. Homicide rate decrease stopped in 2016 when the murder rate did not present any significant differences from 2015. In the first semester of 2016 a rate of 14 deaths per day equalled the murder rate in 2015.

Due to the high levels of impunity in the country, the majority of murders in Honduras are never punished. In recent years only 4% of homicides have ended in a conviction. The lack of justice has produced a lack of trust in the police and other authority figures, which is not good for creating civic participation.

That’s crazy for country of just over nine million people. To put those numbers in perspective, in 2012 Honduras averaged 20 homicides per day, whereas in the last count done in 2016, Singapore had 18 (0.32 per 100,000 people) and Australia had 227 (0.94 per 100,000 people) for the entire year! Even the USA’s most recent murder rate was only 5.35 per 100,000 people, compared to Honduras’ then 88.5 per 100,000 people! At least the Honduran government had claimed the murder rate had gone down by 30% by the time we arrived, but that was only factoring in residents, however, tourists are also a big target as well due to the poverty in Honduras, along with gang problems. We weren’t going to be spending our time in Tegucigalpa though, we were going down to the city of San Lorenzo, just 34 km (21 miles) from the border with El Salvador, the newly crowned first-place on the murder poll, although with a percentage still slightly below Honduras’ personal best just a couple of years prior. Anyway, enough about the killing, let’s find out a bit more about our home for the next five nights, San Lorenzo:

San Lorenzo is a municipality in the Honduran department of Valle.

The city was established by Spaniards as a village in 1522 but not granted city status until 1909. It is the primary Honduran port on the Pacific coast and lies on the Pan American Highway.

According to the 2001 Honduran National Census, San Lorenzo is the 20th largest city with a population of 21,043. According to census, the population was divided between 19 colonias and barrios. It had a population of 15,294 in 1988 and 9,467 in 1974.

This mission trip was organised through Surgical Eye Expeditions (SEE) International, a nonprofit organisation based out of Santa Barbara, California, and they arranged all of the accommodation and transport from Tegucigalpa to San Lorenzo, as well as within San Lorenzo to the hospital, complete with an armed detail. That’s right, nobody was allowed to travel anywhere without the company of several guys with machine guns. I’m not sure what time we arrived in Tegucigalpa, but by 4:30pm we were on the road and were on our way to San Lorenzo

Saturday, January 2, 2016 On the first day of volunteering they needed as many people as they could find to get down to the hospital early in the morning and help set up. This is an area whose economy is based around the seafood industry and agriculture, particularly fruit, but it’s difficult to make a living from fishing or farming if your eyesight isn’t the best so it was absolute madness when we arrived, with hundreds of people that were seeking help barely kept from storming the hospital early in the day by even more armed guards already in place. Take a look at the mayhem:

In the van on the way to the hospital

Our first glance of the waiting crowd from the van

A few more patients than expected, probably should set up as quickly as possible

Arranging lenses

Sticking up eye charts

The view from the inside

Almost done

Time to let them in slowly

Anna, Fatimah, and the crew trying to keep some semblance of order

One of the older patients (not the last time you’ll see her)…

…and her husband

Some weren’t doing so well

The scene out the door to the left…

…and to the right

Even the administration work was stressful!

Vision test

Another of the many volunteers

Anna doing her thing

These guys were the only thing stopping the hospital being overrun

Keeping things civil outside

It wasn’t a lot of fun for those that had to wait out in the heat

Anna conducting more vision tests

Fatimah doing similar work

Sunday, January 3, 2016 – Wednesday, January 6, 2016 The rest of days at the hospital followed a similar pattern, but also with patients from the previous day returning for checkups or to have the other eye worked on if a procedure were necessary. The only difference was that for the final two days I wasn’t permitted to travel to the hospital, despite the fact that I had made myself available to run errands or do any labouring work that was needed, due to the fact that leaving the resort where we were all staying was deemed an unnecessary safety risk for me. Instead, I was forced to stay back with nothing much else to pass the time but to kick back with a book, which was fine by me, but I did spend most of that time just hoping in the back of my mind that everyone got back safely, relieved when I heard the van arrive home each evening.

The people at SEE International did a fantastic job organising this mission trip, but I did have one major problem with the whole thing; a lot of the American non-medical volunteers and fundraisers who were present for the trip in San Lorenzo, but spent all day kicking back at the resort, were devout Christians from the same church and also appeared to be spoilt trust fund kids. None of them were struggling for cash. Lunch was a standard meal at the resort and supplied to the volunteers at the hospital, but a buffet of home-cooked food was provided for dinner at the resort every night, generally an hour or so before any of the volunteers or guards had returned back from an extremely tiring and busy day of free labour. I saw on the final nights that before each dinner they would say grace, saying how they were doing God’s work and thus they were blessed with the bounty they were about to consume, and went on to eat almost all of the food, leaving hardly anything for the people who were really getting their hands dirty when they returned from the hospital! It was disgusting. At least on the final night they took everyone else out for dinner and drinks to thank all of the surgeons for their hard work in improving the lives of many Hondurans who normally couldn’t access or afford the help they received. Some more photos from those final days in San Lorenzo, Honduras:

They seem pleased with the results

Anna and Fatimah take a lot of pride in doing this type of thing

Anna checking up on the previous day’s procedure

Some more people back for checkups

And more

I think that was intended for her eye

Another satisfied customer

There were still a lot waiting outside each day

Definitely meets the criteria for being a wheelchair

The local media interviewing some patients

A typical lunch for the volunteers

These guys were literal lifesavers, it all would’ve been a lot scarier without them around

Finally time to unwind

The view from our restaurant on the last night

Everyone involved having dinner

Sorting out what needed to be returned and what could be chucked out before heading back to the US

On the way back to Tegucigalpa

Outside Toncontín International Airport

The final leg of this particular trip was an unusual one — Checking out ancient ruins is always fun, especially in a place like Tikal, we had one of our most anti-climactic New Year’s Eves ever in Guatemala City, and doing volunteer work in Honduras was at times terrifying, but ultimately satisfying, something that couldn’t have been achieved without the hardworking people at SEE International.

I finally got around to writing about the sole reason we went to Honduras three and a half years ago I have finally got around to wrapping up a journey that I had already written three pieces about previously, but this post contains the sole purpose for that particular trip -- Anna, her friend and colleague Fatimah Gilani, myself, and some other volunteers going on a mission trip to provide free eye surgery for people in a reasonably remote area of Honduras.