#maybe even unleashed in this sense too. amy and tails are just. there. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mahoutoons · 2 years

Text

In your memory

Fandom: Sonic the hedgehog

Relationship: Sonic/Amy

Words: 1094

Summary: Sonic, Tails, and Amy have been transported to the mysterious Starfall Islands after flying into a wormhole and are separated. With nothing but an AI voice to guide him, Sonic speeds through the island, fights enemies he's never fought before, and eventually reunites with Tails and Amy. But when he and Tails reunite with Amy, she doesn't remember who they are.

A/N: so did y'all hear about sonic frontiers. apparently a plot point is that amy lost her memories and sonic has to collect these heart collectibles to restore them. can you just imagine the angst that would come from this? sonic was upset when amy didn't recognize him in his werehog form in unleashed. now imagine how he would react if she doesn't remember him at all. i wrote this based on that idea.

also please forgive me, i am bad at writing angst.

AO3 link

It all happened so fast. Sonic, Tails, and Amy meant to go on a relaxing vacation after their last battle against Eggman. Instead, they ended up being sucked in a wormhole and ended up on this mysterious island. Sonic was no stranger to being transported to new worlds. After all, that was how he had met Blaze. And he’d also been transported into storybooks before. But something about this felt… different. This island he was on was massive and though it was beautiful, Sonic felt an eerie sense of loneliness. He couldn’t remember anything. All he remembered were his name and the names of Tails and Amy. He knew they were important to him, he just couldn’t figure out why.

As Sonic sped through the island with nothing but a mysterious AI voice to guide him, fighting strange enemies that looked very different from the Eggman robots he was used to fighting, collecting what appeared to be tokens, he began to remember more. He remembered how he came to these islands - which according to the AI voice, were called Starfall Islands. He remembered his friends and why they were important to him. And now that he remembered that, he had to find them. Tails and Amy were sucked into the wormhole with him. They couldn’t be far off, right?

He did eventually find Tails. He was so happy to see his little brother again. He had felt so lonely on the islands, save for the AI voice. He was even beginning to miss Eggman.

“These islands are like nothing I’ve seen before,” Tails said. “They’re massive, and…. I’ve never heard of them on any of my travels. How did we even get here?”

“Maybe this is a different dimension,” Sonic suggested. “Remember how we got to the Sol dimension through a wormhole? Maybe this is somewhere in the Sol dimension.”

“Possible, but these islands seem to be the only things here,” Tails said.

“What do you think, mysterious AI lady?” Sonic asked.

“I do not understand what you are talking about,” the AI voice said. “Starfall Islands do not belong to the Sol dimension.”

“So, definitely not the Sol dimension then,” said Sonic. “Anyhow, we have to find Amy. Tails, was she with you?”

“No. She was separated from both of us,” said Tails.

“Well then, we’d better find her,” said Sonic. “Who knows how lost she could be?”

“I wouldn’t worry too much about her. She’s capable of handling herself after all,” said Tails.

With Tails and the AI voice at his side, Sonic sped through the islands yet again to find his pink friend. Tails tried to find any info on Starfall Islands but he simply couldn’t get enough. Even the AI voice wasn’t willing to tell what the islands really are and what those enemies were. Tails had said they didn’t look anything like Eggman’s previous creations, unless he had seriously upped his game. Which wasn’t impossible after his last attack. But still, they were different from what Sonic was used to fighting.

After fighting a giant robot, Sonic finally found Amy. He ran towards her.

“Amy, I’m so glad you’re okay!” he said.

Amy turned around and looked at him with a confused face.

“Amy, gosh, are you alright?” asked Tails.

Amy tried to read their expressions. Sonic leaned in for a hug but she pulled away.

“Who… are you?” she asked.

Sonic was taken aback.

“What? Amy, its me, Sonic the hedgehog. Your hero?”

“I…..”

Amy wracked her brain as if trying to remember something. Then, she finally said, “Have we met before?”

“Wha-What are you talking about, we’ve met a long time back. When I saved you from Metal Sonic? We’ve gone on all sorts of adventures. Me, you, Tails, Knuckles…. Fighting against Eggman.”

“Tails? Knuckles? Eggman? Who are those?” Amy asked.

“Amy, you really don’t remember me?” asked Sonic.

“No, I don’t think I’ve ever met you before. Sorry.”

Sonic almost fell back when he heard this. Amy Rose - the girl who had been chasing him for years, the girl who loved him unconditionally even when he turned into a werehog, the girl who described him as her hero, the girl who was always singing his praises - had forgotten him, just like that. How was it possible? It felt like a thousand needles stabbed Sonic’s heart. One of his closest friends just didn’t know who he was.

“No….. no no no no,” he stammered. “It can’t be. You can’t have just forgotten me like that… right? Can you at least remember something?”

Amy paused for a while, then said, “No, nothing is coming up.”

“Amy, do you remember me?” asked Tails. “I’m Tails.”

“No, I don’t know you. Sorry.”

“What? How is this possible?”

“It appears that Amy Rose has lost her memories,” the AI voice said.

“Yeah, we can see that,” said Sonic.

“But there is a way to get them back.”

Sonic and Tails’ ears perked up at this.

“There is? How? Please tell us,” Tails said.

“Have you noticed little hearts around the island?” the AI voice asked.

“Yeah, what about them?”

“They are part of Amy Rose’s memories. The more you collect, the more she will remember.”

“So if I collect all of them…. Then Amy will remember who we are…. Who I am?” Sonic asked.

“That is supposed to happen, yes.”

“Alright then. I’m going to collect these hearts!”

He went towards Amy and put his hands on her shoulders.

“Amy, you may not remember me now, but I promise I will bring back your memories. Until then, just hang in there.”

“I’ll stay with her,” said Tails. “I can still communicate with you with the Miles Electric. It still works here.”

“Good. Then I’m off to collect hearts! AI lady, you’re gonna help me!”

“I will do my best,” the AI assured him.

Sonic sped off again. Amy stared at the sky.

“What a beautiful island,” she commented. “I don’t remember how I got here.”

“Its mysterious but it sure is beautiful,” said Tails.

“Tails, was it? I know that blue hedgehog was important but when I search my memories, I just can’t figure out why. And its the same with you. But I just can’t remember and its making my head ache. Do you think…”

“Don’t worry. Sonic will get your memories back,” Tails assured her. “He never gives up until he achieves his goal, no matter what. So just hang in there. You’ll definitely remember us.”

Amy looked at the flowers again.

“Yeah,” she said. “I hope I will.”

#sonic the hedgehog #sonic frontiers #amy rose #sonamy #my fanfiction

20 notes · View notes

ganymedesclock · 3 years

Note

Ooh ooh ooh, how about your version of Sonic for the powers thing?

You see, Sonic is fast, because if he doesn't keep ahead of his problems, he'll have to actually think about them, and then he'll have a crisis.

This is partially a fun opener joke and it's also not. I'll let you decide how much of each it is. In the meantime, I'm going to talk about what my reads of various canons inspire in me, and how that informs Worlds AU, a bit more than talking about Worlds AU itself.

So Sonic in the initial game canon, started out with an extremely simple conceit. You can see this mirrored across all of the non-Amy classic characters: Sonic runs, that's his thing; Tails flies, Knuckles punches, Eggman makes robots and also problems, which sort of condenses into one thing considering the role robots have in the classic games.

(that damn caterkiller has cost me SO many attempts at a chaos emerald...)

This sort of got to be a problem as the games advanced. In particular, the Sonic game I started on was Sonic Adventure 2, which pitted Sonic very prominently off of Shadow. At this point, character concepts are no longer about simple capabilities, and every other member of the cast has grown up. (even Amy... though not too much. sorry Amy). Tails is now building robots to go with how his flight allows him to reach unconventional 'tricky' routes; Knuckles is now more of an adventurer, explorer, and even a mystic given his history and relationship with the emeralds. This earthly pugilist sense grounds him in a more versatile skill-set.

Sonic... basically his gimmick was remaining true to the classic formula- he was still the one going fast, popping those shuttle loops, and tumbling through a chaotic universe. Yes, they absolutely polished this and put flourishes on it- now he's grinding rails and flipping on poles, this sense of street-smart parkour that carries him cheekily through any environment...

But he's played off Shadow, where the thing about Shadow, especially in the first game, is Shadow is a person who suppresses most of his personality for his context. Not in an inorganic or badly written sense, mind- but he outright says to Rouge at one point that it doesn't matter if anything he remembers is fake- in essence, that it's more real than he is, and a dead person's wish is more important than his life.

Shadow is a soldier, is an alien, is a bioweapon, is a teleporter and he shoots lasers. We are beyond the days of simple conceits; if he was conceived in the classic era, he'd have probably been either only a jet-skater or a teleporter, and that one conceit about how he moved through the world would've been through everything.

Sonic picks up the chaos control from Shadow- in direct reaction to Shadow- and this is commented on. In this scene, Sonic not only rejects Shadow's unhealthy obsession with context- that where he came from was everything- but mirrors it with an attitude that, frankly, to me, rings just as unbalanced- Sonic basically denies having a backstory whatsoever.

"What you see is what you get!" he says.

And that flew in the classic era. We didn't really have a consistent or strongly-drawn backstory over why Sonic was fast. Most continuities around that era point it to either an accident or a happenstance synergy with an outside force. But we didn't really need a story over why Tails can fly or why Knuckles had spurs on his fists.

But in the modern era... there's context. Many characters have superpowers. And more and more, there was a sense that those superpowers had context and history, whether the outright spelled, like Shadow (he was engineered to be capable of this; if you look at him, he has most of the abilities you'd expect of a boss fight in Resident Evil, minus the squelchy, infectious sorts and the Black Arms imply he could well have those and just not use them)

...or the simply alluded, such as Blaze's ominous comment that her flames are the reason she was always alone.

Sonic... clearly has powers. He's been reframed to keep up with he setting as it changes. But that exchange between him and Shadow- where Shadow looks at what Sonic is capable of, looks at him, and asks, verbatim, "what are you," and Sonic delivers a non-answer so naked and so certain that there's not really anything to say to that.

To this end, while I think it's highly intuitive that they picked the wind as the motif to spice Sonic up to- with its sense of freedom, and with its association with speed- I think there's also something about air in general that connects to Sonic.

Air is... omnipresent. It has an extremely complex seething system high overhead. Enormous paths and belts and spirals of wind curl over us all the time, pushing clouds the size of entire states around like it's nothing. When you look at the sky, it looks stationary. But wait, squint- it's actually moving. It's actually moving really fast.

One of my absolute favorite characterizing moments of Sonic is in Archie Comics, specifically the post-reboot series. To keep context minimal, Tails confides in Sonic that he's losing his memory of a certain incident that affected both of them, and he's worried; Sonic reassures him, typical hero big brother best friend, and gives him a big hug. The scene is warmly lit.

The very next panel is literally in the shadows, over Tails' shoulder and behind his back. And Sonic's expression is... troubled. Telling. We immediately understand from that alone he just lied, and has no ability to 'just remember for Tails'.

Sonic is not a vacuous person. He's not empty, he's not innocent, and he's certainly not just your same good nostalgic friend who never changed or got complicated so you don't have to reevaluate all of those things- the guy you can always count on, just like the sky is always there- but he sure pretends to be all of those things, and tries to keep the stormy weather as far away from other people as possible.

This is given another heroic-sounding-but-actually-concerning context in Sonic Unleashed, one of several games in which Sonic shows a maybe suspicious but profound aptitude for darkness where he guzzles and serves as a very powerful conduit for the energy of Dark Gaia, who is strongly connoted with rage, despair, denial, and other states considered bad for your health.

Sonic asks Chip- who he's just found out is Dark Gaia's counterpart- if it was his protection that kept him from losing his mind the entire time. Chip denies this, and states instead it's that "you never let the darkness win."

The thing is... anger and sadness are actually pretty important to feel. And it's actually not true that Sonic as a character doesn't feel anger- there's a few rather notable scenes in which he really loses his cool, some of them within Sonic Unleashed itself (he actually scares Eggman at the culmination of the Egg Dragoon fight) and in the game Sonic and the Secret Rings he actually achieves a super form powered by negative emotions- and that game also ends on a surprisingly melancholy note, where Shahra, when leaving Sonic, specifically gives him a bunch of tissues, a nod to how they met, and specifically "So you can cry as much as you need to."

Sonic is a good person. But Sonic is also... kind of a liar. He has this powerful connection to these highly destructive and dangerous entities- Dark Gaia, Chaos- and this is a thing he, pointedly, doesn't wonder about. And it's not arrogance, or an inability to consider the possibilities- in Sonic Colors he is very real with himself that he can't outrun a black hole, but only admits that once Tails is out of earshot on the one safe ride away from it- and while gearing up to try to do so anyway.

Wind is a contradictory thing. In the sky, we consider the possibility of ultimate freedom; flight and wings are often depicted as symbols of enormous power and efficacy because the very notion of being able to go wherever you want to captivates us.

On the other hand, though, a state of freefall is terrifying. In the unparalleled freedom of the sky, absolutely nothing can catch you if you fall.

(you know, except Tails, if you're fighting Eggman in Marble Garden- I'll leave)

We can talk about a bolt from the blue, a sudden storm or a just-as-sudden clear blue sky... the mechanisms of the air around us are often very hard to perceive for their superficial simplicity. And on sunny days when the wind lazes slowly through the leaves, it's hard to think of it as capable of hurricane forces.

I guess the note I want to leave this on is, it's pretty interesting how Sonic genuinely likes running, but he also tends to either outrun or fight anything that stresses him out- and "what he is" and "what he's capable of" is something he really doesn't like talking about even if he's happy to show or compete it.

#Sonic the Hedgehog #Sonic worlds AU #readmore

104 notes · View notes

wereh0gz · 3 years

Text

Gonna ramble about some headcanons because I'm in a study hall just sitting here doing nothing

So. Religion in Sonic's world.

(More under cut)

We've seen gods and deities in Sonic's lore before. The most notable being Chaos and Gaia. We know for sure that people worshipped Gaia because of the Gaia Temples, and we know Chaos' history, though it doesn't seem like they were worshipped by people.

I've seen people use Chaos as a replacement for God when saying things like "dear God" or "oh my God" in some fanworks (including my own unfinished fanfic, Sonic Eclipse) and began to wonder how that would make sense, since Chaos as a god isn't really worshipped. I also just got thinking about the gods in general so here's this.

I like to think people don't worship Chaos the god, but instead Chaos Energy and Chaos as a concept. The belief that Chaos is inside everyone and even forms their very souls. It's one of the things that keeps the world in balance. The belief in Chaos is pretty loose, with many different interpretations of what it is exactly and what it does, and it can even be present as a part of different religions.

Chaos (the god) was born from a mutated Chao, therefore Chaos (the energy) and the Emeralds had existed and were possibly important to ancient religions long before Chaos (the god) existed.

Meanwhile, Gaia is worshipped similarly to gods irl, with people going to Gaia Temples to pray and sometimes leaving offerings of food, flowers, etc. It's another force keeping balance in the world, even if every couple thousand years its dark counterpart disrupts that balance.

There's other minor gods and deities, like the Phoenix from Unleashed that are also worshipped, though belief systems based on Gaia and Chaos Energy are most common.

Solaris is a dead god and is no longer worshipped due to 06 shenanigans. However Iblis and Mephiles where kind of reborn in the new timeline. They still exist, just separate and in new forms, and no one worships or even knows about Solaris anymore (except maybe Sonic and I doubt he would worship something that tried to break all of time or whatever it tried to do idk I didn't play 06)

I would talk about Illumina and Void but idk shit about Sonic Shuffle so. They're here too I guess.

Usually religious beliefs in Sonic's world are kinda loose in nature and sometimes blend together, though there are some groups that (for lack of a better word) take things too seriously. There's also probably cults that worship the Time Eater and other malevolent deities out there.

And because I wanna keep talking for a little longer I might as well mention some of the main cast and their religious beliefs

Sonic and Tails aren't particularly religious, they've met gods face-to-face and see them moreso as people with incredible power and not, like, gods. They know that they're not perfect and aren't as all-powerful as they may seem. Their beliefs are pretty loose and mostly based on Chaos.

Shadow and Rouge have pretty loose beliefs on Chaos as well.

Knux worships the Master Emerald and the Chaos Emeralds. I feel like that's a given.

Amy, Cream, and Vanilla believe in Chaos and Gaia, and so do most of the other characters, though their beliefs might differ ever so slightly.

Man just thinking about this stuff makes me wish Sega tried to have more connected world building and lore like I would love to see more about the world and cultures and how they might reflect some aspects of our world. Like wouldn't that be cool Sega. Sega give us more complete lore I am begging please

#ramblings #uhhh idk what to tag this lol #should i even put this in any main tags??? idk #sonic headcanons #that's the only one this post is getting lol

19 notes · View notes

chao-chachaslide · 3 years

Text

What if I was to post my personal headcanons for the Chaos Dimension timeline in this post? It's just the timeframe of when the games take place in my head lol

Also please take this into consideration

Sonic 4 Episodes 1&2 are a bit before SA1. Probably around a year. This is the first time Sonic meets Eggman, Metal and Tails. Even though Episode 3 never saw the light of day assume it happens after the first two. And also the cutscene from SA1 where Sonic saves Amy from Metal. If Sega eventually decides against the Chaos/Classic AU thingy just ignore this paragraph sans the first sentence and dump the Classic timeline before it. Which is annoying actually because I constructed the Classic and Chaos timelines so they run parallel. (Hey that kinda happened)

SA1 is not long after Sonic's 13th birthday. All the Dreamcast games take place within the following year. Realistically Eggman wouldn't be able to do all this stuff in such a short time, but a) it's fiction b) robot army

if the empire can rebuild the death star in a couple years so can Eggman

Advance 1 takes place while Eggman is trying to find Shadow and all of Gerald's shit because honestly not much happens in that game; it's mainly filler.

SA2 is not that long after. I'd say it's still summer if not early autumn so like august~september ish. Eggman probably already owned Gerald's diary so the part that takes the most time is locating Shadow. Conveniently the cutscenes in this game actually tell you the day and time they are happening. The hero story is roughly 3 days long, while dark starts a bit beforehand.

Advance 2 happens a few months later, followed closely by Heroes.

SHtH has a wintery vibe (maybe it's the darkness of the stages idk) December~January.

Closely followed by Battle and Advance 3.

Metarex arc doesn't happen exactly like the anime because the canons are slightly different (eg Chris isn't canon lmao). All we know is Cosmo existed and died in the same way probably. I haven't watched the anime but I'll give the events a few months to play out. Like the whole thing with Molly might not have happened. All I know is Seedrian mass genocide, Cosmo dies, Sonic and Shads go super and blow shit up, the end.

Rush is ~14th bday ish maybe. Idk.

Riders is just afterwards.

06 is summery (mainly Soleanna) so July.

Rivals happens instead of 06 so also July.

SatSR is just after.

Rush Adventure is summery so August. Idk how meteorology works in the Sol Dimension so we'll assume it's the same.

Rivals 2 is in September because I need it to go somewhere.

Riders 2 can happen just after that. It would make sense actually; look at the sky in the opening/ending cutscenes.

Unleashed is in late October-early November because of course it is.

I’m actually gonna give Eggman some time to recover from Unleashed and prep for Colours lol.

SatBK happens probably like a week after Unleashed. So November. Like that grey sky not quite subzero but can be if desired. Will randomly just be sunny some days. Btec December.

Free Riders can be early spring. March or April.

The ending from colours looks late spring/early summer so we'll say May

Gens takes place on June 23rd aka Chaos!Sonic's 15th/Classic's 16th.

Give Eggman a bit of time to get out of White Space but Lost World still has summer vibes and I can't space it out too much so let’s go July. Classic Robotnik also needs to get back to his Universe.

TSR can be August.

Episode Shadow takes place over a few months. Jackal Squad was probably wrecked somewhere around the time Lost World was happening and leads up directly to Lvl 1 of Forces. Let’s say September-October for Lost Valley.

Then there’s a 6 month timeskip lol so now we're in March-April.

NOTE: If Sonic has another bday in canon and his age doesn’t change push everything back by one year. Or if he doesn't but we end up with too much content.

If you want to count IDW then it probably has taken place over at least 2 months by now.

#i wrote this a few weeks ago from memory #if any of the games i mention do say whenabouts they're set then oof #miles' relevant shit #headcanons #lorebuilding 🧀#also I forgot shuffle #is that game even canon?#this is mainly for personal reference lol #oh shit i forgot to ever post this. it's been in my drafts for weeks.

3 notes · View notes

cyberramblings · 4 years

Text

Sonic & Tails: Ideas for a new Sonic Plot and Partner System

So, first off, there is a game called Sonic & Knuckles. It is basically just the second half of the overly ambitious Sonic 3. It is not Sonic 4, but it is a standalone game. Anyways, there isn’t a game called Sonic & Tails yet, so let’s make that happen.

Regardless of that, I wanted to talk about my vague conceptualizations of a Sonic game plot. I WANTED to continue my thoughts on other Sonic characters, but my stupid brain can’t stop thinking about “what if Sonic and Tails fought?” Again, this is getting into some borderline fanfiction territory, but I write the blog AND the rules.

Piggybacking off my previous post detailing my thoughts on Tails, I had said that I liked the idea of Tails taking over Robotnik’s lab after he is defeated once and for all (or temporarily, I don’t expect Sonic Team to kill off the main villain, as much as I’d pseudo-ironically love Sonic Adventure 3 to open with Eggman’s funeral while Sound of Silence plays like the overly edgy funeral scene from Watchmen 2009).

Now, this is also getting into some serious Marvel Civil War or Batman v. Superman territory, but stick with me. I feel like one of the most underutilized aspects of Sonic as a series is the cast of characters. Maybe it is just me, but I feel like Sonic fans want to see their favorite obscure character return or see as many characters as possible. Even the most trivial characters have a cult following in the weird Sonic fandom. It was really cool to see the obscure Sonic the Fighters characters return for a boss fight in Sonic Mania, even if they were just an illusion. I am proposing a Sonic game where nearly every characters returns to make up the boss fights.

Now, the first issue with this idea is that typically the “rival” battles in Sonic are a bit hit or miss. Fights against playable characters in the Adventure IMO felt pretty flat and uninteresting. Now, 2D Sonic has some better boss battles against the likes of Metal Sonic and Knuckles and the same goes for Generations, so maybe those could be emulated. Regardless of gameplay, I’d like to see all the weirdies like the playable cast of Sonic Heroes, The Fighters, Emerl, Blaze, Gamma E-102, etc. return at least as boss fights, if not as playable characters, even if they are just piloting the mechs that would typically be piloted by Eggman. I get zero excitement from fighting Eggman anymore, but just put Rouge’s model in the cockpit and suddenly its way cooler with more potential for unique boss dialogue.

So far I have proposed a Civil War-style plot where Tails goes a little bit off the deep end and a Sonic game where the boss fights are all the beloved recurring characters. It should be obvious how these two parts fit together. Perhaps the dual story structure of Adventure 2 is overplayed by this point, but obviously it would fit in with these ideas.

To get into the nitty gritty and provide an example of what I am imagining, consider Metal Sonic. I can easily see a plot that starts with Tails reconfiguring Metal Sonic to be “good”. This bring back a classic character in a new way and allows for a lot of angles for the plot to go, of course borrowing from various Iron Man plots and the Buffy-bot from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

One idea from Sonic Adventure that I would really like to see return is the ever-evolving nemesis concept. Even if Sega never really brings back Chaos, I’d love to see a rival that increases in power as the game goes along. This could totally tie in with my previous idea, with Metal Sonic becoming more powerful over the course of the game, possibly with the acquisition of the Chaos Emeralds like Chaos does. Metal Sonic already has been shown to take on a few different forms, such as at the end of Sonic Heroes.

Another story beat that I’d like to see replicated is the end of Adventure 2 where Sonic and Shadow have to team up. Now, in this hypothetical Sonic & Tails game, that would obviously be Sonic and Tails teaming up, but I’d also love to see them bust out Mecha Sonic as a kind of retconned prototype of Metal Sonic from Sonic 2/3 as a last resort too.

I also love the story beat of all the playable characters at the end of Sonic Adventure bringing the depleted Chaos Emeralds to Sonic for the final fight. I would love to see something like this but a little more weighty. I have a clear mental image of something like the Breath of the Wild loading screen that shows your level of progress though the game, but instead with Sonic endlessly walking towards the camera as the game loads, surrounded by more and more characters walking towards the screen as you rescue/recruit them.

Personally, it seems like Sonic games struggle to balance multiple playable characters, so I’d settle for something like Advance 3 where you pick a partner that enables new moves. I would prefer to find a way to include every possible character as playable, but I would settle for a 3D Sonic game where Sonic (and maybe characters that control near identically like Metal Sonic, Shadow, Silver, Blaze, etc.) is the only playable character, with characters like Tails, Knuckle, Amy, Big, etc. are relegated to the partner role, but swappable.

Playable Characters:

Sonic: Everything normal

Metal Sonic: Just make him control like he does in Adventure 2: Battle, so faster than Sonic but with less moves. I don’t think Metal Sonic has ever been canonically playabe, only appearing as a boss fight or playable in racing games or bonus modes, so that would be my biggest request.

Shadow: Just Sonic but slipperier and please give him a teleport instead of a homing attack

Silver: Again, just Sonic but make his double jump more offensive to represent his telekinetic abilities

Blaze: Her name is BLAZE and she has FIRE POWERS in Rush and Rush Adventure, so please just make her control like Sonic but with a fiery homing attack or her fire hover from Rush

Espio: Just give him some kind of limited invisibility or maybe the tornado attack as a reference to Heroes

Mighty: He could probably be thrown in with his moves from Mania, but this is reaching

Jet: Probably asking too much, but he’s never been playable in non-racing game, so even seeing him with his board in a main game as a kind of joke would be cool

Assist Characters:

Tails, Cream, Charmy: Obviously, limited flight with slightly different characteristics. Cream could alternatively have the Chao attack from Advance

Knuckles, Rouge, Tikal: Either a limited glide or the digging

Amy: Piko Piko Hammer as an attack or as a big jump. She could also maybe be a Sonic-like characters, but I feel like she was shoehorned into the speed role in Heroes

Big: I just like seeing this dumb idiot return. It seems like asking a lot for the fishing rod to be used as a grappling hook, so maybe he could just have a big area attack

Fang/Knack, Bark, Bean: I mean, maybe just show up and fistfight some enemies?

Vector: Something music based, realistically

Chaos: Again, this is reaching, but maybe this ties into Tails taking over Eggman’s research

E-1XX Alpha, Gamma, Omega, etc: It is asking a lot to have all the robots return, but I’d love to see them all as slight variants of “shoot a bunch of missiles” or limited hovering

Omochao: Personally I’d love to see this little guy as an assist who just never shuts up, maybe with some hidden secret-unlocking potential

Vanilla: She doesn’t have a lot of game appearances, I’d take anything

G.U.N. Commander: Again, I just think this would be kinda funny. He could summon robots or just fire missiles

Eggman Nega: Not sure why he would help the main characters, but I’m always rooting for weird stuff like this

Wave, Storm: They could function like Tails/Knuckles or grant a temporary board for tricks or whatnot, maybe like the skateboard powerup from Sonic Generations

Tails Doll: This is dumb, but it would be fun to see as a little throwaway easter egg

So, that was a bunch of random nonsense directly from my brain, but you probably get the idea: find a way to include a lot of characters in the plot and the gameplay. Do I expect any of this to ever happen? No. And honestly, I’d prefer to see another game where I can actually play as characters like Rouge, the robots, Amy, and Cream.

ONE LAST THING: There should really be a Sonic rhythm game. They have so much music, both the classic songs as well as the Crush 40 songs, with tons of remixes of both already existing and even more possible. It would fit perfectly with the gameplay of Sonic, you could just have the notes appear as obstacles or powerup boxes. There are a million different ways to slice it, but it just makes too much sense to ignore. I don’t have enough ideas to make a separate post, though. Maybe I’ll make a playlist sometimes of songs I’d like to see included, but the issue is that it would be way too many songs. As with the main point of this post, I would love to see many different playable characters with very slight changes to their properties.

ONE LAST LAST THING: Since Sega hates localizing Puyo Puyo games, they should just make a new Mean Bean Machine with HD graphics and all the various Sonic characters represented somehow and then release it internationally either as Mean Bean Machine or just Sonic Puyo Puyo. Again, I didn’t have enough ideas for a whole post.

FINAL FINAL FINAL RAMBLES: I kinda wanna play Sonic 06 since I actually just recently found out that Rouge, Omega, and Blaze are playable, but the disc is 20 bucks at gamestop for 360. I also kinda wanna play Unleashed, but not enough to buy it. I really get more excited when more characters are playable, which makes me wish I enjoyed playing Sonic Battle more. I also have my eye on Chronicles if I can ever get the patience to actually sit down and play it. At this point, I should just make my own dang original game or story inspired by the things I like about Sonic.

8 notes · View notes

shedreamsofstars · 5 years

Text

Cataclysm of the Heart - Chapter 4

Start from the beginning | Next Chapter

Sonic awoke to total darkness, blinking madly as he questioned where he was. For a split second, he found himself wondering what the time was. Something moved beside him and instinctively, he jumped backwards.

Or at least, he attempted to.

He jumped back with his usual force but came to an abrupt halt as he hit his head, hard and fast enough to see stars flashing before him. He groaned in pain, trying to feel the damage with his fingers only to find his hands were trapped by his side.

Panic flickered within him like static. What was going on?

Oh.

OH.

The base. The laser. The ceiling.

Everything flooded back into focus and he blinked into the dark. With the collapsed building around him, there was not a hint of blue sky anywhere to be found. Who knew how much rubble lay atop of him.

Wait, no,

Not him, them.

“Amy?” he called, remembering he’d lunged for her right before the rubble came collapsing down around them. There was only silence, and then a soft squeak he hoped wasn’t a mouse. “Amy,” he called again, hating that he couldn’t move, couldn’t see.

“Sonic,” a voice called out sleepily. And then, with a little more enthusiasm, as if she too had just suddenly remembered their current predicament. “Sonic, are you okay?”

Her voice was mere inches from his own, and it took all his effort to resist the urge to squirm away from her like he usually did. Not that he could move anyway. “I think so. Are you?”

“I can’t move, but I’m fine.”

That was something at least. The pair of them remaining unharmed was a miracle in itself. “How are we still alive?” he wondered aloud. He wasn’t expecting an answer, but Amy piped up regardless.

“My hammer,” she said. “It stopped us from getting crushed, but it looks like we’re trapped here. If I move it, everything will collapse onto us.”

From what he could tell, she was right. Now that he was paying attention, he could feel the handle of the hammer digging into his thigh, and they did seem to be nestled in an air pocket of some kind. An involuntary shiver ran through him as he realised what would have happened had Amy not had the good sense, or skill, to pull her hammer out when she had.

Although, maybe it was all for nothing since it seemed they were stuck down here. Try as he might, he couldn’t spin dash them out of here. Not with Amy so close to him. The risk of hurting her wasn’t one he would ever take, and that meant that all he could do was sit tight.

In a small enclosed space like this, with the pair of them breathing rapidly, the oxygen wasn’t likely to last them very long. Maybe they had hours, maybe they had minutes. Sonic had no idea how long he’d been out to gauge the situation.

“How long have we been down here?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe a while, maybe not? I think I fell asleep or something … I can’t remember.” There was a momentary pause in her train of thought before she called his name again, a question in the darkness. “Sonic?”

“What is it Amy?”

“How … how are we getting out?”

Her words were like a knife to the gut. He couldn’t very well tell her the truth - that this was likely it for them. That even if Tails knew where to find them, the likelihood of him getting to them under all this rubble in time was almost non-existent. If he even could that was. Who knew what havoc Eggman was unleashing on the world beyond.

He had to do something to change the subject. Anything to make the sadness fade in her final moments. If they were both to meet ends, then he would let her meet it with a smile at least. He got a bad feeling in his gut at the thought, but he didn’t have time to ponder it. He didn’t know how long they had.

“Amy,” he said after a long while, voice as gentle as silk. “There’s something you need to know.”

“Sonic?” she said softly.

It was a blessing that he couldn’t see her face. It made saying what he needed to so much easier. He almost changed his mind then, realising that duplicity probably wasn’t the best way to go about this. But if he could give her the one thing she had always proclaimed to want the most out of life, surely he could stomach it this once. For her.

“If this is it for us, then … I need you to know the truth. I, uh … I always …,” he paused. Sonic was already picturing the joy on her face, the glitter that sparkled in her eyes as he spoke his next words. “I love you Amy.”

For her.

... xxx ...

“Alright,” Tails said quietly. “I think we’ve done all we can here Sonic. Why don’t you move onto the next block and make a start there? I’ll catch up with you after my meeting with the mayor. I wanted to talk about more efficient ways to deal with…” He looked around sadly at the wreckage of what once used to be a street of homes.

“Alright bud. I’ll see you later.”

Tails forced a tight-lipped smile before hovering off in the direction of the town hall. Sonic began the short walk to the next block. There were already other people around helping to clear the rubble from the ground and Sonic joined in alongside them.

Tails.

Perhaps the only friend Sonic still had left, his brother till the very end. Tails had tried to understand what had driven him to do what he had done and held no resentment towards him, but even that hadn't stopped the sheer disappointment that had fallen over him when Sonic had told him the truth about Amy.

Amy.

Where to start with Amy Rose. The one person who had been hurt the most by him when all he'd wanted was for her to be happy. He would never forget the inconsolable despair that had dawned on her when he'd told her the truth. That everything he'd said was a lie.

He'd wanted to be honest with her when they'd realised that Eggman had failed. He hadn't wanted either of them to live a lie, so why did it feel like he was breaking into a thousand pieces anyway.

As he tossed broken beams and crumbling bricks into the large disposal unit, a delivery truck of some sort that once delivered furniture but now only delivered wreckage to a designated place outside the city, the sound of his name drew his attention.

He glanced around, only to find that the sound was coming from above him. He looked up in time to see Cream flying towards him, landing clumsy beside him. He reached a hand out to steady her.

“Sonic! We can’t find her anywhere,” Cream said breathlessly. He didn’t even need to wait for the rabbit to clarify who she was talking about, there was no way it could be anyone other than Amy.

“Hey, hey, hey,” he said calmly, grabbing the rabbit by the shoulders. “Take it easy Cream. Tell me what happened?”

“That’s just it, we don’t know. Everyone saw Amy fight with you, and then she just … disappeared. I haven’t heard from her in hours and I’m really worried.”

Sonic swallowed, thinking back on their argument at the vigil. What was it she’d said again? I'm sorry I'm such a sacrifice for you. Amy knew that wasn’t true, she had to. But even still, something twisted inside him like a knot.

“Have you checked she’s not home, or at that tea shop she loves?” He wasn’t even sure the place was still standing but it was worth a shot.

“She’s not there. Believe me Sonic, I’ve checked everywhere. She was angry and wanted to be alone … I’m worried she’s gone off to do something stupid.”

Now that was a concept he was intimately familiar with. And try as he might to try and convince himself otherwise, Amy was just like him. She’d need an outlet for her pain. And since he was still standing, that meant that she’d likely gone to possibly the only other person in the world she hated more than him.

“I think I know where she is Cream. Go home and wait for me there. I don’t want you getting involved in this.”

Cream bit her lip. “She’s gone to Eggman hasn’t she?” Sonic only gave her a helpless look, hoping they were both wrong.

It took him several stops at abandoned bases before he finally found her, hacking viciously at the bots that were surrounding her. Sonic didn’t hesitate to jump in, reducing as many of Eggman’s goons to nothing but wires and sparks.

“What are you doing here!” Amy shrieked over the noise of the destruction around them. Her eyes were wild with fury and Sonic almost shrank back as she levelled them at him. He turned away while he still could, crushing another oncoming robot beneath his shoes.

“Helping you,” he fired back.

“I think it’s pretty clear I don’t need your help Sonic!” Another bot succumbed to her hammer, followed by another and another as Amy took her rage out on the metal cases that attacked them.

She was breathing heavily as the final robot fell to the ground before her, wires sparking violently, and with no more robots to attack, Amy rounded on him. She stalked up to him furiously, and he got the distinct feeling that she had been holding her feelings back earlier more for his sake than her own.

“You,” she yelled, pressing a finger to his chest. “How dare you try to help me. I have had quite enough of that and I don’t need any more of it.”

“Yes, you do,” he murmured back, half wondering if he had a death wish as Amy’s eyes flared angrily. “You don’t need to do all this to make your point Amy,” he said gesturing around them. “I hurt you, but I did it for you.”

“You don’t care about me, you just like to pretend you do to sate whatever hero complex you have going on,” she said, echoing her own words from the vigil.

“That’s not true,” Sonic said, a thread of anger coming loose. “I did what I did for you, why can’t anybody but me see that?”

The air sizzled with tension and they stared at one another helplessly, realising too late that something was casting a sinister shadow above them. Sonic felt a sudden spark at his back and was conscious long enough to see the shock on Amy’s face before he fell face first into the dark void of unconsciousness.

#sonamy #sonamy fanfiction #cataclysm of the heart #iheartsonamy #fanfiction

31 notes · View notes

p0publur · 5 years

Text

PART 2!!!!!! This part delves into Velocity’s insecurities in relation to various games!!!

Identity aside, things really got real for Velocity by the events of Adventure… Remember how I‌ mentioned that she used to be a criminal?‌ A criminal THRUST into the world of being a hero?‌ That really hit home during Adventure, where she was trying super hard to save the world from Dr Eggman while also being a positive rolemodel… and she messed it up.

Chaos destroyed Station Square, and there wasn’t a single thing she could do against it. For her, trying so hard to be a hero in the first place, it almost drove her to quit. She’s clearly not cut out for it, and now she’s disappointed so many people. Her friends must HATE her.

But they didn’t, and she had new friends cheering her on, too. All these people who may or may not have known her before she began to present differently… And they were cheering for her!‌ A hero!‌ She could do this, she was VELOCITY THE HEDGEHOG! She could handle this!!!!

And then Velocity Adventure 2 happened.

Where Velocity was ARRESTED, AND BEING TAKEN TO PRISON ISLAND!!! Why???‌ Because of an IMPOSTER. A black hedgehog named Shadow who was making her LOOK BAD! But it was worse to Velocity–this set off panic inside of her. If this somehow linked back to her past of being a criminal–if people saw on the news that she’d been arrested for stealing things… oh no oh no ohNO OH NO O H N O

She didn’t know who Shadow was, but he was a FAKER who had to be PUNCHED! How could he frame her like this!?‌ ------------Oh crap he’s actually really cool.

Velocity’s biggest struggle (next to her impulsivity)‌ is the fact that she tries really hard to be what she THINKS is a Hero… she’s loud and tries to be very forgiving and inspirational to everyone, but she actually struggles with it a lot. Tails looking up to her was one thing, but that was one person!‌ That’s her little BROTHER.

Everybody?‌ In the world???‌ LOOKING UP TO HER ?‌?‌?‌?‌?‌ ?‌ ?

Nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn. This was NOT her strongsuit–she just wanted to fight Dr Eggman, and as the stress intensified, so did her anxiety at being found out for her past. If it hadn’t been for her friends by her side, she probably would have caved.

…and eventually she was sealed inside of a pod and ejected out of the space colony ARK, which WASN’T GREAT considering she’s actually super claustrophobic. She tried her best to stay positive, to stay cool and calm, but the way she grinned as she was flung out–Amy could see her sweating, see the terror in her eyes.

Please help. Please help. Please help. PLEASE–

It was a miracle she remembered Shadow using Chaos Control before–that was what saved her, only for her to land in Knuckles’ arms as he was just finishing collecting the pieces of the Emerald. Well, I’d say it was delicate, but it was more like she LANDED on top of him.

She was sweating, shivering and panting as panic shook her body, barely able to stand up on her own–she most definitely would have fallen had Knuckles not been there, but she had a job to do–“Are you okay, Vel??”‌ she should have said NO, but she had to stop the cannon from firing–she had to be the hero everyone was COUNTING ON.

Don’t give up, no MATTER what.

When she learned of Shadow’s past, she felt this intense sadness inside of her–what Shadow was made to do, how he’d been manipulated… he wasn’t a bad guy either. He’d done some bad stuff, but… was this a kid like her that just didn’t know his true identity?‌

She wanted to reach out to him, but couldn’t part entirely with her Hero persona… and maybe Shadow didn’t want that either. Maybe it’d be bad to pity him like that–so she made a note that when all of this was over, she’d talk to him, help him out…

…she never got that chance. ‌Shadow sacrificed himself to save the planet, and Velocity wasn’t able to reach out and catch him in time before he disappeared–that moment would haunt her, as she stood inside the observation deck and did her best to hold back tears as she thought about this hedgehog who never really got to be who he wanted to be–always at the beck and call of others, always pushed to do things that were ultimately destroying him…

“Vel?‌ Are you okay…?”

She wiped her eyes quickly, and grinned as she always did, “Of course!‌ Let’s go home–to the planet as COOL and BLUE as me!”‌

She would meet Shadow again, as well as old faces too, and things would continue on with her still trying to figure out her identity as a hero. It’s not that she hates it–she loves being a Hero, she loves the attention, the validation, being able to HELP people made her feel good about herself.

Maybe she wasn’t a hero for the RIGHT REASONS, but she wasn’t sure how to be the right kind of Hero… just reaching out and helping people she figured needed it, even if it bit her in the butt. She was impulsive like that, and that wasn’t about to change.

In Velocity Unleashed, she transformed into the Werehog due to Dark Gaia’s influence, and she was horrified by her appearance. Was this… her true self? Did Dark Gaia really just pull her true appearance to the surface?‌ And her friends weren’t recognizing her–in fact, Amy thought she was a TOTALLY DIFFERENT PERSON…

Loneliness and disappointment started to creep in on her, even with Chip there–but Chip reassured her– “Vel, you didn’t lose control cause your soul is so good and strong!‌”

She REALLY needed to hear that. That she was a good person, despite all the struggling she did, despite all the times she thought about giving up and going back to the ways that were easier–hating and fighting instead of trying to believe in people. She grabbed Chip right out of the air and hugged him tight–thankyou thank you tHANK you.

It was really nice to be reassured like that–she promised Chip she’d take him everywhere with her, that she’d even show him where she came from.

She never got that chance either–after defeating Dark Gaia, she woke up to Chip not being there, only his amulet remained. …Why did this happen…?‌ Was this going to keep happening?‌ She slipped the amulet on her wrist. She’d never forget–she was going to remember that she was a good person, now. She was a hero… maybe not because the world saw her as one, but because she wanted to help people.

In Velocity Forces, she failed everyone. Easily defeated and captured by Dr Eggman, she became a prisoner aboard the Death Egg–she wasn’t tortured per se, but she was thrown into solitary confinement, and her claustrophobia ate so heavily at her sense of self that she almost couldn’t remember who she was–years of bettering herself, years of becoming a stronger person, a HERO…

Well, she’d have to recover from it, eventually. Her mask came back, and she wore it firmly to disguise any pain she was feeling underneath–she’d hide away from everyone and pretend she was okay, to keep them from seeing the terror in her eyes–she wasn’t there and so many people had died. So many people who idolized her, she wasn’t there to save them. She wasn’t there to be their Light of Hope. By the time she’d come back–….

…–they were able to recover things soon, pushing back the Empire, but Velocity had a rookie rescue her. How embarrassing… someone so new, but full of pep, had rescued her from Eggman’s clutches. She wanted to be proud of them, but instead she just felt like a…

FAILUREFAILUREFAILUREFAILUREFAILUREFAILUREFAILUREFAILURE

She couldn’t run–she couldn’t run away from this. She had to push on, just like when she had to fight Chaos, when she had to stop the Eclipse Cannon, when she had to fight Metal Madness, when she had to– It was all becoming so much and she hadn’t recovered at all from the torture of being so alone, of being in that closed space, of being… a failure.

Alongside her friends, she felt relief to be with them again, but doubt clung heavily to her soul, and this sense that she disappointed everyone. Validation wasn’t having it’s usual effect on her, it tasted like guilt. As soon as the battle was won and rebuilding began, Velocity ran away.

She pretended she was just going off on another adventure, but who was she kidding? She was running away–running and running, so fast, so far… She kept her mask tight to her face and ran.

This is what Heroes did.

#!save #headcanon ;;#about velocity ;;#SORRY MOBILE USERS

12 notes · View notes

sonicfanj · 5 years

Text

Sonic Ring Bond Intro

A sonic the Hedgehog AU by Sonic Fan J

Welcome everyone to my Sonic AU, Sonic Ring Bond. I would like to take the time now to introduce you to my little corner of the fandom and the ideas behind my AU. I had contemplated originally trying to present this introduction as a full-on textbook style document, but frankly I’m a lot better at talking than I am planning so I’ll be treating this more as a text seminar. Hopefully I’ll avoid rambling too much and will manage to entertain and enthrall you with my ideas. At the very least, I hope you’ll come away from this with a firm grasp at least of the world I see for my Amy Rosy redesign, Rosy, to run around in. There’s a lot to cover as well, from the ideas that led to this AU to the setting, the characters, and my take on what games have occurred within it and how the events within unfolded.

To begin, I should note that Sonic Mania did not initially enthrall me as it did so many other Sonic fans who have been with Sonic since 1991. In fact, I was already weary of the nostalgia pandering that so many others had grown tired of as well. I was also at a point in my Sonic fandom where I yearned for Naka and Oshima’s Sonic with only memories of Sonic Adventure 2 and Unleashed keeping me interested in Iizuka’s Sonic. Most importantly however I was having a complete reevaluation of my love of the franchise due to having finally watched the OVA and being overwhelmed with a sense of nostalgia for why I had fallen in love with Sonic to begin with. Then there was also me learning of a point in Sonic’s massive history where Amy had addressed him as Sonic-sama which led me on a massive reexamination of her character and what she was introduced as and the role she was meant to fulfill. I learned an awfully lot during this period both about Amy and my feelings and desires for what I wanted out of the franchise. Suffice to say I found myself disliking Amy’s signature Piko Piko Hammer and coming to odds with the franchise direction though Mania gave me a little hope. That hope was born of false expectations of my own creation due to a desire to see how Amy would have been handled before her hammer was ever given to her as her primary creator for the games, Kazuyuki Hoshino had said he was getting back into the mindset of that time as a content director for Mania. As is typically the case with such false expectations, nothing came of them, almost.

In addition to gameplay arguments going around at the time and my dislike of Amy’s hammer taking root in me, in the Sonic community I was a part of at the time, and quickly growing ostracized in due to my dislike of Amy’s hammer, there was concern about Amy’s outfit and the problems distinct to it in a three-dimensional space. This combined with my desire to see Amy with traditional Sonic gameplay led to me creating my Amy redesign Rosy. Garbed in a white leotard to avoid certain problems distinct to a dress while also intending to capture the image of someone who tumbles, I also went with her classic design to fully imply Sonic’s rolling gameplay. At the time that was enough for me and I was pleased enough to just see her serving as my avatar on various sights. I also enjoyed drawing her as it cheered me up with a lot of negativity floating around the fandom at the time. Naturally as I drew her more, more and more people started asking me about her and I had to start considering the why of her. It was no longer enough to just be happy with her as a drawing, she needed something more. An AU was the logical path to fleshing her out, and being a big Sonic fan who loves way too much of the franchise in all of it’s parts I wanted to try and mash as many disparate parts together as I could into a single world while rewriting Amy’s place in it. This resulted in my weird little Hedgehog Circus AU which has does possess several things I still like. But it is busy, over encumbered, and lacking in the simplicity necessary to serve the beginnings of an AU that I can enjoy. So, after a great deal of thinking, studying the franchise, and looking for ways that I could justify to myself Rosy having Sonic’s abilities I started again mashing together ideas I liked, but kept it as simple as I could. The result is Sonic Ring Bond.

The Setting

Aesthetics.

There is nothing that sells a setting to me more than aesthetics. I am a very visual individual who appreciates what good aesthetics brings to a story and world and nothing captures the sense of whimsey, adventure, and discovery that I yearn for in Sonic better than Hayao Miyazaki. The movies that I am most enthralled by aesthetically and thus become the primary basis for the setting for Sonic Ring Bond are Laputa: Castle in the Sky, Porco Rosso, Kiki’s Delivery Service, and Howl’s Moving Castle. Using the imagery of these movies as well as the ever-changing shape and nature of Sonic’s world from the games the world of Sonic Ring Bond is a fading world where technology has fallen to appoint barely hanging on to airships and early industrialization. Human’s, humans with animal traits drawing inspiration from settings like the fighting game “BlazBlue”, the Sonic OVA, and the anime “Shuumatsu Nani Shitemasu ka? Isogashii Desu ka? Sukutte Moratte Ii Desu ka?”, as well as animal people like Sonic himself all live together or in isolation across the world. But the world is ever changing. One day an entire landmass maybe just across the bay, the next it is not. To keep the world linked together the world’s governments uses an ancient technology they do not understand to build and deploy giant Rings known as Ring Gates to link together communities no matter where they may be one day. These gates are one part of where the Ring Bond title comes from for my AU, but are not used without due consideration. Making a Ring Gate requires a great deal of Rings which are collected by adventurers who are supported by the organization Checkpoint.

Checkpoint is an organization that possesses access to special Ring Gates that bond to an individual and allow them to recall them back to a Checkpoint facility at any time. They are not the only adventurer supporting organization, but access to these unique Ring Gates and even Sonic the Hedgehog being an adventurer who relies on them in the Ring Bond AU has made them very popular. Despite being an organization though, they are more of a hub for adventurers to sell the information found on their adventures as well as receive requests from governments, corporations, communities, and even individuals to explore new and frequently ancient landmasses. The most common of requests fielded by Checkpoint are scouting out resources and determining if a location is worth deploying a Ring Gate to for long term access with resources including material, historical, agricultural, or even culturally if new communities are discovered and deemed worth maintain relations with. Most adventurers have a dedicated agent who monitor them while fielding communications and requests in addition to handling the information they bring back from their adventures. Not every adventurer accepts requests preferring just to see new lands and locales like Sonic himself, reporting in for various personal reasons. Sonic himself in my AU was not even an adventurer who reported into Checkpoint until he rescued Zooey from Sonic BOOM! during one of his adventures and her home island simply disappeared before he could her back. With little other option Sonic left her with Checkpoint due to their reputation and she became his agent. Also, due to being inspired by a pic that @drawloverlala once drew with Tails and Zooey dressed Edward Elric and Winry Rockbell from Full Metal Alchemist, in Sonic Ring Bond idecided Zooey also serves as the mechanic for the Tornado. So, where does that leave Tails? Well, Tails is in the Ring Bond AU, but his role is a little different as well as his relationship with Sonic. This has to do with me being fond of the idea that him and Amy would make great friends who support each other in their pursuit of Sonic and his lifestyle. This of course leads me to

The Characters

For my AU I did not really want to change the characters too much, but I did want to answer a few questions I’ve always had while also indulging in some of my biases and preferences. In the example of biases and preferences after seeing artwork from @rontufox on deviantart.com that I interpreted as showing Sonic and Mighty as good friends who occasionally adventure together but mostly swap adventuring stories in my AU it is Mighty who is Sonic’s best friend and not Tails due to sharing similar lifestyles that give them grounds to bond on. Tails in Sonic Ring Bond actually becomes close friends with Rosy to indulge in my belief that Tails’ and Amy’s personalities and shared love for and interest in Sonic and his adventures as a starting point. But Rosy and Tails also share one more thing in common that they actually share with Mighty which leaves him concerned about Sonic’s spontaneity combined with his aloofness; the titular Ring Bond.

The Ring Bond

A question I used to ask myself all the time but stopped having to once SEGA and Sonic Team decided to be pretty definitive with how only a few Characters possessed Sonic’s speed instead of nearly everyone in the pre-Adventure days was what is the source of everyone’s speed. I used to have all sorts of headcanons for everyone but Sonic who I just accepted it as being natural for. Outside of speed though there were other things I wondered about as well such as how Tails managed to use Sonic’s Super Spin Attack without Sonic’s spines. As I began really developing my AU, I figured I could address that as well and the solution that I eventually settled with drew inspiration both from the Paramount movie and the Sonic OVA. That solution is that Sonic’s abilities can be shared by others. This solution of course needed to have a solution of its own to the question of how Sonic share could his abilities. Me being me with the need to over explain things as well but wanting to stay reasonably within the limitations of the games it was (Knuckles) Chaotix that would afford me my answer in Ring Energy. Going by the Japanese manual for Chaotix, Ring Energy is a force that can bind two Rings together allowing for the rubber band mechanics of the game. Considering all the other properties and abilities of Rings I came up with the Ring Bond, the ability to share one’s abilities with someone else through Rings.

Within my AU Sonic with his experience with rings and the various things they do simply figured it out and shared his abilities with Mighty, Rosy, and Tails to get each of them out of a situation that he couldn’t just carry them through. In Mighty’s case that was escaping Eggman Island, Rosy it was getting through Metallic Madness on Little Planet (which addresses for me how she made it through and caught up with him by the end), and Tails as the fox needed to be able to protect himself being able to use his tails to keep up with Sonic through the Death Egg Saga. But while Sonic simply figured it out in his own way Eggman has been slowly figuring it out as he has been perfecting Metal Sonic, needing only the Ring Bond to fully add Sonic’s abilities to the robot doppelganger. Luring Mighty, Rosy, and Tails to island that (Knuckles) Chaotix takes place on as part of his attempts to further understand how rings work after realizing that they all have Sonic’s abilities. At this point though I should probably change course and detail what games have taken place in the Ring Bond AU and the order in which they do. I’ll also take this opportunity to further flesh out how the characters met each other so things might get even lengthier and meander even more as we move on into

The Games & History

So before getting too into, it should be noted that in my AU, like the Japanese manual for the original game states, Sonic and Eggman were already at it before any of the games take place. During this time period in Sonic Ring Bond is when Sonic met Zooey and joined Checkpoint. It was during his time with checkpoint before any of the games that he heard of Mighty as an adventurer who would seek out and find the most spectacular of natural locales. After checking out some of them himself Sonic would seek out Mighty to hear about his travels from the armadillo himself. The two being kindred adventurers with a love for discovery they hit it off and became fast friends exchanging stories and places for the other to check out. Their friendship would appear as an opportunity to Eggman who would attempt to capture Might to use as bait to lure Sonic to Eggman Island. By sheer luck however Egman managed to capture both Sonic and Mighty.

Unlike the original game, the Ring Bond version of SegaSonic the Hedgehog only had Sonic and Mighty go through game’s events. Now, as the Sonic Mania Adventure shorts showed that Mighty lacks Sonic’s speed and considering the traps of Eggman Island, Sonic knew there was no way to get Mighty out using his usual methods. Getting his hand on the first available Rings he could Sonic attempted to use Ring Energy to pull Mighty along behind him. With traps designed to overwhelm Sonic however littering the island in a continuous gauntlet doing so would have surely gotten the both of them killed. Wary to do so, but not accepting the alternative, Sonic created a Ring Bond between him and Mighty, granting his abilities to the armadillo. While it took Mighty a bit to get used to using them, his shell kept him safe and eventually he was able to not only follow Sonic to safety, but played his part in their escape from Eggman island.

Possessed of Sonic’s abilities, Mighty wanted to repay Sonic as he would now be able to see the world in ways he never had before. Sonic declined the offer as he believed the effects of the Ring Bond would be temporary but Mighty insisted and told Sonic how to reach Never Lake so he could see the appearance of the Miracle Planet. Figuring if he was in the area while it was around he’d check it and parted ways with Mighty until their next meeting. The Miracle Planet, Little Planet, was not just of interest to Sonic however as Eggman had ambitions of his own using it’s time traveling properties for his schemes and a certain pink hedgehog would receive an order from her cards to head to Never Lake for a fated encounter.

Now in Sonic Ring Bond, Amy’s background is a bit more detailed. The reason for this is like answering why she, Mighty and Tails have Sonic’s abilities, I felt a need to answer why I would use her original nickname over her actual name. To do so, I fell back on my Hedgehog Circus AU where before she met Sonic her fortune telling abilities allowing her to find treasure had resulted in her being sought out by Fang the Sniper. Being the treasure hunting ruffian that he is, Fang didn’t take to Amy’s personality and took to calling her Rosy as commentary on her outlook. Choosing to travel with Fang to indulge her desire for adventure and how playful she was would result in others calling her a rascal. But Rosy the Rascal would not spend all her time in the company of Fang as if the power of the cards gave her an order she followed without hesitation. Following the order to the letter was a different story as when she reached Never Lake she was enamored by the Miracle Planet and made her way up to check it out oblivious of the dangers posed by Eggman. As for how she got up there, for Sonic Ring Bond I’ve decided to play with a headcanon of mine that she owns the magic carpet that her stage in Sonic the Fighters takes place on. She probably found while adventuring with Fang and simply kept it for herself without ever letting him know she has it. I see her keeping it a secret from everyone as magical artifacts could very easily change the world in unexpected ways.

Rosy was not the only one thinking about the effects of mystical artifacts as Eggman was well on his was to tracking down the Time Stones so that he might unlock the flow of time and conquer the world. Ever the industrial genius, Eggman was expecting Sonic’s eventual appearance and to that end using the advanced technology he found in Little Planet’s future created his most advance machine, Metal Sonic. Despite how advanced Metal Sonic was and Eggman’s genius being able to easily comprehend and make deft use of technology long lost to the world, the robot was still pretty much just a mannequin built around a jet engine. Not wanting to waste his creation willy-nilly Eggman waited for an opportunity to use it where Sonic would have to take on it’s full capabilities without just trashing it. Rosy’s fangirling over meeting Sonic who as a hedgehog adventurer herself she idolizes would be the perfect opportunity and Metal Sonic would make his debut by abducting the hedgehog girl. Perhaps more bothered by not having the opportunity to talk Sonic into taking her on his adventure than being held hostage, Rosy would get her desire in a way she did not quite expect.

When Sonic finally caught up, spending more time leaving Rosy a hostage than she would have liked as he went about removing Eggman’s influence on Little Planet and making sure the Time Stones were safe, he found himself pitted in a race against his robotic doppelganger. Unfortunately for Metal Sonic, Sonic won the race and was able to rescue Rosy, to a point. The road to Eggman’s fortress was where the race had taken place and Eggman had completely annihilated it making doubly sure of Sonic’s end should he lose to Metal Sonic. With the road gone and the only way forward being through Eggman’s fortress, Sonic found himself having to figure out how to get Rosy to safety. It was unlikely that Eggman’s fortress on Little Planet would be any less dangerous than Eggman Island, and Rosy was obviously younger than him and lacking the ability to make it through such a place. Begrudgingly and hoping that the effects of the Ring Bond truly were temporary, Sonic shared his abilities with Rosy and led her into Eggman’s fortress. Unlike Mighty though, she was not as quick to pick up using Sonic’s abilities and would barely catch up to Sonic as he drove Eggman off of Little Planet.

Escaping the planet after Eggman just as it’s one-month appearance came to an end, Sonic headed off towards his next adventure leaving Rosy behind. The change in status quo for Rosy after her life changing adventure on Little Planet would come back to haunt Sonic in due time, but not before answering a call for help from the legendary South Island. Eggman had taken to the island after hearing of the major losses of the terrifying sky pirates, the Battle Kukku’s, who were searching for the legendary Chaos Emeralds. Conducting his own research into them Eggman discovered and tracked down South Island. Naturally he upended the island in his search and Sonic being so well known was reached out to by the inhabitants for help. Upon arriving at South Island, Sonic found Eggman waiting for him with a devious trap in play; to slow Sonic down he had captured all the animals on the island and shoved them into his robots.

Now, for the Ring Bond AU things are a little more complicated as Fang the Sniper and Metal Sonic also make their way to South Island. Eggman is surprised by Metal’s reappearance, both him and Sonic oblivious to Sonic using the Ring Bond having an effect on the robot allowing it to make its way back to Eggman. With Metal Sonic’s mysterious return and eavesdropping on Sonic and Fang discovering that the treasure hunter blames Sonic for his loss of his treasure tracker as Rosy suddenly had Sonic’s abilities leaves the doctor curious. Thus, while attempting to discover the Chaos Emeralds in a race against Sonic and Fang, Eggman repairs Metal Sonic and sends it out to cause interference. In the end Sonic beats them all, and through his Ring Bond ability harnesses the power of the Chaos Emeralds to undo the damage caused by Eggman. In his use of the Chaos Emeralds however Eggman was able to witness their power and desired more and more to harness them. To that end he would have to repair Metal again as the robot seemed affected by Sonic. He would need more data however as well as the chance to get his hands on the Chaos Emeralds again.

Whether by sheer coincidence or perhaps design, Sonic and Eggman both descended upon West Side Island, the Illusory Island providing the doctor the opportunity he had been waiting for. Sonic however was oblivious to his nemesis’ arrival and had simply set down on the island to take a break between adventures. While there he found himself starting to be followed by a two-tailed fox boy who could use his tails to keep up with him. Nicknaming him Tails and viewing him as little more than a minor distraction, Sonic ignored him for the most part during his time on the island and let him do as he pleased. This was enough for Tails, who despite having fended off the Battle Kukku Armada lacked the courage and confidence to approach a hero such as Sonic. He did however desire to become a hero like Sonic, especially after having defeated the Battle Kukkus. Having just a little more confidence in himself he had trained himself to use his tails to reach groundspeeds around the speed of sound in the hopes of one day impressing his hero as unlikely as it was that he would meet him. Impressing him was not quite what Tails would manage to do though.

Eggman’s plans eventually sprung into action and the destruction he caused in the process naturally drew Sonic’s attention. Racing off to save yet another legendary island from Eggman, Sonic found himself being followed by the young fox. Suddenly Tails’ ability to keep up with Sonic proved to be problematic as though Tails believed if he could keep up with Sonic everything would be fine and believed he could help, Eggman was far greater than the Battle Kukku Armada. Unable to chase Tails off and fearful that the stubborn fox would get himself hurt or worse, Sonic made the decision to grant him his abilities through the Ring Bond. Surpassing Sonic’s expectations, Tails took to his abilities like a natural and became a major asset in saving West Side Island. His ability to fly the Tornado elevated him even higher, but not nearly as much as his ability to slap a rocket on it and repair it in the time it Sonic to bring down Eggman’s airship. Impressive as Tails’ abilities were, however, he could not keep up with Sonic as Sonic chased Eggman into space and had a battle with a far clunkier robot double of himself. Clunky as it was, it was combat capable and the space fortress that Eggman built put him even further and further ahead of the technology of the world below. Unable to let Eggman keep his latest and greatest creation for the sake of the world below, Sonic again used the Ring Bond to harness the power of the Chaos Emeralds hoping to undo the space station’s creation. To Sonic’s surprise the Chaos Emeralds transformed him and granted him the power to do as he desired to protect the world.

With the Death Egg seeming destroyed, Sonic allowed himself a few days rest. Tails, amazed by Sonic’s extraordinary feats spent those days rummaging through the remains of Eggman’s bases on West Side Island to see what Eggman had dug up on the Chaos Emeralds. Tinkering around with Eggman’s tech Tails managed to put together a Chaos Emerald detector and to his surprise picked up reaction in the middle of the ocean. The direction was the same as the epicenter of a tidal wave that brought an ancient Ring to Sonic’s attention reminding him of the legends of an island that floated in the sky. Deciding his next adventure would be Angel Island, Sonic headed out allowing Tails to join him again as his Chaos Emerald detector would likely lead them to the legendary Angel Island.

Finding Angel island proved far easier for Eggman as he simply had to wait for the Death Egg to crash land to find it. Attracting the attention of the island’s guardian, Knuckles the Echidna, Eggman managed to trick him into believing Sonic was his enemy. Doubting that Knuckles would serve as much of an obstacle to Sonic, Eggman took his combat data from Mecha Sonic Mk. I to start work on a Mk. II unit in addition to digging himself in on the island. Eggman however vastly underestimated Knuckles, as the island’s guardian was more properly the Guardian of the Master Emerald, a legendary gem that controlled the Chaos Emeralds. Due to his duty and the stories engrained into the island and him he was blessed with abilities matching Sonic’s as well as knowledge of the Ring Bond. As a result, he introduced himself to Sonic by breaking his Ring Bond with the Chaos Emeralds. It was a shock to Sonic and Tails both and when they discovered that Eggman was already on Angel island things got desperate.

The battle for Angel Island was unlike any other as Sonic had to restore his Ring Bond with the Chaos Emeralds to prevent Eggman from gaining access to them, fend off the misinformed Knuckles, and stop the Death Egg from making it back into space. It was more than Tails could keep up with and as the Death Egg began to ascend Sonic’s journey would continue on alone. He would stop the first launch on his own and would soon after discover the truth about Knuckles. Deciding to help out the echidna he would use his Ring Bond to restore the bonds between the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald. He would not succeed at stopping the Death Egg from finally making it into space however or keep Eggman from getting his hands on the Master Emerald. Realizing the error of his ways, Knuckles sent Sonic on ahead to try and catch up to Eggman exposing him to Mech Sonic Mk. II. Despite the improvements of his latest doppelganger Sonic managed to still catch up with the Death Egg. After an epic encounter in space, Sonic would truly destroy the space station this time and meet back up with Tails before reuniting Knuckles with the master Emerald. Despite saving Angel Island though, Sonic had a nagging feeling and after parting ways with Tails took the Tornado once again into the sky after the legendary floating island.

For Knuckles it was a good thing that Sonic did as Eggman’s robots had long overstayed their welcome, but most importantly, Mecha Sonic Mk. II had managed to get its hands on the Master Emerald. After a grueling battle with the emerald powered machine, Knuckles was saved by Sonic from plummeting to his doom. Relieved to hear that Knuckles had dealt with Eggman’s leftovers, Sonic left Knuckles and Angel Island for a second time. But neither he nor Knuckles realized that the Master Emerald’s Guardian had not fully dealt with Eggman’s leftovers. There was enough left of Mecha Sonic Mk. II for Eggman, who had survived his last clash with Sonic, to salvage and analyze the data it held. It was more than Eggman could have ever hoped for as it revealed through the bond with the Master Emerald the Ring Bond.

Desperate to study the secret of the Rings and learn about Sonic’s Ring Bond ability, Eggman was thrilled when a whole island began to rise up out of the ocean in response to the Master Emerald’s time on the surface. Hoping that the island would lead him to unravel the mysteries of the Rings Eggman was more amazed than he anticipated he could be. He discovered the Rings could be used to directly access the Master Emerald and more secrets due to the island having once been part of the same civilization that Angel Island had been part of. Gleefully building a new base on the island to support his research, Eggman invented the Dark Ring and began enhancing Metal Sonic. He still needed more data though to complete his original Sonic doppelganger and recalled three individuals who he knew about who possessed Sonic’s abilities. Hatching his next scheme Eggman proceeded to lure Mighty, Rosy, and Tails to the nameless island. Unfortunately for Eggman, someone he did not account for got involved.

Since having rid Angel Island of the last of Eggman’s influence, Knuckles had been watching the world below for signs of the Master Emerald having affected it. The rising of an island from the ocean in a world constantly shifting about seemed little to worry himself about, but Eggman’s interest in the island kept him keeping an eye on things. When the Master Emerald began reacting to the Chaos Rings, powerful Rings born from long lost Ring Bonds with the Chaos Emeralds and Master Emerald, Knuckles knew he would have to investigate what was going on. He didn’t know about the Chaos Rings themselves, but was not surprised when a trio of adventures with Ring Bonds with Sonic showed up and fell under attack from Eggman. What horrible fate awaited them had Knuckles not come down from Angel Island is one Mighty was glad he would not find out.

For Mighty, his time on the nameless island was a lot like his time on Eggman Island constantly avoiding traps and Eggman’s attempts to stop him. Matters were more complicated this time though as the presence of Rosy and Tails also sharing a Ring Bond with Sonic and believing they could help Knuckles with his reason for being there meant he couldn’t just flee. Someone had to take responsibility for Sonic so recklessly making Ring Bonds and Mighty felt with what he saw of Knuckles’ personality he was unlikely to keep Tails and Rosy out of trouble. When they had to face off against Metal Sonic and a giant monstrous version of the machine, he was glad though that Knuckles was present as his combat expertise proved integral in stopping Eggman’s plans and the creation of the Dark Ring. Knuckles took it a step further however and used the power of the Master Emerald held in the Chaos Rings to destroy the island and make sure that they could never be used by Eggman again or endanger the master Emerald. Saddened by the loss of history, Mighty would have liked to spend some time speaking with the echidna about his past and everything he knew about the world but had to deal with Rosy and Tails.

During the adventure Rosy had hit it of with Tails in their shared idolization of Sonic, even if Tails couldn’t grasp Rosy’s crush. Completely hyped up by the adventure Rosy wanted nothing more than to team up with Tails to go adventuring and try to find Sonic but Mighty wasn’t having it. That Sonic had shared his abilities with the two and did not bring them to Checkpoint to make sure they could develop their skills safely left Mighty far to concerned. Though rosy put up a fight, he managed to get the two of them to Checkpoint. It was not the best start either as Rosy wanted to meet everyone and hear their stories while Tails found himself meeting Zooey who had more than few words for him for making her maintenance work the Tornado harder by attacking a rocket engine to it. Eventually things smoothed over and Zooey became Rosy and Tails’ agent in Checkpoint, though policy kept her from telling them where Sonic was at any given time no matter how much Rosy pestered her. Staying with Checkpoint at Mighty’s insistence Rosy and Tails would become exemplary Ring Hunters, a respectable if not exciting role as though Rings were finicky and no one knew how they worked or why, Ring Gates needed them to be built and function so the two slowly built a reputation for themselves. Mighty already having quite the reputation was free to go as he pleased and once he was confident that Rosy and Tails had settled in headed out in search of Sonic, something he could use to get Sonic to come to him, and to make sure that if Eggman was up to anything someone might know.

The funny thing about Sonic and Eggman though was that they were always bound to bump into each other at one point or another, even when Eggman would prefer they did not. After his defeat on the nameless island to Knuckles, Eggman went about compiling all of the data he managed to gather, and though he lamented losing almost all of his Ring data had more than enough to finally complete Metal Sonic. The only thing left he needed was what a dubbed a Chaos Factor to forge a Ring Bond between Metal Sonic and Sonic. Of course, he also had to repair Metal Sonic again, upgrade it to receive the Chaos Factor, and then test it to make sure that it was indeed Sonic’s equal, or even better. To that end, he sought out Mirage Island, a place where Little Planet was said to appear, even if it was not a tangible appearance like over Never Lake. It seemed the perfect place to work and Eggman sure enough found ancient ruins with hints to the Chaos Factor he needed. Thus he set up base and began his search while preparing to test the eventually completed Metal Sonic by putting out old Badniks that Sonic had already proved were failures, though adding a few new twists to test Metal Sonic’s adaptability.

Sonic had no clue what Eggman was up to when he arrived on Mirage Island by chance, but seeing Eggman’s old machines littering the island, and with the local fauna stuffed inside, he was quick to act. His testing grounds suddenly under attack by the wrong Sonic, Eggman had to scramble to meet his long-time foe. Unfortunately his little twists to his old designs were not enough to deter Sonic, and only by launching his incomplete low-orbital base was he able to pull Sonic away from Mad Gear Zone so that Metal Sonic might be completed in peace. Unfortunately Sonic still inflicted tremendous losses and Eggman lost his new, though much smaller, space station as well as great deal of the tests he had set up for Metal Sonic. It was not all a loss however as Sonic was unaware of why Eggman had chosen Mirage Island for his latest scheme. That meant that the Chaos Factor he was after was still untouched, though he had lost the machines to excavate it. That was fine though as the completed Metal Sonic was more than up to the task, a task that made him truly complete for as he absorbed the Chaos Factor his Ring Bond with Sonic was completed and the machine was non longer just a constructed copy of Sonic, but for all extents and purposed a robot Sonic. Eggman was overjoyed by his success and needed now only the opportunity to spoil Sonic’s fun and let him meet his perfect machine counterpart.

And that wraps up how the games that have occurred in the Ring Bond AU and the order. My apologies for the format and meandering approach, but I hope it helps paint a picture of the AU’s history. For a quick recap though before I wrap this up, the game effectively took place in the following order

SegaSonic the Hedgehog>>Sonic CD>>Tails Adventure>>Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)>>Sonic 2>>Sonic 3>>Sonic and Knuckles>>(Knuckles) Chaotix>>Sonic 4 Ep. I>>Sonic 4 Ep. Metal.

From here the Sonic Ring Bond AU will be going in its own direction. How the characters develop and grow is for the future, though I hope I’ll make something of it. If not, for now this AU is the one that my Rosy occupies. She has Sonic’s abilities and the desire to master them so that she can go on adventures with him and maybe even win his heart. Her shared idolization of Sonic has resulted in her and Tails becoming best friends, while Sonic is best friends with Mighty. Eggman has completed a version of Metal Sonic that is for all extents and purposes Sonic and is just waiting for the perfect opportunity to ruin his fun and gloat in victory. Meanwhile, the Battle Kukku Armada is still out there and desiring revenge against Tails, and Rosy leaving Fang in pursuit of Sonic and his lifestyle has left her and Sonic yet another crafter enemy who himself wants “compensation” for losing his treasure tracker. And all of this takes place in a world where Eggman’s robotics and engineering skills puts him decades ahead of the rest of constantly shifting world full of ancient ruins and legends barely hanging on to airship technology fueled by early industry. But with the help of Checkpoint, it is a world that is a home to many adventurers who live out their dreams of a lifetime of discovery.

Thank you to everyone who read to the end, and I welcome any question or suggestions you may have. For the sake of organization though, please send questions or suggestions through my ask and I’ll be glad to answer. Thank you again everyone for your time.

#sonic the hedgehog #sonic ring bond #sonic au #I've finally introduced it #I don't know if it'll go anywhere #but i hope it does #thanks for reading

18 notes · View notes

slyreaderslibrary · 5 years

Text

Ch. 4 Cold Cases and Hot Leads

AO3: Here

Fanfiction.net: Here

Summary: Keeping a secret identity secret is normally hard enough but when you’re as beautiful as Minako Aino you’re bound to have all kinds of creeps and weirdo stalking your every move. Now there’s a cop hot on her trail and she’ll have to be quick on her feet if she’s to keep her identity on the DL. Just what is a gorgeous super-heroine to do?

Name: Koizumi, Keisuke

Birthdate: 19XX-09-23

Age: 27

Current Employer: TCPD

Educa—

Minako skimmed the profile page, growing bored when she didn't see anything of use. A quick search of the Tokyo City Police Department's open cases didn't show any results either. The only thing that stood out was a long standing open case to determine the source of the youma infestation. It seems someone in the department was convinced these were gross animal mutations due to some kind of unknown radiation but the case had been opened and had remained unsolved since her initial Sailor V days.

Man, did she wish Ami were here. Ami was so much better at these kind of things. Sadly, Ami was in Germany for a semester filling her brilliant brain with all kinds of facts and numbers. Minako also doubted her friend would be happy to have her study time interrupted for anything less than Senshi business. A lone cop—or even several—was hardly anything to bother her about, not when Minako had proven she could handle them at thirteen.

"That's it!"

Minako snapped her fingers and then pressed several buttons on the keypay. The screen shifted, going black as a dial tone rang out over the speakers and then flared to life as a beautiful, dark haired woman sitting behind a desk covered in papers appeared on the monitors with a smile wide on her face.

"Minako-chan!"

Minako grinned and flashed her trademark V.

"Guilty as charged!"

"It's been too long!" The woman leaned back in her seat and propped her Louis Vuittons on her desk corner. "What have you been up to?"

"Oh you know," Minako shrugged, "Catching bad guys, breaking hearts, the usual."

"You know, you could still come work for me and actually get paid for what you do."

"Natsuna-onee-san," Minako gasped, pressing her hand to her heart, "Can you imagine if it was discovered that Japan's number one star was working a second job? They'd question if my life was really as fabulous as it is, you know!"

Natsuna flashed a predatory smirk, dropping her feet to the floor and leaning forward. "Can you imagine what they would say if they knew Japan's sweetheart was the fabled Sailor V? You'd be the symbol of Japan! More famous than the Emperor!"

Minako scoffed and gave her friend a pointed look. "Sailor V hasn't been seen in years. There are new heroines now."

"Yes, and speculation on the web is that the two may be related." Minako raised a brow and Natsuna nodded in response. "Yes, some of the less frequented forums tend to focus on Sailor Venus in particular in that regard."

"And the precincts?"

"Precincts?" Natsuna frowned, "Why would the precincts be gossiping about your identities?"

"Why would a detective be casing out my school?"

"What?!" Natsuna jumped to her feet and ran off screen.

"Wakagi! My office! NOW!"

Natsuna reappeared.

"Minako-chan, I'll find out what I can and call you back." She pursed her lips, debating, then added, "I'm afraid it might take awhile. Since taking office, I'm not as in the loop with my subordinates as I was in my previous position, but I promise I will get them to back off. You have my word."

"Thanks onee-san. I owe you one."

The screen went black and Minako settled in to wait.

oOo

She was still there.

Two hours had come and gone and his suspect was still off playing arcade games. At least he hoped so. She had managed to sneak past him back at the school, he wouldn't put it past her to take an alternate way out of the arcade.

Keisuke drummed his fingers as he debated what to do. He could leave his post and get close enough for a visual, potentially risking detection, or he could stay where he was and wait, potentially allowing her trail to grow colder because she had slipped past him once again. He checked the time on his phone and frowned.

A chime reached his ears, one he recognized as the Crown's, and he snapped his gaze up in time to see Aino waving goodbye to the shopkeeper.

"Remember what I said about London!" Aino called over her shoulder. She dropped her hand as the door swung shut and glanced around the street for a moment.

Was she looking for him? It wasn't unheard of for a suspect to spot a tail and grow paranoid as time went by. However unlike previous suspects, Aino seemed unperturbed and in no hurry, standing there, idle, as she tapped her lips thoughtfully. He watched her glance down and say something to the cat curled around her feet. Odd, it appeared tame, if its behavior was any indicator, but he hadn't noticed the feline previously. Had it been with her earlier? And if the cat travelled with Aino often enough to walk unleashed, why hadn't he seen it before?

Aino finally settled on a destination and turned north and Keisuke rushed to follow, slipping past the railing bars and dropping to the pavement below. He did his best to follow unobserved but it was a task easier said than done. His suspect was distracted easily by displays in storefronts or carts selling wares along the street, and more than once he needed to duck or dive to prevent being spotted. After one such incident he had lost her altogether and it was only a lucky guess—as well as her golden hair sparkling amongst a sea of blacks and browns—that had put him on the chase once more. He was grateful she took the time to dye it but then remembered his own silver locks and decided he shouldn't assume.

Besides being easily distracted, she was also constantly talking. He wasn't sure if she had a bluetooth or if she was just talking at her cat, although she looked its way often enough that Keisuke had begun to accurately predict when to slip out of sight. The way the cat moved though...Keisuke could have sworn it was responding, and the longer he spent staring at it, the more he felt like he'd seen it before although he hadn't the slightest idea where.

Cats aside, he was more than a little relieved when residential buildings began to appear and Aino's pace began to slow. Maybe she lived with a friend and that was why he couldn't find her place of residence? Keisuke crossed the street, hoping to keep his distance and watched as his target sprinted up a steep set of steps leading to a local shrine without pausing her stride. He raised a brow, a little impressed despite himself, and then took out his notebook and noted the Shrine's name and location. Hikawa...why did that sound familiar?

Keisuke took out his phone and did a quick search, both eyebrows shooting up when he saw the results. He let out a low whistle and marked several articles and then opened his contacts. He found the name he was looking for and pressed the dial button.

"Hey, it's Koizumi." Keisuke paused and listened, "Yes, that one." He rolled his eyes as the other person said something else and glanced at the shrine steps. No blonde in sight. "I was wondering if we could meet," he glanced down at his watch. "Perhaps in an hour?" He turned away from the steps and started walking towards a nearby cafe.

"I want you to tell me what you know about the Hikawa Shrine."

oOo

"Reeeeeeeei!"

Minako snickered to herself as she watched her friend stiffen before turning around to greet her.

"Go home."

"Rei!" Minako gasped, skidding to a halt. "Is that anyway to treat a friend who came all this way to see you?"

The priestess ignored her and resumed sweeping while Minako huffed as dramatically as she could behind her. The thanks she got!

"Well fine," she crossed her arms and turned to leave, "I was going to ask if you needed help around here for the next few days but I can see where I'm not wanted."

"Jet setting around the world not enough to keep you busy these days?"

"Hardly," Artemis scoffed, appearing along the top of the stone wall. He jumped down from his perch to join them. "She's just trying to get in the law enforcement's good graces."

Rei nodded to Artemis in greeting and then turned her beautiful no-nonsense gaze to stare down Minako.

"Okay, I miiiiight have hoped hanging around here for a few days would get him off my case." Minako plucked Rei's broom from her hands and turned up the kitten eyes. "Please Rei? Aren't you always saying you could use the help?"

Rei rolled her eyes and snatched her broom back. "You cause more destruction than you help half the time." She crossed her arms and raised an expectant brow. "Why's he following you anyway?"

Minako shrugged, glancing around the courtyard to insure no one else was listening. She would have bet money that someone had been following her earlier but it seemed that was no longer the case.

"My source says some precinct got a bee up their bonnets and have reopened old youma case files in hopes of catching the perp of the more recent youma influx."

"What does that have to do with you?"

"I'm not quite sure." Minako rubbed her temples. Talking about cops always gave her such a headache! "While it makes sense that we'd cross their eye if youma are involved, I've never had police chase after my civilian identity before."

Rei looked at her sharply.

"You don't think they've learned who you are do you?"

Minako pursed her lips and then waved the idea away. "Nah. Natsuna would have said something. The closest anyone's gotten is guessing V and Venus are the same person and that doesn't take Ami's brains to figure out."

"A mystery in itself considering all that blonde hair you have," Rei smirked. She shook her head and handed Minako the broom. "Fine,you can help but no handling the temple artifacts. Last time you nearly broke a three hundred year old vase."

"Aye aye, capitaine!" Minako snapped to attention and gave a sharp salute but Rei was too busy walking away to appreciate it.

"Hey!" She dropped formation and hurried to catch up to her. "Hey wait!"

"Reeeeeeeei!"

#minako aino x kunzite #minako aino #sailor venus #kunzite #sailor moon #fanfiction #a relentless pursuit

6 notes · View notes

sage-nebula · 5 years

Note

Thanks! So they've mentioned a war and Sonic being imprisoned for awhile? Also curious about Shadow's history, as it was alluded he was a villain in the past. And in one of the panels where Sonic was thinking about his infection, it showed outlines in the background suggesting comparable things had happened to him in the past. One seemed to be him turning into a monster, maybe?

So they’ve mentioned a war and Sonic being imprisoned for awhile?

That’s the plot of Sonic Forces. The long and short of it is that the game opens up with Eggman successfully taking over the world and, with the assistance of a jackal named Infinite who had the power of the Phantom Ruby (a gem which allowed him to warp reality), capturing Sonic (though many believed Sonic had died). Sonic was imprisoned and tortured for six months until he managed to escape, and during that time a Resistance was led by Knuckles and Amy against Eggman’s empire. As you can expect, the game ends with Eggman being overthrown (and Infinite being killed, we think).

Also curious about Shadow’s history, as it was alluded he was a villain in the past.

Shadow’s history is … complicated, to say the least, but I will explain it as best I can, haha.

So, fifty years ago, Eggman’s cousin, Maria Robotnik, was suffering from some kind of terminal illness. I think they said it was something along the lines of a degenerating immune system (neuro-immune system?), but the specifics aren’t really gone into very much. As a result of this, their grandfather Dr. Gerald Robotnik, started work on what was known as Project Shadow, a.k.a. the Ultimate Lifeform project. The goal was to create the Ultimate Lifeform, who was immune to all diseases, and then use that DNA to create a cure for Maria’s illness, which otherwise had no cure. Throughout the course of this project, two beings were created: the Biolizard, and the hedgehog we know as Shadow.

Now, I can’t remember if very much was said about the Biolizard’s DNA, only that at the end of Sonic Adventure 2 (the game where Shadow was introduced) it was kinda-sorta believed that the Biolizard may have been the true Ultimate Lifeform. Regardless, Shadow was created with the DNA from an alien known as Black Doom, who as it happens is also evil. But regardless of that, being created from Black Doom’s DNA is, I believe, what makes Shadow the Ultimate Lifeform. Although he has been alive for fifty years (in stasis for most of those years, to be fair), he is only sixteen years old. He’s not immortal (in the sense that he can be killed), but he doesn’t exactly age, either. He is immune to most diseases, and he can use Chaos Control, which allows him to teleport various places. The bracelets he wears on his wrists are inhibitor rings, which keep his power in check, but if he removes those he can also unleash a very powerful Chaos Blast. It takes a lot out of him, though.

Anyway, back when Shadow was created fifty years ago, he formed a very close friendship with Maria. It could be said, truthfully, that she was both his first friend and his only friend at that time. However—and my memory on this is a bit shaky since I haven’t played Sonic Adventure 2 in a long time, so bear with me—during the course of Gerald Robotnik’s research, I believe Project Shadow was defunded by the government, or something along those lines. Gerald was furious, because this of course meant that he wouldn’t be able to create a cure for Maria. So instead he set to work on creating the Eclipse Cannon on Space Colony ARK, which would allow him to decimate planet Earth as revenge, because of course that is the logical next step.

Unfortunately for him (and Maria, and Shadow), his hopes for revenge were in vain. The government found out about his plan and had their military force, G.U.N., storm Space Colony ARK, killing everyone on board … except Shadow, who was sent to safety by Maria, but including Maria herself. Shadow, trapped in an escape pod, could only watch as Maria was shot down by G.U.N. (and keep in mind, Maria was only about 12 - 14 herself, and had absolutely nothing to do with her grandfather’s plans). Right before this happened, Maria told Shadow was that her final wish was for him to protect the people of Earth—to give them a chance to be happy. Then she died, and Shadow was sent off in the capsule, though presumably at some point accosted by G.U.N. and put into stasis.

In any event, the trauma of seeing his first and only and best friend brutally murdered for literally no reason affected Shadow pretty deeply, including warping his memories of that event. As a result, Shadow remembered the promise he made to Maria being one of revenge, which incidentally is the exact opposite of what she actually wanted, but … he was a traumatized teenager who was then thrown into stasis by those very same soldiers, so you can’t really hold that against him too much. Anyway, fifty years after that event, Eggman (i.e. Gerald’s grandson, Dr. Ivo “Eggman” Robotnik) busted Shadow out of containment because he’d heard tell of the “Ultimate Lifeform” and wanted to see that himself. Shadow, seeing Eggman as a useful ally in terms of getting his revenge, agreed to help Eggman so long as Eggman could make it to the Space Colony ARK (I think that was the deal, anyway). Shadow himself went and procured a Chaos Emerald, framing Sonic for the deed along the way (since apparently G.U.N. is so incompetent they cannot tell Sonic or Shadow apart—but then again, neither can Amy later in the game, so), and eventually Shadow and Eggman strike a deal to work together officially. The deal, it should be said, is to gather all seven Chaos Emeralds to power the Eclipse Cannon, which they will then use to explode the planet. (Well, Eggman wants to rule the planet; he doesn’t realize that Shadow wants to explode it when they make the deal.) Unfortunately for them, they were spied on by Rouge the Bat, who followed Eggman to the Space Colony ARK after he tried to steal the Master Emerald (and failed because Knuckles shattered it to prevent it being stolen—mind you, Rouge had been in the process of trying to steal it herself). Rouge pretends to be a simple jewel thief to get in on the action, but in reality she’s a G.U.N. agent investigating the Ultimate Lifeform, a.k.a. Shadow. Neither of them realize it at the time.

All that said, the neat thing about Sonic Adventure 2 is that it initially has two story paths you can play: Hero Path, which lets you play as Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles; and Dark Path, which lets you play as Shadow, Eggman, and Rouge. The ending seems different on each, with Dark Path making it seem as though Shadow and Eggman’s plan will succeed, and Hero Path indicating the opposite. But if you beat both paths, a third path—True Path—opens, which shows you the true ending. The Biolizard is revealed, the plan to explode the planet (and the fact that this is now going to be accomplished by the Biolizard crashing Space Colony ARK into it) is revealed, and more importantly, during a time of quiet, Amy gets a chance to talk to Shadow. She inadvertently reminds him of what Maria truly wanted by talking about how everyone on Earth has different goals, but that ultimately they just want to be happy and deserve that chance. As I said, this unlocks the real memory of what happened that tragic night for Shadow, and he rushes off to go help the others stop the impending disaster so that he can do what Maria wanted. He kicks the Biolizard’s ass (which is his way of proving to himself which of them is truly the Ultimate LIfeform), but when the Biolizard transforms into the Final Hazard and starts to forcibly drag the Space Colony ARK toward Earth, he and Sonic use the Chaos Emeralds to activate their Super Forms to fight it in space. This battle results in Shadow sacrificing himself to finally defeat the Final Hazard once and for all, but also falling all the way to Earth from space in the process, his last thoughts being directed at Maria, telling her that he kept his promise to her. Sonic brings one of Shadow’s inhibitor bracelets back to the ARK and gives it to Rouge, and when everyone else has already left, stays in the room a moment long to deliver one final, “Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog.” (Yes, he says “sayonara” in the English version as well, just as Maria did; this is not me being a weeb lol.)

Anyway, Shadow was originally going to be Killed Off For Real there, but because of his immense popularity was revealed to have survived the fall to Earth, albeit he had amnesia as a result. Eggman also created some clones or robots of him as well, and that’s all explained in Sonic Heroes … but it’s not really relevant to the comics right now, lol. The important thing is, Shadow was an antagonist bent on the destruction of the world (and several brutal fights with Sonic, including at least one being intended to the death) in Sonic Adventure 2, but he realized the error of his ways at the end and sacrificed himself (everyone thought permanently) to help protect it. This leads to Sonic saying, in response to Rouge asking if Sonic thought Shadow really was the Ultimate Lifeform, “He was what he was—a brave and heroic hedgehog.” Which is part of why Sonic making his quip about how he didn’t think Shadow cared about innocent people in the most recent comic pretty ehhhh, even if it was a joke.

But yeah, those are the most important deals about Shadow. Note that Maria is still a very sensitive spot for him, to the point where, in a Twitter Takeover where the characters were voiced by their current voice actors in the games, Eggman refused to read a question asking Shadow how Maria was doing, and when Sonic started to read it, his response was, “Dear Shadow, how’s Mariauhhh, oh, oh yikes.” It’s really not a good idea to invoke her name carelessly around him.

And in one of the panels where Sonic was thinking about his infection, it showed outlines in the background suggesting comparable things had happened to him in the past. One seemed to be him turning into a monster, maybe?

That would be the game Sonic Unleashed, where Sonic was turned into a “werehog” at night due to a … curse? Infection? I can’t exactly say for sure since I didn’t play that one, haha, but essentially throughout the game Sonic was himself during the day, and then was a werehog at night, though this was cured / reversed by the end of the game, obviously. I don’t think knowing too much about that particular adventure will be necessary going forward; that was more just a little allusion to game fans to let them know that the events of Unleashed are canon in the comic.

Let me know if there’s anything more you’d like clarified!

#ravivkit

1 note · View note

caninescreations · 6 years

Text

Hot Take

™ Ok this actually looks like it might run a little long so I’ll put it under a readmore? Whoops haha all my thoughts are jumbled up. It’s HP house headcanons for furries for @survivalstep

Sonic: Hufflepuff OK admittedly Gryffindor!Sonic is an extremely valid, if predictable Hot Take. As far as Archie comics Sonic is concerned, it’s pretty true. However, consider instead game canon Sonic, who literally drops everything anytime a stranger needs his help [see: Black Knight, Secret Rings, Unleashed]. Gryffindor might indeed be the house of valor and honor, but Hufflepuff is the house of trust and loyalty, and I can think of no-one better than Sonic “do I need a reason to help out a friend” the Hedgehog. Except, maybe...

Knuckles: Hufflepuff He isn’t just a dedicated friend. This echidna is pretty much the end-all be-all of what Hufflepuff aspires to be. Hardworking, good-natured, honest and loyal, and most of all absolutely devoted to his causes; this guy juggles protecting the Master Emerald and constantly having to help Sonic and co. save the world [almost] without breaking a sweat. Get you a furry who can do both.

Tails: Ravenclaw Before you click away hear me out I have reasons for this; I know, I know. Ravenclaw isn’t just for “the smart ones”. You’d be right about that! Ravenclaw is for those who are driven by their thirst for knowledge and an individualistic mindset. That is to say, those who thrive in Ravenclaw do so because they use their talents and skills for self-improvement. Tails, throughout the series, has grown from just being Sonic’s tag-along sidekick into a hero in his own right [compare StH 2 to, say, Lost World], not only honing his mind like a sharp blade but boosting his confidence to the point where Tails barely feels like he needs Sonic to be “a good hero” [*coughInB4Forcescough*]. I will never forgive people who put Tails in the right house for the wrong reasons.

Shadow: Gryffindor Y’all didn’t think I would, did you? You looked at this poor boy and thought, “wow, how dark and brooding! Surely this Clearly Evil Goth Boy belongs right in the snake house!” You’d be dead wrong. Slytherin is the house of ambition and cunning- both attributes which can apply to Shadow, but do not mark his interactions with the world. Shadow doesn’t do things for the sake of reputation or status- he does them because of his own motivations that have to do with attachments to other characters [however skewed those motivations might be, depending on where you are in his character arc]. Shadow does things out of a sense of duty, and a need to protect the world and the friends that have been so dear to him. One might even say he performs for the sake of.... honor. [At least that’s what I hope given that he’s SOMEHOW letting himself be employed by the institution that deemed his creation a dangerous liability and slaughtered a dwarf-planet’s worth of scientists out of this perceived threat. More salt on that in a separate post, maybe lol] More than that, the flaws of this house should not be ignored; self-righteousness [wanting to blow up the planet for being Cursed ™ ] and arrogance [”you’re not even good enough to be my fake!”] can be found in equal measure in Shadow’s character, and tempering these with his desire to protect the world [for the sake of his sister, then for his friends and eventually even himself[!!!!]] really solidify this house for him above all others. Although I was tempted to put him in Hufflepuff, too. Generally, people shove characters into Gryffindor when they’re either heros or brash and impulsive fighters, but one of the core aspects of this house is the concept of chivalry [the original version having to do with like. knighthood and devotion to a certain person/code and stuff, not the modern kind that has to do with justice and being Decent to women, although those should go without saying].

Amy: Gryffindor With all the groundwork explaining the tenants of Gryffindor in the characters I didn’t put in that house, it’s time to look at the other one I actually did! Amy Rose, tracker extraordinaire and hammer enthusiast, belongs in here because of her exceptionally strong moral compass [an excellent foil to shadow, who spends an entire game about him learning how to rebuild his own identity and stand free of toxic outside influences] and her steadfast beliefs. In a way, I’d call her the truly quintessential Gryffindor, fitting not just the stereotypical “reckless adventurer” cookie-cutter mold but also the [dare I say] firey compassion that can come with dedication to justice. Amy is worth more than just her crush on Sonic. She lives full, and loves hard, and refuses to take no for an answer, and it’s this zest for excitement that drives her to self-improvement. I know her characterization has been a bit, er, shaky... [I’m looking at you, Lost World \:] but underneath the weird obsession that the writers keep attached to her like a malignant growth is someone who’s core aspect is simply wanting to help in any way she can.

Maria: Slytherin Now don’t get me wrong, I know the games and the comics don’t give us much of a personality to work with, but have some of my tea anyways. Maria Robotnik has spent essentially her whole life in quarantine thanks to the ill-defined illness that got slapped onto her for woobification status. This, in addition to the fact that her only two friends were a boy several years younger than her [which in 12-year-old time, makes him a Baby] and her grandfather’s genetic experiment who happens to look like a cute waddling hedgehog, is a good recipe for someone who wants more from life. This isn’t to say that this trait is specific to her, specifically. Everyone wants something more. But she, like her grandfather and her cousin before her, is a Robotnik, with all that entails. What exactly that entails is a staunch disregard for rules and conventional means of thought. One of those makes a great trait for a Ravenclaw, but you don’t see that house listed by her name, now do you? Nope. Where Ivo saw the world and demanded accolades for his brilliance, and where Gerald saw opportunity to heal an disregarded national law in order to achieve it, Maria sees the obstacles in front of her [the “rules” to which her world and her body abide, one might say] and refuses to accept them. Most of my theorizing is, I will admit, baseless conjecture, but what isn’t is her death. Her home is being invaded by forces she believes to be on her side; she sees them rounding up scientists and experiments in equal measure, executing both with little division between the two. She does what any child can only do in such circumstances- she runs. And she takes what is important to her. A Hufflepuff might try to appeal to the soldier’s better natures. A Gryffindor would step in and oppose them directly. A Ravenclaw surely would try to discover the cause of these events, in the hope that it might provide a solution. But a tried-and-true Slytherin is not only ambitious, but cunning and loyal as well. In a hopeless situation, where the world is crumbling around your ears and there is no hope, a Slytherin finds a way to preserve what is dearest to them. Maria takes Shadow. She puts him into the escape pod before herself because she understands that her goals, her dreams, are unachievable under her own power- that seeing the world again would mean nothing without her beloved friend by her side- and chooses to protect him even on the pain of death.

A Slytherin is not just ambitious. They are clever, resourceful, determined, and fraternal in nature. Selfish, yes, but that in and of itself is not a bad thing. Slytherins care for themselves because it is smart. They care for others because loyalty is the foundation of a strong community, and it is only in a community that individuals can truly thrive.

Anyways JK Rowling gives the whole house a bad rap just for an easily-definable “evil” box that she can pull characters out of willy-nilly but I’m super salty abt that lmao

#words and stuff #sonic stuff #survivalstep #this took longer than i thought it would #i have a lot of feelings about maria ok #oh my god this took all morning holy christ

14 notes · View notes