#center highlights robotic

[lemonomelette]

Cel-shading that I use for robots

if you have bad color sense like me and want to trick ppl into thinking that you know what you're doing.

1-2 : Base and Shadow

3 : Highlights

4-5 : Reflective Light & Contrast/Flow

note: every detail should come together nicely and lead your eyes to the main focus :)

6 : Touchups

Continue refining the shadows/highlights. Add interesting textures/ artistic effects.

I personally love duplicating the lineart, put it on overlay (with color) and move it slightly off-center it creates nice highlights on areas with seams when you don't want chromatic abberation.

[nasa]

For the Benefit of All: Assistive Tech Developed from NASA Tech

What do modern cochlear implants and robotic gloves have in common? They were derived from NASA technology. We’ve made it easier to find and use our patented inventions that could help create products that enhance life for people with disabilities.

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month, which highlights the contributions of American workers with disabilities – many of whom use assistive technology on the job. Take a look at these assistive technologies that are NASA spinoffs.

Low-Vision Headsets

The Joint Optical Reflective Display (JORDY) device is a headset that uses NASA image processing and head-mounted display technology to enable people with low vision to read and write. JORDY enhances individuals’ remaining sight by magnifying objects up to 50 times and allowing them to change contrast, brightness, and display modes. JORDY's name was inspired by Geordi La Forge, a blind character from “Star Trek: The Next Generation” whose futuristic visor enabled him to see.

Cochlear Implants

Work that led to the modern cochlear implant was patented by a NASA engineer in the 1970s. Following three failed corrective surgeries, Adam Kissiah combined his NASA electronics know-how with research in the Kennedy Space Center technical library to build his own solution for people with severe-to-profound hearing loss who receive little or no benefit from hearing aids. Several companies now make the devices, which have been implanted in hundreds of thousands of people around the world.

Robotic Gloves

Ironhand, from Swedish company Bioservo Technologies, is the world’s first industrial-strength robotic glove for factory workers and others who perform repetitive manual tasks. It helps prevent stress injuries but has been especially warmly received by workers with preexisting hand injuries and conditions. The glove is based on a suite of patents for the technology developed by NASA and General Motors to build the hands of the Robonaut 2 humanoid robotic astronaut.

Smart Glasses

Neurofeedback technology NASA originally developed to improve pilots’ attention has been the basis for products aimed at helping people manage attention disorders without medication. The devices measure brainwave output to gauge attention levels according to the “engagement index” a NASA engineer created. Then, they show the results to users, helping them learn to voluntarily control their degree of concentration. One such device is a pair of smart glasses from Narbis, whose lenses darken as attention wanes.

Anti-Gravity Treadmills

A NASA scientist who developed ways to use air pressure to simulate gravity for astronauts exercising in space had the idea to apply the concept for the opposite effect on Earth. After licensing his technology, Alter-G Inc. developed its anti-gravity G-Trainer treadmill, which lets users offload some or all of their weight while exercising. The treadmills can help people recover from athletic or brain injuries, and they allow a safe exercise regimen for others with long-term conditions such as arthritis.

Wireless Muscle Sensors

Some of the most exciting assistive technologies to spin off may be yet to come. Delsys Inc. developed electromyographic technology to help NASA understand the effects of long-term weightlessness on astronauts’ muscles and movements. Electromyography detects and analyzes electrical signals emitted when motor nerves trigger movement. Among the company’s customers are physical therapists developing exercise routines to help patients recover from injuries. But some researchers are using the technology to attempt recoveries that once seemed impossible, such as helping paralyzed patients regain movement, letting laryngectomy patients speak, and outfitting amputees with artificial limbs that work like the real thing.  

To further enhance the lives of people with disabilities, NASA has identified a selection of patented technologies created for space missions that could spur the next generation of assistive technology here on Earth.

Want to learn more about assistive technologies already in action? Check out NASA Spinoff to find products and services that wouldn’t exist without space exploration.   

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space!

[unidrm]

AEON DR : INTRODUCTION

__ this is a kpop grpshifting dr w my 4 friends, add on members were to keep the grp even

GRP + MEMBERS

AEON (애이언) is a diverse K-pop co-ed group that consists of 8 members: Kura, Ten, Al, Feng, Kira, Kyu, Namgi, and Angel who are formed by Big Hit Entertainment under hype labels. Aeons lore is deeply connected into their concept, often featuring themes of self-growth and fantasy. The group's debut concept was centered around the idea of AEON’s debut mini album released on March 6th, 2015 with “Cast ON!” and title track “Magic”. the subsequent releases follow this narrative And highlight the conflict between personal identity and burdened by society with robotic expectations of perfection, choosing not to escape but to redefine their narrative, embracing their individuality, dreams, and flaws, fostering respect for the authenticity within each.

FANDOM NAME: segi

LIGHT STICK: idea by me, it’s an interactive robot🦭

OFFICIAL COLORS: neon blue & pearl white

MEMBERS PROFILE:

EXTRA ABT THE GRP:

__ we are semi self produced meaning we do participate in the making of our music, choreography, or any type of production, we definitely have a say in some stuff.

__ we are the #1 kpop grp in the world (I had too..)

__ I scripted the hybe building was done built in March 2017

__ our fame didn’t really kick off til 2018

__ kura has her own production lab called “kuras garden”

LIVING SPACE : had to search so many websites and even downloaded apps to find this house fully . It’s just too pretty

STYLE: I js wanna include this to show a bit more personality

CUT__

[vampire-wizard-solidarity]

i think the way totk references skyward sword only highlights the problems with totk and gets a little insulting at times.

this is mostly about ganondorf’s demon king form being highly reminiscent of demise. i get that it makes sense, since ganon’s power most likely comes from demise’s curse, so when it’s amplified it visually references that. that’s neat, and not an inherently bad idea, even a good one in some aspects.

however, all it does for me is highlight just how much of a non character ganondorf is. demise is, to an extent, also a non character: he isn’t deep nor extensively fleshed out, but the thing is, not all characters have to be. and him, he works. most of the game is spent with ghirahim, his much more expressive and motivated sidekick. he’s fun, intimidating when he has to be, and balances being silly and being an actual threat well. demise is the kicker, the final punch, when ghirahim spent the entire game building him up, we finally get to see him, he’s intimidating, he’s serious in contrast to ghirahim, he immediately shuts the villain we spent most of the game fighting up, and reduces him to an object to be used to fulfil his own goals. his boss fight is cool, and so is he.

demise is a god of destruction, he doesn’t have a motivation beyond the fact that he is a representation and wields power over evil. and that’s the point. skyward sword’s themes largely center humanity vs inhumanity, link spends a large portion of the game running around fulfilling a plan he doesn’t fully understand, being roped into this ordeal before he even finds out about it, not really comprehending what’s happening or why for a long time. so, it’s only natural the final force he has to face is an equally incomprehensible threat, and he defeats it not because he comprehends it more now, or understands the ancient conflict between gods or any of that. he does it because he wants to protect someone he loves, he does it because he forms a genuine bond with the robotic, originally emotionless guide who was made only for the purpose of aiding him in this godly plan. humanity triumphs over godhood. humanity triumphs over inhumanity.

in totk, however? there really isn’t much difference between ganondorf before and after he becomes the demon king. he has no particular motivation before or after, he is a king who wants to rule over hyrule with evil, and then he becomes a more powerful king who wants to rule over hyrule with evil. he looks more like the god of destruction now, but that signifies nothing other than he is more powerful now. ganon has always been associated with power, and the way power corrupts has always been a fitting theme for him. he could’ve had development throughout the game, and him becoming more like the literal godly representation of evil could’ve signified that development. maybe he was a king with an actual motivation, an actual in story reason to oppose hyrule, we could’ve been shown his human side, what he actually cares for and why he does the things he does, and then we could’ve seen that side of him dissolve as he taps more into his power, becomes more like a being of destruction that destroys simply because that’s what it has power over. him taking visual cues from demise could’ve actually meant something, could’ve been a visual representation of the way his power corrupts him. instead, we get nothing. there was no reason to bring ganondorf back, because he still acts like a motivationless monster, who is evil simply because he is. all talk of this being “his game” was a lie, considering he could easily be replaced by a generically evil monster and nothing would’ve changed.

ultimately, i still wouldn’t have been happy with this story because it would still lean heavily on the orientalist narratives still alive and present in zelda, but this would’ve been at least something. the way it is, the fact that he takes visual cues from demise pisses me off because it highlights just how one dimensional his character is, it makes me feel only cynicism because it makes it clear that ganondorf was only brought back because he’s a popular and iconic character and not because he had any purpose in the story or because the writers had anything interesting to do with him.

[sincerely-sofie]

Chapter 7 of Sofie Plays "Slay the Princess": The Stranger

STRANGER DANGER STRANGER DANGER STRANGER DANGER STR---

[ Beginning ] - [ Previous Part ] - [ Next Part ]

The Narrator is a doofus (derogatory) and Ultra Princess (whose name I can't recall--- did she even give one?) lightly chastised me when I tried to sit in the woods forever to have a tantrum over it. >:(

I can't truly express this to all you folks watching at home, but the parallax / scrolling effect that has been ever-present throughout the game is entirely cattywampus in this cabin.

One day, mirror... *clenches fist* one day...

I left the blade behind again. I probably should take it with me one of these days. That doesn't really matter right now, though, because I'm too unsettled by the combination of my fear of heights and these stairs lacking any form of guardrails.

This brick joke is slowly growing on me. Used to hate it and use it as a means of fueling my distrust of the Narrator, but now it's a little comforting whenever I see it. I need to write a fanfic of this game once I'm done and use it in some kind of funny way.

Oh dear. It's an arbitrary choice that will likely have a significant impact on how this run goes... Split the difference, I guess? We'll take the center staircase.

This 100% symbolizes the various Princesses, doesn't it? Oh goodie! I'll wait to trigger the dialogue advancing so I can examine it and---

GEE THANKS PRINCESS. NOW I'M COMING DOWN FROM A HEART ATTACK AND I DIDN'T GET TO ANALYZE THAT SCREEN BECAUSE OF YOU ADVANCING THE TEXT FOR ME.

Okay the contrarian is growing on me. "Wow, what an utterly indescribable and fundamentally unsettling, eldritch experience. Time to be a rascally rogue once more!"

(Lego Movie Robot Background Character Voice) Her face is so generic it matches every other face in our database!

*deep, deep sigh* CONTRARIAN.

Okay I succumbed to the shoulder devil that is the Contrarian and...

... Those shouldn't be highlighted all at once. Sad that there's such a glaring issue in a published game. I'll select the option to leave her in the basement and OH SHOOT IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE THAT WAY.

Welp. At least we can match, right?

I DO NOT LIKE MATCHING ANYMORE.

Contrarian pls I need a joke save me

Phenomenal voice acting here! I hate it.

Dangit, I wanted to see if I could even help her! You have horrible timing, Ultra Princess.

Alright besties, time to check on how the glow-up's coming along!!!!!!!!! :DDDD

I think we might need to switch up our skincare routine.

Absolutely fascinating dialogue option that is giving me emotions and I need to sit and ponder all of it for a bit.

I finally asked the Narrator if there's some sort of reward I'll receive for slaying the princess--- he answered in the affirmative. Is the reward just a continued existence? Riches? Power? Immortality?

Okay yeah no I pressed him on the subject and he's totally pulling this out of his rear. There's no reward.

This time I'm going to manage to free her--- or try as best I can, at least. Hopefully without any dismemberment this time.

(Continuing this in the next post!)

[spontaneousglitterbees]

(click for higher quality, text description under the cut)

welcome to the hydraulic press channel

[Begin comic description:

Scene begins with Kokichi and Kaito during the offscreen Hangar Scene of Chapter 5. Kokichi, having been shot and poisoned, lay on his back on a hydraulic press. The first panel shows him from the side, with Kaito out of view behind machinery. Presumably, they are in the moments before enacting Kokichi's plan.

KOKICHI: "Momota-chan?"

KAITO: "Ouma?"

KOKICHI: "Before I die (which should be very shortly). I... need you to tell me something."

Zoom out. The camera focuses on the distance between the press and the control balcony. Kaito responds, "If robots didn't already have them I'm sure Miu—" Kokichi cuts him off. "Not that."

Zoom back in on a deliriously bemused Kokichi, who is slowly pulling the portion of Kaito's coat that will be trapped with him under the press over his still-bleeding right shoulder. "Did she hit it?"

Three small panels in succession show a confused close-up of Kaito's face: "... What?" as Kokichi fires back "On my jacket... the stitches make an 'X' pattern on the back!" Kokichi holds his crossed index fingers over his head, the intersection highlighted in purple-pink.

Cut to Kaito at the control panel of the hydraulic press, leafing through Kokichi's planning notebook with rigid shoulders and a determined expression. Meanwhile, from his position below, Kokichi less speaks to Kaito than in his general direction: "I'm such a nice murder victim, Momota! Ahahahahaha, I even showed her where to aim!"

Kaito is mildly alarmed as he hears a weak "Nishishishishi" from the press as Ouma loses steam, and he cringes as it progresses into a cough so severe it jars the outline of the speech bubble from its background with an overlain spatter of purple-pink blood. Kaito looks away from the press and toward the toilet where the two earlier attempted to flush Ouma's clothes and disrupt the future crime scene. A close-up confirms that the crossbow bolt went through between the large 'X'-shaped stitches on the back of Ouma's jacket, not through the center of an 'X'. Kaito sighs, and mumbles. "Oh, Maki...."

Regaining enough resolve to smile (and, perhaps, taking a few notes from Kokichi), Kaito forces a thumbs-up gesture Ouma cannot see. He lies through his teeth to comfort the dying kid with a morbid joke he just knows Ouma will prefer to any platitudes: "Yeah."

Kokichi, laying with his head tilted to one side and having determined he is isolated and out of view enough to cry, expresses genuine shock as he listens to Momota go on.

"She got it. 'Dead' center, Kokichi."

Ouma, crossing his arms over his chest as though he were to be lain in a casket, looks up at the top of the press with tears in his eyes. Even now, he forces himself to grin (or, since the expression is deep enough to affect his eyes, it may just be real. Dead men never need to tell.) "H-eh. Nice." His thoughts resound around the panel, unspoken. "but... I know that was a lie. Am I... proud?"

The camera pans over to a side-view of a sobbing Kaito and the shadow of an Exisal behind him as Kokichi's thoughts continue: "M-Maybe Mr. Luminary of the Stars..."

The final panel shows a side-profile view of a relaxed Ouma horizontally on the press, the sleeve of Kaito's coat dangling over the side behind him. He has one hand still crossed over his chest as the other lay palm-down at his side. His eyes have closed, perhaps for the last time. He smiles.

"wasn't so boring after all."

"Goodnight...."

End description.]

[kensanwrites]

Robotic Affirmation Series: Favored One

Welcome to our focused affirmation session, "Everything Works In My Favor: Robotic Affirmations with Alpha Wave and 532 Hz Frequency Manifestation" – Your Key to Positive Outcomes and Success! 🌟🎧

This video offers a unique and powerful approach to affirmations, using the robotic affirmations technique. Here, a single powerful statement, "Everything works in my favor," is repeated for five minutes. This method is designed to deeply embed this positive belief into your subconscious, reinforcing the concept that life aligns to benefit you. The session concludes with a few moments of meditation, allowing the affirmation to fully integrate into your mindset.

🌟 Highlights of this video include:

🤖 **Robotic Affirmations**: Experience the effectiveness of robotic affirmations where the mantra "Everything works in my favor" is methodically repeated, helping to solidify this empowering belief.

🌀 **Alpha Wave Integration**: Alpha Waves are utilized to enhance mental clarity and relaxation, creating an optimal state for your mind to absorb and manifest the affirmations.

🎵 **532 Hz Frequency**: The 532 Hz frequency, known for its transformational properties, supports the manifestation process, encouraging positive life changes and the realization of personal desires.

🧘 **Meditation Session**: Conclude with a brief meditation to deepen the impact of the affirmation, leaving you centered and ready to face the world with a new, positive outlook.

Subscribe, like, and click the notification bell to join us on this transformative journey. Let’s reshape your reality and strengthen your belief that indeed, everything works in your favor.

🌟 Embrace this affirmation and start manifesting a life filled with success and positivity today! 🌟

[albertonykus]

Doraemon Movies Ranked by Shizuka's Roles in Them

I've written before about how Shizuka seems underutilized in many of the Doraemon movies, but not all of the movies are made equal. To get a sense of which films portray her the best, I've ranked them based on her characterization and narrative role in each one.

Obligatory disclaimer that this is not derived from any type of standardized rubric or quantitative analysis, only my personal judgment and impressions of the franchise. In addition, this list is distinct from how I'd rank the movies based on my opinion of their overall quality and entertainment value. In general, increased focus on Shizuka (or any of the other main characters) is almost always a positive for me, but there are certainly Doraemon movies that I think are good yet don't feature her prominently, or ones that I don't enjoy as much even though they manage to portray her well.

Full ranking below the break. I've also linked to my reviews of each individual film to provide further context. May contain movie spoilers!

1. Nobita's Three Visionary Swordsmen (1994)

In many ways, this is Shizuka's movie. She has an active role for much of her screentime, undergoes the most personal journey, and is the one who finishes off the main villain. Furthermore, she gets moments to show that she's clever, works hard, and values kindness. Her key role is all the more remarkable considering that she doesn't "properly" join the main plot until nearly halfway through the movie.

Reinforcing her position as the central character is the fact that in the beginning of the movie, Nobita imagines himself as a hero who hides his true identity from his friends, but during the actual adventure, it's Shizuka who maintains a secret identity. It's a fun way to play with audience preconceptions.

2. Nobita and the Steel Troops (1986) 3. Nobita and the New Steel Troops (2011)

Shizuka is a major player in this story as well. Here, her foremost traits on display are her compassion and willingness to forgive, but that's not all. It's her knowledge of Doraemon's gadgets that provides a solution to the main conflict, and as I've previously written, it's also one of the few times that her kind nature is actually tested. Her precocious declaration that "Doing things that don't always make sense is being human" may be one of her best-known lines in the franchise, and for good reason.

None of the Doraemon movie remakes change Shizuka's roles enough to be given vastly different rankings from their original counterparts in my opinion, but if I were to compare the two different versions of Steel Troops, Shizuka's goodwill arguably shines even more in the original, considering that she was still determined to save Riruru after the robot made an attempt on her life (a scene cut from the remake)!

4. Nobita's Little Star Wars 2021 (2022) 5. Nobita's Little Star Wars (1985)

This story has one of the few "Shizuka gets kidnapped" subplots that I can actually tolerate, and a major reason why is that she is very actively involved with the rest of the narrative. From the moment that she's drawn into the main conflict, she does everything she can to help, despite admitting to having doubts and fears of her own. Her determination even ends up inspiring Suneo's own acts of bravery, and speaking of which, this is among the few Doraemon stories to showcase the dynamic between the two of them.

Comparing the remake and the original in this case is difficult, because beyond the scenes that they share, the two versions highlight different aspects of Shizuka's character. The remake heightens her positive qualities even more (the addition of her forcibly stopping Papi from turning himself in to the antagonists feels very in-character), but seeing her being a little self-centered during the movie-making subplot at the beginning of the original is kind of fun, too.

6. Nobita and the Castle of the Undersea Devil (1983)

Once again, Shizuka's kindness towards another character becomes an overarching subplot that is critical to saving the day. Furthermore, though this was the first Doraemon movie to use the "Shizuka gets kidnapped" plot point, it's an interesting version of it in that she volunteers to be captured as part of her plan to locate the main villain's hideout.

And what's her reaction to an unreasoning AI threatening to rain nuclear destruction on the world?

(Using a panel from the manga here because available English fansubs don't translate this line properly. It is in the movie though!)

7. New Nobita's Great Demon (2014) 8. Nobita and the Haunts of Evil (1982)

Although this story doesn't focus on Shizuka as much as the last few, she has a very important part in it, given that her realization about how the prophecy of the dog kingdom can be fulfilled is the key to the heroes' victory. Also, she beats up a gorilla and has fun doing it.

Her role is essentially unchanged across both versions of the movie, but I'm ranking the remake higher just for being a better-made film overall. In addition, she is careful to avoid actually hurting the gorilla in the remake, which seems like something she would do.

9. Nobita's Chronicle of the Moon Exploration (2019)

This is another movie in which Shizuka is not the focal character, but really comes in clutch at the end when the others need her. In general, giving her free rein to Doraemon's gadgets (as also occurs during key moments in Three Visionary Swordsmen and Steel Troops) is a good way to ensure that the day gets saved.

10. Nobita's Dorabian Nights (1991)

I give this movie a lot of flack for how nonsensical its story is and how excessively cruel it is to Shizuka. (Being trafficked as a slave due to her friends' thoughtless actions? What the hell?!) However, I have to admit that Shizuka herself is written quite well. She stays remarkably composed and sticks to her principles in the face of calamity, even when her prospects of rescue seem vanishingly remote. She is also resourceful enough to come up with a fairly credible escape plan, though it doesn't work out. She gets out of a hostage situation on her own during the climax, so that's something.

At the same time, she avoids coming across as unrealistically perfect, because the movie also gives her a few moments to be flawed: she can be short-tempered (snapping at Nobita for inviting her over for "kids' stuff"), and even a bit careless sometimes (remembering the wrong date for her camping trip)!

11. Nobita's Sky Utopia (2023)

Speaking of flaws, this next entry is one of the few movies to highlight Shizuka's. Here, it zeroes in on the fact that she can be stubborn, which many viewers might not have picked up on, but is very much a consistent part of her character. (Just consider how she insists on taking daily baths, no matter where she is and how inconvenient it might be.) As mentioned in my review, the film doesn't do as much with Shizuka's stubbornness as I would have liked it to, but the fact that it was put in the spotlight at all is still noteworthy. Not to mention, the scene where Shizuka, Gian, and Suneo own up to their flaws is one of the best in the movie.

That being said, the fact that this is enough to nearly qualify in the top 10 film depictions of the third most important character in a franchise with over 40 movies... is a little sad, isn't it?

12. Nobita and the Kingdom of Clouds (1992)

Although it doesn't achieve much, Shizuka does get a good character moment here when she's the only one of her friends to come up with a cogent, calmly stated argument (with minimal preparation, no less) in attempt to persuade the sky people not to follow through with their plan to flood the Earth.

She is also shown to be a good artist—check out her freehand design of this castle.

13. Nobita's Diary on the Creation of the World (1995)

Due to time constraints, a substantial portion of Shizuka's activities in this one happens offscreen, but what little we get to see shows that she apparently accomplished a lot! On top of that, she formulates a plan that helps Doraemon and Nobita subdue a giant centipede, and her artistic and note-taking skills come in handy for putting together their school report.

14. Nobita and the Birth of Japan (2016) 15. Nobita and the Birth of Japan (1989)

The opening act of this story is interesting for the insight it provides into each of the main characters. It probably isn't much of a surprise to see Nobita or Gian wanting to run from home, but why might a rule-abiding, responsible kid like Shizuka consider doing so? Well, like many other children who get branded as "well-behaved", it turns out she feels a fair bit of pressure from parental expectations.

She doesn't have much to do in the story after that, but to be fair, no one really does in the original movie. Everyone gets to contribute more in the remake, giving it a higher ranking by default, though Shizuka arguably still lacks a real standout moment to shine.

16. Nobita's New Dinosaur (2020)

Shizuka's most prominent moment in this one is probably the scene where she gives a motivational speech to Nobita. It's not much, but it's pretty sweet, actually. Otherwise, she does enough to maintain an active presence even when the spotlight isn't on her.

17. Nobita's Secret Gadget Museum (2013)

Another entry in which Shizuka doesn't get a whole lot of focus, but is involved enough to feel present. She defeats a petrifying Gorgon Head statue and locates a secret passageway. Also, seeing her get to laugh along with her friends is cute.

18. Nobita's Space Heroes (2015)

This is a hard movie to rank, because Shizuka contributes quite a lot during the action sequences and even takes down one of the major villains by herself. However... this is offset by how much the film seems to water down her characterization. Like I mentioned in my review, it's odd and inconsistent with her previous depictions that she would feel embarrassed about using her gadget-augmented strength. And at one point, she out of everyone in the group even admits to having forgotten about Nobita (who had last been seen in a life-threatening situation)!

As @filmfactors discussed in their own musings on Shizuka's characterization, there's also something lackluster about the fact that she's given water powers simply because she likes bathing (to the point where she's given a line to lampshade this). It's not so much that hydrokinesis doesn't work for Shizuka as a superpower—I actually think it'd be very appropriate for her to receive a power that would seem to require substantial mental and technical skill to use, and at the same time has immense destructive potential if not properly controlled. (Even though I know very little about X-Men, this is also why @cosmicmaskman's casting of Shizuka as Jean Grey feels very fitting to me.) I just would have preferred if it had been connected more to her actual skills and personality.

19. The Records of Nobita, Spaceblazer (1981) 20. The New Record of Nobita's Spaceblazer (2009)

This is an unusual story in that Shizuka isn't in much of it (and neither are Gian and Suneo, for that matter), which prevents me from ranking it higher. She does at least have a moderately prominent role during the screentime she has, acting as a mediator among her friends and convincing Gian and Suneo to help out during a crucial moment.

I place the original movie higher than the remake because I think it's generally better executed, but Shizuka's role is pretty much the same in both. As a bonus, the original includes one of the few times that she is shown playing baseball with the others.

21. Nobita's Earth Symphony (2024)

As said in my review, for a story about music, this movie met my bare minimum expectations for Shizuka's level of participation. She actively contributes throughout the narrative and her established experience with musical instruments is acknowledged. Even so, more could have been done with her. A gag where she volunteered to play the violin only to be stopped by the rest of the group would have been so easy!

22. Nobita and the Animal Planet (1990)

Although not much attention is drawn to her, Shizuka has a decent presence in this one. She's shown to be supportive of Nobita when Gian and Suneo make fun of him (but isn't above teasing him a little herself), figures out the explanation behind the animals' creation myth, and gets to help out in small ways here and there (at least as much as Gian and Suneo do).

23. Nobita and the Legend of the Sun King (2000)

Shizuka doesn't do very much here, but she contributes at least one thing of narrative importance. Her getting angry at Prince Tio is one of the main events that leads him to rethink his behavior and inspires his character development. She also pieces together what the villain's plan is (earning her a compliment from the villain), and seeing her play the prince in Snow White is a fun moment if nothing else.

24. Stand by Me Doraemon 2 (2020)

Given that this movie is about Shizuka and Nobita's wedding, she naturally has a major role in it. Yet half the time she feels more like a prop for Nobita's character development. Doing nothing but wait for a whole year after he mysteriously disappears from their wedding ceremony? Standing around while her friends desperately fight some older bullies, instead of trying to get help?

She does get a few moments to be an actual character though: she stands up to the aforementioned bullies (though understandably can't do much about them), and she proves to be perceptive, as at the end of the movie she figures out based on very few context clues that adult Nobita had gotten help from Doraemon.

25. Nobita and the Spiral City (1997)

Being kind pays off once more for Shizuka, as it leads a secondary antagonist to act in her (and her friends') favor at a critical juncture. Although important, neither this concept nor Shizuka herself are given nearly as much time or focus as they were in previous stories that used similar plot points, such as Castle of the Undersea Devil or Steel Troops.

26. Nobita and the Galaxy Super-express (1996)

Here, Shizuka makes the valuable discovery that the alien antagonists are vulnerable to soap solution. Like I commented in my review, this mainly seems like a contrived way to justify showing her in a bath scene though, so... ugh.

27. Nobita's Dinosaur (2006) 28. Nobita's Dinosaur (1980)

There isn't much in the way of practical contributions from Shizuka (nor from Gian and Suneo) in this earliest of the Doraemon long stories. Still, she has enough screentime to establish her general personality. She's nicer to Nobita than Gian and Suneo are, but at the same time doesn't always have much faith in him either. She worries about not being able to finish her homework when Doraemon suggests turning their journey to the Cretaceous into a camping trip, and she puts herself at risk to try and save a baby sauropod from a Tyrannosaurus rex.

The remake gives pretty much everyone a characterization boost, so it gets a higher ranking than the original from me. Perhaps the most noteworthy addition for Shizuka is her argument with Suneo over whether they should hand Piisuke over to the dinosaur poachers.

29. Nobita and the Tin Labyrinth (1993)

There's very little for Shizuka to do in this one, but seeing her being a bit competitive and accepting a bet from Gian and Suneo is at least an interesting character moment. (The manga did it better though.)

30. Nobita's Treasure Island (2018)

I already spent too many words dissecting Shizuka's subplot in my review of this movie, but to summarize: for the amount of screentime she gets, it really doesn't do her many favors. She barely contributes to resolving the main conflict in any meaningful way, nor is there much insight into her character that you normally wouldn't get. The friendship she strikes up with Sarah is cute, I suppose. If only it mattered more to the story.

31. The Record of Nobita's Parallel Visit to the West (1988)

The main thing Shizuka does in this movie is play the part of Tang Sanzang. Unfortunately, playing the part of Tang Sanzang also means not doing very much other than getting captured by monsters.

32. Nobita and the Knights on Dinosaurs (1987)

We're running out of notable movie roles for Shizuka at this point in the list, but there are a few character moments here at least. She plays her violin for the first time in a Doraemon movie, gets praised by Gian for being smart, and spots the approaching bolide that will cause the end-Cretaceous mass extinction (though no one listens to her). There's an odd scene that implies she is jealous when Nobita crushes on Roo the dinosauroid girl.

33. Nobita and the Winged Braves (2001)

This would have been the perfect story for the filmmakers to remember that Shizuka has a pet bird, which they do. Her pet even ends up in the bird dimension alongside the main characters. The movie then proceeds to do... absolutely nothing interesting with this concept. Considering that the relationship between humans and birds is a major theme here, it would have been a great opportunity to use Shizuka and her canary to make some form of commentary on this topic, but no.

To add insult to injury, Shizuka doesn't participate in the big race that occurs halfway through the movie, and gets sidelined during the climax.

34. Nobita in the Wan-Nyan Spacetime Odyssey (2004)

Shizuka, uh... drives a truck in this one. I guess that's something.

35. Nobita's Great Adventure in the South Seas (1998)

She helps fight the villain's bioengineered monsters during the climax, but that's about it.

36. Nobita Drifts in the Universe (1999)

Along with Gian and Suneo, she helps hold off enemy forces during the climax, but this occurs almost entirely offscreen. She also gets some surface-level bonding with Freya the alien fairy so the latter can feel guilty about betraying the heroes later.

37. Nobita and the Windmasters (2003)

This movie does many things very well, but giving Shizuka meaningful focus is not one of them. She gets a couple of cute scenes here and there, and helps rescue Fuuko, which amounts to nothing because Fuuko gets recaptured almost immediately afterward.

38. Nobita's Great Adventure in the Antarctic Kachi Kochi (2017)

Outside of some general participation in group scenes, Shizuka is nearly a background character here.

39. Nobita in the Robot Kingdom (2002)

Another one in which Shizuka is largely relegated to the background. What's sad is that if the film had followed the manga's version of events (as discussed in my review), it almost certainly would have placed in the top 10 of this ranking.

40. Nobita and the Island of Miracles (2012)

Could the filmmakers really think of nothing else for Shizuka to do during the climax other than using the ethically dubious Cheerleader Gloves?

They did try to give her a good moment in this movie by having her sharply rebuke Nobita for panicking over not having access to Nobita's gadgets. I guess it's meant to show her staying resolute and level-headed during a crisis, but as I commented in my review, this didn't really work for me as it feels very uncalled for in the context of the story.

41. Nobita and the Green Giant Legend (2008)

I can barely remember anything Shizuka did in this movie. In fairness, that's also true for everyone else besides Nobita.

42. Nobita's Great Battle of the Mermaid King (2010)

The most focus that Shizuka gets here is another excessively cruel subplot about her getting kidnapped and held hostage, which doesn't even do much for the narrative besides extend the runtime of the movie. The brief moment in which she body-slams one of the villain's minions during the final battle doesn't quite make up for it.

43. Nobita's Great Adventure into the Underworld (1984) 44. Nobita's New Great Adventure into the Underworld (2007)

Shizuka's role in this story is mostly limited to being on the wrong end of a running "joke" about her underwear being repeatedly exposed. Any minor contributions that she does get to make could have been given to other characters or written out with little impact on the overall story.

Astoundingly, the remake manages to make the panty shot "jokes" even worse.

45. Stand by Me Doraemon (2014)

A movie about Shizuka being gaslit, emotionally manipulated, and treated as a trophy. No, thank you.

[penrose42]

I just want to scream this into the void so badly but honestly I fucking love the Violence circle in ULTRAKILL. The aesthetics of Greco-Roman architecture highlighted only with blood splatters really brings home the weight of your actions, where normally it'd just blend into the background in the darker circles, especially Heresy, but then 7-2 is where shit really amps up when it turns into WWII era Britain, with tracers flying across the skybox and Earthmovers in the distance ominously choreographing it all. The percussion in 'Hear the Siren Song of Death' mimicking machine gun fire juxtaposed by the flowing melody makes it feel like a war and ballroom waltz happening simultaneously, and you're the most nimble ballerina in center stage, with the spotlight right on you. The Gutterman with its 'mother' poem driving home the idea that the robots are becoming more human the more blood they absorb, which was hinted with the Mindflayers all the way back in Lust. Then the fucking trees in 7-3, which traditionally were suicide victims in not only Dante's works but also the Norse mythos, they come to your aid as you feed them blood, the very same fuel source you and the other machines seek, almost as though they regain some aspect of their humanity as well after so long being dormant. How do they repay you? Simple, they stop an Earthmover in its tracks in 7-4, allowing you to easily climb up, scale it's chassis city, take down anything in your path while you destroy it's defenses system, and finally destroy it's CPU in a blaze of defiant glory where you take down the affrontment to God himself, something no human or machine was able to do for centuries. Your purpose, your reason for existing, now realized and fulfilled, and now you seek to set ruin to Fraud and Treachery with no regard, no reflection on your acts or what that all meant or implied because you're a robot just doing what you were built to do. This is your nature. You were built to end the war but your battle continues regardless and will not cease until Hell is empty.

What I'm trying to say is goddamn ULTRAKILL is so fucking good.

[entropy-game-dev]

The Astronaut and Assistant

Finally, we come to the last two animations in the demo, and of course they are the main characters of the game! There was a lot riding on these animations due to how important they are (and their backstory) and so I was nervous that I wouldn't be able to do these two justice, based on the ideas I had in my mind's eye.

At first, I had grandiose plans for the astronaut's idle animation. I toyed with the mechanical chest tilting upwards and the oxygen pipes swinging around, but after seeing this in action, it looked way too comical.

Instead I went with a more subtle animation, having only 3 unique frames and the longest animation cycle of any of my sprites. I think the notion of breathing is something we take for granted a lot of time, and it's something that absolutely cannot be done while in space or underwater. So I wanted to contrast this slow deliberate movement against the more gaudy animations of the various robots, in order to highlight the human-ness of the astronaut.

As for the assistant, it had many moving parts (both figuratively and literally). Its frame - everything except the R2-D2 style droid in the center, is cobbled together from various bits and pieces to fit his unique form. That means I wanted the parts to move more or less independently from one another to demonstrate that this isn't much of a cohesive robot.

I knew I wanted the claw to flex menacingly, and I think having the assistant look at it while he does it (to show they aren't yet used to it/checking it works as intended/in disbelief etc) quite cute. On the other hand (pun intended), the constant discharging of it hints at some of its E-M attacking capability.

Overall, I'm really really happy with how these turned out, super satisfied to have the main characters done, and, most importantly, I hope you like them too!! Now that all the enemies/characters in the demo have been completed, it's on to the train boss unit!

[materialsscienceandengineering]

Precise stirring conditions key to optimizing nanostructure synthesis

Stirring allows for homogenization and efficient gas exchange—this fact has been known for decades. Controlling the stirring rate during the nanocluster synthesis is pivotal in achieving nanostructures with well-defined sizes, structures, optical properties, and stability. This insight was highlighted in a recent study published in Small led by Director Bartosz A. Grzybowski of the Center for Algorithmic and Robotized Synthesis within the Institute for Basic Science. For the case study, the group chose the synthesis of fluorescent silver nanoclusters in the classical sodium borohydride/glutathione system. The researchers realized that the delivery of oxygen to the synthetic mixture at a proper time and rate can be a make-or-break factor for the result of the synthesis.

Read more.

[local-void-creature-izzy]

ReWrite AU: SA2 Basis; Dark Story

>>> 21:02 Prison Island: Within the Base.

It was deep within Prison Island, when several metal doors began closing shut, alarms loudly blaring throughout the base, it was the protocol procedure for an intruder.

There was an intruder within the base of Prison Island, as the loud speakers came alive with a soldier frantically sending out warnings. "Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert! Security breach at Gate 3! Intruder has been located in the north quadrant, and is moving in the direction of the underground base. All units prepare to engage: basic emergency battle formations. Standard battle formations initiated. Locate and stop intruder from reaching the security area."

The intruder was reaching deeper and deeper in the base, soldiers and robotic mechanics not standing a chance against the intruder.

"This is not a drill! Repeat; this is not a drill!" Came from the loud speaker again before it was cut off entirely.

More metal doors slammed shut, but the intruder simply fired his weapons at the doors, blasting them wide open, making his way through the base.

It was no other than Dr.Eggman. "Hahahahaha!! That was all too easy. Now, let's take a look at what my grandfather was working on; a top-secret military weapon. The military shut down the research because they feared it!" Eggman boasted, jumping down an elevator shaft, continuing to head deeper and deeper within the base.

From time and time again, he had been bested by Amy Rose and her companions, ruining his plans of a great and glorious empire, and world domination, but not this time. With this secret military weapon left behind by his grandfather, he cannot fail this time.

His plan of world domination will succeed this time, no matter what.

The military base kept its attempts at keeping the doctor at bay, soldiers, robotics, every security measure possible, but it was nothing compared to what Eggman had up his sleeve. It didn't take long until he reached Level 7 of the military base.

Approaching the security panel, he accessed it with ease, the panel lighting up and opening the doors to the final level. Eggman stepped through the doors once they opened up enough, approaching another terminal in the center of the room.

It showed a hologram of sorts, it had to be the secret military project! "Oh-ho! So this is the military's top-secret weapon. It's a lot smaller than I expected. Hmm, "enter user data"... ah, enter password. Password is: "MA-RI-A." Maria! Now all I have to do is to place the Chaos Emerald into this console."

Eggman pulled out the Chaos Emerald from his Egg-mobile, placing it within the console. Once it was inserted, the floor opened up to reveal another hidden level, the doctor jumped down and as he did so, a large mechanical pillar rose up from the hidden room sealed by the console.

Eggman could not help but let out a victorious laugh. "Oh-ho!"

One top of the pillar, stood a hedgehog. His fur was black with dark red highlights, blood orange eyes gazing down at the doctor beneath the pillar. "Who are you?" Questioned Eggman. "Are you a friend of Amy's here to spoil my plans?! But wait, that's impossible why would you be sealed here then-"

The mysterious hedgehog spoke. "My name is Shadow. Since you were so kind to release me, my master... I will grant you one wish in exchange for something I want."

Before Eggman could respond, another alarm began to blare through the base. "Now what?!" Exclaimed Eggman.

Shadow jumped down from the pillar, the shoes he wore were in fact air shoes, judging by how he glided with ease on the ground. "Behold the true power I possess." Shadow spoke, taking matters into his own hands as a soldier powered mechanism appeared in the room.

On its own, it would have proven a challenge for Eggman, but Shadow handled the military enemy with such ease. It took only a few simple attacks from Shadow before it exploded into bits, the doctor was thoroughly impressed.

This bought the two some time to talk. "Destroying that guard robot with such ease was spectacular! So Shadow, YOU are military's top secret weapon, but what did you mean you would grant me a wish in exchange for something you want?" Eggman asked.

The Hedgehog simply told the doctor to bring him more Chaos Emeralds, as he walked away, he told Eggman he would be waiting on the space colony ARK, within the central control room.

This surprised the doctor, judging by how he slammed both his hands down on his machine while Shadow walked away.

>>> 11:08 "Desert Area"

Within the desert, there were two arguing over the Master Emerald; Knuckles "Chaos" Echidna. The last Echidna who had a direct connection to Chaos, like his predecessor Tikal, and guardian of the Master Emerald.

And a bat named Rouge, she was a secret agent for G.U.N. who was currently working undercover. She had an infinity for all jewels and gemstones alike, the Master Emerald was no different. "Just... let it go! You just don't know when to give up, do you?" Rouge exclaimed, determined to get her hands on the Master Emerald.

The Echidna looked at her with confusion and wariness. "What're you talkin' about, that Emerald's mine! You got that? The Master Emerald contains special powers that neutralize the energy of the Chaos Emeralds; that makes it very powerful -- What the?!" Knuckles explanation of the Master Emerald was cut off by a giant mechanical claw coming down and snatching up the Master Emerald. It was Eggman.

"Wha- Thief" Rouge yelled towards the doctor.

"Look who's calling who a thief." Knuckles sarcastically said.

"I came here following the signal from the Emerald. If I'm not mistaken, this is the Master Emerald, is it not?" The doctor muttered to himself.

Now having a closer look at the emerald thief, it came to a nasty surprise for Knuckles. "It's you…Doctor Eggman…" The Echidna was at a loss for words, it had been some time since him and the others had to see or deal with Eggman. Amy even commenting the other day how quiet it had been without Eggman around, clearly she spoke too soon.

"So that's Doctor Eggman." Rouge pondered, watching the scene unfold in front of her.

"Well, I guess I can use it for something. I'll just take it with me. Farewell, Knucklehead." Eggman waved at the two below, fully prepared to take off with the Master Emerald.

"Not if I can help it!" Yelled Knuckles, as he proceeded to jump up and smash the Master Emerald into pieces. Rouge screaming in shock and disbelief at how easily Knuckles shattered the emerald.

When Knuckles touched the ground, Rouge did not hesitate to start strangling the other. "What the hell was that all about?! And look what you did to my emerald!"

Knuckles pushed her off of him before she could fully strangle him unconscious. "I did that to prevent it from being stolen, you idiot! If it's in pieces, I can restore it. And by the way, that's not YOUR Emerald" Knuckles reminded her, annoyed she was still trying to claim the Master Emerald for her own.

Eggman scratched his head, for one baffled how quickly the two forgot he was even there. And two, what was he going to do about the now shattered Master Emerald. "Hmm... doesn't matter. I'll look into it once I get back to the base."

With that said, Eggman flew away, heading back to his base, leaving the other two to continue their bickering and fighting.

"I despise anyone who takes jewels from me. All the world's gems are mine to keep!" Rouge exclaimed.

"Yeah, well we'll see about that, bat girl!" Knuckles responded, as now began a race between the two, of who could gather the pieces of the Master Emerald completely before the other could.

>>> 20:22 "Desert Area"

There were multiple military vehicles and soldiers in the area, as Eggman had to destroy quite a handful of them to proceed to his secret base without worry of being followed.

It was night time now, as the doctor entered his base hidden within the desert pyramid. Boasting to himself how they were idiots and would never think to check the pyramid itself for his secret base.

Once he was inside his base, he made his way to room that contained a warp device to the ARK, along with a huge high tech computer monitor and terminal. Pushing a few buttons on the terminal, the computer screen came alive with the current news broadcasting.

The news reporter on screen was struggling to not show panic as they spoke. "We interrupt this broadcast for an important newsflash. There has been a break-in at the federal-reserve bank today. Mysteriously, the only thing that was stolen was--"

"--The Chaos Emerald?!--" Eggman finished the sentence in shock and awe, that someone actually managed to steal a Chaos Emerald from such a heavily guarded place.

"--the Chaos Emerald." Continued the news reporter. "According to eyewitnesses at the scene, the suspect has yet to be identified beyond the fact it is a hedgehog. With no signs of the world renowned hero, Amy "Rascal" Rose on the scene, fear and worry grasps at the citizens hearts and minds. The suspect was seen fleeing the scene, destroying the reserve's guard robots in his path. Stay tuned for more details."

The rest of the news report cut away to show something else in the news. "Sounds like the work of Shadow!" Eggman exclaimed, as the another news report managed to record the face of Shadow in its report.

>>> Meanwhile in the City

Shadow stood high on top of a suspension bridge, overlooking the swarm of police units below. Did they really think they could stop him? "Hmph, how pathetic." He commented.

Suddenly he got a sharp pain in his head, as he looked at the flashing red lights of the police cars. A memory from fifty years ago was surfacing, as it replayed in Shadow's mind. He clutched his head, in pain.

He remembered running from G.U.N. Soldiers. How they shouted for the others to find them before they could escape.

They? Yes, that's right. Him, Maria, and…Sonic…

He didn't know what happened to the other, where Sonic went. He just grabbed Maria's hand and ran, ran through the halls of ARK as its alarms blared throughout. Both were panting from exhaustion, and panic, but they couldn't stop now, or a worse fate would await them if they were caught.

His mind went white before another memory came up. Maria was dying, she had been shot by a soldier that was chasing them, as she pushed Shadow into a capsule, shutting the glass over the Hedgehog.

She was bleeding out as she leaned against the control panel of the capsule. Shadow desperately trying to break through it, but the glass was made especially for him. "MARIA!!" He had yelled out, panic, fear, despair in his voice as tears were unknowingly falling down his face.

"Shadow…I beg you….please…." Maria spoke, putting all her remaining strength into staying conscious.

"MARIA DON'T!" Shadow begged her to not do this.

"Do it for me…For all the people…on that planet…Goodbye, Shadow the Hedgehog."

Maria pulled the lever, ejecting the capsule from the colony. The memory then faded back into a white void.

Shadow pulled himself out of his mind, looking back down at the people below. His fists clenched tight. "Maria... I still remember what I promised you... For all the people of this planet... I promise you... REVENGE!"

He jumped down from the suspension bridge and laid waste to his enemies below, no matter how many they sent his direction they stood no chance against him. He promised, he swore, he will have revenge against them all, not just for Maria, but for Sonic as well.

He cleared his own pathway through the city, standing on top of a 6ft robot labeled Big-Foot. He was about to demolish it to pieces with the soldier within, when the comms within spoke a familiar name.

Sonic.

Shadow smashed the front glass of the robot, grabbing the soldier by the neck, slowly choking him to death. "Repeat that, Sonic what?"

Scared for his life, the soldier did as he was told, in hopes Shadow would spare his life. "P-Project Sonic! H-He has awakened too-- s-same as you! H-He's in t-the city outskirts! That's all I know I swear!"

Project Sonic.

Shadow remembered, Project Sonic was created by a friend of Gerald Robotnik, the one who created him, as a counter measure to himself. A fail safe that would balance or destroy Shadow if need be.

Sonic was a hedgehog as well, but he was a bright cobalt blue with emerald green eyes in contrast to Shadow. He was given his name due to his sonic-esc capabilities. He could run at sonic speeds, nothing other than Shadow could come close to his levels in speed. He had a sonic frequency scream, it was always a hazard risk getting him to test it because of just how high and powerful the screech could get. And he could harness his energy to create attacks he labeled 'Sonic Boom' and 'Phantom Rush', needless to say the attacks could do some serious damage at his level of speeds.

When they had introduced Sonic to Shadow, they feared they would be enemies, that there would be hostility between the two, yet it was the opposite in fact.

With Maria around, the two became close, very close in fact. The word that was muttered between the scientists was 'lovers' to describe the relationship Shadow had with Sonic.

When G.U.N. had attacked all those years ago, Shadow thought he lost Sonic the same way, but it seems he wasn't the only one sent down to the planet in a capsule, just waiting to be awakened.

Shadow mentally thanked Maria for her last act of kindness. He returned his attention to the soldier, who was trying to claw out of his grasp but failing miserably. "Do not lie to me, when I ask where in the outskirts? North, South, East, or West?"

"S-South! Honest I-I swear!" The soldier answered in a panic.

"Thank you." Shadow responded, the soldier having hope in his eyes as the grip around lessened, genuinely thinking Shadow was about to spare him. The soldier barely had time to process what happened next. "Now die." Shadow crushed the soldiers neck like a twig, throwing the lifeless body aside.

Shadow pulled out the Chaos Emerald. "South…I'm coming Sonic. Chaos Control!" A green light envelopes Shadow; he is pulled across the area at an incredible speed, flying directly through the city, heading south.

Buildings blurred by as he continued heading south, the closer he got to the city's outskirts, the more he saw destroyed G.U.N. and police units. Shadow knew this wasn't his work, and judging just by how half of the destruction was cleanly cut in bits, and the other half was completely smashed flat, he knew it was the work of Sonic and his screech and energy attacks.

He sped up faster through the destruction, reaching a building that was barely standing, he stood on top of its remaining stand, over looking the destruction in it's entirety. He could feel rage, confusion, fear behind them.

Sonic must have woken up alone.

Shadow jumped down to the destroyed streets, surveilling the area for any signs of life, from the looks of it though, it seems Sonic did a number on everything as the southern outskirts were dead silent, activating his air shoes, he ran forward through the streets. If the other was in the southern outskirts, then he just had to keep going south and eventually he would run into him.

Shadow ran through the outskirts for about five minutes when he saw G.U.N. surrounding someone up ahead. He snarled at the surrounding soldiers and their robotics.

When he got closer, his heart skipped a beat.

"We have you surrounded! Don't resist!" Yelled a soldier holding a gun. He had his weapon pointed at the suspect.

The suspect in question was a cobalt blue hedgehog, who had streaks of white around his eyes and a long streak across the center of his eyes going all the way back down his center quill. He had white marks around his mouth, almost mimicking the icon used for volume sound. In contrast to Shadow who wore gold around his wrists and ankles, Sonic wore silver around his wrists, ankles, and neck. His right arm and leg were almost like water yet still completely solid, while his left arm and leg had a white streak wrapping around them in a downward spiral wrap around.

Shadow could tell Sonic had overdid it with his screech, his eyes were hazy and unfocused, a sign of using his screech one too many times in a row.

Something in the other snapped, seeing the soldiers take another step closer to Sonic. How his blood boiled with pure rage, how it consumed him, as his own appearance went from looking like a normal mobian hedgehog, to the center red streak in his quills became scales, the other red streaks hardening and spikes standing on the ends, his pupils became slits, his fangs grew, and his tail grew longer, spikes growing down it as scales became the ending point.

"YOU GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM HIM!" Yelled Shadow, as he disappeared into thin air, the soldiers frantically looking around for which direction that yell came from. Shadow then reappeared in front of Sonic, keeping him away from the G.U.N. soldiers.

The soldiers panicked for a second as their leader immediately yelled to open fire, but that couldn't happen, they barely had any reaction time when--"CHAOS CONTROL!!" --a powerful surge of chaos energy shook through the ground, causing an earthquake…no it shattered the ground beneath the soldiers and they all fell into the depths, a painful descent as the Chaos Energy sent pure electrocutions throughout them and their machinery.

A terrifying display of power, as it was all consumed by a cloud of debris. When the debris cloud vanished, Shadow was catching his breath. He had used quite a bit of chaos energy in his fit of rage.

Suddenly, Shadow felt himself being hugged from behind. "This isn't a dream right…? I'm not hallucinating, right…?" Sonic asked, hesitance lacing his voice. Scared that if he let Shadow go, he would vanish into thin air.

Shadow allowed himself this moment of relief, with no soldiers in sight or no indication any more were on the way, he dropped his guard. He turned around and pulled Sonic into his arms, holding him close and tight, as Sonic practically melted into his arms, burying his face into Shadow's chest.

"I thought I lost you…" Shadow muttered into Sonic's quills.

"I thought the same, when I woke up all alone in those green fields…what happened?" Sonic asked, still not fully awake from the fifty year long nap he had been in.

Shadow pulled away from the hug, but held Sonic's hand tight within his own. "I'll explain later on the ARK. Right now we need to leave before more G.U.N. soldiers show up."

>>> 22:18 "In the Pyramid" : Desert Area

Meanwhile, back at Eggman's hidden base, Agent Rouge has snuck inside. Once she saw the coast was clear, she reached up to her ear and turned on her communicator. "This is Agent Rouge, I've located Eggman's base and will proceed to enter it now." She said, receiving a 'Roger that, keep us updated, over' in response from the G.U.N. Agent on the other line.

Taking a look at the inner entrance of the base, she noticed it was heavily locked down, the door that led to where she needed to go needed at least three keys to open. She sighed. "Hah...I hate to say it. I guess I'm going to have to find that key first."

Luckily she wasn't an expert treasure hunter for nothing, she found all three keys with ease, placing them in the doorway once she was back at the inner entrance. Once each key was in place, they automatically turned to unlock. Giving Rouge access to the innermost workings for Eggman's base.

Eventually she reached the room with the terminal that Eggman saw the news report from along with the transporter to the ARK. She approached the computer and began typing away at it, hoping to find some answers within its data base to what was going on.

"This device-- gasp -- it’s a transporter with its destination set to the ARK?! Wasn't that space colony shut down, over fifty years ago? What's he doing up there, anyway? Doesn't matter. It's my mission to find out what he's up to!" She said with determination. She typed in a few commands and then stepped inside the transporter, once she was on it, the transporter activated, sending her to its destination.

>>> 22:41 Inside the Space Colony: ARK

Rouge was not far off Eggman's trail, as the Doctor had only been on board a few minutes. He was making his way through the twists and turns of the colony. "So this is the space colony ARK. I have to locate the central control room that Shadow mentioned before he left." Eggman said to himself, he needed answers on what Shadow meant when he left that military base.

He began to make his way through the ARK, unlike before where almost every security measure at the military base attacked him, it was quite a simple walk through in the ARK. Shadow must have been responsible for that.

Soon the doctor was at the center control room, where Shadow stood in front of a terminal with a weird device hooked up to it, and…he wasn't alone. "Shadow! What's the meaning of this?!" Eggman questioned.

The two hedgehogs turned around. Shadow taking the first initiative. "I've been waiting for you Doctor." He spoke, turning around and offering his hand to the mysterious blue hedgehog, who was clearly on the defensive towards Eggman, but clearly trusted Shadow. The doctor couldn't help but wonder who he was and what he had to do with Shadow. "Allow me to introduce you to my other half, Sonic. I'm not surprised he was not in the database of your research, they corrupted all his files in the system." Shadow explained.

"Your, other half? What does that mean exactly Shadow, that doesn't explain what you meant when you left the military base." Eggman further questioned.

"It means that he's my equal. You don't need to know anymore than that. Now, I will show the glorious achievement of what the world's leading scientist - Professor Gerald has created." Shadow exclaimed.

On cue, the device behind the two hedgehogs came alive. The doctor stared in awe as the device came online. This time, the blue hedgehog known as Sonic spoke, Eggman was surprised, for a second he considered the other couldn't talk. "The ARK was the first space colony created by mankind. Not many people know that the ARK contained a top-secret research facility, where weapons of mass destruction were being created. This is one of them; a weapon capable of destroying an entire planet. Codenamed: "The Eclipse Cannon." Sonic explained.

The doctor couldn't believe his ears or eyes. "Destroying an entire planet...? Was this my grandfather's legacy?"

"But, it's been deactivated for some time now…" Shadow stated.

Shadow pulled out the chaos emerald he had stolen from the federal-reserve bank, tossing it into one of the seven slots on the device. It fit perfectly in and the device loudly hummed as the chaos energy pulsed through it, giving it more power.

"To reactivate it... large amounts of energy are necessary." Shadow explained.

Suddenly it all made sense to the doctor. "Oh, so that's why we needed the Chaos Emerald. But what about that one thing in exchange?"

"Exactly. To reactivate the machine, we need the seven Chaos Emeralds. Once you have that, then you have the ultimate power of destruction, to use as you please. And then... the world could be yours. As for your follow up question, I have no more need for that exchange, what I needed is here with me now." Shadow vaguely explained, but Eggman could tell he was referring to Sonic, with how his body language kept ensuring Sonic stayed behind him, the other seemed fine with that, not wanting to be involved in the whole ordeal, clearly he has seen some things to warrant the trust issues.

Eggman burst into a joyful laughter. "Hahahahahaha!! Sounds like a plan! I like the way you think, Shadow! I will get the Chaos Emeralds, use the machine to dominate the world and build a legacy of my own!" With this cannon, his empire can finally come into being, and no one can stop him, not even that pesky Amy Rose!

"Do you really think it will be that easy?" A new voice from above spoke, having all three look up to the ceiling. It was Rouge, who was gracefully gliding down from where she was hidden.

Once she was within listening distance, she started talking. "I've got a great idea! How about making a deal?" She suggested.

"A…deal?" Eggman questioned.

"When you grabbed that huge Emerald, you said something about a reaction; a reaction that it may have with the Master Emerald. Now, if you could just let me borrow that radar, I may be able to help you. What do you think?" Rouge elaborated, a cunning smile on her face.

But Eggman was still suspicious. "If I do... what's in it for me?"

Success, she had him right where she wanted him. "I have an idea where the other Chaos Emeralds may be. I may not look like it, but do you know that I am a treasure hunter that specializes in all kinds of jewels?"

With that said, Rouge pulled out a chaos emerald from within her coat, leaving Eggman stunned. How in the world did she snatch a chaos emerald, not knowing what to say, Eggman looked towards Shadow.

Shadow simply nodded in agreement to Rouge's terms. So with everyone in agreement, Eggman turned his attention back to Rouge. "Very well."

"Okay then, it's a deal. I don't think we've been introduced. I'm Rouge the Bat. But, you can call me Rouge." She introduced herself as her and Eggman left the central control room to discuss further details and to give Rouge access to the radar, leaving the two hedgehogs alone.

"You sure were vague with the Doctor." Sonic said to the other.

"If at any point he becomes a traitor, I don't want him having an advantage over us." Shadow responded.

Sonic was touched, leaning his head on Shadow's shoulder. "Nothing my screech can't handle -- sigh-- you're really going through with this?" Sonic asked, needing to know for certain if this is what Shadow wanted.

"I promised, that day this is what I promised. Now, I can go through knowing her last act of kindness was not in vain." Shadow said, turning to face the other, with his free hand he rested it against Sonic's cheek, watching how Sonic melted into his touch. He leaned his forehead against Sonic's, just taking in the moment, letting himself forget the outside world, only focusing on Sonic.

"Those chaos emeralds aren't going to collect themselves now, where do we begin?" Sonic asked, no matter what happens, he'll have Shadow's back.

Shadow was grateful that through it all, he still had Sonic. "Prison Island, we'll set off before noon."

>>> 11:13 "Prison Island: Coastline"

The four were now within a forest of Prison Island, Eggman was not exactly pleased about being back here after the last time.

"Having to come back isn't my idea of a vacation! How can you be sure your intelligence reports are correct? Why would the Chaos Emeralds be here on the island? Are you absolutely sure?!" Eggman heavily questioned Rouge, who had been the one to lead them back here for the chaos emeralds.

"Well, believe what you wanna believe." Was all Rouge said, shrugging her shoulders. But her confidence is what made the doctor calm down enough to think.

"Hmm, very well. Let's discuss how we are going to do this. I will go in first and distract the military troupes, allowing you to sneak in the base without being detected." The doctor began to explain, he then pointed at Shadow. "Then, Shadow will... enter the armory, where he will set the timer on these dynamite packs. Once that is in place, we will blow up the whole island before anyone has a chance to know what hit them!" He then pointed to Rouge. "Meanwhile, you will sneak into the cargo area and grab the Chaos Emeralds. That's a challenge for such a worthy treasure hunter as yourself, isn't it bat-girl?"

Rouge simply saluted with a wink towards Eggman.

"Don't think I forgot about you, Sonic." Eggman then pointed his attention to the cobalt blue hedgehog. "I have a sneaky suspicion a thorn in my side will show up and try to stop us. I want you to be on the look out for them." Eggman explained.

Sonic looked at the other with a arched eyebrow. "And this thorn in your side is??" He dragged out, emphasizing for Eggman to further elaborate who he was talking about.

"Her name is Amy "Rascal" Rose, she's a hedgehog like you, a pink one, and you could say she's the hero of this world. She's been nothing but a thorn in my side with her companions, an echidna named Knuckles, and a twin tailed fox named Tails. Your job will be to keep them from disrupting our plans before the island blows up, got it?" Eggman concluded.

Sonic just nodded.

"We only have thirteen minutes to pull this mission off, and we only get one try; so don't fail me!" With that final statement from Eggman, everyone left in separate directions.

The first step of the plan was going accordingly, the military troupes put all their attention on Eggman and his path of destruction, that the other three went completely unnoticed. Eventually Eggman had cleared out the entire port of the base.

This allowed him to regroup with Sonic, who was at the other end of take off zone of a G.U.N. battleship, Shadow and Rouge had already snuck inside, so he was left to stay watch.

>>> On the G.U.N. Battleship

"Okay, everyone ready? Shadow, Rouge, on with the show!" Eggman spoke into the comms. Just as the doctor finished his sentence, a hauntingly familiar hammer came flying towards him from behind, the only reason it didn't hit him was because Sonic reacted much quicker and kicked it away mid air.

"I knew you were behind this, Eggman!" It was her, Eggman couldn't mistake that voice anywhere, as he turned around in his Egg-Mobile. Sure enough, there was Amy, in her iconic red headband and her playing card styled dress.

"What are you doing here on a military base?!" She demanded, clearly he was up to no good as usual, but never to this extent.

"I'm the one who should be asking that question! Never mind that, I have more important matters to attend to, she's all yours Sonic, don't let me down." Eggman said, taking off in the opposite direction of the two.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?!" Amy yelled, as she tried to give chase after Eggman, but was stopped by Sonic cutting in front of her. "What the- he's so fast…" Amy whispered in awe at the blue hedgehog's speed.

"That hammer of yours in no joke, I hope you can put up a good fight." Sonic said, before taking off at his high speeds, attacking Amy from every side.

Amy was quick with her reactions, while she had trouble keeping her eyes on the blue blur, she could sense when he stopped to attack and she could then block him with her hammer. But currently that's all she could do, was block. The other was purposely trying to keep her from being able to properly dodge or attack.

It was sooner than later that he kicked her hammer out of her hands, and had his hand at her throat, prepared to stab through if she tried anything funny. "You're very impressive, only one other can block my speed attacks." He praised.

"Why?" Amy asked, panting from the constant attacks. "Why are you working with Eggman of all people? Don't you know he's the bad guy? And why don't you kill me?"

The question made Sonic hesitate, a barely visible startle came out of him. "My orders were to keep you at bay, not kill you." Sonic answered.

But that didn't answer Amy's other question. "You don't look like a bad guy, so why are you helping one?" She asked again.

"I'm not helping HIM. Don't compare me to the likes of him." Sonic spat, clearly she hit a nerve there. But if he isn't helping Eggman like he claims then who?

In his eyes, Amy could see confusion, hurt, scared even. But most of all, she could see doubt in those emerald green eyes. " --deep breath-- Why don't you help me stop him? You really look like you have a kind heart, so why not team up and defeat Eggman together?" She asked, slowly offering her hand to the other, a gentle smile on her face.

Sonic clearly didn't expect this supposed "thorn" in Eggman's side to offer him kindness and compassion. He dropped his hand from where he had it pointed at her neck, her kindness reminded him of someone familiar…her smile, it was like Maria's.

"I see why you're the hero of this world, your compassion is boundless." He said, Amy taken aback by the statement.

"I just believe everyone deserves a second chance if they are willing to try." She responded.

For a moment, Sonic considered the offer, taking her hand, but he smacked it away. Surprising the other. "Unfortunately, you may not show my equal the same compassion. I will not fall victim to your tricks and deceptions."

Sonic jumped back, and was prepared to attack, when a vehicle suddenly landed between them. It was the twin tailed fox Eggman had mentioned, Tails.

"Boy, am I glad to see you! You're timing couldn't be more perfect Tails!" Amy boistered, relief that Tails showed up in the knick of time.

The fox wore a technical visor on his left eye, along with a dark blue jacket. "You're the one that was impatient and couldn't wait for my map to load in." Tails said sarcastically. Amy letting out a nervous laugh, as she shrugged in response to Tails. "Leave him to me Amy, you go after Eggman!"

"Roger that Tails." Amy took off after that, grabbing her hammer and leaving the mysterious hedgehog to Tails.

>>> In the Security Hall

"I'm in position, doctor. Tell me when." Shadow spoke from his comms, waiting for the signal to set the timer on the explosive.

"There's been an unexpected delay on my end. There's no more time to waste. Set the timer for 15 minutes! Let's go, Rouge!" Eggman yelled from his comms, you could clearly hear him being chased by more military troupes in the background.

"Five minutes should be plenty! Here I go!" Rouge exclaimed, having entered the secured storage room with ease. With a leap, she landed on the walkway of the storage room from where she had hidden, and began her search immediately.

Sure enough, five minutes was more than plenty, as in two minutes she had found all three chaos emeralds that had been hidden and stored away on the base. Honestly it felt too easy, and she would be correct.

As when you was just about to leave the storage room, a large military robot appeared and blocked her escape. Flying dog could be read on its side. "Looks like I'll have to get my hands dirty for this one." She said, hiding away the chaos emeralds, and prepared to fight the robot.

It was big, but it was no match for Rouge and her cunning skills, it didn't stand a chance against her

Air-born attacks and soon collapsed into a pile of rubble.

Unfortunately, sometime during the fight, the room got locked down, it was sealed tight with no way out. She couldn't die here, not when she was so close. "This is Rouge. I've got a small problem... I can't believe that I'm trapped inside this locked safe with the Chaos Emeralds! I guess I won't be able to call myself a treasure hunter anymore…" She spoke into her comm, unwillingly admitting defeat.

>>> In the White Jungle

The one that caught this first, was Shadow who had been walking back through the jungle.One of the dynamite packs that Shadow set is at "00:09:54" until its detonation. Shadow pauses, thinking of Rouge, and then he recalls how Maria was in the same situation; laying helpless against a wall, waiting for her own inevitable death to come.

"Ah... shoot. Troublemaker!" He said, turning around and heading back to the base for Rouge and the chaos emeralds.

He flew through the jungle at record speed, he was nearly back at the base when he got met with an obstacle. That pink hedgehog Eggman warned them about.

She looked up at where Shadow stood on a tree branch. "Are you that guy's friend? The one he called his equal?" She asked, but was on the defensive, prepared to attack. Just like Sonic, this guy looked like no joke but unlike Sonic, this one looked fully ready to kill without hesitation.

"You dare speak of him? Hah! You think you're worthy enough to speak of him?" Shadow spoke.

"Wow you're very egotistical for a fake hedgehog!" Amy retorted.

"Faker? I think you're the fake hedgehog around here." Shadow said, a smirk on his face.

"Well then, why don't you come down here and say it to my face!" Amy yelled.

Shadow jumped down to the ground. "If you insist." With that said, the two began to duke it out.

Shadow had to give it to Amy, she was a very skilled fighter. That hammer of hers was extremely heavy to the average person, but she wielded it like it was nothing, as she swung it with skill and grace at Shadow.

But Shadow was quicker, dodging each swing like nothing. He didn't have time for this, so with a swift kick, he knocked the hammer out of Amy's hands, before spin dashing towards her when she was distracted.

The dynamite now read 00:01:25, as Amy was caught between a rock and hard place, the two hedgehogs panting from their fight. Suddenly, Shadow's radio starts to beep. It was the doctor again. "Shadow?! What are you doing?! Get back here right now before the island blows up with you on it!"

"I'm sorry- Blows up?!" Amy exclaimed in shock. Shadow looked at her, but then jumps back and runs off. With the dynamite at 00:00:56, he makes it into the security vault where Rouge is. She looks surprised that he came, and he runs to her. He reaches his hand out to the Emeralds at he gets closer.

"Chaos Control!" He yelled.They both warp out of the vault, barely making it out before the dynamite packs - which reads 00:00:03 - blow up. The dynamite that Shadow set blow up the island, and a blast obscures all sight of the isle, covering it from end to end.

>>> ARK

Shadow stood alone in one of the many rooms of the ARK, staring at the planet below. He was reminiscing, as another memory came back to him after saving Rouge back on the island.

He remembers standing in front of this very window back then, with Maria by his side. How curious she was about the planet below. "Shadow, what do you think it's like on earth?" The conversation he had with her back then still so clear.

"The professor said his life's work was dedicated to all of those who live down there. He once told that the reason for his existence was, making people happy through the power of science." He had responded to her.

"Shadow…"

"Maria... I just don't know anything anymore... I often wonder why I was created; what my purpose if for being here. Maybe if I go down there, I... I will find the answers... maybe... ...Maria…" Was what he had said back then.

The memory faded from his mind, when he heard the metal door way open. It was Rouge and Sonic.

"Why so melancholy?" She asked Shadow. Shadow paused, he didn't say anything as the two got closer, Sonic more closer as he entwined his arms around Shadow's. Shadow returning the gesture and holding the other's hand.

Rouge chuckled. "It's cute what you two have. That was so unexpected. So unlike you, Shadow, to come and rescue me. But your ability to use the Chaos Control, certainly comes in handy." She offered in compliment to the other.

"Hmm, you know... I didn't come to save you. I came back for the Chaos Emeralds." Shadow deflected.

"Yeah, yeah. But then again, that's not the whole story, now, is it?" She questioned, trying to get one of the two to open up. But in that moment, Eggman walked into the room, stretching his arms, entering the room with a sigh.

"Everything is ready to go!" Eggman proclaimed.

Rouge was skeptical. "Are you sure? We only have six of the seven Chaos Emeralds, you know." She tried to reason with the doctor, contemplating the what if's the could occur without its full power source activated and in place.

"That's more than enough for the demonstration. So let's get this show on the road!" Sonic said, with a unreadable smile on his face, leading Shadow out of the room with him. The two walking to Eggman, and he steps out of his way, looking a tad surprised.

The two walked the hallway towards the control center room alone, giving them a moment to speak their minds. "I don't like how impatient he is. How power hungry he is, he's nothing like the Professor." Sonic said with a tch in his tone.

"Just a little more, and then we won't have to worry about it." Shadow reassured his other half, gently kissing Sonic's hand that was entwined with his.

"I really hope you know and understand what you're doing Shadow." Sonic sighed, the two entering the control center room, now they just had to wait.

>>> The Eggman Empire. "Day X 18:00"

It was nighttime in the city, when the giant television above the city came alive. Eggman has projected himself onto every television across the world.

"Bwahahahaha!! Citizens of earth, lend me your ears and listen to me very carefully... My name is Doctor Eggman, the world's greatest scientist and soon to be the world's greatest ruler. Now witness the beginning of the greatest empire of all time! Hahaha!" He proudly exclaimed.

In outer space, an asteroid cracks its lower half off, revealing a design reminiscent of Eggman's face. The 'nose' area splits apart into four stems, at the center of which is the Eclipse Cannon. The four stems begin radiating an energy net, which the Cannon launches straight through the sky at the Moon. Its side is completely torn off, and fire can be seen inside.

It sent fear into the hearts of everyone in the planet, as the last thing they heard from the projection that was being televised- "Bwahahahahaha! Bwahahahaha!!" Was Eggman's maniacal laugh, as a timer counting down from 24:00:00:00 appears on the televisions; when it times out, the Cannon will fire again, this time at earth.

>>> Back on the ARK

For such a grand display and speech,Eggman is currently hitting the terminal for the Cannon in frustration. This baffled Rouge. "Why are you so upset? Well that was really impressive. You managed to create complete havoc on the whole planet! Does this now mean we control the planet and can do as we choose?" She asked.

Shadow walked into the terminal room at that moment. "At this rate, the cannon will take too much time to charge up. If you want to unleash its full potential, you'll need all seven Chaos Emeralds." He explained.

"Where in the world have you been?!" Eggman demanded, getting a silent glare from the other.

Rouge looked around, not seeing Sonic who was normally glued to Shadow's side. She looked at Shadow. "Something happened?" She asked. Shadow caught what she was really asking, but he wasn't letting the doctor in on that conversation. "Our threats fell on deaf ears." He bluntly stated.

Rouge turned her attention back to Eggman, knowing she wasn't going to get anywhere with Shadow. "Look at you, throwing a tantrum like a little kid. How totally embarrassing."

The doctor was not having this. "Don't forget your end of the bargain, Bat-girl! What about that last Chaos Emerald?! We had a deal, right?! So where is my Emerald?" He egged on, pun not intended.

With her signature smile, she held out a newspaper in front of Eggman. "Here you go. I found this!" She said with a smug grin on her face.

Eggman was in shock. "Why didn't you show me this before?!" He grabbed the newspaper. "What's this...? "Station Square saved from a life-threatening missile attack. The city has awarded its famed prize to the boy who saved Station Square... Miles 'Tails' Prower was given the Chaos Emerald as a testament of his heroic deed at a ceremony held at city Hall." He cleared his throat. "This makes things a whole lot easier. Hurry, go back to earth and find them fast! I want that Chaos Emerald!!" The doctor leaving the room, ranting on about his big empire plans.

Rouge looked towards Shadow. "Did you get that?"

Shadow was muttering to himself though. "Soon enough... Maria…"

Rouge was a little surprised, as Shadow walked away towards the exit. She waited to be sure the other two were gone, once the coast was clear, she pulled out her radio and began talking. "This is Rouge reporting. Currently, I have not been able to confirm if Shadow is the Ultimate Life Form or not. I will continue my research on Project Shadow, and have a follow-up report very shortly. Just a reminder... don't forget about my jewels." She could have mentioned Sonic, but he wasn't on file nor part of the job description. Her mission was Project Shadow.

"A double agent? Can't say I'm surprised." A voice spoke once she shut off her radio. Rouge could have sworn the coast was clear, but then again, Sonic was the textbook definition of speed.

She looked up and saw him sitting on top of the terminal's monitor. "How much did you hear?" She asked, on the defensive if he tried anything funny.

Sonic simply tilted his head at her, those emerald green eyes staring right through her. "Enough, that I could easily tell Shadow. But frankly speaking--" He jumped down from the monitor and was now directly in front of Rouge. "-- I don't care that you're an agent. What you do isn't my business." He said nonchalantly, shrugging at the end of his sentence.

"But?" Rouge prodded on. There was a catch, there had to be a catch. There's no way Sonic was just going to leave it at that.

"But word of advice, report back anything that will have those agents chasing after him or me, you'll be the first one I target." Sonic's tone left no room for disagreement. Those eyes felt so soulless as they looked directly at Rouge's.

"Keep that in mind, and I'll play along. I'm just here for Shadow after all, what the rest of you do is not my problem." Sonic ended, and then proceeded to leave the room.

Rouge couldn't help but wonder just what was Sonic's deal.

>>> Sky Rail's vicinity

Shadow stood on top of a small pillar, walkie talkie in hand as he looked up towards the sky. He raised the comm to his head, it came alive with Rouge reporting from her side. "Shadow! They're in that blue plane, spotted at 11 o'clock!"

"Copy that, I'm in pursuit." Shadow responded, ending the communication and giving chase after the blue plane.

Shadow gave chase, until he saw the blue plane going over Eggman's base, he made a full stop and contacted Eggman on the comms. "Doctor, they're heading directly toward us. What should we do?"

"Just sit tight, I've got them on radar. There's no way they can get away! I don't know what they are planning, but I'll be sure to give them a warm welcome." The doctor was confident in his plan as he ended the communication. He just had to wait his time patiently, let those little pests think they got the upper hand.

>>> 14:58 "In the pyramid"

Eggman was honestly enjoying them find all the keys needed to access the inside of his pyramid base. None of them even questioning why the keys were so easy to find and in such interesting places. He could hear them conversing in the distance.

"Huh… That was pretty rough." That was clearly Knuckles, Eggman watched as he hunted down all three access keys.

"We did it! Let's go Amy!" Tails was cheering.

"Yeah! Let's finish this!" Amy had agreed with just as much enthusiasm.

Oh but Eggman wasn't just about to let them have their perfect victory, their surprise looks on their faces when he appeared before them was proof enough that they thought they were being sneaky. "You little thieves! Did you really think you could get out of here alive?"

He had them right where he wanted them. But of course they wouldn't go down without a fight. As Amy was quick to draw her hammer. "Come and get some, Eggman!"

"Amy wait!" Tails tried to reason with her. But she offered the other one of her reassuring smiles. "Just leave it to me! You and Knuckles get out of here!"

"This time, I'll take your lives as well as the Chaos Emerald. I call on you to destroy these pests. Come out, my servant!" Eggman called out, the ground began to shake, as from the sands in the center of the room ahead, a giant Egg Golem ascended.

"Impressive Eggman, but that's just a giant piece of rock ready for my hammer!" Amy yelled, as it looks down at her. The Egg Golem easily towers over the room.

"Now go… and squash that thorn of a hedgehog, Amy!" Eggman commanded his golem. Watching as the battle commenced. This was it, this is where he gets his final victory against Amy and her pesky friends.

Or so he thought, but Amy was smart, as she jumps at the Egg Golem's Head, and smashes her hammer on top of its head, destroying the device that was on top of it. "Ha! Home run!" She proclaimed victoriously.

It was like slow motion as the device on the Golem's head exploded once Amy had smashed it to pieces, and the Egg Golem swivels its head around several times. Amy taking her leave to catch up with her friends, leaving Eggman to deal with the fallout of his failed attempt.

"When Amy struck his head, she must have broken the restraining mechanism! Arrgh! What a piece of junk!" The doctor loudly complained as the Egg Golem's head stopped spinning in circles.

Once it stopped, the Egg Golem looks down at Eggman, and starts to reach for him. Oh this is not good. "No!" Eggman yelled.

While Eggman was dealing with the now freed Golem. The pyramid's top opens up, revealing a large rocket. An automatic voice could heard once the rocket was in place. "Green light for launch! Primary engine ignition on! Beginning lift-off countdown!" In the distance, Amy could be seen running onto the rocket. " 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Shuttle lift-off!"

And just like that, the rocket took off for its destination. The ARK.

>>> ARK: Central control room / Cannon countdown: 2 hours 7 seconds

Back on the ARK, Rouge was once again in the control room containing the eclipse cannon. She was currently talking to Eggman on the communication lines. "Hi doctor. How's it going? What! What do you mean they escaped? That's OK. I will go after them myself. Can you tell me the password for the space colony control?"

Ever the fool Eggman was, as he easily gave her the password without a thought. She quickly ended the communication once she got the information she needed. Rouge couldn't help but giggle on how predictable Eggman was. "Hmm… tricking that old doctor is just too easy! Alright, it's time to get to work. The password is "MA-RI-A". Maria… hmmm? I've heard that name somewhere before. Oh well…"

She wasn't here to debate on what names were familiar. She was her for her mission, as she began search through large groupings of data on the monitor, but being the keen treasure hunter and agent she was, she quickly found what she was sent here for. "This is it! Research Project Shadow, the Ultimate Life Form. Let's see now… What in the world is this?" She gasped, she couldn't believe here eyes, what she was reading.

"I warned you, bite off more than you can chew and you'll choke." Sonic spoke from behind Rouge, startling her in the process.

"This can't be right! Just what is Shadow, anyway?" She asked the other, needing confirmation on what she was seeing was false. It had to be false, it just didn't make any sense.

Sonic merely shrugged. "That's not any of your business now is it. You got what you came here for, don't push your luck, Agent Rouge." Sonic said, an unreadable expression on his face.

Suddenly, a warning message comes on, showing Amy, Tails, and Knuckles in a hallway in the ARK. Guess her questioning will have to wait for another time. She faced Sonic, giving him a salute with a wink, her cunning smile across her face.

"Hmmm, I guess I'll just have to take the last pieces of the Master Emerald!" She then flew off, leaving Sonic alone with the still open data files.

He approached the monitor, looking up at it and its data contents. "Ultimate Life Form huh?" He said, with an almost sad tone in his voice, as he cleared the data search and tried typing in "Project Sonic" to see if anything would come up.

All Sonic got was an error screen, saying the files he was trying to access were all corrupted, erased long ago by some unknown force. "I don't mind being hidden. This just makes things less complicated for me. The world does not need to know of Project Sonic." He said, clearing the monitor entirely, leaving it blank.

Despite what he thought he feel if he searched it, Sonic was just filled with determination. This way, he could forge his own path once this was all over. All he needed was Shadow by his side, no data books telling him what he is, and what he's supposed to be. Just him and Shadow, that's all he wanted.

>>> ARK: Central Tower- Meteor Herd

"Long time no see treasure hunter. Did you find MY Emeralds?" Rouge said, being face to face with Knuckles once again. She was honestly impressed he got this far.

"That's a good one! YOUR Emerald. Talking to you is a waste of time!" Knuckles retorted. At this point, he was done trying to talk his way with Rouge, now it's time to let their fists do the talking.

They were pretty evenly matched, their fight kept them moving throughout the area, until eventually the two were standing on crosswalks above the lava at the tower's base.

They both breathe heavily from exhaustion, then speak in unison. "Whew-! Stop fooling around, and give me back MY Emeralds!" Both were taken aback at their in sync yelling.

"What are you babbling about? You call yourself a hunter? Attacking a lady… Shame on you!" Rouge lectured, turning her head to her side at the end of it.

"What kind of lady goes around stealing gems, anyway?" Knuckles questioned.

"Those belong to me--" Rouge sentence went unfinished, as when she took a step back mid sentence, she misplaced her footing and tripped, falling off the crosswalk towards the lava. "Aahhh! Aaaaaaahhh!" She screamed.

As Rouge falls down from the platform, Knuckles grabs on to her arm. She was baffled by this. "What in the world?"

Knuckles pulls her back up, and they both look at each other for a second. But then Rouge backs up. "Keep your hands to yourself! Don't touch me!" Rouge exclaimed.

"Is that how you say thanks to someone who just saved your life?" Said Knuckles.

"Saving my life, don't think I owe you one! You just wanted to hold my hand, didn't you? That's why you saved me! You're such a creep!" Rouge retorted.

Knuckles stared at her, completely baffled. "This isn't a joke, you know! Think what you want bat girl. I was saving the Master Emerald."

Again with this, Rouge was getting annoyed with this whole thing. She sighed. "No matter what you say, it sounds crazy!" Yet despite what she said, she tossed the Emerald Shards to Knuckles.

Knuckles looked down at the Emerald Shards before looking back at Rouge. "Wha…?" The Echidna was confused.

"Fine, then just take them. They stink like echidnas do." She said.

"If that's what you thought, you should have given me them in the first place!" Knuckles said, scooping them up off the platform, and puts the Master Emerald back together.

Seeing the Master Emerald filled Knuckles with relief. "Finally!" He said, looking back up at Rouge to see her turned away when he looked at her.

"What?" She confronted.

"I'm sorry… if I hurt you." Knuckles apologized, before running off to help Amy.

Rouge looks up into the air. "We should get going." She said softly. She turned to leave, then looks back where Knuckles was, faintly smiling, before running off.

>>> In the Pyramid/Cannon Countdown: 58 minutes.

In the pyramid base's transporter room, Eggman is looking at a surveillance footage of Amy, and Tails before switching to viewing a diagram of the ARK.

"What is Rouge up to, anyway?" Eggman asked himself.

"Does it matter?" A voice came from above Eggman, it was Sonic sitting on top of the monitor.

"How did you- never mind it doesn't matter. That's not a seat you know." Eggman said.

Sonic didn't offer a response, simply pointed at the screen. Pulling Eggman's attention back to it.

The map shows two Chaos Emeralds; both the fake and the real one. "This is strange. It's showing energy readings from two separate Chaos Emeralds!" Eggman exclaimed.

"Sounds like they planned to trick you with a fake. I heard them say it mimics the actual emerald almost to a T, but it's nearly not as powerful." Sonic said, a smug tone in his voice.

Eggman was not pleased with this. "Did they really think they could trick me with that fake emerald?!"

Shadow who had silently walked into the room, was about to turn around and deal with their intruders, but was stopped by Eggman. "Wait, Shadow! I'm the one who should be telling them the end is near, not you!" With that said, Eggman left the room, leaving the two hedgehogs alone.

"When did you notice the emerald was a fake?" Shadow asked Sonic, the other jumping down from the monitor and making his way towards Shadow.

"The walls have ears, by which I mean I eavesdropped on their conversations. Didn't think they were serious about the fake emerald though." Sonic said, a nonchalant smile on his face, shrugging at the end of his sentence.

Shadow grabbed Sonic by the waist, pulling the other in and kissing him. Sonic was taken aback for a few seconds, before happily returning the kiss. "You're incredible you know that?" Shadow said first, a smirk on his face when the two separated.

"I know, but I wouldn't mind you telling me again." Sonic replied, a smile on his face. With the alone time the two had, it was enough to give each other affection without being caught by the others, so they quickly took advantage of it.

>>> Meanwhile

"Now is the time to end this long drawn-out battle, and mark myself a place in history as the ultimate genius!" Eggman exclaimed, knowing if something happened to him, he could leave it to Shadow and Sonic. He started up his Egg mobile, and began making his way to the transporter. "Hurry! The moment for attack has come! It's now, or never!" With that said, Eggman steps onto the transporter, and is sent to the ARK.

>>> ARK

At some point during their exploration, Amy and Tails got separated. "Darn it, I told him to not split up from me!" Amy said frustrated, trying to navigate the confusing layout of the ARK.

She didn't notice Eggman walking up behind her, and pointing a gun at her. "Well, well, young lady? Is there something I can help you with?" He asked.

"EGGMAN-?!" Amy exclaimed, jumping back and away from Eggman, summoning her hammer and was prepared to fight with the doctor.

"If you value your life, you will tell me where Tails and the chaos emerald are!" Eggman threatened. At that moment,Tails enters the room in the Cyclone, Eggman still having the gun pointed at Amy.

"Let's take care of business first, shall we, Tails? Hand over the Chaos Emerald, slowly, and then we'll talk about your friend go. That is to say, if you really care about her." Eggman said smugly.

"Don't listen to him Tails, it's just another one of his schemes!" Amy said, trying to plan out a strategy.

Tails didn't say anything, as he took out the emerald, Eggman gesturing to Amy with the gun to walk forward. A small circle appeared on the floor, Eggman pointed to it. "Put the Emerald down right there and back off!" He said.

"You've turned into a big-time villain, doctor!" Amy said, and when she walked over the small circle, Eggman laughs and a capsule forms and traps her inside.

"What the-?!" She gasped.

"You thought you could trick me with that fake Emerald, didn't you?" Eggman called them out of their plan.

This confused Tails, how did Eggman find out? "So… how did you know it wasn't the real one?"

"Tails!" Amy yelled, sometimes forgetting that despite Tails being a genius, he's still naive at times.

"Heh, because you just told me, fox boy!" Eggman smugly laughed, he wasn't going to be a fool and them that Sonic caught them in the act. Tails gasped.

"Now, for a little space ride! Once the capsule clears the colony, BAM!" Eggman boasted.

"I'm counting on you Tails!" Amy yelled, as the capsule began to slowly descend.

"Farewell! Amy Rose!" Eggman said, and with a push of a remote control, the capsule ejects into space.

"Amy!" Tails yelled.

The capsule then exploded in space once it was far enough away from the ARK.

"Farewell Amy… My admirable adversary!" Eggman said.

"Amy!!!" Tails yelled, tears of anger falling down his cheeks, as Eggman turned around and pointed the gun at Tails.

"Now we have some unfinished business to take care of! If you give me the real Emerald, I will release you. You have my promise!" Eggman explained.

"Amy.." Tails whispered.

"Huh?" Eggman was confused.

With a new fire of determination, Tails was prepared to fight. "Amy has asked me for the first time to do something for her, I won't let her down. I won't give up!" Tails exclaimed.

>>> ARK: Central area/Cannon countdown: 21 minutes 7 seconds

A few minutes ago. From a room on the ARK, Shadow and Sonic see the capsule that Amy was launched out in explode.

"Guess she was a regular hedgehog after all." Shadow said, running his hand through Sonic's quills, as Sonic was looking out the window.

Sonic was silent, he had a bad feeling about all this. Something wasn't exactly right. "Shadow." Sonic spoke.

"Yes?" Shadow asked.

"The emeralds are unattended. Rouge is M.I.A." Was all Sonic said, but it was enough for Shadow to understand and go check the cannon, but before leaving Sonic alone in the room. "Shadow, she's a government agent." Sonic admitted, noticing the way Shadow froze for a second before walking to the control room.

Sonic simply returned to staring out the window. "I wonder, what running through out that planet would feel like..?"

>>> Central Control Room

True to Sonic's gut instinct, Rouge was walking up to the Emeralds.

"Legend has it, whenever the seven Chaos Emeralds are collected, the power creates a miracle. I have six of them. They're mine, all mine!" She proudly exclaimed.

"I don't think so." Shadow said, walking in the control room. Rouge turns to Shadow.

"Shadow?" Rouge questioned, caught off guard by Shadow's sudden appearance.

"So that was your plan from the very beginning, huh? Or was it a direct order from the President?Now I know who you are. You're that government spy, Rouge the Bat, aren't you?" Shadow caught her hook, line, and sinker.

"So you did your homework, is that it? Or did your little boyfriend rat me out? I would say that's an invasion of privacy." Rouge retorted.

"I could say the same thing about you." Shadow was quick with his replies.

But Rouge kept her cunning and calm exterior. "Hmmm! It looks like things aren't quite going your way, but since my job was done… I thought it was time to take what's mine and get out of this place." She said.

Shadow couldn't believe his ears. "You are one pathetic creature!"

"Hmmm, look who's talking? What about you?" Rouge asked, jumping down from the emeralds with a paper in hand. "Here are the results from the research project called the "Ultimate Life Form"." But on the paper in question, was not a picture of Shadow, but a different creature entirely.

"But, if this picture is of the real Ultimate Life Form named, Shadow… then exactly who or what is standing in front of me?" She begged the question.

At that moment, Eggman contacted Shadow from the walkie talkie. "This is Doctor Eggman! I have found all seven Chaos Emeralds! Shadow! Someone is trying to get to the Eclipse Cannon. There's not much time left before the cannon fires again. Can you get over there?" The doctor yelled from his end of the walkie talkie.

Shadow cut the communication, returning his attention to Rouge. "If you want to live, leave the Chaos Emeralds where they are. The fake Emerald is good enough for you!"

"Do you actually believe that you're the real Shadow?" Rouge asked, in awe shock at Shadow.

"No doubt!" Shadow knew who he was.

"Even your memories might not be real, you know?" She further questioned.

"Even if my memories are not real, it's still me, Shadow. And I will fulfill my promise to Maria, to Sonic, that's the only thing that matters to me now." Shadow then left to go deal with the intruder.

>>> Outside Space Colony ARK / Cannon countdown: 5 minutes 44 seconds

Amy was currently standing in a corridor that leads out of the ARK; Shadow walks up to her. "You never cease to surprise me pink hedgehog. I thought that the capsule you were in exploded in space." He said.

Amy chuckled. "What can I say, I'm a stubborn one." Picking up her running speed, and Shadow did the same.

"So, there's more to you than meets the eye. What are you anyway?" He asked her.

"Just a girl that loves adventuring with her friends, Amy Rose! And don't you forget it!" She happily proclaimed.

"I see. But you know, I can't let you live. Your adventuring days are coming to an end." And with that, the two began to fight once more.

>>> ARK: Central control room / Cannon countdown: 40 seconds

At the terminal for the Eclipse Cannon, Eggman walks in with the seventh Chaos Emerald. "Hahahahahaha! This completes my plan to take over the world! Now begins the glorious era of the Empire of Eggman!"

-End Dark Chapter-

[onboardsorasora]

@blacklaces my darling, this one and the next (that I'll write soon I promise lmao) are for you!

Part 1 | Part 8 | Part 10

Tennis AU - Part 9 (1.5k words holy hell)

Max shuffled uncomfortably on the sofa, shifting his half hard dick to rest more comfort in his sweats. 

He'd flown into Paris this morning and was waiting on Daniel to finish his media duties for the day. He was playing tomorrow in the semi finals against Novak Djokovic, someone who even Max knew about in his limited tennis knowledge. He knew Daniel was…nervous about the match up, knew that Daniel had a losing streak against the almost robotic champion. 

They had matched up a handful of times over the last few years at different majors tournaments. And Daniel had lost all but once. In 2018.

In 2016, they had played each other in Center Court in the Wimbledon Men's Finals and Daniel had lost in spectacular fashion after a tie break. It was apparent even to Max that he hadn't had the right conditioning at the time and his game had broken down. Novak had smelt blood in the water and had the match won in no time.

Max had watched the highlights in the plane, his heart ached at seeing Daniel's pissed off face while he stood there with his consolation prize, listening to Novak thank him for being a good opponent. Max knew the feeling, and knew that his lover had internalized it deeply and made himself a better player because of it.

They'd met again in 2018, an almost mirror of their circumstances two years prior. Max had put on the full match on the big screen the moment he settled into the Parisian apartment he was renting. He’d had a few hours to kill before Daniel was available and already knew that he had won it, it was the lone Wimbledon win in his stat list. Pundits and journos alike lauded it as an amazing comeback story. A redemption London.

He found himself in a daze, he wasn't sure which set they were in anymore. All he could focus on was the grunts and groans of exertion (not completely dissimilar to his moans of pleasure) and the tight clench of Daniel's ass as he ran, heaved and lunged along the grass. His little white shorts showing to all and sundry the perfect shape of it. The tattoos on his thighs– the collection not yet complete, were stark against the soft white of his shorts and the tanned olive of his skin.

The roar of the crowd broke him from his daze, and from his unconscious palming of himself. Daniel on the TV had fallen on his back in the grass, his hands cupping his face and hiding his overjoyed reaction from the camera and crowd. He eventually sat up with his legs bent, shorts riding up sinfully, looking around the packed stadium with glassy honey eyes as everyone stood to their feet cheering for him. The camera zoomed in on his wet smile and the commentators waxed poetic about how his grin was one of the brightest and most recognizable on the circuit. They spoke about how much he deserved it and how much better a player he was since 2016. 

An official motioned to his family and Daniel jumped to his feet and waved to the still cheering crowd before picking his way to the family box. He crumpled into his mother's arms, sobbing into her hair while she rubbed his back. His father and sister crowded around them, knowing it was best to go to him than wait for him to come to them. By the time he collected himself, an official was leading him back to his bench to prepare for the awards ceremony. 

Max paused the feed and grabbed his ringing phone;

"Hey Daniel."

"Hey Maxy, I'm just about done here. Are we still on for lunch?"

"Yeah, I was thinking we could order in at my apartment?"

"I thought we were going to like a beestroh." 

Max snorted at his exaggeration. "I've thought about it, and cafe bathrooms are too tiny and I want to do more than just give you a quick handjob."

"Maxy-" Daniel sounded scandalized, then he muttered; "thank God I didn't have you on speaker. I'm sure that would have been the story of the Open."

"You know better than that." Max said coolly, pressing his palm again against his now half chub. He could hear Daniel's smile and pressed his tongue against the roof of his mouth.

"Send me your address." 

They hung up shortly after and Max texted over the apartment's address as requested and then ordered food from a nearby café.

Daniel arrived before their lunch and Max kissed him hello at the door, pressing him into the heavy wood. Daniel moaned, fisting his hands into Max's soft cotton shirt.

There was a sudden knock and they detangled themselves bemusedly so Max could accept the food delivery. Daniel walked further into the space, blushing at the paused video still on the screen. Max joined him in the living area, wrapping his arms around Daniel's rounded shoulders. 

"Watching my greatest hits?" Daniel bit his lip.

"Do you still have those white shorts?" Max asked instead, pressing Daniel's back into his chest, hooking his head over his shoulder. Daniel barked out a shocked laugh,

"I'm not sure, probably. Liked what you saw?" He turned into the circle of Max's arms so they were face to face.

"I, of course, prefer you with nothing on. But those white shorts are a close second." Max watched as Daniel's smile widened. He leaned in for a kiss and Max met him halfway, pressing their lips together and licking into each other's mouths.

"Did Blake send any instructions?" Max pulled back as Daniel snorted. 

"I can't even be mad at you because of course he did." Daniel giggled, dropping his forehead on Max's shoulder. "Pretty much the usual, curfews at eight and 'nothing too rigorous'."

Max laughed, "we shall save the 'rigorous activities' then for when you win, of course."

"Are you trying to incentivize me to win?" Daniel’s eyes crinkled in his mirth, his body shaking Max’s with the force of his giggles. Max smiled widely.

"I was going to rim you, but that might be too rigorous so you'll have to wait until tomorrow. After you win." Max smirked as Daniel's smile fell into a slack O.

"You can't just say that! Now I'm gonna have a hard on the whole time." He whined, pressing his hips flush against Max's, their cocks meeting.

"I'll help with your pre match prep—"

"Don't you dare fucking— fuck what's the word— pavlov me. Is that the word? Don't you fuckin make it so that I think of you while I'm prepping for a match. That's the most evil thing—" Daniel accused with a laugh, he watched as Max's eyes turned into crescents while he laughed. 

"That is the meanest thing, I'm gonna fuckin make sure you get hard before every race now." Daniel continued to tease.

"I of course am ok with this, it means I get to keep you, always." Max stilled as he realized belatedly what escaped his lips in his happiness. He watched Daniel's reaction as honey eyes widened briefly then softened. Daniel opened his mouth to say something and closed it once, then twice before settling on a small, tender smile. A blush high on his cheeks.

"I'm ok with that too." Daniel whispered eventually, licking his lips nervously and looking into Max's waiting, blue eyes.

Max surged forward, contracting the small space between them and molded Daniel's kiss swollen lips with his own. Daniel moaned into his mouth, relaxing into Max's lead and eagerly massaging their tongues together.

Max eased them into the sofa, crowding on top of Daniel's pliant form. They made out languidly as if they had all the time in the world. Reacquainting themselves with each other’s bodies, almost reverently now with this new turn of their relationship. 

Soon, Daniel's sweatshirt and Max's Tshirt were discarded to the floor. They groped and stroked each other, careful to not leave any marks or bruises. Contrary to what Blake, Michael and Lando thought, Max had self control around Daniel. He may not exercise it, but he at the very least was aware of its existence. 

He, as much as everyone else, wanted Daniel to win tomorrow. He wanted Daniel to be 100% ready for the battle ahead. Daniel didn't need to be worried about a bruise pulling at an inopportune moment, or a muscle cramping from being held in a position (more than likely over Max's shoulder) for too long. He could hold back. He'd show them. 

Shucking down both their sweatpants inelegantly, Max pulled back from Daniel’s sinful mouth and spat into his palm. He cradled their dicks together in his large hand and swallowed Daniel's moan as he stroked them off slowly, rocking his hips a little to help provide some friction.

Daniel panted, clenching his fingers into Max's blonde strands to almost center himself. He whispered curses and praise into Max's lips, the other man feeding off of his pleasure. He always enjoyed taking Daniel apart. 

With a shudder and a long moan, Daniel came first, shooting his hot load over Max's hand and against their bellies. Max hummed in satisfaction, using Daniel's cum to further lubricate his grip before he too came with a groan, mixing with Daniel's mess.

They breathed shakily into each other's mouths, feeling their lips brush lightly with the movements. As if their mouths couldn't help but touch.

"So are we gonna do this before every match day or…?" Daniel broke the silence, smiling at Max's snort. 

"If that is what you want."

"As long as I get you, I'm good."

"I'm glad."

[echoesofwisdomcountup]

27 Days until Tears of the Kingdom Release. More trailer analysis today for y'all. I have watched it an unhealthy amount of times but like the music slaps so hard that rewatching it is not a chore at all. I'm sure most of you by now have heard that the main lead in instrument is a Saxophone which is sick imo.

Spoilers under the cut for those avoiding things.

Picking up where we left off yeasterday, we know have giant sinkholes in the desert. They could be quicksand or pits of death but they could also grant access to an underground section beneath the desert. Considering this is Arbiter's ground, these things might be related to the rising structure earlier in the trailer. Whatever the case, I know that one of my first courses of action will be to walk right into one of these to find out just what they are.

This part to me really hammers in that the underground sections of the game are no joke. They seem to be large and extensive and I'm so ready to explore them. Of course this place is also giving me dungeon vibes which is awesome. Also interesting to see the fire resistant armor mostly unchanged (from what I can tell at least.)

FLYING BOATS!! Are they ghost boats? Magic boats? Zonai tech boats? Who knows but I like the way they look. I think I made it very clear in the first trailer analysis that I needed to explore the giant tornado in the sky. Thank you Nintendo for showing more of the stormhead (although I'll get to the similarities with Skyward Sword another day.) You can see that this boat the trampoline that we see later in the trailer. Its going to be fun to use those.

Now this construct is fairly massive and it isn't the same as the minecraft looking one from the previous trailer. However, I wonder if this one will actually fight us or if its a larger construction construct (hehe). Either way it looks very cool and I am leaning towards fightin given the amount of boss fights this trailer highlights.

My jaw dropped the first time I saw this (although tbf it might have been dropped lower since so much of the trailer had me in shocked awe.) I love the new jump animation Link has (its shown much better later on) which as far as I've seen is only used in gravity manipulation sections. Also yeah gravity manipulation. I've seen several reactors look at this and the weird steps later on and talked about slowing time. Nah its gravity. The little green circle is keeping the water orbiting it at the center. Although, I wonder exactly how common this will be. I hope its used more than once.

Look at that flight suit!! It reminds me of a flying squirrel and I love it. Also mission impossible style laser dodging is not what I had on my totk bingo but I'm not complaining. However, if this section is motion controlled I think I can confidently say that many of us will need several tries. Still a cool use of the new diving mechanics. After this is the shot in the orb but I don't really have anything to say about it except the thing in the background looks like a gumball machine.

If this isn't one of the labyrinths in the sky, I will eat my shoe. In fact, I'm willing to bet that this is in that cube that haunted me in the past trailer.

Sick new spear, same animation, horse that looks very similar to Epona (oh I hope), and most importantly NPC's FIGHTING ALONG SIDE US!! I'm very stoked to see the other members of Hyrule fighting in groups against monsters. It's not just Link. Hyrule is everyone's home and I'm so happy that Nintendo is letting regular the NPC's fight to defend it. Even if their equipment is a little haphazard.

I love Link's expression so much. A little guy. But also he has the shiekah slate and it's got a usb connection into the spool of wire. I'm guessing this is right after/before the little robot arms shot in the past trailer. I have no idea what this is about but I'm curious. Maybe they are viewing more memories stored in the slate? Either that or plugging the wire into the slate is for upgrades or it accesses a specific area.

I have no clue who this person is but I am intrigued. They kinda look like the wall painting showed off in a past trailer but I have no idea what that means. I give this figure props for being mysterious and interesting looking. (Some people said this was in the art book but again I avoided that.)

This part of the castle is very pretty but I don't believe for one second that Link is actually there in the present. He is either reliving a memory or has time traveled because the throne room for sure hasn't been fixed in his time. Magic is involved here.

Zelda looks like she is at an altar. I'm very much reminded of Skyward Sword. I don't know what this means for her but maybe it has something to do with the Master Sword or her goddess powers.

Hmm I mean the random figure saying Link is the last line of defense is cool and all but this shot confuses me. Link's hand should be damaged/be the ancient hand. Is this even Botw Link? Also why is he pulling out the Master Sword again? We know it was damaged so did Zelda stick it back in the pedestal to recharge? So many questions.

Random figure talking to Zelda (who I think might be related to the Owl/the Sage in OOT that talks to Link in the sacred realm) has a similar looking hand. Maybe it's the same one that Link gets or maybe several Zonai have arms like this. Either way we get the first look at the tears part of Tears of the Kingdom but I'll talk about them more the next time.

That's it for today. The only other news I have is that Nintendo has apparently confirmed we will be starting the game in the sky. I'm assuming we either have a very long starting cutscene before they let us have control of Link or we do Great Platau 2.0 first and then we descend to the ground and have to explain what happened to someone like Impah and then the game gives us the explanation cutscene. Anyway, bye for now.

[loveandlegacy]

lol i have to rewatch to like. fully orient myself but i have summarized my current thoughts below!

and lest i sound like a negative nancy let's open with what i liked which included:

sevika not dying

ekko actually being the one to save everyone's ass. everyone needs to come correct

episode 7 altogether. sorry. it was somehow the most heartbreaking thing to watch ekko see the life that could have been and know he had to leave it. wtf. how do we live

mel's overall arc

the matricide (called it)

BEATRICE

singed somewhat inexplicably just returning to his cave despite unleashing several weapons of war for ambessa lmao like what a king

jinx's arc! i feel like she had so much more depth this season

i actually really liked jayce's arc for the most part even though i hated viktor's. i wish he had gotten more screentime overall to resolve some stuff but his story was really beautiful and sad and reaffirmed my feeling that he is actually one of the most tragic characters in the whole show

all the visuals of jayce in the bad timeline were really beautiful

cait-ambessa-mel fight. in2it

cait losing an eye ruled actually

0.05 seconds of evil yaoi. it should have been longer but whatever in my heart it was an eternity

the stuff i didn't like:

viktor's entire arc which somehow leaned into the ableism of last season and dispensed entirely with the most interesting aspects of his lore. i was pretty ambivalent for all of this season about where it was headed and decided to just wait it out to see before i decided to feel any which way but this was. a mess. the highlight of the whole thing was his philosophical conversation with singed, where i had a glimmer of hope, but then it just got so cartoonishly bad. where's the fucking cyborg body horror!!!! the self-surgery!!! i love jayce but WHYYYY is he the one to basically explain disability justice to the disabled (or formerly-disabled) character. krill me i'm so pissed lol

further to this point the fact that the gloriously evolved aren't people choosing their own path and just all turn into perfect, inoffensively beautiful gold gilded robots. like i get that it fits with how the changed viktor's arc. i hate that they changed all of it fundamentally

them glossing over how shittily cait treated vi in act i. i can buy fully that they could overcome all of that but they never talked about it even!!!

basically no real time being devoted to zaun outside of the alternate universe. how did everyone feel about this fucking war they were being asked to participate in. i don't have a problem with sevika being on the council but how and why did she agree to that. etc etc etc

ekko's overall lack of screentime lol like

i cannot believe they fucked in a prison cell 😭

the fact that after all this piltover literally still did not liberate zaun like hellooooooooooo

stuff that was neutral but actively funny to me personally:

singed presumably making orianna immortal but not himself? like he hates death but only for his daughter. he's like it's fine if i die tho

caitlyn saying "viktor's at the center of all this". i fully believe she's met him in the past given that she and jayce were besties but it was just funny to hear her say his name when she has NEVER brought him up at any point previously

the open question of whether or not sevika knew jinx killed silco. we simply will not be addressing that

the politics slkfljghsdf like this isn't on my "stuff i hated" list because the politics were obvious from s1 so it wasn't a surprise but l m a o

anyway lol again not to sound like a complete hater. i had a ton of fun even with this act which pissed me off. the animation the art the acting all of it was stunning. i am like one of the few people in the world who thinks that we do not need to return to 20+ episodes per season of television but in this case i do wish they had either had 3 seasons or just more episodes for this season to deal with how jank a lot of the pacing was. i feel like aside from my issues with viktor whose whole thing is like unsalvageable to me most of the stuff that i didn't like could have been resolved with just more time for all the storylines to feel less rushed/disjointed. all in all i had a great ride and i'm very glad to have been here for it and i will obvs keep posting bc despite my complaints there WAS a lot that i liked in this season (even if it felt unfinished) and s1 is still like an actual incredible feat of both storytelling and animation and this fandom is just fun. i like hanging out with u all 🥰

[slowestlap]

Valtteri Bottas was part of a Finnish tv show called "Yökylässä" (sleepover) where the host goes to visit Finnish celebrities and spends two days and one night in their home. This episode aired on February 2nd, 2023 and was filmed at some point in 2022.

Below I give context to the screenshots and have also translated some interesting bits:

1st row: Just some cute random VB photos to start with

2nd row: He really loves gin, first two photos are from his main apartment and right photo is from his weekend house. It simply was too many bottles to fit into one shot (no pun)

3rd row: And here we have him making gin tonic using his own gin brand. The obligatory helmet wall (there was another one as well). He's had this Ferrari for a few months, says blue is his favorite color. He'd have wanted to drive the host around with it but the battery had run out so they went with his red Alfa Romeo SUV

4th row: That's his weekend house near the main apartment but outside the city center. An artist in Monaco offered to make art work (something funny) for him and this is what they received. The framed a$$ photo is in the guest bathroom of the weekend house. They sold 5400 pcs of prints of it in 24h and got 50k€ for charity

5th row: They face timed Mika. He (grinningly) says the only advise he can give to Valtteri is "to break later". Just some absolute mint slippers he was wearing when they brushed teeth. That's his boat which is called "Rehab" but "it's almost the opposite (when you go there)". They rent it for others too, a full day is ~5k€

Other stuff i decided to highlight:

There's 3 or 4 feral cats around the weekend house that they'll give food to

The most important trophies are in Finland, the one from his first win is the most special

"It's hard to find apartments that you like to stay in (in Monaco), the prices are crazy expensive and quality is quite bad and they're old"

He pays 9500 € rent per month for his apartment

He wouldn't say how much the weekend house cost

The main reason for moving to Monaco was the taxes. He's calculated that in Finland his net income would be ~20 % of all of his gross income. In Monaco it's 60-70% after his expenses (like managers etc.) At the beginning of his career when things were unsure he thought it's important to try to make as much money as possible, after all the hard work he had put into becoming an F1 driver

He doesn't enojy fame and would rather be unknown but he understands it's part of being in F1 and he'd do anything to be able to live his childhood dream

He drove a kart for the first time as 5yo, jumped out of it and told everyone he'll become an F1 driver

Mika Häkkinen was his idol as a kid. It was a wow moment when he got a call from an unkonwn number in 2007 and it was Mika who wanted to help him in his career

He handles his finances/contracts by himself because it's hard to give someone else control over those things. Also mentions he doesn't like to be a passenger in a car because he's not in control of it

He only goes to social media to post things he wants to share, he doesn't read any comments or dm's

Tiffany does read some comments and said there's now less hateful comments towards Valtteri compared to how much there was when he drove for Merc

He hasn't really been single, after his break ups he's fallen in love quickly again. "It's nice to have a life partner"

Weight mentions ahaed! He talks a bit about the same stuff he mentioned in his podcast last year; he trained himself sick (around 2014). He was having really unhealthy training and eating habits and hid things from his trainer. He thought at the time that was what he should do. "If your team tells you to weight a certain amount, you'll do it". He then talked to a psychologist who said at first he was behaving like a robot without emotions but after that he started to work on getting healthier habits back

Host: "Do you talk about mental health related issues with your colleagues?" - "Not really, it still isn't a common subject to talk about. Even though maybe we should, I'm not the only guy who sometimes struggles".

Host: "How was it when you were the second driver for years?" - "Quite tough. It was so hard to accept but now I've made peace with it that Lewis was a better driver than me. After last year (2021) I admitted to myself that that's just how it goes sometimes." "Did you use to be bitter and jealous?" - "Yes, especially the first couple of years. I didn't hate him, we had a good partnership but I always thought how can I beat him and be better than him and win the championship. But it was tough 5 years. I shouldn't have been as harsh to myself."

He pays the private jet company he uses extra amount of money, enough to compensate the environmental impact. They went to his boat and he said he will compensate the costs too

He mentions that sometimes in the places they travel to it's better to keep quiet and lay low than to speak up about the issues within the country. He does say that in Saudi (2022, after the missile) the drivers decided to not drive but they were guaranteed it's safe to do so and that there's heavy security around the track. "Show must go on" and they weren't really given an option other than to drive. Formula 1 goes to places that pay the most.

Host: "The only thing missing from your life is F1 championship, is that so?" - "Yes."