#sonic is annoying XD

[psychictimestone]

Feeling a lil bit silly tonight 🤭

[skimmingmilk]

ooo now i'm curious, tell us more about drift! 👀

i'm assuming, like his name implies, he "drifts" around and just does whatever he wants?

You got it! Drift's name came from a couple of things. First, it's the game mechanic when you take tight corners while boosting as Sonic xD But also, it can mean being carried along by the wind or water, so fitting for a pirate world and also compatible with Sails's name :) And then the big thing is that he's so adrift in his own life. Just completely and utterly directionless.

Drift lives alone on an island in the middle of No Place. He can't swim, so he's not about to go live a life on the open seas. Most of the planet is under water, with scattered islands spread out across the ocean.

Now, he doesn't let it bother him! He doesn't need much, his island is lush and peaceful. It's okay that he can't really run anywhere, the island's not that big, he can cross it in less than fifteen minutes just walking. He likes living life worry-free, without a care in the world. He naps in hammocks all day long, plays his guitar, and eats seaweed salads and drinks out of coconuts xD He has absolutely no drive to do anything. No purpose. No point. And he's happy. He doesn't care that he's stuck in one place because his island is beautiful and he's alone! No one telling him what to do, no one expecting anything of him. It's just him, nature, and peace.

This probably doesn't sound too bad, right? Except, it's Sonic. An aimless Sonic who sees absolutely nothing wrong with lying on a beach all day, every day, alone, forever. He's Sonic's carefree nature dialed up to the point where he couldn't care less. Without anything to run towards, he doesn't run at all. Without anything to live for, he's not even really living.

He's also very talkative despite being alone. Drift got the whole slice of the talking pie xD Sharp might have a sharp tongue, but he also isn't compelled to say everything that's on his mind and Bur (originally Snare, but I think Bur works better for his character, like the little spiky seed balls that get stuck on clothes or in animal fur) is non-verbal. So it's safe to say, Sonic's most annoying qualities went to Drift, lol.

When Drift finally has some company - in the form of Rouge and Knuckles landing on his island for a change - all he's got to offer them are carefree conversations and coconuts, no way home in sight. Just miles of ocean.

"Haven't you ever wanted to at least see what else is out there?" Knuckles demanded. Eyes still closed, Drift lazily waved his hand towards the endless blue expanse beyond the edge of his beach. "Take a long look, pal. That's all there is." "You can't know that!" Knuckles smacked the palm tree with the side of his fist, the whole thing swaying along with the hammock and finally coaxed the hedgehog to crack one eye open and peer up at him. "If you've never left this island, how could you know that there isn't something more for you?" Drift clicked his tongue, a lazy smile spreading across his face as he folded his arms behind his quills. "You tell me, big guy. What could be better than this? Now d'ya mind? You're kinda blocking my sun."

Knuckles can't stand him xD Rouge is just annoyed and wants to find a way back as soon as possible. But the two of them give him a little more perspective, even if he doesn't outwardly show it - because it is pretty fun to annoy them, he's never had real people to mess with - and when Tails shows up, it becomes clear that Drift is fully aware of how he's not actually free. Not caring is his way of coping, convincing himself that he couldn't possibly want more because he can't have it when the world has nearly drowned. But after connecting with both Tails and Knuckles, Drift decides life's no fun without taking a chance or two, so he decides to go with them when they finally leave the island.

Then they'll run across a familiar pirate ship we all know and love, and Drift will find both a purpose and adventure waiting for him aboard <3 He and Sails hit it off almost instantly, to the surprise of absolutely no one, lol. They bond the quickest out of all the variants.

Drift likes to hang out in the crow's nest because "it's the farthest from the water that I can get" and that's where Sails likes to hang out, too, when he doesn't feel like partying and wants somewhere to tinker on his contraptions. Sails thinks he's funny and Drift thinks he's clever. They understand each other's longing for freedom and purpose, but they worry about the price. Drift doesn't want to be anchored to anything and Sails worries he's only valuable as a member of a crew, that on his own, he's nothing. They both fill a need they didn't know they had, and they recognize it straightaway.

"Well... if ye every feel like yer being dragged down here," Sails hummed as he looked out at the edge of the horizon, "I'll fly ye up and out." "Oh yeah?" Drift snorted, but his muzzle quirked in genuine amusement. "Wouldn't that be considered mutiny?" "Can ye really mutiny if ye don't even have a proper captain?" Sails sighed dramatically, coaxing a chuckle out of his companion. "It keeps changin' every day! They keep... they keep abandonin' us," he said, his voice soft, but there was a frustrated edge to it lying just beneath the surface. "Why shouldn't any of us leave?" "Then why don't ya?" Sails pursed his mouth thoughtfully. "I've only ever been any good as a part of a crew. Even if all I ever do is help throw parties and act as lookout. At least I'm doin' something for someone." "A fair point," Drift agreed idly. "Well, guess it'll just depend then. How far can those tails of yours carry ya?" Sails looked over at him and shrugged. "Don't know," he answered honestly. "But so far, they've gotten me where I've needed to go. Can't promise they'll do the same for ye, but... I can promise I'll try." Drift glanced at him, and the sea breeze suddenly wasn't all that cold as a warm smile spread across his face. "I'll hold ya to it," he chuckled.

I haven't written much for them, I still need to figure out exactly when in the show they meet (right now I have it outlined for right after the episode "No Way Out" but I haven't fully pieced together each sequence of events), but I know I love them and they're wonderful~

Thanks for asking about my other problem child Drift! <3

[niyana-the-ambiguous-mobian]

Sonic Prime was released one year ago today…..

Where has the damn time gone?

[true-blue-sonic]

You and Anon gave me an idea and I have ZERO idea how Sonic would flirt, I just imagine he tries to live out movie tropes

Sonic *In an overdramatic voice*: Oh no~ Silver! This hotel room has only one bed!

Silver: Oh no! S-should we complain? I mean, I don't want to be rude or anything.

Sonic: It looks really soft~ and the floor looks really cold.

Silver: I mean, they must be REALLY busy to make this mix up, but we DID pay for a bigger room.

Sonic: *Laying on the bed* Well, it COULD fit us both~ If we got REALLY close to each other.

Silver: We are in the right room, right? I-I should ask the front desk, just to make sure!

Sonic: *Sighs* Silver.

Silver: Yeah?

Sonic: Get in the bed.

Cute, but may I bring into consideration that Silver just... gets the second bed, somewhere, before Sonic can intervene, with a lot of crashes and general disregard for door frames as he psychokinetically transports it in from like another room or something, lol. After all, they did pay for two beds! Might as well make sure they can use them both, right? And thus Sonic is kinda laying on the original bed like "um... front desk might not like this" while Silver is plopping his stolen bed in to lay on. I think Sonic would definitely be caught at least a bit by surprise! XD

But I can also envision Silver then gets into a very miffed argument with the front desk about this (with them arguing about the minor destruction he's causing and Silver in turn arguing that he wouldn't have caused that if there had been two beds like they said), with Sonic eventually mediating that he'll put that second bed back in its place and they'll make do, and then he can put his Only One Bed plan in motion again. Though Silver might need some cuddles to stop being less bristling about how everything went, haha!

[angstandhappiness]

INTERESTING

I've been wondering if I should make this post for a while, but I'm just gonna come out and say it: the Sonic movies are not pro-military just because Tom is a police officer. I'd argue that the movies are pretty anti-military, actually.

So, let's talk about Tom first, since he's kind of the elephant in the room with this discussion. Tom is the sheriff to a small town where he rarely has to deal with any real crimes; he usually deals with more trivial problems like people's cars breaking down, and we see him help a family of ducks cross the street.

He's an officer partly out of a sense of obligation (reportedly his family has held this position in some way for over 50 years), and partly because he wants to be in a position where he can protect people in serious situations. His goal at the start of the first movie is to start working in a bigger city where he can be more helpful.

I won't say that Tom isn't something of an idealized vision of a cop, and that in the wrong hands, he could easily be used as a form of military promotion. But I think Tom is like this for a different, more specific reason: to be used as a sharp contrast to literally every other government official we see.

Question: who exactly is the villain in the first Sonic movie? Robotnik, yes, but who is he? What does he represent?

Well, he's pretty much the face of the military.

Robotnik is under direct orders from the government to look into the power outage incident, and that turns into a mission to capture (and experiment on) Sonic - and regardless if Robotnik was authorized to use lethal force, he does so anyway.

And the thing is, all of the higher-ups know he's unhinged and dangerous, but he keeps his job because he gets results regardless of his methods. Heck, the first thing we see him do is lie to Tom about who he is and what he's there for so he can get inside his house to search it. Not exactly the most flattering portrayal of military investigations.

(He even gets punched by Tom after forcing his way into the house anyway)

Tom then proceeds to spend the rest of the movie on the run from the government, going out of his way to protect Sonic (who is quite literally an illegal alien) at the risk of his own livelihood. Clearly, adhering to his job description is not something the movie views as morally correct here.

Second question: who's the villain of the second movie? Still Robotnik, but he's not employed by the government anymore, so he can't really represent them anymore, right?

No, but considering Sonic's adopted family was actively manipulated by a government spy, who was meant to marry his new aunt in order to target him, and Sonic proceeds to get tased and thrown into a cage along with Tails by the other military personnel present at the fake wedding... I think it's safe to say that they are, once again, a central antagonistic force in this series.

(Yeah they do a funny where the spy turns out to have fallen in love for real, but I think we can all agree that was done for the sake of keeping a whimsical tone and not to endorse what was actually happening with the government there)

Which brings us to the third movie, which is still unreleased at the time of writing this. And one final question: how exactly do you think they're planning to write an adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2?

They've already set GUN up as the villains. That alone is central to Shadow's backstory, and the writers have clearly done their homework on Sonic lore. And even if they've somehow wildly missed the messaging of the franchise they've made two successful movies off of, the fact of the matter is that there is no adapting SA2 without anti-military sentiments. Like, they would have to work pretty hard and completely butcher both the game and their own movies up to this point for that to come out being pro-military.

This part's more in speculation territory, but here's a thought: what do you think Tom is going to do when he finds out what happened to Shadow?

Remember, Tom is an idealized small town sheriff who has this job out of obligation. He hasn't had to deal with the darker side of all this stuff until he started protecting Sonic, which - just as a reminder - has led to his house being searched, his car being cut in half, Sonic almost getting killed at least twice, his sister-in-law being manipulated, Sonic and Tails getting locked in cages... I'm probably even missing a few things.

Once everything that happened 50 years ago comes to light (especially if the theorists are right about Tom's family having been involved in it), I honestly wouldn't be surprised if he just. quit being a police officer. or got into activism. or both.

But even if we limit the analysis to just the two movies that are out right now, I struggle to see how "Tom shirks his duties to protect an alien child from being experimented on by the government" is in any way a pro-military sentiment.

In conclusion: basically every problem in the Sonic movies is the fault of the government in some way, so can we please stop talking about the series as if Tom is singlehandedly making them pro-military, now. Thanks

[megbanned]

Hi Meg megbanned! It’s a pleasure to meet you. I just wanted to ask something. Your UWD concept fascinates me. How did you come up with it?

Hi hiiiiii!

Time for loreeeeeeeee XD

This is kind of old but basically- before entering the fandom I was creating a new fursona and sonicsona

Thiis one

But after knowing the series 1 year ago (November 1), it occurred to me to make my fursona into a drone, but I wanted it to keep their design.

So then I did this first concept for my drone

It looks a little weird since I didn't know how to draw the drones body, so I just made it similar to the Sonic style, I even included 5 fingers and the paws X'D

Although its appearance changed when it became a drone, I had more in mind that it would be like a small demon drone, something silly.

This was the first reference I made about my OC, it still had 5 fingers at that time and the design of the body where the lava was was different (I didn't know that drones had cores or the sign on their chests) and also my own oc was the first post about murder drones that I had made on twitter X'D and I call it just "A worker drone from the underground"

After creating this OC I said to myself "why don't I make more OCs with the same concept?" So I created 3 more

Although after a while I got a little annoyed that they looked so similar in terms of "drone model" and eventually differentiated them slightly in markings and colors (ABS was the second OC I created, so she is still very similar to her first concept and MB), I think by this point I was starting to think more that they were already a different type of Worker drones x'D

I mean: -They have Worker Drone bodies. -They have horns. -They have tails. -They have lava characteristics and different abilities and weaknesses.

They were definitely another type of drones and to clarify the above I had made this information sheet since I had been asked what my OC was about.

Pretty old information and designs x'D

And then I wrote a little more about my drones here https://www.tumblr.com/megbanned/744965835843649536/i-got-a-qeustion-so-pretty-sure-your-mascot-is?source=share

So after this I already had a simple base about what these drones were, they already had their first part of the lore and what they could do.

After a while, some friends and other people started asking me if they could create a drone similar to mine I didn't know what to answer because at first I only kept them for myself and my stories.

Unfortunately it took me a while to think about what to do…

After that I thought I could do something more with them, create more lore for them, establish their abilities and weaknesses a bit more, more basic information and more freedom regarding their designs. So I started making some custom designs for close friends.

Plus I also did some roleplaying since that helped me figure out what else they could do while answering my friends' questions.

In addition, other friends gave me advice on how to balance the drones and bring them closer to the Murder Drones canon but also leaving some artistic freedom.

Also, something funny is that at one point I got to write a script for a fake analog horror video about these drones XDDDDDD doing that helped me clarify more information.

And well, after a couple of months, having free time, and with my knowledge of closed and open species, I was able to compile all the information in this Guideeee

And that's how this subtype of drones appeared x'D

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[lazorbeanz]

Here's a list I made of random thoughts and reactions I had during and after watching STH3 hehehrmrr why did I make this…

(Part 1 🫠)

!spoilers ahead duh!

- damnit Kyle

- ACOUSTIC LIVE AND LEARN?! it’s so peaceful

- Did flashbacks of past trauma just jolt shadow out of a 50 year stasis?-

- bro really took the “woke up (from a 50 year coma) and chose violence” saying literally HDHDHHSD

- Movie Shadow is so cool I LOVE

- Still silly as always hehe 🤭🤭🤭

I just love how that iconic level completed/victory tune played during that last scene ^

- HAHA OZZY GET SUBTITLES!!

DOGGY TRANSLATOR :D

“You stole my hoomans” IM WHEEZING

- okay is it coincidence that where their camping site was, was in the same area as Sonic’s old cave orrr…

Anyways nice lil trip down memory lane! ^-^ also interesting to see that not everything of Sonic’s got moved from the cave into Tom and Maddie’s house

- Omg the ✨stateoftheartsecuritysystem✨ made a return xD good to see he can still master them nunchucks…

- I swear this kid could draw better at like 3 yrs old then I could at 16 🥲

- Tom: *trying to have a wholesome father to son conversation*

Sonic: “yah…iN mA LuNgS”

Tom (in his head probably lmao): “where is this kid’s braincells-“

- “I don’t know what I’d do without ya…*scene switches over to shadow* I’d probably be a totally different hedgehog”

BYE I’m sobbing that was just a SAD move. WHYY DID YOU DO THAT😭😭

- You heard him…leave the lil guy alone :(

- “peace…” “quiet…” STOPPP YOUR GONNA JINX- aaaand yep called it. Here come the uninvited guests 🚁

- *Neon starts playing during the helicopter scene* AWW HELL YEAAAA BANGER SONG + BANGER SCENE = PEAK CINEMA RRRAAAHHHHH

- look at Tails being the copilot HES SO ADORABLE I LOVEEEEE🥹🥹🥹 the little detail of the helmet shifting forward as he looks down..still too big on him but he looks so happy wearing it AAAAAAA

- ONE MILLION PERCENT MUSCLE™️ MENTIONED!!!!

- THE SKYDIVING SCENE WAS AAAAARGH SO COOL I WAS FLAT OUT JAMMING TO THE SONG ATST AKBDJABDJAND I LOVED THEIR SMOOTH AS FORMATIONS AND THEN THE HEROIC LANDING GRAAAAHHHHH

- Tails: “woah…these energy readings are off the chart…”

Meanwhile my sonic boom brainrotted ass: “FORTUNATELY WE HAVE A BIGGER CHART-“

- ONE MILLION PERCENT MUSCLE™️ MENTIONED!!! (AGAIN)

- ��excuse me?! Why do you look like me?!”

“I don’t look like you…you look like me!”

- sonic refuses to listen to his team strike one

- ugh shadow and motorcycles >>>>>

- BABYYYYYY 🥺😭

- i am literally squealing, crying and laughing over this one scene

Okay so ofc we got tails just BEING A KID ENJOYING THE CONCERT AWWWW AGAIN MORE SMOL DETAILS LIKE THE HAND CLAPPING AND THE WAGGING TAILS AND SWINGING THE LEGGIES HES LOVIN IT!! 🥹💛

Then we got sonic who you can see IS subtly vibing along…and then he glances over at Tails AND HIS FACE KINDA LIGHTS UP?! LIKE HIM JUST SEEING THE SHEER JOY HIS LITTLE BUDDY IS HAVING RN HES HAPPY FOR HIM I CAN TELL

Knuckles just looks annoyed lmao

And the Commander looks like he’s literally having second hand embarrassment HSHDHDHDHD

That’s what ya get for tryna having a meeting in the Chao Garden ig 🤣

- I-is Commander Walters really dead?… ;-;

- STONE RIDING A MOTORBIKE HELLO?!

[phightingheadcanons]

🧡🩵-anon here! I thought about what it would be like if the main roster of phighting met their au versions (aka the skins) and oh boy it would be CHAOS.

- Starting off strong is everyone doing that pointing spider man meme.

- Subspace is freaking out because a) alternate universes are real and b) because his alternates consist of a jester, an exorcist and a twink and he does not know how to feel about that.

- Medkit is also very confused and is silently having a panic attack. Doesn't help that Bivekit is spitting a bunch of conspiracy theories while the other Medkit's are just confused.

-Coil and Coil 2.0 are just having a fist fight, Sonic and Shadow ahh rivalry.

- Vinestaff, Shuriken and Slingshot are just kinda chilling with their alts. They're in the corner minding their own business.

- Scythe and Dutchman Scythe are annoyed that they have to deal with more than one Banhammer who are very much after their asses.

- All the Skateboards are racing each other.

- At least one building has been destroyed by the combined power of all the Rocket's.

- The Biograft's are just functioning as they would, they're surprisingly chill despite all this

-If you go near the Boombox's don't expect to be able to hear again, it is a mix of all the different music from their Boomboxes at full volume. No one knows how they are perfectly fine despite this.

-All the Swords are just taking turns sparing with each other, Follower Sword is wiping the floor btw.

- This is all happening in Crossroads so Zuka is seeing all of this and questioning everything while Broker is having a great time watching the carnage.

I don't think I can do all of them lol. Don't bother tagging them all, there's too many XD

You better believe on your 10 Hp life that I’ll tag every single one of em /lh /being silly

(Everyone that’s mentioned by name of course, not doing the indirectly referenced ones)

[tizeline]

Sep!Leo would watch the Sonic movie, hear Sonic's voice and be like "man, how'd they make Sonic sound EVEN dorkier?" (Akin to the '87x'12 crossover where 87 Raph made fun of 12 Donnie's voice)

OH yeah definitely XD

Fun fact, I actually got the idea of TSAU!Leo finding Sonic's voice annoying from that crossover where 87!Raph and 12!Donnie are making fun of each others voices lmao I always loved that joke

Anyway, you didn't ask but I'm gonna provide it anyway - Here are TSAU!Leo's reviews of the Live Action Sonic Movies!:

First movie - SUCKS it literally only has Sonic and a bunch of dumb humans in it, WHATEVER!

Second movie - Better, Tails and Knuckles are cool, still too many humans

Third movie - Hasn't even been released yet, but Shadow is gonna be in it so that automatically makes it the best one.

[weirdofish]

A tribute piece to one of my favorite levels in Sonic Adventure 2 Cosmic Wall. Not only was the low gravity gimmick fun, but the music here absolutely slaps (I listened to the 30 minute extension a few times while making this XD). I spent a long time trying to think up a good composition and the best I could make was Eggman getting harassed by space squishies (not that I blame him; those things are fucking annoying XP).

I'll be honest, I really love making these despite how annoying and tedious it can be. I enjoy the challenge of looking at a game's textures up close and trying to imperfectly recreate them as best as I can. I'm definitely gonna do more in the future.

[swirly-strawz]

@cattyanon, it’s an honor to be a member of Starline Fucks Up Sonic Club! XD

That prompted me to make some Faltered! Sonic content (it’s not much but I will make more). I’ll ramble some more about the AU so click “read more” to see the info!

Sonic and Starline do NOT get along at all. The only reason Sonic even cooperates at all is to see Starline’s inevitable fall. Despite that, he gets impatient very easily whenever Starline makes him do another test, thus resulting in getting rebooted to stop his temper. Starline gets intimidated but also annoyed by Sonic’s outbursts, knowing how explosive he is.

Metal Sonic swooped in to stop Sonic from wrecking Eggman’s stuff during Starline’s master plan, which Sonic gladly fought him. Sonic ends up tearing off most of Metal Sonic’s limbs off, with the exception of his right arm. He taunts him one last time before slamming him onto the ground. (Edgy much)

Shadow, Tails, and Belle arrived just in time when the chaos occurs. This means that there’s a Sonic vs Shadow moment lmao. (It ends with Sonic purposefully falling off a cliff and getting crushed by the debris, he gets little damage though)

Sonic almost destroys Eggman twice. The former no longer sees his rival as someone worthy of any more chances. He let him go scout free way too much, which always results in people and the world being in danger over and over again. So, might as well get rid of the ongoing issue permanently. (Obv, he fails but only because he was stopped)

Sonic has little to no self-preservation at all.

Sonic can never truly bring himself to get rid of his friends, even though he feels hurt, betrayed.

[skimmingmilk]

In Sharing Is Caring But We Never Learned How, I really loved how you wrote Vector Espio and Charmy. Even though they weren't the focus of the fic I wanted to ask if you had any ideas about them and their dynamic!

You know, I was wondering if anyone was curious about them! I'm so happy you asked! :D

I like to imagine that Vector and Espio met while they were both in the foster care system. They're so young to be running a business and raising a small child, I figure it makes sense that they felt like they were on their own pretty early on. They ended up in the same residential treatment program when Vector was about 16 and Espio was 12 and hit it off surprisingly well, to the point that when Vector aged out of the system two years later, he took Espio with him (I need to amend Espio's age in Sharing is Caring btw, I meant to make him 15 since his ages have mostly skewed older than Sonic over the years, but I totally forgot since I wrote that note like two years ago xD).

Even though Vector's older, and technically the one responsible over both Espio and Charmy, he treats Espio as more of a partner with equal footing in terms of responsibilities, rather than as a son or younger brother. Espio definitely doesn't see Vector as any sort of authority figure beyond potential "boss" and that's mostly because he's more front-facing with clients and handles the finances, lol. And also Espio can’t legally be listed on any of the business' official paperwork until he’s 16 xD They do consider one another family, but since they weren't really raised from childhood together, their bond is hard for them to describe. It's why Vector's so keen to just call Espio and Charmy "his boys." It encompasses everything anyone needs to know about them both, lol. They're his boys!

Now Charmy is absolutely Vector's son xD Espio is usually more of an older brother figure to Charmy, but there are times where he's also better at disciplining Charmy than Vector is, lol. Of course, Espio will often take the “I told you so” route whenever Vector fails to rein Charmy in instead of actually helping. But there are times – moreso when they’re older – that Espio feels somewhat of a parental responsibility for Charmy. The lines of their little family unit are exceptionally blurred, but they don't really care. It works for them!

Espio is stern, but overall more patient with Charmy, while Vector tries to play "good cop" to Espio's "bad cop," but will lose his temper a lot quicker, leading to physical hijinks like grabbing at Charmy or sitting on him, but Charmy just thinks of it as a game. Pushing Vector and Espio’s buttons, to see how much he can get away with, is all part of the fun! Especially because he knows Vector is actually a huge softy at heart and would let Charmy get away with murder no matter how much he annoys him xD Overall, Charmy sees Vector as more of his dad than he does Espio, but he looks up to them both and will imitate certain traits of theirs that he admires. Usually it’s Vector’s business-savvy (or lack thereof, lol) and Espio’s ninja skills.

I want Vector and Espio to have met Charmy while on their first official case, I’m just not sure what that looks like just yet. But they found him when he was very young – only a year or two old – and couldn’t just leave the little guy on his own. Since Vector would’ve already been a licensed foster parent to have Espio with him, he’d be all set to take Charmy in, too.

There’s still more to their background and dynamic that I haven’t fully explored yet, but that’s the basis of what I have for them so far! Thanks for asking!

[piko-rose]

idk what to post so here's me getting excited over an animated hedgehog lol

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 so far is VISUALLY STUNNING. The lighting, the animation and SFX, just, BEAUTIFUL ON SO MANY LEVELS.

Everything about the trailer blew my mind, but I will do a post about my thoughts and theories on it later on. For now I wanna talk about the Blueberry Muffin himself.

Sonic in the movie looked GREAT. He got a small upgrade compared to how he looked in both Movie 1 and 2. (Especially Movie 1)

But he's still the goofy, heroic dork he is, and I'm SUPER EXCITED to see my boy again!! 💕

I don't know what else to post, so I'm just gonna gush over some of my favorite (which I'll admit, are almost every shot of Sonic in the trailer. Just wanna admit that, right now XD) shots of the Blue Devil.

I will do another version of this but with Shadow, but that'll be in the future. Shadow looks INSANE in the movie, so of COURSE I will lose my mind over his design once the post comes out lol

But right out of the gate, we got a really cool shot of Sonic running through a log, I think? Absolutely love the blue glow emitting the entire dark interior. And it gave Sonic a nice glow, too.

I love how determined he looks here, too. There were some scenes in the trailer where it looked like Sonic, Tails and Knuckles were racing each other. I think it's really adorable that the Wachowski Bros. spend time together by just racing through the woods outside of their own house.

This shot looks like Sonic might be in the lead.

Tom: "It hasn't always been easy, but it can't change who you are *points to Sonic's heart* in here."

Sonic: "Yeah. In my lungs."

The pure innocence from this hedgehog is killing me 😭

This is probably after the race? Idk when this is taking place, after all, all we got is a trailer. But I'm just spitballing here, but this is definitely another scene in the series where Tom gives Sonic some profound words for him to remember by.

But anyways, I love this shot of Sonic. You can already tell there is some slight differences with how he looked in the first film and the second film, which I kind of already freaked out over on this post here lol.

His expression complete with his line is just the perfect mixture for this shot. It describes Sonic to me. He's got a heart of gold, but at times he can be just a little confuse but still got the spirit.

He's just a child 😭

Here we got Sonic casually breaking the laws of physics just to grind on a tree branch, because he's just that cool.

Now this shot here? PROBABLY ONE OF MY FAVORITES.

Sonic is up in the air, twirling around with a huge smile on his face ���

He is having the TIME of his life. He is just so happy AAAAAAAAA-

Also, I love that Sonic's body, mainly his chest, has become a bit more puffy (since the Knuckles show anyway), but he still has that bean shape in certain shots lmao (Got a bit of Classic Sonic in there since day one XDDD)

I mean, come on. Look at his cheeks and tell me he don't have any baby fat anymore? He's still small! He's still squishy!! 🥺

Anyways badass Blueberry. EPIC callback to the beginning of SA2, only this time Tails and Knuckles are along for the ride. (also love Tails' expression as he jumps off the helicopter.)

I love this particular shot a lot for some reason XD

Knuckles really wants to fight Shadow despite Sonic not wanting to. He wanted to handle Shadow just by talking things out (clearly he has not met the dude) and Knuckles is over here ready to throw hands.

Sonic looks very annoyed here 🤣

I'm just so happy to see Sonic and Knuckles together on screen again after the Knuckles show. I fell in love with their dynamic ever since. Sonic and Tails' bond is truly special to me, but it's Sonic and Knuckles' bond that means SO MUCH to me, and I SERIOUSLY need to write more about these dorks.

This is the face of a hedgehog who was NOT prepared for the horrors that is Shadow the Hedgehog and maybe bisexuality. XD

Pissed off Blueberry.

Sonic is one of those characters where they rarely get upset or angry, but when they, it's badass and genuinely terrifying. I am NOT ready to see Sonic get so upset in this movie.

I know shit is about to go down in this movie, and I know Sonic is probably gonna go feral when it does. And it won't be pretty.

He is NOT happy at all. But at least here he looks kind of pouty.

It's kind of funny XD

"Here. Take my stupid strand of magic hair, just make sure you clean it when you're done. >:("

"What did you do?"

Yeah, no, he's furious. It's actually scary seeing Sonic like this. I have seen pictures of Sonic in rage mode in the comics and yeah, you can say that Sonic's about to reach his limit, if you know what I'm saying. (btw best moment in the Archie comics hands down)

Okay, one last image, I PROMISE-

THIS ONE, is my favorite out of all of them. Everything about this shot is just... I... don't even know how to explain how much I love this.

The lighting. The intensity of this whole scene. Sonic's anger. His powers going up to 100.

Yeah, this movie is gonna drive a little crazy. :)

Of course I'm just getting started on my Movie 3 hype rambles lol. Don't want this post to be too long or annoying-

I'm just so happy to see my comfort character back in action. I'm so happy that EVERYBODY'S back! I CAN'T WAIT DUDE!!!

[niyana-the-ambiguous-mobian]

New Story time!

This one is dedicated to the ever so talented @cosmoshard, who made the rough sketch that inspired this piece in the first place,

also, this serves as some semi-revenge on her for making me cry on my birthday XD

This time, the story is focused the ARK siblings themselves, Shadow and Maria!

=========================================

“Are you almost done yet grandpa?” Maria impatiently rocked back and forth on her feet, earning a light wack on her head from a piece of paper. “Hey!”

“Hold still, Maria! Your back needs to be straight and still.” Gerald exclaimed, the marker he was holding nearly creating a mark on top of Maria’s head, taking a moment trying to rub the stain from her hair with his fingers.

Maria made a face at Gerald, moving her head away from his hands. “I am holding still, grandpa! I’m trying to make sure I’m getting taller!”

“Well, you’re not making it easier with you doing all this fidgeting.” He placed his hands and her shoulders to keep her still. “Now just keep still. And don’t stand on your toes either.”

The girl fought the urge to roll her eyes as her grandfather finally made a mark on the wall, drawing a straight line while she backed away, bouncing on her feet. “Ok, you’re all done.”

She looked among marks and lines from previous measuring sessions, seeing that the current one was hovering above the previous line.

She let out a gasp and started jumping up and down. “I grew! I got taller, grandpa! See, look at it!”

”Yes, yes I see it.” He gave a pat to her head, taking notes on his clipboard. He walked over to his desk with Maria following close behind him.

She moved in front of him while he continued to write. “I can’t believe the new line you drew was higher this time! How tall am I now?”

Gerald paused and lifted up one of the papers to read it. “Well, according to the results, you’ve grown…” He stopped mid sentence, a look of surprise. “Oh my, this is odd.”

Maria stopped her joyful skipping, sensing his change in tone. “What, what is it?”

”It says here that your height from this month is less than it was last month.” He hung his head down, sighing dramatically and placing a hand on her shoulder. “I’m afraid that you're shrinking, my dear.”

His granddaughter’s face went from worried to annoyed in a second flat, pushing his hand away and rolling her eyes. “Grandpa….”

The man chuckled at her unamused expression. “I’m only teasing, you’ve grown about a total of 6 inches from last month. You’re about 4’3 now. Almost getting to 5 feet already.”

Maria’s face lit up and did a celebratory dance with some spinning involved, nearly bumping into Gerald in the process and tripping over her feet. He quickly caught her before she fell over, slinging an arm around her and pulling her close to his side.

”My goodness, I’ve never seen you so excited about something like this before, may I ask why?”

Wrapping her arms around him, she raised her head with a wide smile on her face. “Because! It’s the first time I’ve gotten this tall in awhile. You always told me that healthy kids grow big and tall whenever they eat their veggies and get enough sleep, it’s finally working for me!”

The smile on Gerald’s face faltered when she finished by hugging him tighter. Bless this child for keeping her hope high with a statement like this.

He always told her when she was younger that those things were important to do, eating as much healthy food to keep her immune system from failing, getting enough sleep so her body can get its rest, even those times where he told her not to tell lies otherwise her nose would grow long each time she did.

It made him grateful knowing that these little things were making a difference for her in her lonely life up here in the colony, even though it felt like it was wrong giving her such high expectations for her condition, since there was no cure for it but making her think that something like this is actually helping her illness when in reality it would barely make a dent in it overall broke his heart even more.

He forced a smile on his face and squeezed her back. “You're very right on that. I told you it would work out eventually.”

Maria beamed a wide smile, skipping towards the door. “Where are you heading off to?” Gerald called after her, making her nearly slip on the floor when she slowed herself down.

“I'm going tell him about it!”

“Who?”

“Shadow! He's been wondering if I was getting better, I gotta go and tell him before he gets worried!” She ran out of the room as soon as she finished, her pigtailed hair flying out wildly behind her as she disappeared before the doors even closed.

Gerald stood there in ear numbing silence, his hands clenched up into fists as those last words lasting through his ears like a forever frozen echo.

‘Wondering if I was getting better’....

A grim expression masked over his face. “Oh my child, if only it were as simple as that for you.”

Read the rest on Ao3!

[samson-the-whale]

So ... I made a self insert fore WIR ....ya

:]

Name: Scrapper/scrap

Gender: male (this mf bisexual)

Age: in his game like 20s to 30s if we go with his game age like 30s or 40s 

Game: Scrapper's scrape up

(its like punch out game mechanics game play wies)

Character interactions:

 Hc he gets pumped up easily and likes to push people in the shoulder lightly but really fast when he needs to let out that excitement (t can be like a charging up a special move in his game) and might accidentally leave a bruise 

When he does it to Ralph it tickles 

When he punches Felix he says ow but then hammers his arm and it heals

When he did it to Calhoun for the first time she hit him across the room because she thought he was picking fights and fucking K.Od him with that bitch slap

Then was kind of apologetic after Felix explained and yelled "oh shoot sorry" then Scrap still laying in the floor gives a thumbs up and a strained "I'm ok...it's ok"

 Also if he did the punching thing with Vanelopie she would just pixilate a bit and his punches would almost go through her shoulder kinda I think much like Ralph it would also just tickle 

Ralph:

Before the whole plot of the movie I like to think Ralph liked him but was kind of bitter "he has huge fists and smashes stuff why am "I" the villain?" XD

Ok ok 

So he and Ralph actually get along surprisingly well for you know one being the main character of his game and supposed "heroes" of the game  and the other is well the bad guy. They both like punching stuff and hav a give each other a high five or fist bump while walking by each other so like buddys

Felix:

Him and Felix are more like 

Felix: look at this cool thin-

Scrap: HOLLY CARP CHECK THAT OUT

Like literally one of the doodle sketches was Scrapper leapfrogging over felix to look at a new plugged in game 

So he kinda is an annoying brat towards felix but always makes it in good fun like he's messing around with him with never an intent to hurt his feelings (even when he goes too far and accidentally does)

Vanelopie:

So now we got Vanelopie

There's actually this running joke sorta where scrapper really likes bright colors becus how I imagine his game has a very limited color palette except him for aesthetically pleasing reasons

So he'd actually stay away from brightly colored areas out of comfort before becoming more enthralled in other colors hens his fixation with casualty visiting sugar rush when he's bored 

You may think oh then he must have met Vanellope while visiting 

Well actually no he bye dumb luck he never met her until after the events of the first movie 

So there knowing each other isn't really that strong yet 

But because of him and ralph eventually becoming friends he grew a liking to the spunky little girl calling her shortstack all the time (despite him being a similar height) and or squirt

In response Vanellope calls him oled man

Calhoun:

 Calhoun thinks he's like 12

He is not he's like 30-40 Like lectures him on his fighting form Thinks he's like inexperienced Finds him endearing if a little overbearing Finds his high energy useful in certain situations but exhausting at other times Is unsure...which fighting game he originates from Then bonding through duty or honor or avenging a loved one.

Sour bill (because I want more interactions and im hiperfixsaiting):

Scraper:Yoooooo a fellow rubber ball

Sour bill:what?

 Ima say this shit now they would drink tea together because yes Scrapper doesn't like coffee he drinks tea

Sonic (because I can):

Mf cameos in scrappers game in later levels for no reason just because funny

It's like the meme

Scrapper: sonic? What are you doing here?

Sonic in scrapper's game: waiting for them to play Gangdemstyle 

Ok so I forgot to put this in I was ryly hoped to post this but thanks to my friend @im-not-important fore spell correcting and helping come up with ideas(also did some of the Blu doodles in the Wight board drawings)

[cutegirlmayra]

Sonic AU I suppose. Keeping up with the storybook game spirit Sonic is now Robin Hood, his friends are the characters (Tails Little John, Knuckles Friar Tuck and Amy is Maid Marian). You know the scene where Marian begs for Robin's life? Yeah go with that and fluff up the sonamy and action. And when Friar Tuck is kidnapped Prince John (uhh I guess Shadow?) Keeps Maid Marian under house arrest so Sonic saves her too.

I’ve had an idea to do a Sonic Storybook series, but I won’t be doing that in this prompt ^^; I’ve lost a lot of motivation and confidence in my writing, so I’m treating it more as a ‘hobby’ recently. When I feel up to it, who knows what I could create again?

(I hope you don't mind, I did my own thing xD Which Robin Hood are you referring to? There are MANY adaptations so I was a little confused xD)

Prompts are permanently down and out! Sorry -shrug-.

Prompt:

The false king Jet rippled a wave of tappings with his impatient fingers against the wooden armrest of the competition’s throne, situated above the peasant audience as he slouched in boredom.

He grinded his beak together, his other hand gripping the edge with animosity… He didn’t care about the rest of the archers… Except maybe Storm and Wave, who were undercover and acting as though normal woodsmen, cloaked and hooded to remain anonymous.

“He should be here by now…” He tapped his foot anxiously, shaking his knee.

Sheriff Shadow smirked, side-stepping somewhat to lean down to Jet’s lowered, annoyed stature.

“Patience, good king Jet…” He may have been addressing Jet in private, but his eyes were like the hawk’s, also scanning the line of archers for their quarry…

“He wouldn’t miss this competition for the world…” He stated, assuredly. “If I know him, he’ll be here.”

“He isn’t one for easy sport!” Jet spat out, then looked over to Amy, a victim in her own home. The true King Silver was off to war, and she was forced to take the simple pleasantries of the boisterous parties and lavishing expenses of Jet’s whimsical spending and ravening on and on about being ‘king’ now that Silver was MIA.

“You and I both know… He’ll be here… if not for the test of skill… then the test of merited devotion.” He narrowed his eyes at Amy, knowing she often proclaimed Sonic and her’s affections for one another as though a threat to Jet overspending the country’s money.

“I’ve been robbed, ransacked, and humiliated too many times by that blue speed demon or… hedgehog.” Jet slowly rose up, trying to actually look courageous even though he wasn’t. His hate lingered on every word that escaped his crisp beak, wrinkled from how many times his beak hit the carriage backboard by his entourage getting raided. “The true will of that ‘free wind’ will be snuffed out if we prove that our ambush actually works.”

He looked to Shadow, “Don’t fail me… I’m already cross with you, Sheriff Shadow… You’ve been duped by that hedgehog in getting the people’s taxes to my castle… I’m one feather away from ending your whole career.” He flicked one of his head feathers and then used that same hand to lean his head on, looking out into the crowd of miserable on-lookers.

They were dried up in their pocket books, poor in both money, spirit, and quality of life.

However… one hope did remain, a light unto them.

A blue streak of light, to be exact, with a red robin low-riding in its gales.

“... He’ll know we’re after him.” Shadow leaned back up, his hands behind his back and also… waving his fingers in anticipation to fight his rival again and exact his revenge. “That’s the biggest temptation yet.” He smiled.

“Tah!” Jet looked over to Shadow again, “I haven’t seen you this ‘smiley’ in a while! Since I egged on that hedgehog by stating you-” He pointed to him, “Would be betrothed to Maiden Amy.” He then swiped his point to Amy, who wasn’t trying to listen in on the conversation, but couldn’t help it.

She flinched slightly, but kept her eyes forward. ‘I know he’ll save me.’ She thought, looking to the forests around the quiet town…

‘Friar Tails told me to wait for Little Knuckles… That he’d send me word on when Sonic Hood could rescue me… but with all the guards doubled for the… ugh, wedding arrangements.’ She rolled her eyes, ‘How are they able to get any word to me? Oh, Sonic…’

She put her hands to her lap and took a calming breath, ‘I just have to believe in you… I know you’ll protect the realm. Silver would most earnestly agree that your efforts are for righteous justice… against this untrue king.’

She then looked up, taking one beat to glare at Jet before her eyes looked at her hands as she turned them to prayer. Her eyes shook in dear love and devotion, for both the beautiful vigilante, and for her Cousin’s kingdom.  ‘And I can wait… for the sake of our beloved and oppressed people… I can hold out a little longer.’ She dipped her head to a small, faint tear.

It was in that moment of deep longing that a light caught her eyes and flickered there multiple times.

She blinked, letting the teardrop go along its downward descent on her cheek without opposition, trying to get the blinding reflection out of her eyes.

She squinted, but her hand finally found obstruction to the reflective trick, and gave her eyes rest enough to see it was the doing of a ranger on the tourney roll call line, fiddling with his equipment.

A green hood… but brown spikes of a porcupine…

They were actually sticks, pointed to look like a porcupine’s silhouette.

The figure’s metal arrow was causing the flickering lights to attract her eyes, as the man looked as though ‘adjusting’ the arrow on his bow.

Her eyes lit up. Was this his signal? His sign!?

‘Oh, Sonic!’ She put her up by her mouth, now back together again, to symbolize how she felt he was back in her life once more. Her eyes now sparkled with none other than the light of hope that he was, to all the citizens that revered his gallant efforts for their sakes. ‘You did come for me!’

It was obvious it was a trap, but Shadow and Jet knew better… they knew that would entice him even more… since they hadn’t let the Maid Amy out of the castle since the announcement, and since the wedding day was approaching… their ruse would be up if he didn’t directly attack their fortress.

Instead, since they saw no sign he was coming to storm it yet, they grew impatient–well, Jet did–Shadow was… more than willing to concede to marrying her, after all, it would give him the ultimate power over the realm… being so close to a King’s maiden owned.

That’s all Shadow really wanted, to be the Ultimate authority, have all the power to do as he pleased.

If this ‘King’ Jet only cared about using his power for parties, Shadow could quite literally make the whole of the realm his stomping grounds. Who wouldn’t feel even partially ‘a king’ with power like that..?

Jet was a coward who just wanted to revel in wild partying, to enjoy all the high life could offer him, since he was always jealous of Silver’s birthright. Being the bastard son of the late king, he had no bloodright to the throne that was legitimate, adopted only on the whim of the kindhearted King of the Realm–Silver’s late father.

Silver was now MIA in status, which was Jet’s doing, as he had supported the foreign enemy of the Realm with a promised arrangement. Capture and kill the King, then he’d work well with them in return for their allowing him to be stationed in the land as the new King… though, wonderfully hospitable and generous to them forever more…

A puppet… really.

It would set both Shadow and Jet high in society if they could pull it off… since Amy was a cousin to Silver, and the two shared a great friendship and bond, she was often given the world and even had a dowry the size and measure worthy of a Princess.

If Shadow married her, not only for her renowned beauty mingled with tales of her tenderheart, but he’d have half the Realm gifted to him from their own King Silver’s plate and fed his more than plenty share of spoils from his own spoon… along with the friendship of the new king, Jet… Shadow would be able to do all he pleased…

An official, more than a Sheriff… he could be General over the armies…

Eventually, why not be king, as well?

Nah, he’d let all the hatred go to Jet. “It’s the new king’s fault, I’m only following orders.” He would say when swiping the precious few rings left from a townsfolk or two… or three… or four or five, six, seven…

Ultimate greed… the two were two peas in a pod, but Amy cherished the good-hearted nature of Silver, and much like him, she knew their two hearts would be united in the good spirited patriotism of Sonic Hood, the Robin’s Boom.

They nicknamed him that as he was so swift, his red shoes would make it look like a small robin was creating sonic booms whenever and wherever he stole from the rich to give to the poor, knowing they were being cheated out of their livelihoods and honest living by the false king Jet’s heavy taxation for his grandiose parties.

The porcupine tipped his green hood down, and she knew her love had come to do more than just save her… but continually save every person in all the Realm from such serious crimes as Jet’s and Shadow’s merciless hunger for power and wealth.

To gain from the people’s sufferings… was not how a true king lived.

Sonic looked up just barely from the hood, his brown mask matching the spikes, to make his appearance truly different for his little charade. But this whole competition was a facade, one he was excited to expose and defeat.

No one could catch him, he was as free as the wind itself.

Holding up the arrow, the figure seems to be well-pleased with the shine on the sharp metal, a beautiful steel triangle.

He pulls back the string, at the same time, the corners of his mouth bend like the tension on the bow, a cocky smile.

It’s at this moment that Maiden Amy recognizes it, and her eyes widen somewhat before cautiously looking to Jet, and leaning back in her chair.

She hadn’t noticed, but she was leaning forward in anticipation and eager interest… That could have blown Sonic Hood’s cover…

However, Shadow and Jet were also curious about the lineup, their topics of conversation had ceased, and a ‘dead air’ filled the grassy field near the town… where the tournament was now underway.

A man called out the order, “And… Shoot!”

Perfect.

Jet’s and Shadow’s eyes both bounced up, as though attempting to follow the speed of the arrow.

It wobbled once hitting the target.

“Load..!”

Sonic quickly pulled out another arrow and positioned it perfectly, slowing himself down to match the other participants, especially Storm and Wave’s skills…

“Pull!”

His nose lifted on in calming inhale, and his eyes could almost picture his own body speeding towards the bullseye…

“And… Shoot!”

Wave and Storm flinched at the sound of whistling, looking as they took their eyes off their own objective and ended up with a lower score because of it.

No matter how much Sonic tried to ‘sandbag’ himself to blend in, his accuracy and speed with an arrow was second to none.

Sonic Hood once told Little Knuckles that an arrow felt like an extension of his own body. While he ran faster than the eye could see, he could still shoot an arrow, and go even beyond what he felt were his limits.

An arrow was like an old, reliable friend, he had stated. Because it could keep up with him, and when he needed to stop running for whatever reason, an arrow would keep going…

In that sense, he felt an arrow was the truest form of freedom for his soul. It sang through the air and he almost wished it didn’t have to pierce anything.

As a young boy, he would race his father’s arrows. To see it lodge itself through the first arrow he launched, and split it perfectly in the middle… even to jam itself through the target and pretty much obliterate its brother before it…

Sonic took no pleasure in that.

He slowly lowered the bow, as though in respects to the first fallen arrow… and forcing the second one to have to end its momentum in its once–joyous–flight.

To Sonic, the action of casting an arrow through the air was the fun part, not hitting the target.

To have a target… was a regretful thing… but one Sonic Hood had to dutifully accept once he saw the misery of the townsfolk… all over the nation… they were suffering because of a false king.

Now, Jet had paid off the rest of the contenders, telling them to purposefully score low, but seeing Wave and Storm completely miss the bullseye… his eyes shrank in shame and humiliation…

He grinded his beak, “His arrow… was so mesmerizing… it’s wind even lured their own eyes..!?” He was twitching in rage. For you see… Jet also loved a moving arrow.

Though… The two’s only difference… was that Jet also enjoyed the kill shot.

He liked to be praised for how swiftly he could send an arrow flying into its target… to have Sonic Hood command the stage was like watching King Silver have all the power and only do goody-two-shoe things with it!

He stood up in defiance, because he himself–and all those in attendants, even Shadow–had watched the arrow and forgotten a moment why they were there…

For that one, split second… that whistle had captivated all the hearts of everyone present, even those that despised him.

To Sonic, he eerily referred to this as the arrow’s ‘soul’ attracting all to watch its jubilee at taking flight.

Again, it wasn’t about hitting the target and receiving praise for himself–like Jet glorified in.

It was… to simply watch and participate in the arrow’s first winged ‘zip’ through the open space… nothing tethering it… nothing stopping it’s due course.

“Whheee!” Sonic Hood jumped up in joy, acting like an old man Porcupine. “I hit it again!” He did a small little jig, but the jig was up.

Jumping from one leg to another in a goofy way, it was clear this ‘old man’ wasn’t so ‘hunched back’ after all… the way his hidden ‘quills’ were meant to be disguised as.

“S-... Seize himmm!!!!” Jet threw out his finger after it twitched a moment, unable to move as though all were respectfully waiting for the arrow to stop moving first… its spell still lingering on them.

Jet sweated, feeling his pride attacked more than the cleanly sliced target and its first arrow drawn into it, but Shadow also zoomed through the air as though by Jet’s very command, he had also released him into the air.

“SOOONNIICC!!!” In rage, Shadow went to grab him, but by then, Little Knuckles’s fist shot out from underground, jumping just at his torso up to wham Sheriff Shadow right in the chin, knocking him up and then another swift jab to match his uppercuff to knock him prone to the side.

“Alllriighhtt!!! ‘Bout time you stopped messing around!” Knuckles looked energized, as his tunnels suddenly collapsed, showing an intricate pathway system to help the villagers escape through.

Friar Tails was helping them walk down, before rushing to Maid Amy, “I figured you were looking for us!” He cheered, and she happily took his hand after clutching her heart, overjoyed at seeing him again.

“Good Friar Tails, I have never been more relieved!” She walked down the platform before hearing-

“Chaos Control!”

Time froze, and Sonic Hood’s disguise was thrown off.

His team had planned to ransack Jet’s caravans while having him be the distraction, as well as get the townsfolk that Jet forced to watch this tourney back to safety…

However, with Shadow pausing time, that wouldn’t be the case.

Shadow drew his Chaos Sword, empowered by an Emerald, changing the flaming light to that of the emerald’s power… He then charged Sonic,... Who drew forth his own Chaos Sword–which prohibited him from being subjected to the time halt–countering Shadow’s advance.

“At last,” He gritted against the fast-moving sparks from their blades cracking through space and time with their velocity and intense duel to the death. “Once I rid the realm of you, Maid Amy will finally be mine!”

He swiped his sword out to have Sonic crash back into the ground, “Ultimate power… land, kingdoms, and heck, even all the Chaos Emeralds will be mine! Who needs to collect gold when the very world is yours to conquer!?”

Sonic shook his head, getting up, “You think… One maiden’s hand will just… give you the world?” His hand held his wobbling head to try and straighten out his vision, as Shadow dived down and landed smoothly, but with great power already at his hover-shoe heels.

“She’s no ordinary maiden… wouldn’t you agree?” He held his hand up and gripped it into a soft fist. “All that remains… is to deliver you up to the hills of mourning,... to have the church bells ring in your sad honor… The honor of one who tried to defy a new world!” Shadow pulled back his sword, reeling it to then launch towards him when-

Sonic fires an arrow, which zooms past Shadow’s forehead, through the gap in his quills…

Time begins again… And Shadow, although shaken, begins to laugh.

“The one time your aim wavers…” He found that incredibly humorous, smirking only to see Sonic lower his bow with a confident grin.

“Huh?” He turned around, “What!?

“Do you even remember who I am?”

The sound of a metal crown spinning around and around against the arrow’s stem, sticking straight into Jet’s mocking throne seat, as his own head cowers below the arrow that almost struck his head’s plumage.

Comically far down on his seat, he shakes like a chicken, bumbling as though he can’t even speak after being that close to death itself.

“You… You were aiming to knock off his crown?” Shadow turned back to Sonic, who had already gotten over his headache from the fall, and cockily threw up a wagging finger, winking to him.

“Should you really be that incredulous, Sheriff? Knowing that crown never belong on his head, anyway.”

Shadow gritted his teeth, “This wasn’t about him!” He swiped the air with his Chaos Sword, summoning spears behind and around his body in the air. “This was about Maid-!”

“I’m only here to stop injustice. The wicked ways of an imposter calling the throne his own.” Sonic gestured out a hand, cutting off the proud Hedgehog, who’s eyes shook at how dismissive Sonic was to her…

Did… Sonic not actually fancy her, then?

Was… Was Maid Amy’s affections really just one-sided?

“If that means keeping a real chaotic jewel like Maiden Amy out of your hands as well… Shadow, then so be it!” Sonic put the bow around his body, slinging it to his shoulder, and took his Chaos Sword again in both hands.

Jet came back up from ducking, turning to the side of the spinning crown as Sonic Hood’s arrow rested lodged in his wooden backboard of his throne… he tried to pull it out, but it was perfectly wedged between the gaps of the jewels and metal framework of the crown.

In vain did he try and ‘pick’ off the jewels, but also lusted for the gold the crown was forged from, and not being able to get the individual stones out, he settled at just commanding his men to lift the throne and got off of it, not wanting to lose that luxurious crown originally owned by King Silver.

After more fighting, and Jet just trying to salvage what little funds of tax money he had remaining, Sonic realized that Shadow was relentless…

Everyone had escaped… it was time.

Sonic rushed ‘round about the area, Shadow on his heels, skating after him as he put his Chaos Sword back and took off his bow once more.

Pulling out an arrow, he looked at it sorrowfully, “Sorry about this… old friend.” He spoke to the arrow as though it had a soul, mounting it to the proper place as he pulled back the string.

He jumped and turned to Shadow, who jumped in response, swiping his sword multiple times to try and ‘deflect’ any arrow launched at him, since Sonic had already dodged most of his exploding Chaos Spears.

Sonic saw his opening… “Goodbye… My friend.” He shot the arrow through Shadow, perfectly timing the swipes of his erratic sword maneuvers to avoid Sonic having such an shot guaranteed at all.

Though, it did not kill him, it knocked the Chaos Sword out of his hand, which allowed Little Knuckles–who emerged from his concealment under the ground, stalking the two fighting forces of good and evil–and swiped the Chaos Emerald from it to then bury back into the ground.

In this way, he ensured Shadow could not stop time again… that, and Jet’s forces were now all stuck in the collapsing dug-outs Little Knuckles had made in case they were to escape, which they did try to.

Jet pounded the caravan, throwing his own tantrum as Wave and Storm rubbed their bruises but knew talking to him would only get them bonked on the head during his ‘tyrannical’ fit.

Storm had wrestled Knuckles and failed, and Wave lost track of Friar Tails as he did the sign of the cross and unleashed what looked like trip-wires to keep her from following them and the villagers through the caves.

A clever little Friar… the church usually didn’t associate with new technology… but the brave little fox found holiness in even the modern ways of thinking and engineering.

For that, she kinda respected him.

Storm was surprised that even with the height difference, Little Knuckles had fought him like a true warrior. Gloved fist to gloved fist, but felt the sting of his jabbing spikes on his punches, and commended the man for fighting above ground and even throwing him to it before giving him a proper bow of respect in combat and taking off.

The two were just glad they escaped with their lives…

Wave could have taken Friar Tails in hand-to-hand combat, but Maid Amy was more powerful than she expected! When she went to catch the sly yellow fox by one of his two mutated tails–one of the reasons he was orphaned at the monastery he grew up in–the fair maiden had jumped and slammed her hammer into Wave from the darkness of the cave.

Without any sound to make herself known, Wave was taken completely offguard. Not only was she now covered in dirt, she had also gotten the wind in her songbird lungs knocked right out of her.

When Jet wasn’t in such a state… though she knew that may take longer than a day for him to get over this defeat from Sonic Hood, she would tell him of Maiden Amy’s unexpected brutality with that hammer of hers, and how she helped the citizens rush down the tunnels and steal back their gold from Jet’s men. Most of Jet’s men either fled, deserted, or were knocked out by the Merry Men at Sonic’s beck and call.

She could now confidently tell the ‘King’ that the noble pink hedgehog was absolutely in league with Sonic Hood, even though Jet may have suspected as much from her love for him.

“To kill a coward is not an honor I want nor get to have.” Sonic looked to Shadow’s injured self, him gripping his bleeding hand while on his knees to the ground, Little Knuckles coming up behind to knock him out with a heavy blow, but Sonic held up his hand, steadying him away.

“Since you are a noblemen, I’ll let you and Jet receive the courtsey of a fair trial by the good King Silver. To scold you with his mighty roar of justice instead!” He held up his fists, and from the forest came the souls of those he had just liberated from Jet’s unrighteous tyranny.

“All hail King Silver!”

In the distance, Jet shuttered, hearing the cry as the multitude of poor citizens raised their fists skyward and cried out the same very chant off Sonic Hood’s goodly lips.

Jet was intimidated by the power Sonic held over the people, the way he could sway hearts just as well as he could possibly shoot through them.

He takes a trembling hand to his head, remembering his close-call with death, and summons all his outrage to his throat, swallowing heavily before turning up in his now wrecked ‘retreat wagon’.

“SHADOW!!!” He cried out, screaming as though to defy the heavens, “KILL HIM! I don’t care how! Kill that hedgehog!!!” He stomped the ground, hitting and kicking his fallen carriages.

Shadow gets up, panting…

He hates Sonic… but looking to see Maid Amy cheering on Sonic Hood’s goodness…

Her face… It's so bright with love for him.

His alien blood boils…

He pulls out the sword that no longer has the chaos energy infused into it,... and drops it.

“A hilt is nothing… without the Chaos rushing through it… However…”

Shadow pulls out… A second Chaos Emerald from his back-quills!?

The Crowd gasps in fright, all starting to retreat in fear back into the forest now, taking double-looks as they fear their hero’s life may be in jeopardy once more.

Did they celebrate too soon!?

What will become of their defiance now?! What mercy is there against Jet’s overwhelming fury coming from a distance?

“You have a lot of Chaos Emeralds.” Sonic smirks, as Sheriff Shadow sneers at Sonic Hood’s lack of fear in the face of death.

‘He mocks me… He thinks me not even worth being afraid!’ He shoved the Chaos Emerald into the proper spot on the hilt of the blade, having the blade now grow and glow the color of the new emerald.

“All the better to now end you with, Sonic! Hah!”  While the two swordfight yet again, Jet rushes over with his militia, paid off knights who now serve his bidding for the spoils or with threat against their families they’re trying to keep safe…

Friar Tails pulls Amy back, “Maid Amy!” He cries out, struggling to hold her back, “You can’t intervene in a man’s duel!”

“But..! My Sonic! He’ll be hurt!” She tries to defy the little fox, but is too kindhearted to march out and fight his strength, which she knew she could, if it meant dragging him into the fray as well. “Let go of me, good priest, I don’t wish to get you involved in my act of love!”

“This is not love, but madness!” Tails cries out, “As the good book says, to lay down one’s life for his friends is noble and just, but least you are tempted, maybe think of how your own life be threatened!” Tails happily adjusted the scripture to try and preserve the fair maiden from the battlefield.

“Besides! If you get captured again, they’ll really have you marry the Sheriff this time!” He warned, as Jet turned his hole of an ear to the fox’s words; Not much of a religious man, but his interest was peaked on why that meant so much to him… he spoke as though that could ruin some sort of ‘plan’...

Like a fool, Tails continued to cry out his words, having the clever bird hear…

“Even King Silver couldn’t order the heavens to change his power then! Once bound on earth, sealed in heaven!”

Tails desperately pulled back, even hooking his tails around a tree and having two villagers step in to pull her back, as Amy finally relented in her cause to wane her strength and let the three sigh in relief.

Jet, enthused by the idea that if King Silver came back, he couldn’t fully punish him with an ‘out’ of sorts, immediately leaped into the air and rushed to Wave and Storm.

At first, they were worried he’d smack them, but was pleasantly surprised by his jubilee at grabbing their arms, feeling them stiffen up straight for impact, and then blink in confusion at his rushed, cunning words.

“We mustn’t let Maid Amy get away!” He cried out, which–with the name of his desires spoken aloud–Shadow’s ears turned to Jet, momentarily stopping his assault on Sonic’s Chaos Blade and listened…

“Because now, I–King of the Realm–will marry the fair girl and inherit all that the silly King cannot take from me, should he return!”

“What!?” Eye twitching, head now reeled up at such deceitful lying… “She was promised to me!” Sheriff Shadow turned his full attention now to Jet.

Sonic Hood stood with a tip of his toe on a tree, balancing with his arms waving about in circles to keep him balanced there upon, before taunting Shadow with childish mockery. “What’s wrong, Shadow? Don’t you know a thief will always stay as one?”

Sonic was having fun with the battle, he hoped Shadow wouldn’t quit it here…

However, using his skills and wits, he looks down to his Merry Men and nods.

With the signal given, and Shadow momentarily distracted, the Merry Men throw hooks with rope tied to their ends up to Shadow, pulling him down and tying him up. “N-No!” Sonic speeds down to swipe the remaining Chaos Emerald, and looks to Friar Tails.

“Get Amy out of here!” He throws his hand to the wind, and Tails immediately nods in obedience, the villagers all helping to drag her away.

“Oh, but… Sonic! My Sonic!” She cries, but he just smiles a little awkwardly to her, a bit of sweat dripping down the side of his face.

“Oh, Amy…” It’s a fond reprimand, as though he does care for the girl, but can’t indulge her ‘yearning’ for his attention at the moment.

Turning back, he witnesses his men currently dog-piling Sheriff Shadow to overwhelm his awesome might, trying to hold him down and bind him with the rope.

“Hate to leave you dissatisfied, Sheriff, but Amy–and the kingdom–need me!” He waves him slightly off with a salute and wink, sheathing his Chaos Sword as the light dims and the blade drops as it does so, and departs the decent distance to confront the false King Jet.

However, Jet holds up his own Chaos Emerald.

“No!” Sonic screeches his robin-red colored heels to a halt, as Jet teleports…

“Grk!” He bites his words back, looking around but unable to see where Friar Tails had disappeared to with Maid Amy.

“Knuckles! Little Knuckles!” He stomps the ground a few times, hard as rocks, as Little Knuckles’s head slowly rises up as he keeps stomping directly on his cranium.

Little Knuckles flinches at each hit, raising ever the more slowly before turning his now red with frustration gaze to Sonic. “I’M RIGHT HERE, HOOD!” He cries out, punching off his annoying foot that hit in a continuous stride up till that point.

“Did you really not notice me!? The ground rising up from below you!?”

“I… did notice the distance waning.” He smiled, cheerfully apologetic but it wasn’t enough for the echidna, who just crossed his arms, still upset.

“We have to find Maid Amy. Jet has a new plan to-” But before Sonic could relay his message, another brilliant flash of color and Jet was standing before Sonic with Amy in his grasps, an arm around her shoulders and an arrow’s head pointed to her neck!

All the world grew still… Jet’s hawk-like eyes had seen through the deep underbrush of the forest, through the shaded leaves and found the fleeing, soft pink color of Amy’s quills to then teleport through Chaos Power to her…

An unfortunate gift, his incredible eyesight… one even Sonic couldn’t replicate.

Even Shadow stopped struggling a moment, as the men held him at his knees and looked to see the shine of light, and the situation before them.

Sonic pulls another arrow to the ready on his bow, holding it up to hopefully parry any ‘arrow-made-dagger’ attempts on Maid Amy’s life.

“Drop. Your. Hand. Sir.” He threatened, slowly… and with all the dignity of one that must be in love… or at least, Amy thought as much…

“If you don’t release her, I’ll shoot!” Jet cawed back, like the coward he was… but it did make Sonic pause his pulled string forward…

His eyes met Amy’s… a soft memory of childhood sweethearts remaining there. Of an aloof back woodsmen and a fair noblewoman… a tender kiss on the cheek that he scoffed at and rubbed off, bidding her a harsh departure and stating they would probably never meet again… even though the boy climbed the king’s tall hedges have ‘her’ catch glimpses of ‘him’ as he ‘just so happen’ to speed through the area while his father would sell their hunts at the marketplace.

Such beautiful, emerald eyes… the kind that even an arrow would shake its head at, not wanting to be fired anywhere near her in fear that those embolden eyes of courage would slightly quiver with fear.

Even the bow croaked in its wood, creaking out a pitiful wail to not be released, and to not have the young, beautiful maiden think less of it.

But before Sonic Hood could make a call, another arrow flew by his head, just as his had done when facing Sheriff Shadow.

Jet was knocked back, an arrow piercing his shoulder as his attention was solely on Sonic… and not who was behind him…

Sonic loosened his grip on his bow and arrow, softening its string and turning back to the once foe behind him…

His Merry Men were on the ground, knocked out… the ropes slid off the black and red figure’s body… not just by his own natural fur coloration, but now by the blood of his endless fight with the men and Sonic’s arrow having cut his hand.

Nay… Sheriff Shadow had fired the arrow into the fake soverign’s shoulder that held the destruction of Maid Amy in its power… and Shadow… Shadow wanted all power, even over Maid Amy’s fate if he could.

But denying Jet… meant denying all routes to power remaining… and yet… he still silently took out the men and fired the arrow…

Without so much as another double-take to Shadow, Maid Amy raced back to the forest, looking to Sonic for confirmation as he heard her scattered running and nodded to her that it was alright.

Maid Amy didn’t know what end Shadow would face… or if he’d fight Sonic Hood and it would be her love and possible happily ever after that would face its ruin… but she ran, discarding her nobility behind to join the Merry Men in the woods…

She added her jewels to the pile of the ‘retrieved’ goods.

She took off her earrings, leaving her only her dress as she displaced her bracelets of fine gold, her necklaces, and all pretty and dainty things to the villagers who were in need.

All the while, in that merry wood, wondering what befell Sonic Hood… and her strange rescuer, though it didn’t sit right for her to call the man that, Sheriff Shadow…

“Would he return?” She put her hands together, mirroring her prayer from the facade of a tourney, and looked to the ground. “Oh, my Sonic… my dear Sonic…”

Suddenly, as the campfire flickered, two shadows of familiar spiked quills appeared…

She gasped as so did the men and party members all around them.

Sonic Hood had an arm holding up Sheriff Shadow, injured and on the verge of collapse, helping him walk into camp…

No one was merry now…

“Our officer here has had a change of heart.” He stated, his own eye shut by design of his struggle with him. Other Merry men, cradling their own injured or bruised hides, also entered after Sonic… not a single one lost.

“I believe he’s proved this.” Sonic set Shadow down, allowing him to rest from being helped through the long trails in the dark woods.

“... Sonic… are you mad?” Little Knuckles, also behind him, pounded his fists together as he looked down to Shadow. “He may know the location of our secret hideout now! Along with his orders from the false King Jet, to kill us in any way he can fathom!”

The accusing point didn’t flinch Sheriff Shadow, sitting solemnly on the ground.

He did look up to Maid Amy… but to her, the ruby of his eyes reminded her of his lust for power through her, and… she luckily didn’t think much more of it then that.

She crept away from him, but listening intently to her beloved's reasonings…

Her face turned away, as Shadow admired her by the fire’s glow…

“He admitted the location of where they’re holding good King Silver.”

Now the camp was ablaze in silent awe. Every man’s back stood straighter, and they could not keep their patriot legs from not advancing forward, as though a signal fire had rang out in their hearts to fight for a noble cause yet again.

“He could be lying…” Timidly spoke the absolute bravery of the modern rebel, Friar Tails. He looked a little wary to Shadow’s countenance, as Shadow returned the stare, and made his hands come together, his head bend back and down, his ears twisting around to show uneasiness at the returned look. “Demons bear false witness all the time to men’s hearts… what makes such a mortal man any different?”

Shadow smirked, “Some call me immortal.” He then looked away, spitting out blood as some, more tenderly maidens’ hearts from the village gasped or shrieked at such a sight.

Mothers held their children, remembering the abuse of Sheriff Shadow’s greed in stealing their family heirlooms, their livelihoods away in his lust for collecting taxes and further power over them.

Shadow, briefly, before collapsing ever the more, admits himself only to Maid Amy. “I said and did all that you have seen… in love for you.”

She would not meet his gaze, but became like a marble statue of beauty to him… In no way did he mind her cold-shoulder…

Instead, he praised it as even greater strength of elegance, not knowing her true nature to be much more harsher and loud than the ‘quiet reverence’ he felt she gave to him now.

“However…” He hacked out his next words carefully, only turning his gaze when coughing to the ground, and wheezing and huffing out his heavy continued words aloud. “I also admit you… deserve… better than myself.”

Her eyes didn’t waver, but gently sparkled in the fire’s flickers…

Even now, she found a soft spot of her heart to allow his words to rest a moment… Her way of allowing him to apologize for his deeds, but not see it as a full pardon of his actions, either.

“Although… no one can be happy about Sonic Hood’s ‘forgiveness’...” He coughed out again, “I would beg at least this much… Maid Amy… that you accept my sincere repentance.”

She would not look at him.

He fell to his chest, his hands unable to hold himself up. “P… Please…” He begged before her, but Maid Amy would not turn her head.

Sonic’s eyes, instead, imparted some pity for the man. The fire also flickered in his eyes, a warm glow…

He closed his eyes and bowed his head, seeing all the dignity in the man stripped, and all darkness fleeing out of embarrassment for his pathetic portrayal… and yet, Sonic found the mercy to look to his kingdom’s people, and his merry men that followed him.

“He may be unwilling, but I’m imparting to him the duty of a Merry Man.”

The crowd held back their uproar… but every man’s face looked enraged by such a sentiment.

Little Knuckles just stared at Sonic Hood, before turning his head, “I accept Sonic’s words… as though they were King Silver’s appointed law.” He stated, and the respect of the people rested with that final look on the matter.

For they all felt it in their hearts, as well.

“Friar Tails,” Sonic turned to him, lowering his head, “Address his wounds.”

Although Tails was skeptical if this was a good, smart move or not… he did so… helping Shadow back to his feet.

“Even an evil man can become a patriotic country man again… once that bugle is blown, and the sound carries through whatever bad notion first killed its love in his heart… Now does it beat again against oppression, malice, and bears all good manner for brotherhood, honor, and light.”

Sonic’s words were like a sermon that all adhered too, though clearly didn’t wish to.

“You all know… we are considered ‘outlaws’ by our own beloved land… Is he not now one, too? Having shot the very man who promised him our kingdom’s riches? Going back on his word, now, do you believe that the imposter king would still grant him any mercy? That he–himself–knows that we are the only mercy left in this unfair world?”

Sonic gestured to Shadow, and sure enough… the people relented.

“Still sounds like a trap to me…” Little Knuckles murmured, but Sonic only whispered to his friend that it probably was… “But if it truly isn’t,” He then countered, holding the shoulder of his dearest rival, looking back at Shadow, “I’d like to trust that his arrow has changed its course… and his wind now resides beside us all.”

“You could read his arrow?” Little Knuckles knew that Sonic Hood could pinpoint who shot what arrow, and if they had meant it or not.

In some ways, they thought Sonic’s ability like a tarot card reader, but in this case, he could gauge the soul of a man by the trajectory and velocity of his arrow’s swiftness or tried aim.

“If what you say is true… and to your trained and spiritual eye… if his arrow was right for once… then… I shall concede.” Knuckles grumbled, folding his arms all the more tighter. “And… if you have stated he be a Merry Man now… I shall see to it that he is watched and trained by the King Silver creed and code of honor.

“Honor among thieves.” Sonic leaned against his friend, rubbing his shoulder into his cheek to try and lighten the mood, snickering gleefully.

Overhearing that Sonic considered his ‘arrow’ or ‘heart’ had changed, Shadow was deeply touched.

With all his wickedness… such that even Maid Amy could not look upon him… how was it that his greatest adversary would grant him lenience in these times of war?

‘Did he truly… seek no power?’ Shadow looked to him, knowing Jet will think his capture and possible ‘change of heart’ a mere set-up to lure Sonic and his followers into another trap… To learn of their camp’s location, and to betray them all…

‘No… Not again.’ Shadow grew strength from the light of the fire… his eyes were determined to keep his arrow straight and narrow… seeing the Friar patch him up, he shook his head and stood, gaining strength like the holy knights of old used to wield.

“Friar, I have stolen from you and your religion plenty of times… Is it not written, that if one’s eye offends them, to pluck it out?” Shadow pulls out one of his arrows, and holds it to Friar Tails.

“Good priest… Take this arrow’s head, and by Sonic Hood’s words, make me unable to betray myself and your trust in me…”

“W-What?” Tails looked flabbergasted, “What… what are you saying?”

The people looked to their old antagonizer, not believing it unless they see it.

“If there be a pillar in your own eye, pluck it out. I wish to be blinded. That way, my eyes will no longer lust after gold and silver… after ultimate power… to feed the greed that stirs in my heart no longer… I will shield my very heart from it every piercing me again.”

His arrow would fly, and like Sonic’s ideals, it would continuously fly forever… never being halted on this new ‘changed course’ as he called it…

Sheriff no more, he’d be blind to greed from now on…

“I will not have my lust for power darken me again.”

Amy… Now looked at him.

With that simple act, he felt his breath tremble at her mercy to allow the last thing he saw to be her accepting him…

A kind mercy… but Frair Tails pulled out a liquid instead. “This is a certain poison… it will not blind you, Sheriff, but it will sting to ever open your eyes for a couple days… Are you sure you wish to be blindfolded?”

He looked back to Friar Tails, “Burn my eyes of all wickedness… Friar.” He knelt, putting the arrow down and lifting his head for the liquid to be poured into his eyes.

Tails looks to Sonic Hood, who takes a deep breath in, but smiles and nods.

“If that’s what it takes… Give the man what he wills.”

Tails then administered the poison, which did as he had stated. Shadow didn’t dare blink, but winced against the pain… A cooling cloth was placed over his eyes, and as his hands came up to caress the soothing relief, he felt Amy’s hands… knowing them from his time of trying to woo her through his gain of power beforehand… all of which gloating and boasting didn’t tempt her in the least.

“Thank you.” He states through his hissed pain, as it’s her hands that tie a bandana across his eyes, keeping the cooling cloth there as well.

“You truly have proven… that you know your change may not last, and to avoid betraying us, have chosen to remove your temptation entirely… for that, Sheriff Shadow, I do believe Sonic Hood, that you are a changed man.” She stated, “But I will never love anyone but my Sonic.”

Her eyes turned to Sonic and he tilted his head in a bit of perplexity, not sure how to respond, he smiles goofily and scratches the side of his cheek, showing some silly shyness to her resolved affections for him.

Shadow lowers his head… Contemplating… “My heart is set on the things of this world, Sonic Hood…” He turns his head where he believes Sonic to be stationed, if he hasn’t moved… and no wind stirred… so he felt he hadn’t. “This is the only penitence I can prevail against to make my words, and your own, true to your men and this country.” He stands up, finding his balance, letting his fingers flex as though to make sure nothing is around him.

“King Silver may punish me more severely, this I can accept… but seeing Maid Amy not even bear to look at me… That I cannot bear to see.”

She didn’t speak, but all saw her roll her eyes.

For someone who bore her feelings outrightly and plainly for Sonic… it was amusing to others to see her so ungraciously mock another for doing the same.

Though, they agreed that Shadow earned no due respects, but still…

“Now, I have prevented myself from ever going back… and changing my course again.”

Sonic bows in agreeance to him, though knows Shadow can’t see the kind, gentlemanly gesture of respect. “I’ll hold you to that promise, Shadow.”

“You are nothing more than a woodsmen, now.”

Shadow felt that lasting remark from Sonic Hood sting far greater than his eyes were.

“May your arrow and sword always point towards that which is true… Just maybe not near Amy again.”

He laughed lightly as the men also joined in, and Amy put her hands to her hips, but also gave a smile to the humor.

“Though, I’m sure she’s grateful–even though the reason wasn’t sound–that you helped her out.”

She didn’t say anything, but mimed clapping at his ‘supposedly chivalrous’ act of still selfish love.

Sonic walked over to stand behind Shadow and put a hand to his shoulder, startling him a moment, but continued in a more serious tone. “Just like how a shadow shows in which direction the light is coming through… I hope you will point more wayward souls towards our true purpose… for the land we love, and the true king we miss… Shadow.”

He slowly drops his hand, and Shadow suddenly feels a swelling of patriotic pride in him.

He finds it humorous, and smiles. “Heh… So,... This is the power of which you use to move people?” He lowers his head in thought, and then raises it again, finding a new respect for him. “You do not tempt your men with power or gold… with wealth or even with women… but with courage to find liberty again in the kingdom of your forefathers…”

The Merry Men, villagers, Maid Amy, Little Knuckles, and Frair Tails all cheer.

“Here, here.” Sonic claps, “Rejoice! You have now gained such a power!” He teased, gesturing to the people who now were agreeing with his words.

“It’s a strange feeling… indeed.” Shadow listened to their cheers upon his own merited words, and find that to be the greater reward of pride and pleasure than anything ever offered to him by the world.

“Your arrow… still felled me, Hedgehog.” He states, and Sonic laughed.

Grinning, he patted Shadow’s back and shook his head, “No, old Sheriff, you put your own life on that quiver’s string… and you pulled till you were stretched so far back, that the only way left to go was forward.”

“I… let go. Heh.” Shadow found that analogy quite… satisfying.

Later, Sonic and Amy had a moment back when everyone was celebrating, dancing and drinking in merriment, as Sonic had named the group that in hopes this would be the old kingdom they once loved again.

Instead of all the sad tears that fell over their little plot of land in the world… he hated to see his people cry.

Around the campfire, Sonic Hood felt Maid Amy fall to face him back to back, having just danced around with the others, and coming directly to ask him a question.

“Why did you wait so long?” She inquired, “I was about to be married, you know?”

Sonic’s head rose slightly from admiring the colors in the flames… “Come on, Amy…” He scratched the back of his head, and she thought it rather cute, thinking he was embarrassed at his feelings for her.

But… he was actually quite nervous about what not many people ever got to see… one thing that he evoked in her–unfortunately–too often.

“You know I’m bad at making dates…”

Her temper.

Shadow heard strange sounds of a blunt objecting hitting another, some ruckus of destruction, then a woman’s loud and angry voice as the thrashing continued.

Perplexed, he turns to where he knows Friar Tails and Little Knuckles are, obviously keeping an eye on him.

“Is there another woman in the settlement? This one sounds… like a bear, perhaps?” Never in his life would he have considered the ‘angelic’ personage of Maiden Amy, the fair and ever kind, innocent and pure woman, to be what she really was…

A little rascal.

Awkwardly, the Merry men and the two beside him sweated with awkwardness, nervously laughing at his ‘blind’ description of his ‘Good, tender Maid Amy’ actually being the sole reason for this rampaging against Sonic Hood.

They knew her well enough, anyway… She had snuck out to see Sonic constantly during rumors of his raiding nearby…

But sadly, to avoid suspicion that she was in league with them, she would give her intel on Jet’s movements and Shadow’s plans, before sneaking back into the castle…

“YOU COULD HAVE BEEN LATE TO STOP ME FROM GETTING MARRIED! AUUGHH!!!”

Shadow, truly, couldn’t believe his ears.

He wonders if his image of the world is now ‘clearer’ from having his eyes locked up tight.

Without craving power… he now craved… to understand what the eyes could not see.

This fellowship… of friends.

END.