#what do they need with eggman's castle ??

[funkii4-blog]

SMG34 In 2024: A Recap Essay

(all text, no images aside from cover below)

This is extremely long since we got fed pretty well this year, so be prepared to read 3000 words of pure insanity from my silly little brain :))

14x01: Mario Opens A Can Of Beans

Not much to begin with as 3 appears very little in this episode, but about two thirds of the way through he's seen stopping by the castle to ask 4 if he can borrow some sugar. Which is funny since he literally owns a cafe next door to the castle lol

14x02: You Used To Be Cool

Oh boy, this one was a real kicker for being so early in the year, specifically for its second half.  

During the scene where 3 is attempting to torture Depresso, we get a short sequence of him thinking back on memories with his friends; playing Garry’s Mod with Mario, Meggy’s heart-to-heart with him in IGBP, and with 4... Snowtrapped?! This is of course the infamous episode from all the way back in 2016 in which the two got rather intimate with each other, so it’s wild that that is what he thought of with 4 first after everything they’ve been through together.

A little later, in an attempt to get 3 to show he’s still a villain (which he isn’t), Eggman tasks him with killing 4 as his final test. When 3 is told to do this, we can instantly see the unease and regret in 3’s reaction; and it’s made clear that he doesn’t want to do this. Over the last year's worth of episodes up to this point, 3 and 4’s bond had improved drastically; it’d been long established by this point that the two are friends now. 

We then see him in his room holding the gun shakily, visibly terrified; he knows he can’t do this, but he also wants to prove himself to Eggman and is torn. He has another sequence of looking back on memories with 4; the moment he finally declared they were friends at the edge of the Demon Pit, their sweet moment under the sunrise (sunset? Idk I just say it’s the morning following the casino heist) as he drew the two of them in his notebook, and as far back as during the Cosmology saga when they only first started to bond. 

He hits a practice target on his wall and starts boasting about how he “finally has a reason to kill that bozo”, but Eggdog is quick to confront what we already know: 3 cares about 4 and doesn’t actually want to hurt him. And while we can’t understand what Eggdog is saying, I think it’s pretty likely he was giving 3 a hard time about how he actually has a crush on 4, to which 3 ignores and leaves the room. 

Cut to the next day when 3 goes to perform the act; he walks into the kitchen where 4 is, raising the gun and saying a dark monologue (presumably knowing Eggman is listening in). He apologizes for this (something I highly doubt he would have done just a year before), and we get a cut to the window being splattered. We of course know he didn’t actually do it, but they still pull this fakeout on us; 3 actually shot the tomato meme that 4 had on the counter to trick Eggman. 

He says he was actually considering killing him “like usual” (which we know isn’t true anymore), to which 4 cries. Eggman then tries to attack the two of them; he initially aims at 3, who is unfazed by this. However, he switches his aim to 4, causing 3 to immediately panic and take down Eggman himself to avoid 4 getting hit. 

The episode ends with 3 setting his hand on the back of the still-crying 4, who is mourning the death of his tomato meme, as he monologues again; this time it’s about how he’s realized he doesn't need to prove how evil he is and that he’s happy with the people around him. 

14x03: CEO Of Rizz

4 doesn't appear in this episode, but I still wanted to note something in this one to come back to later. This episode is about 3 helping Boopkins with his televised date while trying to boost the cafe’s popularity, and there’s a scene early on where 3 goes over gift ideas. He ultimately settles on a creepy Mickey Mouse sculpture, claiming it to be a perfect gift to give a date. 

14x06: Trash Friends

This one also has a lot to cover, so buckle up ;)

3 is currently under a lot of stress, as his recently opened cafe is having a rough start and seemingly failing. 4 runs to him, also upset about supposedly losing an important endorsement he received. When 3 is confused, 4 proceeds to grab him by the face and pull him close in order to use his powers & project a memory of him losing the endorsement onto 3. He begs 3 for his help, claiming it’s because they’re friends and friends help each other.  

4 then urgently claims he needs this endorsement to become popular; we then see 3 getting an idea to take the endorsement for the cafe, but I also like to think he wanted to get it out of 4’s hands to keep him from growing power hungry over his popularity again. He did put a camera in 4’s room to make sure he didn’t go insane again after the whole perfect video fiasco, after all; he wants to look out for him and make sure there isn't a repeat of that. 

Getting this idea, 3 gets 4 to warm up to him via the “buddy chum pal” bit (the exact same way 4 did to him all the way back in Are You Okay). The two of them along with Mario then go to the trash dump to retrieve the endorsement, and classic star trio chaos ensues. 

The two guardians split up and spend hours trying to find Mario, having walkie-talkie conversations in between. 4 asks about the business, to which 3 lies and says thing are going well. When they join back up and 4 sees 3 trying to open a blocked door, 3 panics and says he’s just trying to open the door for him. 

Something interesting happens after that: when 4 is talking, 3 dissociates and ends up imagining 4 belittling him in a way that expresses 3’s fears: specifically, his fears of being inferior to the other (“worse version of you”) and being forgotten. This isn’t confirmed, but I've seen it theorized that the only opinion that matters to 3 is 4’s (with vice versa also possible). 

Once they find Mario, they fight over him as they both try to claim the drive with the endorsement on it, 3 avoiding telling 4 the truth as long as he can. 

The fight eventually goes too far, with 4 calling 3 selfish since he doesn’t understand why 3 wants it so badly. This causes 3 to snap and have a breakdown, admitting his business is struggling severely and how he feels as if he’s the worse version of 4. This makes 4 realize that 3 is struggling a lot more emotionally than he let on, leading to him deciding to give 3 the endorsement willingly.

14x08: SMG4 And SMG3 Rank SMG4 Characters

And here we are, the first of the 3 & 4 improv episodes. I know it’s debated whether these can be considered, but since they consist of Luke & James (4 & 3’s VAs) having in-character improvised conversations, I still want to bring them up. 

A general frequent aspect of these episodes is the two joking around and generally getting along better, which is nice to see. Usually aside from serious moments, we just see them bickering like the rivals they used to be to each other. We also can see loving glances exchanged from time to time in these episodes’ animation portions. 

14x12: Once Upon An SMG4

I only have one note for this one and it won’t make sense unless you’ve watched The Cuphead Show since it’s a parallel to a scene in that, but I still want to talk about it.

After 3’s song at the beginning, he asks aloud “whoever shall be my sugar daddy?” (yes, that’s actually what he said word for word). There proceeds to immediately be a cut to 4 in his lair. This instantly reminded me of the scene in the Cuphead Show episode “Down & Out”, where King Dice claims there's just one thing missing from the revival of his career; there proceeds to be a camera pan downward to The Devil going about his business in hell. Another thing that likely won’t be known by non-Cuphead fans is that the ship between King Dice and The Devil (at least within the show, idk about the game) is semi-canon: They don’t get together in the media itself, but the team behind the show as well as the two’s voice actors have repeatedly expressed their support of the ship. And based on various events the ship between 3 and 4 can easily also be considered semi-canon... :3 

S14 Movie: Puzzlevision

I think it’s safe to say all the good stuff from this chapter of the PV saga was reserved for this movie, because there’s once again a lot to cover here. So here we go! 

The first of many parodies covered in this movie is of SpongeBob with, pretty fittingly to their characters, 4 as SpongeBob and 3 as Squidward. I know this was likely just done to fit the character roles, but you know I can’t help but note that the ship between SpongeBob and Squidward is also very popular within its own fandom. 

Throughout the movie, the two are seen being notably defensive and protective of each other in the presence of Puzzles, moreso 3 of 4. 

Once the gang is split up into different channels after the song, 3 and 4 are of course put together. The first parody they have to face is Rugrats. When 3 is grabbed, 4 doesn’t hesitate to spring into action and save him. 3 responds with a vulnerable “You saved me!” before going tsundere and calling 4 a baka (surprisingly the only time this running gag was used this year). 

After escaping that channel, they land in a parody of the Titanic film. They spot the portal to the next channel high up in the air above the ship, but neither can reach it on their own. 4 suggests he lifts 3 up to reach it, which 3 hesitantly agrees. The two proceed to reenact one of the most well-known romance scenes in all of cinema, with 3 becoming entranced by the beauty of the view around them as he’s held up by 4, embracing the moment before 4 throws him into the portal. 

14x15: SMG4 And SMG3 Design A Mascot Horror

When discussing game genres to implement, there’s a visual at around the 7:30 mark where 3 (dressed as their game’s mascot) pins 4 against a wall in a flirty manner. 

A bit later when narrowing down mechanics to use, for a split second after 3 & 4 agree to keep the romance aspect, Mario holds up a sign that says “Hi Twitter”. 

14x16: SMG4 Doesn't Meme For 1 Second

I’m not a fan of revisiting this episode, but I’ll do what I must in this case... 

After 4 is sent away, 3 is one of the first to acknowledge that he misses the other’s antics, looking on fondly as he says it made the gang’s lives more exciting. He is also the one to initiate a plan to retrieve 4 from the facility, aggressively knocking on the door when they get there to reach Mr. Niceguy. Much like everyone else, 3 is horrified when he sees how different 4 is when they see him again, attempting to snap him out of it with memes,

14x19: SMG4 Simulator

In the fishing minigame scene, when 4 fishes up 3, it says 3 is worth –100 points; however, 3 has a gold & sparkly aura around him that’s typically reserved for the best items in those types of games; additionally, the 0:34 mark on the minigame timer is skipped. I’ve also seen it theorized that this moment could represent 4 pushing away potential romantic feelings he may have for 3. 

Shortly after, 3 is seen sitting next to 4 as he grows sad over not having the reality from the ASMR video he’s listening to, telling him to do something productive before walking away. 4 contemplates briefly before deciding to listen to his advice. 

Toward the end of the episode, he’s shown to have a bootleg plush of 3 in his inventory. 

14x20: Mario's Plane Trip

3 doesn’t appear in this episode, but this is where my note from CEO of Rizz comes in! 

When 4 is getting his luggage scanned, it can be seen that one of the items inside is the creepy Mickey sculpture from before, that 3 described as a great gift for a date. One of 3’s signature bombs is also inside the suitcase. 

In a scene much later in the episode, 4 and Swag have a heart-to-heart about loved ones back home; in this conversation, Swag mentions his spouse. 4 then pulls a locket out and says he has someone waiting back home as well, but the scene is interrupted by Mario before we can see the picture inside. As you can imagine, a lot of people have theorized that 3’s picture is in that locket.

14x27: SMG4 And SMG3 Shop For Cursed Items

It’s a small visual detail but when settling on a gift for Tari, they do a cute high five. 

14x28: Mario Gets Stuck as a GIF 

When Mario loses control and starts to spin around the cafe, 3 quickly pulls 4 under the front counter with him to keep him from getting hurt. 

When 4 is scanning data of 3 in the HQ computer, 3 takes note of how 4 makes the model of him (“Do I really look like that from the back?”), even checking himself out to compare after. 

14x33: Mario Loses His Mustache 

Before the competition, 3 and 4 attempt to conspire to rig it in Mario’s favor; however, this is quickly shut down by Puzzles. 

14x34: SMG4 Theory 

Barely worth noting, but 4 is seen imagining Snowtrapped as he asks if every episode is a dream. 

14x35: SMG4 & SMG3 Come Up with an Episode 

The episode begins with 4 bursting into 3’s room while he sleeps, asking if he’s ready to “make magic”. He then proceeds to ask afterward what he’s doing in 3’s bed (which, mind you, was an improvised line from Luke). 

When 3 asks why 4 needs his help making an episode, 4 responds with telling him that his videos need spice that he thinks 3 can provide, even calling him the rosemary to his bread.  

This is definitely purely coincidental since this line was also improvised, but the rosemary plant has represented love since ancient times, being believed to reveal a person's true love. 

When 4 agrees that 3 should be a main part of the episode, the official sticker of 3 blushing is stuck onto his face. 

The episode they come up with was eventually made, but no, I won't be covering it. 

14x38: Welcome to Puzzle Park 

When Mario is thrown back by the force of Leggy’s yells, it almost seems as if 3 and 4 are leaning on each other on the sofa. 

When 3 sees Luigi get pulled into a portal and realizes something is wrong, his first instinct is to find 4 & Mario and tell them to run. He fails to reach them before getting taken himself, but texts 4 a warning in the last moments beforehand; it’s also seen they both have joke-insult nicknames for each other in their phones. Just a couple years prior 3 would never have taken time to warn anyone and would just have saved himself, showing how far his development has come. 

On top of that, I've seen it guessed that the reason 3 looked so mortified when he saw Luigi get taken was because it gave him flashbacks to seeing 4 get pulled back into the castle in IGBP, hence his immediate action to help 4 get away. 

14x42: Mario Gets Stuck In Traffic

Though they are seen bickering on their way, it’s commonly joked by fans in the shipping community that their trip together to the forklift convention could be seen as a date. 

14x43: The Mario PC Virus

Okay, there’s only a couple notes for this one, but they’re big and important ones. 

When the Crocker virus entities are scavenging through 4’s computer, one of them digs through a folder on his desktop titled ‘Super-Secret Spicy Memes’. It pulls one out, showing 3 traced over a Grimace meme with the text “what’s the matter smg4-kun"; it proceeds to scream the “I know what you are” line from the English dub of Chainsaw Man at 4 over it. It should be noted that that audio bit is commonly used as a joke to tell someone that you know that they’re queer. On top of the meme bring flirtatious in nature and being in a secretive folder, it’s entirely likely that this goofy five-second bit actually indirectly confirms 4’s already-suspected crush on 3. 

When Bonzi’s power destroys the computer’s data, the video projections of 3 and 4 hug somberly as they’re erased; this is the first time that they've been seen emotionally hugging. It’s notably much more romantic in nature compared to a normal hug too, with their foreheads touching and one of each of their hands interlocked. 

Ben, the show’s thumbnail artist, also followed up with a tweet saying “they gay fr :3"  

Late addition, but in the merch sale community post video the day before 14x45, 4’s drawing could be seen taped to a page of 3’s notebook. 

14x46: Luigi Doesn’t Need Mario 

In the scene where the gang is at the hospital, the angle at which they’re shown makes it look like 3 and 4 are holding hands at Mario’s bedside. 

And that's everything! This year may have been a really rough one for the show, but I think it's safe to say the shippers were done a great service throughout. Hopefully the hints keep coming in 2025! (and possibly even them finally becoming canon? please?? it's clear the team loves to play with their dynamic in a romantic way, if they truly want to make it happen then just do it!!! /silly)

[imhereandexist]

Love Letter Across Time 19

Eggman really did push it this time. He broke two of his inhibitors and almost lost control. They had to fight an entire army of Badnicks while protecting a crowd of people. He was getting tired of this. It felt like a hamster wheel now. Constant fighting. Constantly monitoring someone who kept providing hints he wouldn't change. The more they fought, the more he began to put his quills on edge during the fights. Sometimes he would just ignore his instincts to hold back and shred the bots to pieces. Hinting back that he was reaching his own limit.

Shadow and Amy were still fighting. Amy refused to sit back. Knuckles and Tails made sure to stay close and help her. Tails was starting to take Sonic's place in fights. His brother noticed how tired he had grown. The fox was fighting with a mix of his and a personal style of weaponry. But this last fight.

This last fight pushed them all. They let Shadow severely injure Eggman just to keep him down for longer than a few weeks. Sonic had to fight with injuries he was still recovering from. Some were made worse because of it. Even as he got home and stumbled in. He couldn't help but lean on the door. Staring inside and wishing it was a different time. Far from this hamster wheel. Far from this life. His brother was fully aware of what he wanted and made peace with it. After all, they could always talk with letters. He wasn't truly gone just in the past.

Sonic pushed himself off the door and shut it. Locking it and leaning against it. Eyes closed as he listened to the emptiness around him. Tails would be moving on the day he was gone. As a right of passage, he would claim the castle and Sonic made it legally binding. No one could take it from his brother, the new hero of Mobius. He shoved him off the door and limped towards the stairs. Slowly heading up to his room. Doing his best to picture what it would be like if he really could be there once more.

Being king was fine for him. He could still run, but he wouldn't always be on edge. He could finally stop fighting Eggman. He could just take in the sights of the world and enjoy the peace without it being interrupted. Amy and Shadow had a life. His brother chose the path he wanted. Knuckles had Rouge, he wasn't sure when that happened. Everyone had settled. It was only right he did the same. Even if it meant going into the past. Silver still said nothing but he guessed his small chances didn't affect the future that far down the line. Merely changed a few details. If he did, the Silver would probably ask when he was to undo it.

He reached his room and opened the door. Shutting it behind him and sitting at the desk right away. His head hit the wood and groaned softly. Everything hurt but he opened the drawer to look. No letter this time. He closed it and knocked. No knock back. Lance was probably gone. Sonic closed his eyes. He did rise in rank. It made him wonder what it meant for his time. He made a mental note to buy a history book to see if any he changed recently was there.

Sonic began to doze but it was light. Sleeping at a desk wasn't the most comfy but it was the closest thing to keep him up. His body was completely sore, but he ignored it. Choosing to wake up enough to open the other drawer and pull the spare inhibitors out. Thankfully he broke the ones on his wrist and not his legs. He went back to dozing. Once he made sure they were secure.

“Tails needs to make me more…” he muttered to himself, eyes closed.

A hand gently touched his back, “with how the portal works, you can always go back”

“Heh, if only that was true, Lance.” Sonic let a sigh escape, wincing when a bandage was touched. “Ow.”

“Forgive me, but your position is not easy for medical treatment. Perhaps going to bed would be best.”

Sonic opened his eyes, “then I wouldn't be able to se-...” He stopped talking at what he saw.

Lancelot was solid and the room was no longer the modern version. The desk was the one he saw when he first arrived in the chambers to sleep. The glass in the windows and on the balcony was gone.

“How…”

“Merlina adjusted the spell and built what we already had into it. It's now a two way portal. Anyone can use it to go back and forth in time. So long as it isn't destroyed,” Lancelot helped him stand and moved him to the bed.

The hero looked at the desk and then around the room. He was back and not in the most romantic of ways. Bleeding, injured and causing more problems. It was shocking to say the least. To hear he could go back though. Simply by sitting at the desk. Merlina really did come through. He would have to thank her. He would also have to thank his fellow employees for how Lancelot was dressed.

A dark purple tunic with gold embroidery and a beaded belt. Silk black pants tucked neatly into brown boots with more gold embroidery. The gloves were black but didn't go all the way to his fingers. It was cut off just above the knuckles with gold lace covering the rest of his hands. Adjourned to one side was some of his original black armor with golden thread hanging from it and a black cloak hanging diagonally across his back. They really knew how to dress to show who had power. Lancelot had no crown but a diadem. Three tiers, each topped with a Garnet. The centerpiece was an Emerald with gold ivy encircled around the top with green emerald leaves and small sapphire droplets.

“Sire?”

Sonic broke from his gaze, “forgive me. You look stunning. It got my attention. You were saying?”

“Nothing of importance, merely asking if you were in pain. These wounds are bad and..pardon for what I wear. I was told that you would like this.” Lancelot looked away.

He didn't seem comfortable in the attire. Made sense since he was a knight for most of life. Being given no time to adjust and having people dress him and bath him in fine clothes was a severe switch.

“I do but I would rather you be comfortable. Shed what you dislike. What you wish to wear is up to you,” Sonic winced as he stood up.

He stumbled but Lancelot caught him, “please do not push yourself. You are injured. What task must you complete? Allow me to do so in your place.”

“Tails, my brother must know about this portal. He has been dying to meet you and see if can bring materials to his time.”

Lancelot got the paper and pen and sat by him. Writing what he wanted to say down and making sure Sonic could read it as he wrote it. When he was done. Lancelot rolled it up and stuck it in the drawer. Two servants came in and right away, screamed at the sight. Immediately, both had the food set on the dresser. Running to his side and checking over the wounds. Even patting his stomach for weight. One was sent out by the other with Lancelot taking his meal over to Sonic. He was told to eat it while Lancelot got another meal made for himself. As for the wounds, the remaining servant ran to get medical supplies.

He didn't fight them. They would spread the news and that would mean a whole shebang of paperwork and things that didn't involve fights. For once, he was looking forward to that.

“Sire? You are not warm to the touch.”

“Sorry, Lance…I am just exhausted. I just got back from my adventure. I haven't rested yet. So I am out of it,” Sonic looked at him. “If it's possible and after I eat. Could I rest? Do whatever medical…stuff you need. I just can barely keep myself awake.”

“Course, please eat. I'll tend to your wounds as you sleep,” Lance pushed the meal towards him. “And then, we can talk later about your schedule.”

“Sounds like a great, permanent vacation to me,” Sonic began to eat.

It was slow and hard to do. Lancelot had to help him hold the utensils at times. He felt bad, but it was not something he could help. He was fighting sleep while eating. The more he ate, the more his body just wanted to sleep. He managed to finish the meal and was allowed to lay down. Lancelot got off the bed but he didn't wait to sleep. He gave in and crashed.

When he woke again. He could see clean bandages, fresh clothes and Lancelot reading by his bedside. The knight shed the cloak but kept the rest. No capes, mental note made.

“Never knew you liked shiny things,” he half teased to get his attention.

“You didn't seem to hate it. You said I looked stunning,” Lancelot closed the book. “Must be a compliment.”

“It was. You look handsome. I'm a lucky guy,” Sonic covered his hand. “It's so nice…for this to be real. I thought I was going crazy.”

“I promise. It's real.” Lancelot pulled his hand up and kissed it. “And now, you can come and go between times either alone or with another of your choice. Or they can come to us. It's open all year around. So long as the desk remains intact.”

“Then when I can move, we should take a trip to my time. I'd love to show you it.”

“Feels like the Feywilds from that story I read. I can't wait to see it,” He flashed a rare smile at Sonic. “Welcome home, my love.”

“I'm home,” Sonic smiled back at him.

[ev-rebound]

Sonic Prime Rewrite: Chapter 1 New places Familar Faces

The sounds of badnicks being bashed, lasers and rockets flying, and eggmans laughter echoes throughout the cave. “You’re all too late! The prism is mine!” The hand of his latest mech is gripped tightly around the large gem about to be pulled out at any moment. “Heh! I’m never late egghead!” Sonic curls up and spin dashes at the Prism, “Sonic wait-”

The blue blur hits the gem. He hears it shatter. Then everything goes white. 

-

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Sonic falls from the sky and curls up bouncing off a dumpster and hits a wall across from it, “Ughh…” he groans as he slides onto the ground. He sits there slumped against the wall for a moment then jumps to his feet looking around frantically. “Tails! Amy! Knuckles…Rouge?” Where was everyone? And why was everything so dark with neon, and ugh that smell smog, Sonic coughs not at all used to this kind of air, -ugh not even Station Square is this bad- Sonic frowns and zips up to the roof of one of the buildings and gasps at what he sees.

It's as if he’s back with Chip staring at eggmanland just now transformed into an entire city! People walk around miserable and breathing on dirty air, factories can be seen in the distance producing endless smog. Monorails with bullet trains speed past, egg drones patrol the streets, and off in the center of the city sits a massive egg, the castle holding the tyrant responsible for all this. The only lights in the city are the neon lights flashing eggmans signal, Sonic’s quills bristle and he growls at the sight, clenching his fists.

“How long was I out for?! Doesn’t matter! I’m here and I’m taking this straight to the top!” 

He gets into a running position, eyes narrowed and takes off…then he slips, “WOAHHH!” Sonic rolls onto his back as his feet slip out from under him alongside the sound of crackling and the smell of burning shoe leather. “What the…” Sonic sits up and looks at his shoes they were burning!

Sort of.

The soles glow a bright white and crackle with an energy that burns the leather. Sonic groans, “Seriously?!” He stands hands on his hips as he looks at his shoes and he sighs, “Guess I’m skating…if Shadow can do it so can I!” He takes off again this time trying to mimic the movements of his rival with minimal success. At least Sonic was staying on his feet this time around he “skates” across the rooftops eyes sweeping the streets and rooftops for any dangers. -Where are the others…? Oh no, were they captured?! I need to hurry- he tries to run again and ends up slipping for his efforts. Right off the rooftop and into an egg drone, the pair crash land into the ground. The egg drone is crushed and Sonic stands on shaky legs with a hand on his head, “W-Well that's one way to handle a badnik…huh?” he notices that no animals pop out of the robot, “That's new…”

He looks around and notices people staring for a moment before getting back to their depressed shuffling. -hm…- Sonic doesn’t get much time to think as a siren blares and more egg drones make their way towards them. Sonic grins and takes off keeping his balance, “Catch me if you can egghead!” -

Meanwhile a dark figure stands in front of a wall of monitors watching as a blue blur zips past every camera too fast for them to get a clear picture. And too strong for the egg drones to stay on its tail for long without getting bashed. She presses a button on the control panel below the monitors and says in an emotionless voice,

 “Omega, your services are required”

-Next-

[bitttertrees]

“Dungeons and Dragons is for kids! Castles and Creepy Creatures is the true peak roleplaying experience.” “You realize adding ‘creepy’ to it actually makes it sound more childish, right?” “...Do you want to play or not?” Join the Sonic gang on an EPIC tabletop roleplaying adventure! Filled with tears, laughter, loss and a hint of bardic flirting on the side. Dungeon Master Tails sets the scene to introduce the squad to one of his favorite tabletop games of all time while they take a break from Eggman’s usual schemes. Sonic the Bard. Knuckles the Barbarian*. Amy the Paladin. And Sticks the Warlock! Ready to embark on a journey to defeat the evil creepy creatures that plague the magical land. *Knuckles’ role subject to constant change since the rules of each class are confusing him. What do you mean he can’t throw fire as a barbarian?

I got to participate as a writer in the @sthbigbang Big Bang Event! I had a blast being able to write this story that got way more ahead of me then I thought it would!

I also was happy to work with awesome artists @wereh0gz , @dragonofthedepths , @hel-helly , and @madcatscookiejar !! They really helped bring this fic to life! Give them and their awesome art a look when you have the chance!

Fic also under the cut since I have Ao3 locked down to registered users only.

They both stared at the note left on their door. A note that was multiple paragraphs long when, in Sonic’s opinion, it could have just been summed up in a ‘Hey! I’ll come by to try and kill you guys in a few days!’ He honestly ended up drifting off by the start of the second paragraph in the note. Meanwhile Tails, who stood beside him, read it in full. At least one of them cared enough to get through all of Eggman’s dribble and drabble, he supposed.

“It’s a lie.” Sonic finally just rolled his eyes. Letting Tails pull the note off the door. Well at least there wasn’t a random razor blade on the other side of the paper that time “Give it a few hours and egghead will be causing some sort of trouble with his, I dunno, robo-chicken 5000.”

Tails remained silent for a few moments as his eyes continued to scan over the note “He added some ‘reallys’.” 

“Some what?”

Tails moved closer to Sonic’s side and showed him the bottom of the note. Passing all of the fluffy words of Eggman going on about needing a few ‘me days’ and stating he would not be attacking them for about a week as he reflected on his life and the meaning of it, there was a ‘P.S.’ note on the bottom.

“I really, really, really, really mean it.” Sonic read the last bit out loud before he rolled his eyes once more. Clearly not buying it.

“Usually when someone uses a lot of reallys. They really mean it.” Tails nodded as if it truly was some unknown fact. Well Sonic had never heard of it so he was calling bull shit.

“Give it a day. Just one.” The hedgehog shook his head before he opened the door to their humble abode. “By tomorrow he’ll be tired of his vacation and come running into town. He at least better wait until AFTER chilidog o’ clock.”

“About that,” Tails flipped the paper over where somehow there was even MORE writing. Was that part of the plan? To bore them with excessive amounts of writing? Because it was working on Sonic. He already wanted to lay down for a nap with what little he’d read over “On the back there is a P.S.S. Yes, that’s a thing.”

Tails held a hand up to stop Sonic from asking his question. The hedgehog left with an open mouth before he huffed and crossed his arms over his chest.

“It says ‘No I won’t be tired of my vacation by tomorrow. I really, really, really-”

“I get it!” Sonic nearly shouted and rubbed at his eyes “Four more reallys! I still don’t buy it. I’m telling you, he’ll be back to his usual tricks by the afternoon.”

Come the next day, the afternoon came and went. Chilidog o’ clock uninterrupted, which on one hand meant he could eat in peace. But on the other hand it left him questioning if he’d actually been wrong and Eggman really WAS taking a week to himself.

“I think those reallys were serious.” Tails had mumbled with a slight smirk on his face when they’d returned home and there was nary a peep from the old egghead. No random threat. No robot attack. No trash can left turned over and litter strewn about. 

“He’ll attack tomorrow.” Sonic nodded with an air of confidence.

There was no attack the next day either. Amy had been brought over to read the note when she questioned why things had been so quiet. Reading it over carefully while Sonic tapped his foot with impatience.

“I mean,” She finally spoke and flipped the paper back and forth “There are no less than eight reallys. That is pretty serious.” She nodded and Tails joined her. Sonic was very close to banning that word from the house “I think he is taking a vacation. I hope not on some beach where the public can see him.” Amy grimaced at the thought and was probably mentally scolding herself for putting such an image in all of their heads.

“So say he is, which I’m not saying he is,” Sonic quickly interjected “What are we supposed to do until he decides he’s done sipping martinis on top of a killer robot on the beach?”

“Do you have a single hobby besides running and beating up Eggman?” Amy looked at him with a grimace and maybe a bit of pity. Sonic was about ready to talk back in offense when Tails jumped in first.

“What if we take the time to do something for ourselves then? Maaaaybe,” He looked a bit sheepish. A shy smile on his face “Play a game?”

Sonic immediately narrowed his eyes “What game?”

“Oh you know. Just…a game. A board game sorta. One with a lot of adventure. Decisions to make. Characters to build. Dice rolling-”

Sonic let out a loud and over exaggerated groan. He flopped down onto the couch and shook his head in clear disapproval. “You’re talking about that Clowns and Crickets game again aren’t you?”

Now it was Tails turn to look offended “FIRST off, it’s called Castles and Creepy Creatures. SECONDLY don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. It got the highest rating of any board game for three years in a row!” He sounded like a kid in a candy store as he bounced around in excitement. Amy looked endeared, Sonic looked just about done with everything.

“Emphasis on bored.” The hedgehog mumbled, letting out a small ow when Amy elbowed his side.

“Well I think it sounds interesting, Tails. When would we start?”

“Now hold on I never agreed-”

“We could start tomorrow!” Tails practically shouted, bouncing around so much it was a miracle he hadn’t accidentally knocked anything over. Sonic’s pleas had gone unheard as the little fox and Amy discussed details.

“I’ll tell Knuckles and Sticks the plan.” Amy sounded just as excited now “And we’ll be by tomorrow afternoon. I’ll be sure to bring the snacks too!”

“Great!” Tails continued to bounce around from foot to foot. It was probably the most excited Sonic had seen him since he’d built that giant slingshot that caused them to lose Sticks for a whole day. It sort of made him feel bad for not really wanting to play some chronics and canaries, or whatever it was Tails had called it.

But he didn’t really have anything on his schedule now that egghead was taking a vacation. Another five days left before the old man would return and Sonic could go back to his true hobby and-

Oh…maybe Amy was right. His lack of hobbies was a little sad.

Sonic shook his head and rejoined the conversation a little late. Tails rushing off to his workshop to start his planning phase, he had announced. Amy still looked endeared and once Tails was gone, she slowly turned towards the blue hedgehog. He was a fool to not use his speed at that moment and take off. Letting out a yelp when Amy latched onto an ear and pulled him back before he could so much as take a step!

“We are going to have FUN tomorrow. Aren’t we?” She gave him that tight smile that he knew meant he better damn well agree otherwise he’d be having a meeting between a pink hammer and his face.

“Why am I being scolded right now? I haven’t done anything!” He crossed his arms and started to pout. Looking nothing short of like a child about to be sent to the corner. “Because I know that uninterested face of yours.” Her grip on his ear disappeared and instead she switched it to pinching his cheek - which honestly might have been worse “I know you don’t like to sit around and listen for long. But we have nothing else to do and it’s something Tails has wanted to try for some time. So,” She pinched down harder on his cheek and gave it a little shake “We are going to sit there, listen to Tails, and play along with his game and have F-U-N.” She spelt out the word as if it would make it easier for Sonic to understand.

The blue hedgehog rolled his eyes and finally got himself free of Amy’s grip. That bit of guilt from before coming back as he processed Amy’s words and remembered Tails’ excitement. Okay, for just a few days. A few days he could sit around and play a game that his little brother seemed over the moon about. It might feel like torture - but he could do it. For Tails. 

“All right, all right. I get it. No need to threaten me further.” He put his hands up in defense to emphasize his point “Who knows, maybe it will stave off the boredom.” He could hope anyway.

“Good!” Amy’s tight smile became a genuine one. She proceeded to hold out three papers towards him. Sonic quirked a questioning brow at her “Had you been listening and not off in la la land you would have heard Tails talk about this.”

She first handed him a sheet with the word ‘Classes’ at the top. Wait, was learning involved? Did he have to watch a seminar to play a game? He glanced down at the other words to find where Tails had hastily written out things like warlock, fighter, artificer, etc. Okay, he had a vague idea of what the first two might be but what in all the rings was an ARTIFICER? Next to the words were equally hastily written summaries. 

“Use this to pick what you want to be.”

“I want to be me.” He looked back up from the paper, already feeling like playing the game was too much.

“Well you don’t get to be you, well not completely you. Just read through this and pick a class.” She then handed him a second paper “This will be for your stats and spells, if you have any, at least that’s what Tails said.”

“And I have to fill this whole thing out??” Sonic looked exasperated at that point, and they hadn’t even started! Looking down at the multiple blank spots on the sheet. Armor Class? Skill modifiers? Health points?? Why was there so much??

“I can come by in the morning and help you figure it out,” Amy sighed, looking as if she knew she���d have to help them ALL figure out what to put on the sheet to make sure it was correct. Lastly, she gave him the third paper, which was completely blank.

“Uh-”

“For your backstory. Tails said it adds to the roleplay experience. Just make something up after you pick your class.”

Sonic shook his head in disbelief “This seems like a lot of prep work for a game. Can’t we just play uno instead?”

“After what happened last time with Sticks - no. Never again.” They both shuddered at the memory. Uno was banned for a reason.

Sonic relented, for now, and took the papers into his hands. He frowned down at them as Amy headed towards the door to no doubt go spread the news of their latest activity to the others.

“Remember,” She stopped at the door and looked over her shoulder at him. That tight smile back on her face “This is going to be fun!”

x-x-x-x

Come morning he had an…inkling of an idea of what he wanted to be for the game. Sure, he could have spent the latter half of the previous day putting it together. But chili dog o’clock reared its head and then he needed a quick run to burn off all the calories he just ate. Another chili dog for the road. And before he knew it, it was getting dark! Can’t think when the sun is down!

When the sun did rise he grabbed the papers and tried to put something together. To at least put a little effort into it when that morning he passed by Tails setting a table up. A giant map spread across it with little figurines of not only people but landscapes too. In Chaos name, there really was more to it then he thought wasn’t there?

“There uh…is a lot of setup to this dragon and dungeon thing isn’t there?” He recalled saying as he stuffed a breakfast burrito into his mouth.

Tails rolled his eyes and GUFFAWED at him! “That’s a separate game. Besides! Dungeons and Dragons is for kids!” Tails announced, seeming to forget that he himself was still a kid “Castles and Creepy Creatures is the true peak roleplaying experience!”

“You realize adding creepy to it actually makes it sound more childish, right?” Sonic quirked an amused brow at him.

“...Do you want to play or not?”

The look of building disappointment on Tails face was enough to break the blue hedgehog. He had let out a sigh and gave the other a small smile “Yeah. I do. Can’t wait, little buddy.” With that he ruffled the top of the fox’s head, drawing a laugh from Tails before the two parted ways. Sonic quickly rushed to grab the papers left behind on his hammock and come up with something.

A class. Class, class, class. Why were there so many?? He only made it to the B Section before he just decided on what sounded the most entertaining. Bards were music sort of folk, right? And he was a music sort of guy! He hadn’t picked up the guitar in a year but details, details. He glossed over the brief description left on the paper and looked at the list of instruments to choose from. He wasn’t a drummer. Or ew…violin. A lute was like a guitar, wasn’t it? 

Eh, close enough.

He tossed the character stats page to the side. He’d need Amy for that one. He COULD ask Tails, but after peeking into the living room and watching his little brother frantically go around trying to set everything up, he decided it was best to leave him be for now. Onto the blank sheet!

He’d spent all of ten minutes trying to come up with something and writing bits of information down before a knock was heard on the door. Said door slammed open and hit the wall - yep, Knuckles had arrived.

Sonic sauntered into the room just as the big red oaf was distracting Tails with questions that clearly were bringing slight irritation to the little fox. Knuckles didn’t seem to take notice that Tails was still trying to set up and had no time for questions or for papers to be shoved into his face. “Hey, big red.” Sonic quickly came to the rescue and he could see the utter relief on his brother’s face “We’ll tick off Tails later while we play,” Ah, there went the relief. Sonic couldn’t help but give Tails a wink, to which the other just rolled his eyes “What are you bothering him for anyway?” “This thing.” Knuckles held up the blank character stat sheet, a hint of worry on his face “Too much math was involved. I couldn’t get it done!”

The hedgehog let out a snort and waved his hand as if to wave off all of Knuckles’ worries “Amy said she’d help with that once she got here. But in the mean time-” He lets out an audible YOINK as he takes the papers from Knuckles’ hands. Zipping around to different parts of the living room as he read over the papers that Knuckles so desperately tried to get back. 

Oof. Knuckles may have written his backstory in crayon but at least he had more lore than Sonic did. It even looked like some thought had been put into it too. Damn. Shown up by the guy that still read picture books. The shame.

“Barbarian huh? See you only made it to the B’s too.” He couldn’t help but yelp when Knuckles finally got ahold of his leg while Sonic was distracted with reading. The echidna let out a huff as he held Sonic upside down and snatched the papers back.

“I tried reading ahead. But everything else was so confusing. These guys just smash, I know how to do that.” He declared proudly before dropping Sonic on his head. Ignoring the indignant sound the other let out as he held his papers proudly in his hands.

“Wow, Tails. Nice setup.” Amy entered the little abode next with Sticks following shortly behind. A ton of papers in Amy’s hands and a load of snacks taking up real estate in Sticks’ arms. The badger tried to put the bags and drinks on the game table only for Tails to immediately stop her.

“Not there! I don’t want you guys getting anything on the board. This one is a limited edition!” His voice raised a couple octaves as the concern was clear in his tone. Ignoring the huff that Sticks’ let out as Tails guided her towards a smaller, separate table that was shoved into a corner of the room.

“How am I supposed to enjoy a game of death and destruction if I can’t eat during it??” Sticks argued but reluctantly put the snacks on the assigned table. Already opening up a bag of chips and stuffing some into her mouth.

Tails grimaced in response “We can…take breaks so you can eat. Please wash your hands before touching anything.”

Amy made her way to Sonic’s side and gave him an expectant look “I hope you did your homework.”

Sonic couldn’t help but roll his eyes. Did she really think he wouldn’t do it? Well…he almost didn’t. But in his defense he’d been in a chili dog induced coma and forgot! He’d at least come up with something that morning! And it was in PENCIL! Which in his opinion made his sheets better than Knuckles, even if the echidna had more substance to his.

“I did,” He quickly ran to his room and scooped up the two necessary papers before coming back to Amy’s side and presenting them to her “Picked my class. Made up my harrowing backstory. Just need that brain of yours to help with some numbers.” He couldn’t help but to tap the top of Amy’s head, shooting his fellow hedgehog a smirk in the process. It was Amy’s turn to roll her eyes now. But the little smile that came with it let Sonic know she was just the slightest bit amused.

Not a moment later he was shoved aside by Knuckles, who presented his papers to Amy with a smile of his own “I need that brain too! This math stuff made my brain hurt.”

“I’ll get it figured out before we start, don’t worry.” She took both their small piles of paper after putting down her own. Sonic grimaced at how meager theirs looked compared to Amy’s.

“You and Sticks really put a lot of thought into this, huh?” He reached over to grab one of the papers until Amy smacked his hand. The blue hedgehog let out a yelp before giving Amy a mockingly hurt look. Cue another eye roll. RUDE!

“None of those are Sticks’. It’s all mine.” She declared proudly. Sonic counted no less than thirteen or fourteen pages when he took a quick glance at the table again “Eleven pages of backstory that I think will help give Tails a perfect picture of the character I tried to create.”

“And everything else in this pile of dead trees?”

Amy huffed and shuffled through some of her papers, pulling out a few with some drawings on them “And these are for reference! How I envisioned my strong yet alluring paladin to look!”

All right, Sonic couldn’t lie, Amy’s drawings weren’t half bad. He was more impressed that she’d had the time to write everything up and even DRAW after their hang out session last night. She’d even had time to make up a drawing for Sticks!

“I’ll whip up something for you and Knuckles too.” She put her drawings down and put her full attention on what the two boys had given her. Sonic just letting her go about it since interrupting Amy when she had her game face on was just asking for a smack with a hammer.

Thus, he took a back seat for once and watched everything and everyone around him. And truthfully, despite not being all that gungho to play, Sonic was happy to see the excitement on the others faces. Even if the excitement was for varying different reasons. Amy was just happy to be able to pull some micromanaging and put everyone’s ideas together with some flare of her own. The mixture of pens and colored pencils already lining the kitchen counter as she worked with a speed that could have rivaled Sonic’s running (Okay, not really but Sonic would give her the compliment even if he wasn’t saying it out loud).

Knuckles seemed excited to be trying something new. Plopping down next to Sonic on the couch and droning on about being able to play a guy that could just smash and punch his way out of any situation. Seeming to forget he was already that sort of guy in real life. It was sort of endearing, if Sonic was being honest.

Sticks looked content with just eating the snacks. Already through one bag of chips and looking to be eyeing up another along with a giant bottle of soda. Once that inevitable stomach ache kicked in, she’d probably say it was caused by the government sending vibrations to their stomachs to make them sick. That had actually been a fun wack-a-doodle conspiracy theory to listen to.

And finally, Tails. He looked like a kid in a candy store as he went about setting up the game table. Moving things around every so often to no doubt make it PERFECT. Or at least what he envisioned to be perfect. Frankly, it looked fine to Sonic. But if adjusting some rock looking thing on the board slightly to the left made Tails happy, then it was best to let him be.

Another half hour later and they all surrounded the board. But not before Tails made Sticks wash her hands of all the food residue she had on them. 

“Are we ready?” The two tailed fox practically beamed. Smile so bright it was probably on par with the sun.

“Yes we are!” Amy declared, almost equally as excited as she gave Sonic and Knuckles back their character sheets before pulling some more papers out to put in front of Sticks. Sonic couldn’t help but raise a brow.

“She wrote all that?” 

“Of course not,” Amy waved him off before putting an arm around Sticks “She told me the basics of what she wanted and I expanded it for her!”

“I said I wanted to be able to shoot fire from my hands so that I can cause enough anarchy to throw the government off of my trail!” Sticks proudly declared before holding her stomach which made sounds akin to a whale “That way they stop sending signals to my stomach!!”

There it was. Sonic totally called it.

“And you got…” He counted the papers “Five pages worth of material out of that?”

“It was just enough to inspire me.” Amy looked just as proud, if not more so, than Sticks. All of them turned their attention back to Tails as he coughed into his hand. Wait…had he always had the hooded cloak on?

“Well, I think it’s time we get started. Welcome to the epic game of - CASTLES AND CREEPY CREATURES!” Tails used a small device to amplify his voice. Sonic shook his head. Amy looked amused. Knuckles bounced in his seat. And Sticks still held her stomach.

“Now,” The fox continued without interruption “Since we only have a few more days until Eggman returns from his vacation, I made sure to make this a quick campaign. Instead of months this will only last us the rest of the week-

“Hang on, hang on,” Sonic of course had to be the first one to draw them to a pause “MONTHS? These games can go for months? Wait…we are playing this for more than a day?” He saw Tails start to deflate slightly and just out of the corner of his eye he caught the unimpressed look Amy gave him. Quickly backtracking to save face “Uh…because that’s fine. Totally fine. Looking forward to it!”

He quickly plastered on a smile and that was enough for Tails. The blue hedgehog let out a sigh of relief before his two tailed brother continued with his spiel.

“Like I said, it’ll just take up the rest of the week. It was a little hard to come up with something on the fly, especially since I didn’t know what classes you all would be picking. But I think I got everything covered just enough where we can improvise the rest.” Tails stood there behind an upright board thingy - a DM Shield, Sonic was later corrected, the fox looking proud of himself. That changed instantly and he flipped the hood of his cloak off before hitting a button and the lights in the room went out momentarily. A sole light above the board turned on to give focus to both it and the little pieces on it. When the hell had he installed that?

“Welcome to the land of Cardovina! A usually peaceful country that has been plagued by monsters, bandits and extra creepy shadows in the past few years. You and your party already know each other. Having traveled to Cardovina in search of adventure. And to try and figure out why the land has been flooded by such evils. But are you also here for your own personal goal? To seek glory in slaying beasts? To be a helpful hero to the country folk? Or perhaps just here to collect the reward.”

Tails reached over his DM Shield and placed four wooden pieces on the board. Each one had a name on it. One for each of them. Tails opened his mouth to explain further but Sticks quickly snatched her piece off the board.

“They say wood is good for stomach cramps in some regions. Can I just-?” She was about to take a bite before Tails quickly took the piece back and placed it on the table.

“That is meant to represent you! It isn’t for eating.”

“I’ll get you some wood later, Sticks.” Amy gave their tummy aching friend a pat on the shoulder before motioning for Tails to keep going. Another huff left the fox but nonetheless, he continued on.

“As I was saying, you guys will already know each other. Amy is a paladin of Pelor. They are usually sworn by certain oaths and face consequences if they are broken. I also made her the leader-”

BOTH Sonic and Knuckles let out indignant sounds at that.

“But I’M the leader!” Knuckles complained, only to let out an oof when Sonic elbowed him in the stomach.

“Says you, knucklebrain. I’M the leader!”

Tails leaned forward and gave them both a look “Do either of you know the complexities of this game? Enough to make informed decisions that won’t get everyone killed immediately?”

“Well no…” Both got sheepish at that but Sonic trudged on “But Amy doesn’t-”

“Actually I read the rulebook last night.” The smug look on the pink hedgehog’s face almost made Sonic jump across the table “It was a light read. Besides, you two can relinquish leadership for a game.”

Knuckles grumbled in his seat. Sonic joined him with the added bonus of crossing his arms and looking like a pouting child.

“Sticks is your warlock,” Tails cleared his throat as he read off some papers of his own, holding one close to his face just to make sure he was reading it right “That was granted her powers from a patron that can’t be named in case the government is listening in and tries to take out said patron.” He gave both Amy and Sticks a look.

Amy shrugged in response, “I can only use what I was given to work with.”

“The Mobius Bureau of Sketchy Affairs will NEVER know who grants me the power of fire!” Sticks practically shouted before she let out a maniacal laugh.

“Right…then Knuckles is your barbarian. They can typically enter a rage which makes them stronger than they already are. So Knuckles-”

“I can smash EVERYTHING!” He shouted and was almost on par with Sticks. Both of them happily high fiving each other from across the table.

“These next few days are going to be long.” Sonic sighed deeply, not that anyone paid him any mind.

“And Sonic is your bard. Musical geniuses who can use spells-”

“I have SPELLS??”

After going into more depth on everyone’s classes and giving them a better picture, the game was set to begin. Tails offered his four players dice before he began his next round of narration and let the immersive experience begin.

x-x-x-x

The group set off into the first town that rested along the borders of Cardovina. A bustling average sized town where upon arrival they were immediately bombarded with requests to help slay some goblins. Help capture a thief. Get that RAT Prudence to stop flirting with Gary’s husband. Typical things requested of adventures such as themselves.

“Not even five minutes here and they’re already lining up for help!” Amy declared with surprise. Though in hindsight, the four stood out like sore thumbs amongst all the civilians. Her in full armor, Knuckles in a small amount of his own. Sticks carrying around a staff and Sonic…well he didn’t think he looked out of place. The only requests he had gotten were to play some songs. The respect for him was LACKING!

The group were given options by the narration in the sky. Pick up some odd jobs around the village and see if it leads to something grander. Or go to the well populated and most popular inn in town to see if there were bigger fish to fry. To see if grander information could be gathered there as to why Cardovina had become so plagued with problems as of late.

“Why would people at a motel-” (“Inn, Sonic. Motels don’t exist yet.”) “At an inn know more than anyone else on the street?”

“If it’s so popular, it’s probably the place where other travelers go to converse too.” Amy declared, already having made up her mind for the group and heading in the direction of the inn. The others were given the option by the narration in the sky to go and speak to other civilians if they didn’t want to go with Amy, but one look from their paladin and the remaining three thought it best to follow their ‘leader’.

Upon arrival at the inn, it was definitely a given that it was a popular meeting point. A bustling tavern greeting them as the entrance to the inn. Not only were civilians walking between tables and trying to serve drinks, but there were many more folks at tables that could easily be clocked as other adventurers. Dressed in armor, carrying weapons, sitting in loud, drunken groups. They hadn’t even gotten a chance to talk to anyone before Knuckles found the biggest guy in the inn and challenged them to an arm wrestling contest.

“Gotta show them who the strongest guy here is.” Knuckles smirked and gave his friends a confident look.

“Go ahead and roll for athletics.” Tails couldn’t help but to smirk, everyone else able to tell that he was waiting for Knuckles to fail. Knuckles on the other hand remained oblivious and happily rolled his dice. Tails smirk fell after both dice finished rolling on the table and BOTH displayed the number twenty.

“How…you got a nat twenty?? Twice??” The fox looked down in astonishment. Amy looked just as surprised while the rest of them seemed confused. “You just beat a barbarian with a paladin multiclass…they have the highest strength…”

“That a good thing? Did I send the guy flying through the table?” Knuckles beamed.

The barbarian did indeed send his fellow barbarian through the table they arm wrestled on. The losing barbarian’s companions laughing at his misfortune while serving maids just rolled their eyes and continued to serve drinks. One of them shouting that the loser on the floor better pay for the repairs! Before Knuckles could challenge anyone else, Amy latched onto his arm and dragged him towards a table.

“We’re here for information. Not fighting.” She scolded her fellow party member.

“But how will they know who is in charge if I don’t wrestle them all??” Knuckles complained, but his complaints were promptly ignored.

“What do we do now? Just go up to people and ask about their shady business?” Sonic let out a snort, glancing around the inn. (“Bard classes have high charisma. Remember that. It’ll make talking easier!”)

“We can also listen in and see if we hear anything of value. Just get a drink and walk around.” Amy paid for the whole table. Giving the other three their mugs before urging them to walk around the inn. 

“Everyone roll a perception check.” Tails looked down at his papers before looking back up at all of them. Dice hit the table moments later. Amy let out a huff at the measly five she had gotten. Sticks somehow rolling even lower and letting out a huff just to copy Amy. Sonic rolled a sixteen which he figured was good since Tails nodded in approval. And Knuckles-

“You got ANOTHER round of twenties??” The fox looked absolutely baffled as he stared down at Knuckles’ dice. Two twenties staring back at him. 

“That’s still a good thing right? Did I find someone else to arm wrestle?”

No. Knuckles did not in fact find someone else to arm wrestle and smash through a table. (“Aw…”) But while their lady companions were having trouble tuning into conversations above all the talking in the inn, Sonic and Knuckles had no such issues. Stumbling upon a group where they caught a bit of JUICY information that might be of use.

“I heard some weird beast might have cast a spell onto the land. Nothing like that Tiamat thing that cult tried to summon in Baldur’s Gate last spring. It’s a minor beast but still enough to apparently cause a fair bit of trouble.” They heard one of their fellow inn-goers say.

“A beast summoning other beasts I understand. But bandits? What creature would summon bandits?”

That was all the two could hear before the hustle and bustle of everyone else in the inn covered up anything else the group was saying.

“That’s enough, right?” Sonic looked to the others “Got what we needed now we can just go beat up…I don’t know? Some robot?”

“There aren’t any robots in Castles and Creepy Creatures.” Tails quickly interrupted “At least not in this edition OR this campaign. They are only included in the sixteenth-”

“Right, right, right. Whatever it is,” He quickly waved off Tails words before the other went off on an unrelated tangent “Still got what we needed.”

“But we don’t know where the beast is. You need to find out more.” Amy argued.

“Why can’t you talk to them and find out?” Sonic complained. Feeling as if he’d already done enough for the group by getting even that tiny hint of intel. Now he just wanted ACTION!

“I didn’t roll high enough in perception. So I’m technically not over there and technically have no idea what they are talking about. Tails already told you bards have high charisma so you can-”

“What if I just keep listening in?” Sonic didn’t want to roleplay out any sort of conversation. Looking to Tails for confirmation.

“In that case you could roll stealth. But you should probably-”

Sonic quickly picked up his dice “I roll stealth!”

The blue bard tried to sneak between a few people and get closer to the table of other adventurers. But unfortunately he caught the leg of a serving maid with his foot. Sending them both crashing to the ground. Drinks flying with one managing to land in the lap of a fellow bard at the table he’d been trying to eavesdrop on.

“What in the realms?! How dare you!” The bard shouted, directing his anger at Sonic “Watch where you are going!”

(“...You can’t roll to get out of this right now, Sonic. You have to respond.”)

Sonic groaned as he peeled himself off the floor. Looking at the other bard with nothing short of an unimpressed look “It was an accident. Besides, you looked thirsty.”

The other bard scoffed in offense, slowly unstrapping his lute from his back and holding it in his hands “Do you mock me, sir?”

“Wait, is this a fight?” Sonic perked up with a smirk. Looking to Tails for confirmation again.

“If you don’t talk him down, it could become one. And I’m really not supposed to but since it’s your first game, I suggest maybe-”

Sonic pulled off his own instrument from his back. His own lute that he plucked a few strings on momentarily before looking back to the other bard. Holding his lute out in front of him like it was some sort of sword.

“This is more like it! If I win, you tell me everything you know about that beast you guys were talking about earlier!” Sonic declared, he wanted action but he also wanted the plot to keep moving! A fight for information? Right up his alley!

The other bard stuttered over their words, holding their instrument close to their chest “D-deal! And what song are you challenging me to?”

Sonic didn’t even give a response before he swung his lute towards the other bard’s head and-

Tails let out a long sigh, Amy joined him as she buried her face in her hands. Knuckles and Sticks seemed to be the only two amused with Sonic’s antics. Even egging him on!

“I want to hit someone with my staff! Is anyone looking a bit TOO suspicious? Anyone drinking juice instead of mead?” Sticks looked from Tails to the board on the table, as if it would answer her question for her.

“Oh! I want to hit someone with her staff too!” Knuckles declared next.

“No one is hitting anyone with a staff!” Amy interrupted, causing the enablers to whine in response.

“You’re really going to hit him with your lute?” Tails grimaced at his older brother “Rather than use a spell or even play a song?”

“Why do any of that when I’ve caught him by surprise? He wants to play a song to beat me and instead I just…you know…beat him over the head.” Sonic shrugged as if his logic made perfect sense. He’d probably do that in real life too. Maybe not with one of his nicer guitars. He could use that old one he’d gotten from a flea market to bludgeon someone with. But in a kid friendly, made for television sort of way.

Tails gave a look of exasperation, pulling out a book that Sonic hadn’t been aware he’d been hiding behind his DM Shield. Flipping through it like he’d never faced this dilemma before. And maybe he hadn’t. Sonic didn’t know any of the other times his little brother had played his Chromes and Chips game.

“Uh…I guess…roll for unarmed strike?” Tails sounded unsure of himself as he closed the book and put it down. Sonic took his dice back from Amy, who’d stolen them to make sure he’d actually roleplay out his talk with the other bard rather than keep rolling his dice to get out of it.

“Show him a cracked open skull!” Knuckles shouted as he leaned closer to Sonic, the hedgehog let out a snort.

“Maybe not that far. But enough to daze him.”

The lute met the side of the other bard’s head, sending him crashing against another table and onto the ground. Hit hard enough that it had knocked him completely out! His companions sat there in shock. But their friend was not the only casualty. Sonic left holding up a lute that had broken in half after having made impact.

“What?? How??” Sonic shouted “Skull doesn’t beat wood! Or whatever it is a lute is made from!”

“It does when you roll well for an unarmed strike but also all high on strength.” Tails smirked. Oh, he was so getting the little brother swirly special later “You were too strong. The lute didn’t stand a chance.”

“I think you killed him.” Knuckles looked over Sonic’s shoulder in wonder.

“What did you do?!” Amy strode over with Sticks. Their paladin looked nothing short of furious while their warlock poked at the unconscious man with her staff.

“Have to make sure he’s actually dead. Did you double tap? You always hit twice.” Sticks raised her staff to deliver another blow only for Amy to quickly grab her.

“We didn’t kill anyone!”

“Right?” Amy looked desperately at Tails. Sighing in relief when he nodded.

“And we aren’t about to kill anyone. Why did you hit him?” The pink paladin turned her attention to her blue companion. A look that could match that of a furious mother on her face. If Sonic had a mother, he might have been scared. 

Okay, he was a little scared.

“He and these other chumps know about some freaky beast that is causing all the problems! He started the fight! I only said if I won that they had to tell me what else they know!” 

“And to win, instead of playing a song like you are MEANT to do, you hit him?”

“It worked!” Sonic argued, throwing his hands up in the air and causing his broken lute to dangle on the still intact strings.

“Okay, tough guy, if it worked out so well for you, what are you going to use now to play songs and cast spells?” Amy quirked a brow at him as she gestured to his damaged instrument.

Sonic held the lute out in front of him and grimaced slightly “Maybe I can still salvage this. Does medieval duct tape exist?”

Before any response could be uttered, one of the bard’s friends stood up and shouted “GUARDS!”

“Then-”

“Break time!” Knuckles declared and stood up, eyes already falling across the snack table left in the corner “All this beating up imaginary people has left me hungry!”

“Those are MY snacks!” Sticks growled as she jumped up from her seat.

Knuckles tilted his head to the side “I thought your stomach hurt?”

“The government stopped it’s mind control on my stomach.” Sticks crossed her arms with a huff. Knuckles only response was to push against her face and send the badger stumbling to the ground before he darted towards the snack table. Sticks had let out an offended shout before she raced after him.

“Uh…so break?” Sonic gave his little brother a small smirk. Tails stood there in stunned silence before he shook his head and let out a soft sigh.

“Yeah. Break.”

The break was longer than perceived and ended with them calling it a night for now. Amy lamented that they hadn’t gotten much done with Tails telling her some campaigns spend two whole sessions in a single inn! This game made zero sense to Sonic! Who spent that long just talking in a game? He liked to think he jazzed it up a bit by taking a guy out with a lute alone! Even if it apparently was going to cause them future problems.

“We’ll see you tomorrow!” Amy hefted a food coma stricken Sticks over her shoulder. Smiling at Tails before her eyes drifted to Sonic. Ah, that tight smile was back “And once we get you a new lute - no more hitting with it. Read over those spells I wrote down on your character sheet.”

“You know it’s kind of late. And that looked like a lot of reading for one night. Why don’t I-” Amy’s smile grew tighter, a fist was clenched. Sonic quickly held up his hands in defense “All right, all right! I’ll read it!”

“Good boy.” Amy nodded in approval before she carried Sticks out. Slamming the door shut behind her. Sonic couldn’t help but to sigh in relief once she was gone. Turning around only to walk into Knuckles chest.

“What are you still doing here?”

“Spending the night! Don’t wanna lose all of the notes Amy made for me!” Knuckles gestured towards his character papers that had been left on their game table. Sonic quirked a brow up at him.

“You could just leave them here for the night.”

Knuckles sheepishly pushed two fingers together, avoiding making eye contact with Sonic “Well, you know, it might rain tonight. Don’t want to get sick. Might not be able to beat up anyone in our game then! Tails would do something like that! I get sick and then my little barbarian guy gets sick!”

“You want to come and share my hammock again don’t you?” Sonic had let out a soft snort as Knuckles gave a nod. How was a blue hedgehog to refuse? Knuckles had even gone through the trouble of trying to come up with an excuse to stay. He’d probably been thinking up that excuse all game!

“All right, all right. Come on.” Sonic waved the red echidna along. Knuckles bounced momentarily in excitement before he scooped Sonic up and rushed towards the hedgehog’s room “You aren’t hogging my good pillows this time though!”

He just barely managed to catch a glimpse of Tails sitting on the couch and reading through his Cackles and Cacophony nerd book. A determined look on his face as he flipped through the pages. Sonic couldn’t help but to call out before he was forced into a cuddle session.

“Don’t stay up too late, little buddy! Need you paying attention in case I wanna hit someone else over the head with a drum!” He laughed just as he caught Tails rolling his eyes.

x-x-x-x

 Breakfast? Eaten. Beating Knuckles with the pillow he drooled on? Done. Watching Tails mutter to himself and go back and forth from reading his book to writing down notes in a furious fashion? Eh, Sonic would have liked to be doing anything else.

“You’re uh…taking this game a little seriously, aren’t you?” Sonic took a step back as Tails slowly raised his head. A sort of manic look on the fox’s face.

“I don’t understand how Knuckles rolled perfectly - TWICE! Or how you managed to do something I’ve never seen before!” He proceeded to flip through his book again. Looking to be reading the pages but Sonic wasn’t entirely sure what with how fast his little brother was flipping “I’ve played eight different campaigns and no bard ever used their instrument as a weapon before.”

Sonic pulled smugly on his neckerchief “Just consider me the first. And clearly the best bard there is.” 

Tails didn’t seem to think the same as he shot the hedgehog an unimpressed look before returning to his book. Writing down a few more notes that he hid from Sonic’s view.

“No spoilers! You’ll see what happens when we play!”

Sonic simply shrugged and walked away. Despite leaving Tails to his ramblings, that didn’t mean he escaped the dreaded roleplaying world. Knuckles flopping down on the couch next to him once Sonic had returned from his run. Going over how his barbarian could beat up everyone in that inn and probably beat up the dragon they were going to face at the end!

“How do you know it’s a dragon? Did you peek at Tails notes?” Sonic pretended to be ashamed of his friend. Even putting a hand to his chest to give his act more flare.

“No! I can’t even read all those big words he’s writing down!” Knuckles pouted, arms crossed over his chest “But isn’t that how all these things end? With a dragon?”

Sonic shrugged in response. He wasn’t that big on fantasy. And he definitely wasn’t big on Checkers and Chestnuts! Sure, being able to win what seemed like a bar fight was pretty fun. But he’d rather have been fighting ACTUAL baddies. Something about piledriving a robot into the ground by just jumping on them was more satisfying than pretending to hit a belligerent guy over the head with an instrument. 

But he was writing that tactic down for future reference. Just in case. Maybe he should start carrying that old guitar around with him.

Amy and Sticks arrived with a plethora of new snacks. Sonic took note that the variety of foods were healthier and no soda was in sight. Sticks grumbled as she dropped all the new bags of food onto the table. Arms soon crossed and looking like a child who just lost their favorite toy as she pouted. Sonic looked to Amy for an answer. 

“She threw up on my rug last night after gorging on snacks here,” Amy sighed, clearly not having been happy to have cleaned up vomit. “She’s less likely to eat all of this in under five minutes.”

“Right, might have lengthened it to ten minutes.” Sonic smirked as he teased. Despite Sticks’ grumbling, she still eyed the snack table. Knuckles alongside her. The two only looked away when Amy grabbed them both and dragged them to the game table. Tails was already waiting as he finally closed that giant rulebook of his and put it off to the side. Donning his cloak once more.

“Okay,” He let out a sigh like he was a tired old man that was at his limits dealing with his unruly children. And judging how yesterday’s session had gone, Tails couldn’t be blamed for his reaction. Sonic swore he saw a few extra papers filled with notes behind Tails’ DM Shield before he’d sat down “Had a little blip yesterday. But now we can get back on track.”

“First order of business, get Sonic a new lute. Otherwise he won’t be able to do anything for the rest of the game.” Amy quickly declared. Making their plans for them before anyone else could suggest anything. Again, fair to do.

“What do I need a new lute for? Can’t I just…I don’t know…use a dagger or something?” He turned to Tails “Bards can use daggers, right?”

Amy’s eye twitched slightly “Didn’t I tell you to-”

“READ! Yes! You did. Buuuut you only told me to read the spells. Which I did. Mostly.” Sonic smirked at Amy, trying his best not to be intimidated by the look she gave him. He at least managed to stare her down for five seconds before turning away. That’s three more seconds than normal!

Take THAT Miss Rose!

“Bards can use daggers,” Tails gave a nod “But, it shouldn’t be the only weapon you have at your disposal. Bards have spells for a reason and you need an instrument to cast them. So Amy’s right. You need a new lute otherwise you’ll be pretty USELESS the rest of the game.”

Sonic caught the emphasizing of that word! And he knew Tails used it to try and goad him. The smirk that his little brother shot him was just as telling! Fine, fine. He’d get a new lute and bust out some of those spells he’d read about. Ideas already bouncing off the walls of his mind. The rest of the table wouldn’t know what hit them. And neither would the fake-not-robot enemies in the game!

“Can’t we just get him some spoons and he can use them as drumsticks?” Knuckles suggested with his usual dopey smile, putting an arm around Sonic “Then he’d have a drum anywhere he goes! You could use my skull for one.”

Sonic couldn’t help but to let out a snort and use two fingers to drum on the stop of the echidna’s head. Knuckles letting out a loud laugh in response.

“Doesn’t work that way.” Tails shook his own head but actually looked amused with the antics “Or at least I’m not going to try and figure out IF it could work that way.”

x-x-x-x

The group had previously set out to try and find information in regards to the weird coming and goings of the land of Cardovina. And information they had found! But at a price. An unintentional bar fight had ensued thanks to their bard. ( “Worth it. Ow! Amy!” ) And while their bard came out of the fight victorious, it had cost him his lute. The very thing needed for a bard to be USEFUL to his fellow adventurers. 

The other, defeated bard lay on the ground unconscious. His friends yelled out to the guards for assistance. Pointing at the party of four that had just dared to bring harm to their friend.

“HE came at ME first!” Sonic argued, but the other bard’s friends were hearing none of it. Still yelling for guards until the hedgehog raised his already broken lute to take them out too. Amy quickly intervened and grabbed hold of Sonic’s arm to pull him away.

“No! Not again!”

“Why not?? The thing is already broken!” He gestured to his broken lute. Grumbling when Amy managed to pry the instrument out from his hand, leaving him weaponless. Well, save for the dagger, which he coooould-

Before more bloodshed and broken glasses could occur, Amy was dragging the party out through a doorway opposite of the one they’d entered through. Happy to get away from the guards that had finally answered the call but were stuck trying to get through the unruly crowd in the inn. It seemed as if that one little fight had started a massive one throughout the entire place! ( “Uh, you’re welcome.” )

“Where do we go now for a new string thingy?” Sticks asked once they were outside. Looking around their immediate area, they only took notice of various fruit and vegetable vendors as well as stands selling a few bits and bobbles. But no instruments.

“We’d need to look around town to see if anyone even sells lutes.” Amy let out an exasperated sigh.

“The drummer with spoons idea is still on the table.” Knuckles piped up, his idea once again going ignored.

“We also need to figure out how we can afford it-”

“Wait, what is this, Mobius-Opoly? We actually have to pay attention to money?” Sonic looked over his character sheet, skimming through it to see where it even mentioned them having a spot for their money.

“Next time you are coming over and reading the rulebook with me before we play any games.” Amy rubbed at her eyes, Sonic knowing it was a PROMISE and not just a threat. He’d have to make sure his running shoes were primed and ready whenever that day came about “Yes! Money is involved. And since I helped put together everyone’s sheets, we all have only ten gold coins each.”

Amy rubbed at her chin in thought “Depending on how much a new lute costs, we could pull all our coins together to afford it. But then there is the possibility we won’t be able to afford anything else.”

Sonic watched as the pink hedgehog wracked her brain. The other so lost in thought she didn’t realize when Knuckles pulled two spoons out of nowhere and tried to hand them to Sonic. The hedgehog responded by slowly lowering Knuckles’ hand back down.

“Wait!” Amy snapped her fingers “It’s a starter town!”

“And when we came into town, people were already asking us for help! We help a few people out and get a few extra coins and hopefully won’t have to use all of our funds just for one thing! Plus! We can find out more information!” Amy looked rather proud of herself as she laid out her plan.

After coming to an agreement to stay together (And a perception check to take in more of the town as they walked - yes, Knuckles rolled another twenty. Much to Tails’ absolute confusion.) the group found a ‘quest’ that paid both a decent amount and was in their skill level. Sure, it wasn’t the most HEROIC of quests. A little old granny wanted lunch delivered to her grandson that worked at the town bank. A reverse fetch quest, one could say.

And was probably only given to them so they could move the story along quickly and efficiently. Since it was clear by Tails’ face he hadn’t expected them to spend so much time in the FIRST town.

“And here we are!” Amy held her arms out once they stood in front of the bank. The group walked inside to find only a few tellers and customers. Some doing their daily banking. Some arguing. Nothing out of the ordinary for a bank “Let's find the grandson, get a new lute, and then find this big bad evil that is harming these poor country folk!”

“And then smash them?” Knuckles added on with a smile.

“And then smash them - yes.” Amy nodded in agreement. Turning to Sticks and losing her confident smile almost immediately when she finds their warlock digging through the basket of food and eating the contents.

“You ATE our quest item??” Amy groaned and buried her face in her hands. Tails looked like he wanted to do the same thing but settled on just grimacing. Sonic couldn’t help but to laugh.

“My warlock was hungry and had to feed the fire demon inside that grants her the POWER!” Sticks shouted proudly, standing up and putting her foot on the table. Tails let out a concerned shout of his own when Sticks’ dirty foot was placed on his board “TAKE THAT STOMACH UPSETTING GOVERNMENT!”

“Can you sit down??”

With no food left in the basket - the quest was a bust. Such an easy task…failed. The group prepared to turn around and find something else to earn some coins before Sticks stopped them.

“What if we just take money from the bank?” She looked at Tails with a serious expression.

The fox’s grimace only grew. Amy now matched his expression “I don’t think that’d be the best idea. I mean there are other quests you can do that-”

Sticks quickly shook her head. “Banks, even spooky big medieval ones with no metal detectors, are scams made by the shadow government.” 

Sonic leaned forward with a smirk, chin resting on his hands “Is that the same as the stomach upsetting government?”

Once again, she shook her head rapidly “No. Two different branches. Though the shadow government pays the stomach upsetting government to send signals-”

“Are we really about to rob a bank??” Amy intervened before Sticks could go into an all out conspiracy driven rant. Shame. Sonic almost wanted to hear all about that one.

“I say we go for it.” Sonic gave an approving nod as Sticks beamed at the thought of her idea being acknowledged “What are they going to do? Arrest us?”

“That is EXACTLY what they could do!” Amy argued. But even with being the leader, at a three to one vote, she was forced to go along with it. Both her and Tails looked nothing short of exasperated. But really, what did they expect from a group of non-planners?

Their barbarian had the LUCK of spotting an unoccupied bag of coins nearby. A bank teller had been counting some at his station and putting some into a small bag up until he was momentarily called away. Knuckles giving his companions a nudge and gestured towards the bag.

“Perfect! I’ll just go on over and-” Sonic let out an undignified yelp as Sticks pushed by him and went towards the abandoned station.

“I got it!” She called back, the others trying to SHUSH her as a few eyes curiously glanced over before returning to their business. Once in front of the station, the badger glanced around. To the left. To the right. No one seemed to be looking. She raised a hand and-

“You rolled a nat one.” Tails looked like he wasn’t sure whether to be annoyed that Sticks’ failure would make this whole scenario go on longer, or to be amused that she failed THAT badly.

“No! That's two! I think that makes a two.” The badger narrowed her eyes at the dice before looking to Amy for confirmation. The other gave a tired nod in response before Sticks looked back to Tails and gestured to her dice “Two!”

“Two ones don’t equal a two. Well…I mean they do. But not in this case. But even if they did, you still failed. Doesn’t matter what your sleight of hand modifier was either.”

“I could have got it for us!” Now it was Sonic’s turn to groan. A hand ran down his face before he looked across the table to Sticks “I have a high hand sleight thing! Right?” 

All eyes once again fell onto Amy - the one who’d put together their sheets to begin with. The pink hedgehog let out an exhausted sigh and for the umpteenth time, she gave a nod.

Sticks’ hand merely hovered over the bag before the group heard someone shout. The bank teller in charge of those very coins pointed over to the warlock.

“You there! Those aren’t yours! Stop!”

And like that, guards were upon them. Surrounding them faster than they had at the inn, seeing as there was no crowd at the bank to slow them down. Three of the four of them getting captured ( “How did you roll ANOTHER twenty??” ). Knuckles was able to get away at the last second while the rest of his group was dragged off towards the town’s jail. The townsfolk, including the granny who’d sent them to the bank, looked on in disappointment and shame.

“Rub it in a little more, Tails.”

“Well…now what?” Sonic sighed as they sat in their too cramped jail cell. All of their gear save for the clothes on their backs taken from them. Not that they really had much to begin with. 

“Maybe I could talk to the guards? Tell them this is just a big misunderstanding. Maybe say Sticks is just from a country where banks are self-service!” The paladin wracked her brain for ideas. Surely such a ridiculous lie could be believed if she was convincing enough!

“Why don’t you let me save you guys?” Knuckles bounced in his seat, an odd look of excitement on his face “I got away! I could SMASH the wall to your cell down and bust you guys out!”

“That would just bring more attention and they’d still be after us.” Amy sighed and leaned back “Just let me take care of it. I think I can-”

“I want to get them out!” Knuckles proceeded to ignore Amy, much to the other’s offense. He turned to Tails with a huge smirk on his face. Amy became even more offended when Tails looked to be considering it.

“Didn’t you make me the leader to make decisions like this for us??” She quickly complained.

“Well…yeah…” For a moment the fox looked guilty before he shook his head “But I also…sorta…kind of…want to see how this plays out?” Tails’ gave Amy a shaky smile and a shrug to go along with it. Amy’s only response was to groan and rest her head on top of the table.

“Make me the lawyer class!” Knuckles was ready to throw out his current character sheet and to start anew until Tails stopped him.

“First off, there is no lawyer class. At least none in this edition of the game. Maybe in the fourth.” He spent a moment thinking on it before he moved on. “Second, you can’t just switch classes like that. You need a special NPC to do that for you or an item. And with where you are right now-”

“So I can’t be a smart guy person to get them out?” Knuckles’ smile changed instantly to a frown “Guess I can still do the smash method. It works in real life!”

“Like…forty percent of the time.” Sonic sighed and crossed his arms. He made a mental note to never let Knuckles be his only phone call if he were ever stuck in prison.

Tails seemed deep in thought when the others looked back at him. A sigh escaped him before he gave a nod “You know what? Okay. I’ll allow it.”

“You’ll allow it?” Knuckles arched a questioning brow.

“You’ll ALLOW it??” Amy on the other hand shouted and looked indignant.

Tails ignored her, as did the rest of the table, as he pulled out another character sheet and started writing things down on it “You can be a temporary wizard. We’ll say you took a potion to do so, or something.” Tails cringed a bit, looking as if even he was upset with his own decision. But he seemed to quickly get over it before he held out the new character sheet to Knuckles “Only two spells available since this is temporary. But wizards come with high wisdom. You get to be-” He sighed “A smart guy person.”

“A lawyer!” Knuckles shouted, his smile returned tenfold as he looked down at his character sheet as if he could understand it.

“WHY??” Amy let out a shout of her own.

Tails turned to her and huffed “I just want him to stop getting twenties!”

“Ugh!” Amy shouted once more before getting up “I’m calling for a break. I have a headache starting.”

“You and me both…” The fox rubbed at his eyes but nodded in agreement for the break. The break once again went longer than expected before they called it a night.

“You have a home right?” Sonic questioned his red echidna friend when the other hadn’t left with the others.

“Your hammock is comfier than the trees.” Was the only response he got. Fair enough. His hammock was pretty damn comfortable.

It wasn’t until the afternoon before they got started again. Amy had stated she needed a morning to sleep in after the previous day. Tails had also needed the extra time. Stating it was their last day to be able to do anything before Eggman reared his ugly mustached face again. They’d have to speed run through their current situation and he had to figure out how to get them to the final boss without making it seem TOO rushed

Speed was Sonic’s middle name. So he was fine with that.

“I thought your middle name was ‘the’.” Knuckles frowned and earned himself a look from Sonic.

“We are not having this talk again.”

Once Tails felt fairly confident he could get them to the big baddie in a natural way, and once Amy pulled Sticks away from the snacks again, they were ready for their third and final day of Combs and Companies. Or whatever it was called.

Knuckles practically kicked open the doors to the prison. Striding in as if he owned the place and giving his comrades a wink as he spotted them in one of the first round of cells. Managing to reach through the bars and pluck the hat right off Sticks’ head before putting it on himself.

“Hey!” The warlock gave a shout, trying to reach through the bars herself to get it back. Knuckles simply took a step back out of her reach.

“I need it! Got to complete the whole wizard look.”

“Me and the fire monster inside of me will COME FOR YOUR TOES!”

“Maybe later,” Knuckles waved her off before approaching the jailers. Still ever confident as he looked them over “I am here to get my buddies out of jail! They were thrown in there by mistake! Clearly someone else tried to steal those coins and framed my associates!”

“Watch a lot of Mobius Legal lately?” Sonic smirked at him.

“Maybe a little.” Knuckles looked a bit sheepish before he put his attention back on Tails “So does it work?” 

“Uuuh.” Tails flipped through his notes “Roll me charisma.”

Knuckles’ expression dropped “Charisma?? But I became a super smart guy with the smart gene!” He proceeded to whine “Shouldn’t I roll…I don’t know. Smart guy things??”

It was Tails turn to smirk now. Ah, cocky little guy planned for this. Those twenties really were driving him up a wall “You said you wanted to be a smart person class. So I made you a wizard. But being smart isn’t enough to convince these guys to let everyone out of prison. Roll charisma.” 

At that, Knuckles started to pout and crossed his arms “And ruin my streak? No way!” Even Knuckles knew that the rolls may not be in his favor. Especially with the nice ZERO modifier next to his charisma on his sheet.

“How about I talk to the guards?” Amy spoke up quickly before anyone else could. Trying to rein back in control. Sonic could tell by the twitch of her eye that another headache could be imminent. And Amy with a huge headache and minor inconvenience was enough to throw her over the edge and end up in a flipped table. She might be able to control it enough to at least flip over the snack table rather than the game one though. Just as a favor to Tails. But Sonic wouldn’t risk it and end up with an upset little brother. Even if he did want the game to end.

“Amy and I could both talk to them. We both have the rizz factor going for us.” The blue hedgehog smirked and winked at his friend across the table. Amy rolled her eyes but he could see the faintest hint of a smirk on her face!

“Don’t ever use that word again. But yes. Sonic and I both have high enough charisma.-”

“Rizz.”

“To maybe convince the guards that Knuckles is telling the truth.”

“He’s telling the truth! My friend here,” Amy gestured to Sticks, who was still fuming that her hat had been taken - and it was taken for NOTHING! “Tried to stop the original thieves. But those guys had used some um…uh…”

“Some weird thing to make themselves invisible.” Sonic quickly tacked on.

“Yes! Exactly! Some potion or cloak to make themselves invisible!”

“Roll charisma. Both of you.”

Tails let a smile slip when both Amy and Sonic managed to roll high numbers. Both hedgehogs let out a cheer and high fived each other from across the table. All right, even Sonic could admit he’d been excited about that little win.

Both guards narrowed their eyes at the rag tag group. Clearly debating if what they could be saying was true.

“There has been reports of illegal invisibility potion use, you know.” One guard nudged the other. And that was enough to get them released. Sticks nearly took out Knuckles to get her hat back as soon as the cell door was open.

“Now about our things-” Amy turned to the guards. Both of them gestured towards an unlocked chest off in the corner.

“Over there. Only grab your things and go.”

With that, the group collected their items, Sonic stopped though when a perfectly intact lute was found next to his broken one in the chest. He glanced over his shoulder to look at the preoccupied guards before looking back down at the lute. Surely they wouldn’t take notice if he just took it, right? He was an innocent little hedgehog after all and whoever was the original owner was CLEARLY an actual criminal since they were still locked in a cell and he was walking free.

After another quick glance at the guards (And a decent enough sleight of hand roll) he took the undamaged lute and left his broken one behind. It had served him well and managed to damage at least one skull. He’d remember it in his final days.

They quickly scurried out of the cell area, upon getting outside, Sonic saw the bard he’d knocked out earlier complaining to some other guard about the attack. He narrowed his eyes at the undamage lute on the other’s back and another BRILLIANT idea popped into his mind.

“I put a lute in the chest so you wouldn’t have to waste more time trying to get one. Do you want to get thrown back in jail??” Tails groaned right after Sonic asked to steal that other bard’s lute.

“What would you need two for anyway?” Amy sighed.

“Backup lute. In case I need to hit somebody with the other one again.”

The guard seemed VERY uninterested in the complaining bard before him. The bard doing more yelling than actually explaining. Easy target for Sonic to just cut the straps to his lute and yoink it off his back. (Thank you high sleight of hand and low DC. Whatever the DC stood for.)

Another task taken care of. With that, the group made their way away from the prison before anything else could happen that could end up with them back in the cells. Journeying down the brick road of town and-

The door to their home was kicked open, the familiar voices of two robots arguing to get in first echoed throughout. Both falling to the floor before quickly standing up and straightening out. Orbot coughing into his hand to get their attention - as if he didn’t have it already.

“We have come to announce-”

“I knew it!” Sonic stood up and almost placed his foot on the table until he caught Tails giving him something akin to a DEATH GLARE out of the corner of his eye. Message received and foot placed right back on the ground. But he still made the effort to point and smile in victory “I knew it was a lie! There is no vacation!”

“Actually there was.” Eggman stepped in a moment later. Martini glass in hand with a drink he quickly finished off before tossing it behind him. “But! The length of my vacation was indeed a lie! A clever trap setup while I prepared my latest hedgehog crushing bot! The robo-chick-”

“My guy…you ruined the sanctity of the really’s.” Knuckles interrupted and shook his head in disappointment. Eggman almost looked taken off guard for a moment before he quickly regained his momentum.

“Forget about the really’s.” He waved off their words and took in the scene before him “I have come to…are you playing Castles and Creepy Creatures?” 

“Oh my Chaos.” Sonic mumbled under his breath as he slumped back down and buried his face in his hands.

“You…you know about it?” Tails blinked in surprise. Though his tone was almost giddy. Little buddy, no. Don’t have something in common with someone like egghead.

Eggman coughed into his hand and straightened himself out. As if looking more dignified made it seem less awkward that he knew about some roleplaying game “Erm, yes. I was there when the first edition was released. And-” All of them were surprised when Tails slammed his hands on the table and practically zoomed to be in front of Eggman.

“The FIRST EDITION?? Do you know how rare those are? Do you still have it??”

“Pah! Of course I do! Why would I get rid of something like that? It’s the best version of the game there is. Now there are just too many rules. Back in my day a dungeon master had more control.”

Sonic groaned and leaned against Knuckles “This is like the third most nerdiest thing I have ever witnessed.” Next thing they knew, Eggman was practically being strongarmed by Tails to come sit at their game table “Really? We’re just inviting anyone to play now?”

“You don’t understand!” Tails turned to all of them “He’s been playing since the first edition! He remembers back when the game was at its peak!”

Eggman looked far too proud of himself for that fact. As if it were some sort of badge of honor to be that big of a nerd. Sonic almost wanted to comment on it but kept his mouth shut, not wanting to accidentally insult Tails at the same time. Even if he and Eggman were at the same level of nerdom right now. Oh where had he gone wrong with his little brother?

“This was just a quick one shot campaign while you were on vacation. I had to change some things for the end since we were running out of time. But this is what I have so far!” Tails held his papers up to Eggman. The scientist taking them and looking them over like a teacher grading an assignment. Tails staring at him with bated breath.

“We’re really okay with this?” Sonic looked to the others at the table. His response was resounding shrugs.

“It makes Tails happy. And it’ll just be for today. Would you rather be fighting the robo thingy outside?” Amy questioned.

“Yes!” Sonic huffed and crossed his arms. He was absolutely ready to throw down with the metal chicken outside. He could hear the robotic clucking!

“You’ve got a good story here for something that is so short and stuck following the guidelines of the tenth edition.” Eggman spoke up and scowled “I swear, they add more rules every year to this thing.”

“I know! They really nerfed the draaaag-” Tails quickly cut himself off. Sparing the others a glance before he looked back to Eggman “They uh…nerfed the bad guy I have planned for the end!”

Knuckles smirked and nudged Sonic’s side as he stage whispered “Told you it was a dragon!”

Their DM chose to ignore that with a twitch of his eye. Looking still at Eggman for suggestions. The scientist smirked and Sonic almost expected him to pull out a mini robot to destroy the table with and crush all of Tails’ dreams. But alas, he did not. The only thing the egghead pulled out was a pen and started writing things down.

“If we make a few minor changes, still in line with the tenth edition, we could make this harder. Give a real challenge.” Eggman gave an evil laugh. Sonic narrowed his eyes. Amy looked on the defensive. Knuckles bounced in his seat - elated he guessed the end game boss correctly. Sticks started to eye the snack table again.

Eggman slid the paper back towards Tails, who gave it all of his attention. A wide growing smirk spread across the fox’s face and he gave an approving nod “This is perfect! Even better than what I came up with! I never would have thought of that! Did you borrow this from the third edition?” He pointed to something on the paper that the others obviously couldn’t see. Eggman gave an affirmative nod.

“Sometimes you need to mix and match from other editions just to add more flair to the campaign. When they brought out the second edition I-”

“Can we get on with this??” Sonic nearly brought himself to shout but managed to control his volume. Rather offended when BOTH Tails and Eggman gave him an unimpressed look. Excuse him for not wanting to experience another nerd event in the same week!

So they indeed did get on with it.

After leaving the prison ( “You bumbling animals got yourself put in prison?” ) the group continued on. Able to gather more information as they made their way out of town as to what great power had quite possibly brought a plague onto Cardovina. Trekking up hills and snowy mountains where the rumored beast was said to go when it needed to rest. If it even really needed to rest.

“That’s it? We just found it?” Sonic quirked a brow “No other fanfare you want to add?”

“We have limited time and I didn’t want our last session to be you guys just searching for information. So, I gave you a shortcut to the final battle. As much as it kills me inside as a dungeon master to let you guys off that easy.” Tails sighed.

“Oh, I wouldn’t say it’s that easy. Not with the monster they have yet to face.” Eggman smirked.

The four adventurers stood at the entrance to a large cave. Hearing the faint sounds of heavy breathing from within. Clearly belonging to a creature of great size. Readying their weapons, they stepped forward and ventured in. As they progressed they soon came upon a wide alcove where in the center sat the sort of monster that typically only plagues people’s nightmares - Craigoth the Undead Dragon!

“I knew it was a dragon!” Knuckles shouted, as if he hadn’t already declared that earlier.

“The dragon’s name is Craig?” Sticks spoke up next before letting out an ugly sounding laugh.

“CRAIGOTH!” Eggman corrected her, looking insulted. It didn’t make it any less funny to Sticks. 

“Little typical to be fighting a dragon isn’t it?” Sonic rested his elbow on the table and leaned against his hand. 

“I was going to do the Mind Snooper but that is a lot for one campaign. And Craigoth is a dragon meant for one shots. He’s sort of uh…beginner’s guide to dragons?” Tails explained, letting out a huff when Sticks laughed again.

“CRAIG!”

They really were about to fight something named Craig. He couldn’t imagine it would be that hard.

It was that hard.

Initiative activated. Weapons drawn and spells cast. Health low. A few hits were dealt to the mighty undead beast - but not enough to make much of a dent. Sticks on the verge of going down with Sonic following a close second. Knuckles and Amy still held strong with at least half of their health. But the two of them against one dragon wouldn’t be enough. They needed a plan!

“We’re losing to a Craig.” Amy sighed and ran a hand down her face.

“Ah, not as easy as you thought, is it?” Eggman taunted and leaned back. His smirk ever growing.

“You shush it before my in game hammer becomes a real one.” Amy glared at him, Orbot and Cubot letting out an oooo from the spot they made for themselves on the couch.

“Quiet, you idiots!”

“You two keep trying to hit the dragon with your lute and staff and aren’t using effective spells,” She looked pointedly at Sonic and Sticks “How many spell slots do you have left?” Amy ignored Eggman scolding his lackeys and looked to Sonic. The blue hedgehog grimaced and looked down at his character sheet thing. Ah beans on a chilidog, he was supposed to be keeping track of that?

“Uh, I think three?”

“Sticks, what about you?”

“I was supposed to be counting??” Okay, so it wasn’t just him. Good to know.

Tails glanced over his DM shield and looked down at his paper “You have two left.”

“I can work with that.” Amy took both Sonic and Sticks’ character sheets and looked them over.

“Hey, hey. You aren’t supposed to be making the decisions for another player.”

It was now Amy’s turn to look unimpressed, an expression she wore well when it came to Eggman and anything to do with him “Ah, ah. If you bothered to read anything passed the editions of old-”

“I HAVE read the other editions, you little-”

“You’d know that the tenth edition states beginners can help receive help from more seasoned players, and not JUST the dungeon master, when it comes to explaining the intricacies that come with their classes and spells.” Her unimpressed expression turned to a smug one and Eggman looked as if steam could come out of his ears any moment. Hilarious.

Egghead turned to Tails - who nodded the affirmative “She’s right. I mean she’s the most seasoned one here since she read the book sooo-”

“Pah!” Eggman leaned back again and crossed his arms “Rose giving you tips won’t help you defeat Craig, AH! I meant Craigoth!”

“We’ll see about that.” Amy huffed and pursued the character sheets once more “I already have a plan.”

It was Sonic’s turn next, using his lute to cast Healing Word on Sticks. It wasn’t a lot of extra hit points he could give her. But it was enough where she hopefully wouldn’t go down in the next hit if she was targeted. Popping a potion open for himself and restoring a few of his own hit points as well.

“That’s two actions! He can’t do that!” Eggman argued.

Tails tapped his chin in thought before shrugging “Some DMs allow it. So I will too.”

“Are you actively undermining me??”

Knuckles’ turn was next. He swung his mighty battle axe with his rage activated. Managing to make contact and land a critical hit to the dragon’s defenses! ( “How does he keep doing that?” “Don’t ask.” ) The beast roared in rage but it could not yet attack. 

With some pep back in her step thanks to Healing Word, Sticks casted Mage Hand. Summoning a mystical, transparent hand that she directed behind the dragon. Using a bonus action to tug at the dragon’s tail and cause it to become momentarily distracted.

With the distraction in place, the paladin of the group sprung into action. She raised her warhammer and brought it down upon the undead creature. Once again it roared furiously and tried to regain the sort of composure only a dragon could have.

“Divine Smite be upon thee!” ( “Thee? Seriously?” “You be quiet.” ) Another blow delivered upon the dragon. It almost looked taken aback that it was dealt so much injury after such a previously poor performance.

But ah, now it was the undead dragon’s turn. Using its time to bring fright upon the party to try and discourage any future attacks so that it would not face retaliation for its own. But sadly for it, only the paladin was struck. Falling to her knees and left stunned and frightened. The rest of the group stood, ready to continue to fight in her place and defeat the dragon before any harm could come to their heaviest hitter.

“Try dealing with two of these guys!” Sonic laughed and summoned a mystical hand of his own. Two hands were better than one - as they say ( “Boooo! Stick to your day job, fox.” ) and with one pulling on the dragon’s tail and the recently summoned one going back and forth in trying to poke the creature’s eyes, it was thoroughly distracted. 

“Eat FIRE, you agent of the zombie high order!” Sticks shouted and pointed to the dragon. The ring of tall bright flames circling Craigoth. No time for the creature to think as a beam of what seemed like pure radiant energy brought the undead more damage. Causing it to stumble and almost walk into the surrounding circle of flames.

“Since when can she cast TWO spells?” Eggman turned to Tails with a pout.

“Hellish-”

“Kids show, little buddy.”

“Heckish Rebuke has always been a cantrip. So she gets that for free.”

“And Eldritch Blast?? Back in my day that was a cantrip too!” Eggman argued. Back in his day? Seriously?

“In the eighth edition they made it a bonus action first level spell.” Tails explained, seeming to grow a bit smug as he had to explain something to EGGMAN “And even if Sticks’ cast it at a higher level for more damage, it’s still a bonus action. Damage was taken.”

Steam was DEFINITELY going to start coming out of Eggman’s ears. 

Another perfect hit delivered by Knuckles’ battle axe ( “Seriously?? Are your dice rigged?” ) Amy unfortunately left stunned on the ground and unable to render an attack of her own. And though Craigoth stumbled and looked nearly on the verge of defeat, it delivered one sweeping blow at the adventurers. Bringing its sharp claws down upon them. The party’s warlock and paladin hit while the barbarian and bard managed to dodge. Sticks was once again hanging onto life by a thread and Amy still unable to move and would no doubt go down as well if she took any more similar hits. 

“It’s almost defeated!” Amy shouted in a shaky tone of voice. She looked at Sonic and gave a firm nod “You know what you have to do! Hit it with the Thunderclap!”

The blue hedgehog slowly looked down at his lute. One more hit and surely the beast would be defeated and all of Cardovina would be safe again. One hit with a strong burst of thunder and the beast would go down.

…But what was the fun in that?

“I cast Vicious Mockery!” 

“You WHAT!” Amy shouted in despair “Sonic!”

The bard found his way atop a jagged rock. Lute in hand as he started to strum the chords. 

“I stand up. Confident.” He sang with all the flare and charm a bard can have “Atop the rockery. Blasted on this dragon is VICIOUS MOCKERY!”

With a final sweeping strum of his lute, magic crackled in the air. A bright blue rippling mouth was summoned and started to laugh. Insults thrown left and right at the once fearsome creature. The undead monster roared in pain and agony as the laughing and harsh words rang loudly in its ear slits. It could take no more, and with one final taunt, it fell to the ground.

Congratulations. The dragon has been defeated. Cardovina is safe once again.

“What a way to go,” Sonic let out a snort as he leaned against the game table. Tails knocked down the giant dragon figurine he’d put on the table earlier - signaling its defeat “Beaten by deez.”

“Deez?” Eggman questioned, looking to be both highly irritating and pouting like a child would.

“Deez nu-”

“Sonic!” Amy quickly cut in with a scolding tone yet again “Kids show! Remember?”

“Right, right.” Sonic waved her off “Either way, imagine dying to some mean words. Can’t relate.” He tugged on his neckerchief, the smug look would not be coming off his face for a long while.

“You just…why would you…Knuckles did most of the damage!” Eggman argued and pointed to the red echidna.

“As the leader, that was my job.” Knuckles stated proudly, the indignant sound and shouting of Amy going “I was the leader!” completely ignored “Smash as much as possible and then let my teammates take some of the spotlight and earn their place by beating the dragon. It builds morale!”

“Sure, big guy.” Sonic gave the other a pat on the shoulder before turning back to Eggman “So about that robo hen or rooster or whatever kind it is.”

“You don’t get the honor of fighting Henrietta until tomorrow! I need an aspirin…” Eggman groaned as he got up from his spot at the table. Giving Tails one last look as he motioned for his bots to follow him “I can’t believe you allowed half of that. Back in my day-”

“As rare and cool as the first edition was, a lot of the rules were restrictive and lacking. No one had fun, that's why they came out with the second edition.” Tails took off his cloak and tossed it onto the couch. Officially out of dungeon master mode “Buuuut, I can still come see the book some time in person? Right?”

Not even Eggman could be immune to the little brother big eyed stare. He at least pretended to be at first by rolling his eyes “Fine. Whatever. Maybe. Get out of my way.” He grumbled all the way to the door. Orbot and Cubot carrying some bags of snacks in their arms for the road. Sticks almost went after them with a shout until Amy pulled her back down.

“You went off plan.” Amy huffed before she began to help Tails clean up the game table. Knuckles and Sticks made sure to get away as soon as they could to avoid offering such help. What was left of the snack table reclaimed by them.

“Eh, sometimes you need some spontaneous action,” Sonic shrugged. “Still won, didn't we? And it was kind of fun to see egghead’s head spin from being corrected the whole time.” He looked to Tails, still maintaining a bit of a cocky smirk “When are we playing again? Next time bring old Eggman over from the start. See if we can’t make his whole bald head turn red by not doing it by his old man version of the book.”

Tails eyes lit up in surprise “You’d…you’d want to play again?”

The blue hedgehog’s smirk softened into a fond smile before he put an arm around his little brother “Sure. Why not? Besides, you really seemed to be getting into it at the end there.”

Tails gave a nervous chuckle “I like playing the dragons. And I’ve never had someone play a bard that actually sang a part of their spell outloud before!”

“Consider me the first. And the best.” He tugged at his neckerchief again, that time a bit more haughtily. Soon being dragged into clean up duty by Amy before he could ever hope to escape. 

And with that, Cardovina fell into relative peace once again. How an undead dragon could cause such an uproar and increase in chaos, no one was sure. But what they did know is that they had four saviors to thank. The townsfolk cheered as the adventurers entered the town that had once looked at them in shame and disappointment. Treating them like the heroes they now were. 

And with that, their tale was drawn to a close. At least until the next vacation.

[big-robot-fan]

Overgrowth Sonic: “Aw shit I didn’t know that Eggman made this cool suit!” *He has found the phantom rider suit* Ravenous Metal: “Oh that suit? I think that’s an unfinished project of his that he definitely forgotten about” Infinite: “So what you’re going to do with that suit?” Overgrowth Sonic: “I’m gonna redesign this suit so it’d be my bad guy look when dealing with that tenrec girl and fox kid! But first I need to call an expert for that evil guy look!” Sonic then pulls out a phone: “Hey Shadow come over here! I need your help with a project!”

Shadow: Why would I drop everything I'm doing to help you make a silly costume? Especially on such short notice?

Sonic: If you help me, I'll sit on your face.

Shadow, immediately teleporting into the castle: Let's get to work and make the greatest villain costume ever.

[beevean]

What's your favorite and least favorite stages in sonic adventure 1 and 2?

Ohh, that's a broad question...

Favorite in SA1:

Emerald Coast (Sonic): it's the first level in the game! The very first 3D level in the series! It has to showcase the amazing power of the Dreamcast and the game as a whole, and man does it succeed. This is just a fun level to traverse, I love how you go from the hotel beach to a more natural beach (progression!), but especially how surprisingly tough its limit in the A mission is: this is where you realize just how many shortcuts you can take with well timed Spin Dashes. Beautiful.

Twinkle Park (Sonic & Amy): Twinkle Park for Sonic is just wonderfully designed, not to mention aesthetic on point. I love how platformy it is, which allows you to use your skills to stay on top or even to perform skips! And Amy's version is her best stage lol, it's mercifully short but the creepy section inside the castle is iconic.

Speed Highway: All three characters! This level was the flagship level of the game and it shows. It's funny how absolutely pointless it is in Sonic's story, but who cares, you get to nyoom on the side of a building! Knuckles' version is a good introduction of his gameplay too, and I love the At Dawn section, how different it feels to explore the calm part of the city with Sonic and with Knuckles, one blasting through the streets while the other climbing between them. As for Tails, it is simply genius that for the whole game, he only plays truncated versions of Sonic's levels, but here, as he races against Eggman for the first time by himself, he gets to explore a part of the level Sonic can't access to, designed only for him! It's brilliant!

Red Mountain (Sonic and Knuckles): it's fuuuuuun I don't know how to explain it anymore I just love the level design of SA1, how many secrets and shortcuts it has! It has engaging platform and an amazing second act that has you dodging lava in an erupting volcano! Its theme? Fucking jawdropping. And exploring the same levels but with Knuckles, who gets to uncover even more stuff, makes me love his story even more!

Final Egg (Sonic): Appropriately long and challenging, a blast to zip through once you get familiar with its hazards. Love the slow descent into the core of the base, I'm a sucker for the feeling of progression. Full of goodies for the final boss too! And only Sonic gets to have the most hardcore track in the game lol.

Hot Shelter (Gamma): I was stuck for years on this level as a kid lol. Now I love it precisely for its challenge! Now you get to fear the timer! It only incentivizes you to perform as many chains as possible in this quite tricky level.

Least favorite in SA1:

All Big stages: yeah his gameplay is just not fun. Either you waste time understanding how fishing works (hi 8 yo me who couldn't read the instructions 🙃), or they're over in a matter of seconds. I do like the extra bits only he can visit, but their only purpose is for the extra missions.

Ice Cap (Tails): It's boring. You can't even fly to take shortcut. I'm literally just replaying the snowboarding section a second time. Out of three, because then Tails has his own sandboarding minigame. So uninspired... and it's the beginning of a long middle point in Tails' story that feels like a waste of time...

Sky Deck (Sonic): A very long level, and not particularly fun about it. I always hated the second part where you need to hang from bits to not be blown away by the wind as cannons keep shooting at you.

Hot Shelter (Amy): As Sonic doesn't visit this one level, Amy, the character with the slowest movements and whose gameplay revolves around gimmicks and clumsily avoiding ZERO, has the dubious honor of having to showcase it in its entirety. It says someting that the A mission's time limit is 6 minutes and 30 seconds.

Favorite in SA2:

All Sonic levels (minus Crazy Gadget): Is it cheating? Yes, but I don't care :P Sonic was the guy who got the most love in the game and it shows. I much prefer SA1's level design as a whole, but Sonic's levels (and his alone, Shadow's levels are a bit blander IMO) do a great job at just feeling... cool. You feel cool running from the military, running on their ships, escaping through the jungle! You do cool tricks and find shortcuts! My favorite is Final Rush and the vertigo it conveys <3 (I say "minus Crazy Gadget" because I just don't find it that fun to go through, even before the infamous Tetris room. It feels slower than the other levels, because of its gravity gimmick. I don't hate it, but eh)

Lost Colony: I don't like the mech gameplay at its core, but Eggman's levels (not Tails'...) are elevated by some pristine atmosphere and cool gimmicks. Lost Colony, especially on the Dreamcast, is just... eerie. The darkness that you need to light by shooting at enemies is a memorable setpiece. Underrated melancholic music too - Eggman has perhaps my favorite style in the game, with his darker guitars.

Weapons Bed: BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM 2000 POINTS this level is a stupid blast shooting at unactive robots shouldn't be this cathartic!

Meteor Herd: This level wins my love because you can take rockets to the very top, then drill all the way to the floor. That's the kind of shit that would have driven me insane if I played this game as a kid. More seriously, while it is perhaps the biggest hunting level in the game (or second, depending on how Mad Space fares), I never found myself lost or irritated in navigating it. Just take rockets to the top and then glide all over the place. I think it's well designed in this sense, better than most levels expanding horizontally!

Cosmic Fall: wheeeeee I love low gravity! Eggman getting to fly is just. good. it's a good gimmick! My only problem with this level is that it kinda overstays its welcome, but I don't mind lol.

Least Favorite in SA2:

Iron Gate and Prison Island: putting these together because they are utterly forgettable to me. I don't like the mech gameplay, I think it controls badly, and these levels aren't even saved by a fun gimmick - no, blasting doors is not entertaining. The only difference is that This Way Out is a jam, while Remember Me? is one of the most bland yet grating tracks in the OST 😭

Pumpkin Hill: This level is way too big for nothing. It's just... wide and empty. If it wasn't for the spoopy aesthetic and legendary theme, I'm not sure it would be as well liked as it is.

Eternal Engine: pain. misery even. agony if you will. Between the insufferable Artificial Chaos, the dynamite that if hit opens vacuums into an instant death, and the sheer length of the stage, this level is the opposite of fun. Tails was done so dirty in this game, I don't like any of his stages, but this is just tedious.

Mad Space: when you can barely control your character around the level and the hint system works against you for trolling purposes, you know you have peak level on your hands. Really good idea, excruciating execution.

[hi-i-love-u-bitch]

Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) video game is gothic fiction...hear me out!

As a literature nut I am a bit obsessed with overall themes and imagery and all that nonsense people say is boring or whatever. Anyways, I got into a rabbit hole, very much unrelated to what I'm about to say, about the themes of gothic literature and what specifically makes it gothic fiction.

Gothic fiction is characterised by:

An environment of fear -The world is hostile towards Shadow since the very beginning when he's literally just trying to find out who he is

Threat of supernatural events -The invasion of Black Doom

Intrusion of the past upon the present -Shadow is trying to figure out his true origins and will need to confront his traumatic past to do so

The setting:

Physical reminders of the past, mainly ruined buildings that allude to a previously thriving civilization now decaying. This includes castles, religious buildings, monasteries, and/or crypts -The Ark, Glyphic Canyon (has several temples pertaining to Black Doom), Cryptic Castle (a literal haunted castle) -All have the remnants of once thriving civilizations be it the scientists, the Doom Cult, or the previous monarchy now turned ghosts

The atmosphere:

The overall vibe tends to be very claustrophobic with common plot elements such as vengeful persecution, imprisonment, and murder -That is literally the whole plot of the game -Also the Ark and other environments sometimes feels like a maze where in the longer you stay in it the smaller it starts to feel

Common events:

The "horrifying" events depicted in Gothic fiction are often metaphors of sort meant to express the psychological or social conflicts of the characters and their environment -We could make the argument here that depending on which path you choose to do in game reflects the psyche of Shadow. The further he goes down the Dark path the worse his mental stability becomes, leading him to become more violent and hostile.

Story framing:

Gothic fiction will often have unreliable narrators that may change throughout the story and may also incorporate stories within stories. This may come in the form of discovering hidden files or letter that contain secret history. -Gerald has already tampered with Shadow's mind and with Black Doom's influences its even more difficult to figure out what memories are real or fake -Once more we could make the argument that each "ending" you get is just another loose thread in Shadow's psyche as he struggles to accept the truth of who he really is -We find out a lot of hidden information through missing files and video clips left by Gerald

Other characteristics include:

Doubles/doppelgangers -Eggman's Shadow android army

Unnatural echoes or silences -there is a lot of echoing in the previous places mentioned in the beginning and I'm sure if we removed the background music it be a much more eerie atmosphere

The discovery of strange family ties -Shadow being made by Black Doom DNA, the connection Shadow has with the Biolizard through blood (literally), having the essence of Maria's goodness psychologically implanted into his mind as a fail save

Nocturnal landscapes and remote locations -Again a lot of the level locations are very dark and isolated, this may have just been Sega's attempt at making an "edgier" game, but it gives a lot to the overall themes

Dreams or hallucinations -The hallucinations of Shadow's past with Maria that Black Doom puts him through

Often times may also have supernatural entities such as demons (that will often try and posses characters), ghosts, and other sorts of evil spirits. -Again we got demonic aliens, ghosts in a castle, and whatever bullshit magic the Chaos Emeralds have

In conclusion......Sonic Frontiers is also Gothic fiction! Thank you for coming to my TedTalk 😃👍✨️

[true-blue-sonic]

14, 21, 28? 😊

14. What is something you really like about your work(s)?

I like to think I'm good at writing touching and tender moments between characters, and my fics definitely give me the fluffy feels! I enjoy writing warmth and love and affection between characters, and the fact that they are willing to accept each other unconditionally and just enjoy being with each other. Such slice of life moments of characters hanging out together and being fond of each other is something that I really like! <3

21. What is something that no one has caught about one of your fics?

Oof, that's a tough question! I don't know if nobody has caught it about Run To You, but in how I'm writing it, Silver's city that he lives nearby in the future is 100% Soleanna. I'm keeping it deliberately more vague because we don't know if he does actually live anywhere close to Soleanna in the games, but I myself like that idea. So that's why Eggman's base where he sent Sonic to the future is the White Acropolis base from '06! And it works out too with Silver being a mail deliverer as per a Sonic Channel drawing, haha. Plus, I played '06 recently, so I have a slightly better grasp on what Soleanna looks like on the inside. That definitely helped with working on the fic, and I can also handwave things with 200 years of development taking place in there XD

I debated whether Silver could live in the ruins of Kingdom Valley, but with Solaris' experiment not going wrong, I'm not sure if the royal family would move out of their castle there and to the one we see Elise in in the city itself. So I'm keeping that one up in the air, because I don't have an answer myself either!

28. Do you prefer canon compliant fics or AUs?

I myself always struggle to determine what is an AU and what is canon compliant, to be honest. For example, there is absolutely no way Sonic and Silver would ever get in a relationship in canon (which I think is for the best! imagine the ship wars😬😂), but does that fact make Run To You an AU? Or is it not an AU, because I'm trying to keep the story and the world presented in there as close as possible to the world of the canon; i.e. Sonic regularly crashes at Tails' in Emerald Town, Soleanna is a place, both Sonic and Silver have the lives they live in the games (in the way that they're heroes who fight Eggmen etc.), the story takes place shortly after Rivals 2, and everything from the previous games has "happened" before RTY as well? Is the relationship they'd never have in canon what makes a story an AU, even if it takes place in the "canon" universe? Or is it only an AU if the universe they're in is like a coffeeshop or college and not the canon universe? XD

I think the best answer I can give is that I want my writing to feel like it can fit right in the games when it comes to characterisation and events. Here I do play a bit fast and loose with these rules; for example, canon!Sonic probably would never willingly go cuddle with someone, but he cuddles with Silver multiple times in RTY because I find that romantic. So I then try to play with how to make it probable Sonic still ends in such a situation (e.g. Silver instigates a hug and just doesn't get up because he doesn't notice Sonic's not a cuddler and he's actually having a lot of fun with getting such attention, or Silver is hurt and in need of comfort and this is how Sonic tries to provide it to him). In that way, I prefer canon compliance!🍀 I'm just not sure if I'm canon compliant XD

[1-p-29]

Lee! Mario and Ler! Bowser?

Please

I need more Ler! Bowser

Why not...? Y'know, I haven't really done anything besides Lee! Eggman... So this will be a first! Poor Mario's gonna wish he never left the house... Oh well, time to wreck him!😈

Lee: Mario

Ler: Bowser

______________________________________________

Mario has had just about enough of Bowser kidnapping the princess...

It's becoming more frequent and he doesn't know what to do anymore to stop him.

He'll try and plan for how to keep Peach away from Bowser when he gets back, but first he needs to save her.

After a long and treacherous journey, Mario finally found the castle Peach was trapped in... or so he thought. A figure that was seemingly trapped in a cage turned around and revealed that he'd been tricked again... for the millionth time in a row.

"Sorry, Mario, but your princess is in another castle,~" Kamek cackled before taking off his disguise, then using his magic to throw a giant enemy at him.

After Mario defeated it, Kamek led him into a dark room. After a while, he fell through the floor. He slides down until he fell right in front of the King of Koopas himself.

"Bowser!" Mario yelled. "Let Peach go this instant!"

"Now, now, Mario..." he said slyly. "You should look at your current situation before barking orders at me.~"

Mario looked around, seeing nothing at first, but when Bowser stomped, it caused the ground to shake. He noticed that he was in an invisible cage after Bowser revealed it.

"What are you planning on doing now...? Taking over the Mushroom Kingdom...?" Mario asked, now a bit fearful for the residents living there, especially his brother.

"In do time, yes... but for now...~" Bowser walked up to Mario's cage. "A bit of torture sounds more entertaining at the moment." He laughed maniacally.

Mario was now getting scared... torture...? What kind of torture...!? Whips!? Piranha Plants biting him!? GOD PLEASE DON'T LET IT BE DUNKING HIS FACE UNDER WATER!

Bowser ordered Kamek to follow him while bringing Mario's cage with his magic.

______________________________________________

They traveled all the way to the final castle (y'know... the place where Peach is ACTUALLY hidden) and into the dungeon.

Peach is usually in Bowser's room and not down here, so she'll never know about Mario getting kidnapped. Which was actually perfect for Bowser, since it would give Peach a false sense of hope.

"Tie his hands up on the chains," Bowser ordered.

"Yes, your Ruthlessness!" Kamek obeyed, tying Mario's wrists to the chains attached to the ceiling in the cell. "Would you like me to tie his legs down, too?"

"No, that won't be necessary... his legs are too short to reach the floor."

"Understood."

Mario stayed silent, trying to figure out how to get himself out of this situation, but nothing he came up with were good ideas... might get himself killed.

"Kamek, I'm gonna ask you to leave... I want to be left alone with Mario here... That includes you, got it?"

"I understand, M'Lord.~"

Kamek ordered all of the guards to leave the dungeon, Kamek sound proofing the walls since he secretly knows what Bowser's planning. (even though it was extremely childish... but I guess Bowser IS childish so... makes sense)

After Bowser was sure they were alone, he continued to tell the plumber his plan. "Y'know... I haven't done something like this in a long time... so it's sure to last a while... I'm talking HOURS ON HOURS of torture... heheheh.~"

Mario tensed up and said, "What are you g-gonna do to me." Mario mentally slapped himself on the face for letting his voice tremble, now he can't hide his fear.

"Oh don't worry, Mario. It won't hurt... actually, you might think it's funny... hell everything will be funny to you after this! Watch this!"

Bowser began to gently circle one of his claws around Mario's belly button. Mario quietly squeaked then immediately did his best to hold in the laughter.

"W-What the h-hell is thihis!?"

"Hm...? Holding it in...? Welp, guess you've left me no choice!"

Bowser decided to use both hands to lightly scratch Mario's sides. Mario couldn't hold back the wide grin that appeared on his face. He started giggling a bit as well, telling Bowser that he was close to finding the sweet spot.

"B-Bohohowser!"

"What is it, plumber?"

"Whahat... ahare yohou... d-dohoing... tohoho mehehe...!?"

"Trying to figure out what makes you tick... that way the real fun can begin, heheheheh...~"

Bowser took it up a level by taking off Mario's shoes. Then the socks came off. After that he pulled out a feather. Finally, he began to lightly swish and twirl the feather around his feet, moving it between the toes and across the soft soles.

"Grrrrhrhrhrhhrhehehehahahahaha!!!" Mario growled to try and hold in his laughter, but it came out anyway.

"Hmm... close, but... I need a scream... Now where else have I-" a thought quickly popped into his head. "Something just came to mind... I wonder..."

Bowser lightly scratched his neck. "Here?~" Mario made a small squeak before tucking his head down. Light giggles erupted, and after a while it stayed the same. "Nope."

Bowser walked behind Mario, knelt down, then tickled the backs of his knees. "What about here?~" Mario's laughter was significantly louder than when Bowser tickled his neck, telling him that this was the spot to be on.

"HahahahahaHAHAhahahahaHA! B-Bohohowseheheherrrr!!! St-StoooohoHOHOP IHIHIIIiiiiiiiIIIIIT!!!!" Mario was struggling to keep his cool, this is making him go crazy. If this doesn't stop soon...

"So... getting closer... hm... maybe...?" But Bowser had just ONE more spot to test out. "Hope your ready Mario, cuz I'm not stopping unless you pass out. Guess it's true when people say that toys aren't fun if they stop working."

Mario gulped. A toy? Him? He's never going to let him have the satisfaction! He braced himself as best he could, but what Mario didn't know was that this wouldn't be as gentle as the other tickles he's received.

Bowser stood up and walked back in front of Mario, then quickly, and aggressively, grabbed Mario's waist screaming, "Gotcha now, you pesky plumber!!!" He squeezed with as much strength as possible, but avoided giving him severe injuries as well.

"BWAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! STAAAHAHAHAHAAAAP!!!!! EHEHEHE CAHAHEHEHAN'T TAHAHAHAHAKE THAHAHAHAHAT!!!!! AAAAHHHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

Mario didn't expect Bowser to grab him with that amount of speed! It caught him off guard and that's exactly what Bowser wanted to happen.

This went on for hours to come. Bowser stopped only when Mario passed out. Guess it really is true when they say toys aren't fun if they stop working.

Bowser left Mario in the cell, locking the door behind him. Afterwards, he walked up the stairs to exit the dungeon. He knocked on the door to let Kamek know that he was finished. Then Kamek let him out, sending the guards back down to the dungeon to continue what they were doing before.

Bowser slept very happily that night... Mario on the other hand... not so much.

And... let's just say, if Bowser never talked in his sleep... Mario wouldn't have been rescued.

______________________________________________

This took me a while cuz I've been busy the past few days and the only time I had to get to this was at night.

Also, I've never done any other tickle fics that includes anyone besides Bowser or Eggman, so sorry if this wasn't to your liking Anon... I tried.

Anyways, I'm going to actually try to get some sleep now.

Ba-bye!

[aburningmemory]

[ @thegadgetandthepower ] | USING: " i'm so... tired... " PROMPT. unaffiliated with Werecat Arc /vpos |

The fox had been in a panic.

One moment, Tails was successfully holding Metal off while defending Sonic who had been dealing with Eggman and Starline, the Next, Tails found himself having to guilt-riddenly bolt from the scene. Sonic had gotten so tied up in the fight to realize that Tails had to Retreat, which you might think is a bad family dynamic but Tails was more than used to it by now. Tails knew Sonic wouldn't judge him for retreating, because of near-fatal injuries.

Metal had landed some rather deep claw rakes onto him, as well as dislocated the Fox's Shoulder. Tails' namesakes would've been the next to get damaged if he hadn't stunned Metal long enough to throw himself into the air and take off. but where was he bolting off to? Not even Tails knew. he just knew that he wouldn't be of any use if he was dead.

When Tails drops out of the air, he doesn't realize one of his gadgets opening a portal between their dimension and the Sol dimension. plummeting down through the air half conscious, he plummets through the portal his work-in-progress gadget made and continues falling until he eventually makes contact with a roof, to which gravity has him roll off and land on the ground on his chest.

Atleast it was near the Sol kingdom's Castle? Tails could hardly tell. he just knew he was in critical condition and he couldn't lift himself up anymore for the moment.

Blaze had been well, busy doing princely duties, that was until the maids came complaining about something or someone? Falling from the damn sky, onto the8r roof, and now on their large ‘front porch’ near the entrance. Which ofcourse, blaze was no stranger to robots hailing from the sky to attack them, so he quickly made his way through the castle and twords the massive doors, throwing them open with a pissed off, and ready to fight, expression and body stance. Until that was, he landed his eyes on Tails- who was lying there in critical condition and his tough act dropped immediately. The prince practically flew down the stairs as he rushed twords the fox and yelled back to his maids to fetch help for him, skidding to a stop infront of tails as he moved to scoop the fox up and knelt down to hold him properly.

“Oh great gaias— tails! Tails, little flame. What’re you doing here of all places— and what has happened to you?? Can you hear me, still respond? I need to know how bad your condition truly is, little flame.”

Blaze spoke, his voice held worry but he maintained his composure to not freak tails out if he was freaking out. Holding the fox as comfortably as he could manage.

[egg-emperor]

Since Shadow 2005 has one of your favorite Eggman portrayals, do you wish the game had an ending where you get to serve him in his empire? Since the closest we got was the neutral-dark ending, imagine if that route's boss had something like Omega driving the Egg Dealer instead

Yesss of course 🥰 I adore the game as it is but if there was an ending that actually let you join him instead of fighting him every time and killing him in three, it would've been ten times better. I dream of that stuff. I really wish they'd fully delved into that potential but I highly appreciate all the missions that give a small taste of it at least

I've always liked to imagine a route of him joining Eggman that includes all the missions you help him in and then, instead of his bosses, except for Cryptic Castle Egg Breaker because I can see him getting possessive and fighting him for the emerald anyway lol- you fight and defeat both G.U.N and Black Doom and gather the emeralds so he can build the empire!

That would be a cool way to still have the Egg Dealer fight involved! I mean, Omega would need to be defeated in some way as he certainly isn't gonna let Eggman take over the world if he can help it. Maybe a scene where Shadow runs into Omega in Lava Shelter, who assumes they're going to take down Eggman together

Shadow doesn't correct him or fight him, he just silently heads on and he follows. But when they make it to the room where the Egg Dealer fight takes place, Shadow reveals that he's on Eggman's side, he believes he's an android and that he should be fiercely loyal to his master so he lured Omega in to take him out for being a traitor

Shadow and Eggman fighting Omega together like how Shadow is usually assisted during the bosses would be awesome. Omega wouldn't need the Egg Dealer as the killing machine he is but it would be pretty fun to see him in a mech, maybe he wants to destroy Eggman's creations with another one of them and the destroy that after too

Something else that could be really cool is if Eggman was in the Egg Dealer and gives Shadow Chaos Blast with Shadow Fever to absolutely obliterate their enemy, which I theorize is what he was actually hoping to do with the Egg Dealer as he anticipated Shadow being on his side, it was potentially a smarter decision than people think

The potential would soon be proven as Omega won't be fast enough to keep up to change the outcome of the slots as Shadow being faster can knock him back easily every time he tries. That way Eggman can fire missiles, drop bombs, summon Egg Pawns, and then activate Shadow Fever so Shadow can Chaos Blast Omega into oblivion!

Either way, Eggman or Omega using the Egg Dealer would be cool and Shadow helping Eggman in taking Omega down would be epic! In an alternate ending where Eggman's plan works, nobody would stand a chance against his genius combined with Shadows ULF power! They make a badass destructive deadly duo. My dream team ❤️🖤

Once Eggman's traitorous creation and one of his most avid haters is out of the way lol, they'd be unstoppable and soon destroy the rest of Sonic and co, the Black Arms, and G.U.N. Then Eggman would happily rule the world with Shadow living a lie and believing he's an android and loyally serving the mighty emperor and they'd be feared by all!

[itsnothingofinterest]

Howdy people, just thought I’d show what I’ve managed to do for that Bowser vs Eggman animation I’ve been working on since I last mentioned it.

Spoilers: no animation itself has been done. I’ve mostly been learning new software, making assets, finding more cool pre-made assets, and setting some scenes. Still, I’ve been at this for months and need to talk about it so I'm showing off what I have anyway.

First off, we’ve got some nice views of the Egg Fleet. I will eventually have actual scenes happen in this airspace, but for now it’s mostly full of cool Egg Robot stuff I’ve found just floating around to see how it looks.

Here we see two things named “Egg robos”. The left is a look at my early skills at posing and framing…needs work, but in my defence, an Egg-shaped body with no facial expressions is difficult to make look excited. (He's supposed to look excited 'cause he gets to pilot the Nega Wisp.)

The right was a rare find, the Lost World Robo. Good thing too, I have plans for him. He was imported in prices and I haven’t quite learned how to join armatures in Blender, so they’re just locked in SFM in this picture. I’ll need to learn that eventually though, due to something (hideous) that happens early in the fight.

And lastly, here we see the Egg family (plus weird dog Infinite), featuring Eggman’s almost natural looking crossed arms. Again, I’ll get better.

I also have to learn how to make Sage's glitchy texture animation play. Lots to do but it'll look so cool when I get it going.

But what about Bowser’s side? Honestly, I’ve found a ton of stuff for him since my last post, just treasure troves worth of NPC models. Plus, stuff for his side has probably gotten the most of my attention regarding new assets. I cut my teeth learning Blender & Hammer from preparing his castle (A Bowser’s Castle themed racing track from Mario Kart Wii, it seemed fitting), because it's going to be one of the main sets for the animation. That probably explains why the lighting is so strange in these images.

Things I’ve worked on here include:

Originally-a-ramp bridge is now a normal, almost functional bridge. Wow.

Ugly Dream Stone. I’ll try to make this look better later…probably. At least I got the shape mostly right.

Metal Sonic is ready with the UI elements to be affected by Kamek’s magic. (This one took embarrassingly long to do considering just how trivially good Blender it at making boxes.)

And who could forget the pet cat whose eyelids I need to find out how to make work.

Overall, I know it may hardly look impressive, but I’m still kind of proud of what I have so far after 2 months cracking away at this.

Current next objectives are getting in Wonder Bowser Jr, figuring out how to work bones and armatures correctly so I can do that secret thing with the Lost World Egg Robo, and there’s another map I’m making from scratch in Hammer that I’ll need to chip away at for a while.

But I still think I’m on a good track. Why, soon enough I might even be able to start animating my animation.

Wish me luck.

[imhereandexist]

Love Letter Across Time 17

The hero tripped into the castle and groaned as he hit the floor. That was far too close for comfort and his body was making it very known to him. Eggman did a number this time. He managed to capture Amy. Shadow and him teamed up, much to Shadow's dismay to save her. He managed to get them all out but at the cost of him being caught. Tails screamed as he was carried by Knuckles. Even though Sonic knew he'd be lectured for it, the price was worth it. He wasn't a guest of Eggman for long though. 

A few spiked quills and him waiting for the right time gave him back his freedom. It was a hard earned fight at the end. Laser burns, bruises from hitting a few walls on accident and probably a concussion. He wasn't sure yet. Then a few deep cuts on his legs and arms. He also almost went full Werehog due to the stress. Thankfully the inhibitors did their job. He was able to use the extra power to increase his strength and bust out. 

Now he was home and on the floor. Completely unable to move from his position. But he had to let Lancelot know he was home. Shadow would be busy tending to Amy. Tails was hopefully okay and recovering. He rolled to the side and pushed himself up. It hurt but he had been through worse. Stumbling back onto his feet and closing the door by leaning his entire body against it. He locked it and let out the deep breath he had held in. 

He needed to make it to the bathroom. First aid and cleaning wounds. No, it was too far. His room was closer. He could sleep it off. Deep as the cuts were. They weren't deep enough to kill him. Not if he took a nap. Shoving himself off the door, he stumbled his way there. Fighting vertigo and using the walls to support himself. As he reached his room and opened the door, he took a moment to recover. The desk was in view. The drawer was open too. He closed it before he left. 

Another push and he was against the desk and sitting on the chair. He closed his eyes to keep the vertigo under control. Feeling for the drawer to open it. He heard a knock and knocked back. Eventually, he found the handle and pulled. Moving his hand up and feeling inside until he found the paper. Opening his eyes, he started to squint as he read the blurred words. 

My…

I…this. You…not…

Sonic stopped and put his head down. He couldn't make the words out. He kept his eyes shut. 

My Liege?

His ears perked up. He raised his head and looked towards the door. Nothing. He looked to the balcony and spotted…something. It was translucent but the image was Lancelot. He was sitting next to him and it was still hard to see. He knew it was him. 

You are injured. You must have those tended to

The hero raised a hand and reached towards him. Only for it to phase through the image. Translucent indeed. Why did he think that would work? Lancelot wasn't actually here. 

Forgive me, my king. Seems I am not…actually at your side. My point stands. The letter will be here. Rest. 

Sonic closed his eyes again. He should move to the bed. It would be better. He could lay down but then his sheets would be ruined. He would have to wash them again. A pain he didn't want to deal with. He chose to remain where he sat. He must have crashed too because he woke up to Lancelot still there. The ghostly image of a loyal knight standing watch. 

My Love, 

May I speak what I wrote? You look to be exhausted. 

He shook his head and this time, could actually read the words. 

My Love, 

I hate this. You do not have anyone to tend to your needs. At the end of the day, it sounds as if you are exhausted beyond belief. Not just in spirit, but mentally and emotionally. I fear for your health in all forms. You must be cared for. You need support in many ways. The tales I read. The tales you spoke of. How often have you saved your home? You are owed and I want to give that all to you and yet…I am here. 

Stuck behind this wall called Time. I pray you come to my side soon. Not only would I ensure you would be given the care you earned but I wouldn't hide how I feel. Not when I felt as if I could lose you and never know. 

I do not wish to lose you. I want you here. At my side…. 

Yours forever, 

Lance

Sonic stored the letter. He had the strength to move to the couch. Slowly, he pushed himself up. Stumbling towards the bed and then hitting the soft mattress. The hero couldn't see Lancelot anymore but felt his presence. He reached out but let his hand fall. It never hit the mattress. A hand caught it. 

So…ic! 

He ne-help! 

He was passing out again. Whatever, it didn't matter. He was tired. No, he was exhausted. A nap was all he needed. 

“First aid-any” 

When he woke again. He still felt his Knight's presence. He couldn't see him but it was in the air. He was bandaged up and alone. Carefully, Sonic pushed himself up and saw the drawer was open. He carefully got up. The bandages were fresh. They had been changed recently. With ease, he slid into the chair and saw the knight once more. He opened the drawer and found another letter. 

My Love, 

I am still here. I could see you. It was brief but I know you could see me. You react to my voice. The spell must be growing. Perhaps…soon we can finally have one of us be with the other. If fates allow it. If they do, I pray it is my side you land on. I know it is selfish to ask that. You are practically being forced by my desires to have you here and leaving your friends to whatever fate lay in store for them. Yet I wish for this still. We would attend to your every need. Ensure you would be able to rest. 

This Eggman would never plague nor see you unsheathing your blade for your loyal knights would be at your side. I want nothing more than that. Please do not linger at the desk for long. I can see how exhausted you are. Rest. Recover and heal from your wounds. They look deep. Please do not stray down a path where I can't travel. Not when my time has yet depleted. 

Yours forever, 

Lance 

Sonic slowly pushed him up again. If Lancelot was okay with him resting, then he'd rest. He was back in bed just as the bedroom door opened. Amy walked in with Shadow following. He ignored the other and waved to Amy. 

“You're awake. Thank Gaia.” She set the food down. “And already moving. That's a great sign but don't overdo it, okay?” 

He nodded and chose to stay silent. As much as he wanted to converse with Amy, that would require energy and he didn't have a lot. While the silence didn't bother him as much since interacting with Lance was always quiet. Shadow seemed disturbed at how quiet he had become. 

“Once again, your husband isn't here.” Shadow commented. “Some man he is.” 

“He works hard for Sonic and they clearly haven't figured schedules out. It can be hard to adjust to a style that is different from being alone,” Amy looked at him. 

If only they would believe him. His husband was home and had been all this time. But even now, they would think he was crazy. The only one who knew was Tails and that fox had confirmed the power of the desk. So even if he was gone, his brother knew where he was and how to reach him. 

“I have been meaning to ask about these,” Amy touches the inhibitors. “Are they…” 

“No worries Ams. Just wanted to try out some new decorations. Are they not my color?” Sonic looked at her with a grin. 

“No, silver and gold both suit you. Gold more so. I am glad you are okay. You should be fine now. Your hubby should be home and can manage the rest.” Amy stood up. “We have dinner and I am eating for two.” 

“Congratulations. You two will make great parents.” Sonic waved to her. “Later.” 

“Later.” 

Shadow reluctantly left with her. He ate his food, took the meds and fell back to sleep. Lancelot was watching and that's all he needed. 

[ev-rebound]

Sonic Prime rewrite: Chapter 4 The council

Sonic, now with cuffs on his hands and legs, and Nine are brought to the egg castle and pushed into an elevator, the jackals on all sides, and Zero in front. Sonic tries not to grin; they were taking him straight to eggman! Soon he’d be kicking his butt all over again, and then he’d make him fix this.

“One more thing” Zero says, Sonic looks up in time to see him holding a remote, the jackal presses a button and everything goes dark as the cuffs shock him.

-

Meanwhile, Knuckles and Rouge sit in the back of a truck heading for the egg castle, the council had a number of citizens working there. Human and mobian, but they were relegated to just operating security doors and bringing supply shipments in and out. Of course a number of them also worked with the pair. 

“You sure about this Rouge? I mean he’s fast, but it’s not like he’s the only special one in this city”

“Exactly! We can’t let him fall into the Council's clutches, they’ll just abuse his power. We need all the help we can get” 

Knuckles crosses his arms, “All I’m saying this is a lot of risk for one hedgehog”

Rouge smirks, “And when has risk stopped us before?”

The pair sit there until the truck comes to a stop and a moment later a human woman with short blonde hair signals for them to get out. “Thanks Topaz” the pair slip out and make their way into the ventilation system. 

-

Back in the castle Sonic wakes up in a large dark room, his arms and legs strapped to a table by powerful clamps, the jackal squad and Nine nowhere in sight. “Argh!” he hisses as lights suddenly go on stinging his eyes, he shuts them and when they open….

A part of him wishes he kept them shut.

He’s surrounded by the Jackal squad again, but that’s not the worst part. Up on a raised platform stands five familiar wicked faces. Zero, Sage, Zavok, Dr.Starline, and in the center of them all stands the mad doctor himself. Eggman grins down at Sonic, he sports a more militaristic version of his usual attire, all five of them do. Doesn’t matter.

“Ah the rodent finally awakens” he drawls as Sonic glares up at the doctor. “Oh shut it! What have you done to my friends?!” Sonic growls. 

A metal fist slams down next to the blue blurs head, “You will show Lord Eggman and the rest of the Chaos Council respect” a familiar, yet lifeless, girl's voice says. 

-No…- Sonic watches in horror as the fist lowers and Amy steps into view, everything but her face, ears, and one of her eyes is metal, her quills look like a metal helmet, and the rest is all silver and red. The Jackals all back away as she walks towards Sonic staring at him with no recognition or life behind her eyes, sweet Amy rose…reduced to this.

“Amy…?” “Rusty Rose” she stops a foot away from him then turns to look up at the council, “Scans show that he contains energy similar to that of the shard” 

Sonic can’t hear her, he sees red, he feels a fire burning in him as he grits his teeth and begins to struggle against the restraints, he needs to get free! He needs to make Eggman and the rest of the council pay for Amy and everyone else they’ve hurt! “AHHHHHH!” he’s shocked for his efforts but he continues, Zavok tilts his head, “We could certainly make a warrior out of this one”

 Starline hums in agreement, “Yes but there is still the matter of that energy, we must be sure its the same as the shards and not whatever gives him his speed”

Rusty glances at Sonic then back up at the council, “Perhaps a series of grueling tests?” The council all agree with wicked smiles as Sonic is tossed into a room with a treadmill and a blast proof glass wall slides in front of him. 

Sonic growls as the floor below him begins to move faster and faster, he runs able to keep up and soon out speed it. Sage’s eyes glow and soon obstacles begin to appear in his path and turrets from the ceiling. He kicks off the wall and bounces off all the turrets shattering each one with ease. 

The next test has Sonic run around in a metal ball that seems to generate power as it spins the more he runs. The council now all stand near it watching it glow.

 “These power levels…are something else” Sage says with wide eyes, “We could power even stronger machines! Expand our reach even farther across the world!”

Sonic growls at this, Eggman had taken over, his friends had changed and didn’t even know who he was! 

“Oooh here’s something you should test for! What happens when you push this hedgehog TO HIS LIMITS!” 

He runs even faster now. Blue sparks and multicolored energy following him and enveloping the orb. The energy reader in front of the council begins to beep in warning. “Sonic! It’s broken!” A voice shouts and what looks like a ghostly blue silhouette of Shadow the hedgehog appears next to him. “Shadow…?”

 “Sonic! I’m stuck in the void! It's all broken!” the hedgehog shouts in desperation. 

Broken..? The void…? “What are yo-”

The energy can no longer be contained as it explodes from his body in all directions. 

First-Next-Prev

[crusherthedoctor]

🌧️ "When outside during the rain, do you use a raincoat, an umbrella, or something else? Do you enjoy rain?"

"Do you collect anything?"

"A little spot of rain can be pleasant, but a relentless rainfall is one that I prefer to avoid, as it's rather inconvenient for me to be walking around with damp hair. I always bring my parasol in case it rains, which delighted Cream when I showed it to her."

"For the castle garden, I've tried my best over the years to grow as many different types of plants and flowers as possible, tending to each and every one of them, because I believe they all deserve to thrive. And while I certainly don't abduct them, I also like to write down notes on every creature I see, namely what makes them so unique and beautiful in my eyes, including those that I may need to cover my nose for. Nature is profoundly fascinating in all its forms, and I refuse to let Dr. Eggman have his way with it."

[disappointingcabbage]

I’m gonna lose it my in progress live reaction to episode 1 deleted itself. im gonna try to remember what I said and then finish the episode

TDP Season 7 Episode 1 live reaction below the cut, beware spoilers for anything and everything in this episode and proceed at your own risk

kosmo emo poetry moment lol

“I’m back and no one knows hehe >:)” aaravos, my dude, that’s not gonna last long you’re the size of a fucking building someone will notice

oooh funky new intro animation

Ethari?

HOLY SHIT ITS HAPPENING

nvm runaan isn’t back in the silvergrove yet his flower is just floating again

Ethari doesn’t believe he’s alive :(

The jump cut from Ethari being like “no he’s definitely dead :(“ to Runaan being a nightmare patient and trying to convince Rayla and Lujanne to let him leave the moon nexus because he needs to get back to his husband Right Now is peak comedy

Also lujanne’s bf just being able to scoop up this twink like a fucking cat and put him back in bed is amazing actually

Aww rayllum fluff, cute!!

Aaravos shut the fuck up challenge impossible

Terry calling aaravos out for being a manipulative bastard is amazing actually

Claudia I get that you miss your dad but he’s died like 3 times now let the man rest

I don’t buy aaravos’s whole “viren may be stuck in the in between as a ghost bc his death was too traumatic” thing for one second

Callum found Soren’s dragon plushie in the castle ruins

I love that Callum and Soren are just allowed to hug it out and cry we need more shows like this that show men healthily feeling and expressing their emotions

This scene is brutal though. I almost cried

Fuck all the way off, aaravos

No no no no no stay away from the moon nexus leave Runaan alone he’s been through enough

Where the fuck would you even get a moon primal stone

What do you MEAN, “invert the moon nexus” what does that even do??? Stop pissing on the moon you’re not Eggman >:(

aww sorvus

Ok I think I covered the stuff that tumblr dot com deleted on me time to finish the episode

KOSMO WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE INTENDS TO RELEASE THE DEAD AMO- ohhh he’s bringing back Leola. Fair enough? Maybe? I don’t know the Bigger Implications of that as it pertains to this magic system?

Hell yeah Astrid!!

Aww Aanya’s cuddling Bait!!

Soren ily

Ezran going full vengeful mode is unexpected but fair tbh. That said, um, sol regem’s already dead so I don’t think his revenge quest is gonna last all that long.

That said if Ezran of all people shows up in a rage while Aaravos and Terry and Claudia are still there it’s gonna be both funny and scary

Oh Callum and Corvus are going to the valley of the graves instead. That’s a smarter decision.

Aanya is such a good friend.

An archdragon’s bite, you say?

I’m just picturing Ezran chucking a poké ball at aaravos and zym coming out of it and just chomping this motherfucker on the ankle

“It will be better to be a bit less conspicuous” sir, once again, you are a fucking kaiju. I think that ship has sailed.

Your footsteps literally cause mini earthquakes I don’t think you’re capable of stealth

Did this motherfucker just become an evil lion turtle????

No he just transformed all his extra body mass into an island and became Normal Sized. That’s not any less weird.

Oh my god why is he giving me Dr. Frank N Furter vibes

ough shapeshifting disguise. I liked the tidebound better but he’s probably going with earthblood to match Terry

I know he did not just hit on Claudia. Absolutely the fuck not.

Runaan angrily shoveling grubs into his mouth is not what I expected but it’s really funny

also apparently he’s going to Katolis with Rayla. That’s… a choice.

Aaravos needs to get way better at planning stuff out because it took Callum and Corvus all of two seconds to see the massive dragon skeleton in the valley of the graves and the new island that just mysteriously popped up in the lake

What if zym bit a rock on the island

oh fuck he picked a human disguise and now he’s gonna infiltrate katolis. Ah shit.

Aaravos’s human form looks. Uncomfortably like your average fanart of Gerry from TMA.

Nvm he’s leaving I guess

is that a fucking Snow White apple?

Aaravos really has like a -1 stealth lmao like dude why did you use Callum’s name your human sona doesn’t know him

Thank you Corvus for being the voice of reason

Thank you Ezran for not continuing to be counterproductively angry after finding out Sol Regem is dead

Rayla’s back!! With Runaan! I don’t to his return to katolis is well timed like at all but he sure is here

Oh no ezran’s still mad

Understandable but dude now is not the time

I really don’t want acab to include Soren :(

Astrid why did you just look directly into the fucking sun immediately after removing your blindfold

That’s it that’s the episode I guess