#the start to ivo being a normal boy again | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

robotniiik · 6 years ago

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Here’s the 12-paragraph start to this event or whatever you want to call it- I’ll have a summary up soon too in case you don’t want to read all of this!

“So, Ivo, do you want to show me your progress on the interstellar amusement park? We’re going to need to go up there either way.” Nega finally said, after being silent for a while. He had to admit, even if this wasn’t going the way he wanted it to, he was interested in what this space amusement park was going to be like. Eggman was brought out of his thoughts of what he wanted it to be like by Nega’s voice, looking at him and trying to process what he said. After a moment, he finally realize what he’d asked, and he gave a nod. “Why, of course, Nega! Actually, I have the elevator for it going already!”

An elevator. To space. This was likely a prototype of some sort, too. That didn’t comfort Nega much, but then again, Eggman had created an amusement park like this before, right? And he likely had some kind of elevator before, otherwise, why would he try this now? “Well, lead the way then, Ivo.” Eggman nodded, leading the way to the massive white tower with glass on all four sides. It stood behind one of his many bases, and it definitely stood out. With a press of the button, the doors of the huge elevator opened, and the two men stepped inside. Eggman pressed the up button on the elevator, and the elevator took them up fairly quickly, but it didn’t feel like it was ascending as fast as it really was.

When the doors opened, they were greeted by the beginnings of what was once the Tropical Resort from Eggman’s first park. Some of the neon lights and buildings were already up, but much of it was still under construction. Eggman stepped out to lead the way forward, and Nega followed him. Already, Nega was pretty impressed by what he saw. Eggman was pointing things out and describing what they were and what was going to be added, going on about his visions for this area alone. And there were going to be about five areas. But Nega was only half-listening. He was trying to take this all in, but just ahead of them, he spotted something that looked very out of place. A large, metal ‘P.’ It looked like it was forcefully embedded into the ground, as if it had skidded in. There was no reason for there to be a ‘P’ as far as Nega knew- it was Resort, not Paradise, right? Ivo’s name obviously didn’t start with that letter, and it didn’t look like anything Eggman had ever created to Nega.

Eggman had stopped going on and had spotted the metallic letter, seeming confused by its presence. The first thing that came to mind was that his robots were messing around on him, but even when they did that, the result didn’t often look like that. The doctor looked at Nega, giving a shrug, then he went ahead and approached the thing. Nega followed behind, but he kept a distance, just in case. As Eggman approached it to look at the damage it caused, there was a sudden flash and the front of the letter disappeared. When it did, Eggman didn’t get to have a great look because a small silver robot that was unlike his own hopped out and jumped up on him. “Chu!” The little thing squeaked. It didn’t appear to actually be trying to attack. Two taller, silver robots with red accents took a step out of the metal letter to look around. Again, these robots were nothing like Eggman’s own.

These robots were the only things Eggman had noticed. “Are you all okay? Where did you come from?” Nega approached his relative’s side to get a better look at these robots, but he spotted something behind the taller ones. It appeared to be a person, but he was curled up on the floor and facing the other way. Nega cleared his throat to get Eggman’s attention, then pointed at the person. As he did this, the small robot jumped off of Eggman to allow him to get a better look. The two taller robots stepped aside, and the person slowly turned over a little to see what was going on when their shadows weren’t cast over him anymore. He appeared to be a young man- a young man in some sort of pain. And he was confused. He didn’t know who these two were. They almost reminded him of someone he’d used before, but they also looked quite different from him at the same time.

His back and shoulders were in pain from having his robots smash against him a few times during the rough landing he’d endured. Not only that, when they decided to get back up, they used him to push up off of. He was clearly having a difficult time standing up, so Nega took a step forward and reached a hand down to him. Eggman did the same for him, and the young man took both of their hands. The two helped him stand back up, and before Eggman could ask him what happened, Nega spoke. “Nice of you to drop by. Who might you be?” For a while, the cloaked young man didn’t answer, not looking at either of them. “Well...” He began. “I don’t really know who you two are. But I might as well tell you anyways. They call me Purge. Genius Purge, if you will. But, I suppose you can simply call me Purge.” He looked at the two doctors. “Now, who are you?” Already, he was able to distract himself from the pain he was in just by focusing on these two.

This time, Eggman was the first to speak. “They call me Dr. Eggman, but my actual name is Robotnik. Dr. Ivo Robotnik. You can call me any of those names, I don’t mind!” Purge raised an eyebrow at that name- Eggman. But, he supposed the man was a bit egg-shaped. A little unfortunate. He wasn’t sure why he’d let people call him that, but he wasn’t about to make a comment about it. Nega put a hand on his chest. “And they call me Dr. Eggman Nega. However, I prefer to drop that ‘Eggman’ name. I’d be fine just being called Dr. Nega, or just Nega. A pleasure to meet you, Purge.” Now this, Purge could understand. While he had a quite similar appearance to this ‘Eggman,’ it would make sense to not want to be called such a name.

Purge gave a nod. “It’s a pleasure to meet you two, too...” Just now, he started to have a look around the place. Some kind of...space amusement park in the works? Or was it just some fancy ideal vacation area? While he was pondering where he was, Nega watched him. Was this kid just what he needed to help turn Ivo back to his ways of trying to rule the world? It might’ve been a bit too early to judge for sure, but this kid seemed to at least share an interest in robots. If Nega could sway this kid into helping him, things could turn out the way he wanted.

Both were brought out of their thoughts by Eggman speaking. “So, do you like the place so far, Purge? It’s a work in progress, obviously, but one day, this great amusement park will bring happiness to everyone on the planet, I hope!” Purge looked at the doctor, then took a look around the place again. So far, it was pretty nice, but he felt like he sensed that this ‘Eggman’ wasn’t happy himself. Again, he looked at the doctor. “Why, I do like it, Robotnik. However, is it going to make you truly happy? It’s not right to sacrifice your happiness for everyone else’s. After all, I tried something a bit similar. I wanted my entire galaxy to be happy, but I wasn’t sacrificing my own happiness for it. I may have failed to make them happy, but that was because they were fools who didn’t realize how unhappy they were.” He gave a small shrug. Now wasn’t the time to rant about what had happened to him. “Is there some sort of deeper desire? Something you want to accomplish before you set out to finish this and make the planet happy?”

Eggman was surprised by what the young man had said, by what he was asking. Before he could get a word in, Nega looked at Eggman. “Yes, uniting the world, perhaps? That would contribute to their happiness, Ivo- world peace. The amusement park would be the cherry on top, but the most important part is having you bring everyone together, isn’t it?” Purge was pretty sure that he knew what Nega actually meant by ‘uniting the world,’ and he wasn’t too sure why he didn’t just say ‘taking over the world.’ If he was trying to censor his actual meaning to Purge, he’d need to, at some point, explain that it wasn’t necessary. But Eggman had looked down slightly, reaching up and rubbing the edge of his mustache with one hand. “That...would be nice...” Deep down, he knew what Nega actually meant, too, but it was a much nicer way of saying ‘taking over the world,’ and right now, that’s what he preferred to hear- ‘uniting’ the world.

Purge simply shrugged, laughing a little. “Well, I could help you! Maybe I can help this galaxy be happy! Together, we could achieve exactly what we want!” He would need to get to know these doctors better, but if this little space park was their doing, if these robots hurrying around to construct the place were their creations, he could use their technology and recreate his Ballistic Groove Gun. He’d achieve what he tried to over there right here! He would need to recreate a few of his other creations as well to simply get around the place, but it wouldn’t be too difficult. With the help of his own robots (who were simply watching the three converse at the moment) and the technology of these two, he was definitely going to be able to rebuild everything he’d need.

Eggman nodded. “I would be glad to have your help, Purge...” Nega nodded as well. “Quite thrilled, really.” He just needed to get closer to this kid. Possibly closer than Ivo would get to him. That would be the best way to go about trying to get things to go his way. By the end of all of this, hopefully, Ivo would be back to normal. Yes, this kid seemed to be exactly what he needed...

#ic #hnnng i guess we'll call this story or whatever you want to call it #happiness purge #that way i can come back to it #i wonder if i should tag the little existential crisis eggy had a while ago with that too #well nyeh here it is i'm startin some s t u f f with my son and the eggs #i'll probably make another post just summing this up so you don't have to read it #just a little *purge has joined the party* type thing i guess #annnd then the stuff can start #the start to ivo being a normal boy again #by the time this is over ivo should be back to his normal eggy self #and purge will probably be outta here i mean the boy has his own blog he doesn't need to stay here #long post //#space elevator more like;; 'terminal velocity's probably an elevator right and it looked like it connected to tropical resort'#also my son there is a complete child and brat and will likely pull some c o o l stuff and make nega look like best boy #nahhh that might be a bit much but he might come close to making nega look like best boy in comparison #also those three robots aren't exactly just there for looks like this may have made it look like they're gonna have reasons #hecc here we go finally maybe

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crusherthedoctor · 5 years ago

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Sonic Villains: Sweet or Shite? - Part 14: SCOURGE

............

......Huh?

Oh, hello there! My name's Lutrudis, pleased to meet you. Judging from that look of surprise on your face however, it's evident that you weren't looking for ME per say... What's that? You want to know what this is? Right, of course, my apologies.

Well, this is a mini-series belonging to... ahem, my creator, in which he goes into slightly more detail about his thoughts on the villains in Sonic's history, and why he thinks they either work well, or fall flat (or somewhere in-between). Usually he gives his stance on their designs, their personalities, and what they had to show for themselves in the game(s) they featured in. He also stresses that these are just his own personal thoughts, and that whether you agree or disagree, you're free to share your own thoughts and opinions.

Unfortunately, as you may have gathered, it seems he's a bit occupied for today, and is thus unable to do a review... is what I WOULD be saying if he didn't let me cover for him! That's right boys and girls, I'll be filling in for him today, by doing a little review of my own! Please forgive me if I prattle on for extended periods, but I sincerely hope my efforts in assessing the Wrong'un of the Week are of the utmost quality. Truth be told, it's kind of nerve-wracking, but I'm happy to give it my all for you guys. ❤️

So then, let's carry on with the show, shall we? Welcome to a new edition of Sweet or... Sour. Welcome to Sweet or Sour. Yes indeed, heh heh... (Is the creator's language normally this gratuitous? I hope Cream hasn't seen his posts...)

Anyhow, for today's review... well, this is quite interesting. Normally the creator prefers to keep his reviews focused on game-centric villains, but I guess he made an exception with this one. Today, we'll be directing our attention to a notorious copycat of our blue hero in the Archie continuity, and legendary connoisseur of 70's fashion: Scourge the Hedgehog.

The Gist: Once upon a time, in the land of comics, there was a world known by all as Mobius. But there was also a parallel dimension called Anti-Mobius, or as it would later become known as, Moebius... one E makes all the difference, apparently. Anyway, in this dimension, everyone and everything that existed in Mobius had an identical equivalent in Anti-Mobius, but things operated a bit differently, in the sense that they were largely the opposite of what we were familiar with.

Putting aside the rather disturbing implication that this world might not have had any real will or independence if it existed purely to do the opposite of what Mobius did, this meant that it had a Sonic the Hedgehog of its very own, as well as a father to that Sonic. Sadly though, this Sonic's father was not that kind to him. In fact, he was said to be a rather poor excuse for a father, as evidenced by how he didn't give his son enough attention, and... oh, that's it.

How awful.

I'd say his choice of attire is the real crime presented here.

Anti-Mobius in its original form experienced a period of Great Peace, but alas, it was not to last. It soon became a shadow of its former glory, which seemed prophetic in hindsight, as it was by this time that this world's Sonic the Hedgehog - Evil Sonic - murdered his own father in cold blood, and then threw his world's incarnation of King Maximilian Acorn into the Zone of Silence. He quickly became a dictator to the people of Anti-Mobius, with his only immediate opposition coming in the form of the kindhearted counterpart to Dr. Ivo Robotnik... or should that be Dr. Julian Robotnik, in this continuity...? Hmm, I suppose it doesn't matter anymore...

Naturally, the laws of the universe saw fit to correct this wrong. Just as water is wet, and fire is hot, Sonic gives evildoers a right kicking. And lo and behold, our magnificent hero did eventually meet his evil duplicate. The two were evenly matched in speed, but the good-natured Sonic triumphed regardless, possibly because he had more wittiness on his person.

Pictured: Quality banter.

Evil Sonic later brought along the rest of his gang to aid him, who predictably mirrored Sonic's own band of Freedom Fighters. They were just as much of a match for our heroes, which is a polite way of saying they weren't. You really shouldn't expect anything exquisite when they looked like this.

Maybe you should call your group something else then...

These parlor games went on for a while, with the status quo never truly changing. But then, after one final showdown with Sonic, the evil Robotnik of Mobius kicked the bucket, which among other things, inspired ANOTHER Robotnik to fill the void. This Robo-Robotnik took Evil Sonic along with him to commit many acts of dastardly intent, an act of generosity that proved to be tragically undermined by Evil Sonic getting caught and trapped by different people time and time again, to the point where even his old gang had long replaced him with a new leader. He did go on to escape the grasp of one Zonic the Zone Cop... only to later get arrested again by the same guy. So far, so adorably incompetent, right?

Still, he did bust out once more, and he proceeded to turn the overall universe into a glorified soap drama by pulling the moves on numerous ladies in Mobius, which in true Evil Sonic style, achieved precisely nothing of merit. Even after he briefly teamed up with Rouge the Bat, his luck persisted in not manifesting. But things were about to get even worse... for us. On a meta level, if you know what I mean.

After one final botched attempt at pointless thievery, with the Master Emerald being the prime target in this particular case, Evil Sonic's attempt to gain himself a super form was halted midway with great force by none other than Locke, the notorious father and attempted microwave murderer of Knuckles the Echidna. Rather than kill him however, all this did was change his fur to green, and leave him with some hardcore scars.

He promptly renamed himself Scourge. Because he's a real SCOURGE to good ideas, har har.

New kid in town, do not steal.

With his first act of villainy as a new man tattering to pieces due to foolishly invoking the wrath of Shadow the Hedgehog, he soon crossed paths with Dr. Finitevus, an albino echidna who otherwise looked exactly like Knuckles (good heavens, how many of these can one muster?), and spent some time on his side by aiding a new gang of lovely gentlemen called the Destructix. Together, these functioning psychopaths committed more mindless evil.

He also managed to swoon over Fiona Fox to his side, a miraculous modicum of success considering you need some sort of charm to be able to do that, of which Scourge has shown nil. I'm hardly an expert on dishing out romantic advice, but I'm willing to bet there's plenty of superior fish in the sea, Fiona...

How about “Oh my god, did I seriously die to THESE losers?”

Eventually, Scourge and Fiona broke away from Finitevus' allegiance after the deadly and boring Enerjak was unleashed on Mobius. He returned to Anti-Mobius, and it turned out that any repairs made since the last time he was king didn't amount to anything substantial, because he went and conquered the entire land all over again. Rechristening his old gang as the Suppression Squad, he continued Being Evil™ some more, until the aforementioned Suppression Squad betrayed him for constantly being abhorrent to them, which led to him being stuck with Rosy the Rascal for a while, yet another shameful derivative of a close friend.

In his last days, at long last, he finally achieved a super form with the power of an Anarchy Beryl... only to get soundly thrashed once again, get thrown in prison, and then just when it seemed he'd be back in business, he got wiped out by the Genesis Wave. Tch, Mondays, am I right?

As you can tell from my words alone, let alone in an extremely abridged format, he did a fair amount over the years... and yet at the same time, when you really think about it, he ultimately did so very little.

Oh, and there was also a Metal Scourge at one point. I'm aware that the man who made him has never been all there in the head, but I still find myself questioning why he saw fit to go through with this nonsense.

I shouldn't need to say this, but that's a disgrace to the hostile Eggman robot that I know and detest.

The Design: Well, he started off as a Sonic, so it's to be expected that he'd look exactly like the lovable goof. Since this was ~Evil~ Sonic though, he was determined to remind us at all times that Grease was in fact the word.

~You're the one I don't want, you're not the one for, no-ho-ho, honey~

Then he turned green, and... yeah, he turned green. All I can say, really.

Please excuse me, I'm utterly beside myself with amazement.

It doesn't quite strike the imaginative chords, needless to say. And neither does his super state, which... I'm sorry, it's not normally my cup of tea to chide others for their appearance, but just look at this tripe for a moment.

No, I don't think I will.

When you combine his already ridiculous self with black eyes and a tiara... what exactly is the intent here? Am I supposed to be intimidated by this display?

Keep this between us if you can, but personally, I'm more intimidated by staircases than I am by this fiend.

The Personality: You would think that since a Sonic is a Sonic, Scourge would share a lot of his personality with our Sonic. And that is true... in the most superficial sense possible.

Sure, he's jovial, cocky, and prone to moments of overconfidence, which is enough to sound very familiar to us on paper. Beyond that however, that's all they really have in common beside their appearance. In every other category, you could argue that Scourge is the exact opposite of Sonic.

For instance, whereas Sonic is supremely loyal to his friends (trust me, I’m grateful to know!), Scourge treats his gang like fetid garbage, and that's when he's not outright abandoning them, neglecting them, and putting them in danger. Likewise, whereas Sonic is a blue bundle of bravery no matter the odds, Scourge is a poor little chicken when the going gets tough, despite all his ramblings about being Sonic's full potential.

This means that for all the acclaim he receives as Sonic's evil doppelganger... he shares very few similarities with who he's replicating. He's barely any different from all the other ruffians that Sonic faces, so what point is there to him being a Sonic at all? If he had a different name and design entirely, what would honestly be lost in translation?

But then, maybe he would just become Mephiles the Dark instead.

Or Mimic the Octopus instead.

Or Eggman Nega instead.

Or Ken Penders instead.

Or... sheesh, they all kind of blend together after a while, don’t they?

The Execution: If my general tone has thus far not been enough of an obvious indication, I do not rank Scourge with any particular favouritism when it comes to Sonic's rogue gallery.

Mind you, ANYONE who threatens our world and tries to kill my friends is nothing but rancid at their core, and as long as they remain unrepentant, I would never support any of them. Asking me which dangerous maniac is “the best” is like asking me which sewage stinks the least, after all. But even I can understand that there's a right way to do bad, and a wrong way to do bad. Scourge, Evil Sonic, whatever you wish to call him, falls squarely into the latter category.

How I'd love to shove an arrow up His Majesty's rear end.

First of all, his motivations were poorly structured, and that's putting it tactfully. Most of the time, we're led to assume that he does evil for no other reason than because it's evil, so we're already not looking at masterpiece material. But as it turns out, as I mentioned way earlier on, he grew resentful of his father for not giving him as much attention as he felt he deserved.

So when he killed his dear old dad, and went on to do everything else to bitterly stick it to his dad's memory, we're supposed to... sympathise...? Understand his point of view, perhaps...?

Well, I dare say I'll be sticking my nose up to THAT presumption, because there is no pathos to be had here. None at all. It's just a selfish brat becoming a violent and murderous selfish brat, and nothing more. By doing everything for evil's sake, intertwined with this sorry excuse of a tragic backstory, it's as if he's trying to have the best of both villainous worlds, without understanding what makes either of them work.

Secondly, for what little success that Scourge actually had to his name, few of them were by his own hand so to speak. As much as it pains me to give Dr. Eggman even a veneer of kudos, it does require mentioning that for all of the doctor's contemptible attributes, he truly is single-handedly responsible for a great majority of his own... achievements, if you wish to call them such. By contrast, this stinker rarely worked for his moments, instead often relying solely on others to get anything done efficiently, whether it be Fiona, Finitevus, his gangs, or the Anarchy Beryl. Without them, Scourge was always nothing.

Thirdly, as mentioned, he failed to fulfill even the basic concept of what Sonic would be like if he became evil, since he has virtually nothing in common with the hero he's trying so desperately to present himself as the corrupted counterpart to. While I'd obviously prefer not to entertain the mere notion of an evil Sonic anyways, since I know deep in my heart that he would never go down that path, I know him well enough to reasonably assume that even if he did lose his way, he would still be recognisable in some capacity, since there are countless aspects to his personality that remain so... inherent to how his mind operates.

I guess what I'm saying is that if an evil Sonic came to be, he would exist as a darker mirror of how Sonic actually is, and not... something that is not at all like Sonic beyond the physical.

What's the matter? Not used to a horse seeing you for what you really are?

Finally, remember when I said he was considerably more cowardly than Sonic? I wasn't simply referring to life or death battles and similar heat of the moment situations. Even when the scenario is of lower intensity, when the odds are completely in his favor at that, Scourge proves himself to be what Sonic isn't. Remember when he broke into the house of Sonic's father, with the intent to intimidate and kill said father... only to be scolded into submission by him? We're expected to believe this guy is a big baddie who ranks high in threat level, yet getting a telling off is sufficient enough to shoo him away?

If only Eggman was this easy to deal with...

Now granted, it's to my understanding that all of Scourge's failings are occasionally explained as him being a parody character. But, and correct me if I'm wrong here... aren't parodies supposed to be, you know, parodic, even if done subtly? As opposed to being played completely straight with no trace of irony, which is exactly how Scourge was portrayed throughout the entire duration of the comic's run, with no exceptions whatsoever?

Despite how often the comic insisted otherwise, and despite how often he received it, Scourge was not a villain who warranted importance. He was not a master planner, or a legendary conquerer, or a malevolent force of nature. He was bottom of the barrel, a wannabe at best, who thought he was made for bigger stripes, but remained little more than a walking pile of fresh manure, with nothing to show for it till the very end. His credibility was often alluded to, and handed to him, but never in any stretch was it properly earned. A punk who occasionally got lucky is hardly worth the rank of arch-fiend, in my humble opinion. He was a disgrace who simply had the luxury of wearing Sonic's skin to mask his shortcomings, and I can’t say I’m crestfallen to see him go.

And quite frankly, anyone who impersonates Sonic in the first place reeks to high heaven anyway. To think this trash heap thought he could ever compare in the slightest to my darling... Oh goodness, did I say that out loud?

Lutrudis Gives Scourge a: Thumbs Down!

#Sonic Villains: Sweet or Shite?#Opinion #Sonic the Hedgehog #Lutrudis Hadeer #Scourge the Hedgehog #Archie Sonic

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eggman-empire · 5 years ago

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Evil Overlords Have Feelings Too - Part 5

by Jenifer Irwin Part 5 "Get off of me," Arashi snarled, grabbing the arm that was just placed around her shoulders and shoving it away forcibly enough to nearly hyperextend its elbow. She folded her arms over her chest and glared at the cold metal floor in front of her, where her royal crown was lying.

The man sitting next to her feigned being emotionally hurt. "Arashi, I've given you everything a woman could possibly want and you still don't want to be my queen," he said, his distinct British accent really getting on her nerves. "What more could you want?" "What I want is for you to put me back on Earth and leave me and Ivo alone," she growled in his face. "We were perfectly happy before you came along, lime-boy." "I see you've picked up some of his mannerisms," the green-skinned alien mused as he remembered how his adversary used to call him that. "But, all that aside, I thought you liked them as evil as they come? I'm more evil than that pile of lard." "You also have no feelings other than nastiness. At first, when I realized Ivo had other feelings, I thought it was blasphemy, but then I realized it added a certain charm to him. I don't like him simply because he's nasty, I like him because he's just... he's just interesting! You're not! You're just a cliché alien usurper! And your 'feelings' toward me are so fake!" "I suppose I could engineer other feelings into my genetic code if you REALLY wanted me to, but they'd be fairly repressed. I don't want to seem almost good like he does anymore." "I wouldn't agree to become your queen even if you did that. I want to be with HIM, not YOU," Arashi growled, then got up and left the room. Takar sighed and leaned back on the small loveseat, thinking. She sure was determined to get back to Ivo, somehow. I hate how love messes up EVERYTHING, the Ykrian King thought to himself, muttering slightly. I'd love to torment Ivo by stealing her away from him in mind and heart as well as physical presence, but it seems I can't do that. Oh well, it's only been a few days, she'll eventually crack. And I'm pretty sure Ivo has given up anyway, else he'd have been here by now. Pathetic weakling. Now I have to build a new adversary, blast it. Takar left the room and went to his private study, starting to draw up the plans for a new and improved source of entertainment. ** Arashi sat in her room on the giant alien ship, face in her hands. Ivo, what's taking you so long? I thought you would have been here within an hour or so of my being abducted... It's been days, and it seems like years to me... Takar is such a fake moron, I hate him... I can't find any way out of this place, I'm depending on you to come and get me, Ivo. I beg of you, don't give up... I love you... Wiping tears from her eyes, Arashi walked over to the reinforced window and stared out into space at the Earth below. ** Dr. Ivo Robotnik was thirsty, hungry and in pain, both physical and mental. He had been hanging from a tractor beam in midair for days, and it was impossible to find a comfortable position. He was so stiff, and it was like hanging by his chest from a meat hook, without the hook. He could only sleep when completely exhausted, because there was no level of comfort to do so any other time. If he didn't get at least some water within a few days, he would lose all of his strength and slowly die. It was so taunting, having the clear river right under him, but he was suspended in the air where no tree branches or anything were anywhere within reach. He doubted he could pull himself off the tractor beam anyway. The beam's projector sat on a rock about 30 feet away, no way he could get to it or affect it. He had struggled quite a bit, but nothing could be done to budge the beam. This... sucks, Ivo thought to himself as he stretched, but it hurt. He rolled his head back and forth, trying to get the stiffness out of his neck. He could only sleep with his head hanging forward, and that played havoc with the muscles in his neck and shoulders. After a while of staring at the beam projector as if trying to will it to stop working, nothing happened, and he slumped forward again with a sigh. He was so hungry and thirsty... if only it rained, but it was dead summer and the region wasn't getting much rain. His leather suit made him sweat a lot, making him lose water even quicker than normal. Suspended in midair, Ivo waited for his inevitable, slow, miserable death. ** Two days later, Arashi sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes. She opened them, hoping to find that maybe it was all a bad dream, but much to her discontent, Takar was sitting on the side of the bed, having come into her bedroom a few minutes before to wait for her to wake up. "Good morning, my queen," the alien said, smiling charmingly. "I'm not your queen; and get out of my room," Arashi muttered. "I still can't understand why you don't want to be the Ykrian Queen! Normal women would leap at the chance, but no, you'd rather stay with that unattractive slob on earth..." "I'm not a normal woman, and yes, I would rather stay with Ivo. I don't care what he looks like, he's a lot nicer to me than you are, and he actually understands me!" Arashi growled and stood up, tugging her shirt and jeans to straighten them out. Being a computer nerd, she was no stranger to sleeping in her street clothes, and usually didn't even have to slip her shoes on in the morning because they were already on. "I'd understand you too if you would actually talk to me," Takar said, pretending to be hurt. "You will never understand me, and nobody will but him," Arashi muttered. The alien stood up and walked around the bed to her, putting an arm around her shoulders. "Ah, come on, give me a chance, will you?" he asked, trying to be a little more casual than normal, and slipped his other arm around her stomach. That was a mistake. Takar went to the floor, gasping for breath, after Arashi viciously elbowed him in the gut, screaming at him. He recovered quickly and looked up at her, growling. "Fine. I only wanted to torment Ivo, and I was more than willing to make your life like a paradise. But you blew your chance." He stood up and grabbed Arashi, quickly getting her into a hold that she couldn't break out of, and dragged her kicking and screaming from the room. With a little assistance from some guards, he carried her to the recesses of the ship, where he threw her into a narrow, reinforced room with absolutely nothing in it and no windows. The door was in the ceiling of the room, which was 10 feet off the floor--much higher than she would be able to reach. The room was about 6 feet long by 6 feet wide. Looking down into the hatch, Takar said, "Like I said, I was willing to make your life great. But now you're going to die. Slowly..." He paused briefly. "Alone." The door slammed shut, leaving Arashi in utter silence and darkness. ** The squirrel scampered down its tree, retrieving a nut from the ground. It munched on the nut contentedly, peering at its surroundings with wide, shining eyes, and hopped away, dropping the nut, its attention span quite short. The furry creature scurried up onto a big boulder, tail twitching slightly as it found something curious there. What was this odd thing? It had a funny light coming out of one side, and strange, circular protrusions on the top. It was about the size of the squirrel's torso, and didn't look like anything he'd ever seen before. Curiously, he nibbled at it, finding it quite hard to chew. Pushing the odd thing to see if it did anything interesting, the squirrel jumped back as it slid off the boulder and shattered on another rock below. A surprised scream nearby mixed with a huge, simultaneous THUD and SPLASH frightened the squirrel, who turned and bolted away, up into his tree. ** Ivo tried to get his bearings in a bit of a panic, raising his head and shaking it vigorously to get the water out of his mustache. ...water... Looking down, the doctor realized he was lying on the bank of the river, half in the water. He was free! Nothing was holding onto him! Something happened while he was sleeping! His entire body ached badly from stiffness, but he didn't care. Greedily, he dunked his head in the water and took huge gulps of it, glad for once that the river wasn't instead filled with oil. Stimulated by the sudden intake of something, his stomach rumbled hungrily, and he got up stiffly but quickly, grabbing a rock and looking around almost frantically. Noticing movement of something that looked alive up in a tree, Ivo turned and hurled the rock with all his strength. Even when ridden with the shakes from hunger, his aim was true, and a squirrel fell out of the tree, dead. Raw meat and the occasional tuft of fur wasn't exactly a gourmet meal, but it sufficed, and helped to get rid of some of the growling of Ivo's stomach. He searched around the area for a moment and found the broken tractor-beam-projector, having shattered on a rock somehow. Thanking his lucky stars, he found his trusty broken screwdriver nearby and managed to repair his Shapechanger within a few minutes. Heading back towards his base, Ivo started to plan his course of action. First, of course, he would have to fill his stomach, which would take about 30 seconds thanks to his pill machine, then he could think well enough to figure out how to get to Takar and rescue Arashi. ** Okay, I can find out all I need right here, Ivo thought to himself as he sipped a Dr Pepper, studying the computer attached to the Life Box that he stole from Takar's underground lab a while back. He hadn't thought to check this computer for the file before, and wouldn't have found it before anyway. He ran a powerful search for the text 'G* Robotnik' on every file in the system and found the file, archived, renamed to a completely different filetype to prevent easy discovery, and flagged hidden. Nothing could hide from a computer expert... When Ivo pulled up the file, he found a wealth of information. Everything from Takar's thought process to his personality to his physical strengths were detailed in his genetic code, and along with the '.box' file he found in the archive was an electronic journal, which was simple to open. Takar wasn't much for passwords, being arrogant enough to think that his little file-hiding trick would be good enough. The most notable entries in the journal were chilling. Ykriat 2382775 Somehow I knew something was going to go wrong on this vacation... Oh well, I'll just have to make do. This looks like an interesting plane of existence. I've never seen one so big, it's a good thing I have instant-warp capabilities. I should find an interesting planet to torment. Ykriat 2603828 The nearest planet I found is filled with small life-forms, no intelligent life yet. However, these are some of the most interesting things I've ever seen, so I think I'll wait for a while to see what it develops into. Ykriat 3280725 These things that call themselves 'humans' develop too fast. I've slowly engineered them to have very random intellects and become collectively stupider the larger the population gets. Then I'll have lots of people to torment and they'll never be able to get rid of me! On a side note, I stashed my Continuation 3000 in the central point of the universe. It's fortunate that this plane of existence is structured similar to what I am used to. I like to call the star Ivo. Nobody will ever find it, because humans will never be able to warp, and nobody would ever live long enough to survive that trip at the speeds I predict they'll be able to travel. On a side note, I'm starting to like the calendar that the humans came up with, so I think I'll be converting to that soon. April 12, 3053 Bother. That was one of the best incarnations of myself that I ever created. Why'd they have to go and kill me? Oh well, I've got Project Shadow under way... now, to make something that will help to execute it the rest of the way... August 6, 3057... Ivo's jaw dropped. August 6, 3057 was his birthday. After a stunned moment, he kept reading. Well, I decided to go through with it. I made a human being that might be capable, someday, of the same abilities I possess. If he's determined enough. These humans just aren't giving me the challenge I want. Sure, I've been defeated, but I was also limiting myself to abilities that only mildly superhuman people could accomplish. Hopefully I can have some real adventure with this one. I call him Julian Ivo. I engineered him to be an extremely evil megalomaniac, an absolute master of everything mechanical, and quite excellent with programming and the like as well. I made a little something to go along with him, something he can practice on and develop his abilities. As I sit here looking at these three, Julian suspended in one chamber, the hedgehog in another and the fox in another, I have a feeling they're going to become quite famous. I'll awaken Julian first, when the time is right, then the hedgehog about 2 years later, then the fox a little bit after that. Still not sure what to name the animals. I'm going to start recreating my own race in case I need help with these three... still, no one must know my true plans and inner secrets, so I need to make up a good cover... Ivo sat, absolutely shocked, staring at the screen. Sonic and Tails were his brothers. ** Strained, exhausted panting could be heard from the floor of the lab, and a white-gloved, trembling hand slammed itself up onto the computer desk, clawing at it, trying to pull its owner up. Ivo slowly made it to a half-standing, half-kneeling position, breathing raggedly, trying to recover from the massive combination stroke-heart-attack he just endured. His hand slipped and he fell back to the floor, wheezing. I won't believe it, I refuse to... but... but it's true, isn't it... "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The strained, cracking scream echoed through the base, Ivo unable to stomach the fact that his two archenemies were his own flesh and blood... unable to accept that he was just a pawn in Takar's game... unable to accept reality. Clutching his head, Ivo could physically feel himself going insane. It was as if something was welling up in the back of his mind, threatening to explode, threatening to paint his vision the angry color of blood. He knew he would be completely unable to control himself very soon, and dragged himself up into the computer chair, rolling over to a wall-mounted computer terminal and typing something in as fast as he possibly could. SUFFERING. MEDICAL ATTENTION. MUST RETURN TO STABLE THOUGHT. Just as he hit enter, his will to retain control cracked, and he started to violently destroy everything he could find with madly swinging fists. Soon, his gloves started to tear, revealing bleeding knuckles underneath, until finally several robots closed in on him and managed to stop him, injecting him with a powerful tranquilizer that left him slumping weakly to the floor on the spot. With stiff, calculated movements, the five robots tended to the unstable doctor, placing him on an examination table. They diagnosed his problems within seconds of analyzing his pulse, a blood sample and other telltale signs, then went about slowing his rapid pulse and administering some drugs that would speed his recovery extremely quickly. They also injected him with extra-strength Prozac and gave him a few other things that would enhance his thought process. Ten minutes later, Ivo sat up, calmed down to an almost impossible state. He pulled on a new pair of gloves, then dismissed the robots, glad for the advanced AI he had coded into them. He got up and approached the Life Box, stepping inside and closing the doors. The doctor briefly examined a small keypad that was clearly visible by aid of a fluorescent light installed just above it. He pressed the 'Scan' button and stood still, watching a white beam that cut across the Box horizontally move from the ceiling downward, scanning over him, easily giving him a thorough physical examination while it recorded his present DNA structure. The beam seemed to disappear into the floor of the Box and a small green light flashed on the keypad, the digital display reading, "YOU MAY EXIT. THANK YOU FOR USING THE LIFE BOXÔ." When Ivo stepped out, he sat down at the computer, finding his file loaded and changed to fit his present state. The computer had compared this file to all of the other files on the hard drive and successfully isolated Takar, Sonic and Tails' DNA, displaying condensed versions of their files in smaller windows. Ivo directed his file to keep all of the physical enhancements that came from the three, but deleted anything related to the mind that weren't his own qualities in the first place. He did admire the way Takar made this so user-friendly--his own qualities were highlighted in red, Sonic's in blue, Takar's in green and Tails' in yellow. He could easily find and delete things he didn't want. When he was finished, Ivo saved the file, then stepped back into the Life Box and pressed the 'Mutate' button. Several *thunk* sounds were heard as the Box sealed itself to an airtight state, and then a hissing sound echoed off the steel walls. Robotic clamps extended from the walls, holding Ivo in place as the gas started to take effect, and he soon went limp, put into a very deep, coma-like sleep just as normal procedure was supposed to go. The Life Box quickly restructured Ivo's DNA, something that would be very painful if he were awake. Most of the restructuring went on in his neural cells, but there were basic bits of information in every other cell that needed to be changed as well. Within 2 minutes the entire process was finished and Ivo was a new mutation, though nothing about him changed appearance-wise. One of the clamps that kept him standing produced a small needle, injecting him with enough caffeine to make a dead sloth do a quarter-mile in 6 seconds. The caffeine instantly brought the doctor out of his slumber, and the clamps let go of him. He had to take a minute to reorient himself, then remembered what happened and stepped out of the box, sitting back down at the computer. Ivo drummed his fingers on the desk, restored to his normal state of mind, and said to himself, "I really don't want to do this, but I'm going to have to." He placed the cursor over the 'Create!' button on Sonic's file and clicked. The Box churned and groaned, eventually spitting the blue hedgehog out, and Sonic jumped up, finding himself standing 10 feet from Ivo. "Not AGAIN!" the hero whined, sighing as he looked up at the mad scientist, then tilting his head in puzzlement when Ivo shook his head slightly. "You've got nothing to worry about, Sonic," Ivo said as he pulled out his laser gun. The hedgehog cringed, closing his eyes tightly and waiting for a meaningless death, but then he heard something hit the floor with a loud *THOK* and looked down to see the battery cartridge of the gun on the floor. Dr. Robotnik calmly set the disabled gun down on the desk. "Well, I take that back. Presently you have nothing to worry about from me, but... well, have a seat and see for yourself." The doctor pulled up another office chair and opened Takar's journal on the computer, rolling his own chair aside a bit. He leaned his elbows against the desk and locked his hands together in front of his face, sighing and leaning his forehead against them in deep concern. Sonic very dubiously pulled himself up into the chair, moving over to read the journal entries, several of which had been highlighted red. By the time he was finished, his expression was one of unimaginable shock. "I can't believe it either, but you know, it does make sense. You're the only one who's been able to defeat me all these years... who else but a... brother... who holds just as much power as I do?" Ivo asked, stumbling awkwardly on the word 'brother.' He couldn't believe he was using it to refer to his bitter enemy of many years. "Oh, geez... my last name... it isn't 'hedgehog...' My name is Sonic Robotnik!?" Sonic asked, his voice cracking in disbelief, and he leaned his face heavily on one hand, starting to hyperventilate from shock. The doctor twitched slightly. "Please... please, don't put those two names together. Even if it is true... just don't say it. Here, don't have a stroke or something, those are nasty." Ivo reached over to a nearby compartment in the wall and pulled out a Pepsi and a Dr Pepper, handing the Pepsi to Sonic. Soon, the two sat facing each other only 5 feet apart, elbows resting on their knees, digesting all of this information. Ivo was the first to speak after a while. "I brought you back because, for one thing, Takar is incredibly powerful and I want to do this right... If I were to die without bringing you back, you would have never had a chance to come back and destroy him. For another thing, an Evil Overlord can only help save the world so much. I almost went insane after the space-colony incident when I ended up helping out. I need someone to blame saving the world on, and I'm pretty sure you wouldn't mind saying you saved it and I was the big bad villain who caused all the trouble in the first place." He paused. "I know, despite all the problems between us, that deep down you enjoy the adventure just as much as I do... and I don't think either of us are going to want to let Takar ruin that." Sonic looked up at him, considering the situation for a few long moments. Finally, he extended a hand. "Truce till Takar's destruction?" Ivo nodded slightly, taking the hand and shaking it firmly. "Truce till Takar's destruction." The two finished their drinks and started to plan. ** "Okay, we need to collect about 1000 rings each, just to be safe," Ivo said absently as he studied the floor plan for Takar's mother-ship. "1000!? Are you nuts? I might have skills, but not enough to collect THAT many rings!" "Remember, there aren't badniks around every corner, nor am I there every second stage to attack you." "Oh, yeah... Well, I suppose I'll go start collecting," Sonic said, then started running through the base, grabbing rings. I can't believe I'm teaming up with him again, Sonic thought to himself as he ran. Perhaps there's some good in him after all. I thought he would be the type to take the entire world with him in the event that it was going to be destroyed. Course, then there'd be nothing to take over, but I didn't think he'd be about to help anyone do anything. Oh well, no time to dwell on that, I've got to get rings, and we've got to destroy Takar! Ivo memorized the mother-ship layout fairly quickly, then found the exact location of the machine that Takar used to keep himself alive. Indeed, it was the center of the universe, but oddly, no details were given for the star Ivo. The doctor was amazed to find that the Milky Way galaxy was apparently several hundred trillion light years away from the center of the universe. In the center, billions of stars were extremely close together, making him wonder how in the world a ship, much less a living being, could survive the conditions. Furthermore, he wondered how it was possible that there were some stars only a few thousand miles apart. It seemed impossible, but this was all he had to go off of, and he was going to destroy Takar no matter how much it took. While the Shapechanger ran around in the likeness of Ultra Robotnik and collected rings, Ivo continued to research and plan. This is a difficult decision. Heading for the Continuation 3000 would give Takar less warning, but going to rescue Arashi first would ensure that she's safe. Am I willing to risk her death for this? I could just bring her back to life afterward... But there's no need to risk her death for no reason. I'm going to... As the Shapechanger passed by, Ivo got an idea. ** Arashi lay on the floor of the small chamber, trying to fight off the insanity that threatened to grip her. She really was alone. It was absolutely silent in the chamber, and pitch black. All she could hear was the beating of her own heart. That is, until something in her backpack moved. Arashi gasped in surprise as a huge robotic arm burst out of the backpack, clamping onto the wall nearby and pulling the rest of itself out. The room was now quite cramped, and Arashi shoved herself into a corner, unable to see what was going on, but she could clearly hear the humming of some kind of vehicle. Suddenly, a light flicked on in the vehicle, and there were Ivo and Sonic... sitting in the Shapechanger. Arashi couldn't decide whether to be more freaked out about the fact that a 3-ton vehicle just pulled itself out of her backpack or the fact that Ivo and Sonic appeared to be cooperating. She stared at them in disbelief, and Ivo flipped the lid of the pod up, grinning. "Well, don't just stand there staring, we have an alien to destroy," he said in an amused tone. Arashi pointed at Sonic, raising an eyebrow, and Ivo added, "We're in a truce till Takar's dead." Knowing Sonic was a trustable type who wouldn't pull any nasty tricks, Arashi climbed up into the Shapechanger and was surprised to see the hedgehog move out of the seat and crouch slightly behind both of the seats, allowing her to take her place. The pod lid flipped down and the vehicle started to change. ** Takar was staring out one of the main chamber windows at the stars, thoughtfully, when he felt a large amount of energy building up. He tried to figure out what it was, but within a moment, a huge explosion rocked the ship. He whirled around quickly, ordering several guards to check out what was going on, and pulled out his own advanced laser gun, remaining where he was, waiting. The ship kept rumbling and Takar became nervous as he heard a bloodcurdling mechanical roar echo through the entire place. Several guards, many of them charred badly, ran screaming into the room as a column of flame burst down the hallway past the large door. Takar's eyes widened as the entire wall shattered and a huge, metallic dragon appeared, snarling. The dragon's mouth opened and Super Sonic spun gracefully out to the floor, followed immediately by Ultra Robotnik, who hit the floor with a sound *CLANG,* dropping to an intimidating kneeling pose, one hand on the floor. "WHAT!?!?" Takar screamed. "Ivo, you are COOPERATING with SONIC!? AGAIN!?" "Even the most bitter of enemies will join forces against a greater evil," Super Sonic said, glaring at Takar. "And it seems you're a greater evil that just won't go away." "I didn't create you two to be this smart!" Takar wailed, then started to shoot, but knew he was defenseless against the two. They had all of the chaos emeralds and he had none. He should have seen this coming. The dragon threw back its head and let out a long, primal roar, causing the base to shake again. Instead of attacking Takar, Ultra Robotnik and Super Sonic began to attack the walls, ceiling and floor, shattering them, and the dragon rampaged about breathing fire and clawing through reinforced steel. Takar looked about in confusion, but couldn't figure out what they were doing, and decided to run and hide. Instead of getting away, however, he found himself swept off his feet. The dragon held him tightly with its tail as it went about its destruction, and the base started to crumble in a short time. The dragon let go of Takar and swallowed up Sonic and Robotnik, then was enveloped in Chaos Control and disappeared as the entire mother ship, exploding in dozens of places and belching out huge clouds of smoke, descended towards earth. Takar, choking on the smoke and getting knocked unconscious by falling debris, went down with the ship towards the ground. "That ought to distract him long enough for us to make it to his Continuation machine," Ultra Robotnik said as the Chaos Control did its work. The three were inside the Metal Dragon's super-armored torso, and could see what was going on outside by looking at the monitor of the onboard computer. The computer displayed what the dragon's eyes could see, and presently they were traveling through a brilliant tunnel of light. Chaos Control was usually instant, but that was for relatively short distances--to travel as far as they were having to go, it was going to take about five minutes. Arashi watched as the two deactivated their super forms to save on rings, morphing back into their normal selves. The Shapechanger now had a backseat for Sonic to sit in thanks to a few quick modifications, and they sat quietly during the ride, Ivo pulling out three drinks and handing two to the others. Sonic shook his head slightly just after taking a drink and commented, "I'm a little dizzy... I feel odd energy..." Arashi and Ivo replied that they felt something similar, and waited curiously, a bit dubiously, to arrive to their destination. Ivo and Sonic had agreed to send the ship to the outer reaches of the general central point of the universe, where the stars were starting to cluster pretty closely. It would probably be about 25 light years away from the very center. A blast of energy ripped time and space open, and three jaws dropped as their owners dizzily stared at what lay before them. Billions of huge chaos emeralds, most of them the size of planets, floated about here. They shimmered beautifully in the light, and the entire surrounding area glowed brightly, as if the ship was floating in another plane of existence and not the blackness of space. Unimaginable amounts of energy thrummed in the very fabric of existence itself here, pulsing like a giant heartbeat. Just one of these huge chaos emeralds would be enough to provide infinite power for an entire galaxy's population, but they were nothing compared to what lay at the very center of the universe. There, in the direct center, was a red chaos emerald too large for even Ivo to comprehend. He directed the onboard computer to analyze it, and the Shapechanger returned that the 'star' Ivo was five light years across at its widest point and five light years tall from the very top to the very point. From twenty-five light years away, much too far for standard stars to be seen as anything more than pinpoints, the 'star' Ivo appeared against the bright, shimmering 'sky' of this area to be as large as a basketball to the naked eye. The largest star known to man up to this point, Betelgeuse, had a radius that reached from the Sun to Jupiter. The giant red chaos emerald, Ivo, was bigger than the distance between the Sun and its next nearest star four light years away, Alpha Centauri. The three occupants of the Shapechanger had only been here for a few seconds and they were starting to feel extremely weird. It wasn't a bad feeling, but they weren't sure if it was a good feeling, either. It was too powerful to comprehend. Something 'clicked,' and instantly, the three seemed to vaporize, turning into nothing but brilliant, shimmering forms of pure chaos energy--Ivo a brilliant blood-red, Sonic a deep blue and Arashi a rich cyan. The euphoria experienced by the three after that was too great to imagine, and they all three gained powers that could only be described as godlike. It was time to break something. ** No longer in need of the Shapechanger, the three warped themselves into the giant chaos emerald, finding themselves within a base quite unlike anything they'd ever seen. As soon as they appeared, they sensed an alarm system go off. The inside of the Emerald was hollow toward the upper half, the open space continuing for about a light year in all directions before there were solid walls. Red ether roiled about in the hollow space, and there appeared to be absolutely nothing in there, until Chaos Ivo spotted something a few million miles away. Within seconds, the three were next to it, and it was at the very central point of the inside of the emerald. A laptop, with a gamepad attached, hovered in midair. On the screen, the word, "CONTINUE?" flashed, and the 'infinity' symbol was right under it. Chaos Arashi willed the computer to examine the .exe file of the game that was running and found that Takar had hacked the ROM to provide him with infinite continues. "Well, we can't have a cheater running the universe," Chaos Arashi said, and hacked the file, resetting the number of continues to zero. When she was done with that, she saved the file and recompiled it, then destroyed the computer. A brilliant green flash blasted through the area and Takar appeared in front of them, growling. He instantly turned into his own form of pure chaos, nothing but a neon green glow. "Alright... you want to destroy my Continuation 3000? I think I'll just destroy your entire UNIVERSE!" The green light expanded rapidly, and the other Chaos forms teleported out, starting to absorb energy from the planet-sized chaos emeralds. Chaos Takar began to build up immense amounts of energy within himself and the Ivo emerald, causing the very fabric of existence to shake. "We have to contain the energy so he just blows himself out of existence," Chaos Ivo said to the other two, and the three zipped around much faster than the speed of light, absorbing as much energy as they could. It was a race to see who could absorb more power, Chaos Takar or them. Three beats one when all four have the same speed, however, and instead of restraining himself, Chaos Takar decided he was going to die anyway and completely abandoned all reserve, building up power much faster than normal. He was killing himself even as he did it, because the energy was too much for a living being to handle, but he was going to do it anyway. "NOBODY'S GOING TO WIN HERE, IVO! IT ALL ENDS IN TOTAL DESTRUCTION!" the Ykrian screamed madly, letting his energy build up faster and faster. The other three Chaos forms raced to keep up. Chaos Ivo could sense that the enemy was nearing the end of his capacity and he would detonate soon, and signaled the other two to stop absorbing and start containing him. The three surrounded the huge red central emerald and created a ball of energy to enclose it, putting everything they had into reinforcing its strength. The entire universe was shaking tremendously, breaking apart most things closer to the center. A huge crack ripped its way down the giant emerald, ether hissing out of it as it threatened to explode... Just as the three Chaos forms had poured all but a tiny amount of energy into the shield, the huge emerald blew apart in a magnificent explosion that brought a tear to Chaos Ivo's eye. It was the most beautiful expression of destruction that he had ever witnessed, but he only had time to watch it for a few seconds before it slammed into the shield, sending all three flying back extremely fast. The explosion reached outward past the shield, breaking it, but Ivo, Arashi and Sonic knew they'd stunted it enough to keep it from spreading much further than a few hundred light-years, and Earth was safe. Summoning the last of their strength, they teleported themselves, and the Shapechanger, back to the field on Earth where the hole to Ivo's underground base was. They immediately reverted to their normal form and collapsed. ** Several days later, Ivo woke up, finding all the chaos emeralds lying next to him along with Arashi and Sonic. Everyone was intact, but they'd also overloaded themselves on energy and were pretty weak, but could function. Ivo slowly got to his feet and woke the other two up. As Sonic dragged himself to a standing position, Ivo dropped a hand heavily on the hedgehog's shoulder. "Thanks," the doctor said weakly, reaching down with a hand to help Arashi stand up. Sonic wavered and mumbled, "Yeah... no prob..." and started to stumble away, still quite disoriented. Ivo and Arashi stood, leaning against each other, watching the hedgehog stagger off. When he got about 200 yards away, Ivo pulled a small device out of his pocket and smiled, pressing the button. Sonic heard a mechanical whirring on his shoulder, but not for long. Ripped apart by a violent explosion, the hedgehog became nothing more than a crater in the earth. Arashi looked up at Ivo, blinking, confused. "Hey, he only said the truce was going to last until Takar was dead," Ivo stated, grinning. ** Ivo and Arashi stood on the balcony of their underground base, leaning against the railing as they stared at the gem-encrusted walls, enjoying a couple of sodas. "The best part is," Ivo said quietly, "Nobody will ever know that I helped save the world, and Sonic is dead. I killed two hedgehogs with one stone!" He laughed along with Arashi. "So, what are you going to do now?" she asked. "The question is not whether I am going to do anything. It's more like... what are we going to do now? All the technology in the universe... so many things in this world and beyond that we haven't explored yet... I bet there's lots of stuff out there even better than the Ivo emerald was. Of course..." He smiled down at her. "None of it is better than you." Arashi looked up at him, smiling slightly. He slipped an arm around her. The Dr Pepper and Mountain Dew sat on the railing, forgotten, as their owners shared a passionate moment and a long kiss. Well, how did you expect it to end? Looks like Evil Overlords Have Feelings Too, after all.

#eggman #robotnik #arashi #arashi codiv #sonic #tails #jen irwin #fanfiction #fanfiction jen irwin #fanfiction Evil Overlords Have Feelings Too

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superemeralds · 6 years ago

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I never understood this about Shadow, why does he even work with GUN?

*rubs my gay little hands together*

Finally it’s time for my analysis of GUN, the current GUN commander, Shadow’s relationship with both of them and speculations on the future…………..

warning: it’s actually gonna get……….. really wild. This turned out to be mainly an analysis of the GUN commander because he is the main factor that influences shadows decision but im… hoooo boy.

TLDR;

The commander is a Robotnik and the character development he went through, paired with Shadows acceptance of his judgement + forgiveness of his actions, as well as their friendly bond by the end of the game, gave Shadow the feeling that it is a good idea to join forces with GUN to keep his promise to Maria in keeping the planet safe.

( +3k words; all referenced videos and audio files are transcribed for accessibility; sources/references at the bottom)

If you have any questions or comments feel free to shoot me an ask! If you have anything to add or critique (because I’m 49320% sure i forgot half of the things i wanted to address again), feel free to add to my post!

Okay so before we can make out why Shadow would join GUN, we should establish why people think he wouldn’t.

As you said, you can’t understand his decision (very understandably so), therefor let’s sum up why you feel like this, and then I’ll try to explain how all that can actually lead to him joining in the end.

We all know GUN is responsible for Maria’s death, so why would Shadow want to join them? It doesn’t make sense!

Well, you see, it doesn’t. Things don’t always make sense. Not on first sight anyways.

First thing we should note is that the current GUN commander (I’ll talk abt him a lot now) and his family were aboard the ARK during the time that Shadow was created. We don’t know why, as there are no hints towards his parents’ jobs. There are also little hints to GUN actually having employees up there.

It is confirmed that GUN was funding the ARK project and all scientists abroad, they probably had agents up there that would live among the scientists to make sure to report back to the base frequently and keep HQ up-to-date about new findings and development of the experiments.

If the future commander was aware of that, or his parents were part of GUN, is not clear.

Speculative it is to say that he probably saw the GUN soldiers in the big invasion that killed his family (his parents either were scientists that were exterminated so they wouldn’t talk, or they were GUN agents that chose to defend the scientists, or they were killed by the artificial chaos that went on a rampage*) as heroes, since he canonically blames Shadow for everything.

He did have a deep and strong fear of Shadow since the very beginning because he happened to see Gerald and Black doom in a room with Shadow together at one point in time and associated Shadow with the alien ever since. It’s possible he didn’t know about Maria being very close to him, or he tolerated it because it was her.

Actually.

Actually hold your fucking horses everyone I’m onto something.

Okay so… You know how the commander is super inconsistent with the whole family and Maria dying deal right?

SHADOW: Damn it! What does it all mean? These memories… thedoctor’s actions and words… nothing makes sense! Wasit real?

* - The GUN Commander walks up to Shadow, and points a handgun athim.

GUN COMMANDER: It’s been a long time… Shadow.

SHADOW: Who are you?! And how do you know my name?

GUN COMMANDER: I know you… Shadow the Hedgehog. You killedeveryone I loved… myfamily… Maria. I’ve been waiting all my life for this day!

SHADOW: What?! Me… and Maria?

* - A younger GUN Commander and Maria are running in a hall on theARK. He hits his ass to taunt Maria, and she catches up to him.She holds him in place, but he starts running again.

GUN COMMANDER (voiceover): Maria was like a sister to me. She wasthe only family I knew! And because of you… she waskilled!

* - The younger GUN-C gets to the door to Geral’d lab, and looksin the glass. Inside, Gerald and Black Doom are talking nearShadow’s pod.

GUN COMMANDER (voiceover): Witnessing it all… the plan to createthat horrifying evil creature... that black creature, and that insane professor who unleashed it all!

* - As the pod starts to move, the young GUN-C starts screaming.The pod sits upright, and Shadow opens his eyes.

SHADOW: So… the professor created me… with Black Doom?

GUN COMMANDER: You don’t fool me! It’s not just about Maria.Thanks to you, everyone I knewand loved was killed when the ARK was destroyed. Worst of all, myfamily! Finally… justice is served!

I bolded everything that is important to my analysis,,,,

ANYWAYS AS I WAS SAYING.

The Commanders words about his family and Maria being killed are all jumbled. One moment Maria is the only family he had, the next everyone he knew and loved was killed. Among those people Maria and his family.

We have no canon confirmation as to who his family was and why they were killed on the ARK. (Read speculation above again if needed, marked with an *)So what if Maria was his family? What if he was a Robotnik himself?

Who says that he knew about Ivo’s parents?

He might be blood related, or adopted by Gerald.

How else would a kid end up on a Space Station that is primarily for scientific research? Maria and the future commander should logically be the only children up there, because Gerald brought them with him.

The commander witnessed Shadow’s creation and knows that Gerald was involved in it. He felt a deep hatred for Shadow, aswell as Gerald, for what happened. He mainly blames Shadow for the incident on ARK, but he also holds resentment towards Gerald for having created Shadow in the first place. (”The insane professor that unleashed it all!”)

This would imply that the commander refuses to see Gerald as part of his family anymore after that had happened, which would figuratively make Gerald “dead to him.” Maria would be the only family he had left after that, and she was killed on the ARK.

He was not there when it happened, he was escorted by GUN back to earth while Maria tried to defend Shadow and help him escape. He never got told how she died, he just, presumably, saw her on the list of victims.

This event shaped the commander into wanting to become someone who can protect the innocent from harm and prevent needless death.

We see his compassion in other cutscenes!

* - The Presiden’t helicopter touches down on the landing pad andseveral GUN soldiers run over to it. Slightly later, the GUNCommander helps the President walk to the control room. The Presidentsits down in a chair.

GUN COMMANDER: Sir, are you all right?

PRESIDENT: Never mind me… What about the people of Central City?

GUN COMMANDER: No need to worry, sir. Orders were issuedyesterday, and everyone hasbeen evacuated to the safe zone.

[…]

GUN COMMANDER: So he’s finally decided to show himself. Attentionall command units! Mobilizeall Mech battle sections! Prepare all weapons to strikeincoming vessels! Mobilize “Diablon”!

GUN SOLDIR: But sir! It’s not ready yet!

GUN COMMANDER: I don’t care!! We have NO other option!! We MUSTprotect the President, andthe Chaos Emeralds, at all costs.

* - In the White House, the President is looking at Westopolisfrom the balcony. The sky is dark red/orange. The GUNCommander and two other soldiers come in through the door.

GUN COMMANDER: Sir, your transport is ready. We must go now! Sir,please!

PRESIDENT: Once again… I have failed my duty to protect ournation.

GUN COMMANDER: Sir, it’s not over! We can continue to fight. Theblack aliens may haverendered us unable for now, but we will rally, sir. You must keep yournation strong and together.

PRESIDENT: Yes, keep the nation united. No matter what happens,we’ll never surrender to these creatures.*looks at the picture of Sonic and Shadow* This much I learnedfrom them.

GUN COMMANDER: Sir, please hurry.

PRESIDENT: Okay.

* - The President and the two soldiers start to leave. The GUNCommander looks at the picture the President keeps on his desk before leavinghimself.

GUN COMMANDER: The black creatures will feel their own bloodyHell!

Again, bold lines are important!

The commander made sure to evacuate the entire population of a major city that is based off the Washington metropolitan area with a populus of over 6 Million people within just one single day.

For reference I researched how long it normally takes to evacuate big cities in real life.

“At around 10 am on August 28, Mayor Ray Nagin declared a mandatory evacuation of the city, after Hurricane Katrina was updated to a Category 5, the strongest possible hurricane. By the time the hurricane hit, at around 7 AM on August 29, later studies revealed that around 90% of the New Orleans population left. That’s around one million people within 21 hours.

Preparations for Hurricane Katrina - Wikipedia

This is important, as we can guestimate just how long an evacuation could take, if we assume that the cities can evacuate at a similar rate to New Orleans. Doing the math, this means that New York City takes around 8 days to clear out, and Tokyo needs around two weeks or so.

Thing is, however, evacuation procedures will likely suffer because these cities are much larger than New Orleans, so you might need to add a few days to them.

So, it’s more likely that NYC and Tokyo would need at least two weeks before the cities could be cleared.”

source

So he really did something really amazing.

He prioritizes to keep the President and the chaos emeralds safe above anything else and risks unleashing a new and unreliable weapon; and against what you might think- that he’s selfish/doesn’t care about the citizens- the reason he prioritizes the emeralds over people….. 1) They’ve already been evacuated.2) If Black Doom gets all of the Chaos Emeralds there won’t be an Earth anymore. No Humanity. He can think critically and in advance yall.

Also consider how he gives the President hope, not to give up. He’s confident in his abilities as commander, and his his soldiers, to do whatever they can to keep the people of their country, and the entire world, save. And he also emphasizes that the nation themselves should not loose hope, that the President should be a positive influence and stand up against the intruders (the aliens).

He also says he’ll return “their bloody hell” to the aliens, which 1) references his association of Shadow with those aliens and his firm belief that Shadow killed Maria (and by extend his (grand?)father Gerald ?).2) references the fact that the aliens have taken countless of soldiers lives already and that he wishes to return that favour to their kind.

The commander is generally a justice loving person who will do anything in his power to do the right thing. When it comes to Shadow, though, he seems to not have his personal grudge towards him under control and he gets a little extreme with his idea of justice.

GUN COMMANDER: Shadow? Deploy the troops, NOW! And if you findShadow with the black aliens…then kill them all.

GUN SOLDIER: But sir, isn’t Shadow on our side–

GUN COMMANDER: I gave you an order, soldier! He’s evil and he’sthe enemy!

GUN COMMANDER: Alert all field commanders in Sector B. I’mauthorizing full use of alltactical weapons. I want both black aliens and Shadow stopped andburied. Failure, is not an option.

GUN COMMANDER: Hm-hm… It’s over, Shadow. You’ll finally beexposed and eradicated forthe evil that you are.

GUN COMMANDER (radio): Come in, Eclipse Cannon! He must be stoppedat all costs! Take him out... that’s an order!

GUN COMMANDER: Shadow! Damn you! It’s been fifty years… justicewill finally be served.*cocks handgun*

This emotional side of him is a great flaw in a man of his position, but also a great strength.

As we know he confronted Shadow about his hatred and literally attempted to personally kill him.

* - He fires his gun, but Shadow’s now standing behind theCommander, faced away from him, with his eyes closed.

SHADOW: If what you say is true, then I will respectfully acceptmy fate.

GUN COMMANDER: You mean to tell me that, you really don’t remembera thing?

SHADOW: But I just need some time… to uncover the real truth.

* - As Shadow walks off, the Commander looks at his gun and fallsto his knees.

Shadow admits to not remembering any of what he is saying, but that he will take responsibility for those things if it’s true (WHILE NOT EVEN REMEMBERING ANY OF IT). This means that Shadow accepts the justice the commander wanted to serve. And also that he forgives him for being so bitter about it, for being so incredibly angry.

You might think it is because he knows what it’s like to hate someone for killing your loved one and then doing everything to avenge them but…. he doesn’t remember. He doesn’t remember SA2. All he knows is the empty feeling of rage and sorrow, that he can’t really put any context on. (He remembered that Maria died and that he wasn’t able to save her, but he never remembered how she died. This had to be told to him by someone else. Either it was directly shown to him by Black Doom when he uses chaos control to show Shadow the past, or by Doom’s Eye in a cutscene before a boss fight. (iirc anyways because I’ve gone through so much cutscene and script material now that I might mix some stuff up, please correct me if I’m wrong).

Once the commander learns that Shadow doesn’t remember anything and fucking accepts his plans to kill him, he is SHOCKED.

He looks at his gun, as if he’s realizing just what the fuck he was doing, threatening and literally trying to kill Shadow in an attempt to serve “justice”. He falls to his knees in shame for his misguided behaviour. He realized how foolish and childish is obsessive pursuit of Shadow was.

Later in The Last Way when Gerald tells the truth about Shadow and Black Dooms relation and Shadow saves the world….

* - All of the members are cheering and yelling.

GUN COMMANDER: *sigh*

* - The President pats the Commander’s back.

PRESIDENT: How ironic… After the way we all treated him, hesaved us all i the end. We were all wrong about the professor. Let us pay homageto Professor Gerald. Let’s work to ensure peace and prosperity for a brighter future! What do you say, Commander?

GUN COMMANDER: Excellent idea, Mister President.

They feel guilty for holding Shadow accountable for the destruction the aliens caused, aswell as for what happened to Gerald. They plan to reform the way they act in homage of Gerald Robotnik (and Shadow the hedgehog).

Now, it’s not confirmed when exactly in the timeline it is, but the commander does say this, but in Space Gadget (after completing the game I assume) during the training gameplay it is possible to get a random call from the commander which says:

“Shadow, do you read me? First… I want to apologize, for the other day. Actually, I just became a grandfather last week and I was thinking of maybe having you over. I know that training is tough, but try and do your best.”

(here’s the voice file in case you want to hear it)

This confirms that the commander is trying to build a friendly relationship with Shadow now and wants him to be part of his family (again. Since they are both Robotniks.). It could either be an invitation after Shadow already had joined GUN, or, and I think that’s more likely, he wants to discuss that matter when Shadow pays him a visit and they can talk about it in person.

Now Shadow does forgive the commander for his actions, and he accepts that what happened to Maria lies in the past and that it is not the fault of anyone else but the person that shot her, so he can’t be angry at the entire human race for it. He understands it now.

The commander makes a genuine effort to keep the country, and the planet, save; and GUN is an organization that focuses on keeping the world save. Shadow knows that it is impossible for one person alone to do it, so he likely sees this as a good option for help since he’s willing to cooperate with this commander. Due to his old age he would have to retire soon, though, so Shadow would also likely want to be inside that system to have influence on the new leaders in the future, so that GUN does not stray the wrong path again. (Be it shady experiments or useless killing.)

He likely agreed upon the request under the condition that OMEGA could join along with him, as well as the condition that he, OMEGA and Rouge are an inseparable Team that will work together from this day forth.

This is how I think it went.

Yes I got lazy towards the end because it’s super hot and I’m sweaty and my laptop is literally wet from my sweaty hands its disgusting akjsfhka

sources: (take the wiki ones with a grain of salt i only referred to the stuff that is absolute fact (sourced trivia, quotes and plot line); not personality descriptions or anything interpretative stuff since the wiki is also fan made and i disagree with some of that)

http://sonic.wikia.com/wiki/Shadow_the_Hedgehog_(game)

http://sonic.wikia.com/wiki/Commander

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps2/926671-shadow-the-hedgehog/faqs/39966

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mh7b_eml0EU (i used all 4 of those videos aswell as this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBisWZ8eKV0

#meta/ shadow #Anonymous #ask #long post

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