Chapter 3: A sinister plot.

It's kind of ironic how Maria was completely against violence and killing; and yet Shadow goes on a killing spree after learning of her death.

It is canonically established that both Sonic and Shadow are asexual; meaning that they are incapable of feeling sexual attraction towards either gender. This is because they have both been in constant contact with several male and female friends, and have never had more than a few intimate moments with any of them.

Compare this to Tails, who clearly had a very strong attraction towards Cosmo the Seedrian in Sonic X season 3, and Knuckles who is unable to stop himself occasionally stumbling over himself when he comes into contact with Rouge.

The most likely reason behind Tails and Knuckles being more romantically interested than the other characters may be because Tails is starting to get close to his teenage years where his body hormones start to undergo unstable changes, and Knuckles has been left alone guarding Angel island as the last Echidna alive.

One thing I always really wanted to see in Sonic X was other foxes. We see several colored hedgehogs like Sonic and two rabbits since Cream has her lovely mother Vanilla, but now we need some other foxes to really add to the immersion. Especially some one-tailed foxes so as to really drive home the point that Tails is "special" among them.

Another reason I wrote this story is because we've seen a lot of evil scientists as the main villains in many Sonic works, and several aliens or Chaos creatures as well. So I felt it would be cool to have a story where we have a human villain who isn't a scientist or a magician.

So instead of a "Final-Fantasy" or "Dragon quest" style, we have something more like a "Call of Duty" or "Battlefield" style.

Helen will be making an appearance in this story, with a close relationship to Maria. The one hint I will give you in anticipation as to just how these two nature-loving blondes are related is this:

Helen in this story comes from Greece, since her name Helen is a very obvious reference to Helen of Troy the launcher of a thousand ships; which explains why Chris falls in love with her. The Robotnik family come from Italy. Italy and Greece are both Mediterranian countries, which are within very easy reach of one another.

I also wrote this story because I want to explore the concept of different characters coming from different countries and how this would flesh them out more.

I first got this idea from seeing how Chris's three friends all look very different. One thing I really like about Chris is that he is friends with a disabled girl in a wheelchair, and a dark-skinned boy. This shows he is not racist and likes others for more than just his speed. In addition to how he properly respects Sonic the hedgehog, it shows just how open-minded and tolerant a person Chris really.

The final thing I want to say is that I was inspired to create this story by playing a game called Civilization 6.

In Civilization 6, you can choose a country to play as (e.g: England, France, Spain, America, Roman etc). For some countries, you also get a choice between multiple leaders (e.g: A choice between Abraham Lincoln or Theodore Roosevelt if you choose to play as America). Depending on your chosen country, you get the same country ability but a different leader ability based on which leader you select.

So Maria and Dr Eggman (AKA: Ivo Robotnik) would both be different choices for the Eggman empire. The Eggman empire would have its own ability that stays the same no matter who is picked, but Maria and Dr Eggman would then add their own abilities to the Eggman empire which would allow for two different combinations.

Which would be cool.

As the true final note, I really want Maria to be in the Sonic 3 movie and for her to actually stay alive this time. Since the Sonic movie series is more of a family comedy than a tragic soap opera, there might actually be a small chance of this happening if Sega actually includes Maria in the movie's cast of characters.

There's already Tails and Knuckles in addition to Sonic in Sonic movie 2, and the movie 3 trailer showed Shadow so I'm really hopeful Maria will show up too.

Ivo's point of view

"Finished Doctor. We have finished your beautiful Egg-bot along with your Egg-mobile just as you asked us to." Said the younger and lesser of my two robotic servants, a grey robot that I had aptly named Bocoe.

A corruption of Decoe's name starting with Bo to stand for bot. With Decoe's De being short for Decipticon.

Bocoe's B-O also stood for two other ideal qualities that every master desired from their prized slave.

Brawn (So as to fight off any pesky annoyances that might impede a master genius's master plan for supreme dominance over their puny planet)

Orderly

With the rest of his name being identical to Decoe's to share the three other perks of his yellow elder that his design was heavily based on. One robotic servant had already greatly increased the rate at which my plans were advancing.

Robots never demanded to be paid for their contributions unlike those greedy human midgets, and didn't need to stop to eat or sleep or excrete. Perfect obedience was all my mechanical magnum opuses delivered. Perfect obedience free of charge.

I had outdone myself twice now. The Earth was practically in the palm of my hand.

I gazed lovingly at the two shining metal devices that my duo of mechanical servants were now proudly presenting to me. One was a hulking behemoth with two gigantic metal feet the size of a school bus each. Its two arms were each as long and broad as a full-grown oak, and were mounted with discreetly placed cannons on their wrists; which could blast forth vicious gouts of flame that could burn through stainless steel.

A lesser known fact about this colossal battle device was its ability to levitate via manipulating electromagnetic currents in the Earth's atmosphere. This allowed it to hover for up to 10 minutes at a time, allowing it to rain destruction from above for my foes who stupidly believed that their helicopters and other flying devices would keep them safe from my robotic wrath.

Hence its name; the flying eggbot.

There was a round opening at the top of the metal beast's headless body where its head would be if it were a living creature. The perfect socketed connection point for my egg-mobile to attach to when I wanted to take the metal giant for a test drive.

Speaking of my egg-mobile, it was a far smaller metal creation shaped like half of a sphere. It was the small and sleek flying contraption I would be transporting myself around in when I wasn't piloting my egg-bot in pursuit of my enemies.

The egg-mobile was lined with expensive and soft leather where I could sit in comfort as I soared the skies, and an intricate control panel with several buttons of varying colors which I could use to both manouvre this elegant aircraft around and control whatever larger robot the egg-mobile was fused with at the moment.

Which in a moment would coincidentally be my highly destructive egg-bot. Both these devices included egg in their name. Which was just as well given how they were both constructed for the sole purpose of expanding the influence of the glorious Eggman empire.

An empire that would have neither inefficiency or weakness. A land whose borders would expand forever. A flawless masterpiece of never before seen magnitude, whose sheer size would put Julius Caesar and Napoleon; two of mankind's greatest leaders ever to shame. A realm without disobedience, for every citizen would be not merely brainwashed like G.U.N did to the territories under their iron hold, but completely turned into robots. There would be no room for inept incompetence, nor freedom to disobey my high command.

I would well and truly become the legendary figure I had always revered; the man in the high castle.

This would be a world war where the darkness of tyranny and authority extinguished the flame of freedom. A civil war which ended with every federate supporter bound in chains and sent to work the plantations until they keeled right over. A decisive crusade which would end with the people never singing the song of angry men ever again, for they would all be enslaved.

I would take everyone prisoner, and give no one any choice. Dying standing was not a choice, because I needed all the workers I could get my hands on to make my empire stronger than ever.

Everyone had called me and my beloved cousin Maria "the stinking Eggheads" for far too long for me to take it lying down any longer. We had been sticks in the sand for longer than any sane man could bear. I would take this foolish insult that the world had cursed upon us, and turn it right on its head when I forced everyone who had humiliated me to bow down in complete mercy to me instead.

For myself and cousin Maria.

Pour je et cousine Maria.

Fur mich und cousine Maria.

Para mi y el nombre de Maria.

And lastly as befitting my native motherland tongue:

Per me e nel nome di mia cugina Maria.

Adrenaline rushed through my veins as I started up the engine for my egg-mobile and directed it so that it latched onto the top of my far larger egg-bot, in turn causing its internal systems to roar loudly to life.

My two robotic servants would stay at the underground base I had been secretly constructing beneath the serene meadow that I once played with Maria in. A safe haven that had become nothing more than a mockery to taunt me with a lost treasure that could never be returned to me. I had no qualms about the massive hole that ruptured in the Earth as I crashed the egg-bot upward through the grass above, and practically giggled in delight as I saw the multitude of daisies, roses and tulips that my robot mangled in its trip above ground from below.

All of Maria's favorite flowers, and all destroyed since they had no purpose existing if she wasn't there to enjoy them and persuade me not to step on them for her sake. If an afterlife truly existed as Maria deeply believed, then these flowers would be more valuable than ever since it meant that Maria's empty place in the great beyond would at least have some floral decoration to spice it up.

My first stop; the first bank of Milan. The wealthiest bank in all of Italy, and quite possibly the entirety of the Mediterranian colonies. Colonies whose ownership was about to change hands.

I had no remorse or guilt for the devestation and death I was about to unleash. I had already killed a kind, tender and handsome if a little on the chubby side humble professor of a prestigious and illustrious academy specializing in electromagnetism and the link between humans and machinery in daily life.

PHD 10378 Ivo Robotnik better knwon as "the spoiled and ugly rotten egg that had been left out of the trash for too long", was dead. Dr Eggman the magnificent, had killed him. Slaughtered him in cold blood. Stabbed him in the chest a hundred times before throwing his corpse to the hungry barking dogs in the alley.

There was no Ivo Robotnik. Not anymore. The explosion that decimated the saintly Maria Robotnik had taken her tender cousin down alongside her. Humanity had made their last fatal blunder. For soon in the flawless world of robots that I would build over this flawed world; there would be no blunders.

Maria's point of view.

Ow. My head. My hurting head. Not just my head was hurting, but my entire back felt wracked with agonizing pain from a long and restless sleep on a cold, metal floor.

Wait. What? Why wasn't I in the cosy pine bed in my private dormitory abroad Space Colony ARK? Where were the paintings of beautiful flowers and the eye-catching posters of my favorite Japanese Anime characters? And why wasn't my best friend Shadow here to wake me up and ask if I was feeling alright today like he always did in his loving and overly-concerned way?

(Anime is a form of animated film that is very popular in Japan which often gets dubbed into English with English voice actors trying to follow the original Japanese script as closely and faithfully as possible.

Examples of Anime include Sonic X, Pokemon, Naruto, Death note, and Sword Art Online. As well as all of the Studio Ghibli movies such as My neighbor Totoro, Ponyo, Laputa: Castle in the Sky and Nausicaa)

"Hello?" I timidly asked, unsure of who I was even talking to. "Shadow? Grandfather? Kim? Elsie? Robert?"

I had made many friends of all different ethinicities and from all over the world during my time in ARK, and they had become like a second family to me next to Shadow and Grandfather Gerald.

Some of them had even promised to go down to Earth with me when my illness was finally cured, and I could not wait to introduce them all to my beloved cousin Ivo and show everyone that he was not all bad like they all believed.

One thing that I could never really come to terms with about my lovely grandfather; was the way he lambasted my elder cousin so thoughtlessly. Even mentioning Ivo's name was enough to send him into paroxysms of unbridled rage. So I had no choice but to never mention my cousin if I wanted to avoid unnecessary conflict.

One time; grandfather very nearly slapped me in the face for simply saying "I miss my cousin. I hope he's alright". It was not a pleasant sight for a young, timid girl to behold. It was not an experience that I would wish upon anyone.

I never stopped having faith in my cousin. The way he patiently listened to everything I had to say, and dreamed big dreams for the future despite his terrible parents and the nasty jerks in his school; which I was powerless to help him against because we lived in separate neighborhoods and were kept away from one another by our life circumstances.

But these were just intangible memories. Memories which could only serve to make me tear up once more, and which would do nothing to aid my chances at survival.

As my Scottish friend and professional golfer Robert Bruce had succintly told me one night as I began to silently grieve over missing Earth and cousin Ivo alone in my room; sometimes you had to let the past die. You had to kill it. You had to kill the pointless rumination of events long past with the desire to build a better future.

So I suppressed my memories as I suppressed my faulty immune system with another tablet, which I swallowed in one gulp with the help of some chemically treated water. Then I cautiously pressed the faintly flashing red button on the escape pod's wall which would open the door to the world outside.

I had regained my senses now and remembered everything. ARK's violent takeover at the hands of G.U.N, Shadow's noble sacrifice for me when I was intending to sacrifice myself for him instead and my objective to track down cousin Ivo at any cost.

But first I needed to see where I was. To do that; I needed to scout the area. I never thought I'd use such militaristic terminoligy when describing my first visit back to my beloved home planet that I had missed so badly, but Shadow's untimely death had put me on edge. Losing Shadow had lost me a piece of my innocence that could never be regained.

It was an eternal wound which would eventually dry into a scab, but never completely heal but continue to hurt me even if I somehow lived to a hundred.

Was I angry at G.U.N for depriving me of my closest companion in their mad pursuit for total power and lust for knowledge? Well, yes and no.

Of course I had been driven insane via the loss of my guardian who had been created for the literal purpose of guiding me through the long and difficult path of life.

Anyone who had lost their child in a tragic car crash, or their wife or husband in a violent shootout or their parent to terminal cancer would fully understand the pain I was now going through and would still be going through till the day I died.

But G.U.N had also taught me a valuable lesson that I could not afford to ever forget. Anger and fear were what compelled their violent behaviours in the first place, and for me to adopt similar emotions in response to their heinous crimes would only sink me to a similarly low depth.

Shadow himself had even pleaded with his final words to me; that I needed to be the change I wished to see in the world. I could not honor what was basically his last will to me after a lifetime of endless kindness; when my objective was angry revenge.

My petulant outburst earlier which had bruised both my feet and hands; was the extent to which I would show my rage. Thankfully no one saw it except for myself when I was drifting through the vast emptiness of space. I was glad. I had only screamed into the void and not into any people. But my anger had to end there.

Kim Yong Sun, another one of my friends this time from Hong Kong; put it in another clearer way. The angry fighter fought blind and was easy pickings for the calm fighter who kept his or her head clear of such superficial distractions.

I appeared to be in some kind of forest. There was greenery every direction I looked in the form of trees, bushes and shrubs. Twigs snapped beneath me with every careful step I took, taking care to never become fixated on any object for too long lest I leave myself distracted and open to attack from behind.

A few minutes later, I finally found my clue. The clue that revealed exactly where on Earth I had landed in my escape pod which I could not choose the destination for. I was already fortunate that I didn't end up in a pool of molten lava, or in a deep sea where the heavy metal pod would have already sunk to the ocean floor and filled with salted seawater; drowning me slowly and painfully.

Instead based on the crudely drawn white sign before me written in fading Kanji characters; which I recognized clearly from my lazy evenings binge watching grandfather's varied collection of Anime DVD's imported from the proud and ancient Japanese empire, I was now just a few minutes away from the Japanese city of Nagoya.

Which if my Geography was correct; was not far away from the Anime capital of Tokyo.

I had always secretly prayed to one day be able to go into the Anime movies that provided my only fantastical escape from my sad reality of being a disabled cripple who couldn't be of any meaningful use to anyone. To be in a world where you could be anything you wanted to be, clad in the most stylish of clothing and blessed with the most strangely colored hair.

The sky was the limit in the Anime world. The dead could come back to life. Age could become youth. Planets could be terraformed to support life, and any character could come from any planet in other solar systems, other galaxies and even other universes.

You could throw a white and red ball at a yellow mouse that could shoot deadly thunderbolts from its sparky body, and make it your pet. You could say "Shadow clone Jitsu" and create a million clones of yourself in mere seconds.

You could find a gold tiara with a pink heart crystal etched into its centre and shout "Moon Prism Power", and gain the power to transform your ugly, unsightly clothes into a beautiful Sailor Fuku uniform that really caught the eye. While also getting magical powers that let you heal any grevious wound with a simple touch, and decimate entire armies of heavily armed soldiers.

You could do anything you wanted in the sacred land of Anime, and there I was right now.

I was no longer a disabled, sick invalid who needed to be protected and babysat all day and night to make sure she didn't choke to death by the simple act of breathing. A tiresome burden. A useless load to society. An embarassing disgrace to the good Robotnik family name, who were known for their groundbreaking contributions to the honorable field of Sciences.

I was now an Alien Princess, who had crash landed on a new and unfamiliar planet, who simply needed a tablet now and again to withstand the unfamilar atmosphere that was different to her own home world which had been destroyed by Earth's inhabitants to begin with. But this Alien Princess believed in noblesse oblige and was still willing to give Earth a second chance because she was nice like that.

I hurried back to the now dysfunctional escape pod and gathered as much food, water and medicine as I could carry with the conveniently provided grey and black backpack. I had just rested, and there was no time to rest again.

I needed to find transport back to Italy, and what better place to begin than by heading into the city and asking directions? I was fluent in Japanese from watching so much of its animation after all, and so language was no barrier. I was an INTELLIGENT alien princess who was well familiar with Earth's customs.

G.U.N's Point of view.

"You did what?" Snaps a tall, dark and handsome man whose black outfit blended almost perfectly against the black cloth of the armchair he now sat in, staring daggers at his blonde, short underling in a crisp white buttoned shirt.

"I shot...I shot Shadow and brought his body back to our research laboratory for analysis sir. Just like you asked of me" replied the incredibly nervous blonde man, whose hands were sweating all over.

"And the girl? What did you do with the girl?" asks the officer, pure venom lacing his every word.

"Well Sir. I was so happy at succesfully tracking down this so-called Shadow, and I thought that was all you wanted of me. I didn't know I was also supposed to..."

The young blonde never finishes his sentence, since he gets slapped harshly across his left cheek by his much taller superior who practically springs at him from a considerable distance from where he is now seated at the otherwise empty square brown boardroom meeting table.

"I'll give you something to be happy about." Shouts the commander, raising a fist in the trembling blonde's face. "You are going to track down that coughy-sneezy brat whose very face makes me sick with vomit, and you are going to search every nook and cranny for her. Until you find her and bring her lifeless corpse straight to me, you'll work for nothing. You hear me. NOTHING!"

His last word comes with a loudness that makes the room shake, and reduces his underling to a shivering husk similar to an explorer whose misplaced his fur coat while exploring the Arctic circle in the middle of January.

The blonde shortie gulps and nods vigorously as he's blasted back into his chair. What else can he do? His own wife, son and daughter are sick with the Influenza and without the generous paycheque that he was all but expecting when he faithfully completed his previous assignment, they will soon all perish.

He feels a note of ironic sympathy for the sick golden haired Robotnik that he previously let go, thinking that she was not important to his boss's orders to him. He was actually a tad glad to see that she alone made it to the escape pod and escaped to Earth, considering that he has a soft spot for the sick and helpless due to his own family's situation.

But all that sympathy quickly evaporates into nothingness as he walks to the armory to don his bulletproof vest and helmet, before marching out to the mess hall further outside to address his own small squad that he has rulership over.

He hasn't even the guts to say "yes sir" to his commanding officer before doing all this. He knows that his commander prizes silence as golden from his subordinates, and that one of his chief rules was to speak only when spoken to.

But he doesn't hate the golden haired girl. There's not a single bone in his body that has any inkling of disdain, distaste or disgust for her in the way that his commanding officer feels towards the last Robotnik at large.

To him; she is just his family's operation money, and to a lesser extent; his and his family's meal ticket. He views her as a hungry fox would view the fluffy rabbit that it has decided will be it's next scrumptous meal.

Such is the way of a G.U.N agent, from recruitment to grave. Nothing has changed, and nothing will change. Maria Robotnik will be hunted down, eliminated and he will be able to smile for the first time in years once the greedy doctors agree to treat his beautiful wife and daughter, and his handsome young lad.

A small part of him wishes for her to enjoy her last days of freedom. Because the much bigger other part of him knows that they will not last.

Perhaps her illness will have already claimed her life when he soon finds her, and he won't have to even spill another drop of blood. It will all be a very clean and bloodless affair, just the way he likes it. Perhaps this simple assignment won't be nearly as bad as the last one, but a welcome break.

...

Thank you for reading. Please review if you like this story and want me to keep going.

Kind regards.