#sonic rebound

[nightblind99]

I WAS AWAKENED BY THE HOWLING OF THE DOG- OR PERHAPS A WOLF.

[thescribe1118]

Sonic Vs Shadow

[rabbithaver]

sonic rebound is really fucking impressive and everyone should watch all 6 episodes right now. the way they build onto the already solid foundation that is IDW's first arc is really fucking cool

[riftclaw]

Rebound the Jackal

Avatar bust of a design I got from Jesseth last year!

Posted using PostyBirb

[venstm]

i need someone to give me a cohesive dot point red string board of sonic lore on my desk by tomorrow thank you and goodnight.

[rockbottleart]

“Go back to weirdo land!”

Rebound the Red Panda, belonging to @zitoisart-blog - drawn as part of a ‘Draw it in your style’ challenge over in Twit-app.

[timewontwait]

a little reminder, for those who might not be clued in...

fleethero: takes place not long after forces. signs of sonic being more distant and reserved and... not himself would have been there - if you did manage to catch him before the next time he had to use the emeralds to fight eggman.

also takes place before frontiers. i'm not sure how large the time frame gap would be but there would need be some recovery time for him after he does come out of fleet-arc and into the next adventure. preferably several months. maybe even a year. hedgehog's got some self work & healing to do.

[sheepslaps]

are any of your human sonic characters in a relationship or have any crushes (can be now or in the past)? Have you thought about any of their sexual/romantic orientations?

oh i have had thoughts about some past relationships, and a few current ones; here we go-

in the past:

sonic/amy - dated in high school, broke up in senior year. amy fell first, sonic fell harder but it didn't work out - he still has some feelings for her though

shadow/rouge - it never got that far with them, it was ultimately FWB. rouge still thinks shadow is attractive and teases him just to fuck with him and knuckles

sonic/blaze - slight rebound from sonic's end after amy, they never went that far but blaze broke it off since sonic having no prospects was a turn off for her

rouge/vector - it was ONE night okay, both of them deny it

plus amy being flirty, has done it to; shadow, silver, blaze, jet

currently:

metal/amy - it's mainly a platonic flirty relationship bc amy is like that, metal likes the attention from her and her only

silver/blaze - he makes her laugh, she motivates him to keep improving. nobody believes silver and blaze are dating bc of how awkward he is, and blaze stays private about it (she's not a gossip). plus, silver actually has goals for himself and that's attractive to her

sonic/shadow - sonic flirts with shadow a lot bc it pisses him off. shadow is irritated by it but doesn't stop it. so much tension between these two (rouge: if you two don't just fuck each other already)

rouge/knuckles - rouge stays over at knuckles place so often that she might as well live there. every time these two are seen together, they're either fighting or making out. both just head over heels for each other. rouge will flirt with other guys to piss knuckles off, but there is NOTHING she wouldn't do for that man.

vector/vanilla - it started as vector coming over for food. then the flirting started. then the fixing up around her house started. a dependable young man with a heart of gold that never hesitates to help her? oh, vanilla is crazy in love like she's in college again. and vector gets a milf who shows him affection all for doing his job, it's great

assume all characters are pansexual unless otherwise stated

espio is the otherwise, he's aroace, thank you

edit; metal and amy are queer platonic (me only now remembering the name for it)

also it's kinda funny that amy and blaze both are into sonic but both metal and silver have that little extra that sonic doesn't

[patricia-taxxon]

How to make the perfect marble blast clone in 2024:

aim in the opposite direction from marble it up, more responsivity, higher "game speed," bouncier marble.

instead of having the difficulty come from hefty momentum making you plan your turns ahead, have it come from the marble's spin potentially shooting off course if you don't consider each impact.

less focus on Tiny Wings style racetracks, more focus on organic jagged terrain that forces you to reckon with the shape of it directly

include a jump, but slowly phase it out. let it come to never be enough on its own, you reach heights by rebounding off sloped surfaces, doing wall hits.

only one powerup, pick it up & click to receive a boost in the direction the camera is pointing, be it laterally or vertically.

only one friction surface, marble blast platinum's Water. (extremely high friction, no bounce.)

it's a 3D precision platformer.

marble blast platinum still has the most wisdom and innovation regarding this genre, making it more than the best 3D sonic game. it made "marble maneuvering on a balance beam" into something fun and engaging. study it.

[discardedmilkywaywrapper]

finally a metal sonic with capacity to ^^. this is what we've been missing the sonic rebound is now

[bunji-enthusiast]

Sorry again but that scourge fic?? TYYYYY imagine this now, you're still Sonic's friend and he's particularly protective over you, the whole Sonic vs Scourge fight begins as Scourge walks out from the portal, crown on his head, Scourge flirting with YOU as he's fighting Sonic just to mess with said hedgehog and prob you?? Ooc I think but idc right now 😭

Heavy Lies The Crown — Scourge The Hedgehog

Note || thank you! I really didn’t know what to do, so I just went off on the top of my head for that fic lol. Went off the top off of my head for this one too, but I’ll do something more proper for him in the future when I can force myself to.

WC || 480

Sypnosis || One Hedgehog, Two Hedgehogs. It can get rather confusing when the greener of the two can be very indifferent compared to your more heroic friend.

“Well ain't this interestin?” Scourge chuckled, legs pushing forward as he revealed himself forth from the portal. Right now, it was just; you, Sonic and Scourge. This was a tense atmosphere of which you were not absolutely sure you could redirect, or for that matter prevent the two from fighting. 

What the hell was with the crown though? That was a brand new addition, and in your honest opinion wasn’t a good choice of fashion for the rebellious hedgehog. 

“Leave ‘em outta this.”Sonic growled, tentatively side-stepping to block you from his view. You were albeit confused, a hint of confusion remaining on your face despite the clear clarity of the situation. 

Scourge threw his hands up in a matter of a dramatic gesture of a display, a sharp smile forming on his face, “Come on, I’m pretty sure the pretty little thing has as much business and priority in this as much as you.”

“I-”

For a moment you thought you saw the blue blur falter in his steps as he rose up to go face to face with Scourge, but you would talk about that with him later. You didn’t want to get in his way, regardless of how much you wanted to understand what the two meant. 

“Eh it’s really too bad, honestly.” Scourge mentions at one point or another, whilst in the midst of fighting Sonic. This seemed to confuse you, but you couldn’t tell with the look on Sonic’s face, it looked like he just wanted to get this done and over with. You wanted too as well, but Scourge was highly unpredictable at times that even you could not understand. “You're really cute darlin, and that’s the real shame here.”

He grins when he realizes that Sonic had stopped speaking completely, leaving all preconditions out the window. That really bothered him, and Scourge was feeling all the better with it. 

 “Maybe you should pay attention, instead of making useless comments.” You note, crossing your arms as you already had found a safe distance away from their fighting. At most, even Sonic had found himself silently agreeing with you. 

“Yeah, you gotta be sick of chasing after so many innocent mobians who had nothing to do with you in the first place.” Sonic snickers as he slides back from a rebounded attack from Scourge, he pants for a few moments as he gains his bearings again. 

Scourge’s lips almost falters, revealing a short-sighted frown. “Oh shaddup, you should be the one to pay attention chump.” He gains a running start as he attacks Sonic with a stronger dash, strength was not something the green hedgehog had lacked for a very long time now. Ever since his fortunate upgrade, he felt lucky otherwise.

To be able to gain some sort of revenge on Sonic, and mess with you too at the same time was even better.

[saphstories]

Happy Birthday?

He could do this. He'd built a battle mech into a biplane, created a false Chaos Emerald, built a TV out of paperclips, and reprogrammed a super computer using dishwashing detergent and toothpicks...so baking a cake? Pfft.

Amy had given him a dubious look and asked if he was sure he didn't need help, but Tails waved her off. Oh, she of little faith. It was just a cake. What could go wrong? The pink hedgehog insisted he call her if he needed her help, and Tails rolled his eyes. "Yes, Mom." He'd groused. Amy had stuck her tongue out at him but finally left, and Tails marched to the tiny kitchen nestled in the corner of he and Sonic's home.

Tails had several hours until the surprise party that afternoon, and Shadow had been tasked with keeping the birthday boy distracted until it was time. Nothing could go wrong.

...Famous last words.

HP?

"Getting slow in your old age, faker?"

"You're one to talk! How old are you know, Shadster? Pushing the 90s, aren't we?"

"Don't call me Shadster, and I'm immortal; I don't age, rat!" Shadow grabbed Sonic's wrist and flung him towards the nearby tree, momentarily forgetting he wasn't supposed to actually be fighting his rival, just distracting him. Ridiculous. Shadow snorted. The things he did for the pink hedgehog...

Sonic used the motion to his advantage, curling into a Spin Dash around the trunk and tackling Shadow on the rebound. The pair rolled in a tangled mass of blue and black fur, trading blows back and forth. Shadow paused, fist raised, but ruby eyes focused on something beyond the clearing he and Sonic had demolished in their spar. "Hedgehog, is that smoke?"

Sonic shoved Shadow off him and rolled up onto his knees to see the black pillar raising into the sky above the treeline. "Yeah, looks like it. Someone must be starting a bonfire."

Shadow gave him an unimpressed look. "Correct me if I'm wrong-,"

"Which you usually are." Sonic cheekily interrupted. Shadow rolled his eyes and punched him.

"But that smoke is coming from the area where you live with the fox, is it not?"

Sonic did a double take and his stomach dropped. "Oh, Chaos, not again." The blue hedgehog complained, shooting to his feet. "That kit is so grounded." He grumbled and gave Shadow a two-fingered salute. "It's been fun, Shadster, but I gotta juice." The Hero of Mobius was gone before Shadow could respond.

He could head back to his apartment. Technically, his task was complete, and Amy never specified he had to attend the party itself. He could deal with her and hee swinging hammer later.

But...Amy had said that she was going to ensure the fox knew what he was doing...and if there was a fire...

Shadow groaned. "She owes me." He dusted himself off, sighed, and relucantly followed the smoke pillar still rising, cheering himself with all the ideas thought of for the pink hedgehog to pay her debt.

When he arrived at the house, it was miraculously still standing but still yet smoldering, and Sonic stood with his arms crossed over his chest, foot tapping impatiently on the ground, and the sternest glower on his muzzle directed towards the fidgeting two-tailed fox kit in front of him, his hands behind his back...with slight tendrils of black smoke wafting out behind him.

"I'm waiting, Miles Prower." Sonic reminded the fox.

Tails gulped, ears flat against his head at the use of his birth name. He was really in for it now, but his self-preservation ran away with his mouth. "At least the house isn't completely destroyed! And it's just minor damage, I can fix it easy-,"

"Miles."

Tails bit back a whimper and nodded in defeat, then reluctantly presented the smoldering pan of black brick to his brother.

Sonic blinked. "Is that supposed to be a cake? You nearly burned down our house and got yourself killed for a cake?"

Tails tried to smile. "Happy Birthday?"

[demonfox38]

Completed - Vampire Survivors (Base + Ode to Castlevania DLC)

This game makes my brain scream at me.

Like, okay. I'm an average office worker. If I'm not in a meeting, I've got something from YouTube running in the background. Music playlists, video essays, whatever. So, in agreement, in disagreement, whatever—the terms "hauntology" and "dopamine addiction" are consistently in my short-term memory thanks to the video essay portions. The rot of culture by failure to let new ideas bloom, clinging to nostalgia and old symbols. Taxing and abusing neurotransmitters in search of instant happiness. Fun, happy things to ponder while I try to burn these hours of my life away.

Do I think either are threats? Well, unchecked nostalgia, definitely—especially when it's faux 1950s Americana influencing law to restrict the rights of others. Dopamine addiction is a bit more of a mixed bag. Like, you've got to create habits of maintenance, absolutely. Cooking, cleaning, exercise, grooming, so on. But, if you're clever, you can figure out how to use your reward system to help support these habits. Starving it or trying to obliterate it won't help, especially if it causes rebound issues. It's just…ya know. Gaining an appreciation for slower processes over instant gratification and deriving lessons from the struggles of life over bodily abuse and obliteration.

I bring these topics up because I got both "Vampire Survivors" and its "Ode to Castlevania" DLC for the cost of a goddamn cheeseburger. This pixel-exploding throwback of a game lasted me for over 100 hours. Drug dealers and fast-food restaurants would wither and die at such a nexus of cost and effectivity.

Some killjoy could do real numbers discussing hauntology and dopamine addition as the subjects apply to this game.

Should I have gotten into "Vampire Survivors" sooner? Possibly? The communal vibes I absorbed on it were nothing but praise. I don't know if I would have felt brave about trying a Rogue-like prior to playing "Baroque," but I do enjoy a good ol' fashioned bullet hell / shooter, from time to time. It might be lame that it literally took the announcement of a "Castlevania" DLC for me to give this game a try, but hey. This DLC did better about pulling me in than "Dead by Daylight" or "Dead Cells" did under similar circumstances.

What's "Vampire Survivors" about? When I figure that out, I'll get back to you. Most of the narrative I'm picking up is derived from a mix of stage names, enemy bestiary entries, and the surnames of the characters I unlock. Generally speaking, it's about Belpaese and Ladonna kin coming together to endure waves of monsters until the cold, clammy fingers of death come for them. And then, finding a way to break past their power. The powers behind them. The limitations of space and time. Research gone horribly wrong, time and time again. Creepy things hidden at the bottom of towers. Fallen civilizations. Corrupted religious sects. Milk-based magic. Ya know. Wholesome stuff!

In another world—with another particular video game company and their infamously litigious team of lawyers—"Vampire Survivors" may not have made it past its first year. It's not hard to see what game series may have inspired the creation of its lead whip-wielding fighter of the undead. Arca Ladonna may be even more egregious in the video game celebrity look-alike competition. (Don't even get me started on those Blue Venus creatures!) But, the aesthetic inspiration certainly doesn't stop at Konami properties! "Bayonetta", "Batman", "Okami", "Sonic the Hedgehog", "Mortal Kombat"—there's gonna be at least one situation you'll have where you end up snorting with laughter with how close to the copyright line this game rides.

Also, "Vampire Survivors" is the most Italian video game I've ever played. Like, yes, tee-hee on "La Borra" and "Testa di Mano" enemies. Nothing is as fucking authentically Italian as naming a character after Cristina D'Avena. Like, goddamn. How do you top that? Make a stage based on the set design for Dario Argento's "Suspiria" and "Inferno" films? Have playable knockoffs of "Lupin the Third" characters? How about an entire race of sentient ducks running parallel to human society? Call their main hero Duckabolik or something. Goddamn.

Although, there were those ducks in space…

So, I put an RPG's worth of hours into the game without getting much in the way of plot. Obviously, something else is keeping me around. How about that core gameplay loop? It starts simple enough. Move your dude up, down, left, and/or right as needed. Hit enemies with attacks. Pick up gems. Level up. Repeat until you die or you hit 30:00, at which point the game sends a Reaper after you to finish you off for good. Run the game again, continue grinding up weapons, unlock more people and levels, etcetera. So goes this song in a round.

You determine your own progress with this game through the Achievements screen. Look at what items remain, make your next goal, and finish off what you can in your next game. Progress will remove some tasks from this list, but it may add others as more opportunities unfold. Empty out your Achievements? Well, guess what? You'll get an extra round of tasks in a brand-new Secrets screen as well! Clearing that may not get you bonus trophies in Steam, but it may get you some additional levels and characters, too. Ditto the Adventures mode too, while you are at it!

Actually, the Adventures mode is pretty strange, if you don't have other DLC for this game. It's really only two stories? Weird. Seems underutilized. Kind of strange that Konami didn't pitch something for this mode, too…

If you're looking for a general overview of tasks to complete, this may help:

Get through the first five game maps, performing well enough to unlock their Hyper Mode options.

Trigger and kill the special boss in Moongolow.

Pick up the Yellow Sign and use that to start killing Reapers.

Kill the special boss that now spawns in Capella Magna.

Gather all base relics (including defeating the damned Sketamari.)

Harass the final boss for two more relics.

Fight the final boss.

It helps to experiment with different weapons and passive items. Leveling up different weapons unlock different characters, so that makes it an easy sell. Using the correct combination of passive items with weapons may also augment the weapon, giving it different (usually better) properties. Getting proficient with different characters may also unlock Arcana cards, which can grant your character with random bonuses while in a battle. Long story short—don't go stale, and neither will the game.

Also, "Castlevania" fans: go look at the names for those Arcana cards. Come back when you've face-palmed.

Most of the game's complexity comes from making your randomly-assigned resources count. The enemies are simplistic, just ambling towards you. The pressure comes more from managing distance from them and your own powers as the enemy's strength grows over time. (Honestly, the biggest difficulty spike may just come from not getting a Garlic weapon, of all things.) Sketamari is the most complicated creature I had to deal with, and that was more building a viable weapon stack in a short amount of time and preventing any interlopers from building it up than anything else. Everything else is…well. Dodge the shit and don't get touched. Video Game Rules 101.

While aesthetically simple, the game is a glory when it comes to CPU resource management. Lesser machines could not handle the glut of objects and particles being rendered on screen, particularly in later parts of a level. I suppose a creature doesn't need more than three frames of animation when a hundred or so of them are being rendered on screen at once. It's amazing this game is as stable as it is, for all of what it is doing. I've had it chug once, sure. Even had it lock up my computer, one time (although one of my poodles was a contributor to that mess.) But, man. Whatever is going on with managing the location, health, and appearance of all on-screen objects is nothing short of technomancy.

The music is also pretty solid, too. Loops well; doesn't get distracting. Honestly, it sometimes gets crushed by the sound effects, but you can adjust the audio and music tracks to balance it out. I appreciate the soundtrack not being above having a joke or too, as well. (Remember: this is an exceedingly Italian game.)

With this game, you need to pace yourself. If you get every run perfect, you'll be spending somewhere between 15-30 minutes in intense play. (Assume you'll be more on the longer end than shorter.) The circular motions you'll be making can be taxing on your thumbs. Make sure to get up, stretch, and rest your eyes and hands every hour. Your body will appreciate it.

Also, seriously. Take the game's flashing warning to heart. You can adjust some settings to ease up on what is being rendered, but the game is designed to burn like a comet. There's gonna be tons of debris shearing off it, and you do not want that scalding your eyeballs.

For those of you hopping in via House Dracula, the DLC "Ode to Castlevania" provides an additional map, as well as…well, the marketing says 40+ weapons and 20+ new characters, but let me tell you. That plus sign is hiding a lot. Like, 90+ pieces of music, 25 bosses, and several dozen new enemies. Damn.

Much like the base game, you're not gonna get much more in the way of plot. It's mostly pushing as far as you can in a single go, punishing bosses as you gather the strength to tackle them and unlocking your Belmont, Belnades, or buddy of choice. However, there is a fun little treat at the map's end regarding the English opening cutscene of "Castlevania: Symphony of the Night" and Death being a goddamn nightmare. Like, damn, dude. I know the breakup of a bromance that lasted a millennium was rough on you, but this is not the best way to react.

Because of the map's ungodly size and number of tasks to tackle, you'd be better off making good headway into the main game before tackling this. At the very least, it will help you to get that time limit lifted with an Endless mode unlock. (You can also eventually invert the castle, if you're into that.)

The loop here is more like:

Unlock Belmonts (generally, in order of timeline, with a few exceptions.)

Use Belmonts to unlock ally characters, beat bosses, and unlock parts of the map.

Push forward until you finally get Richter.

Use Richter to fight Death.

Max out your new wave of characters.

Fight new bosses.

Find the Pile of Secrets and Wood Carving Score.

Continue until all secrets are exhausted.

That should hold you out…Oh, I don't know. A good 50 hours or more?

I can't get over how deep this DLC digs into "Castlevania" characters and songs. Finally, in 2024—after getting booted from two other games!—we have a playable Hammer. And a playable Mina Hakuba. LMAO. I know people didn't have her on their bingo card, but damn. There are all kinds of playable characters here that I never expected to see, whether in terms of capabilities, story fates, or just coming out of the wrong division of Konami Computer Entertainment. I don't know who wanted a playable Vincent, but uh…there you go. Congrats to you.

I mean, what? Am I supposed to be a shithead and ask for the merchant from "Harmony of Dissonance" or someone from Wygol Village? Fucking 80 goddamn characters, and two are the final Sorrow cast members that I was missing. And fucking Quincy Morris of all goddamn people, now that the copyright for Stoker's "Dracula" has gone to hell. Screw it. I'm take the W and leaving on this one.

With the way Quincy looks in this game, doesn't he look a bit like the North American cover of "Castlevania Bloodlines"? It's making me question some things about that box art…

The DLC takes a fair amount of flexibility when it comes to cast powers. Like, you're not gonna get soul or power absorption with Shanoa or Soma, but you are going to get unique boosts for each cast member. Every Belmont gets a unique way to use their whip, so that's neat! A great way to prevent stagnation, for sure. And, hey. Don't like the default weapon your character starts with? You can switch that out eventually, too. Just gotta prove your competence. Meet some achievements. Do the "Vampire Survivors" grind.

Most of the "Castlevania" remixes are pretty solid as well. Just take a YouTube playlist already. Enjoy. (I was particularly tickled by "Wood Carving Partita" and "The Sinking Old Sanctuary," for what that is worth.)

Now, the songs aren't exactly paired with the characters you may expect. Like, Christopher Belmont gets "Beginning", which then throws "Trevor" into "Aquarius", throwing Sypha and Yoko off, and so on. If you get the Magic Banger relic, it's no big deal to correct. It's just funny how preconceptions can make cool music otherwise seem off.

There was one major part that actively pissed me off with this DLC, and it was unlocking Camilla. The flavor text on her unlock secret implies that a Belmont needs to kill her off (either Leon, Simon, or Sonia, whomever you consider the "first" Belmont to be.) The actual method of unlocking her is hitting her with a Nightmare spell. Like…okay? I'm hoping that'll be patched out later, but man. Wasting hours on that only to find out I was being misled was annoying.

I can't say the sweat needed to unlock Brauner was worth it as well. He isn't as immediately frustrating, but he takes way more time than seems necessary. Just go toss the Blood Astronomia and some compatible weapons on Dracula, get him up to the gallery, level him to a stable point, and park him for a couple of hours.

As shit tier as 2024 has been personally, I can't help but be comforted with the "Castlevania" game releases this year. The "Dominus Collection", the "Dead by Daylight" DLC, and the cherry on top, this. I shouldn't have needed such an incentive to play "Vampire Survivors," but I was more than happy to go hog-wild on this game and its DLC. God bless the development team for this game. They may have developed the digital version of a stimulant drug that makes my hands and brain scream, but I can only hope the best for them.

Good people put their fan translators in their credits, man. And poncle's staff…them's good people, that's what.

The base "Vampire Survivors" is currently available for $4.99 USD on Steam, although that price tends to frequently dip down a dollar for seasonal sales. "Ode to Castlevania" tacks on another $3.99 USD. There are additional levels of DLC and expansions past that point, if you want more. I'm not certain if you'll find more vampires to survive, necessarily, but at least you've got, like, actual vampires to survive now. Which, apparently, is a whole ass meme I didn't know about before!

What's the official count on that now, anyway? You don't fight Dracula, so I don't think you can count him. But, there's Walter, Joachim, Carmilla, Orlox, a Jiang Chi, Stella & Loretta…actually, do you count them? I mean, I know the Sanctuary spell works on them, so I'd say yes, but…Or, wait. Shit. Does "Vampire Survivors" mean the vampires you survive, or the vampires that are also surviving alongside you? Maybe I didn't think this through…

Man, counting vampires shouldn't be as hard as surviving them. Ah ah ah!

[beevean]

I genuinely just want Flynn to go do something else, and never write for sonic again. it’s very apparent that his ideas and writing do not mesh well at all with established franchise, but god forbid you bring criticism to Ian, or get ostracized from the entire community. Like I get why sega is using him, he’s a recognizable name that many fans praise over. But does he really have to be in every sonic product under the sun?! Pontaff never got this kinda treatment.

It's well known Flynn would, by his own admission, drop Sonic for Skies of Arcadia, and even admitted, when Archie was cancelled, that he's stuck with Sonic because it pays.

How do you rebound from that, creatively and professionally? The latter is easy — I’ve got no other job skills, so I’m clinging to this spiky blue moneymaker as long as I can.

At this point I really think he's there as a publicity stunt. But it can only last so long. And, my opinions on Flynn aside, I really don't think it's good not just for the series, but for him as well to be involved in so many projects.

[anotherwvba]

Finding Your Place, pt. 1

The skylights let the mid-morning sun flood the WVBA Academy Gym. It was a typical Wednesday. Von Kaiser’s intermediate class was working in a couple of the rings under his stern and watchful gaze. 

Glass Joe and Disco Kid were sparring in another ring, Joe helping Disco on his form while Disco worked with Joe on reading his opponents quicker. 

And the loud thumps coming from heavy bags was King Hippo as he was getting ready for his title defense against Piston Hondo that was coming up.

But, no doubt the loudest and most attention drawing workout in the room was Luna Doll. She was in her element. Working the double-ended bag, she was dancing around, light on her feet, punching and dodging. Honing her skills, getting ready for her fight with Razor Sharp next week, wasn’t what attracted attention, though. No, that had more to do with her phone mounted on a nearby tripod.

“Now, Luna-tics, you know I ain’t sleepin’ on Baby Sands.” Luna was bobbing and weaving, the bluetooth mic clipped to her pink sports bra catching her every word. She was live streaming her workout, punching with precision, moving with grace, and talking with sass.

Her fans, her Luna-tics, were out in full force in the chat. Of course, she couldn’t see the chat while she was working the bag. But, she knew they were there, hanging on her every word, cheering her on as she trained for her biggest fight to date.

Luna snapped out a sharp jab, then slipped the bag when it sprang back at her, “Razor Sharp’s got that Sandman blood in her. Her old man’s a legend, Mister Sandman himself. That don’t mean she gets a pass, though.” A quick one-two shot the bag back and she danced to the right, popping off another jab, “Nah, fam! Just means she gets the whole #Hitmaker experience!”

They were brash words, but Luna couldn’t help herself. There was just something about talking trash during a stream and during a workout that got her amped, especially when she knew her fans were eating it up. Gliding back, Luna effortlessly slipped the bag as it rebounded, catching it with a clean right hook as she did.

“See that? See that?” Luna bobbed and weaved, then popped off a series of jabs as she danced around the bag, each one landing with a quick pop. “Lunatics, I’m stoked for this! No doubt, Baby Sands has got the size and the power and the experience, so we gonna lose some HP on this one.”

From the corner of her eye, Luna caught the gym doors opening. Niki Binary, decked out in a WVBA polo shirt and black slacks, lanyard around her neck, had walked in, scanning the gym with a purposeful gaze. Clearly, she was looking for someone.

Luna’s grin widened. “But, you know me, stay ready ain’t gotta get ready.” Popping off a few punches, slipping and dodging, Luna then caught the bag with her gloves and brought it to a stop before looking into the camera lens on her phone.

“No disrespect, Razor. I ain’t expecting to speedrun you or nothin’.” Luna pulled one of her gloves off, “But, you best not expect a ‘Flawless Victory’, either. I’m watchin’ your fights, workin’ hard, and come fight night, I’mma read like an old school strat guide. Straight GameFAQ’s, bay-bee!”

Niki was now standing behind the phone, trying not to laugh. Luna tossed her a wink as she finished up, “Alright, fam, I’ve got to go. Remember to like, share, subscribe, all that cool stuff. And, don’t forget the charity giveaway. Donate to Make-A-Wish using the link on the channel homepage and for every five dollars you donate, you get entered in a drawing to win my fight gloves from my debut against Razor Sharp a week from Saturday. Aight, Lunatics! We got Sonic 2 tonight. Until then, Luna, out!”

With a quick tap on her phone screen, Luna turned off the stream and turned her attention to Niki, her demeanor shifting from dynamic streamer to, somewhat, humble rookie boxer.

“Yo, Binary,” Luna smiled, then quickly corrected herself when Niki tapped her badge on her lanyard, “Sorry, sorry. Yo Nicole, what’s up? Forgot, Niki in the ring, Nicole on the clock. Sorry.”

“No worries,” Nicole smiled as Luna pulled off her other glove and started breaking down her streaming set-up. “Streaming your training, I see. Between the sneak preview you're giving away and the mad trash you’re dishing out, I think you might have a rough night with Razor.”

Luna looked up as she collapsed her tripod, “Oh, I’m counting on it. Look, Razor can get film on me as easy as I can on her. Plus, we both train here. Not worried about the preview.” Standing up, Luna stuffed the tripod in its bag, “Now, me puttin’ the mouth on her? Yeah, I thought about that. I figure she’s gonna try and knock my head off either way, so I might as well be entertaining.”

“Guess that’s one way to think about it,” Nicole just shook her head in disbelief. “Have you always streamed your training?”

“Oh yeah,” Luna's face lit up as she talked about her streams. “From when I was getting set for my first influencer fight. My first punch, my first spar, all of it. And every time I struggled, every time I broke down and cried, my viewers were there for me. They’ve had my six the whole time. They’re my ride or die. Keeps me motivated, and maybe I motivate them a little. I like to think I do anyways.”

Nicole smiled and nodded as a single word crossed her mind. Sessatakuma. She understood Luna’s feelings all too well.

Luna finished zipping her bag, “But, I know you didn’t come here just to watch me stream live and in person. What’s up? Here for me?”

“Yeah,” Nicole pulled out her work phone. “Just needed to follow-up on the work we did to your apartment wi-fi. How’s it looking now? No dropped frames?”

“Not. A. One!” Luna’s eyes shined with excitement. “No lags. No drops. Just pure, uninterrupted gaming. Tried it out last night on an old school Contra stream. Crushed it, b-t-dubs! You’re a lifesaver, Nicole.”

“Just doing my job,” Nicole tapped away at her phone, a look of professional pride on her face. “Let me just close this ticket out and…”

“Entschuldigung.” A deep voice spoke with gentle authority, interrupting the two boxers.

Slightly startled, both turned to see Coach Von Kaiser approaching, a light sweat built up from teaching his intermediate class. His German accent was unmistakable. “My apologies if I am interrupting, ladies.”

At that moment, it became apparent Luna was a little starstruck. “I, um, I don’t think we’ve been introduced properly.” Extending her hand, Luna bowed slightly, “Jia Park. I box under my screen name, Luna Doll. It’s an honor, sir.”

“Please, fräulein,” Von Kaiser returned the gesture as he shook her hand, “there is no need to be so formal. I’m simply a coach.”

Luna’s face shot up in disbelief, her voice louder than she intended. “Simply a coach?! You’re Viktor Von FREAKIN’ Kaiser! The German Steel Machine! Three-time Minor Circuit Champ! I’ve studied your title match trilogy with Piston Hurricane and, dude, epic is, like, too small a word.”

Nicole stood by, fighting back a laugh. She understood Luna’s fangirling entirely, but she also knew how uncomfortable it made her coach, especially with eyes from all over the gym, most of them agreeing with Luna, suddenly on him. Still, every once and a while, it was good for her mentor to get his flowers.

Before Von Kaiser could get any more embarrassed, Nicole finally saved him. “So, Coach, what can we help you with?”

“Ja… yes… um,” Von Kaiser quickly tried to gather his thoughts. “Wenig Stahl, I’ll be heading back to Munich for a few days, perhaps a week. I have business at the gym to address.”

“But,” Nicole looked confused for a moment, “I thought Vicky was holding things down while you were here.”

Luna, trying not to eavesdrop, finished packing her gear as Von Kaiser responded. “True, but Viktoria just turned 28 and she is eager to resume her in-ring career. She has a candidate to run the gym day-to-day and would like me to speak with him.”

“Seems fair,” Nicole nodded. “It’s exciting that Vicky’s looking to get back in the ring. She’s a beast! Can’t wait to see her pick up where she left off.”

“Actually,” Von Kaiser scratched his head for a moment, “I was hoping you would join me on the trip. I think a change of scenery and an opportunity to train with new people would be very good for you. And Viktoria would not forgive me if I didn’t ask.”

Nicole’s eyes went wide and her hands shot to her mouth to stifle a squeal. “You want me to go with you, to the Steel Heart Academy, to train. Seriously? Like, you’re serious right now?”

Coach Von Kaiser’s expression hardened slightly, “Ja. When have you known me to not be serious?”

“HA!”

Von Kaiser and Nicole both shot their gazes down at Luna.

“Sorry…” Luna’s gaze went down and she slowly zipped her bag.

“Okay, um,” Nicole’s mind was racing. “Yeah, of course! When do we leave?”

“Gut!” Von Kaiser clapped his hands together, “We leave tomorrow evening. I’ll meet you in the front lobby at 6 and we’ll head to the airport.”

Nicole nodded as she started tapping away on her phone, “Sounds good! I’ll get things straight with my boss in I.T. and see about using some of my vacation time.”

With a fatherly pat on the shoulder, Von Kaiser went back to his class. While Nicole swiped from one app to another, Luna shot back to a standing position, “Girl, you are getting to train at Steel Heart in Munich? With Viktoria Von Kaiser? As in the former Women’s European Super Lightweight Champ? I’m so jealous!”

“I know, right?” Nicole was almost trembling with excitement, “Vicky’s like a big sister to me. She helped me so much when I started taking boxing lessons from her dad. But, I’ve never been to their gym. This is… man! Look, I’ve gotta get to I.T. and make sure Eddie is good with me taking a week off.”

Nicole started out of the gym, turning and walking backwards, “Let me know if you have any more trouble with the wi-fi!”

“You got it, girl! Have fun! Be safe!” Luna shouted after her as Nicole made her way out of the gym. Luna tossed her bag over her shoulder, her own thoughts racing now. Man, it would be so rude. But, I might never…

With that, Luna took out her phone, tapping out a quick text. After all, she had to try.

Viktoria "Vicky" Von Kaiser is an OC belonging to @maks-punchout-hyperfixtion and is used with permission.

[toaarcan]

(please excuse my English I actually speak German) hello, huge Fiona fox fan here I have been reading lots of your rants about fiona, on how her character had lots more potential and that her relationship with scourge is heavily abusive (on which I really agree btw) and since their not many fiona fans here I just wanted to ask you since I literally have no one to talk to. In sonic the hedgehog issue 179 on page 14 sonic says a specific line dialogue that's been driving me crazy. He explains to tails that he hooked up with Fiona hoping that he would move on, but ALSO because he was still getting over Sally stating that "Fiona was there*. Which kind of feels like that even if Fiona had genuine feelings for sonic he would have been still thinking about her. Now I am really wondering could this be a reason Fiona cheated on him, since she felt again like getting burned? We never saw the process of Fiona meeting secretly with scourge, but I heavily theory that A. He could have lied to her at a lot of points and B. That just maybe he could have told her about sonic maybe not truly loving her. Either all of that is true or I'm just going crazy but what's your opinion?

Your English is better than my German, to need to apologise.

You're right about that, while Sonic says his primary motivation for getting together with Fiona was his terrible plan to help Tails, it's also pretty apparent that Fiona is a rebound girl for him. The timing of when the relationship started is much too obvious for that: He and Fiona start their relationship in Issue 155, the same one where Sally's forced marriage to Patch is announced. I have no doubt that this information stirred up all of Sonic's hurt feelings from Issue 134 and drove him toward the course of action he took.

Now, that doesn't justify what he did, what he did is still an awful thing to do to someone, but it does explain it a little better.

I don't think Fiona knew what was going on in Sonic's head during their relationship. If she did, she almost certainly would've brought that up as a point against him, instead of only referring to her traumatic backstory.

(Sidenote: I think her betrayal makes a lot more sense if you reorder some of the stories in the 170s so that Eggman's attack on Knothole comes first, and reopens all of her old wounds. Then it makes total sense for her to snap and accuse Sonic of being too weak- instead of a dumb "I think being good is weak and being evil is strong!" logic that so many shallow villains have, she actually has a point, and an obvious example, that after everything Eggman did to them, a repeat of what Robotnik did to her, the FF still let him go when they easily could've captured or killed him)

That said, I think it's likely that Fiona realised she was a rebound and this pushed her closer to accepting Scourge's advances.

I think Scourge lying to her should be taken as given. Probably about Sonic, definitely about himself. However, I don't think he knew for sure how Sonic felt, simply because Scourge doesn't understand Sonic at all, ironically enough. We can see as much from his attempt at a "One bad day" speech, he fully believes that Sonic is only a bad day away from turning out like Scourge himself did, but Sonic has arguably had a rougher life than Scourge ever did. We've seen him have plenty of bad days and never once has he turned into Scourge.

Scourge thinks everyone is worse than they actually are, in essence. I have no doubt that he presents his flawed perception of everyone to Fiona, why else would she, a character who owes her whole life to the support she's received from other people (first Nic, then the FF) suddenly turn around and declare that "You can't count on anybody?"

It's an idea that fits so little with what we know of her character and history that it more than likely came from someone else, like the known liar and manipulator she's suddenly 'romantically' entangled with.

That said, him not knowing about how Sonic felt doesn't mean he can't tell Fiona that Sonic doesn't love her. He is, after all, a liar, and likely playing to Fiona's fears and anxieties. If he realises that Fiona believes Sonic is using her as a rebound, he would absolutely have agreed with the notion despite not knowing whether it was true or not.

This is part of what frustrates me with Fiona's character: There's the pieces here to make something absolutely fantastic with her, and Archie just... didn't do that. Her existence pre-155 is largely an afterthought, from 155-171 she's "Sonic's shady girlfriend" and then post-172 she's "Scourge's girlfriend", and that's all she's allowed to be. Even her one outing as an independent villain (with her own team, because of course the character who believes you can't trust anyone has immediately gone and gotten herself another team) turns out to be setup for her getting Scourge back.

Whether you prefer her as a hero, villain, or somewhere in the middle, Fiona has enormous potential as a character, and Archie never used it.