#ivo my beloved...

[reytenstiel]

He's pretty slow at feeling.

Template by: @nasykuching (link to post)

[linnytheseagull]

Sonic doodles👍

Here's the full page if anyone's curious

The Sonamy and Agent Stone doodles were losely based on these screenshots

[invinciblerodent]

Kind of in love with the fact that to my knowledge, we don't ever learn Antoine's last name, only Evka's.

Like I could ofc be wrong, but regardless of whether he ever had one to begin with, yeah, Antoine would be a guy who takes his wife's name without hesitation. Yeah, he wouldn't care that it's ill-fitting because it's very clearly an Orzammar noble family's name, and he's an Orlesian elf. It's hers, and that makes it more than perfect for him.

[lazlolullaby]

The Tinkers - Post Movie 3 Stobotnik AU ficlet

anyway remember the IDW comics storyline where Eggman gets amnesia + becomes Mr. Tinker?

Basically, Agent Stone goes out into the Universe to find Robotnik, but finds him on an alien planet, with amnesia, making simple machines + fixing farm equipment for the locals as "Mr. Tinker". He even made a helper robot that's modeled like a wooden puppet, Belle.

Stone is like, "Doctor is this beneath you, you were made for more! Please remember!"

Mr. Tinker is like, "Step into my workshop, Belle please don't worry I will explain things to this kind, misguided man."

The door closes.

Robotnik immediately turns on Stone and slams him against the wall, "Yes, I remember, my beautiful friend! But the situation has changed. Plan 2010-11-16." He looks down. "Slightly modified."

Stone gasps, "Gain trust. Build machines and backdoors into their technology. Take over. But it's been months. And this Belle - it's-"

"She. I realize. After the rather. Illogical and emotional whirlwind attachment I assigned to." He hesitates. "Gerald. I believe I lack." He stalls.

"Doctor?"

"Practice." He steps back, looking at Stone. "Loving someone back."

[deerangle3]

wip parts under the expand thingy

this turned out so silly, I should try hopping on "trends" like this sooner tho

[triple-pupil]

Headcanon.

Robotnik's tendency to grab Stone's face, invade his personal space and mockingly hit him was learned from Gerald's treatment of him. Maybe he learned that this behaviour was how His old man showed love? So he replicates this to show affection as well.

Edit

So they never met before Sonic 3-

FUCK

[squeesquoo]

Y'all I NEED more footage of him... I NEED IT SO BAD

[puppypawprince]

color picked pride flag from this taskmaster screenshot that I made for absolutely no reason

[alienfailboy]

hello

i'm like 99% sure when stone flips through outfits for robotnik one of them is called the redmamba-nik with leather and a super high collar

is this a niche reference to megamind ? please say yes

[alchemocha]

Sneak peak since I simply cannot help myself

[catakiss]

LOOK AT THEM hehehehheheh!!!

[filisite]

And here we go again?...

- Dad! - You screamed in despair, running to the huge screen on the building that was currently broadcasting. Your father was going to commit suicide to save the earth and his loved ones.

How he regretted not telling Stone that he loved him, that he was not only his friend, but something more. How he wanted to tell his daughter to her face how much he loved her and was proud of her.

And that he regrets that he couldn't be a better father to you.

Ivo Robotnik trusted the first person he met, and now he regrets it so much that he completely forgot about his own child, focusing exclusively on taking over the world and Gerald's fake kind smile.

If he can't take over the world, he'll at least save it.

- My beloved and only daughter, I love you, baby. - He moved on to you after he opened up to Stone, he couldn't leave you without telling you his last words. He knew that Stone would take care of you, that he would be a better father than he was.

All the events of his life, from childhood to adulthood. Graduating from school with a gold medal, entering the best university, getting a high-paying job. Receiving fame for his inventions... And the birth of a child he loved with all his heart. The difficult fate of the Worker, which he overcame and became the best version of himself.

The last words he wanted to convey were said.

...

You and Stone returned home, neither of you talking to each other on the way back, just hugging each other tightly before going to bed.

[reader] was in shock, she was stunned and desperate, she wanted to cry and scream. She didn't want to admit that all this was real, her only loved one had died. To save their world.

But honestly, she would sacrifice the world for the person she loved.

Was that really what Shadow felt?

A burning pain in her chest, a desire to burn everything around her, to destroy everything, leaving nothing but emptiness.

The girl cried into her pillow all night, trying to drown out her pain, to be strong for her family and friends.

...She is not alone yet.

...

[reader] was still crying, although she had long since fallen asleep. She needed time for the pain to pass, that's what heroes say in movies, right?

The previously clean pillow absorbed all her grief, all her tears of regret.

Shadow appeared in the middle of her bedroom and stood there, sympathetically watching her cry and sob in her sleep.

Hedgehog walked up to her bed, stood by her face and gently brushed a strand of wet hair from her forehead.

He knew how much it hurt, but he couldn't do anything for you. You can't bring the dead back to life. No matter how much he himself dreamed about it for fifty years in the capsule.

Mobian could only wipe your wet face with his palms now. As if he could absorb your grief through the fabric of his gloves, he even wanted to do that. If only you weren't suffering.

Shadow leaned towards your face and kissed your forehead. Memories of her came to mind, how she could convey all the love through that touch.

He made the right decision, Maria would definitely want peace, for her loved ones to be happy.

He is not alone, he has you. I hope you think about him too.

[vaguely-concerned]

warden antoine 'through the power of love (and arson) all things are possible. zo jot that down' ivo my beloved

[melded-galaxy]

sonic movie 3 stobotnik thoughts:

Watched the third installment earlier today and have a lot of thoughts

Likes:

Stone being confirmed as the protector in their relationship (His action scene in the chao garden restaurant and his plea 'i'm not there to protect you!') was amazing, you can definitely tell Stone had been traumatized after Robotnik got stranded in the mushroom world and then returned only to nearly fall to his death

'I already lost you once-!' 'Unsubscribed blocked and reported.' 'I can't lose you again...' Stone you deserve the world and so much better than Robotnik i'm sorry your hearts deadset on this dickhead <3

Robotnik's first name Ivo being dropped several times and pronounced eye-vo rather than ee-vo. always preferred the eye-vo pronounciation personally, feel like ee-vo is a bit too on the nose and doesn't sound as good.

Robotnik being open enough around Stone at the very start of the movie that he casually mentions that Stone is the only person he trusts and at the very end after he thought he found loving family only to be rejected and betrayed by Gerald admitting Stone was the only one to ever truly care about him my heart can't

More of the weird kinky BDSM shit my beloved - Eggman's reaction to seeing a shirtless tied up Stone 'Do that in your own time you sicken me' sent me as did the frigging shirt snatch and of course that glorious haircut scene

Stone getting to interact with characters that aren't Eggman. Him calling Tails adorable and that short moment where he hung out with Shadow was nice to see.

Again the haircut scene. Stone had zero excuses for straddling his bosses lap and nearly strangling him in a chokehold. Firestarter by Prodigy playing was just the cherry on top.

Stone getting cucked again by Robotnik's own grandpapa. First knuckles now sour gramps smh there's always a damn third wheel

Robotnik finally finding family and just CLINGING to them (quite literally the boot kissing scene was... something.) Ivo was so desperate for Gerald's love and approval, its such a great parallel to Stone's admiration for Robotnik. Honestly it makes sense that Robotnik immediately reacted so defensively when Stone warned him of Gerald and Shadows hidden plan, like Robotnik immediately reacted by attacking Stone back by accusing him of just being jealous because he felt his bond with gerald was being threatened. Robotnik even looked over at Gerald several times while he was chewing Stone out, clearly seeking his approval.

Eggman's announcement dedicated fully to Stone after three whole movies of Robotnik taking Stone for granted and Stone being ditched berated and sidelined. Finally after feeling the pain of Gerald's rejection (that 'You're no Maria' was ice cold) Ivo in his last moments alive makes sure Stone knows he reciprocates and pays tribute to Stone's love and loyalty to him, admitting that Stone was more than just a sycophant, a tool to be used and discarded, Stone was a 'syco-friend'. my HEART

That final 'I love the way you make 'em' the delivery was so heartfelt

Stone's tearful smile after saying goodbye to Robotnik. There's a sort of sad acceptance to it like finally hearing Robotnik admit that he does care about him too softens the blow of losing him and will help Stone to move on post movie. Maybe Stone after Robotnik's death with find someone that truly treats him right. A lot of people speculate that Stone will be the big bad of the next film but I don't know, I think in an interview by Lee he said that Stone just wanted to feel acknowledged by Robotnik and in the end Stone finally got that. I feel like its a good bookend for both Robotnik and Stone's characters arcs and i'd have mixed feelings if they were confirmed to appear in the next movie; while i'd love to see more of Robotnik and Stone's twisted dynamic in the next movie, I feel like it'd sort of undermine Robotnik's final moment of humanity at the end of movie 3. Then again someone has to have made and been controlling the metal sonics we saw in the post credit scene so who knows what the next movie will bring.

Dislikes:

Stone only getting like 6-7 minutes of screen time, I would have like a few more scenes with him interacting with Robotnik Gerald and other characters to flesh him out a bit more, maybe even learn more of his backstory. I felt like this was also a problem with Maria and Gerald; both needed a bit more time to flesh out their characters. It would have been cool to see more of Gerald and Maria before Maria's death for instance.

The movie steering away from the romantic subtext that was present in the second movie (the lattes with hearts, the romantic music playing in Stone's cafe and Stone photoshopping his boss into a maid outfit) in favour of a more platonic or atleast debatable dynamic between them - Stone being sad about not being Robotnik's 'best friend', Robotnik calling Stone his syco-friend and no outright explicit confirmation from either of them was kind of sad to see. Felt like there was potential to openly confirm stobotnik in a romantic if twisted relationship, especially given the two lived together for over a year in their crab mech and were clearly comfortable around eachother, but I guess maybe the producers were too nervous of backlash to do so so they went with a more dubious/platonic angle.

Robotnik immediately treating Stone worse once he connects with Gerald :( I suppose it makes sense; Ivo now has this shiny new family connection,from his selfish perspective why would he need boring old but reliable Stone but it still was sad to see Robotnik completely disregard everything Stone had done for him - staying by his side after leaving the government, doting on him and rescuing/caring for Robotnik after the latter fell from the giant mech in the second movie (not shown in the movie only storyboards but still presumably Stone was the one to rescue Robotnik). Personally i'd have preferred it if there was a bit more conflict from Robotnik's side, maybe have Gerald manipulate him into steadily distructing Stone more and more as the movie went on.

Stone not getting a scene where he snaps at Robotnik/shows a backbone. Yes he tried to to warn Robotnik of Gerald and Shadow's real plans for the world but again that was mostly for Robotnik's own wellbeing. Stone was terrified of losing him. It would have been nice to see after 3 movies of Stone being a doormat for Robotnik Stone finally erupt and stand up to Ivo.

Stone disappearing from the plot at the climax of the film AGAIN, a reoccuring theme in the trilogy lol, Stone disappears from the plot after Robotnik tells him to ready the prototype in the first movie and again in the second, though to a lesser extent, after he was knocked out in the mech. It would have been cool to see him do a little more, maybe aid Robotnik Tails and Knuckles in stopping Gerald in some way instead of merely being a bystander.

Similarly to the second movie I feel like Jimbotnik and now Gerald were a bit TOO zany at times. Like the scene at their first meeting when they both looked at the camera and broke the fourth wall made me groan and god... the Ivo vs Gerald fight was... bad and not even in a so bad its good way way more a killing the pacing and tension way. Like why why put the jim carrey selfspank scene right after Sonic and Shadow had a heart to heart on the moon. Why.

Robotnik's overuse of modern slang also made me wince a bit... didn't like it in the second movie don't like it anymore in the third. I found some of the quips funny like the trauma dumping line but most of the times I felt the jokes were pandering too much to kids and would age badly.

No scene where Wade once again awkwardly third wheels while Robotnik and Stone be weird together again :(

THE FLASHBACK SCENE BEING CUT :'( In the leaked storyboards Robotnik was going to a have a sort of 'feelings realization' moment where he presumably contemplates why he's bothering to save the Earth. A flashback was going to appear showing the scene where Stone gives Robotnik his latte after the latter returned in movie 2, Stone in his GUN disguise rescuing Robotnik after the latter was trapped under the rubble of his mech post movie 2 and a scene where a concerned looking Stone is handfeeding Robotnik soup complete with Robotnik looking depressed in a full body cast. The final storyboard picture showed a wide eyed and concerned Robotnik clearly realizing that Earth being destroyed would mean Stone was going to die as well. The flashback and Stone's life being on the line was what would have prompted Robotnik to try to save the planet. The flashback and feelings realization scene was cut for some reason from the final film :( Think I still have the leaked storyboard images somewhere on my blog but we were robbed.

Well this got longer than expected haha, hope its somewhat coherent.

[yuki2sksksk]

Sonic 3 spoiler (? I think?)

I like Sonic 3 more than I thought I would. Also, I like that Super Shadow's quills matches the shade of Maria's hair colour.

(doomed siblings my beloved)

(and also Maria would've loved Ivo)

(also also nobody talks to me I am still processing that Gerald and Shadow don't care that they died as long as they can destroy the world for what happened to Maria)

[bambiraptor9blog]

'It's Complicated'-Sonadow Fan Fic-Chapter 1

Posting this chapter here in its entirety from my AO3 page. If you like what you read, please feel free to add notes, blaze, comment and read the rest on my AO3 account-thanks! :)

Chapter 1-The Mean Bean Coffee Co

The black quilled Hedgehog with crimson tips looked up at the entrance to the corner coffee shop, raising an eyebrow curiously while folding his arms against his chest. His white patch of chest fur puffed up with the brisk icy wind—Montana was not known for gentle climate, especially not in the dead of Winter—and he stowed the thought that he was freezing cold deep down inside his mind, letting his child-self seize in pain whilst he took on a dour expression.

“The Mean Bean,” he grunted softly to himself, his hot breath instantly becoming a miniature cloud on the cold breeze. He blinked his bright red eyes, shook his head, and let out a bemused, “Tch!”

“Hello, other Hedgehog,” the more heavy-set Dr. Ivo Robotnik—Sonic often called him Eggman—had somehow snuck up behind the black and crimson quilled creature in question. He dramatically pivoted to block the creature from entering his beloved slice of Americana—as well as his secret lab. “I see you’ve found my quaint establishment in the heart of Green Hills! I trust you—hoofed it—all this way okay?” He swept his white gloves through his comical moustache, getting icicles off its wiry mass, and grinned maniacally, his red snow goggles obscuring his eyes from the Hedgehog before him. “You know—all you Hedgehogs look awfully alike. What’s your name again?” He paused grooming his moustache to fold his arms across his chest, doing his best to mimic the Hedgehog’s pose. “Don’t tell me—wait—it’s something contrived and simplistic, isn’t it? I mean, the red one with those big, meaty paws is called Knuckles, the fox with two tails is called Tails, so you must be—”

“Shadow,” the Hedgehog grunted, rolling his eyes. “And I know who you are. Move aside, Doctor. I’m here to investigate this little…coffee shop…of yours.”

“GUN didn’t make you part of the Health and Wellness Advisory board, did they?” Robotnik spread his arms out wide, lightly tapping his fingers to sections of his palms as he did so in a rapid-fire text. Agent Stone, within the shop, shuttered the blinds and switched out the F- grade placard to an A placard, catching a glimpse of Shadow with fear in his large brown eyes.

“Doctor—who is that?!” Stone typed frantically while shutting down his Robotnik Cosplay Device 2.0, now with an added Sims 4 component.

“I have no idea, Stone,” Robotnik typed back while facing Shadow. “Let’s play nice for now and see where it gets us. You know my order by now, baby.” He smiled even wider at the scowling creature.

“Latte—with steamed Austrian goat milk!” Robotnik heard Stone say, and the lab was now a storefront once again, with warm lighting, a fireplace in one corner, and coffee grinders revving up, crunching down the beans that sat within them loudly.

Shadow sniffed the air. A memory hit him—one where he found a container of Professor Gerald’s prized Arabica coffee beans while he and Maria were playing hide and seek aboard the ARK. He let the memory stay, the cold mountainous town drifting away into a sea of starlight below his air shoe clad feet. Robotnik marveled as he levitated, watching the fire from the boosters instantly melt the snow on the ground.

“Oh ho! Where did you get those? I haven’t seen air shoes since…since…!” Robotnik was about to sink into his own reverie when he broke Shadow’s.

“I must get inside,” Shadow gruffed, and pushed past Robotnik toward the doors. Robotnik’s jaw dropped and he whirled about with a sound mimicking one of his badniks turning on its chassis.

“Eager to try our Mean Beans, I see!” beamed Agent Stone, in his barista outfit. The slender, olive-skinned man with short black hair and a well-groomed beard-and-goatee rushed around the counter to meet Shadow, and to ensure Robotnik’s rage was quelled long enough to develop a customer service façade.

“Coffee,” was all Shadow could mumble, overwhelmed now by the sight of the grinders and state-of-the-art dispensers, in polished stainless steel. The smell of coffee is what made his head spin more than when he performed a homing attack—the rich, heavy, earthy smell that reminded him of home, of the love of his beloved Maria and her comfort. His air shoes hit the tile floor and singed the grout slightly, making Stone inwardly sigh, Oh great. Another space porcupine to clean up after…I hope Ivo knows what’s he’s dealing with this time…I’d…I’d really like for just us to… “Barista…Stone. I’d like to try some of your coffee, please.” Shadow read his crooked nametag, which Robotnik narrowed his eyes at, and then Stone straightened it nervously.

“Absolutely—uh--?” Stone replied as he scuttled back behind the counter, holding the creature’s cold, soul-piercing gaze, waiting for the name. He swallowed hard. This space porcupine…why does he remind me of Ivo in our younger years? Focus, Stone! Focus!

“Shadow,” the softest hint of a smile started to thaw the iciness in his gaze. “Shadow the Hedgehog.”

Stone scribbled on a cup while Robotnik ambled over and took a seat in a booth by the front counter, staring at both of them curiously. Why my fate continues to be tied to these…Hedgehogs…is beyond me. Still, the gems they keep bringing to this world will make for an incredible source of power…and this one. This one will be the one to beat! I wonder…what makes this creature tick? He seemed to be lost in thought with the smell of the coffee—perhaps a loved one? A lover? Maybe both? Who cares? I have to get into his head before he gets into mine! Robotnik thought, all while Stone served him a lovingly etched cup of hot Austrian goat milk latte.

“Would you like a latte? An espresso? If you’re feeling cheeky, maybe a flat white’ll do ya right, mate!” Stone tried to impress Shadow and failed miserably as he returned to the counter of the shop. Shadow just stared at Stone, blinking. Robotnik rolled his eyes and sipped his latte slowly, loudly.

“Stone,” Robotnik’s tone made the other man freeze. Stone looked down at the floor, his eyes wide, his smile fading. He was expecting a rebuke, a sharp retort, a cruel jab at his big heart. Robotnik lifted his chin, and winked. “You did excellent, adding just the right amount of mushroom. Keep it up, and you might get a raise!”

“Yes, Doctor!” Stone felt the spring in his step as he continued to address Shadow. Shadow raised an eyebrow again, staring at them both even more curiously than he stared at the false storefront moments ago. What an odd mating ritual. Humph. Pathetic humans, groveling for attention.

“Mmh,” Shadow thought for a moment. Then, “Can you do me a favor, Barista Stone?”

“Yes, whatever you’d like!” Stone felt his voice crack. Robotnik furrowed his brows at that, and Stone cleared his throat, waiting expectantly while leaning over the counter slightly.

“Put only your finest roast beans in the cup. No water, no espresso, no grinding. Just whole beans.”

“You don’t drink coffee?” Robotnik mumbled aloud. “Fascinating.” What a little weirdo, he thought, finishing his cup.

“Of—of course?” Stone asked Shadow, looking over at Robotnik for clarification. The doctor shrugged and started adding notes into his watch. “Any specific flavor?”

“Hm…” Shadow stood there, thinking, letting the recesses of his memory rise to the surface, like the twisted tendrils of Black Arms aliens, turning his gaze distant. He recalled popping open Gerald’s glass coffee container and eating the beans with his hands, soiling his gloves, struggling to chew them. He read the small white label on the container’s glass surface as he ate. “Ah-ra-bick-uh,” he grunted aloud, phonetically sounding out the word as he did when he was young.

“Dark or light roast?”

“Dark, of course,” Shadow returned from his reverie. Just the way Gerald and Maria liked them…as did I… “Oh, and please include a serving spoon. I don’t want to get my hands dirty.”

“Not yet you don’t!” Robotnik chortled, a glint in his eyes that only Stone could catch.

“What’s that supposed to mean, Doctor?” Shadow asked, genuinely unsure of his double entendre.

“Nothing at all, my fine black and red quilled fellow!” Robotnik grinned, wandering over to Stone and Shadow. He set his goggles on one end of the counter and balanced his weight with his elbows against it. “So. What brings you here tonight? Your…usual den too cold?”

Stone prepped the coffee and listened in on the conversation attentively.

“I’m no mere Hedgehog, Doctor. I thought your grandfather clued you in on that ages ago,” Shadow gruffed in response, avoiding the man’s eye contact.

“Well an alien Hedgehog, at least to us here on Earth, yes,” Robotnik nodded, fidgeting with his moustache. He steepled his fingers beneath his chin, raising an eyebrow at Shadow.

“You know why I am here. I was sent by Gerald and GUN to investigate your establishment,” Shadow gruffed.

“Are you familiar with the other Hedgehog that lives here on Earth?” Robotnik wanted to know, ignoring his statement.

“There’s…there’s another?” Shadow wondered. I thought they were all extinct, wiped out with the Siege of Longclaw! I thought I was the last…!

“Yes, and he’s been…antagonizing…” Robotnik gritted his teeth, “the residents of this town for years, including yours truly. His name…is Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog!” and with Hedgehog! Robotnik shouted angrily, making Stone wince and Shadow’s eyes widen in alarm.

When the echo of his voice died down, Robotnik caught his breath, and he cleared his throat.

“I take it you know of him? I know GUN does…”

Shadow was quiet for a long time. Stone peered at him from behind the counter, blinking slowly.

A blush had risen to Shadow’s cheeks. He tried to force down his feelings, tried to hide the years of longing that welled up in his chest and in the tears he felt moving to the corners of his eyes. He closed them, taking in a few deep breaths, his chest hairs quivering with the attempt to calm down.

Another Hedgehog? A…a chance to have a mate at last? A chance to…be happy?

Then, aloud, softly, “The story goes all Hedgehogs, as you know of us, died out along with the owls years ago. I…I didn’t know…another had…escaped that fate!”

“You see,” Robotnik continued, chewing on a cookie Stone presented to him. He wiped away the crumbs with taps of his fingers, infinitesimally tiny bots cleaning them away from his suit, and started to pace the floor between Stone and Shadow. “I’ve been trying to track the origins of that blue quilled menace for a while now. Alas, I can only pinpoint a comet that orbits close to our solar system once every 50 years.”

“A…a comet?” Shadow felt an internal shudder. An unbidden memory arrived, a roving slimy yellow and red eye, moving listlessly in a black and red skinned alien being, hissing his name after he emerged from his incubator tank…

“It turns out that my grandpapa, as brilliant as he was, had to make a deal with an extraterrestrial devil to keep his business alive. And this devil was involved with these…Hedgehogs…and this comet, too.”

“I am more than a mere Hedgehog, and more than Gerald’s business, Doctor,” Shadow growled, his quills and fur hackles rising with the implication. He pointed a finger at the mustachioed man and continued, “I am the Ultimate Lifeform on this planet! The only hope we have against such…intruders! How dare you insinuate that I am allied with them!”

“Ah, but Sonic is allied with this comet and this devil, it seems!” Robotnik nodded, pausing in his pacing to face Shadow.

“What!” Shadow was taken aback. At that moment, Stone gave him a cup full of the roasted beans.

Shadow chewed on the new information and the dark roasted Arabica beans. He grunted in pleasure, which Stone and Robotnik found oddly arousing, and they stared at him as he ate, enraptured.

“It’s never good,” Shadow continued while swallowing, “to dilute the flavor.” He cleared his throat, noting the shocked expressions of both men.

“Stone,” Robotnik whispered. Stone started to blush and sweat, adjusting his collar.

“Yes Doctor?” Stone wanted to know, unable to take his eyes off Shadow as he dug in another spoonful and ate, rolling his red eyes in bliss.

Robotnik hissed to Stone: “This Hedgehog is not the same as Sonic. Clearly not. He’s got to be some kind of mutant hybrid. I mean, who eats raw coffee beans?”

“I…I honestly don’t know, Doctor. I can’t help but watch him…! I mean, how does he--?!” and Stone let out a gurk! as Robotnik grabbed the man’s necktie below his barista smock and yanked him close.

“The way he looked when I mentioned our blue rat…do you think there’s a possibility, an inkling that he could be…attracted to Sonic?”

“I thought they were related!”

“No, you buffoon! I was using that information as a decoy, to set him up into thinking that somehow, someway, they might be distantly related. Obviously not direct, Shadow was supposedly a project my grandpapa kept secret from the government for decades! But is this Shadow…my Shadow? Catch my drift?” Robotnik set Stone down, who gasped for air gratefully.

“I…I think so, Doctor…” Stone swallowed, recovering and adjusting his tie, straightening his barista smock.

“This coffee…is…most…excellent,” Shadow proclaimed, nearly finished with his cup. His quills began to stand on end and he started to rev up his air shoes instinctively. “I will need to go on a run soon to burn it all off. So tell me, Doctor and Barista Stone…is this Sonic…am I…somehow involved with this…comet? Is Sonic allied with the ones known to me as the Black Arms? Did he betray us, betray…me?”

The Black Arms? Could that be the devil alien race my grandpapa knows?! Robotnik leaned in even closer to Stone, his voice an imperceptible whisper that made the latter’s neck hair stand on end: “He’s into him, Stone. Hook, line and sinker.”

Then, pulling away and ambling toward Shadow: “This Sonic…ever since he came here, he’s been nothing but trouble toward me and Stone here. He’s nearly destroyed this town with his buddy cop daddy, and last I checked, he has the Chaos Emeralds.”

“The Chaos Emeralds?” Shadow wanted to know. He coughed slightly, the coarse beans sticking to his throat. Then, Robotnik continued:

“We both know the kind of power he has with those—he could be some kind of terrorist, out to conquer the world for Hedgehog kind! So we’ve been trying to get the Emeralds back—”

“Why?” Shadow wondered, tossing his cup in the trash and giving the spoon back to Stone, who grimaced in disgust—it was covered in his saliva, and teeth marks made divots into it. “Doctor, there’s no need to safeguard the Emeralds for GUN. That’s my job, last I checked.”

Robotnik sneered and then put on a wide fake smile. “I’m the smartest man on this planet. Well, aside from Stone. And I know what’s at stake here, Shadow. I know what that power means, in the wrong hands. Shouldn’t I—I mean, shouldn’t we, as humans that are the stewards of this blue planet—do the responsible thing, and prevent chaos from reigning supreme over this world? Isn’t that what Maria wanted?”

 Maria! Shadow’s heart nearly stopped on hearing her name. His angel, the blonde human girl with blue eyes deeper than the ocean floor; the one who, despite being sickly, loved him unconditionally. The one who sent him to Earth 50 years ago…the one whose name once again brought him back to life.

Shadow’s rage began to rise on thinking of his loss, and he scrunched up his nose in a deep scowl.

“A Hedgehog like Sonic cannot be captured. Only bested, Doctor,” Shadow tsked. His eyes glowed red like coals on an open flame, and energy started to surge through his quills, turning them neon orange. The lights in the Mean Bean began to dim and flicker as Shadow’s energy started to build. Shadow’s limiter rings tightened on his wrists and ankles, making him wince for a split second.

Robotnik noted the rings and tapped on his watch, taking photos of them silently. Then, “Race that blue rat to the ends of the Earth if you have to, Shadow. I want you to fulfill my grandpapa’s—no, Maria’s!—promise. You say you’re here to protect mankind? Prove it, and bring that Hedgehog back to me, so I can…deal with him…accordingly.”

Then, he snarled, “Sonic will be mine, Doctor. I will make sure of it, because I am the Ultimate Life!”

Before Robotnik could give a single quip in response, Shadow was gone, blasting out the doors of the Mean Bean Coffee Shop in the dead of night, his quills and air shoes the only brief light before total darkness surrounded the streets of the mountain town.