#they cant keep getting AWAY WITH IT (the sonic team)

[emryste]

tge creature s

[lowpolyshadow]

so does that mean shadow has speed, power, And flight ...

[egg-emperor]

'Show me one time where he's genuinely a good person with good intentions, where selfishness, ego, and desire to survive and save the world so he can rule it isn't involved. There isn't any.' ehh, i don't know, id argue eggman saving tails in lost world counts. dude doesn't need tails to get past the yeti, only sonic. he yells 'tails!' to try and alert him and sounds generally concerned when doing so. He also makes the decision to save him in less than a second, meaning he didn't have time to weigh the pros and cons of saving one of his worst enemies, he just instinctively went to help him. mind you, this doesn't even contradict him threatening to turn tails into mincemeat in sa1, because as he explains, he's a complicated guy *shrug*. not trying to start any drama or anything, but i def believe there are a few stand out moments in game canon when eggmans 'human side' is shown that cant really be explained away without heavily reaching imo

I knew this could possibly be one of the moments someone could raise. But I have a response locked and loaded, I always account for everything and am ready to go lol. And I don't think it requires what I'd consider heavy reaching to explain away because I go by what can be seen/heard of game then carefully think about what it means while considering his character and what tracks with everything we know.

I see Eggman's save of Tails as calculated decision. There are a lot of benefits: Making the team up seem more genuine and convincing, winning Sonic over some more and possibly finally Tails after how hostile they were towards each other, the way the more is up against the D6, the better, and the way Sonic could possibly be less focused on the mission if he lost Tails. Also the bonus of how he'd prefer to kill both Sonic and Tails more personally than some random unplanned battle robot, just like Sonic falling into lava would've been underwhelming.

Eggman could see that he was starting to gain Sonic's reliability when he said that they need him to shut down his machine, while Tails wasn't happy about it and felt like Sonic trusted Eggman more. So if he jumps in and acts like a hero and saves Tails, it's going to help him seem more genuine and possibly win Tails over more too after their beef with each other. It makes sense for him to be prepared to act to seem convincing whatever it may be, even though he of course couldn't have predicted the modified robot to attack him.

I don't purely say this off vibes because when Sonic says "you could've gotten yourself killed" Eggman quickly smiles behind Sonic which makes him seem very suspicious I love it lol

It looks sly and mischievous for a guy who just saved someone's life, it's not giving "he did it out of the goodness of his heart", more like "yes it's working, Sonic said he 'can't figure me out', I'm convincing >:)"

If you think it's not possible that he could've thought that fast to weigh pros and cons, he had the plan to betray Sonic and Tails the moment they got him past the Deadly Six and back to his machine and new Eggrobo all along. So I contextualize everything within this. That gives plenty of time to plan on trying to make his facade of a willingness to work with them without any tricks all the more convincing. This is why I feel that him jumping in to save Tails was more calculated than it appears at first watch.

Plus, we know he can think and act that fast anyway. Because in the Lava Mountain scene where he fakes his death, he was planning to do that the whole time and was prepared but he couldn't have expected for it to be kicked off by the Deadly Six breaking the bridge. Yet he was able to quickly act to save Sonic, so he could still keep the Zeti back while he went to reprogram the machine and he could destroy him himself with his new mech as planned.

Him suddenly thinking fast to save Sonic was for selfish and sinister self motivated reasons, and I think it makes a lot of sense for the same to apply to Tails.

Shrugging it off and saying he's just a complicated guy was also the perfect thing to say that wouldn't make it obvious that he was trying to convince them to keep him around. Because otherwise they would've likely realized it doesn't add up with how he was acting just a couple scenes ago when he said he thinks he "liked it better when [he] was trying to destroy [Tails]" If he dismisses it in such a casual way that can't be disproven, he's not trying too hard to convince them.

But if you think parts of that are a little too speculative, though it does have a little something on screen and the context of why he's teaming up with them to support it, we can also go by how he visibly acts much more blatantly in the later cutscene at Silent Forest, when Tails falls into the trap.

Eggman has no reaction, he just stands and silently watches. Doesn't even have the slightest look of suprise or shock like the Frozen Factory Tails save cutscene, which makes the latter feel more performative of a response while he was right in front of Sonic.

He then gives Sonic a little speech while he's devastated to motivate him, so that he'll "make sure his sacrifice isn't for nothing", his sly way of saying "alright but you've still gotta help me, I'm not letting you get hung up on this" lol

He needs to make sure Sonic won't lose focus of their mission and still work hard and not lose hope, so he can get him past the Zeti and betray him later.

And he just gives a little "eh whatever" shrug while Sonic isn't looking again. Much like how he grinned when Sonic wasn't looking in the other scene. Like when Sonic isn't looking, you see the real same old Eggman and how he really feels about both situations.

It's really funny how much he just doesn't even react or give a fuck in this scene lol. I think it really testifies against him really caring about Tails in his previous save considering this is the next cutscene he's even in.

It makes sense for the reasons behind the save is a combination of performing heroics to seem more reliable in this truce because he was planning to betray them the whole time, along with how he expected Sonic to lose focus of their mission and not perform as well if he was devastated by the loss of Tails. So when he couldn't save him this time, he brings out the little motivating speech since it's all he can do now.

Especially since the modified battle robot would've certainly resulted in Tails' death which of course would've had a heavy impact on Sonic and could've affected his performance, while they weren't sure what the Deadly Six were going to do with Tails though Eggman did think of it as like a "sacrifice". So I see that as explaining his earlier actions of the save.

Like this, I can't think of any others that I wouldn't also have an explanation for that tracks with the way he's selfish and self motivated. Lost World, to me, really seems like another prime example of that instead. I love Lost World Eggman and just how much there is to explore and consider about his actions, knowing that he was using them and was going to betray them the whole time.

Eggman does a have a human side and genuinely human moments in the series because being human isn't being a good person. There are many ways to be. Selfishness is very human too. He has a bunch of human traits and moments that remind us that he's human and none involve him being a genuinely good selfless or caring person because it's not required for him to be.

I haven't seen anything that people use as examples of him being a good person that I can't find reasons to argue against and they don't require any huge reaches or speculation as there are always scenes and dialogue to support my points, like the stuff I used here. The more I go back and reanalyze, I only find more to support them despite my open mind and neutrality looking into it.

I only see a pure evil villain with a funny side who is exclusively self motivated only acts for purely selfish reasons that personally benefit him. Which tracks with the kind of egotist and narcissist he is, it's the strong defining core of his character that influences his mindset, goals, and actions throughout the series consistently. There isn't any scene where I can see any exceptions to this.

I encourage you to have your own take and disagree so we can have a discussion like this though. I understand you're not trying to start drama and respect your perspective, I'm interested to see and discuss and share my thoughts. I understand what it's like for people think it's your intention though, it sucks. This is always a chill space to agree or disagree as long as you're chill about it too. 🤝

[enginator2000]

Hello, fellow Infinite enjoyer. I have an ask for you. Do you think that Infinite can be redeemed?

I don't really mind if he's redeemed or not cause I'm a Sonic X Infinite shipper, and their many dynamics and interactions they had in Forces are really interesting to me. Yeah, I know Sonic's been stuck up in space for six months, and Infinite is not exactly the best person to be around, but what if he could actually change, then what. Will he use the Phantom Ruby as a force for good?

ay, sonfinite is neat. i dont ship it myself but i think it can often be interesting :>

but anyways i feel like it would be a lot easier for sonic team to make him into a returning/recurring villain than to redeem him, at least in the games. if it werent for the fact apparently sega isnt letting infinite be used in idw for anything (at least thats how it was when the series started, idk if that has changed in the last few years for future arcs) i could see him getting a redemption arc or at least some kind of a resolution in idw at some point, bc idw is where that type of thing seems more likely. yknow, just from looking at the mr tinker/belle stuff and whatever. stuff gets sappy and weird over there

and idk. maybe theyre just keeping him away bc they cant be bothered to write around the phantom ruby and its inconsistent/vague abilities that just kind if did whatever the plot needed it to do in forces. i know if i wrote something that messily op i would want to get rid of it in the most unceremonious way possible bc thats embarrassing. but thats beside the point

if infinite were to come back specifically for redemption i personally dont think he would still get to have the ruby. or at least a working one (bc remember, in forces his is a finalized replica of the real ruby, not the actual original thing. which i also think is stupid but i digress) so with no recharge station available it would effectively be useless and be would be less of a threat. that would put him in a more vulnerable position and potentially set him up for being at the mercy of sonic and co bc whats a regular guy gonna do against a group of super powered freaks? lmao

but yeah thats pretty much my stance on the matter. if infinite is ever allowed to be used in idw i think that would be the best shot for getting some kind of redemption for him. game redemption feels less likely and honestly i think it would be cooler for him to stay a villain there anyway

edit: i just realized i never truly answered the question and was talking about the "hows" more than the "coulds". i do think he can be redeemed but as a counterpoint, it is really the most interesting thing that can be done with him? i think he still has room for more villainy before any redemption could happen in a way that feels satisfying. idk maybe i just like my evil scrimblos being evil too much and thats adding bias but yeah. again i could see them jumping to a redemption arc if it was in the idw comics but i think it would be less fun that way

[steeltwigz]

thinking abt black arms sonic boom shadow again. he was a part of team dark, but was Brain Blasted when the black arms arrived and lost most of his memories, slowly, painfully, until he ran away from his friends to live in a cave forever. rouge and omega are in a race to find him, to get their friend back. is this anything? hello? im listening to brand new day from dr horrible. sorry.

shadow sees images of rouge and omega, and it gives him migraines, and he doesnt know why. eclipse tells him its no problem and nothing to worry about, black doom gaslights him abt how its like. "those migraines are becuz you know how foolish these mortals are. go kill them lmao".

rouge and omega live on the main-land, in a city, in an unassuming apartment. they dont work for the government this time. rouge owns her club and shadow and omega are bouncers- behind the scenes they do weapons deals and vigilante work. they kind of run a mobian underground gang? rouge is like the matriarch of her section of town. omega was built by eggman in a plan to take over some mainland cities, but he was abandoned and dropped in the sea. he washed up on shore, and rouge fixed him up a bit and omega vowed allegiance to her and revenge on his creator, who he cant rlly remember. shadow was discovered when rouge and omega were infiltrating GUN bases trying to find info on omega's creators whereabouts. omega convinced rouge to take him in. they help him work out his memories, rouge spends a few days reading through shadow's files. they become goth best friends easily. yay!

they kind of have to bunker down for the black arms invasion. rouge tries to prepare by letting omega know whats going on, and keeping shadow and omega up in the apartment instead of working in the club. rouge doesnt want it to be real, she hopes rlly hard that it wont happen, so she doesnt tell shadow at first. after the first wave of migraines, memories resurfacing, and detached voices tho, she has to come clean. sucks! omega is mad at her, but he doesnt try to tell shadow becuz he doesnt rlly know as much as rouge does. they refuse to lock shadow up again, but they regret it once he runs away (after abt a week of endless onslaught of Psychic Attacks). theres a lot of fighting in the last week before shadow runs away. mostly shadow fighting the mental attacks. hes bedridden for a while. omega and rouge fight, too. omega is mad at rouge for not telling shadow anything about his past. she knows it was stupid, but she was really hoping it would turn out differently. she says omega wouldnt know becuz hes an emotionless robot. so. tensions are high. and shadow is getting fed Evil Juice so he keeps tearing apart the curtains. he runs away in the middle of the ngith, which is really just the afternoon for these guys. he has to fight omega to escape the apartment. shadow gets out mostly unscathed, becuz omega doesnt want to hurt him so badly, but omega has to be heavily repaired, which is why they cant go after shadow fast enough to track him easily. they hear about sonic from some GUN files a few months later. on the list of his adversaries is a hedgehog doppelganger- described as having a familiar star-shaped quill style, and black and red fur. they book it to the island as soon as possible. probably steal some GUN transport. either rouge figures out the controls, or they kidnap some GUN hostage to fly it for them. either way.

eventually they find shadow. yay! they help him get his memories back and stop the evil alien invasion, and omega gets to find out where eggman lives. they move in to the island w shadow so they can try to stop eggman more.. permanently. things reset back to funny sitcom, except now the goths are there too.

[hinacu-arts]

Some notes on the boom!Rouge and Shadow dynamic. Goes for most of my boom!Rouge aus but is probably most relevant to the roommate au(s)

Shadow will not admit Rouge is his friend. She's his "roommate" or "coworker"

Rouge is more perceptive than most people, and Shadow doesnt like how she keeps trying to unlock his "tragic backstory"

Shadow will call other people "pathetic" both to defend her without actually interfering and make that person feel bad but also as a roundabout way to make her smile

Once he actually wants to hang out with Rouge he has to find a excuse. "I thought you didnt like exploring ruins and trekking through the jungle?" "I said i only like to do it on my terms"

Doesnt realize it but starts to get defense of Rouge's reputation/pride and will step in when he overhears incorrect gossip, as well will defend her honor when she's not around.

When he agrees to work with Rouge, he notices she always uses the terms "partners" or "assistance", never things like "work with me" or "work for me" or "we're a team" (which he hates)

He cant hide in the background as much now because Rouge is extroverted and will stop to chat with people and ropes him into the conversation

Rouge sees and speaks about people in a different way than Shadow does, and slowly he starts to see people in a different light (ex. begins to have some more respect for Sonic)

Will compliment Rouge because she's cool and consistently impresses him, however this leads to rumors they are dating and Rouge has to stop him from destroying a building

Rouge doesnt straight up insult him but she will call him out if he offends her or is acting particularly stupid

Rouge will often fall asleep on a chair or the couch and he'll take off her shoes and cover her with a blanket. Thats about as directly nice as he will get. If she's really upset and he doesnt know how to comfort her he sometimes offers her one hug and just kinda stands there with his hands touching her back (he knows touch is her love language so thats his way of directly comforting her)

this kid has a chip on his shoulder and it makes him surprisingly easy to nudge him into doing what Rouge wants

Shadow is a organized guy while she is the "normal" amount of messy. Shadow will pick her stuff up and she gets mad when she cant find things

Rouge naturally calls people pet names. Shadow kept telling her "dont call me that" and she respects that but she just uses a different pet name the next time. He decided pretty quick that he had to pick his battles with her and that wouldnt be one of them

Takes Shadow along on her "expeditions" because he can poof right past the booby traps. He'll complain about it but comes anyways

Finds out a lot of people have beef with Shadow (unsurprisingly) but will only tolerate a small amount of bad mouthing ("im gonna stop you right there. If you dont have anything nice to say about my roommate to me than dont say anything at all")

Absolutely considers Shadow to be her friend but she finds it funny how he wont admit it so she goes along with it. There are plenty of moments where she sees Shadow in more of a "little brother" light and she treats him accordingly

She makes bets with Shadow whenever she can slip one past him because she knows his pride wont let him run away. Karaoke has become her favorite prize

Wont invite people over to her house because 1) theres a lot of expensive and illegally acquired artifacts and 2) Shadow will purposefully make it awkward out of boredom

Shadow is smart but he's also so blind and sometimes it drives her crazy. He'll jump to assumptions and she'll have to talk to him like "yes thats ONE possible way this could go, but what reason does he have to do that? He's never done that before"

Rouge is a fairly touchy person. Shadow doesnt like affection but occasionally he'll be distracted enough she'll be able to squeeze his shoulder in passing or put a hand on his back/arm. Even less occasionally drop a kiss on his head/cheek. If he's in a good mood and they're waking along she can sometimes get away with hooking their arms together. She hugged him once when she was really worked up but without warning him and he just awkwardly patted her back with one hand

[deltastra]

Just going to share my thoughts on Rhea Island! It’ll be a short post this time!

This is from a casual fan’s perspective

SPOILERS FOR RHEA ISLAND

Climbing each tower with the intense music was amazing. You could really feel the weight of the situation as Sonic gets more and more tired. We finally got lore. So it seems the ancients uploaded themselves into cyberspace…but what are they even fighting?? Whatever it is..it sure is wiping out everything and everyone.

Also did…did the chaos emeralds come from space??? ARE WE GETTING CHAOS EMERALD LORE??

Sage finally understand the type of person Sonic is and calling him a hero is so wonderful. But that sense of dread you feel when Sonic just stands there motionless hurts.

This was so good! Sonic has saved them countless times and this time, they will save him. Their lines about why Sonic should keep fighting (other than Knuckles even though I did like it) represents their goals as well, which was nice!

LETS GOOOO

I don’t know exactly what they did but I’m all for it! I think they gave up their physical forms to give Sonic a fighting chance? Also that short bit of “I’m Here” playing was such a tease…

Haha, poor Eggman. But yea, an alliance is definitely needed here to take down that voice.

But here is my issue. It’s not that I saw the “betrayal” coming from a mile away, I’m okay with something in a story being predictable.

But I really wish we had more scenes with the voice speaking to Sonic, I believe it would’ve made the betrayal more interesting. This is because other than the voice telling Sonic to go get chaos emeralds or that he’s not ready…they never really feel like they had a presence in the story leading up to this.

The voice felt like a narrator rather than something trying to break free and is using Sonic to do that.

I LOVE THAT LOOK. Once again, facial expressions in this game is peak.

——

Now while I’m on the subject of Rhea Island, I don’t like how it’s just Kronos Island but with towers. But I understand that they had to split it into three different islands. I really hope that Sonic Team has a larger team with more resources soon since Sonic Frontiers is selling well.

I cant wait for the last island and the finale for this game!

[21ate]

i got my new tablet and so far its pretty nice! here, i drew up some stuff for my sonic forces au hehe. someday id like to produce a legit comic for it, so if youd like to know more, ive put some context under the read more :)

i also have a separate blog just for sonic stuff which will be where i post the rest of my au art, so check out @mobianstrip as well!

SONIC FORCES AU (official title still pending)

okay, i think its fair to say that sega did a poor job writing a war story with any kind of point and the confusing tone is frustrating, so my au takes the dark themes present in the game and actually follows through on expanding upon them.

it always bothered me that sonic just lets eggman go even though he almost took over the planet in a literal war he started, displacing and killing (er, roboticizing?) thousands, if not millions of mobians. i dont care that infinite was the stronger threat - eggman is still responsible for finding the phantom ruby and teaming up with infinite to begin with. why would anyone allow eggman to get away with something on this scale of destruction???

obviously sega has to keep their games formulaic and they cant just kill eggman or something, but this is the one storyline where allowing him to get away doesnt work in my opinion. the unusually high stakes implied/explicitly stated versus the practically nonexistent consequences leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

this au takes a more realistic approach to the aftermath of the war. eggman has been captured by the resistance and imprisoned indefinitely and sonic, for whatever his reasons may be, doesnt believe eggman should be imprisoned. he advocates for his release and this causes massive backlash across mobius. soon enough, tensions rise so high that a riot breaks out in front of his home.

you could argue that this may not justify burning his house down, but sonic is not supposed to be in the right here either and his comment about peaceful protests is intentionally a pretty bad, tone deaf take. im sick of sonic's characterization as a perfect hero who is always in the right and always happy, so i decided that this would turn into a negative trait in the context of a war story.

so, being really into the superhero deconstruction genre lately, thats sort of the tone im aiming for here as well.

i dont want to give too much of the story away though, so youll just have to wait until i write and draw so more (or check out my sonic blog, though i consider the designs to be a bit outdated. also, it will no longer be called 25 years later! take the old stuff with a grain of salt, ive got lots of new ideas now hehe)

<3

[jasontoddswhitestreak]

fluff prompts 10 & 19 with pietro maximoff would be so cute 🥺

elevator talk

summary: while on a mission with the avengers team you manage to save pietro’s life leading him to want to show his appreciation for you inspired by this prompt list

content warning: pietro maximoff x fem!reader, fluff, slight angst, mentions of blood, set after age of ultron but pietro never dies and civil war doesn’t take place <3

note: i hope i don’t disappoint you with this fluff! i’ve been reading more quicksilver comics recently and this is the outcome of that :)

REQUESTS ARE OPEN! (lmk if you want to see anymore content like this <3)

masterlist

"Remind me again, why did the ENTIRE team need to come on this mission?" You complained, fighting off two grown men while waiting for the signal Tony was supposed to give to tell you it's safe to go inside the building.

"Call it a group bonding session." Tony teased while flying near the building in his Iron Man suit, trying to figure out how to lower the shields. Ever since the fall of SHIELD, it became even more difficult to find the remaining Hydra bases and due to the Ultron situation that occurred a few years ago, the difficulty only increased.

"Could we do a little less chitchat and a little more fighting?" Steve demands, you could hear Cap's grunts through your earpiece, making it obvious that he's struggling to fight off the Hydra goons.

You were a couple miles away from the building attempting to make your way closer to it, the enemies clearly noticed your arrival when they saw a person in red and yellow suit flying pass their windows, easily recognising the well known Iron Man.

And because a huge green angry Hulk isn't exactly easy to ignore.

"Clearly Cap can't keep up with us superheroes." Pietro teased, with a blink of an eye he knocked out the enemies surrounding both you and Steve.

"Thanks for the help Sonic, I'd give you some onion rings but I don't have any on me right now." You joked, smirking at the exasperated speedster that stood in front of you.

"I just saved your life and this is how you repay me Prinţesă?" He feigned hurt, placing his hand over heart.

"Saving her life? That's a bit of an exaggeration even for you Piet." Wanda's voice was heard from the comms, she managed to make her way into the building effortlessly, fighting beside Vision.

"Mind your business Wanda." Pietro scoffs biting back the smile forming on his face, he could hear his sisters laugh through the earpiece.

"As much as I love hearing the two of you argue with each other, now may not be the time." Natasha commented, followed by Clint agreeing.

You sighed, knowing they were right, focusing on the mission instead of the twin in front of you, glancing around at your surroundings. You noticed the enemies lined up behind Pietro preparing for an attack. You would've seen it earlier if it wasn't for the conversation distracting you.

You thought it was too late when you saw the bullet fly through the air, aiming directly at Pietro, it felt as though it was moving in slow motion. The piece of metal cutting through the air making its way to the speedster. Not registering the fact that Pietro had super healing abilities your mind recalled what happened in Sokovia. The bullets going through Pietro in every angle possible. Him falling onto the ground, the colour drained from his face, everyone thought he was dead, Wanda included. That was until the speedster managed to spit out a joke about Ultron's good aim.

You didn't register what you were doing until after you did it. Rushing to protect him from the bullet you pushed him out of the way last minute, the bullet barely missed him, you felt the bullet scrape against your arm instead. Pietro fell to the ground with a yelp as you fell on top of him, wincing due to the pain the bullet caused you.

Steve ran over to the two of you after knocking out the culprit.

"They're both down." Steve states, Pietro shakes his head, attempting to sit up, lifting you up and placing you in his lap comfortably.

"Why'd you do that? You know I can take bullets right?" Pietro scowled, glancing over your body to check for anymore injuries besides the bullet wound, his hands were gentle, brushing over your body in a caring manner as he lets the palm of his hands rest on the sides of your face, holding your face in his hands.

"Now i saved your life." You joked, blushing at the position the two of you were currently in and trying to hide the pain the bullet was causing you. You weren't a super soldier or someone with super healing abilities, so jumping in front of a bullet to save someone that could survive getting shot multiple times wasn't smart thinking on your part.

But you couldn't help it.

You wouldn't say you and Pietro were best friends, you did get along well but the twin refrained from getting close to any of the avengers. Your relationship consisted of teasing each other often and bumping into each other constantly during midnight, resulting in the two of you having your own midnight sessions where the two of you sat in the kitchen drinking hot chocolate.

You reminisced on the last time you had your 'midnight session' with Pietro, not being able to focus on what Pietro and Steve were saying to you, there was a loud ringing in your head, echoing as you closed your eyes to stop the headache that was forming, you felt yourself being lifted up in someone's arms.

Maybe you underestimated how bad the bullet wound was.

"Fine weather we're having don't you think?" You laughed, glancing over at the window, the heavy rain pelted against the glass of the compound, that alongside the wind that sounded much louder in your bedroom made it difficult to even attempt to sleep. You could just barely make out the trees in the distance due to the night sky.

"Didn't think you'd show up tonight, don't you need the sleep before our mission tomorrow?" Pietro questioned. He was facing the stove, you could smell the hot chocolate that was heating up. You made your way next to him, grabbing two mugs and placing them next to him before moving to the fridge to grab the whipped cream.

You swapped positions with Pietro, passing the can of whipped cream to him and grabbing the spoon that was used to stir the hot chocolate.

"Oh wait! I made cookies today, we could have them now!" You remembered, grabbing the plate of cookies from the cupboard and placing it on the table, Pietro immediately reached out for one, and then another.

"I don't know if you know this yet but, I love you." Pietro confesses, grabbing another cookie. You pushed the plate away from him before he could grab another.

"You gotta slow down Piet, don't want you emptying the plate before we even get to have the hot chocolate, now do we?" You grinned and he complains, reaching out for another.

"It's nice to know you care so much about my well-being dragă." You rolled your eyes at the smirk plastered on his face. With the blink of an eye he was stood across from you, closer to the plate of cookies, with another in his hand.

The two of you couldn't stop the smiles that formed on your face, even going to bed in a much better mood than you were in previously.

It was hours after the mission, you were patched up as soon as the quinjet landed at the compound. After a long lecture from Steve and the debriefing, you were finally able to be alone, only wanting to go back your room and sleep for days.

You made your way to the elevator that would take you to your floor, too tired to take the stairs. You attempted to fight back the tiredness, blinking harshly to keep yourself awake, missing the blue streak of a superhero making its way into the elevator and right beside you.

"How are you feeling Dragă mea?" Pietro speaks out after a couple moments, you jumped in shock not realising the speedster was next to you.

"Dammit Piet! What did I say about doing that?" You held your hands over your chest, frightened. He looked at you apologetically before moving to the elevator buttons, pressing the button that stops the elevator from moving.

You stared at him as he sighed, struggling to put his thoughts into words.

"Piet... what's wrong?" You whispered, analysing his face and posture, you could tell he was stressed. He turned to look at you, his face softening when your eyes met.

"I can’t lose you prinţesă." He manages to say, making his way to you, reaching out for your hand.

His hand was warm in yours, he held onto your hand tightly, you looked at him confused, raising your hand to rest against his jaw, your thumb stroking his cheek gently.

“You’re not going to lose me, where’s this coming from Pietro?” You asked softly. He wrapped his arms around you, pulling you into his chest, your head rested against his chest. You could feel his uneven breaths, almost as if he’s on the verge of having a panic attack. Pietro struggled to even out his breath, panic bubbling up inside of him, he can’t lose you. Even the thought of losing you filled him with dread, he doesn’t deserve someone to risk their life for him, especially someone like you.

“How did I manage to get you?” He finally whispers, pulling back to look at you.

That’s when you understood what he was trying to say.

“I don’t want to lose you too, you know? Even the thought of it, it just-” You take a deep breath, smiling solemnly at him. “Every-time we go on a mission I’m terrified Piet, after what happened in Sokovia- after what happened to you. I cant lose you, I care too much about you.” The memories of what happened in Sokovia haunted you. You weren’t close to the Maximoffs then but you understood them, you understood their pain and loss. Similarly to them you had no one, no family, no one to say ‘I love you’ too.

Until now.

“That’s a very complicated way to say you love me, dragă.” He teased, you could see the redness in his eyes from the tears that were threatening to spill.

“Well no one else enjoys my baking as much as you do.” He rolled his eyes in response knowing your referencing the night before, while still holding you in his arms, he reaches out to turn the elevator back on.

No more words were needed to be said, not for now at least. You had each other, and that’s all that mattered to you, for now.

[scattered-winter]

hiii this is the Shadow ask ^_^ i was gonna send it w the other one but once i started writing,, it got way too long lol but anyway!! i think you’ll like him!! he has a TON of angst potential, like you have no idea. either way, spoiler alert for the games sonic adventure 2 and also some shadow the hedgehog, i’m pretty sure the third movie will be based on sa2 so be warned!!

also this IS sa2 yeah? his backstory is entirely told thru that game and his story is majorly interlaced with everything going on in that game, ok? so i’m telling u sa2 basically! cool? cool! feel free to ignore this if u want to, ofc!! no pressure and no spoilers if u dont want to!!

now SHADOW… he’s a man-made hog. he was made by Eggman’s grandfather, Gerald Robotnik (with some help from alien demons, yes, you read that right, alien demons) he was created to be the ultimate lifeform and help develop a cure for the disease known as NIDS (basically AIDS) which is a disease Maria, Gerald’s granddaughter and Eggman’s cousin has! Maria is a young girl, i think her parents had NIDS?? and died when she was young so she stays w Gerald. to be better monitored (so she doesn’t ya know. DIE) she stays up on the ARK. a man-made satellite that’s like an observation station up on the planet’s orbit and also where Gerald operates. Shadow is born out of love!! Gerald’s love for Maria and humanity, Shadow is supposed to help people. and once he IS created he and Maria are best friends, basically siblings. he also stays up on the ark, seeing as there are still experiments or smth. either way, neither of them have ever seen the Earth and they dream of going down there someday to like see rain and flowers and whatnot! Maria and Shadow also have a very deep love for humanity and she makes Shadow promise her that he’ll protect them when they get down there. he promises.

anyway, turns out the ark is a military thing and Gerald was supposed to be creating an ultimate WEAPON and when the government finds out he’s not doing that. they go bananas. they storm up the place and murder everyone in cold blood. btw the ark is not just Gerald, Maria and Shadow, there are other people there, scientists who research other stuff as well as their families if i’m not mistaken. they all get murdered. Maria and Shadow try to escape and Maria successfully gets Shadow on an escape pod down to Earth, even though he doesn’t want to go she wants to save him. before the pod gets shot down however, Maria gets shot right in front of Shadow, that’s the last thing he sees before the pod leaves.

the government gets his pod i believe, and since they don’t know what to do with him, they freeze him in ice for 50 years! his whole childhood would’ve been in like the 1950s

yeah, 50 years later (the game is from 2001) Eggman finds out his grandpa had this ultimate weapon and wants to find it. he wakes Shadow up from the ice and Shadow ‘grants him a wish’ destruction on humanity. but!! he’s not just mad bc of what happened on the ark, there’s another thing! so before Gerald got executed (oh yeah he gets executed by the military and recorded in his final moments, we see that later in the game) he implanted fake memories in Shadow’s head. Maria had asked him to always protect humanity and be kind. Gerald modifies that memory and makes Shadow think she wanted him to kill everyone. and he is also mad about having everyone he ever knew murdered right in front of him but memories are a big deal to this guy.

so he does just that! he teams up with Eggman and tries to blow up the planet with the laser gun that was in the ark (the ark had a giant laser) bc of false memories and the sad stuff.

he’s able to keep up with Sonic which makes him SUPER interesting and despite putting on a cold front, (he doesnt wanna get attached ofc, he did lose everyone he loved) he cant push everyone away completely, he and Rouge do get closer during the game(he saves her from an island that blows up when he could’ve left her there, it’s a bit of a turning point for his character) and, when he find out his memories were a lie and with some push from Amy, she convinces him that destroying everything isn’t what Maria would’ve wanted and he changes sides!

the game ends on a bittersweet note because, in order to save the planet from the ark, Shadow ends up sacrificing himself. the last scene in the game is Sonic bidding farewell to Shadow.

so yeah! that’s Shadow’s story!! he (spoiler alert) does come back and has other stories but this is his background! like i said, a very tragic character but it’s really interesting. i love him a a whole lot, i’m very sorry for spamming ur inbox but also,, u DID ask so……. sorry still wifnfkt

agsfshsjgad I will never be mad at inbox spam. I'm loving this rn

but WOW. wow. ur right I'm very much into this there's a lot I wanna mess around with. but UGH having his memories tampered with after literally watching everyone he ever knew get slaughtered right in front of him!!!!!!!! geez no wonder shadow is Like That

[toindeedbe-agod]

random hcs for the deeply complex modern au i still thinj abt sometimes

neil:

hes in keatings class n hes a peer tutor for one of his lower grade classes AND in mr keatings secret club (dead poets society)

dads still forcing him into a career path n he gets so stressed trying to stay on top of all of his classes n he started emailing mr keating late at night, first it was like Teacher Approved venting but now he sends him memes at 3 am. mr keating always responds.

he n charlie got "married" in kindergarten

endlessly watches howls moving castle. he pretends that he only watches broadway bootlegs or artsy gay films but he literally watches howls moving castle in class all the time

hes on good terms with all his teachers so sometimes hes allowed to just... leave and take a nap in keatings class. keating repurposed the classroom closet to be full of soft things n a quiet space for kids because hes a good goddamn teacher

unironically still listens to be more chill

has a secret tumblr account bc his dad only lets him have a heavily monitored instagram

adores rent but pitts is rhe only one who will watch it Willingly with him anymore bc when he made them all watch it they were all so devastated. charlie didnt talk to him for 3 days

todd:

just moved here, hes neil's neighbor. charlie also lives in the neighbohood, and knox spends more time around there than his own home

his brothers the all star american boy meanwhile todd won the spelling bee in 3rd grade and gets star stickers on his creative writing assignments

has had like 3 interventions from teachers and he has to be like im really not super depressed i promise im just quiet

draws on himself a lot. hes not a spectacular artist but like... neil loves it

unfairly good at soccer but was too anxious to try out for the high school team

rlly rlly likes samurai jack. he keeps it a secret but hes absolutely obsessed

has a tik tok n most of his videos are of the dead poets its very sweet. he manages to get on the weirdest sides of tik tok tho, involving prison tik tok, serial killer tik tok, cartel tik tok, glitchcore tik tok, and one memorable time, bdsm tik tok

half his playlists r full of hozier.

shares his spotify premium with neil

that cool guy at school whos parents dont care about him so he can do whatever but unfortunate hes lame so he does nothing about it

charlie:

tik tok famous

keating lets him grade papers, and doesnt say anything when charlie fixes his friends mistakes, and once let him get away with erasing cameron's name from his paper so he had to redo the assignment

adopts freshmen

advertises parties on his snapchat

throws parties but not at his own house

horror movie fanatic.

obsessed with the sonic movie

his phone is full of selfies and really cursed memes

all his contacts have emojis

calls mr keating mom with confidence

has a massive crush on jim carrey meeks thinks its the funniest shit in the world

on a first name basis with the principals

meeks:

ppl paypal him to do their work for them

goes randonauting with pitts n sometimes charlie

little witch boy, but on the downlow

rlly into bugs

has every single streaming service but also watches more stuff online than charlie does

teaches all the boys abt queer media and teaches underclassmen or anyone who needs to know abt actual sex education despite being ace

office aide so hes rlly tight with the principals

watches a lot of bad tv from the 80s

has a terrible taste in music

eats sticks and rocks and mud

has 2 pet rats. secret rats. their names are rice and piss

says he shoplifts to look cool but has never stolen anything more than 2 dollars

has a rlly overbearing mom like he loves her but jesus christ please get a life other than watching over ur child all the time hes trying to be cool

hosts all the dead poets on holidays when he can. halloween is a blast

cant drive. none of them are very good at it but he doesnt even have a license

pitts:

so mad that thats his name

owns 4 different radios

actually in robotics. all the poets try to come to his matches, despite meeks being the only one who even vaguely understands it

2nd best driver. picks up neil if he ever gets stranded somewhere by his parents. it happens a lot.

owns a car

has been hunting a lot?? he doesnt even like it

bakes for the poets

takes cooking lessons sometimes, he likes to be self sufficient

likes to get into what all his friends r into so he can talk about it with them :) pitts is such a good guy id die for him

always packs snacks n stuff to feed to the boys throughout the day bc neil is physically incapable of eating at lunch time and the rest of them forget a lot

has a respectable amount of twitter and tik tok followers. is unaware of the significance of this. he just likes giving ppl helpful advice

gives good life tips and has high grades but hes stupid. set his hair on fire on a dare but it was mostly an accident. crashed a car into a brick wall. consistently has a burn on his hand

knox:

twitter bio definitely has "sad boy" in it

no thoughts, head empty

disaster in heelys and a cute top

LOVES tik tok

hydroflask full of pepsi

wears skirts bc fuck toxic masculinity

either shows up to school in a fit meant for the met gala or a hoodie and pants that are half on. there is no inbetween.

has tutoring after school like hes not behind in class or struggle too badly but he doesnt grasp what teachers fucking say half the time so they cover what he may have missed. good teachers. ideal world with teachers who care. jk only keating and his math teacher do it meeks helps with science

watched a livestream of a tv screen with the little blue ray video thing bouncing around for 6 hours and missed it when it hit the corner and cried about it for a day and a half

broke his wrist sophmore year in a heely related incident

has a snap score of like 30,000 idk i dont use snapchat i just know ppl who dont shut the fuck abt their snap score being like 30,000

goes thrifting a lot! barely owns fitting clothes

he n chris are bffs she taught him how to skateboard. is skateboard a verb? taught him how to skate using a skateboard

oh yeah. skater girl chris.

has a lot of anxiety about the state of the world anyways hes a vegetarian and tries to be zero waste to manage it. like he knows its corporations but it makes him feel good

plays lacrosse!

[mastcrplanncr-a]

issue #23 made me really heccin’ emo over eggman and sonic. i was prepared for it, but also ?? not prepared??? holy frick im just gonna ramble under the cut.

first of all, i’m just gonna’ idly ramble about some things i noticed.

Eggman, literally 11 issues ago:

he makes these off remarks and then changes his mind whenever it’s convenient for him smh. that or hes a freaking liar and. WELL THAT’S PRETTY TRUE HONESTLY.

i’ma be honest fam starline is a freaking mood rn. it’s ?? so dumb?? LIKE EGGMAN WHERE IS YOUR FUCKING FAILSAFE UR SOLUTION WAS “not touching the robots hurr durr” PL EASE.

In retrospect, though, this is an interesting parallel to Forces because he’d apparently learned from his mistakes. TBF, and it has been brought up elsewhere on tumblr, this is a man recovering from amnesia. He must’ve just not gotten to that part. OR HE’S JUST. DUMB AND ARROGANT. Like, yeah, sure, there’s no vaccine - lol the heroes can’t fix anything & it also means you’re valuable because you’re the one person who can. BUT COME ON EGGMAN.

my friend actually predicted this holy shit. i was rambling abt a discussion we had in the egg cult, where we were talking about the possibility of sonic infecting eggman to blackmail him into getting the cure because he’s reached the point?? hes so done with eggman’s shit??? all his friends are in danger and hes backed into a wall what else is he to do than do the one thing he doesn’t want to: use eggman’s tactics against him?

and my friend was like:

LIKE. IT IS A HUGE RISK, and Sonic went FOR IT. I’M SCREAMING TBH.

THIS CONFRONTATION WAS SO FUCKING RAW YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND. I thought I was ready for it but I really, REALLY wasn’t. I love the little details of Starline bein’ like: “oh fuck” - usually he’s pretty cocky around Sonic but uh. HE’S INFECTED NOW. And the zero remark - idk if that’s intentional on the writer’s part but ZERO TO HERO anyone?

anyway toxi broke down crying at this point. you have no idea how much i was sobbing over my blue son just. pouring out his heart to his nemesis. that’s top tier tearjerking material.  also starline passive aggressively readjusting his outfit lmfao. BITCH IM FABULOUS. but man the usage of ‘ BE’ and ‘LIKE’ - Sonic knows who Eggman is; he’d never ask him to be something he’s not. but it’s also a reiteration of sonic’s want to see good in him; being LIKE tinker is a statement in that he wanted eggman to be who he was, but NOT to go back. to do good for the world. have it be his own decision, because deep deep down:

isn’t that what he really wants?

Also, although there are those sickly sweet descriptions, the usage of ellipses in this narrative really fucks me up because you can practially hear the gradual realization in eggman’s voice. his mockery starts out so !!! but it just eventually gets straight to the point, as a list. as a routine. because he was used to it. and because, some part of him misses it. notice the usage of ‘need’ and ‘use’. they needed him, and yet he used the people that appreciated him sm like puppets.

some nice guilt there, huh, doc?

ALSO I SPENT LIKE, HOURS TRYING TO FIND THIS EXACT DIALOGUE, but Eggman has a conversation in Dark Brotherhood with Sonic and makes this remark:

LIKE??? this isn’t new to his character, actually? Ignoring the ken penders thing bc smh. Going by this game he’s actually kind of okay with that set up. And he just works so well with the others too??? this isn’t even taking into account the other games he’s teamed up with them. I’m sorry but my head just goes back to this line so many times; it’s one of the ones that stick with me, along with ‘complicated guy’ from lost world. HE COULD!! legitimately do good. and he actually doesn’t find it too bad??? IM EMO MAN...

and IMAGINE making super cool things that people genuinely like... eggman has a HUGE ego, that much is very apparent; he’s super big on appreciation as comes with. and with tinker? he had that - he felt appreciated and loved. people LIKED what he made, and he didn’t have to bend over backwards to have that. his work felt included and he didn’t have to take that appreciation by force like he did with his lackeys (which half the time was fake anyway) .

first and foremost - WE SEE THAT OPEN YOUR HEART REFERENCE, IDW. also sonic’s frustration here, in comparison to the lil smile the panel before - he’s just!! “WHY CANT YOU WAKE THE FRICK UP OLD MAN”. the justification here seems a tad bit like DENIAL to me. and the justification seems... kind of odd from him? since when does EGGMAN justify anything he does? He does what he wants and when he wants, because he’s the E.G.G.M.A.N. he doesn’t care what anyone thinks... right?

it’s because - especially with the usage of better - he didn’t like where that train of thought was going. for once, he’s justifying himself - because the alternative is admitting sonic is right. that he did like that life. that he’d want to go back. throw it in a hierachy and it’s all so simple, right?

also the inclusion of open your heart lyrics here. the incident with chaos was just as catastrophic. and these lyrics in context of the previous panel, highlights how sonic and eggman both seek unity and peace but in their own ways; eggman’s is just evil. it seems a little bit of a diversion to me - to antagonise sonic and make him forget about it. what better way to do that than to relate to him? ‘own styles that we won’t change’ highlights a stubbornness in ways, too, especially with the current context of eggman denying his old life. ALSO IT IS LITERALLY TELLING EGGMAN TO OPEN HIS HEART.

and ngl this seems like idle banter to hide the fact he genuinely felt remorse for his actions for a second. because lbr he has a habit of being all talk when a plan goes wrong or suffering inside,

which starline does quite pointedly explain.

As I was saying above, Sonic has no choice in what to do now - he’s reaching his limit. OR ELSE. hes pondering doing the thing he doesnt want to do. and honestly, ‘you can’t stop me. no one can,’ is so hardhitting not just because of its looming threat, but because of how much it solidifies for sonic that he can’t take the chance anymore. if anyone is going to change eggman, it has to be himself.

also can i just cry over how much sonic trusts tails. im getting sa2 flashbacks.

also man i’d like to point out the specific use of ‘lock you away forever’. it coooould be a reference to sonic’s time imprisoned during the events of sonic forces. bitterness?

NOT SAYING I CALLED IT, BUT I CALLED IT. it still hurts though. and wow, it really is horrifying when eggman fears his own heccin’ creation, huh?

i live for sonic being passive aggressive with eggman. give me more please.

im immensely concerned the direction starline is going, honestly. but it does say a lot about eggman; how he’ll keep trying the same things expecting different results, but failing and never seeing that. because he’s EGGMAN; every plan is brilliant by default!

i love how sonic just !!! SHOT... THE MOMENT HE WAS REMINDED WHAT WAS AT STAKE. son i love you so much you’re doing great sweetie

also, man, can we talk about eggman avoiding his blatant faults, and shoving his failures onto someone else? because this little scene here - eggman ur literally the one who crashed the thing. it had absolutely nothing to do with sonic. i feel as though this is symbolism of his self-destructive nature, honestly. hes always gotta make things harder for himself. (also starline’s face is killing me)

Eggman does what he has to, but technology won’t work every time you kick it. he thinks he can get everything through force but we have several instances in idw where force did NOT work out; you’re not gonna get far, egghead.

MHM, and just who does that sound like, Eggman? honestly the mirrors between these two are seriously destroying me. although sonic is in a horrible position, so is eggman; he likes to think he’s won the war, but hes surpassed his own expectations, and that’s going to backfire on him eventually. hes stubborn to admit he has NO REIGN over this and they’re all doomed, so he’s pinning his failures / loss on Sonic.

is that the amnesia kicking ya in the shin, eggman? or sonic’s reality check? either way, the doc hates emotions. dammit man why you gotta make him emo

future eggman is going to kick past eggman in the kneecaps. it’s times like this ur reminded how much of a kid he is. eugh but that’s work i want my victory and senseless destruction now. honestly if the doc is after success, he is certainly not getting it this way and I AM FEARING FOR EVERYONE’S LIVES. he’ll probably have to work with what’s left of the resistance like the back end of most games at some point.

I’m getting a little burnt out but i can’t forget my son and how much he hurts me.

first of all that third panel terrifies me. the fact it GOT that far does me great concern. the RED EYES? that’s pushing it fam i dont like that. the expressions are also just freaking destroying me; they’ve been PERFECT this issue. and the fact sonic is at his weakest when he feels like he’s failed everyone hurts me deeply. he has SO much on his shoulders and its getting too overwhelming for him.

also man... the whole thing with eggman... just stuff me man. but it hurts all the more because it’s so glaringly clear that there is?? some good in eggman??? he just. doesn’t want to admit it. and unfortunately these aren’t good circumstances to debate on that.

ANYWAY, THAT ISSUE WAS AGONY AND IM STILL REELING AND HAVENT EVEN. TALKED ALL THAT MUCH ABOUT SONIC HERE (on account of this being eggman’s blog) but idk if i’ll write anything on that.

gonna go cry about an egg now brb

[mobius-prime]

157. Sonic the Hedgehog #90

Sword of Omens

Writer: Karl Bollers Pencils: FRY and Ron Lim Colors: Frank Gagliardo

So, who exactly was it last issue spying on Sonic the Sword Thief from the shadows as he left Knothole? Why, Mina of course! Sonic recognizes her as the girl he saved from throwing herself at Eggman's shadow-bots during the initial retaking of Robotropolis, and she says that she's been babysitting for Rosie ever since then, but hasn't been able to get thoughts of finding her family again out of her head. Sonic is mildly irritated, asking her why she would throw herself back into danger now and throw away his efforts at rescuing her before.

While they spoke, a squad of combots, armed with cloaking devices to turn them invisible, have snuck up on them. Eggman watches from Robotropolis, pleased that the bots he sent to find the sword just so happen to have found it in the hands of Sonic himself. He's determined to get the sword to ensure that no one can use it to give any more Robians back their free will, keeping Uncle Chuck and Muttski close to him as reminders of what happened before, where they stand staring with blank eyes. On a happier note, Sally and Elias are still in the middle of celebrating their mother and father's successful recoveries in the med-lab.

Well, that's moderately unsuccessful, I guess, but you gotta admit, being a paraplegic is way better than death. Outside Knothole, Sonic attempts to fight back against the combots, but while he's distracted, an invisible bot grabs Mina and begins to haul her away. At the same time, another bot grabs the sword from Sonic's hand. He's torn, initially thinking about going after the sword instead of Mina since not only can it give Robians their sentience back, but Mina has been wanting to be roboticized for a while now, but in the end his conscience wins out and he attacks the bot holding Mina. However, in the process he's attacked by several more cloaked combots, knocking him out and leaving a terrified Mina standing next to his unconscious form.

Well well well, it seems Mina and Sonic may have a very important trait in common! As she races them both away to safety, Geoffrey approaches the med-lab to speak to the king, who is discussing his situation with his family.

That didn't take him long at all to realize, did it? Mina has hidden herself and Sonic in a hollow log, and right when they're about to be discovered, Eggman gets a sudden alert that two unidentified objects have begun to fall from space, due to land square on his city. He recalls his bots just as Sonic begins to wake up, and after Mina tells him that in the chaos the combots took the sword, he hides her away amongst the bushes, racing after the bots to get it back. Eggman climbs up to his observation deck to watch the meteors hit as well as to watch for his combots' return, hoping they'll get there before the impact. Sonic catches up with them just as they reach the city's outer limits, and watches the imprints of their footprints in the dirt to fight since they're invisible. He hits the correct bot, knocking it over, but is shocked when something cuts it in half mere inches from him.

Lucky you weren't standing like, half a foot closer, man. Sonic looks up in alarm, only to see the two giant flaming meteors hurtling toward earth just above his head…

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Writer: Ken Penders Pencils: Steven Butler Colors: Frank Gagliardo

The situation in the labs is quite bad. The rescue team has found Yanar banged up but alive in the debris, and Gala-Na herself has arrived to assess the situation. Meanwhile, back in their quarters, Rob leads the others out a window so they can reach the chaos faster. He decides they should all blend in for the time being since they don't know what's going on, so they all take some firefighter suits that are just lying around nearby and race in to join the team fighting the raging fires within the complex. But where is Knuckles in all this? Is he okay?

SAY HELLO TO GREEN KNUCKLES, EVERYBODY! HE'S MEAN, HE'S GREEN, AND THIS WILL GO ON FOR THIRTY-SEVEN MORE GODDAMN ISSUES!

No, I am not exaggerating. I counted.

Antoine defends Knuckles from Gala-Na's obvious horror, noting the differences that can arise between family members throughout the generations and using his own father as an example, just as said father bursts from the wreckage in a murderous rage. Knuckles uses his overcharged Chaos powers to hold the High Sheriff in place inside an energy field, while Gala-Na frantically calls for security to come racing in armed to the teeth. She snaps when the others beg her to reconsider, but Antoine recounts how on the way over to Mercia, he, Bunnie, and Amy stopped in the North Tundra, where they met Rotor briefly. Rotor helped out by giving them an "electronic neutralizer" which could put a Robian in stasis for safe transport, which they intended to use on Antoine's father. However, Gala-Na refuses, snapping that they cant guarantee there won't be negative fallout from such an action - and a furious Knuckles, upon hearing this, unleashes a burst of green energy that engulfs the entire area. When the light clears, he and all his friends have vanished, leaving Gala-Na and her security team alone in the wreckage.

Say hi to the new Gala-Na! In past issues she's always been portrayed as a gentle, almost angelic individual happy to welcome people to her city, but now we're seeing another side of her - a much uglier side. I'm a bit baffled, though, as to why she's so concerned about Knuckles gaining powers similar to Dimitri, as, well, none of that debacle actually happened anywhere near Albion. In fact, Albion seems even more isolationist than those of the Floating Island, and barely seem to have had much contact with the island at all, since Knuckles didn't even know of their existence until he met the lost tribe. You'd think that if anything, the Brotherhood would be the ones who are the most concerned - and yet here Gala-Na is, wanting to stick her nose into matters that are none of her business. Here's hoping she doesn't make any stupid decisions like going after Green Knu… nah you know what, we already know how this will go, let's just jump forward into her dickery next issue, huh?

[variety-toaster]

I fucking hate Hanzo, and I hate what he has done to Overwatch.

Ok, so, I’m gonna rant about game balance for a second, and I say some angry swearwords here so if you’re not cool with that, you can just scroll by. Now, I’m not sitting here and getting mad without having a theoretical solution to the problem, so just sit for a second, hear me out, and think about it from the perspective of the healers and tanks this bow-toting fuck-wit hero has shredded within less than a second for just a moment. I’m going to explain the problem, why it’s a problem, and how it could be fixed. If you play on console, this doesn’t really apply to you. Ya’ll are a whole different ballgame than the speed of gameplay that PC reaches. Keep that in mind.

FUCK. HANZO.

He is the singular most UNBALANCED piece of shit in an already suffering game. I hate him so god damn much. The ability to INSTA-KILL is already bullshit outside of ultimates, but he is the fucking WORST with it. He's a "pseudo-sniper" who can do sniper level damage without scoping, which is one thing, but his rework and the lack of balance they’ve applied to it??? FUCK. THAT. NOISE. There is NO reason that a SNIPER should be able to 1-shot at ANY range, and by that I mean close range on top of their already extensive distance options. At least Widow has to scope in, and landing close-range shots is not easy. Ashe, same thing, although her dynamite gives her some options, but she can damage herself with it. Ana is a fucking healer. Hanzo doesnt have to zoom in, and can KILL in 1 FUCKING SHOT from ANY distance. It's BULLSHIT.  His basic attack is a fucking 1-hit KO move. There is ZERO excuse for that shit. He can RAPID FIRE arrows too with Storm Arrow! and they do MASSIVE damage! enemy DPS? full of holes. supports? already dead. Tanks? Dead in < 1 second. Fucking garbage. Ok, yes, you have to aim and shit, yeah, and it takes some amount of skill, but on PC, aiming is a tad-bit fucking easier with a mouse than it is with a controller. He can just spam arrows down a choke and the whole team can get ripped apart! He does loads of damage, and can actually MELT shields! So pushing through chokes is EXTREMELY hard when the rest of the enemy team is firing through their own. On attack, his high mobility makes it easy to drop in behind the healers, rip them apart before they have time to fucking react, and then everyone else can just come barreling through. Yes, counterplay exists in Overwatch. But hard-counters in any game are fucking bullshit and we all know it. Game-balance should allow for characters who are being countered to continue to hold up against their counters to some degree. Because it’s called BALANCE. Meaning they need to be EQUAL, in various ways. The dev team has not been doing that well at all lately, and the game has very much become a game of rock-paper-scissors. It’s not fucking fun. Using skill and teamwork to defeat your opponents in combat fairly is both rewarding and fun. Losing because your teammate is paper when the enemy chose scissors and won’t switch to rock fucking isn’t.

Hanzo isn’t countered by many, if any, heroes. Don’t fucking hand me a list of “Hanzo counters” because we’ve all seen a Hanzo main make that counter-hero look like roadkill with ease. This recreates the “Junkrat double mines” problem we had before. If you recall, when Junkrat was given two landmines in his arsenal, they did massive damage, the moment they hit the opponent. Didn‘t matter how far you were from the explosion, they did the same amount of damage as they would on a direct hit. Now they’ve fixed that, and distance from the center determines damage, but for several months, Junkrat was a highly popular pick, and fighting him... just felt unfair. For everyone. Squishies just popped instantly, and tanks went down without much of a fight.  People left the game altogether out of frustration with the lack of balance. Fighting him wasn’t fair, and there wasn’t much you could do to stop him without some serious teamwork. It wasn’t fun to fight him. People would just leave games altogether when the enemy had a Junkrat. I watched it happen. A quick comment in the chat saying “Junk is fucking bullshit” and “[player] left the game”. It was consistent, too.

Hanzo... is just that, again. It’s not fun to fight against him. There’s no real way to stop him. He’s become really popular because of this, and the more he’s played, the more skilled people become, and while yes, more skill means greater reward for any hero, it also means more unfair insta-kills on heroes who cant do anything about it, unable to fight back, in every game. It’s not fun. It just isn’t.

This isn’t helping balance changes to other heroes either.

Healers and tanks are still only seeing minor changes and adjustments (mostly nerfs), and DPS heroes are getting buffed left and right, just to put them at the same broken fucking level as Hanzo.

Maybe it’s more of the balance changes being made entirely based on the OWL, which was already a goddamn problem (very small percentage of players of extremely high skill causing devs to make gameplay changes that drastically effect everyone else), because my theory is maybe they’re trying to make games move faster, so making DPS kill everything faster while the killcam looks great for the OWL cameras... But that’s just a personal theory, and it’s probably not that.

Hanzo is continuing to be a fucking problem, and playing Overwatch, even in quickplay, where I should be able to enjoy the game casually for fun, has become frustrating. It’s not fun to die in one shot because you stepped one millimeter around a corner, or because your tank’s shield broke in a shorter time than it takes your Guardian Angel ability (as an example, since it has a 1.5 second cooldown) to recharge.

Yes, there ARE other heroes who can oneshot. Doomfist is fucking annoying, yes, I’ve heard that plenty. But at the very least, there are ways to stop Doomfist. Stuns and boops affect Doomfist, because he physically has to be in close range. Hanzo can tear you apart at ANY distance. Those things aren’t effective if you’ve already taken just one arrow and died, or if your healers have been wiped out because he climbed over a wall, and stuck a few rapid fire shots at point-blank range into their skulls.

It’s not fair, and it’s not balanced. There’s no way to kill Hanzo in a way that matters. He’ll just come right back to rip your team a new one every time. At the very least you can take a Doomfist down a few notches by being more careful, and swapping to heroes who can keep him from breaking your face. Hanzo can just... change his distance, and keep killing you. A lot of that has to do with his way-increased fire rate and projectile speed. His damage is way more consistent, and nothing else was brought down to make up for this sudden increase in overall damage output during his rework.

It’s not about skill.

“Oh I kill Hanzo-mains all the time, it’s not that hard. Just get good.” Then you haven’t been paying attention. Maybe you don’t see it, but your healers see it, and your tanks see it. Because if you’re killing Hanzo “with ease,” you’re playing DPS, and I told you at the beginning to consider it from the perspective of the other classes.

He could EASILY be balanced, that's the worst part. It would be so simple yet so effective. He’s a sniper. Reverse damage drop-off. For everyone else, the farther an attack has to travel, the less damage it does, with a few exceptions for certain heroes. This is called Damage Drop-off. Hanzo could be balanced by having the opposite applied to his attacks. The CLOSER he is to his opponent, the less damage he does. It would force the SNIPER to actually be a fucking SNIPER. It’s a simple, yet effective strategy. No more walking through Orisa’s shield to shoot her in the face. No more hopping around through Rien’s barrier to fill him full of arrows. He’d have to put some distance, and focus on his aim. It would make him require MORE SKILL, since while he still does massive damage from  distance, he can’t scope in. He can still defend himself close range with storm arrow and lord knows his wall-hacking sonic arrow could alert him to danger. He literally has a “jump away” lunge ability. He’d be fine, playing as a sniper like he was intended. He can still shoot and look around without being scoped in. Flankers will have just as hard a time getting in his face as before, except now, they might stand a fucking chance without having to have like a thousand hours on Genji or Tracer, and I don’t know, counter him in some way. Game balance is so crucial to the enjoyment of a game like Overwatch, and it has been WAY TOO LONG that this Hanzo rework has gone overlooked by the devs. 

If it isn’t fun to play AGAINST a hero, it shouldn’t be fun to PLAY that hero. The goal of a game is to have fun, but it’s not fun when you get sent to the spawn room 8 times in a row no matter what your rank is or how long you’ve been playing. It’s frustrating, and it’s one of the issues people aren’t articulating when they talk about how winning in Overwatch doesn’t feel like a victory and losing feels aggravating, and leaves you in a sour mood, even though you’re just... playing a game.

But hey, that’s my personal idea as to how to fix this hero. I’d love to hear your ideas too! I’ve had a lot of people I’ve talked about this with tell me they’d rather the devs bring back old Hanzo with the scatter arrow than leave him how he is right now. What do you think? Do you agree with my idea, or maybe the return of Scatter Hanzo? Or maybe you have another idea? Constructive criticism is totally welcome here, or feel free to just let me know if you agree or disagree. However, if your response is something like “lol umad?” or “he’s balanced. shut up.” (without any real argument) kindly fuck off. Thanks so much for reading! Have a nice day! (drink water or something, btw)

[jasminerobotnik]

Fradulant Gain Chapter 3

Jasmine wakes up to discover that is was 2:45 p.m. Thrusting her head back onto her groaning in disbelief. A sudden urge for water crept up in her throat. Jasmine crawls out of her bed walking zombie like towards her bathroom and fixes herself a quick glass of tap water. It tasted nasty but it fulfilled her thirst. Now that she is somewhat more awake she remembered that she was locked up in her room. She thought that surely he would of unlocked it by now.

 Curiously Jasmine tested the knob to only discover that it’s still stiff it wont open up.

That ass-wipe he forgot to unlock the door! OH he is going to hear it.

Jasmine strolled over to the window opened it as gust of wind brushed gently against her face. Taking a peek  down below she judges with herself if weather or not she would be able to make the jumps down ok. Or if to jump down at all. It is a three story drop. She could easily slip n fall, and get seriously hurt or killed. Studying the windows after a little bit longer, Jasmine noticed that the window sills were large and sturdy enough for her to jump on.Jasmine began to crawl out of her window. About half way out her heart began to race. Taking a deep breath she drops down dangling on to her window sill for a few  moments  before dropping down to the next window sill.

Heh this is not so bad, just gotta watch what i am doing.

Jasmine continued down two more times. Eventually reaching the ground. Feeling victorius of her escape she stepped backwards only to be reminded that she was barefoot when a sharp pain shot through her foot making her have a bouncing fit.

            Ow, ow fuck, shit that hurt.

Regaining her balance and feeling embarrassed of herself she makes her way to the front entrance of the base. The doors open automatically at her approach letting her continue her journey back inside. Jasmine still ticked at Eggman  she wanted to find him as soon as she could and tell him that he had forgotten her. Then she thought to herself

maybe he fell asleep and just forgot? He does tend to fall asleep when he works late.  

Continuing her stroll down to his work station she first notices that the lighting was a bit dimmer than usual. Almost like what you would see in a haunted house attraction.

            Maybe he is trying to save on the electric bill it has been going up for the past few months now, its about time he took my advice.

As she was walking down the halls she could her her every foot step echo which made her realize how creepily quite the place was. Eventually arriving at Eggman’s lab she knocks and opens the door. Eggman’s back was facing towards her, he stops working and sits up straight in a panic as if Sonic walked in.

“ Is that you Jazzy?” he said in a panic

Jasmine wondered why Eggman was being so jumpy even if it was Sonic he wouldn't jump like that normally.

“ yes, and you left me locked in my room! ” Jasmine replied sternly as she crosses her arms.

Eggman getting up from his chair walks over to Jasmine and caresses her face, Enjoying the strokes which caused her to blush looks up at Eggman.

“ My apologies my dear, I was so busy I completely forgot. But i must ask. How did you get out?”

Jasmine places her hand on Eggman’s hand which was placed on her cheek

“ I.. I climbed out the window” she replied

Eggman breaks the bond  as he looks in the opposite direction in disbelief,

“ You climbed out the window? That's like 4 stories high, you do realize that you could of fallen and gotten yourself killed?!”

Jasmine stood there dumbfounded by his words, she knew he cared about her,but he had never over reacted like this. He usually tells her to be careful next time she does it. Has Eggman developed deep feelings for her now?

“ I know that Ivo but, I was mad that you left me locked up in my room.”

Eggman turns to face her once again, and his face looked downhearted, he holds her tiny hands.

“ I understand that dear, and I am deeply sorry for that.”

Jasmine gives him a hug and buries her face in his chest. Eggman wraps his arms around her tiny body, and then begins to pet her hair.

“ Don't be upset Eggy, I hate it when your unhappy”  

Despite Jasmine’s face being muffled he could still understand her. Eggman picks her up and holds her like a newly wed bride, Jasmine was surprised by it as she grabs on for dear life. Effman carries her back to his chair and sits down with her in his lap and continues to fondle with  her hair. In that moment Jasmine felt like a cat being petted. Jasmine even wondered

If I had longer hair would he brush it?

Ether way Jasmine still enjoyed the petting of her head, it put her at ease even made her feel sleepy where she let out a long yawn. In which Eggman noticed and chuckled.

“ Now I think it’s time for us to go back to bed, don't you think?”

Jasmine looks up and smiles

“ Yes I agree, but you haven't been to sleep yet.”

Eggman gets up from his chair and places Jasmine back on her feet.

“Right you are, I haven't been asleep yet and it is about time I should”

Jasmine smiles and hugs him tightly one last time telling him to sleep well. and heads back to her own bedroom where she slept for the rest of the night, but the thought of Eggman’s changing behavior towards her lurked in the back of her mind, and it made her feel fuzzy inside. She did not want this feeling to go away ever. Lying in bed she had this urge to be near him all of a sudden; even wanting to kiss him. She laid awake with her little fantasy of kissing eggman for a while, eventually falling into slumber  until the next morning. Jasmine’s eyelids opened to the sight of red on her nightstand. Once regaining  sight she realizes that the red was from a vase of red roses that Eggman left for her, and a little note that read.     

Jasmine,

 I still feel bad for leaving you locked up in your room, so i got you these flowers. You like Roses right?

-Eggman.

Jasmine lets out a grin and her heart felt fuzzy inside once again. She leans over to smell the flowers, she didn't want to pull her nose away from it the aroma was just to nice.

He is just so sweet. If only others could see him like this.

Her attention to the roses was suddenly cut short when the alarms around the base began to blare.  Nearly jumping out of her skin, she heads for her bedroom door  and opens it wide open. Robots fly right by her and a explosion occurs nearby. She places her arms over her head. Once putting her arms down she looks down the hall and  see’s GUN agents heading her way,  she goes back into her room to prevent being seen, or worse captured. Listening for the footsteps they stop by her door and she hears a males voice

“ I saw somebody come through here!”

And another voice which was another male “ I did to. WHO EVER IS IN HERE OPEN UP THIS DOOR OR WE WILL OPEN IT FOR YOU!”

Jasmine panicked she only had seconds to think.  She peeks outside, but they are out there too. She opens the window hoping it will do some good.  And she stands right by where the door would open and waits. While her heart was pounding against her chest and holds her breath.

“ THAT’S IT WE ARE COMING IN!”

The door slams open with a loud bang. And it falls to the ground and 3 GUN soldiers rush inside. Running to the window that was Jasmine's only open window to get out and run. She dashes out and runs as fast as she could not looking back to see if they were following her. Jasmine knew needed to find Eggman fast but he could be anywhere.

“ THERE SHE IS!” a voice booms from the opposite side of her. Jasmine looks behind her. They are catching up to her

OH SHIT!

Running harder and harder away Jasmine can feel her breath getting short. She is not a good runner. Not wanting to be captured was her motivation to keep running for as long as she could.

She hears gunfire and she falls to the floor to avoid from being hit. Beginning to crawl two sets of arms grab ahold of her. And they roughly pull her upwards as Jasmine struggles to get loose.

“ Nice try bitch, you cant get away from us” said one of the agents

Jasmine continues to struggle, but the strength of the two men overpowered her.

“ I say we take her into HQ ask her a few questions about the Doctor. Im sure she knows a thing or two”

Jasmine looks at the man

“Im not telling you fuckers anything!”

The soldiers laugh hysterically and one of them yanks at her hair causing her to yelp in pain.

“ we will see about that, only one can handle so much pain until they break”

“ then I guess you will have to kill me, I will never talk” Jasmine replied

“ oooo what a tough one, are you really willing to give up your life for him? Women I swear… can’t think for themselves. Well kiss him goodbye you are coming with us.”

The soldiers being to drag her away holding a grip tight around her arms then suddenly

the sounds of gunfire boomed again and the two men fall to the ground and blood end up all over jasmine’s face and clothes. Jasmine shrieks as she looks at her hands and sees the two men dead on the floor.  Resting her hands down still in shock she sees one of Eggman’s robots had shot at the agents. Jasmine was relieved that she had been saved almost wanted to cry in joy, but the fight is not over yet.

   After regaining herself, Jasmine finally finds Eggman in his control room sending out forces to destroy any solder.

“ THERE YOU ARE! YOU’RE OK Good, I need you” Eggman exclaims as he keeps typing a million codes a second.  

“ these fools don’t know when to quit do they!”  He yelled in frustration

Jasmine steps out of the way to let Eggman work and watches the other monitors and notices that a team of GUN agents was heading into the Generator room.

“ IVO, they are in our Generators!”

Eggman swears under his breath and sends in a team of his own robots to eliminate the GUN agents.  And more gunfire was heard over the monitors, and screams as GUN agents get gunned down by Eggman’s robots one by one.  Jasmine didn't want to stand around and wait for the problem to resolve, she doesn't want to be one of those people who just waits.

“ Ivo is there anything I can do other than just stand here?

“ I just need you to keep an eye out for anything I should know about.”

Not turning around as he  keeps typing up code of commands in the computer.  Jasmine being a little disappointed that she couldn't go out and fight. Regardless she did what she was told without question. Everything seemed to be going smoothly for the most part. Eggman kept typing and swearing under his breath. Finally having enough he sends out the “big guns”.  A set of robots that was two stories high arose from the ground and began to fire at the Control center of the GUN army. Glass shatters everywhere and bullet holes appear all over there vehicles making them look like swiss cheese. And blood caked the ground and walls. This went on for a few minutes  more bodies and robots feel to the ground. Until they had enough and a voice shouted  Over the radio intercom,

“ ALL AGENTS RETREAT, I REPEAT ALL AGENTS RETREAT!”

Eggman still pissed off kept firing at them with rage which almost scared Jasmine to a degree,

“ YOU COME BACK AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS!”

All the agents retreated leaving their wounded and dead behind. Jasmine couldn't  believe that they would do such a thing to their own men. To think that the common folk relied on these people just made her feel sick inside.

  “They have no idea what they are missing. Ivo as their world leader would be flawless. One day they will know, or they won’t.” Jasmine thought to herself. Then turns to Eggman in curiosity wondering what he plans to do with the bodies. Eggman looked at her as if he already knew what she was going to ask

“im going to gather them up and i will drop them off at the G.U.Ns headquarters doorstep.”

Eggman turns to his computer and types in a command to prepare for clean up the mess, and to repair all the damages that happened during the battle. The damages were minor but not minor enough to where they could be ignored, and all passwords were changed. Jasmine just standing around decided to pull up a map. Eggman looks at her with one of his brows risen

“ Jazzy what are you up to?”

Jasmine chuckles a bit and replies without looking back at him

“ Im making myself useful im looking for one of the chaos emeralds”

Jasmine zooms in on the left side of the map to a small country. It was the map of Soleanna, the city of water. Jasmine smiled she loved visiting Soleanna, especially during the “ Festival of the Sun”  now she has a excuse to go there and it wasn't for some silly festival. Eggman interrupts her by turning off the monitor.

“ I already told you i have my robots looking for them already”

Jasmine gets a little tense and frustrated, she is sick and tired of just standing around and doing nothing

“ ok that’s it I HAD IT!  I am getting sick and tired of just standing around and doing nothing. You took away the one thing that made me feel useful here! I am going to get that damn chaos for you weather you like it or not!” Jasmine snapped at him. Eggman’s eyes gotten wide like you could see the whites at the edge of his glasses. And he takes a breath as if he wanted to say something snarky back at her. Jasmine waited for it she wanted him to say it, but it never came.

“ You know what your right. Its my fault you been doing nothing lately, i took away your one job. So you may go get this emerald as you wish”

Jasmine was shocked for what she heard. He made no excuses for why he was not letting her go, and best of all he’s letting her go. Jasmine looked back at Eggman and thanked him for letting her go.

“ No need to thank me my dear, besides I think going outside would do you some good after being cooped up inside for a few days.”

Eggman then walked over to Jasmine, took her hand and and started to pet it with his index finger.

“ now you be careful and check in every now and again. Got it?”

Jasmine nods and smiles in agreement

        “ I always do”

Chapter 2  https://jasminerobotnik.tumblr.com/post/168384508238/fraudulent-gain-chapter-2

chapter 3 coming soon.

[cutegirlmayra]

Do you know that thing where people say if you ignore a guy they'll notice you more? Do you think you could do a prompt of someone telling Amy that and she attempts it on Sonic, only to take it too far and have Sonic go in a downward spiral of longing?

(x)

I’m gonna have way too much fun with this one.

Prompt:

“So… that’s it?”

Amy pulled her sweater down from the hands that were in it’s pockets, her eyes sharp as the sheer cold around them.

Sonic looked up to her, but his eyes showed a silent regret.

She pursed her lips, holding back tears before turning away from him, letting some breath go to attempt to release the tension that held in her chest.

She looked to the blanketed sky above her, longing for more, but hoping for less.

“I see….” she tried to kick the ground but ended up stomping on it a few times, unable to hold her true emotions back.

Finally, her face creased and she couldn’t keep her eyes open anymore. “Darn it!” she turned back to him, throwing her hands out in a clear mature tantrum. “You cant’ just push me away like this! What about the others?! Tails, Knuckles… even Cream!” she gestured behind her, before kicking at last some spraying snow up to just reach his knees as he looked away.

He held his head low but there was no sign of shame.

She continued to breath hard, before her body swung side to side and she dipped lower and lower to the ground before gripping her head and springing back up again.

“Sonic-!!!…. I love you!”

He closed his eyes as she watched the air from his nose steam out like a backwards pipe.

“Amy… if what Eggman said was true… then I don’t have much time.” he turned back to her, his eyes fixated on the mission at hand.

She’ll have to wait for a better explanation.

“So that’s it?! Take on the whole world and leave your friends behind, is that it?! Run away and only come back on weekends!?” She gestured out to nowhere, but clearly meant the world, though it seemed to not want to be involved in this lover’s quarrel.

“This isn’t about just me, Amy!” He finally got emotion, at least, somewhat. With justified rage, he swung his arm out, cutting her time to speak off and starting his own…

“I have to hunt down Eggman. If he’s planning what he said he is, then I don’t want any of you involved!”

“You still think we’re not good enough on our own? Somehow… we’re still weak and fragile to you.. aren’t we?” she held in a small, cold choke inside her throat.

Sonic could see her swallowing.

It gave him some confidence that he was winning.

“I’m sorry, Amy… but I care too much about your safety. Everyone stays.” he stated this as if it was final.

“…Everyone… gets left behind.”

That cut deeper into Sonic’s heart than she may ever know.

He saw her suddenly look up, soak in the melting snow to calm her heated face, and looked back.

He let his shoulders rest, tightening his fist.

“You act like it’s over.”

There was a sudden gust in the chilling wind…

Her eyes remained cold… but still glossy from her tears she withheld.

“…Are you going to stare at me forever?” he started to turn away, not waiting for a response.

He knew if she spoke, she’d regret whatever last words she’d say.

But they wouldn’t be her last.

Not yet.

“Sonic!”

He looked behind his shoulder, still remaining strong.

Still remaining a hero.

There eyes locked for what seemed to the both of them.. an eternity of confessing love at last sight.

“…I’ll always be waiting for you… I won’t turn around. I won’t look away… I’ll stand right here… until I can’t see an inch of you in the snow.”

There was something strong and powerfully enduring in those words.

Sonic’s eyes scanned hers one last time, taking in every word they secretly, though loudly bore.

His own eyes softened, his mouth opened to reveal some heavy breathes, before he forced himself to look away…

And never returned.

——-

Amy waited on some tables, taking notes and skating off into the back room to dodge other waitresses rollerblading around.

“Two more, Joe.” she happily dinged the bell before a woman scooted over with a wireless, brick like phone.

“It’s your brother, dear.” she smacked her gum in her mouth and skated away with her hands still up as if carrying two phones.

Amy watched before wondering what she meant, and took the phone up to her ear.

“Hello?”

“Heh, brother? Again, thrilled to be your emergency contact, but brother?”

“You’ve always been my little bro, Tails.” Amy smiled, happy to hear his sarcasm hadn’t faded.

“I know you’re working, but you’ve gotta come see this.”

“Is it really important? Last time you said that, the plane’s ‘new’ engine almost exploded.” she snickered.

“Almost.” Tails reminded her, “Slight miscalculation on fuel gauges. Rookie mistake.”

“At this stage, you shouldn’t be calling yourself a rookie!” Amy teased, leaning against the wall and fiddling with her gloves, pulling them up a little to pinch at the space it created for her now ducked fingers.

“Amy…. It’s-”

Amy had already raced down the street, her coat flying over her waitress uniform and skates thrown onto the street’s pavement.

“About Sonic.”

Charging into an emergency room, the team was already gathered.

Cream was attending what looked to be a wearied Sonic, bruised up and aged considerably.

“He came in and collapsed like that. Saying he needed to see us all again.” Tails mournfully spoke, taking his engineering hat down that a train station had offered him.

He agreed to work there, only because getting a license at flying was over way too easily.

Aced every exam.

Knuckles was refined, as usual. Hands on his now slender hips and his chest widened with exercise and proper eating habits.

The Chaos on Angel Island would miss him soon… including Rouge…

Cream had on her school uniform, but tenderly dipped his cloth back into the cool water with both hands, then reached on her tippi-toes to lay it across his forehead.

Any slowly moved closer.

Like a high definition movie… she noticed every change, every slight feature that had grown into this beautiful man.

His breaths were shallow… but each one clung at her heart.

“He wanted to see us…” Tails continued, but seemed to repeat himself out of worry.

“…All?” Amy breathed out at last, holding her hands back, wanting to reach out and feel if he was real.

His spines… they’ve created a deeper shade of blue that matched more of the heaven’s skyline.

Would they still feel the same? Or were they smoother? Softer to the touch? Or harder than before because of all the fighting?

Non-stop fighting… only the universal radio would spark to life with any such news of his daring fleets or heroic actions against Eggman deciding to stay on the move and not stick around one spot for too long.

Of course, wherever Eggman went, Sonic followed, trailing after him as devotedly as Amy once did for him.

Once…

Had he changed at all since then?

Her mind wrapped around the memory as if suffocating her into a soft blanket of warm tears, before releasing her into the frigged air of that awful morning.

Suddenly, his eyes flickered.

She stepped back in a light gasp, her eyes scanned the whites and then a deep… piercing green.

“…I have to go.”

Why was she suddenly running?

“Amy..?”

Tails turned to watch her go, before Knuckles shook his head.

“She’s seen enough.”

“What do you mean?” Tails turned back to him, a perfect distraction for her to make her escape.

But why?

Resentment.

After so many years of painfully waiting for him… her love had iced over to bitterness. Cold enough to sting you at first touch.

She came to check on him.

Nothing more.

Cream almost ran out after her, “Miss Amy!” she cried before her hands shot back to her chest and held each other as if making sure her own heart didn’t break.

“A..” Sonic started to come too.

“Amy…?”

——-

Head held low, she shoved her hands back in her coat pockets. Black pavement of pebbled roads suddenly were the most fascinating things to her.

She couldn’t get the helplessness of how he laid there in what only could be interpreted as a painful agony… before she was relieved at the memory of him waking up.

‘He’d be okay. He’s back now. But I’m sure he won’t stay long.’ Her heart told her so many times to quit it. To stop being a baby about it.

But she couldn’t help the slight snowfall in her heart. As if that day never heated over into spring.

Remained winter.

Remained frozen in her mind.

A gust of wind made her stop and cover herself, before she knew the second she opened her eyes, and withdrew her hands, she would see him again.

“Hello.”

It sounded charming enough.

“Aren’t you gonna say something back?”

She conceded to the darkness, agreeing with it to stay and keep her eyes shut.

She moved to the side, and started to walk on. Feeling her way with the tap of her feet to be sure of their placement, she began to slowly make her way passed the voice.

“…H-huh?”

Puzzlement.

Maybe he would get bored and leave her a-

“Hey! You! With the silence only a mother could love.” he tried to kid, and she could hear his feet pacing after her.

No.

Don’t tease me.

No more games.

“…Amy?”

She opened her eyes and looked down at the dirty ground that shifted immediately to concrete.

Stepping up the side walk, she lowered her arms and promised herself to advance.

She suddenly heard the footsteps pause and come to a striding halt… which gave her confidence to speed walk faster.

“Amy.”

It was too tender. To pleading for her to stop her dumb act.

He must of known how much she longed to see him again.

“…I thought you said you’d never look away.”

Then it hit her.

She was a woman of her word… after all.

Her head shot up and immediately, she obeyed her heart’s true desire.

She turned around, but didn’t look at him.

Slowly, she strained herself to let go of her stubbornness and pride… and almost darn near melted at the sight of his spring eyes on hers.

It was like he always lived in spring.

Like his eyes… never experienced winter before.

“Aren’t you surprised to see me?” He moved his arms out and tipped a toe up, inviting her into what he knew she wanted.

She was firmly held solid to the ground. As if figurative iced had latched her spirit and wouldn’t allow her to move.

She breathed… and that was all.

Almost awestruck by his perfect features, flawless smile, and even those enchanting eyes…

With the sudden flight of worry in them, she noticed him lower his hands and straighten himself out.

“….You still mad about what happened?” He concluded, and the word ‘mad’ didn’t sit right with her in that sentence.

No. She wasn’t mad.

Bitter.

“I have to go to work.” she stated, as if making up an excuse could help her any.

She couldn’t move.

His face suddenly sang a thousand sorrows.

“…Oh.” he tilted his eyes down.

She suddenly felt her heart leap out of her throat, “How’d you get those… wounds.” it came out like a gushing waterfall.

She thought she had frosted over everything.

Guess his eyes melted her streams… just slightly.

His eyebrows leaped up as he suddenly rose his head, and smirked.

She was letting him win again… and for some reason…

That annoyed her.

She looked away, jutting an arm out to swing and hit her side as if scolding herself.

‘I just care too much.’ she told herself.

“Yeah, a pretty gruesome fight.” he looked himself over, “Can you believe this is the handiwork of five Metal Sonics?” he grinned and looked back at Amy.

That same smile… it was like his whole face was the sun, and she was allowing herself to be basked in it’s rays…

She was melting.

And she could feel her hard ground suddenly smoothing out.

As frozen seeds started to crack open their shells.

“That’s terrible.” she spoke out quickly, and with a jagged second wind, she pivoted and started rushing down the sidewalk in a hurried step of paced footwork.

“I have to go.”

“Amy?”

“Goodbye!” she suddenly dashed, surprising Sonic as he reached out for her.

“Wait!”

“I’m done with that!” she hollered out, as tears started to stream down her face, her heart’s memory locked on better times, but her brain trapped in endless snow fall.

A blizzard suddenly.

Her sorrow turned to even greater resistance.

“Just leave me alone!”

She felt the slightly brush of a hand that had moved at lightning speeds to stop her, but with her sudden last breath, it had frozen as quickly as her memory upon that snowy day so many years ago…

—-

She waited on more tables.

Suzy Q handed her a tray and pointed to a table where the tip of a solid black cowboy hat was peeking the back of it over the station.

Amy nodded, moving her head a little more to see who the stranger was, before skating over to give him his hamburger and fries.

The figure was deeply covered in black, and some faint blue…

“Will that be all, sir?” she setted the table with more napkins and dusted herself off, taking the empty ketchup bottle and removing a fresh one from her apron’s pockets and placing it down in it’s place.

“Yeah.” the voice coughed a moment, “How about a milkshake?”

“What kind?” She smiled, sweet as usual.

“…Got anything you like?” his hat tilted just slightly, but only a paige muzzle was seen.

His smile caught her attention, but she shook it off with a shake of her head. “Yeah. My favorites have to be plain vanilla or strawberry. Oh! There’s a nice chief in the back. He makes me a vanilla one with whole strawberries dipped in it! Hehe~ I know that sounds silly,… you can’t slurp up whole strawberries, but I love it all the same! I pick them out as I go, using a fork or spoon to hassle them out and straight into my mouth! Haha!” she had been nominated as Employee of the Month for selling a menu item like that.

She had a way of charming even the grumpiest of men into one of her favorite dishes.

“….” The stranger seemed to pause, taking her personality in before nodding his head and dipping his hat down. “I’ll take that then.”

Something was off in his voice. It was like he was purposefully trying to grumble.

She nodded, not judging a book by it’s cover.

After all, they tipped the best!

“Sure thing, sir! Right away! And don’t you wait one more minute for a refill on fries either! It’s on me~” she kicked her leg up and winked, before attempting to fly off towards the kitchen.

The stranger was still…

He suddenly pulled a hand to his chest and she noticed it slide up to his face, covering his eyes…

“…Sir?”

“I’m fine.” he coughed again, this time, into his mouth. “I’ll take your milkshake.”

She tilted her head in concern, but she moved nevertheless for him.

Returning back, she placed the milkshake down, skiding to a halt and putting her hands on her waist in triumphant.

“Before the fries got cold!” she cheered herself, as the man had his hands up together, and for a moment, was using them to lean forward over his food on.

“Take a seat then.” he gestured in front of him.

Amy made a puzzled look, and looked at the chair.

“Pardon?”

“Pardoned. Now… sit.” he gestured again.

“Oh, but I’m not really allowed to-” she hugged the tray under her arm, holding it as though a shield, and feeling an odd vibe around this guy.

She waved her hand out before he sated once again, pounding his fist to the table slightly, “Sit.”

She did so, almost immediately, before her cheeks puffed up at letting him scare her.

“Hey! I’m not one to bully around, sir!” she glared, before he leaned foward on his joined, intertwined hands again.

“You seem like a nice girl.” he suddenly stated, making Amy grow nervous with some slight chilly sweat coming down her face.

“Let me ask you something.”

“I’d rather you not.” she muttered, lowering her head and placing her tray down on her lap.

He flicked his hat slightly, but still no sign of a face.

“Why aren’t you married yet? A sweet miss like yourself.”

“…You aren’t coughing anymore.”

Startled, the figure suddenly leaned back and coughed into his hand.

“Something’s not right about you.” Amy narrowed her eyes, squinting before leaning forward.

“You’re clearly not from around here…” she played the western very well, and pretended to be holding him down with her men on standby, a wild west sheriff’s roughnecked daughter.

She suddenly embodied it, and kicked her feet up on the side of the table.

This caught the man off guard… as her pink leg covered his field of vision.

“I ‘aught to string you up for even daring to ask a woman about her past.” she put her hands behind her back, taunting him and getting herself ruffled out of being scared of him.

“What’s all that for? You crushing or something?”

“…Heh.” he ducked his head down, as if amazed by her guts.

“You’re fearless, aren’t you?” he grinned, and suddenly his voice rang a bell.

She broke her character… and slowly lowered her feet down and removed her relaxed hands.

He laughed into his hand, trying to hide it, but couldn’t.

It was signature.

It was spring.

“Only if you promise to tighten the knot, darlin’.” he suddenly lifted his head up, showing off those flower fields he hid so well in his eyes, and winked.

“Hello Amy.”

She was floored.

Spiraling out of that chair so fast, she was suddenly hooked by a hand and shot back down in the seat.

“What’s the rush? Tips on me!”

“L-let me go!”

She struggled in his lap, his hand keeping her still as he reached over her flailing body and took a fry, popping it in his mouth.

“Emm~ Missed your cooking though. Tell me, how’d you end up a waiter?”

She continued to try and reach back and remove his hand from her dress’s white collar.

One wrong move… and uniform would be the only thing left on…

“Ohhh..! Sonic!”

“Acting didn’t work out for ya?”

“Sir.”

As Sonic winked to her, he suddenly was unimpressed at the interuption and looked up at the man addressing him.

He was big and burly.

“That’s my star girl you’ve got your cruddy mitts on, sir.” He was looming with a large stature that could frighten a bear.

Sonic looked unphased. “You’re girl?” he looked almost offended, but confused.

“I thought this was Sonic’s girl.”

Amy’s whole being suddenly stopped struggling.

She stared up at him.

“Yeah right. Like he’d ever have the guts to show his spineless face around here! After dumping her in that frostbitten park for so many years. Staring out on a blanket of nothin’ but old, lost dreams! If he ever comes back, she’s sure to let him have a piece of her mind!” He wagged a threatening finger before reaching out and gripping Amy, helping her up and out from across his lap and patting her back, whispering tenderly as he coaxed him behind his back.

“You okay, lovely?”

Amy was gripping her head, it was mostly pure shock. Not horror.

She looked over at him again.

He stared at her, a new, profound longing in his eyes.

“I won’t ask you, mister. You should already know. Get out!” the man threw an arm out to slash a finger through the air and shoot his pointed finger straight to the door.

Sonic looked at it…

But then got up and looked to eye to eye with the man.

“You must be the chief.”

He threw off the hat, and took off the black cloak. “I hear you’re awful sweet.”

“Sonic! Don’t!”

“Why you-!”

“No one’s taking Amy from me, pal!”

Sonic jumped up, springy as though still in his youth, but much more skilled now than before.

He leaped with a hand ruffling the man’s head over him as his head dipped almost to pound itself into Sonic’s butt-dent on the cushioned seat.

Sonic saluted a farewell behind him, cocky as ever. “Nice talkin’ to ya.” he threw out a handful of rings. “Keep the change.”

“GRRRRAHHHH!” the man rose up, lifting the table with him.

“Gruff, no!” Amy stepped out in front of Sonic, and he winked to the man as if he knew she would.

The man contemplated her sudden movement, before looking and squinting more at Sonic. “W-what..?”

Sonic strung an arm around Amy, and stuck his tongue out at the man before using his free hand to pull down the lower bit of his eye.

“Nwot. Ywours.” he crudely stated, having his words slur due to his tongue sticking out.

He swiped her up into his arms and bolted out, “Smell ya later!”

“Long time no see, Amy! You sure pick good company.”

He set her down, adjusting his gloves in the warm park that once held a painful memory to her.

“Whooo! I’m stuffed! Sorry you couldn’t enjoy your milkshake though.”

He was facing away from her as she stared at her forbidden passion. Standing in the exact same place every morning… where he had left her.

Months… years… what did it matter.

She was always here.

It was like her ghost moved on without her body knowing it.

She was always at this park… every day.

“….I guess you recognize it… huh?” He turned to look back at her, before his shyness was too noticeable to him and he shook his hands out, not wanting to fiddle with his gloves anymore.

“Amy… Tails told me a lot about what happened.”

Amy remained staring… at the same spot he once disappeared from.

“Knuckles said it was best to give you time. You know… not be awesome all at once.”

She closed her eyes.

“…Okay, I’m not the best at conversation anymore. That comes with being alone for the past… pfft, what? Five years?”

“Eight.” Amy corrected. “Eight years….”

Sonic held himself in suspense.

“��Eight?” he tried to count.

“…Have I really missed that many birthdays?”

“You’ve been missed… I’m not sure about your end.” she held the ice that once again emerged from her heart out and letting it spread up her body to her throat, then out her mouth.

“…  You’ve been waiting that long… huh.” he looked embarrassed, rubbing the back of his head and fidgeting on his feet.

“…Look, you may hate me, but… I never forgot what you said. About… well, you konw.” he looked away.

“Waiting?”

He folded his arms. “No… although that was pretty moving. Heh.” he smiled, remembering something fond before shaking his head, keeping a distant. “Nah, not that… something more important… You were always moving, Amy.”

…Amy… How he was saying her name.

It’s like he’d rehearsed this a thousand times.

“I..” he looked down, kicking the ground, before growing skittish and looking away, holding the sides of his elbows but trying to play it off as a casual fold-of-your-arms look. “I guess I never stopped thinking about it, you know? You growing up.. changing.. how you saw that moment. Especially now, too. I never said I wouldn’t come back.”

“You also never said if you would.”

He suddenly looked back at her.

“..Amy, you’re making this incredibly difficult.”

She swallowed hard.

“Good.”

He rose his head.

“Now you know what it was like.” she started to walk off. “How the view looks…”

His eyes rose and traced her figure down the path…

The scene trusted a blanket of white… powders of snow suddenly twirled around her and spread throughout the park in her wake.

She softly, with the grace of a turning eagle, moved her arms out and stood a few, long ways away from him.

“Do you remember… that you never looked back.”

His eyes were absolutely saturated in her colors.

Against the white of his vision, he could see her back in that coat, her soft pink crying with the wind carrying the tears away for him.

Never would he allow himself to step away from taking those tears off himself.

“I’m sorry.” he stifled himself. “I never meant to hurt you.”

She lowered her hands, her face full of numbness.

“What did you mean to do then.”

“…Try.” Now a strange new feature of his face took hold of all his natural beauty.

His eyes bent and absolute emotion portrayed on his face.

In that shameful breath, came a thousand nights of thoughts that floated around the stars at night. All spelling her name. Drawing her sweet smile. Mimicking her glowing face…

“I had to try and save the world, Amy. One last time.” Sonic stepped forward. “But I darn near didn’t… and it was because of what you said. I couldn’t leave it be. When I finally did move on, I suffered in thinking about all of you.”

He advanced more, as Amy’s snow-filled valley sunk deep in her heart.

The soft ground.. sprung some green…

“I ran to your window in the deepest of nights, staring in and making sure you were alright. Some days I watched from a distance to see you lose your first job. The moment you cried when your garden died.”

Her eyes suddenly welled up with water, as trees began to motion themselves upright and dust off the frost that had preserved them for so many years.

All around her… he was creating spring again.

“I almost leaped out to ‘I’m here!’ when you watched that scary movie in your living room all by yourself. And when you walked in the night to check on that stray flicky when it cried out for it’s family. And stood by it’s side till his family returned. I couldn’t always run back. It was painful to watch you remaining so strong. I never knew you came here in the mornings though. I had to race back, each and every night, to get away from the guilt and longing of telling you. Of admitting that fighting Eggman, saving the world, and protecting you wasn’t enough.”

He had advanced so much towards her, that already she was filled with rushing warm waterfalls, fields of flowers, and greenery that revealed the life still inside her.

Face to face, he held back his breath to simple take in the moment of being close to her again.

She was crying.

“I’ve been here, Amy. I’ve watched Tails, Cream, and even Knuckles when he’s stupid enough to think that Chaos are messing with him while he sleeps.” He gestured a hand out that made Amy giggle, before she covered her mouth and couldn’t help but cry harder.

“…Amy… I’m sorry I never told you sooner. Maybe it would have made the waiting harder… maybe it would have made it easier on me… but either way.”

He reached a hand up, wiping the tear he had longed to do himself for over a decade.

“…I want to be here.. to take care of you now, Amy.”

The tilt of his head, the gentle touch, all of winter had passed into a bright, beautiful spring morning.

Amy gently curled her fingers down, staring at the only man she’d ever loved, and watching as his face bent down to hers.

A gentle breeze of spring.

It almost sounded like-

I love you.