Chapter 4: The Anime Zone.
Sonic is 15. It is stated in various sources as well as a Japanese episode of Sonic X.
Meanwhile it is also stated that Amy is 12, Tails is 8 and Cream is only 6.
The only ages we do not know are Knuckles and Rouge.
We can guess that Eggman is somewhere between his 60s to 70s since the ARK incident took place 50 years ago, and he clearly at least knew Maria based on how he compares his digital daughter "Sage" with her in Sonic Frontiers. I would guess 67, just because.
So in this story the ages will be something like this:
Maria Robotnik: 12 (Found out she had NIDS at Age 7 and then got flown abroad ARK to recover).
Ivo Robotnik (AKA: Dr Eggman): 17.
Gerald Robotnik: 71 (He still seems to be physically capable of walking, talking and building doomsday devices in his final message to his grandson Dr Eggman. This message was made not long before he passed away, so we know he is in his later years based on his white hair and wrinkled skin, but not his very late years since he can still record a message and stand properly).
Shadow the hedgehog: 5. Yes only 5. He was created about the same time that Maria started living on Space Colony ARK, and I theorize that she wasn't born on ARK but on Earth and only come to ARK later because of her inherited disease. Otherwise, Dr Eggman wouldn't know her at all and she wouldn't have such a fondness of Earth in the first place.
Shadow was most likely created with super intelligence programmed into him from the day he was born, and already fully mature with all his powers; so he could protect Maria from harm.
Special thanks to SuperSaiyanFever and Shadow8Phantom for all your kind support and amazing reviews. Now on with the story.
Final note: The amazing voice actress for the amazing character Helen from Sonic X is named Amy Birnbaum.
Her other voice roles include Max from Pokemon, Charmy bee and Cosmo the Seedrian also both from Sonic X and Tea Gardner (Anzu Mazaki) from Yu-Gi-Oh the original series.
Yu-Gi-Oh, Sonic X and Pokemon are all various Anime series that are owned by 4kids studios, and all of them share many of the same talented voice actors and actresses that make our childhoods wonderful and special.
Also: The name "Maria" sounds like a female version of "Mario". Mario is clearly an Italian name and the famous nintendo character "Mario the plumber" speaks with an Italian accent.
Maria's point of view
I breathed in the sweet scents of Sakura Cherry blossoms, and gazed lovingly at the breathtaking sight of so many trees, shrubs and grasses all clumped together in one sacred place in a perfect storm. Space Colony ARK had artificial flower gardens where rare breeds of plants were kept in capsules, and watered with advanced hydroponic devices but there was a certain charm to seeing these plants in their own natural habitat, undisturbed and growing strong and healthy; unattended by anyone.
The Earth was proving to be every bit as lovely as I faintly rememebered it from the days when my illness still lay dormant within me, not yet rearing its ugly head to curse me with its debilitating host of awful symptoms.
...
I still remember how it started. I breathed in pollen during a blissful breezy spring morning, and began to violently cough up phlegm as my lungs almost exploded from a severe immune system reaction. I was walking with beloved my cousin Ivo, touring the green hill in the meadow that we always went to in order to get away from the white noise of the city below.
There was birdsong in the air as a tranquil wind caressed my cheek. It was a language without words for it was language of the Earth. Everything was perfect. Until my NIDS disease that had lay dormant for the first seven years of my healthy life screwed everything up.
I was saved only because of one of cousin Ivo's very handy robots; which he was demonstrating with addled enthusiasm. It was a marvel of engineering; so simple and yet so complex at the same time. It was silvery grey and it had jointed legs, arms, a torso and an expressionless face with a glowing yellow circle that acted as its vision detector to let it see just like a human could.
But its greatest utility lay in the special tube tucked away in its chest, which could open and close just like a bird in a cuckoo clock. This tube could release purified Oxygen that the robot sucked from the air around it, and pump it directly into anything else. The Nitrogen and other elements in the air would be handily converted into power for the robot to run for extended periods of time without needing a battery charging point.
This fantastic and brilliant invention; which Ivo was planning to demonstrate to the Italian Science committee coming to host a Science fair in two days time; was aptly named "Model OX-Specification: Y-Generation: 0" or "Oxygen" for short. It was planned to be the first of Ivo's many wonderful works to advance healthcare and mankind, further solidifying the mighty reputation that our family had already been building up since the start of the Industrial Revoultion several centuries ago.
It was designed to extend the life of both flora and fauna, both plants and animals. It could not speak, but its actions that day spoke louder than words ever could. As I lost my balance and collapsed, Ivo ordered "Oxygen" to immediately charge to my aid. Though it could not verbally communicate, it perfectly understood it's creator's intentions and my plight.
It jumped right towards me and caught me before I hit the ground, and attached its handy rubber tube that ended in a round mask to my trembling lips; sustaining me with the life-saving Oxygen my ruptured lungs could no longer bring me.
Had I been able to speak through the big mask covering my mouth, I would have showered my shrewd and canny cousin with praise that knew no bounds. The one single invention that he had demonstrated before me that fateful day had cemented him as the greatest scientist to have ever lived or would ever live.
No great thinker past, present or future would ever match Ivo. He didn't need to show this machine to an ungrateful crowd which would most likely fail to appreciate its true value, and would just reject in favor of other flashier and more decorated pieces by the other inventors; which were only built to look nice and not save lives like Oxygen had done for me. He had already proven himself to me; his younger cousin and there could be no higher achievment.
Grandfather arrived to thank him about an hour later. We were far from the city and therefore too distant for any medical team to come and assist me in a timely manner. It was only thanks to Ivo's magnificent invention Oxygen that I was still alive at all.
Grandfather warmly expressed his sincere thanks to Ivo and his wonderful life-saving robotic medical device...by kicking the grey robot still attached to me with such force that it fell from the hill and broke into pieces on some jagged rocks below.
This caused my sight to once more go blurry, as my damaged lungs were once more forced to inhale the stagnant air my diseased immune system simply could not withstand. I tried to scream for grandfather to stop, but I went out cold before I could choke a single word out.
The last thing I heard before everything went black; was grandfather harshly shrieking at Ivo for siccing his dangerous metal beast on me in a selfish, cruel and downright evil attempt to take the life of his innocent and vulnerable granddaughter who he would never ever be let near ever again. Not if he lived to 100.
The loudness of grandfather Gerald's screams, nearly pierced my eardrums. The pain in cousin Ivo's responding sobs, completely dashed my heart into the rocks of despair where it would shatter into a billion tiny shards that would make the broken remains of Ivo's now destroyed robot seem strong and whole in comparison.
"You will never lay your grubby hands on your lovely cousin ever again. Do you hear me Ivo? You good for nothing misfit? If you ever come near my granddaughter Maria again, I'LL KILL YOU!" were the last words my fading ears registered before I drifted completely away from lack of an air supply.
Then again, Oxygen; the robot not the element did have quite the frightening apperance. It's two feet were formed of two very jagged pincers each, and its hands which were clearly assembled with a minimal budget; had the appearance of a raptor's razor-sharp claws. Its eyeless, noseless and mouthless face which instead only contained a glowing round light that looked more like a laser than a vision sensor; probably did nothing to endear it to grandfather Gerald either.
Grandfather also sadly happened to loathe the color grey, since grey films without color were simply a right bore for him and also me to sit was hard to feel for characters in a film when you couldn't even properly tell the actual color of their hair, their clothes or even whether the sky above them was day or night.
As an aside; blue was his favorite color. Especially deep ocean blue; which was why I always took the pains of wearing my navy zipped jacket whether or not I felt cold.
For me from that moment forth; there would be no more pleasant walks in the green and grassy meadows, up and down the gentle hills. No more late night talks with cousin Ivo where we took turns raving and ranting about our eccentric passions; that no one else took even a passing interest in or could ever understand like we did. No more watching the sun rise and set and the moon come and go from my humble yet far more pleasant bedroom on the second floor of my suburban house.
Seeing the green green grass and blue blue skies had reawakened a place in my memories that I had done my utmost to lock away forever, along with everyone who lived alongside me on the now destroyed ARK. I did not blame them for trying to pull the wool over my eyes.
To the heart and mind, ignorance was kind. There was no comfort in the truth, only pain and suffering.
...
A loud shriek of pure terror roused me back to my senses, and snapped me away from the pointless rumination I was indulging in. It was high-pitched and full of fear. Yet despite all that; it sounded strangely alluring and pleasant like a piece of sweet candy for my ears.
Whoever had just cried out in such obvious and urgent pain clearly needed my help. They needed it fast. They needed it now.
I had just ingested one of my precious medical tablets, and so I still had plenty of time before my immune system started acting up once more. In this moment I was for all intents and purposes; in perfect health and never feeling more wide awake than now. I had no excuse not to immediately intervene and investigate the cry; which had quite clearly come from within the perimeter of the eerily desolate Japanese city advertised on the sign some distance back from where I had come.
Not a single light was on, not a single soul was wandering the empty streets from the red metal Torii gateway I now stood just outside of; cautiously trying to discern what the heck was going on despite my growing panic.
"AAAHHH!"
There it was once more. Louder than before. If I had any doubts beforehand about the poor state of whoever was emitting such a bloodcurdling wail of damnation, I now had no doubt whatsoever that at the very least it was certainly a human. A human girl no older than fifteen at the very most, since the two cries heard back to back never dipped below the high range that was characteristic of a pre-teen female whose vocal cords had not yet began to deepen with the onset of adulthood.
It was a teenage girl. A badly injured teenage girl on the verge of dying from a fatal injury.
Throwing all of my remaining caution to the winds, I broke into a run as I scurried under the traditional Torii gate; meant to symbolize the sacred gateway between the human and spiritual worlds.
Now that I was fully rested and had taken the proper medication to completely bring my faulty immune system well under control at least temporarily, I was able to dash forward with surprising speed and alacrity. It felt good not being confined to a few cramped and narrow corridors; that always made me feel claustrophobic like a caged animal.
I wept a tear as I thought sadly about how close Shadow had come to being able to run alongside me, being able to unleash the full might of his lightning speed bestowed upon him through rigorous training and his innate ability to control the unpredictable power of Chaos. He too had never felt fully content being forced to walk slowly along ARK's narrow passages, and even running on a treadmill built specifically to match his above-average footspeed did not quench his thirst for a real run.
Several times I nearly tripped, but somehow kept going nonetheless. I had to save the hurt soul that had cried out in such agony clearly believing that help would never come. If Shadow could so bravely throw away his life for me, I could do no less. If I died, I died but I would not leave the desperate girl who had twice screamed her heart out thinking it was just her rotten fate to pass away ignored by everyone.
I was rewarded for my urgency, when all of a sudden the clunking noise of a gun being loaded touched the edge of my ears. It was a sound I was well acquainted with, and one I had learned to despise. I was getting close to the source of the catastrophe, and I now knew that it involved a highly lethal gun.
"Where's the rebel base? Talk! You stupid woman!" A deep and throaty voice sounded in poorly pronounced Japanese; as I slowed down upon getting close to a row of houses, taking slow and cautious steps forward so as not to give myself away quite yet. The speaker who had just spoken such crass, callous and malicious words that were quite clearly intended to be a probing verbal attack; could well be a Tyrannosauras Rex from the dinosaur age for how low each of his syllables were.
I very carefully approached the corner of the block of seemingly empty houses, practically on tiptoe to make the least noise possible. I had not heard again from the much kinder, more serene and soothing screamer and I was dying to know if she was even still alive. But I knew from my long nights reading up on the bygone battles of ancient history, with both Ivo by my side and on the ARK in my room alone; discretion was the better part of valor.
"I will tell you nothing. I'm sorry. My sincerest apologies for my unbecoming rudeness. You had better kill me so I can join my fair and just pharaoh Atem in the afterlife." A much higher and more alluring voice answered to the condescending demand in far better and clearer Japanese.
From my position; I could now see that the earlier threatening question spoken with a shoddy mastery of Japanese at best had come from the foul mouth of a tall, muscular giant dressed in the exact same uniform as the legion of soldiers that were sent to capture me and Shadow. He had dark hair in a quiff, and muscles that bulged even through his immaculate military outfit plastered with badges and medals from top to bottom.
He stood at almost twice the height as the murderer who had massacred Shadow before my terrified eyes, and he was holding a gigantic two-handed rifle with his huge hands which was aimed at a broad and blooming Asian Oak tree. Or rather, the tied up young woman he had bound to the tree with ropes.
The appearance of his hapless victim to put it simply; was a breathtaking sight of surreal beauty the likes of which you were lucky to find even once in a lifetime. Short chocolate brown hair with a bowl cut and slight bangs, and sparkling sapphire blue eyes that showed not the slightest hint of malice, dishonesty nor even the smallest bit of discontent at her unfortunate situation.
I could tell just from her eyes alone; that this was not a dirty hypocrite who was trying to play the victim card, nor a duplicitous con-artist whose own bad decisions in life had gotten her mixed up with an imperialistic police group that were known for their ruthlessness in cracking down on even the slightest percieved threats to their rule.
Even if it was the case that her harmless expression was instead pure venom , I would still have come to help her because I could not stand the idea of G.U.N claiming more victims after they had already cruelly taken Shadow away from me. But her innocent face nonetheless further bestowed upon me a determination to save her no matter what the cost.
Her clothes were simple, yet all the more eye-catching and attractive for their simplicity and cheapness. She wore navy flat-heeled shoes that could not quite be considered trainers, which were complimented by a very short blue skirt which hinged on verge of revealing her undergarments. And a long, very formal looking pink blazer complete with a simply delightful blue bowtie at the top just beneath where her thin neck would be, where the blazer was parted to reveal a tight-fitting white shirt with buttons so tight that they could not possibly be comfortable for her.
I had above-average eyesight which was one of only parts of me not ravaged by a crippling disease and which had impressed my cousin, grandfather and friends on the ARK alike. By squinting as hard as I was able to the point where I felt a throbbing headache, I could only just make out that just beneath the right chest pocket on her blazer was written in fairly small characters "Domino high school: female student: 337-118."
This kind girl whose two screams had very clearly come from the two extremely painful bullet wounds on her right shoulder and left leg; was quite clearly a scholar. A dedicated scholar of an illustrious and prestigious academic establishment that took great pains to enhance its grand reputation in any way possible through the striking presentation of its every student.
There were two possibilities as to why this young girl was wearing such a stiff and repressive outfit despite clearly not being in school. One: she was up bright and early to get to a hard day of classes when she was set upon by this monstrous brute of a human.
Or two: she was a super dedicated student who refused to remove her uniform even when off-campus, to show her dedication to her studies to everyone who looked at her. I had met actors and fashion models back on ARK and even soldiers, firefighters and sentaors who kept their work clothes on despite having resigned from their posts on Earth long ago to escape to their new safe-haven in space.
But this was the first time in my lifetime that I had seen someone wear a school uniform in such a manner. Especially with how stuffy such thick clothes must be making the poor girl on this hot and sunny morning which was causing me to sweat so hard that I was forced to unzip my navy jacket just to not burn to a crisp.
If the second option was indeed true, then this poor young woman being held hostage was the very embodiment of my every single life goal. She was a star student whose quest for knowledge never came to an end, and who represented her school, friends and family with the highest honors.
She brought honor to them all. Unlike me; a sick and useless patient who had to be babysat and given constant medical attention, without being able to do anything meaningful to support my family.
I really disliked making mean and rash judgements about anyone especially before even getting to properly know them, but this G.U.N member's very itchy trigger fingers as well as his harsh tone of voice had really cemented for me that this was not the sort of friend you wished to invited over for tea. Nor would you touch him with a ten-foot barge pole.
My earlier assumption that the singular G.U.N agent who shot down Shadow while trying to shoot me was just one evil man in a society of morally upright guardians, was nothing more than a misguided and naive guess of an overly hopeful wayward child. There was no reconciling with the so-called "World police" that had grown more influential than ever in the previous few years based on news reports I saw on ARK.
"Answer me! You idiot! (Baka). Or this time, it'll be your brains that I blow out!" The big man thundered once more, raising his rifle to emphasize his threat. "Your rebel friends can't help you. Answer me and I'll make you my second in command, and give you a nice and plump paycheque you will not regret."
Again it must be said that every one of his words had very poor pronounciation, and that Japanese was very apparently neither his first nor second language.
"I will never betray my friends. I would sooner be banished to the Shadow realm for all eternity. So once again sir, my sincerest apologies. I can't help you. I can only refuse your generous offer." The cute brunette quietly murmured, not shivering even as she found herself staring down the barrel of the giant's massive gun.
It was now or never for me. I was told by Shadow to be the change that I wished to see in this world, and the change I wanted now was to see that G.U.N never took another innocent life ever again.
It would be easy to sneak away and continue on my merry way back to Milan, where cousin Ivo would most likely be worried sick by now about me.
But if Shadow were the one who lived and made it to Earth instead of me, then he would not hesitate to use his Chaos powers to rescue the hostage who was every bit as faithful a friend as he had been to me and the other ARK dwellers. If I were to just refuse to help right now, then Shadow's noble sacrifice would have been for nothing.
I looked skyward and silently prayed.
Then I lunged forward, shreiking as loudly as when I had first lost Shadow and been forced into the escape pod to escape to Earth all alone by myself. Every bit of my anger, rage and bitterness at losing Shadow, losing grandfather and dissappointing Ivo went into my charge as I reached out both my arms to grip the seven-foot man by the neck.
It was my only hope of overpowering such a muscular paragon of strength, and the best way to ensure that he would be unable to shoot back at me.
A brief gasp of surprise escaped the hulking behemoth's lips as he turned to face me at the last second before I could make contact with him.
Then he smashed me over the head with the butt of his rifle, sporting a nonchalant grin as he did so.
Tikal the Echdina's point of view.
They didn't listen. No one would listen. I pleaded and begged and cried for the other Echdinas in my tribe to just hang on for one second and stop fighting.
I told them that the Master Chaos Emerald was a server that displayed each and every emotion in their hearts and souls. The positive emotions of love and tolerance would fill the Emerald with beneficial energy that could be used to do great good, such as fertilizing the ruined soil of Angel Island which had been razed during the many pointless wars that my tribe had waged in their increasingly violent bloodlust.
Negative emotions such as anger and hatred on the other hand; would only spoil the emerald. Turn it from a useful tool into a destructive harbringer of our impending doom.
But big chief Biceps and his chief-advisor Skull laughed off my explanation of the Master Emerald; calling me names like "the puny midget" and "the spineless runt".
So I stood adamant in the staircase separating my tribe from the Master Emerald perched high upon its sacred platform on Angel Island's highest peak, and stretched out both my arms and my wooden staff; determined to stop them from making their fatal mistake that I knew they would make if they so much as touched the Master Emerald. By force if necessary.
But the other Echdinas who were trained warriors and not merely a ceremonial priestess like me, easily overpowered me. They named me "Traitor!" and through my sobs and tears, they ran me through me with the cruel tips of their jagged weapons.
As I lay dying, I laughed bitterly. My tribe was the first Echdina tribe to decide to appoint an official priestess to guard the Master Emerald from anyone who'd misuse it for their own selfish and reckless gain, and it was they who I needed to fear the most but didn't.
I trusted Chief Biceps who had been like a father to me ever since my own father "Soaring Eagle" and my mother "Chirping Skylark" perished tragically at sea when they went out fishing at high-tide, hoping to provide me with a splendid supper after I had caught a nasty chill during a freezing winter blizzard.
Mum and dad knew that fish were hard to come by during such a dangerous season, but that there were special chemicals in fish-blood which could be used as a last resort to heal me before I became another victim of winter's wrath.
My birth name before Chief Biceps found me wandering aimlessly in the winter snow in my devestated home village; was "Calm Phoenix". But since it was customary for members of his tribe to have names of just one word's length, he instead called me "Tikal" meaning in literal terms: at the waterhole.
To signify that he understood that securing valuable essentials such as food and water were far more important than pointless material wealth, and to hope that I did too as his adopted daughter who would become the informal sister of his extremely spoiled son and chief advisor "Skull".
True words are not pleasing. Pleasing words are not true. I was a terrible liar, but Skull was a very convincing con-artist who wrap anyone around his finger. He could make you think the Earth was flat, that the sky was about to fall and that a watermelon would grow in your tummy if you ate its seeds. He certainly once had me fooled on all three of these blatantly false claims.
It was step-brother Skull who delivered the killing blow to me, thrusting his spear through my abdomen rather than my chest as the warriors in my tribe were traditionally trained to do, since it garuanteed a swift and painless death for their victims.
He knew that this would ensure that my death would be slow and painful, like walking on hot-coals barefoot as each Echidna warrior had to do as part of their initiation ritual to prove their unwavering courage and devotion to their benevolent and wise chieftan.
In the final moments before my consciousness faded completely, I conducted a secret ritual that even Chief-Biceps had forgotten about in his years of slowly growing senile and paranoid, partly from his impatient son Skull's conniving manipulation. Since Skull just could not wait to be king.
It would seal my soul within the precious green crystal, ensuring that its terrible power could never be re-awakened by anyone with me acting as the barrier. My aversion to violence and killing would be the only thing keeping the desctructive monster inside the Master Emerald known as "Chaos" from escaping from its prison within the Emerald and sowing unimaginable desctruction not just across my world, but across the entire galaxy across multiple galaxies and even multiple universes.
It hurts to be in this horrible limbo between life and death. Unable to do anything but watch as my tribe killed each other in a bloody civil war when they were unable to activate the power of the Chaos emerald, not knowing that I'd sealed myself inside to prevent them from doing just that.
I can't speak. I can't move. I can't even close my eyes to wallow in my eternal misery in darkness. I can't feel my hands, legs nor body. Because I no longer have a body in the astral form I've now taken.
All I can do is watch as my once glorious floating island drifts listlessly through time and space. From Mobius to this new planet which I think is called "Earth" from the strange people I've managed to hear speak to each other from below. Earth is certainly not the same as Mobius.
The animals like dogs, cats, rabbits, hedgehogs and even Echidnas don't wear clothes or have the ability to speak the common tongue, unlike those in Mobius. It's only one race that do have this ability in this world, and that race calls itself "the humans".
What I think about the humans, I don't really even know myself. Some are kind. Some are cruel. Some are calm. Some are angry.
All of them seem to believe to a greater or lesser extent that they should rule their planet as its new all-powerful master. A lust for power seems to be the defining hallmark of "the humans".
Sometimes the thought of "the humans" makes me laugh bitterly. They're just like my tribe. Misguided, rash and walking blindly to their own brutal demise.
It's a good thing very few of them bother to look upward at the floating island that hovers above them all, and that the few of them who do see Angel Island are branded insane liars when they try to tell it to each other.
If they get the Master Emerald, they'll be worse than my tribe. And I say that knowing that it was my own adopted big brother who dealt the final blow to me to put me in this state to begin with.
"The humans" with their leaders of dubious intentions; who come bearing various titles like President, Shah, King and Emperor, can NEVER be allowed to know about Angel Island and the Master Emerald. But I can do nothing but hope that they never find me, for if they do then I will be truly helpless this time when they take the Master Emerald.
Another empty day in the Master Emerald. Another cold and lonely wind that blows through the ruins of Angel Island. A day that will soon become a faint blink of an eye in the oppresive void of eternity.
Tikal nee Calm Phoenix :the island Priestess; signing out.
...
Thank you for reading. Please review if you like this story and want me to keep going.
I think Tikal the Echidna is a seriously underused character who should have been given more attention. Since she gives us a clue as the what the Echidna race was truly like before Knuckles, and why Knuckles acts the way he currently does.
Like Shadow, Knuckles has lost people very dear to him and he deserves to be explored more and sympathized with more too. It can't be easy guarding something when the people who asked you to guard it are now gone forever and can't even congratulate you any longer.
The awesome Knuckles deserves some respect.