#LAB RAT WITH TEETH ( EGGMAN. )

[service-animal-shadow]

have a "lore-dump" of noemata, because i was re-reading some older notes for my personal headcanon-Sonic-verse and. Uh.

i was wondering why writing those notes on Shadow felt so natural-

warnings for mentioned physical abuse, trauma, and death.

While my project objective was immortality & living weapon, I was initially created for the purpose of live-subject blood transfusions. Gerald Kintobar wanted me to be used for good; healing that which could not be healed.

[Also, for the record, Black Doom, The Black Armies, and basically all the "lore" revealed in the Shadow The Hedgehog game is not part of my canon. I have more to do with Chaos energy itself, producing & channeling it in a constant cycle.]

I was raised to be very close with Maria, who was a young teenager at the time of my creation. I was a very mellow creature, at first seemingly "unemotional," until Gerald introduced me to Maria.

My first few years of existence were non-invasive, Gerald determined to forge a bond with his creation by means of showing kindness. I came to trust the doctor, and Maria even more so. Her own empathy and wonder for the world imprinted heavily on me.

But the good doctor couldn't keep me a secret forever.

The United Federation, the initial contractors of this immortality project, sent their own scientists to check in — see how things were going. Gerald tried to press how he'd been taking things slowly, gently, and the UF scientists didn't want to hear any of it. They took hold of the project with an iron grip, subjecting me to all manner of tests and procedures to make sure I was up to the standards the UF wanted. Gerald had to fight numerous times to continue his research on the healing properties of my blood, and thus treating Maria's illness.

The day things change is traumatic for everyone involved.

Gerald has to watch as the creation he's come to love as his own child is treated like an animal; a lab rat to be poked and prodded and antagonized for reactions.

Maria has her best friend unceremoniously ripped away from her. She's more aware of the situation then she lets on, acting her age and feigning ignorance so the armed forces the UF brought with them don't hurt her too.

And I experience violence for the first time in my life. I don't know the people that snatch me up with excessive force, that drag me away from my charge and beloved friend, that beat me down to ensure I "know who's in charge" because I try to ask what's happening. I don't understand why these people are doing this, but I quickly realize what they want from me:

Results.

It doesn't take long for them to deem me a possible threat to humanity. (I’m aggressive toward them, because they won't listen to my polite requests for bodily autonomy. So like an abused dog, I show teeth. I bite back.) The UF scientists declare they have to destroy the project, or at least lock me away so I can't cause any damage.

Gerald panics.

He sets me free, airlocks the UF scientists, and puts the ARK in lockdown. G.U.N quickly finds out, thinks I am to blame, and they send in a strike team to eviscerate the ARK.

They have no idea a civilian is there. (Or maybe they did, and just didn't care.)

Maria is murdered while trying to protect me. I was never ejected from the ARK, because Maria didn't get the chance to launch the escape capsule. I get taken down and drugged. Gerald is arrested. I get put in cryo-stasis for the next 50 years.

After I was freed by EggMan, I was driven to seek revenge via a hidden recorded message from Gerald, stored on the ARK. There were no reprogrammed memories; only the words of a grieving, about to die, old man.

Amy tried to confront me about saving humanity, while the ARK was falling, and tried to use some “This isn’t what Maria would’ve wanted” line. It did not go over well, and honestly just upset me more. (Because how would she know what Maria wanted? I never pretended to know what she would want, either.)

Who really won me over was Rouge. I think she basically sat me down, while the ARK was plummeting toward the planet, and I’d resigned myself to this end. She asked what I had hoped to do or see on earth. Whatever my answer was, her response boiled down to “Well, you’ll never get the chance to do that if you die, or if everyone dies.”

I don't pericall very much about the "boss fight" in space, aside from a few key moments and sensations.

My fur and quills were alight; almost like water pouring over me in a constant stream, and smooth electricity racing up-down limbs & surging from my core.

Sonic was... worried about me, throughout the fight; asking if I was okay, and saying I looked tired. pretty sure that was because of how much Chaos energy I was bleeding. my “super” form was definitely not stable, that much I’m aware of.

I know Sonic made a grab for me when he realized I wasn’t warping myself with the ARK.

And I can’t say for sure, but... I think he caught me.

[eladoobler]

"a lab rat with teeth" fucking phenomenal way of describing eggman, i am forever going to keep it in my mind