If Maria survived ARK instead of Shadow

by zman123

What if Maria was the one who got away in the escape pod while her best friend Shadow the hedgehog? How would she react upon finally being able to see Earth up close in all its beauty and ugliness? And can she find some way to treat her NIDS disease before it kills her? And how about a certain cute Echidna? Find out here in this AU where Shadow sacrifices himself to let Maria live.

6. Delorean 2

Chapter 6: Delorean 2.0.

When I started writing this story, I did not know nor intend for it to be a crossover. However, as it developed; I felt that not only was Sonic X a big part of my childhood but the other 4kids Anime too, and that since they all feature very similar themes; that they are too closely connected to separate.

The main reason why I believe that Yu-Gi-Oh takes place in the same world as Sonic and 50 years before the original Sonic characters came into existence is as follows:

1. The technology level seems to be far less advanced in the Yu-Gi-Oh world as opposed to the Sonic world. There are fewer computers (There are still computers. Just fewer and less sophisticated), and young children prefer playing trading card games instead of electronic video games.

2. The art style is very similar in both Sonic and Yu-Gi-Oh.

3. As mentioned in previous chapters, a lot of voice actors had roles in both Sonic and Yu-Gi-Oh.

4. There are maniacal and omnicidal supervillians who want to take over the world. These villians can either be bumbling and comical (e.g: Eggman or Weevil) or serious and menacing (e.g: Dark Oak, Black doom and Pegasus).

5. Both shows have fancy mansions and huge hideouts where both the heroes and villians live. Sonic X has Christopher Thorndyke's gigantic manor, Sonic 006 has Elise's castle, and all the other Sonic games or movies have loads of huge bases where Dr Eggman plots his next devious scheme.

Meanwhile in Yu-Gi-Oh, we have the multiple palaces of Pegasus, and several other huge and luxurious buildings where the Yu-Gi-Oh duels take place.

6. Both worlds have anthropormorphic animals and talking/living machines. Sonic obviously has Sonic and his friends alongside Dr Eggman's fully sentient robot army. There are several Yu-Gi-Oh cards which have either an animal theme, or machine theme and there are episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh featuring either a highly intelligent animal or a rogue AI (Artificial intelligence. Usually in the form of a robot or computer).

7. In both shows; technology is portrayed as often a bad thing. Both Dr Eggman, Seto Kaiba (the main bad guy for the first Yu-Gi-Oh episodes) and several other villians in both shows use highly advanced electrical devices and supercomputers to try and defeat the heroes.

Meanwhile, most of the heroes are against rapid industrialization and wish to protect and preserve nature for the future generations.

8. Both shows/series feature a high number of young girls dressed in pink who really love flowers. Sonic obviously has Amy Rose (the clue is in her last name: Rose, which is a type of flower), and Yu-Gi-Oh has Serenity Wheeler and Tori Meadows.

9. In both shows, Pink and Blue seem to be the most heroic colors. Yugi wears blue in all of his outfits, while Tea wears pink. Sonic is blue and Amy is pink. Maria Robotnik (the only "good" member of the Robotnik family) wears a nice blue dress, while Helen (Chris's best friend) has a pink dress at least in her younger days.

10. Shadows are viewed as very dangerous things in both the Yu-Gi-Oh and Sonic world. Shadow is the ultimate life form in Sonic, and the Shadow realm and Shadow games are both universally feared phenomenon in the Yu-Gi-Oh series.

11. Ancient ruins are very common in both the Sonic and Yu-Gi-Oh worlds. Sonic has the Aquatic ruins and the Mystic ruins (where Big the cat lives). Yu-Gi-Oh has tons of abandoned pyramids and other lost Egyptian cities. These ancient ruins serve as key focus points for much of the story.

This story was not intended to be a crossover when it began. It only developed that way after a while, when I started noticing these similarities.

But don't worry, there will be plenty of Dr Eggman's evil plots for our heroes to foil, and plenty of action against G.U.N and their vile plans for world domination.

Thank you everyone for reading, especially Shadow phantom and on with the story. Thank you especially for the feedback about not using so many descriptions when they are not needed. I will certainly take that on board.

56 years in the future: 2009. Modern Day USA.

Helen's point of view.

6 years. Six short years. Six blinks of my eyes.

What difference does it make?

Six short years have passed since Sonic the speedy blue hedgehog, and his amazing animal friends from another world had no choice but to leave Station Square to return to their own universe for the greater good of us all.

As Chris's now terminally-ill grandpa Chuck once explained: Sonic and his group staying in our world would completely disrupt the space-time-continuum; bringing time to a complete halt forever. All life on both Earth and Sonic's world Mobius; would be wiped out as even the Oxygen in the air would stand completely still for all eternity.

Neither plant nor animal, human or machine would be able to function at all. Such would be the consequence of messing with the delicate flow of Chaos through the multiverse which we all inhabited. From the wealthiest millionare to the most destitute beggar. From the most noble hero to the least respectable criminal.

We all thought that since that vile excuse for an evil scientist known as Dr Eggman had to depart alongside Sonic; that at the very least our lives would be safer without him hatching a different plan to blow up the city every day. We believed that at least with him forced back to Sonic's world along with Sonic; that he would be well and truly kept in check.

We all naively believed that he was our main problem. We all thought wrong.

Dead wrong.

With Sonic and his awesome friends: Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Cream, Rouge and Shadow out of the picture; there arose from the depths another far more terrifying threat.

A horror that had always been there in the mirror, in the corner of our eyes. The thin shadow always lurking but never passing by.

Not another of Eggman's incredibly destructive robots. Not even another mystical being made purely of accumulated dark emotions like Chaos. This was something far more sinister than we could have imagined.

Christopher, my dearest companion had always feared this possibility and tried to warn us all that this truly awful day would come.

We ignored him. Some us too busy to listen; as in the case of Chris's lovely parents Lindsey and Nelson along with Chris's servants; Butler Tanaka and Maid Ella. While others believed he was just plain mad, meaning the majority of Station Square only excluding me, Frances and Danny.

Chris predicted the apocalypse that rages outside the underground bunker I am now hiding in, and which I am blisfully lucky enough to share with the love of my life Christopher alongside the remarkably friendly Frances whose smile shines only brighter day by day.

Our other friend Danny was not so lucky like us. He stayed behind to heroically give us the opening we needed to escape, and so he was forced into the work camps with everyone else.

The enemy that now relentlessly hunts us down seeks not to do so out of spite nor malice. They are not motivated by greed or revenge. They've no desire to watch the world burn; unlike the Joker from Batman. But they also aren't looking for anything logical like money either.

They well and truly think that they are doing us a kind favor, and that we should owe to them our eternal gratitude.

In the simple yet often under-appreciated words of C.S Lewis: "Of all tyrannies; a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of it's own victims, may be the most oppressive."

They call themselves "The Guardian Unit of Nations"; often just shortened to G.U.N. They rose to rapid prominence following the wave of crime that erupted mostly in my native land of America, but also in the rest of the world following Sonic's departure.

It turned out that Sonic had not simply inspired the common people to go fast and fight for true freedom, but also for the unsavory vagabonds to either lay low or change their ways for the better. One thing led to another, and eventually G.U.N emerged from the shadows to place my country and basically all others in a state which no one ever dared to dream of since the end of the bloodcurdling global crisis known as World War 2.

A police state.

In which the food on your plate now belonged to the state; a collective regime of peace and love.

The one thing that did not change in these six years; was everyone's vitriolic hatred for my former friend and now husband Christopher Thorndyke, who had since fallen from glory. Not long after Sonic left; everyone blamed Chris for their favorite hero being gone and accused him of being a heartless attention seeker who hogged the speedy blue hedgehog all for himself.

The timeline leading up to this bleak and dreary day looked something like this:

Year 1 after Sonic left: The Thorndyke manor is ransacked, leaving Chris and his family with pigeons to rule over and dirt to eat. They move over to my house, which has just enough room to fit everyone.

Chris takes the same room as me since both the guest and living room are taken up by Chris's mum, dad and grandad as well as his maid and butler.

If we were close friends before when we only met in school, then now we can only be described as inseparable soulmates.

Year 4: G.U.N takes our country by storm. Everyone gets forced into work camps described as "The most efficient method available to advance industry to a new glorious golden age."

The police can do nothing to stop this because well, it's a police state and G.U.N control the police.

During this year, Chris begins to ponder extensively over his days fighting Dr Eggman and his robot army. He realizes that some of Eggman's old bases may still be standing and in the critical moment; he manages get both me and Frances into the ruins of one such base when the G.U.N came knocking on our door.

Everyone else was captured. Our parents, Chris's loyal servants and our good Ethiopian friend Danny too from what we know.

We escaped the city as a trio in the old and barely functional Limousine which had outlasted its expected service time by more than three years now. Chris carried me the whole way from my house, since I could not walk because of a disability I had been cursed with from my birth.

From there we located the underground hideout of ours and Sonic's old enemy, which was fortunate enough to still possess a working generator and several electronic devices and parts which were perfect for putting together the foundations for a secret fortress from which we could hide from G.U.N to await better times.

Better times which had yet to come. Better times which I would soon tire of waiting for.

Chris hated and despised Dr Eggman just like the rest of us. But he also strangely held a deep respect for the insane power-hungry scientist which he had done his best to conceal.

The last conversation which Chris held with the evil doctor before he too had to leave to return to Sonic's world, was one that Chris had confided in me alone about. For it was the life-changing moment that had spurred him to completely change himself to be the very best version of himself that was possible.

"Face it kid. So long as you depend only on Sonic, you'll always be small-fry. Without your annoying partner Sonic to back you up, your threats are as hollow as your head." Were the mad scientist's final words of parting. Harsh, yet wise words coming from a buffoon who was usually not known for his wisdom.

Straight A's throughout his school and college years. A black belt in all of Karate, Tai-Chi, Taekwondo and Kung-Fu.

The ability to lift 3 times his own weight and the guranteed chance to survive two uppercuts to his chin against a super-heavyweight boxer. These were just some of the outstanding traits that Chris had now trained himself to possess, which went completely ignored by his mass of enemies who despised him solely for being chosen by Sonic the hedgehog to be his first human friend in this world.

He trained with the help of butler Tanaka; who had studied these exotic fighting arts in Japan, and Danny who had placed first in several wrestling competitions around the country in his own quest to become a wrestling instructor when he grew up.

He had a deep respect for nature's splendor, especially the beautiful flowers which he would woke up at the crack of dawn to pick for me knowing full well that I could not walk or spend much time outdoors without getting tired.

The three years following Chris losing his mansion and both his parents being removed from their high societal positions seemed like the beginning of a recovery.

At the very least now with his mother only being a waitress at a simple cafe not far from where we lived, and his father now a mail-room clerk who only had to sort a few pieces of mail in return for a tiny handful of coins, Chris could take solace in his reduced loneliness and isolation especially with me able to spend time outside of school with him as well.

But then G.U.N came and screwed it all up, pardon my French. If the radio reports that we use to keep up to date with the outside world above ground are to be believed; then the breathtaking island of rare flowers that Sonic once skipped a special party with the President himself just to take me in my wheelchair to see, had already been trashed to make room for a huge Coal power plant which pumped out several million tonnes of sufficating smoke each day.

Every park in the city had been replaced with either similarly polluting structures, or barracks to train G.U.N's massive army which was only growing stronger every day.

It was a catastrophe the scale of a fictional Zombie apocalaypse which one of my favorite sci-fi thrillers "the Zombie-Survival-Guide" had carefully detailed. If only it all described how to fight the corrupt man-made military-industrial complex...

During the time we spent underground (in both a figurative and literal sense), Chris was able to assemble a mechanical pair of metal leg-enhancers for me with some leftover parts that Dr Eggman had forgotten to take with him when he left this base behind. I was finally able to walk and run like a normal, healthy human and eternally grateful to Chris for his supreme intellect which helped me realize my wildest dream.

But it was too late for me to properly enjoy it. My sacred island of exotic flowers was as good as destroyed, and going outside the bunker would only mean that I would be enslaved and forced into hard labor in one of G.U.N's manifold work camps.

"One day Helen. One day we'll find a way to get rid of those self-entitled jerks and take back our rightful freedom." Frances keeps trying to assure me, even despite knowing that her own love interest Danny is still in G.U.N's iron grasp.

I know she's fibbing through clenched teeth, and it makes me admire her all the more. What can three rebellious orphans do against a well-equipped and solidly entrenched global army millions strong?

Only one thing, according to Chris and the latest invention he's been pouring his heart and soul into. The last resort. The final hope. The ultimate line of defence against G.U.N's unrestrained takeover which will be unending till the end of time itself.

It involves using the same chaos energy used by the mysterious black hedgehog who was equally as noble as Sonic despite being far less popular. This is made possible thanks to a very tiny broken shard of a chaos emerald which we found while down in this hideout.

Chris intends to use the shard to power up his modified limousine so as to allow it to traverse backwards in time. He originally instead wanted to use it to go to Sonic's world, but found that just this one shard was sadly not nearly powerful enough.

In preparation for the special day when his and the world's fully funciona time-machine is finally complete, he has named his newly repaired vehicle "the Delorean."

It has just enough Chaos energy to return 50 years into the past, when the global organization of G.U.N was still influential and dominant but thankfully to a far-lesser extent.

Once used however, it can never be used again. We will be trapped in the past and unable to ever come back to our own time period, regardless of whether we accomplish anything or not.

This means that we will never see our loving families again even if we save them. Frances will never unite with her beloved Ethiopian husband Danny. And we can kiss the modern luxuries of Electricity, Internet, and Central Heating goodbye.

But we must act fast. Already, Frances has reported several signs of movement in the forests nearby outside, signalling that we will be discovered in our hideout any day now. Once we are caught: Game over.

Chris is despised by everyone. But he is also the human who will risk all to save everyone. He is hated solely because of his friendship with the fastest living creature alive. But he also truly loved me, a paralyzed cripple who could not even walk until he kindly fixed me.

Let it be said therefore; that even the most hated human in the ranks of mankind has his redeeming features. And let it also be known that even the most hopeless cripples can regain their physical ability through the wonderful aid of scientific knowledge and application of said knowledge.

When Dr Eggman was fighting us and trying to take over our world; I held a burning derision for all things related to Science.

But now I recognize that there is NOTHING that Science cannot achieve.

50 years in the past. Nagoya, Japan.
Maria's point of view.

I counted seconds as I continued to tend Tea's grievious injuries. Two bullets was a difficult thing for anyone to survive, and it was a miracle that she was still alive at all.

I applied every medical lesson I had learned in order to remove the bullets with the help of a small scalpel that was fortunately present in the first-aid kit I had brought with me from ARK's escape pod, and applied a special balm which would keep her wounds disinfected.

Then it was simply a matter of waiting for the Japanese student with Egyptian mannerisms to come to. It took about 20 minutes for Tea's magnetic hazel eyes to slowly creak open, and only with great difficulty.

"Again. Thank you. I will not forget your kindness and neither will my ruler Yugi." She said with surprising strength despite her apparent weakness in her injured state.

"Don't mention it." I replied, rubbing my scalp timidly at the first formal conversation that I had had in weeks. Shadow had been busy training his fighting abilities in ARK's Dojo, and grandfather had holed himself up in his lab to personally oversee the development of the full cure for my genetic illness, which had of course never come into fruition thanks to G.U.N's mindless ambush.

Tea's reponse did not come immediately. She seemed to be lost in thought, trying to grasp some fragment of a lost memory that she knew was in her mind somewhere. Her lips bobbed up and down, as if she was chewing on something she could not spit out.

"Wait. I know you. You were the one they were mentioning on the radio this morning." She eventually said after an entire minute of awkward silence. "You're professor Gerald Robotnik's lost granddaughter, and the one the guardian unit of nations are searching for. Er, sorry. What's your name please? The news says it couldn't name you for legal reasons."

"Maria" I introduced myself with a light bow. "Maria Robotnik. A pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine. I have a lot to thank you and your grandfather for. All of our incredibly useful devices, includng the one that the hospital used to treat my dear friend Serenity's blindness were made by your grandfather."

"Well. What can I say except you're welcome, Tea? I'm glad my grandfather was able to help you."

A warm and cosy feeling began to vibrate in my chest. It was like I had been offered a new lease on life with these majestic words.

The awful memory of losing Shadow before my eyes continued to haunt me, but now it felt more like a tolerable scar as opposed to an open wound. The good works of the Robotnik family had not gone unrecognized after all, and that was something for me to celebrate.

"So you escaped the ARK alone. You lost everyone you cared for. It must be difficult for you, Maria. I am sorry for your loss" Tea's words had dropped to a pained whisper.

"Thank you. Yes. It's hard. In fact I can hardly believe it myself. But my best friend Shadow told me that I should live out the rest of my life to the best of my ability, and be the change that I want to see in the world. So that's what I'm going to do."

As Tea slowly managed to stand with her now bandaged up left leg, a truly menacing look of pure pain flashed in her bright and curious eyes. It was momentary, but it chilled me to the bone and made my blood freeze to ice. Something I said had set her off. I had said something very wrong.

"Well Tea. It was nice to meet you. I'm going to go now. You should go back to your friends and family. I am sure they are worried sick about you now." I cautiously advised, slowly backing away.

Unfortunately, the one aspect of life my many lessons abroad ARK had not trained me in; was the ability to recognize when my words were insensitive and were hurting the very people I wished only to help.

If I had an EQ even half as high as my perfect IQ, then I would have noticed that it was the word "friend" which had now badly hurt Tea not once, but twice.

This time, Tea was not able to hold in her boiling anger and she balled the fist attached to the arm that wasn't injured. She gritted her teeth, turned away from me and shook her head so vigorously that I feared it would detatch from her swan-like neck.

"I've said it before Maria. I will say it again. I do not have any friends. Nor will anyone ever want to become my friend."

"B, but Yugi. Your um, your ruler. Isn't he your friend?" I quickly asked, drawing upon my knowledge of the massively entertaining trading card game that provided me and Shadow so many hours of endless fun known as "Yu-Gi-Oh". I thanked fate for blessing me with a photographic memory, and at the same time cursed it for coupling my photographic memory with abominable social skills which would make even a statue seem sociable in comparison.

"Well I call him my friend. He doesn't call me that. He doesn't want anything to do with me if it isn't related to winning in his next Yu-Gi-Oh duel. So I'm more of a useful tool to him than a friend." Here, she paused and gave me a quizzical and probing look that ran from my head to my feet.

"Speaking of Yu-Gi-Oh. You wouldn't happen to know anything about it. Would you?" Tea's eyes widened with desperation and she placed both her arms on mine. It was like her very fate rested upon my answer.

I nodded, never more pleased with my bizarre choice of hobbies than I had ever been now. I had prepared myself well for this day without knowing it, and was only now reaping the rewards of my brilliant preperations.

"Yes. Tea. I know about Yu-Gi-Oh. I know how it works. I know the difference between monster, trap and spell cards. And I know that in the Yu-Gi-Oh world, you are considered a beloved hero, Tea." I confirmed, my tension dropping well below appropriate limits. "It was my favorite game as a child when I was still with my fre...when I was still confined to Space Colony ARK because my disease wouldn't let me stay on Earth."

A massive cheshire grin creased Tea's shaking lips. She let go of both my arms, and managed to jump three feet in the air despite her horribly wounded left leg. She punched the air and looked to the skies as if to thank heaven itself.

"Someone apart from Yugi actually knows what Yu-Gi-Oh is." She murmured happily under her breath. "Finally another worthy joiner to our worthy cause."

"Er. What cause?" I asked a tad nervously, snapping her from her euphoria-induced trance.

To my relief, she did not seem in the slightest taken aback by my question, which could only have been formulated had I heard her inner mutterings to herself. She raised her right hand and wagged a playful finger.

"You will make a fine addition to our group of rebels. We seek to defend the helpless. Guide the lost. But most importantly, we seek to bring hope to humanity and take the fight to the oppressors of the people who have stayed in power for far too long."

Bring hope to humanity. That was my final request to Shadow. It would have been his goal had he been the one to survive instead of me.

"Come with me please, Maria. We can use your help and we can help you. There is a room in our base just for you, and plenty of food too." Tea offered pleadingly.

"I'd like to join in your fight, Tea. But I can't. My beloved cousin Ivo is waiting for me back in my home city of Milan. I must get there as soon as possible." I regretfully remarked, feeling like the worst scum of the Earth with every uttered syllable of my refusal.

Surprisingly, Tea's expression did not darken in the slightest at my less than favorable answer.

"I'm truly glad to have met you, Maria. You really are an honor to the good Robotnik name. In that case, head back with me anyway. If my master Yugi likes you enough, then he will let me accompany you back to Italy and the journey will be much easier and safer for you." Tea's exasparated tone revealed that she was practically grasping at straws for any excuse to be away from "Master Yugi", and I realized there was little point in arguing further after she had already proven herself so reasonable.

"Well then. I suppose that would be okay. It will be lonely for me to go alone. And it would be good for cousin Ivo to see that I've made a friend as wonderful as you, Tea."

"It'll also be beyond amazing for cousin Ivo to have his first devout admirer who isn't me" I thought to myself, but didn't let on out of fear of sounding rude and imposing.

"Then let's go." Tea finished, as she walked ahead of me, completely independently without any help from me in spite of her bad leg. This Japanese Scholar Vizier, was truly a trooper. Proficient in both the physical and mental aspects of knowledge.

She led us to a pink Yamaha brand motorcycle she had hidden away in an alley between what looked like a comic book store, and a convenience store. Japanese texts lined the front windows of both buildings, and there were several goods labelled in the same foreign language that only a few citizens on ARK understood at all.

It had a sleek and thin design, along with a sidecar which I fit but only barely into. It had always been one of my dreams to ride across a beautiful landscape in a motorcycle, feeling the wind zip through my hair and now it was coming true.

While I still deeply regretted Shadow giving up his life to save me, I felt deeply gratified to have lived long enough to see so many of my pipe dreams become objective realities.

"You wear this helmet, Maria. It will protect your head." Tea gently ordered me, as she held out a pink helmet with a white stripe which was the perfect size for me. Very obviously her own helmet which she had bought with her not knowing she would have to carry a passenger.

"But what about you? Tea?"

"I will be completely fine, Maria. After all, I am an ace driver. I scored 99 out of 100 in my driving exams, and only lost 1 mark on the digital hazard perception section. I know what I'm doing. Now. Sit back, kick back and relax while I give you the most exciting ride you will ever experience in your lifetime."

Yet another aspect in which Japanese culture was unique. The minimum driving age was far lower than in most other countries.

I put on the helmet and took my place in the sidecar, placing my very important rucksack under my legs in the very small space still left after I had gotten into the sidecar.

Then all my doubts and fears were dispelled in an instant, as Tea started up the engine and spun the vehicle round so fast that I saw stars fly around me and nearly vomited.

"Please hang on tight." Tea requested, as she drove us out of the alley slowly and carefully. Before increasing speed rapidly as we sped through the worn roads of the eerily quiet city, and accelerating even further when we had entered the road leading out into the open countryside. A different road from the one I entered Nagoya from.

"This. Is. AMAZING!" I cried as we shot past trees, grasses and deserted farmland like a bullet.

"See. I told you I was an ace driver." Tea proudly replied as she finally stopped speeding up, having reached a comfortable and convenient crusing speed at which we could remain until we reached our destination.

The journey coontinued in slightly tense silence for the next few minutes, until we veered from what I could only assume was a major motorway onto a far narrower slip road, which led into an even narrower country lane which was surrounded on both sides by thick forest.

"This will keep us concealed from G.U.N's prying eyes" Tea explained when I asked why we didn't stick to the far more lively motorway. "They are searching for you, which means they are searching for me. They catch us, and we both die."

As the noise from the motorcycle's engine began to die down from its slower choice of speed in order to better negotiate the not fully paved dirt road ahead, I was better able to hear my own thoughts and Tea's voice.

Thus giving me the window of opportunity to satisfy a few of my odd quandries, which had began bugging me from the second I first found and recognized Tea as one of the prominent fictitious characters from one of my favorite childhood cartoons, comic series and game.

"Tea?"

"Yes Maria?"

"Do you know what Pokemon is?" Pokemon was another one of the animated series of films that I had binged on my lazy afternoons, and which also came with its own unique trading card game and comic book series. Like Yu-Gi-Oh, it was also animated by a wonderful company known only as 4kids studios. Both Pokemon's companion comic series and animated film series also had a very similar art style to those of Yu-Gi-Oh's.

I felt incredibly idiotic for asking this question, but felt I must slake my curiosity before it killed me.

"If you mean Pokemon as in the yellow electric mouse called Pikachu, and the fire-breathing dragon called Charizard. Then yes. I know it. Although not well. The Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh islands in which the Pokemon and Pokemon trainers can be found, are all very close to mainland Japan."

"Great!" I almost slipped from my delicate position in my excitement at finding out that another one of my innocent childhood dreams could soon become reality. "Thanks Tea. So um, do you know of a certain boy named Ash Ketchum? He has raven black hair, a navy jacket, red trainers and he has a Pikachu as his main Pokemon partner."

I waited with great trepidation, expecting to be told that such a person did not exist and that the "Pokemon" series which I was exposed to in my youth, was actually a completely different thing altogether to what was real. I had gained hope when the names of Pokemon regions that Tea mentioned; all matched with the names of the regions I knew about. But this was where I expected to wake up and smell the coffee. Or rather, the Japanese herbal tea.

The answer I recieved instead, instilled in me a burning passion I had never felt before. Not when I first met Shadow. Not when I was told the full cure for my condition would soon become available. The magnitude of my newfound inner passion, simply could not be put into words.

"I know Ash Ketchum. He and I met briefly during one of my brief holidays in Kanto." Tea answered, with a noticeable degree of disdain. "I couldn't like him much, unfortunately. I disliked the cold way he regarded others who were in a less fortunate position than himself. But as you stated Maria, he did have a Pikachu. It wasn't very friendly, and it put me hospital for three days with it's deadly electrical shock."

I was silenced briefly at the weight of so much information. First Yu-Gi-Oh, and now Pokemon. Both were as real as water was wet.

"Uh. Just one more question please Tea."

"Go ahead Maria. Fire away. You know that I'm in your debt for putting yourself on the line to save me."

"D, do you. Do you know about a company called 4kids studios? They broadcast both the Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh series, which was how I know about you. Are they real, by any chance?"

It was impossible to discern Tea's expression from how she sat and drove with her back turned to me. But I felt for certain as if she must have looked a little bewildered by just how little I really knew, and how sheltered a life I must have led up to this point."

"They are very real Maria. As am I. 4kids is a famous Telivision company that chooses famous celebrities to follow. Sometimes they do not get the facts surrounding everything completely right, but their series' are indeed based on real life people and their stories."

I grunted in acknowledgement without comment, I knew that Tea would need to keep her concentration for the very difficult turns ahead and did not wish to burden her further with pointless inquiries that were not relevant to the problems at hand.

I now knew that not only were all of my films based upon reality, but that I had been given a highly inaccurate view of the Earth below by every other ARK citizen.

But they only meant well. They only wished to shield me from a truth that they believed would only serve to hurt me and make me miss Earth more deeply.

Getting back to cousin Ivo in one piece was still my most important goal. But for now, I was content to appreciate my time in this strange new land. I could afford not to rush so swiftly.

I was going to meet Yugi. The King of Games, according to the Yu-Gi-Oh encyclapedia. The undefeated champion whose dueling profile looked something like this:

Yugi Muto.
Overall card strength: Invincible.
Weaknesses: None.
Strengths: Plenty.
Advice for dueling this opponent: RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!

I had seen photographs of him before in both paper and digitial formats. I had watched entire episodes of him in action alongside Tea and his other "friends".

I was very excited to see how things would play out between myself and him. Tea labelled him "master" and she considered herself to be part of a rebel group trying to help the victims of G.U.N's oppresion. This implied he was at the very least not colluding with the unforgivable murderers who had broken my heart beyond repair.

On the other side of the coin, she had also considered herself merely a tool for Yugi rather than any kind of friend. She had also expressed an evident scorn for "Ash Ketchum": one of my childhood idols who I had always looked up to as a shining exemplar of goodness.

It was hard to tell what lay in store next for me. So I sighed softly, and sat back once more to let the picturesque landscapes pass me by while I lay in a relaxed daydream.

Something told me that this rest would be greatly needed, and that a challenge that would push me to my absolute limit would soon ensue.

...

Thanks for reading and reviewing. The reason this chapter took so long was because of a lot of work, so I had to delay putting this one out. Both Helen from Sonic X, and Tea from Yu-Gi-Oh share the same incredibly talented voice actress Amy Birnbuam as stated in the last chapter and so this story explores this connection as well as the other actors who work between many of the 4kids shows.

Also. It's amazing when people actually know about fandoms that you knw about, because it feels like you're finally being understood. Part of why I write this story is so that hopefully I will find someone who shares the knowledge of at least some of the fandoms I really like.

Peace to you all, and see you all next time.