| 1 | A fanfiction by Eric Neo Matrix. It can be found [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3530858/1/Sonic-X-Dark-Chaos here]] at ff.net and on the author's [[http://eric-neo-matrix.deviantart.com/ DeviantArt page]]. Originally titled ''The Mystery of Tsali'', the story was revised several times over the next few years and eventually renamed ''Dark Chaos''. It is currently in the middle of another revision, which the author has stated will be the final and definitive version on the story. |
| 2 | |
| 3 | The story is a full remake of the third and final season of ''Anime/SonicX''. When a young alien girl crashes on their world, Sonic and his friends discover that she is being hunted by a powerful new foe; an [[AIisaCrapshoot android]] fox known as Tsali the Ultimate Weapon, who has declared genocide on her people and hunted them down to extinction for reasons unknown. Our heroes go into space to stop this new enemy and find the Chaos Emeralds. |
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| 5 | And from there, things get FromBadToWorse. [[DarkerAndEdgier Much]], ''[[CrapsackWorld much]]'' [[CosmicHorrorStory worse]]. |
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| 7 | Sonic and his friends find themselves in a galaxy engulfed in a cruel civil war between an [[TheEmpire enormous empire]] of [[TheLegionsofHell demons]] led by [[{{Satan}} Lord Maledict]] and the [[PlantAliens Metarex]], and threatened by invasion from the ancient enemies of the Demons, the [[TheFederation Angel Federation]]. But as Sonic and friends soon discover, there are [[EldritchAbomination far greater horrors]] than mere demons and angels beyond the void. |
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| 9 | What makes it somewhat unique among Sonic fanfiction is its complex, [[RefugeInAudacity extremely dark]], and {{Troperiffic}} ScienceFantasy setting. |
| 10 | |
| 11 | Now has a work-in-progress [[Characters/SonicXDarkChaos character sheet]]. |
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| 13 | ---- |
| 14 | !! This story contains examples of: |
| 15 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 16 | [[folder:A -- C]] |
| 17 | * AbusivePrecursors: The Forerunners were an alien collective charged by Maledict and Allysion to populate the new universe 500 trillion years in the past, but they rebelled and were sealed beyond the realms of time and space. Ancient prophecy says that they will return and [[ApocalypseHow bring about the end times]]. [[spoiler: In Ending A, they succeed]]. |
| 18 | * AdaptationalBadass: Several characters receive this treatment. |
| 19 | ** Tails goes from being a weak, shy GadgeteerGenius into a MagnificentBastard captain who gains a LovecraftianSuperpower [[spoiler:and ends up saving the entire universe from an EldritchAbomination at the cost of his own life]]. |
| 20 | ** Cream stays with Sonic and friends to the end, even after seeing things that would make most adults break down. In Episode 66, she and her chao Cheese ends up beating Astorath the Prince of Darkness on her own. |
| 21 | ** Cosmo saves several planets before becoming acting captain of the Blue Typhoon, and she is also appointed leader of the Metarex during the final battle. And in the rewrite, when Astorath and Beelzebub land on her ship, ''she runs out onto the flight deck with Venus' demon scythe and rips them a new one.'' |
| 22 | ** Chris Thorndyke goes from being a whiny, dependent brat to a GeniusBruiser, pulls off a BigDamnHeroes and unleashes DeathFromAbove with the Typhoon in the rewrite of Episode 69, and later on fights Beelzebub and Astorath alongside Cosmo during the final battle. |
| 23 | * AdaptationalHeroism: The Metarex were changed from a group of faceless robots trying to destroy the galaxy to a group of {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s who want to kill Tsali and rebuild the Seedrian species by any means necessary. |
| 24 | * AfterTheEnd: This fanfic is this for most of the Milky Way Galaxy, largely devastated by thirty years of the Metarex War and Shroud infestation. Most of the worlds in the galaxy are either lifeless or actively malevolent too, with Demons and Angels fighting over the scraps that still remain. |
| 25 | * AlternateUniverse: This fanfic is this to ''Anime/SonicX'', thanks to a few points of divergence in the back story of ''Sonic X'' Season 3. The biggest change is that Cosmo's race was destroyed by their own creations rather than by the Metarex. This ultimately causes several more outside factions to get involved in the Metarex arc, with ''[[CrapsackWorld very]]'' bad consequences for the galaxy. |
| 26 | %%* AngelsDevilsAndSquid |
| 27 | * AlienCatnip: fertilizer is revealed to be the equivalent of cocaine and steroids combined for Cosmo's race. |
| 28 | * AlienNonInterferenceClause: The Angels have a strong non-interference policy regarding Demon border galaxies in general and the Milky Way (and Earth) in particular. It's only when the Demons start moving in and curb-stomping the Metarex that they take action and invade the galaxy in retaliation. |
| 29 | * AllMythsAreTrue: The story takes the idea of biblical literalism and turns it completely on its head. |
| 30 | * AlternateContinuity: This fanfic is basically this trope to the third season of ''Anime/SonicX''. According to WordOfGod, the events of the ''Dark Chaos'' backstory [[CanonWelding took place in canon too]]. However, there are several key differences in the canon timeline according to the author. Most notably, [[spoiler: Tsali's homeworld is never destroyed and he never becomes the Ultimate Weapon]] and Maledict doesn't get involved in the Metarex War at all due to the Demon Empire falling into an economic depression after his war with Cosmo's race (which in turn stops the Angels from invading the galaxy in retaliation). [[ForWantOfANail Thanks to these key differences]], the canon ''Sonic X'' events happened in the show rather than the events of ''Dark Chaos''. |
| 31 | * AnAesop: The system is broken and needs to be replaced by something better. Also, [[AuthorTract religion is bad]]. |
| 32 | * AncientAstronauts: Humans were descended from [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Angels]] who originally colonized Earth as an outpost on the Federation border. They were nearly wiped out by a Demon attack, which caused them to lose their technology and regress. Some of them switched sides and worshiped their Demon invaders; many older pagan religions were based on [[{{Satan}} Maledict]]. |
| 33 | * AndIMustScream: This is the result of [[MindRape hearing the voice of]] [[EldritchAbomination Dark Tails]] or [[spoiler: being killed by him]]. He completely hijacks their bodies while the victim is aware and ForcedToWatch the whole time. And then, when they die, he takes their souls and assimilates them into his own, [[FateWorseThanDeath using their screams of eternal torment as conduits of Dark Chaos Energy]]. Both [[spoiler: Venus the Seedrian]] and [[spoiler: Trinity]] suffer this fate. |
| 34 | ** If you're a woman in the Emirate of Mecca, the Muslims turn you into a living broodmother and force you to constantly give birth after being raped by impregnation machines - and make you nearly immortal so you won't die in childbirth. |
| 35 | ** [[spoiler: Tails]] ends up in this fate during the final battle. Dark Tails possessed him and rapidly mutates his body, causing his limbs and body parts to start rotting off. Then they begin to regrow and fall off again and again and again. And for bonus points his jaw falls off, leaving him unable to even scream. [[spoiler: Thankfully, Cosmo gives him a MercyKill]]. |
| 36 | ** Interestingly, this trope could describe Maledict himself; he's a HumanoidAbomination trapped in a decaying physical body for the past five hundred trillion years, slowly watching his empire and the universe come to ruin - and if he dies, it'll spell the end of everything he's worked for. |
| 37 | ** Tsali's body never physically accepted his [[spoiler: UnwillingRoboticisation]]; his remaining biological parts are completely infected and gangrenous, keeping him in constant agony. He never grows or ages either, and he's nearly impossible to destroy. Of course, this simply causes him to [[AxCrazy unleash his terrible pain and rage upon others instead]]. |
| 38 | *** The Episode 71 rewrite reveals he was awake and aware the entire time during his [[spoiler: roboticisation by the Seedrians]]. No wonder he [[spoiler: [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge murdered the entire Seedrian race]] when he finally freed himself]]... |
| 39 | * AncientConspiracy: Both played straight and subverted. The backstory runs on the idea that both Christianity and Islam are nothing more than fronts for the Angel Federation. However, [[spoiler: Maledict's gigantic "Ultimate Weapon" gambit to defeat the Angels is less than a century old]]. |
| 40 | * AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: [[spoiler:Just like in canon, this occurs between Tails and Cosmo, only this time, it's ''Cosmo'' who screams it while shooting ''Tails'']]. |
| 41 | * TheAntichrist: [[spoiler: Sonic the Hedgehog himself]] and [[spoiler: Shadow the Hedgehog]] are both revealed to be this, as they were literally created by Maledict to be "Ultimate" creatures who would defeat the Angels and cement his rule. [[AntiAntichrist Neither of them accept it]]. |
| 42 | * AntiClimax: [[spoiler: Venus's death in Episode 66]]. Tsali and [[spoiler: Venus]] had been hunting each other and battling for three decades; when Tsali finally finds and kills her, she's half-dead and completely insane [[spoiler: thanks to Dark Tails possessing her]]. Tsali himself lampshades this and muses his disappointment that they couldn't have a climactic final battle. |
| 43 | ** Episode 63 subverts this. Sonic, Shadow, and Eric end up defeating Tsali fairly easily thanks to their Super forms. Then Tsali [[GodzillaThreshold summons Maledict himself for aid]], beginning the actual climactic fight. |
| 44 | ** The ending is a lesser example. [[spoiler: Sure Sonic and friends get their Planet Egg back and save the galaxy, but [[KarmaHoudini none of the villains get any sort of retribution for their crimes]]. Instead, they all make tenuous cease-fires with each other and leave quietly.]] |
| 45 | * TheAntiNihilist: This is the primary aesop of the story. Despite the extreme CrapsackWorld and JerkassGods around them, Sonic and friends decide that helping others is the only hope to make things better. |
| 46 | * AntiVillain: Lord Maledict from is definitely this, mostly due to his strong PragmaticVillain tendencies. In fact, [[BlackAndGrayMorality most of the "villain" characters in the story are this]], minus some of the obvious evil characters like Beelzebub and Muhammad. |
| 47 | * ArchangelGabriel: Gabriel is referenced as one of four Archangels (himself, Raphael, Michael, and Tephiroth) who lead the military forces of the Angel Federation. Gabriel is a diplomat and negotiator at heart who forges alliances between the Federation and other anti-Demon elements. |
| 48 | * ArchangelMichael: Michael is referenced as one of four Archangels (himself, Gabriel, Raphael, and Tephiroth) who lead the military forces of the Angel Federation. An attache of [[GeneralRipper Metatron]], he is a hotheaded and aggressive {{b|loodKnight}}erserker who personally leads the armies of the Angel rebellion against the Demon Empire. He is willing to [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized exterminate entire galaxies]] if the Demons control them. |
| 49 | * ArchangelRaphael: Raphael is referenced as one of four Archangels (himself, Gabriel, Michael, and Tephiroth) who lead the military forces of the Angel Federation. Because of his pacifistic nature, he is in charge of civil engineering and the federal economy. |
| 50 | * ArtisticLicenseBiology: Zigzagged. Most of the biology behind the Shroud and the resulting BodyHorror they cause on their victims are physically and anatomically impossible. It doesn't make them any less gross and terrifying though, and is entirely done for RuleOfScary. Lampshaded by Chris in the rewrite, who states that everything about the Shroud goes against every biological law as humans understand them, and it's the reason he's utterly terrified of them. |
| 51 | * ArtisticLicenseReligion: This fanfic has this trope in numerous places, mostly because of its intentionally exaggerated DarkerAndEdgier look at Judeo-Christian religions in the setting and backstory. Lampshaded by Chris, who explains to Sonic that the Judaism/Christianity/Islam equivalents in the Sonic universe are basically nothing like the ones on Earth. |
| 52 | * AuthorTract: This story is pretty much an anti-religious, anti-right wing tract wrapped in a DarkerAndEdgier ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' fanfic story. |
| 53 | * AwesomeButImpractical: The ''Galaxy Crusher'' is a Demon superweapon the size of a ''red giant'' that's capable of erasing an entire ''galaxy'' (and the ones around it) with a single shot. However, the sheer collateral damage it causes, mind-boggling logistic requirements, and the threat of it being hijacked led Maledict to deactivate it after it was only used once. |
| 54 | * AxCrazy: Tsali. While moderately calm and [[FauxAffablyEvil even somewhat civil]] when he's not in battle, all bets are off in a fight. His greatest joy is murdering Seedrians in the most gory ways he can think of; everyone else is fair game too. And [[SanitySlippage as the story goes on]], the "Crazy" part comes to the forefront. |
| 55 | ** The Muslims are basically an entire faction of violently insane pedophile fundamentalists. |
| 56 | * BadassArmy: The Hell Knights/Nephilim are essentially the Hell Knights from ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' crossed with Chaos Space Marines from ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''. A small group of them led by their leader Astorath nearly defeats the entire Metarex armada and the Blue Typhoon during the final battle. Sonic and his friends pretty much fit this trope too, as they manage to beat back said Hell Knights and severely damage the Demon fleet. |
| 57 | * BadBoss: Surprisingly, Maledict mostly subverts this. Despite his manipulative tendencies, he genuinely cares about the people he rules over and has great fondness for his servants. [[BerserkButton Just don't attempt]] [[FateWorseThanDeath to betray his trust]]. |
| 58 | * BadassBoast: |
| 59 | ** [[spoiler: Maledict]] introduces himself with an epic one in Episode 63. |
| 60 | ---> "I am who I AM. I am the Master of the Emeralds. I am the god of this world, the Evil One, prince of the powers of the air. My eyes bring perdition, my hands reap what is sown. My words strike fear into the hearts of mortals. I am Lord of the Demons, Conqueror and Unifier of the universe. I am the roaring lion that devours the souls of my enemies! I am the Old Serpent, the Dragon that cleanses the stars, maker of all the dark places of creation. I am the devil, the one called Satan! |
| 61 | ** In Episode 75, Jesus gets an awesome one too; |
| 62 | --> "The Son of Man didn't come to be served... but to ''serve up your ass on a platter''!" |
| 63 | * BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: This story has some particularly disturbing examples, most of them combined with a DealWithTheDevil. [[spoiler: Venus the Seedrian]] wished for the power to kill Tsali and prevent the destruction of her race. [[spoiler: Not only did she fail to save her people, but her wish doomed her to slowly turn into a robot and damn her soul forever]]. Tsali made a similar wish for the power to get revenge on the Seedrian race for what they did to him. He got what he wanted - at the cost of his soul, sanity, and the utter destruction of most of the galaxy. |
| 64 | * BeenThereShapedHistory: Maledict - and considering he's the biblical Satan, it's very understandable. Not only is he behind various events in the Sonic series [[spoiler: such as the [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure release of Chaos]], the [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure2 creation of Shadow]], the Black Arms invasion, and the Metarex War]], he's also been involved in actual human history numerous times. The supplemental materials reveal that he established the Roman Empire as a Demon proxy state and manipulated the world into fighting the World Wars. |
| 65 | * BeliefMakesYouStupid: This story could probably be called ''Belief Makes You Stupid: The Fanfic'' with its {{Anvilicious}} skewering of religious faith. Although, since AllMythsAreTrue and [[GodAndSatanAreBothJerks are out to get you]] in [[CrapsackWorld the story's universe]], this may actually be a prudent suggestion. |
| 66 | * BewareTheSillyOnes: Eric the Hedgehog is definitely this. Sure, he seems like a harmless crazy version of Sonic at first glance... until he unleashes his machines. And his ''[[IdiotSavant starships]]''. And his Super form -which allows him to [[MoreDakka create huge guns from thin air]]. [[spoiler: Oh, and it's implied he's [[HumanoidAbomination far more than just a loony on top of that]]]]. |
| 67 | * BigBadEnsemble: Tsali, Maledict, and [[spoiler:Dark Tails]]. Jesus and Allysion could also possibly be counted. |
| 68 | * BigDamnHeroes: Several times throughout the series. |
| 69 | ** Venus the Seedrian fends off Dark Tails and rescues Tails and Cosmo in Episode 62. |
| 70 | ** Eggman distracts Beelzebub in Episode 67, allowing the heroes to escape with Cosmo and Chris in tow. |
| 71 | * BittersweetEnding: Two of the alternate endings for the rewrite are this. Ending A has Tails dying to stop Dark Tails, the galaxy left in ruins and the [[EldritchAbomination Forerunners]] invading the universe... but Sonic and his friends got their Planet Egg back and everyone joins forces to stop them. Ending D is [[EarnYourHappyEnding the "happiest" of the endings]] - the above still happens, except Tails doesn't die which (while leaving Dark Tails alive) stops the Forerunner invasion entirely. |
| 72 | * BlackComedy: This fanfic is dripping with dark comedy, as the extreme DarkerAndEdgier nature of the setting is combined with the typical cheesy humor of the ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' franchise. And the rewrite goes all out. The background materials have so much scathing satire that [[NarmCharm they become more funny than scary]]. |
| 73 | ** Episode 67 is filled with so much dark humor - from its AccidentalInnuendo title to pretty much everything Beelzebub says - that its NightmareFuel-riffic premise [[spoiler: involving ColdBloodedTorture and male-on-male demon pedophilia]] becomes NightmareRetardant to some readers. The last line in particular qualifies as either [[CrossesTheLineTwice hilarious]] or horrific depending on the reader; |
| 74 | ---> [[spoiler: '''Chris''': Why... Why does my butt hurt so much...?]] |
| 75 | ** In the rewrite of Episode 73, Tails refuses to hand Cosmo over to Tsali. Tsali responds by throwing Tails to the floor, opening his ribcage, and ''ripping his heart and lungs from his chest with his bare hands''. Complete with a BondOneLiner; |
| 76 | ---> '''Tsali''': I guess you didn't [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure open your heart]] enough! |
| 77 | * BlessedWithSuck: Tails gets infected by Shroud, which ends up giving him a LovecraftianSuperpower and makes him immune to the influence of Dark Tails. Except he still feels the corrupting influence of Dark Tails at every moment, and he starts to gain BizarreAlienBiology by the bucketload. And his temper gives him the chance of losing control of said superpower at any moment - he nearly destroys the Blue Typhoon and devours his friends at the end of Episode 73. |
| 78 | ** Venus the Seedrian gains nearly divine power from a literal DealWithTheDevil. Except she's [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul slowly being turned into a robot]] - and she's [[AndIMustScream been rendered nearly immortal]]. |
| 79 | * BlueAndOrangeMorality: |
| 80 | ** Maledict the Devil literally [[EvilCannotComprehendGood does not understand why Sonic and his friends want to stop him,]] nor does he see anything wrong in manipulating mortals to do horrific acts in his name, and he's obsessed with secretly interfering in events. Being a PhysicalGod slash HumanoidAbomination who is [[TimeAbyss over five hundred trillion years old]] [[spoiler: and using cybernetics to keep himself from physically disintegrating]] has something to do with it. Allysion, Maledict's archenemy, is even more odd. Her entire belief system revolves around "Demon=bad" and she also sees nothing wrong in manipulating mortals to defeat the Demons by any means necessary. She is also completely fine with exterminating innocent Demon subjects. She believes they are "living in sin" and therefore need to be shown "Christian love" (read: [[EarthShatteringKaboom planetary annihilation]]). [[MoralMyopia She cannot fathom why any mortal would follow Maledict,]] even though she is [[NotSoDifferentRemark not so different]]. |
| 81 | ** Downplayed considerably in the rewrite, which depicts Allysion as being simply batshit insane from [[AndIMustScream several trillion years of being a ghost]] and Maledict as a FauxAffablyEvil tyrant with [[WellIntentionedExtremist semi-good intentions.]] |
| 82 | * BodyHorror: The story is filled to the brim with this. [[TheVirus The Shroud]] in particular live and breathe this trope, with Tails' Shroud infection taking it up a notch as [[LovecraftianSuperpower it radically changes his biology]]. And then there's [[TheCorruption Dark Chaos Energy]] and its {{Squick}}y effects on the body. |
| 83 | ** Thanks to the story's deconstruction of UnwillingRoboticization, Tsali [[spoiler: and Venus]] take this trope [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul to a whole new level]]. [[spoiler: Especially Venus, being cursed to have all of her body parts slowly transform into machines]]. |
| 84 | ** Actually PlayedForLaughs in Episode 74 - when Tails discovers he can dislodge his eyes from his sockets and move them around, one of the first things he does is use it to [[PowerPerversionPotential look up Amy's skirt]]. |
| 85 | * BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: A core trope of the story. Not only Jesus, but Satan, Muhammed, all the angels, and a large majority of the Jewish prophets from the Old Testament were as well. |
| 86 | * BrainInAJar: |
| 87 | ** [[{{Satan}} Lord Maledict]]. Despite being a PhysicalGod, he's actually little more than a skull attached to a suit of power armor filled with liquid and rotting organs, and he has to use his powers to make himself look like a hedgehog to others. |
| 88 | ** Maledict's counterpart Allysion is an Altus Emerald in a Jar, holding her ghost inside it. |
| 89 | * BreadAndCircuses: This trope is actually referenced as the sole reason the Demon Empire is so powerful, despite its corruption and despotism. As long as worlds follow Demon law and (publicly) worship Maledict, they are showered with wealth and riches from across the universe. Even slaves are kept pacified through this trope, and this trope is explicitly referenced as the primary deterrent against slave rebellions. |
| 90 | * BreakTheCutie: Pretty much '''everyone''' from are either pre-broken before the story even begins or become this. There are some particularly dramatic and heartbreaking examples though; |
| 91 | ** Cosmo is left ''even worse off'' than the original ''Anime/SonicX'' show. [[spoiler: Killing Tails at the end]] certainly didn't help. |
| 92 | ** Cream is utterly traumatized early on and eventually refuses to go to sleep because of nightmares. |
| 93 | ** [[spoiler: Tsali's]] backstory/StartOfDarkness was pretty much the mother of all cutie-breaking stories - he [[spoiler: watched his family die and his entire world destroyed, lived through the Demon-Seedrian War, got roboticized into an android by his own adopted father Luke, committed genocide on the Seedrians, made a DealWithTheDevil, fought a thirty-year galactic civil war, and then got betrayed by his closest friends. ''All at the age of ten'']]. Needless to say, by the time the story begins, he's [[AxCrazy barely even remotely sane]] anymore. |
| 94 | * BlackAndGrayMorality: On one side you have a slave-holding, repressive, reactionary [[TheEmpire empire]] run by TheLegionsOfHell -- that [[BreadAndCircuses nonetheless does many]] [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure good things for its people]]. On the other side are the Angels, who are TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized ''at best''. And GodAndSatanAreBothJerks, "Satan" being a [[ManipulativeBastard scheming]] [[TheChessmaster chessmaster]], and "God" being a [[TheFundamentalist fundamentalist]] AxCrazy sociopath. And then there's the malevolent EldritchAbomination, the genocidal two-tailed android fox (and his legion of cannibalistic android clones), omnicidal AbusivePrecursors, the Metarex, and of course [[MadScientist Dr. Eggman]] just to make things even more shitty. Even several of the lighter characters are quite grey--Eric and his friends eventually resort to piracy in order to replenish their supplies. Several of the saner Angel leaders aren't clean either; Jesus holds some very...[[DeliberateValuesDissonance questionable]] views on homosexuals, though he's depicted more sympathetically than his fellow Angels. |
| 95 | * BloodierAndGorier: Where to begin with in this fanfic? All of the battles (especially the ones against Shroud, which take BodyHorror to the next level) in the series feature copious amounts of blood and gore. Episode 73 takes the cake when Tsali storms through the Blue Typhoon - Tsali [[spoiler: almost]] fatally stabs Sonic and Amy, shatters Cream's arms, blasts Chris with a radioactive blast of Dark Chaos Energy and finally [[spoiler: opens up Tails' ribcage and tears his still-beating heart and lungs from his chest]]. The story is rated M for a [[DarkerAndEdgier very good reason]]. |
| 96 | %%* BoisterousBruiser: [[TheBrute Astorath]] is one of these. |
| 97 | * BrainwashedAndCrazy: Dark Tails can turn sentient beings mad by speaking to them. This is also a side effect of exposure to [[TheCorruption Dark Chaos Energy]]. |
| 98 | * BrokenAesop: This fanfic emphasizes with the Angels that Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are bad. [[AndThatsTerrible Really, really bad.]] However, compared with the Demons, they were portrayed as the more honorable and nicer faction overall. The rewrite fixes this somewhat by making the Angels [[BlackAndGrayMorality far more morally gray than the original]], even with some of more sympathetic Angel characters like Jesus. It also makes the Demons more gray too, to emphasize the fact that both sides are flawed and similar. |
| 99 | %%* BrokenBird: Poor, poor Cosmo. Cream becomes one too. |
| 100 | * BunnyEarsLawyer: This trope is the pretty much the only reason Sonic and friends even let Eric anywhere near them. Despite being an IdiotSavant CloudCuckoolander, he's got the technical skills of Tails with the fighting skills of Sonic - and he's genuinely good (most of the time) under all his insanity. This is also the reason why Sonya deeply loves him despite his craziness. |
| 101 | * ButForMeItWasTuesday: In Episode 75, Cosmo calls [[{{Satan}} Maledict]] out on all the people he's killed and the horrible things he's done, including slaughtering the Seedrians and ruining Tsali's life. After a moment of silence, Maledict openly admits that for him, the Seedrians' extinction and the slaughter of Tsali's family was "just another day", before following up with a HannibalLecture. |
| 102 | -->'''Maledict''': Do you know what I have seen in my immortal lifetime? I have watched the Big Bang scatter all the matter through the canvas of creation. I have seen whole galaxies collapse into oblivion. I have watched time itself expand and shrink in its eternity. I have seen countless civilizations rise and fall. And you think you are unique in your suffering? I have stood knee-deep in mud and bone. I have seen murdered dissidents and masses starved into faith. The innocent, the ''innocent'', Sonic- trod and bled and starved and beaten and killed! ''This'' is your galaxy! ''This'' is the lawlessness of nature! |
| 103 | * TheCaligula: The rewrite depicts UsefulNotes/TheProphetMuhammad (yeah, that one) as a sadistic demagogue with a penchant for [[BloodKnight slaughtering infidels]] and [[{{Squick}} pedophilia]]. The background material expands on him; he tried to irrigate fields with vats of human blood, ordered every dog in the universe to be strangled because one barked at him, and invaded a galaxy based on the commands of a ''palm tree''. It's rather telling that many characters -- including his own Muslim followers -- fear him more than they fear Maledict and the Demons. Even Jesus and the Angels consider him TheFriendNobodyLikes [[spoiler: and are planning on quietly assassinating him the first chance they get]]. |
| 104 | ** Beelzebub is a more straight example; though he isn't a monarch, his PsychopathicManchild personality and [[MadScientist disturbing sexual fetishes]] make him this trope. He's despised by pretty much all the other Demon leadership -- even Maledict thinks his cruelty goes too far but keeps him around for his sheer intelligence. |
| 105 | * CanonDiscontinuity: The author had started writing a prequel story at one point, but later decided to go and rewrite the original story. The changes made to Dark Chaos ended up contradicting the prequel so much that the prequel was discontinued altogether. |
| 106 | * CassandraTruth: |
| 107 | ** It's revealed that Astorath originally told Maledict to his face that his GambitRoulette would backfire spectacularly, but Maledict ignored him. |
| 108 | ** Nobody believes any of Eric's ramblings about [[spoiler:Maledict's cloning process or his Ultimate Weapon plan]], even though he was [[TheCloudcuckoolanderWasRight entirely right]]. |
| 109 | * CerebusRollercoaster: The story starts out lighthearted like the original series. Starting with Episode 55, it slowly gets darker and darker until the lighthearted Episode 65. Then the gloves come off and it gets [[CrapsackWorld really]], ''[[CosmicHorrorStory REALLY]]'' dark. Although the tone is rather consistent from that point, Episodes 67 and 73 are easily the most violent and horrific chapters in the saga. |
| 110 | * CerebusSyndrome: The story starts a lot like the original third season of Sonic X. [[DarkerAndEdgier It doesn't take long]] before the heroes realize [[CrapsackWorld just how messed up the galaxy really is]]. And then there's [[WhamEpisode Episode 74]]... |
| 111 | * ChristianityIsCatholic: Zigzagged. The Christian sect of Marmolims in Episode 69 is pretty clearly Catholic. However, the Angel Federation itself is rather anviliciously based on right-wing evangelical Christianity. |
| 112 | * ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Eggman saves Sonic's life, then he betrays Sonic, then he teams up with and betrays Sonic ''again'', then he saves several of Sonic's friends from Beelzebub, he briefly joins with Maledict, and then he attempts to betray Maledict and gets himself captured in the process before once more teaming up with Sonic. |
| 113 | ** Rouge pretty much doesn't care what side she's on. She originally helps Eggman, then she betrays him to serve Maledict for [[OnlyInItForTheMoney jewel payments]], then she helps Sonic and friends [[spoiler:before betraying them to Maledict]], then she betrays Maledict and joins with Eggman again. |
| 114 | * ClarkesThirdLaw: In the science fiction universe of ''Sonic X: Dark Chaos'', it turns out this trope is why [[BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy Jesus Christ]] was able to perform miracles in the Bible. He discovered a forgotten cache of [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien insanely advanced]] [[AncientAstronauts Angel technology]] in a desert cave, which he was able to use thanks to his mutated genetics. |
| 115 | * ColdBloodedTorture: A good portion of Episode 67 is Beelzebub torturing Cosmo after luring her into his base by shattering her eardrums with extremely loud rock music and drugging her with neurotoxins (and -- in the rewrite -- electrocuting her before stripping her naked and tying her to his chair with razor wire). Then when Chris goes in to save her, he is captured and suffers even worse torture, eventually ending in [[spoiler: BlackComedyRape via [[NightmareFuel giant acid-covered stinger]]]]. |
| 116 | * {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Eric the Hedgehog from embodies this trope. He's an IdiotSavant TalkativeLoon who loves breaking the fourth wall and talks to his weapons like they have personalities. Deconstructed later on - not only is it revealed that he's physically brain-damaged [[spoiler: due to imperfections in Maledict's cloning process]], but he's fully aware that his thoughts aren't entirely normal and has hidden crippling depression as a result. |
| 117 | * CombatPragmatist: Beelzebub is one of these. Rather than using a gigantic continent-sized flagship like Astorath, he uses a small battleship armed with a cloaking device so he can surprise foes. |
| 118 | * ComicallyMissingThePoint: The rewrite of Episode 68 gives us [[BlackComedy this gem]] when Jesus starts angsting about all the people killed in the Angel invasion of the galaxy. Two of his fellow Angel leaders try to reassure him; |
| 119 | --> '''al-Walim''': Look on the bright side, [[TakeThat at least they weren't aborted]].\ |
| 120 | '''Tobit''': [[CrossesTheLineTwice And you got rid of the gays]]. I mean, you know how much Allysion hates fags. |
| 121 | * ContrivedCoincidence: A common event in this story. The characters (especially [[DeadpanSnarker Knuckles]]) frequently lampshade it. |
| 122 | * TheCorruption: Dark Chaos Energy. The negative energy of the Emeralds of Power given physical form, it is a highly toxic blue substance that is extremely radioactive, highly corrosive, and mutagenic. It is capable of corrupting and twisting anything. |
| 123 | * CoolStarship: Both the Blue Typhoon and the Dreadnought, but many Demon warships are described in detail as as well. |
| 124 | * CosmicHorrorStory: There are vast empires beyond the galaxy led by omnipotent and unfettered {{Physical God}}s. [[{{Satan}} Maledict]] and [[CrystalDragonJesus Allysion]] use the entire universe as their sandbox, waging the Eternal War against each other while [[BlueAndOrangeMorality concocting up schemes alien to human minds]] and regarding their creations as their playthings. Between them is the Shroud, a sentient all-consuming [[spoiler: and ''intelligent'']] parasitic virus that devours worlds on a regular basis. And then there's the [[AbusivePrecursors Forerunners]], an entire ''race'' of {{Eldritch Abomination}}s prophesied to [[ApocalypseHow return and destroy the entire universe]] [[spoiler:which is exactly what happens in the epilogue]]. The background lore takes this even further - Judaism, Christianity, and Islam were apparently founded due to the influence of said Lovecraftian horrors on humanity. |
| 125 | * CrapsaccharineWorld: Sonic's home planet is a nice and rather peaceful place to live. [[CrapsackWorld The rest of the galaxy]]? ''[[CosmicHorrorStory NOPE]]''. |
| 126 | ** Episode 69 has Marmolim. A planet inhabited by cute beady-eyed aliens with a penchant for magic. Sounds great -- except for the fact that they've nearly been wiped out by Shroud, and are torn in a religious civil war between Christians and Maledict-worshipers. |
| 127 | ** New Jerusalem, the Angel capitol city, is subtly implied to be this with the BigBrotherIsWatchingYou and HappinessIsMandatory overtones. |
| 128 | * CrapsackWorld: The bleak [[DarkFantasy Dark]] ScienceFantasy setting of this fanfic could possibly give ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' a run for its money - [[CosmicHorrorStory the Milky Way Galaxy is not a nice place]]. A civil war between the [[PlantAliens Metarex]] and [[AIIsACrapshoot Tsali the Ultimate Weapon]] has decimated countless worlds and murdered billions of people. Meanwhile, GodAndSatanAreBothJerks who wage eternal cold war on each other and are responsible for most of the bleakness, manipulating and dooming whole galaxies to annihilation in order to further their plans. A [[TheEmpire corrupt and repressive autocratic empire]] of [[TheLegionsOfHell Demons]] and [[TheFederation a divided federation]] of [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Angels]] battle in a ForeverWar across the whole universe, with genocide and RapePillageAndBurn being [[BlackAndGrayMorality the rule rather than the exception]]. [[TheVirus Shroud parasites]], led by their Primes, devour entire worlds on a regular basis. Torture, rape, starvation and disease run rampant, forcing innocents [[spoiler: such as Molly and Leon's refugee group]] to resort to cannibalism to survive. By the end of the story, it's implied that the galaxy has been depopulated so much that it may never recover. [[FromBadToWorse And that's all]] before [[EldritchAbomination Dark Tails]] [[spoiler: and [[AbusivePrecursors the Forerunners]]]] enter the fray... |
| 129 | ** Zigzagged with the alternate endings. Ending B manages to top even that where [[spoiler: TheBadGuyWins and opens up a supercluster-sized NegativeSpaceWedgie, with the resulting Shroud invasion bringing about a universe-wide dark age]]. However, Ending D is [[WorldHalfFull notably more hopeful and upbeat on a small scale]]. |
| 130 | ** [[WordOfGod The author's background materials]] makes it worse. One of the most sacred traditions of the Angels is ''ritual child molestation''. The Jews and their society are [[ANaziByAnyOtherName obsessed with racial purity and genocide,]] and often [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything exterminate worlds with toxic gas]]. The Muslims routinely inflict AndIMustScream on their women and female captives. And so on. |
| 131 | * CrazyPrepared: In Episode 67, Beelzebub put a shield over himself in case Tails tried to attack him, planted a self destruct mechanism in his lair in case Sonic and friends tried to free the slaves there, and installed an escape pod - complete with Warp drive and communications - in his chamber in case Sonic and his friends attacked him directly and he was forced to flee. |
| 132 | ** Maledict doesn't pull any punches in the Episode 75 rewrite either. He puts a Warpspace jamming field to prevent the heroes from fleeing and [[spoiler: summons the Galaxy Crusher to take the entire Milky Way Galaxy hostage and bully Sonic into submission]]. He also was prepared to change his master plan if something failed - [[spoiler: when Tsali betrayed him, Maledict shut his body down with a reset phrase he programmed into Tsali years before]]. He also [[spoiler: knew exactly where the Metarex were if needed, in case his pawns ever found out the true identity of his "M" alter ego]]. |
| 133 | * CruelAndUnusualDeath: In Episode 73, Tsali rampages through the Blue Typhoon searching for Tails and Cosmo. When he corners them and Tails tries to stop him, Tsali throws the fox to the floor and graphically [[{{Gorn}}tears rips his heart and lungs from his chest]]. With his bare hands. |
| 134 | ** The death of Cosmo's sister Galaxina is shown this time around in Episode 62. Tsali grabs her head and shoves it into a ruptured fuel line. [[EyeScream The]] [[BodyHorror result]] is not for the faint of heart. |
| 135 | ** Chris gets impaled through the chest by Beelzebub's stinger in Episode 67, which injects corrosive acid into his body with very {{Squick}}-y effects. He gets better when Beelzebub saves him with Chaos Regeneration - [[ColdBloodedTorture so Beelzebub can torture him some more]]. |
| 136 | ** Episode 68 reveals what the the Demons do to runaway slaves; the women and children are nailed to crosses and the men are hanged by their ribs before being lashed to the outside hulls of Demon warships. |
| 137 | ** The Muslims are pretty much the king of this trope - among other barbaric punishments, they often [[HumanResources rend non-Muslims down in flesh troughs for construction material]], or strap them into literal mechanical rape spiders called ''ankaboot'' that [[AndIMustScream slowly molest them to death with pistons]]. |
| 138 | * CruelTwistEnding: [[spoiler:Sonic and his friends defeat Dark Tails and save the galaxy. JUST KIDDING! Dark Tails' death allows an entire race of ''even worse'' Lovecraftian horrors to finally escape. Which they do - and then promptly exterminate nearly all life in the universe.]] |
| 139 | * CurbStompBattle: In Episode 64, Lord Maledict himself appears to challenge Sonic and take the Chaos Emeralds. When Sonic and his friends refuse, Maledict promptly stomps Super Sonic, Super Shadow, and Super Eric into the floor at the same time. He also obliterates the ''Tryphon'' station and the entire Metarex fleet with a single attack. |
| 140 | ** In Episode 73, Tsali kills Tails and is about to kill Cosmo. Then Tails turns into [[LovecraftianSuperpower Shroud Tails]], regenerates himself, sucks out all of Tsali's Dark Chaos Energy reserves, and throws Tsali into space through a window. |
| 141 | * CyberneticsEatYourSoul: Tsali is this trope to the point of {{Deconstruction}}. |
| 142 | ** Venus the Seedrian is a literal example. [[spoiler:Maledict takes her soul as part of an actual DealWithTheDevil. Although he gives her great power in exchange, he curses her to slowly and [[AndIMustScream painfully]] become a machine [[IronicHell just like Tsali]]]]. |
| 143 | * CycleOfRevenge: The Metarex War is basically a hugely-escalated version of this trope between Tsali and the Metarex. Also deconstructed as [[spoiler:both sides are [[MotiveDecay getting increasingly exhausted of the endless fighting]]]]. They finally break the cycle at the end thanks to Cosmo's intervention. |
| 144 | [[/folder]] |
| 145 | |
| 146 | [[folder:D -- F]] |
| 147 | * DarkIsNotEvil: This story has several examples. |
| 148 | ** Venus the Seedrian; a scarred cybrog [[PlantAliens Seedrian]] wearing a black leather combat outfit and armed with a SinisterScythe. She has made it her mission to protect the remaining members of her race from Tsali at all costs. [[spoiler: Subverted when she's possessed by Dark Tails]]. |
| 149 | ** [[spoiler: Tsali]] and Maledict are deconstructions of this trope. [[spoiler: Tsali is more brainwashed by his programming than truly evil]] and [[spoiler: Maledict is basically a WellIntentionedExtremist taken to [[BlueAndOrangeMorality its extreme]]]]. |
| 150 | ** The Marmolims who worship Maledict dress up in black robes and perform satanic rituals in his name. Despite that, they are all actually quite reasonable and friendly, and they immediately come to Sonic's aid. |
| 151 | * DarkerAndEdgier: This story is a full remake and DeconstructionFic of the third season of ''Anime/SonicX''. While the original season was quite dark on its own for a ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' series, this fic takes the grim elements to the extreme. The galaxy is a war-torn CrapsackWorld ruled by [[TheLegionsOfHell demons]] and infested with Shroud parasites, graphic violence and NightmareFuel abound, numerous characters die, and the ending is bittersweet at best [[spoiler: and full non-comedic ShaggyDogStory at worst]]. And the rewrite is often ''even darker that the original'', featuring such pleasent themes as near-galactic destruction, [[spoiler: [[ImAHumanitarian cannibalism]]]], horrific science experiments, [[ReligionIsWrong fundamentalism]], [[MedicalRapeAndImpregnate religiously-forced pregnancy]], and [[spoiler:[[WouldHurtAChild children]] being [[RapeAsDrama sexually assaulted]]]]. |
| 152 | * DarkestHour: Episode 75 is even titled "Resurrection of Darkness". The final battle between the Angels and Demons begins, with both Maledict and Jesus Christ battling each other. The entire Milky Way Galaxy is in ruins, Sonic's allies have been wiped out, the Blue Typhoon has been wrecked, and the ''Galaxy Crusher'' is about to wipe out the remnants of Milky Way in an instant. And just to top it all off, Dark Tails appears and uses the Chaos Emeralds to become a god - putting the fate of the entire universe on the line. |
| 153 | * DealWithTheDevil: This story has quite a few from [[{{Satan}} Lord Maledict]]; |
| 154 | ** Tsali vowed to serve and follow Maledict if he would help the fox get revenge on the Seedrians. The Devil promptly turned him into a Demon Lord and revived him in exchange for eternal servitude. Also, Venus ritually sacrificed several of her fellow Seedrians to Maledict for the power to protect her people from Tsali. [[BodyHorror He answered]], although [[SelfInflictedHell not in the way she expected]]. |
| 155 | ** The rewrite implies that Dr. Eggman made one with Maledict as well, after Maria and Gerald Robotnik were killed by GUN. Eggman [[FreudianExcuse wanted to get revenge on humanity for destroying his family]]; Satan gave him a genius-level IQ and affinity towards machines, in exchange for [[StartOfDarkness commanding him to hunt down the Chaos Emeralds and helping to conquer the universe]]. |
| 156 | * DeathWorld: Exaggerated. This fanfic pretty much takes place in an entire ''[[CrapsackWorld death galaxy]]'' in general, but special mention goes to worlds that lose their Planet Eggs (which lose their power to sustain life and become barren rocks) or get infested with Shroud parasites (which are the very definition of BodyHorror and FateWorseThanDeath rolled into one). Combined with the insane robot armies, demons, and Lovecraftian horrors everywhere, its amazing there's life in the Milky Way at all. [[spoiler: And by the end, there isn't very much]]. |
| 157 | ** A more straight example is Hell, the Demon homeworld, which is basically Mustafar on steroids... and the Angel homeworld Heaven, which is basically ''Jupiter'' on steroids. |
| 158 | * DeconstructionFic: Particularly in the rewrite, the story heavily deconstructs many religion and Sonic-related tropes. |
| 159 | ** [[AuthorAvatar Eric the Hedgehog]] is a walking, talking deconstruction of Sonic fancharacters in general and Sonic the Hedgehog himself in particular. He's incredibly powerful, but he's so impulsive and such a massive CloudCuckoolander that not many others take him seriously despite his [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass occasional]] badass moments. [[spoiler:There may or may not be [[HumanoidAbomination a reason for this]], although considering [[MediumAwareness he knows he's in a fanfiction]] and Maledict himself fears him as "unnatural"...]] |
| 160 | ** The typical "Find the Chaos Emeralds" Sonic plot. [[spoiler:Maledict doesn't really ''need'' the Chaos Emeralds at all. He only wants them to make sure the Metarex and Dark Tails don't get them.]] |
| 161 | ** The fic as a whole deconstructs [[CrapsackWorld what really happens]] when anthropomorphic creatures are given power beyond reckoning and [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity let loose with no limitations]], and [[ManipulativeBastard the kind of person]] who would [[DealWithTheDevil knowingly give power like that to them]]. |
| 162 | *** It also deconstructs the SerialEscalation nature of the Sonic franchise by quickly introducing numerous [[InvincibleVillain Invincible Villains]] and demonstrating that the heroes are surviving not because of their power, but because the villains keep getting in each other's way [[spoiler:[[BlackAndGrayMorality or aren't really "villains"]]]]. And the heroes are [[BreakTheCutie affected]] by the seeming hopelessness of their situation, [[DeconReconSwitch even though they keep helping as many people as they can]]. |
| 163 | ** Tsali is a near-perfect deconstruction of TheSociopath and CyberneticsEatYourSoul. [[spoiler:Thanks to [[ManipulativeBastard Maledict]] altering numerous core programs, he would never feel remorse or pity for the atrocities he unleashed upon the galaxy. But when those programs [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone become]] [[HeroicBSOD damaged]]]]... |
| 164 | *** He also pretty clearly deconstructs "edgy" Sonic OCs in general (he makes a number of subtle jabs towards the [[MemeticMutation "Coldsteel the Hedgehog" meme]]) Sue tropes. |
| 165 | ** Along the way, the story also takes time to deconstruct elements of the video games; [[spoiler:the Chaos Emeralds are literal Satanic artifacts that slowly corrupt their users]] and Sonic and friends are largely LateToTheTragedy rather than saving everyone in the nick of time. |
| 166 | * DeconReconSwitch: The story rewrites the third season of ''Anime/SonicX'' into a [[CrapsackWorld hellish]] CosmicHorrorStory. It deconstructs both the origin of the Chaos Emeralds (created by [[spoiler: the devil himself]]) and the characters. Sonic's whole self-image as an InvincibleHero and TheAce is quickly shattered and the characters - especially the younger ones like [[BrokenBird Cream]] - are [[DespairEventHorizon visibly affected]] by the horrors around them. However, the heroes know that they can't give up, [[{{Determinator}} so they keep going regardless]]. The rewrite makes the switch even more blatant, emphasizing ThePowerOfFriendship and hope even in the face of cosmic terror. |
| 167 | * DemotedToExtra: The Metarex are just one of the many different factions fighting over the galaxy. The Chaotix, Dr. Eggman, and even Sonic himself are hit badly with this, although the rewrite is adding many more scenes with them and developing them a bit more. Justified in the case of the Metarex; after Episode 64, their military power has been completely shattered and their leaders go into hiding. |
| 168 | * DespairEventHorizon: In Episode 74, it's revealed that [[spoiler: Tsali]] crossed the horizon [[spoiler: when he was [[UnwillingRoboticization forcibly roboticized]] by his adopted father Luke the Seedrian]] to cap off his BreakTheCutie backstory. This torture broke what little was left of his sanity and hope; he [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge slaughtered the entire Seedrian race in revenge]], made a literal DealWithTheDevil, and started the Metarex War. |
| 169 | ** All of the main characters pretty much hit this after [[WhamEpisode Episode 73]], ''especially'' Knuckles and Cosmo. [[spoiler: Only Tails regenerating himself with his Shroud parasites]] pulls them back. |
| 170 | ** Dark Oak crosses this in Episode 64 after his fleet is utterly annihilated and his primary command center is destroyed. He spends the rest of the story in a drawn-out VillainousBreakdown until he meets Sonic in Episode 72. |
| 171 | * DeusExMachina: * Episode 75 has a big one. Maledict has [[TheBadGuyWins lured the heroes into his trap and takes the entire galaxy hostage with the Galaxy Crusher in exchange for the Chaos Emeralds]], leaving the heroes in a literally hopeless situation. Suddenly, a gigantic Angel fleet led by Jesus Christ himself suddenly shuts down Maledict's trap and ambushes his fleet. |
| 172 | * DiabolusExMachina: |
| 173 | ** Episode 75. Two fleets - a Demon fleet and a Metarex fleet led by the Blue Typhoon - are facing off. Maledict and the heroes are about to have their final climactic showdown. And then [[spoiler:Dark Tails suddenly appears, steals all the Chaos Emeralds, and uses them to fully manifest himself in the physical universe]], beginning the ''real'' final battle. |
| 174 | ** The ending is one of these; [[spoiler:Dark Tails' defeat allows the Forerunners to escape - and it's implied that they quickly devastate the entire universe]]. |
| 175 | * DidntSeeThatComing: Maledict is a [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]] who created an extremely elaborate GambitRoulette to defeat the Angels and conquer the universe. However, he didn't expect Sonic the Hedgehog to get pulled into the fray by mistake. [[spoiler:Nor did he expect his gambit to create a malevolent EldritchAbomination by mistake.]] |
| 176 | * DisproportionateRetribution: [[spoiler:Tsali was tortuously turned into a combat android by Cosmo's father Luke]] in order to stop the Demon invasion of the Seedrian homeworld. His response? ''Exterminating the entire Seedrian race'' and hunting the survivors across the galaxy, starting the Metarex War. |
| 177 | ** Live on a planet controlled by the Demon Empire? If the Angels attack your world, they exterminate you and the entire population outright simply because you're "living in sin" according to them. |
| 178 | * DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: |
| 179 | ** The Jewish Republic and the Emirate of Mecca [[UsefulNotes/ArabIsraeliConflict are ancient enemies and are constantly at each other's throats]] despite being technical political allies in the Angel Federation. The fact that both sides are blatently in the wrong just makes it even more {{Anvilicious}}. |
| 180 | ** A superpower gets involved in a foreign civil war [[spoiler:that it partially started in the first place]] and invades the galaxy, prompting another major superpower to invade in response, and the conflict quickly bogs down into bloody stalemate. [[UsefulNotes/TheKoreanWar Korea]]? [[SarcasmMode Nope, definitely not]]. |
| 181 | ** According to WordOfGod, the Jewish Republic is a far right wing society obsessed with Jewish racial purity and often exterminates worlds with toxic gas. What major world event could that be an [[{{Irony}} ironic]] [[ThoseWackyNazis reference]] [[FinalSolution to]]? |
| 182 | * DoNotTauntCthulhu: Episode 64 is basically this trope in episode form. Super Sonic, Super Shadow, and Super Eric all run afoul of [[{{Satan}} Lord Maledict]] himself, and Sonic ramps his cocky confidence to the max before attacking Satan, believing that they're invincible. Cue villainous CurbStompBattle. |
| 183 | * DoomsdayDevice: The ''Galaxy Crusher'', a Demon super weapon capable of obliterating whole galaxies by collapsing the black holes forming their centers. Although mothballed by Maledict long ago, Beelzebub reactivates it without his permission. |
| 184 | * DownerEnding: The original version ends with a race of [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]] called the Forerunners returning after trillions of years of imprisonment, and [[DistantFinale eventually devastating most of the universe in the process]]. |
| 185 | ** The author created four alternate endings for the rewrite on his Website/DeviantArt page, with two of them being this trope and the other two bittersweet. Ending B has [[TheBadGuyWins Dark Tails detonating the Dark Planet Egg]], killing the entire cast and turning the ''entire Virgo Supercluster'' into a hellish warped nightmare. Ending C is the Forerunner ending above. |
| 186 | * TheDreaded: Tsali. According to Cosmo, a large group of the Seedrian refugees actually turned their fear of him into a EvilLuddite ''religion'' that considered Tsali [[TheScourgeOfGod divine punishment from Tryphon herself for their use of technology]]. It's taken to the point where when Cosmo first met Tails, she nearly [[BringMyBrownPants voided her bowels on the spot]] simply because she mistook him for Tsali. |
| 187 | ** [[HordeOfAlienLocusts The]] [[TheVirus Shroud]]. They're not called ''[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast The Great Devourer]]'' for nothing. The fact that they regularly ''eat galaxies'' is just the icing on the cake. Both Jesus and Maledict alike consider them the number-one threat to the universe even more than each other. Even the [[TheCaligula Prophet Muhammad]] of all people is utterly terrified of Shroud and Shroud infestation, and Tsali also secretly fears them. |
| 188 | * DrivenToSuicide: |
| 189 | ** In the rewrite, it's heavily implied that Cosmo's crash in the first episode was actually her trying to commit suicide by destroying her pod after learning she was being followed by Tsali. However, by sheer luck, [[HappilyFailedSuicide she found Sonic's world in the process]]. |
| 190 | ** Talia/[[spoiler:Limit]] tried to kill herself after [[spoiler: she betrayed Tsali to try and end the Metarex War, hating what both herself and her older brother became - and [[BetterToDieThanBeKilled trying to escape Tsali's retribution]]]]. Unfortunately, Hertia captured her and [[ColdBloodedTorture had other plans]]. |
| 191 | ** Venus the Seedrian kills herself to [[DyingAsYourself break Dark Tails' control on her]]. |
| 192 | ** [[spoiler:Following Tails' death, along with the fact that she was the one to do the act, Cosmo is so distraught that she actually grabs a blaster and nearly shoots herself in the head. The others manage to talk her out of it by saying it's not what Tails would've wanted]]. |
| 193 | * {{Dystopia}}: The whole galaxy has been torn apart by religion, greed, and the pursuit of power -- embodied by the countless factions and figures bringing the galaxy to ruin. The Emirate of Mecca is easily the most brutal example -- a totalitarian Muslim theocracy RecycledInSpace, ruled by the iron fist of the Prophet Muhammad. Muslim women are turned into literal baby factories, rape and murder are legal, free speech is literally an alien concept, nearly the entire population are brainwashed fanatics, and typical living conditions range from barely livable to total hellholes. The entire Muslim leadership are also complete hypocrites, flagrantly sinning and breaking their own laws with impunity. |
| 194 | * DystopiaIsHard: Although the Demon Empire seems to be stable on the surface, the endless warfare and the insane logistical and economic nightmare of running such a gigantic empire is slowly weakening it. Indeed, it is strongly implied that Maledict's will and leadership is one of the only things still keeping it together. |
| 195 | ** The Emirate of Mecca is basically a totalitarian Muslim theocracy RecycledInSpace -- as WordOfGod put it, its "if [[JustForFun/XMeetsY ISIS and al-Qaeda got together and made their own version of the Imperium of Man]].'' However, though it's the youngest Angel nation, it's already starting to crumble under its barbaric religious cruelty, [[MartyrdomCulture devotion to martyrdom]], internal contradictions, extreme corruption, and ethnic conflicts. |
| 196 | * EarnYourHappyEnding: Ending D: [[spoiler:Tails survives the final battle]] and manages to cripple Dark Tails by successfully destroying the Dark Planet Egg, allowing Maledict and Jesus to depower him and seal him in Warpspace forever. Maledict and Jesus agree to a temporary ceasefire and Maledict gives Sonic his Planet Egg back. The galaxy slowly starts to rebuild and Sonic and friends return home. |
| 197 | * EatenAlive: In Episode 71, Trinity finds a recording of Tsali torturing a little Seedrian girl to death by slowly feeding her to his Tsali Endoskeletons. |
| 198 | * EldritchAbomination: |
| 199 | ** Dark Tails, the GreaterScopeVillain, is a physical manifestation of the Seedrians' collective terror of Tsali [[spoiler:and strongly implied to be a Forerunner in the rewrite]]. He begins to spread [[TheCorruption Dark Chaos Energy]] across the galaxy and is literally MadeOfEvil. During the final battle, he transforms from a gigantic multi-headed space dragon to an [[GeniusLoci entire sentient planet]]. And then he mutates into a [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm literally incomprehensible mass]] of tentacles, eyes, mouths, and [[AndIMustScream voices crying in eternal agony]]. It's rather telling that it eventually took three Hyper-powered hedgehogs and ''both Satan and Jesus Christ in person'' (combined) to finally beat him [[spoiler:[[CruelTwistEnding which ends up backfiring horribly]]]]. |
| 200 | ** [[AbusivePrecursors The Forerunners]] are an entire race of these, [[SealedEvilInACan sealed deep inside the depths of Warpspace long ago]]. [[spoiler:And it turns out they're [[EnemyCivilWar not all]] [[DefectorFromDecadence evil]] either]]. And it turns out Sonic and friends have already seen some - [[spoiler:the Chao from the games are actually infant Forerunners.]] |
| 201 | * TheEmpire: The Demon Empire is an autocratic and top-heavy HegemonicEmpire that rules half of the entire universe. The Angel Federation is the only thing keeping the Empire from ruling all of it. Slavery is legal (although heavily regulated) and Demon law is both harsh and unbending. Despite all of it, it's considered the closest thing to a unified culture the universe has; nearly every world uses Demon kredits, even if they live far on the frontiers. |
| 202 | * EnemyMine: [[spoiler:Tsali]] betrays Maledict and teams up with Sonic when he finds out [[spoiler:Maledict had been manipulating him from the start and ordered the destruction of his original homeworld]]. |
| 203 | * EternalRecurrence: The [[ForeverWar Eternal War]] between the Demon Empire and Angel Federation always flares up periodically, decimating galaxies before both sides eventually fight each other to exhaustion and temporarily stop fighting to rebuild, before going to war again. Maledict's entire grand plan was to end the cycle by creating the "Ultimate Weapon" to permanently defeat Allysion and her Angels [[spoiler: which eventually resulted in him creating Sonic, Shadow, Eric, and Tsali]. |
| 204 | * EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Tsali deeply cared about the mercenaries he hired to aid him with exterminating the Seedrians - to the point when [[spoiler:they betrayed him to try to end the Metarex War]], he was so devastated that he suffered a slight VillainousBreakdown. Especially Talia, as [[spoiler:she was madly in love with Tsali and only reluctantly turned against him]] which is probably why [[spoiler:he gave her a MercyKill]]. |
| 205 | * EvenEvilHasStandards: In Episode 67, Eggman and his crew end up stumbling upon Beelzebub's lair, where they decide to eavesdrop in order to find the Chaos Emeralds. Then they hear the screams from Beelzebub [[ColdBloodedTorture torturing]] Cosmo, and then they find [[spoiler: Chris unconscious and bleeding from his anus after being nearly raped to death by Beelzebub]]. Eggman is so shocked and horrified - and utterly [[UnstoppableRage furious]] - that he flat out tells Sonic and his friends to leave with the Chaos Emerald ''so they don't have to watch him beat the Demon to a bloody pulp''. [[spoiler: RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil]], indeed. |
| 206 | ** This trope is also [[spoiler: the reason Tsali's mercenaries betrayed him]]; they eventually became [[VillainousBreakdown exhausted and distraught]] from the endless killing of innocent people. |
| 207 | ** Interestingly, ''Tsali'' of all people has standards too - despite his penchant for mass murder, he's uncomfortable with slavery and [[PetTheDog immediately freed the slaves Maledict gave him as a gift when he became a Demon Lord]]. |
| 208 | * EverybodyDiesEnding: This story begins like the original series, with the entire Seedrian refugee fleet dead and Cosmo as the only survivor. Also [[DownerEnding Ending B]]. |
| 209 | * EvilCannotComprehendGood: Allysion is such a depraved fundamentalist sociopath that she doesn't understand how Sonic could be a potential ally. Maledict suffers this too to a lsser extent, as he he is utterly baffled that Sonic is fighting him [[spoiler: despite Sonic being his "son"]]. Also becomes a plot point in Episode 74; [[spoiler: when Cosmo forgives Tsali for the things he did to her and her people, the resulting literal LogicBomb in his programming causes him to do a HeelFaceTurn]]. |
| 210 | * EvilLuddite: Cosmo dimly remembers the Ironwood, a powerful religious cult in the Seedrian fleet which blamed technology for the destruction of their race because of Tsali (who they saw as [[TheScourgeOfGod divine punishment for their sins]]) and regarded all technology as evil. They ended up influencing Hertia and becoming a powerful political force. |
| 211 | * EvilVersusEvil: Metarex versus Tsali, [[{{Satan}} Maledict]] versus the Metarex, and [[EldritchAbomination Dark Tails]] against ''[[OmnicidalNeutral everyone]]''. The overarching conflict between Maledict and Allysion [[GodAndSatanAreBothJerks can be seen as this too]], Maledict is the biblical Satan and all-around ManipulativeBastard, while Allysion is a crazed psychopath who wants to watch the universe burn and torture everything ForTheEvulz. |
| 212 | * EvilVersusOblivion: The crux of the fanfic is the final battle between [[{{Satan}} Maledict]] and [[EldritchAbomination Dark Tails]]. One is a ruthless [[WellIntentionedExtremist but principled]] HumanoidAbomination who wants to rule the entire universe, the other is an incomprehensible OmnicidalManiac. |
| 213 | * {{Expy}}: The story has a very large number of them, and WordOfGod has confirmed that many of the non-canon characters were based on others in at least some form. |
| 214 | ** Dark Tails is an expy of [[VideoGame/MetroidPrime Dark Samus]]. Also, the Quadraxis robot is basically the same as the boss from the same game, except massively upgraded and far more powerful (and vicious). Dark Chaos Energy is also a pretty clear expy of Phazon. |
| 215 | ** Along with his obvious parallels to Shadow, Tsali is essentially a more-humanlike Franchise/{{Terminator}}. In a similar vein, the armies of flesh-eating Tsali Androids he once controlled are rather suspiciously similar to [[TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 Necron Flayed Ones]]. |
| 216 | ** According to the author, Venus the Seedrian is a gender-flipped version of Guts from ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'', with several parallels in their back stories. |
| 217 | ** [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Tephiroth]] is the most blatantly obvious one, except his character and personality are entirely different. And he's not evil. |
| 218 | ** Even the ''ships'' are expies according to WordOfGod -- the Dreadnought is based on the [[http://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Machariel Machariel]] from ''VideoGame/EveOnline'', and Maledict's ''Leviathan''-class ships are based on the [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Eclipse-class_dreadnought Eclipse Super Star Destroyer]]. |
| 219 | * FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: ''Loads'' of them. |
| 220 | ** Cosmo's older sister Galaxina has her head shoved into a [[KillItWithFire ruptured fuel line]] by Tsali. |
| 221 | ** [[spoiler:Venus]] commits suicide by [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice impaling herself]] on one of her own thorn-covered vine tentacles in order to break [[spoiler:Dark Tails']] control. |
| 222 | ** Tsali graphically tears Molly's limbs off with his powers and then shoots her in Episode 68. |
| 223 | ** [[spoiler:Tails]] gets the most [[BodyHorror unfriendly]] [[AndIMustScream death]] of them all during the final battle. |
| 224 | * FantasyKitchenSink: This trope basically defines ''Sonic X: Dark Chaos'', combining pretty much everything the author could think of - from magic to demons to angels to Lovecraftian horrors to spaceships. |
| 225 | * FatalFlaw: Both Maledict and Jesus' monomaniacal pride is what keeps them from understanding the terrible consequences of their endless warfare. Likewise, Tsali's vengeful wrath basically jump-started the Metarex War. |
| 226 | * FateWorseThanDeath: The people who are killed or [[MindRape Mind Raped]] by [[EldritchAbomination Dark Tails]] suffer this. He takes their souls and uses them for eternity as conduits of [[TheCorruption Dark Chaos Energy]]. And the punishment for high treason in the Demon Empire is eternal torment. |
| 227 | * FauxAffablyEvil: |
| 228 | ** Tsali has shades of this in the rewrite. Despite his AxCrazy love for killing and bloodshed, he's quite sociable and sympathetic to Trinity, even after he realizes that Trinity is an Angel spy. |
| 229 | ** Maledict himself hides his megalomania and obsessive desire for power under a rather level-headed demeanor and [[WellIntentionedExtremist a thin veneer of good intentions]]. [[GodAndSatanAreBothJerks On the other side]], Jesus hides his own lust for revenge and callous dislike of non-Angels under a facade of concern and empathy, even though he was perfectly fine with ''slaughtering quadrillions of innocent people'' to invade the Milky Way. |
| 230 | * FinalSolution: This trope is standard protocol for both the Demons and Angels and [[CrapsackWorld is used with wild abandon]]. A more story-focused example is Tsali's genocide against the Seedrians which started the Metarex War. |
| 231 | * TheFederation: The Angel Federation, led by Allysion and Jesus Desjiliac Christos, was originally a group that rebelled against the Demons in ancient times. The Federation also composes two other nations, the Israeli Republic of the Tribes and the Emirate of Mecca. The Emirate and Republic [[TeethClenchedTeamwork are often at]] [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything each other's throats]]; only the Angels keep them together against their common enemy. |
| 232 | * ForTheEvulz: |
| 233 | ** Tsali has shades of this. Though he has actual reasons to want revenge against the Seedrians, he butchers entire worlds simply because he can, even if [[MisplacedRetribution they had nothing to do with his enemies]]. |
| 234 | ** Beelzebub [[spoiler: rapes Chris]] in Episode 67 not because he needed to run a demented experiment like he did on Cosmo, but because he thought it would be ''fun''. |
| 235 | * ForeverWar: The Demon Empire and Angel Federation have been at war for five hundred trillion years, driven by the DivineConflict between Maledict and Allysion. Most of it is on-and-off however, since both sides constantly fight each other to stalemate and are forced into long periods of cold war to recover. The background also implies that if they ever made peace, the Angel coalition would immediately and violently collapse to internal religious conflicts. |
| 236 | ** Also played with in-universe; while the Metarex War did last for thirty years, Tsali and the Metarex expected it to keep going for centuries if not millennia. Its [[{{Anticlimax}} rather sudden ending]] in the last episode leaves both sides completely lost. |
| 237 | * ForWantOfANail: According to WordOfGod, the backstory of ''Dark Chaos'' diverges from the canon ''Anime/SonicX'' in two specific ways. Both of these critical changes set off a chain reaction that leads to the DarkerAndEdgier CrapsackWorld of ''Dark Chaos'' compared to the canon ''Anime/SonicX''; |
| 238 | ** Tsali's entire story never happens and he doesn't become the Ultimate Weapon in the canon. In ''Dark Chaos'', he does - which results in him exterminating Cosmo's race rather than the Metarex. He quickly turns the subsequent Metarex War into a [[WarIsHell brutal bloodbath]] that leaves much the galaxy in ruins and trillions of people dead. |
| 239 | ** An economic depression forces Maledict to abandon his plans and pull his forces out of the Milky Way, [[FridgeLogic so the Demon Empire never appears in canon]]. In ''Dark Chaos'', this doesn't happen - so Maledict's plan goes off without a hitch and leads to the Demon occupation of the galaxy (which in turns leads to the Angel invasion in Episode 65). |
| 240 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: The rewritten Episode 69 focuses on Sonic and friends being caught in the middle of a religious conflict between Marmolim Christians and the Marmolims who worship [[{{Satan}} Maledict]]. The satanic Marmolims initially revere Sonic as a literal messiah sent by Maledict to save them from the Shroud outside their city, while the Christians accuse him of being TheAntichrist and a spawn of the devil. [[spoiler: Episode 75 reveals that [[DarkMessiah both of them are more correct]] [[LukeIAmYourFather than they could ever know]]]]. |
| 241 | ** Also from Episode 69, there's a scene (taken from the original series) where Cosmo receives her fortune from a Marmolim seer, who says that her hate will bring suffering and death to those close to her. The previews of the sequel make this a form of retroactive foreshadowing - [[spoiler: Cosmo [[GoMadFromTheRevelation snaps from the trauma]], jumps straight through the MoralEventHorizon, and becomes a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds]]. |
| 242 | ** Cosmo takes Venus' demon-powered scythe from Tsali after he is beaten in Episode 73. [[spoiler: In the sequel, Cosmo's actions parallel Venus' mistakes almost to a tee - with tragic consequences]]. |
| 243 | ** Pretty much every single scene involving the [[TomeOfEldritchLore Legend of Disaster]] is this trope toward the [[spoiler: CruelTwistEnding]]. |
| 244 | * TheFriendNobodyLikes: Neither Sonic nor any of his friends like Eric very much due to how crazy and annoying he is, and how he apparently [[NoodleIncident nearly got all of them killed several times in the past]]. Even Sonic himself, who is a bit more sympathetic to Eric, simply tolerates him at best. |
| 245 | * FromBadToWorse: The story starts like the original ''Sonic X'', except Tsali attacks Sonic's world rather than Dark Oak. Then Satan himself steps into the fray, which rapidly escalates the conflict until the galaxy is torn apart in a war between demons and angels. And then an EldritchAbomination appears, obliterates both sides, and nearly causes the end of the entire universe. Finally, the story ends with [[spoiler: an entire ''race'' of Eldritch Abominations appearing and actually destroying ([[SequelHook most of]]) the entire universe]]. |
| 246 | [[/folder]] |
| 247 | |
| 248 | [[folder:G -- I]] |
| 249 | * GambitPileup: Loads of characters, and virtually ''all'' of them have their own individual plans and plots. All of them end up falling apart by the end of the story thanks to the [[SpannerInTheWorks interference]] of [[EldritchAbomination Dark Tails]]. |
| 250 | ** Maledict wishes to defeat the Metarex so he can unleash Tsali on his enemies and rule the universe. [[TheChessmaster He is also secretly controlling the Metarex]] as part of his enormously complicated GambitRoulette. He also wants to get the Chaos Emeralds in order to keep them away from the Metarex [[spoiler: and is trying to protect Sonic the Hedgehog because he's Maledict's son]]. |
| 251 | ** Tsali steals Planet Eggs so he has enough power to exterminate the Seedrians and destroy the Metarex. And anyone else who gets in his way. |
| 252 | ** Allysion want to kill Tsali and then launch an attack on the Milky Way to upset Maledict's plans. |
| 253 | ** Jesus sends his servant Tephiroth to see if Sonic would be a useful ally, and recruits Trinity to spy on the Demons and find out what they're up to. |
| 254 | ** Venus the Seedrian is trying to expose Maledict's plan in order to stop him from taking over the universe. |
| 255 | ** Dark Oak and the Metarex are stealing and mutating Planet Eggs in order to keep themselves and their organization alive. |
| 256 | * GambitRoulette: [[spoiler:The ''entire Metarex war'' is part of a gigantic gambit by Maledict to conquer the universe by creating an "Ultimate" creature strong enough to defeat the Angels. To do this, he started a diplomatic incident to start a war between the Demons and Seedrians, and then he made sure the young Tsali survived the destruction of his homeworld. Then as the conflict escalated, [[BatmanGambit he used a spy to convince Luke to turn Tsali into a Chaos-powered robot, and then had him alter Tsali's programming. In the process, Tsali would go completely beserk and destroy the Seedrians from within]], and then Maledict would take him under his guidance so he could be turned on the Angels. [[XanatosSpeedChess Then when the Metarex began to appear]], he sent Tsali to defeat them. [[XanatosGambit And to ensure that Tsali ''would'' defeat them]], Maledict created an alter-ego known as "M" so he could secretly control the Metarex and lead them to their own destruction]]. |
| 257 | ** [[MagnificentBastard And the only reasons this massive plan didn't work?]] Tsali (and Cosmo) accidentally got [[SpannerInTheWorks Sonic the Hedgehog]] into the mix and [[spoiler:[[NiceJobBreakingItHero Maledict unknowingly created Dark Tails by exterminating the Seedrians]]]]. |
| 258 | * GenreBlindness: |
| 259 | ** Maledict [[SubvertedTrope seems to be a cliché evil overlord Bond villain at first]]... until his real [[TheChessmaster chessmaster]] nature starts showing; [[spoiler:he didn't want to kill Sonic or Shadow because they [[LukeIAmYourFather are his sons]] and he knows just how powerful they are]]. By contrast, Allysion and most of the Angels are quite genre blind, with the notable exception of the very savvy Jesus. |
| 260 | ** The Metarex are easily the most blatant example of this trope, unaware that they were being manipulated by Maledict the whole time despite tons of suspicious hints. They also [[PoorCommunicationKills confuse Tails for Tsali simply because both of them have two tails]], with near-disastrous consequences. |
| 261 | * GladiatorGames: The Demon Empire, essentially the Roman Empire in space, uses these as part of it BreadAndCircuses policies. In a similar vein to the Romans, they use recaptured slaves and criminals as fighters. However, [[ShownTheirWork lethal games are quite rare]]. |
| 262 | %%* GodAndSatanAreBothJerks: Where to even ''begin''? |
| 263 | * GoMadFromTheRevelation: The typical fate of those who hear the voice of [[EldritchAbomination Dark Tails]]. Not only does it drive several individual characters like numerous Marmolins or [[spoiler: Venus the Seedrian and Trinity]] to gibbering madness, it's mind-blasting enough to cause entire space fleets to go insane and destroy themselves. |
| 264 | * GodBeforeDogma: This trope is typically the primary difference between the less-evil religious characters and the really evil religious characters in general. However, [[AuthorTract since the author despises religion]], it's [[CrapsackWorld depressingly rare]]. |
| 265 | ** Jesus in particular embodies this trope - which isn't all that [[ShownTheirWork different from his biblical depiction]]. Most of his fellow Angels avert this though. |
| 266 | * GodzillaThreshold: |
| 267 | ** Episode 63 has a villainous example. Sonic, Shadow, and Eric turn into their Super forms and are on the verge of defeating Tsali once and for all. So what does Tsali do? He ''summons [[{{Satan}} Lord Maledict]] himself'' for backup. Cue [[SummonBiggerFish Maledict showing up]], rescuing Tsali, and [[CurbStompBattle utterly curbstomping Sonic and friends]]. |
| 268 | ** When Dark Tails nearly annihilates the fleets of both sides, both the Demons and Angels separately devote all their attention to taking him down, to the point where the Demons reactivate a galaxy-destroying superweapon just in case. And then Dark Tails achieves godhood in Episode 75 and nearly decimates the entire galaxy, they both decide to take it on together — the threshold is taken to the the point where ''Jesus Christ and Satan'' pull an EnemyMine and decide to (temporarily) help each other. |
| 269 | * GoneHorriblyRight: Thirty years prior to the events of ''Sonic X: Dark Chaos'', Luke the Seedrian -- the future Dark Oak -- roboticized a young fox named Tsali into the "Ultimate Weapon" that could save his homeworld from a Demon invasion. Tsali quickly freed himself, promptly turned against his creators, and exterminated the entire Seedrian race in revenge. |
| 270 | * GreatOffscreenWar: Several times in this story, mostly because the author has admitted that he isn't good at writing battle scenes. |
| 271 | ** The Demon-Seedrian War, which ended in the creation of Tsali and the near-extermination of Cosmo's race, is a major part of the backstory frequently alluded but never actually shown. The author began to write a prequel to explore it, but it was scrapped. |
| 272 | ** The battles between the Demons and Angels aren't really shown either - the story focuses more on [[WarIsHell the effects of said battles]] and the political machinations behind the scenes. |
| 273 | * GreaterScopeVillain: This story has several of these. Maledict is quickly revealed to be this to Tsali and becomes one of the primary villains. However, it's also shown that Jesus and Allysion had quite a large part to do with the Metarex War and the CrapsackWorld as well. And of course, there's [[EldritchAbomination Dark Tails]], who eventually becomes the BigBad [[EnemyMine everyone else winds up fighting]]. |
| 274 | * HappinessInSlavery: This trope is the reason the Demon Empire was able to stop slave rebellions; they take pains to treat their slaves well in most cases and many of said slaves worship Maledict as their god anyway. [[ColdBloodedTorture Unless they fall into the hands]] of [[MadScientist Beelzebub]], [[FateWorseThanDeath that is]]. In Episode 69, Momo faithfully serves her master Aamon as her pseudo-grandfather figure, and Aamon in turn allowed her to marry his grandson Lou and legally gain her freedom. Episode 68 reveals that Astorath and his Nephilim treat their legal "slaves" as equals on their warships [[BlueAndOrangeMorality because the idea of owning another sentient being is utterly alien to them]]. |
| 275 | * HealingFactor: Tails gets one when he is infected by Shroud parasites. At one point, he regenerates most of his internal organs after Tsali tears them out of his chest. This bites back hard during the final battle when he gets possessed by Dark Tails; the resulting mutation causes his body to start [[BodyHorror literally falling apart]], [[AndIMustScream which starts to heal him, which makes him fall apart again]]... |
| 276 | * {{Heaven}}: In this story, Heaven is a massive gas giant with twelve planet-sized moons in orbit. It is the original Angel homeworld and main world of the [[TheFederation Angel Federation]]. The Angel capitol city, New Jerusalem, is on top of a massive floating station hidden in the storm-ravaged mantle. |
| 277 | * {{Hell}}: In this story, Hell is the [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Demon]] homeworld and official capitol of the [[TheEmpire Demon Empire]]. Once a temperate planet, it was long ago turned into [[SingleBiomePlanet a rocky ball of magma rivers and lava seas]]. Caronius, capitol city of the Demons, is built around its hollowed-out core. |
| 278 | * {{Hellfire}}: Maledict can manifest himself in a tongue of smokeless hellfire that does not consume its surroundings. Most of his powers also use a combination of this trope and Chaos Energy. |
| 279 | * HeroicBSOD: Several episodes feature them, especially near the end thanks to the numerous [[TraumaCongaLine Trauma Conga Lines]] coming together. |
| 280 | ** Episode 74 is an entire chapter of these as the heroes [[spoiler: and Tsali]] discover the conspiracy behind the Metarex war and the tragedy that shook the galaxy. |
| 281 | ** Sonic in Episode 75 when he discovers [[spoiler: he was created by Maledict]]. |
| 282 | ** During the final battle, Cosmo in Episode 77 completely [[TearJerker breaks down]] when she realizes [[spoiler: she has to kill Tails to defeat Dark Tails]]. |
| 283 | * HeroicSacrifice: Both played straight and inverted in Episode 77. [[spoiler:''Tails'' is forced to sacrifice himself to defeat Dark Tails and save the universe]] and [[spoiler:''Cosmo'' is the one who fires the Sonic Driver at him]]. Ending D subverts it [[spoiler: where Tails survives and stops Dark Tails' plan without the sacrifice, but Dark Tails also narrowly survives]]. |
| 284 | * HiddenDepths: In the rewrite, Tsali is revealed to be surprisingly AffablyEvil underneath his genocidal psychopathic brutality, at least when he isn't on missions. He originally had a group of mercenaries to aid him in his genocide who he deeply cared about as a family [[spoiler: until they betrayed him and tried to kill him]]. He also privately begins to doubt if all his evil actions would be worth it in the end. He also treats Trinity respectfully as a guest [[spoiler: even after he discovers Trinity is an Angel spy.]] |
| 285 | ** Knuckles is given more depth to cancel out his {{Flanderization}} from the show. Though still hotheaded, he's often depicted as wiser, more perceptive, and more reflective than most of the others. He also has a nerdy side to him. |
| 286 | ** Astorath isn't anywhere near the stupid BloodKnight brute he seems to be; he comes to [[WorthyOpponent deeply respect Sonic and friends as enemies]] and has a strong sense of honor. He also [[spoiler:correctly]] predicted that [[spoiler:Maledict's master plan]] would never work from the start, but [[CassandraTruth he was ignored]]. Even ''Jesus'' praises Astorath as an honorable Demon. |
| 287 | * HistoricalVillainUpgrade: |
| 288 | ** An interesting version of this. The refugee Seedrians eventually saw Tsali the Ultimate Weapon as a supernatural being and TheScourgeOfGod, and Hertia deliberately cultivated fear of him in order to control her people. While Tsali is indeed a genocidal AxCrazy android who murdered their entire race [[spoiler: after they turned him into a [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul robot]] and inflicted AndIMustScream on him]], it turns out that he didn't do it alone [[spoiler: [[TheManBehindTheMan and nor was he the only one behind it]]]]. |
| 289 | ** In the background material, this trope is also the reason why [[{{Satan}} Lord Maledict]] is considered the incarnation of evil in [[Literature/TheBible the]] [[TomeOfEldritchLore Bible]]. [[BlackAndGrayMorality He isn't the incarnation of evil]], but he certainly is a cruel, manipulative {{Jerkass God|s}}. |
| 290 | * HobbesWasRight: Maledict embodies this trope, to the point of a particularly extreme version of LawfulEvil. If that wasn't enough, the backstory implies that [[CrapsackWorld he isn't completely wrong to be that way either]] and that [[BlackAndGrayMorality he's far better than the alternative]]. |
| 291 | * HoldingBackThePhlebotinum: Maledict explicitly holds back from using the ''Galaxy Crusher'' because he wants to [[PragmaticVillainy conquer the Milky Way Galaxy rather than destroy it]] and because he's utterly terrified of the prospect that it could be hijacked by his enemies. Indeed, it's only [[EldritchAbomination Dark Tails]] and hordes of Shroud devouring the galaxy that [[GodzillaThreshold convinces him to reactivate it]]. |
| 292 | * HorrorHunger: A rather chilling example from the rewrite in the form of the Tsali Endoskeletons. Tsali programmed them to aid him in his genocide of Cosmo's race. In the process, he gave them an endless, all-pervading hunger for Seedrian flesh, blood, skin, and bones. Of course, being robots, [[LudicrousGibs they can't eat]]... |
| 293 | * HumanAliens: The Angels, Jews, and Muslims in the ''Dark Chaos'' universe. Humanity was originally descended from them, and they look very similar to humans with only a few minor quirks. |
| 294 | ** Ethnic Angels closely resemble Tolkien [[TheFairFolk elves]]. They are often tall and fair. |
| 295 | ** Jews are short, dark-skinned tribal people with beards. Jesus, although he's the leader of the whole Federation, is one of these. |
| 296 | ** Male Muslims are generally quite similar to Jews. Female Muslims are always completely covered up, and [[BodyHorror for good reason]]. |
| 297 | * HumansAreFlawed: In Episode 75, Shadow the Hedgehog (of all people) uses this as his KirkSummation when Maledict gives him a WeCanRuleTogether speech. When Maledict tells him that the "monkeys" are nothing but mongrels who corrupted his perfect design, Shadow retorts in a very neat ContinuityNod to the show's ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'' arc: |
| 298 | --> '''Shadow''': I made a promise to a girl I loved named Maria. I forgot that promise and I nearly wiped out an entire race because of it. You despise humans... and yet a human taught me the most valuable lesson of all; there are still things worth fighting for. |
| 299 | * HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace: The Warpspace is re-imagined as basically a LighterAndSofter version of [[TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 the Warp]]. It's a mind-shattering dimension of pure Chaos Energy and (according to Maledict) [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm the "template" or "blueprint" of the universe itself]]. It also happens to be the birthplace of [[EldritchAbomination Lovecraftian horrors]] like Dark Tails [[spoiler: and the [[SealedEvilInACan Can]] of the [[AbusivePrecursors Forerunners]]]]. However, Demon-made FTL technology has advanced and become so ubiquitous across the universe that it's typically safe to travel. If anything goes wrong, though... |
| 300 | * IdiotBall: A huge portion of the central conflict in ''Sonic X: Dark Chaos'' could've been avoided if [[spoiler: Maledict had come right out and told Sonic that he was his father and that he needed his help]] ''before'' Tsali got there first and tried to kill Sonic. Also, the Metarex leaders continued to trust M/[[spoiler: Maledict]] even while they were slowly ''losing'' the Metarex War. Also, Tsali grabs it in Episode 73 - he could've easily killed Cosmo and her friends by simply blowing up the Blue Typhoon, and only storms the ship because he's so AxCrazy that he wants to watch them suffer. |
| 301 | * IGaveMyWord: Maledict does this numerous times, both good and [[LiteralGenie bad]]. In particular, during the final battle, Maledict promises to give Sonic his Planet Egg back and spare the galaxy in exchange for the Chaos Emeralds. Afterward, Maledict keeps his word and pardons them... and lets them keep the Chaos Emeralds as thanks for their help. |
| 302 | * ImprobableAimingSkills: In Episode 61, Espio manages to throw an explosive shuriken at a pursuing Jewish cruiser. Not only does he manage to actually hit it in zero-gravity, he gets a direct hit on the ship's ammo magazine and immediately blows it into scrap. Even Espio himself is surprised he made the shot. |
| 303 | ** Tsali demonstrates this numerous times with both his Chaos powers and his wrist-mounted weaponry. Justified, since he's a very advanced battle android and has been fighting a war by himself for thirty years. |
| 304 | * ImpossiblyCoolWeapon: This fanfic features the ''[[ShoutOut Fuckslayer]]'', a demonic guitar with six necks wielded by Beelzebub. It's the very first guitar ever invented. Not only is it both a LightningGun and a rocket launcher, but the music it makes is so loud that it can shake ''battleships'' apart. |
| 305 | * IneffectualSympatheticVillain: The Metarex of become this trope thanks to flanderization and VillainDecay. This is notably averted with Eggman, who has taken [[TookALevelInBadass several levels in badass]]. |
| 306 | * InSpiteOfANail: Despite the [[AlternateUniverse very]] [[DarkerAndEdgier different]] [[CrapsackWorld setting]] and tons of [=OCs=] added in, ''FanFic/SonicXDarkChaos'' still [[BroadStrokes roughly follows]] the general plot arc of the original ''Anime/SonicX''. Sonic fights new villain, Cosmo arrives, the heroes go into space to find the Chaos Emeralds, meet several canon alien races, and the adventure ends with a huge final battle and [[spoiler:HeroicSacrifice BittersweetEnding]]. |
| 307 | ** Also, the Seedrians are still utterly wiped out and Dark Oak forms the Metarex in both the canon and ''Dark Chaos'' universes, even though the ''Dark Chaos'' backstory is very different. |
| 308 | * IronicHell: Directly referenced. Venus the Seedrian [[DealWithTheDevil prayed to Maledict]] for the power to defend the Seedrians from Tsali. [[spoiler: He answered by giving her nearly divine power... and cursing her to slowly transform into a robot so she's just like Tsali]]. |
| 309 | * ItCanThink: The Shroud are a NonMaliciousMonster [[Franchise/DeadSpace Necromorph]]-esque parasite race. That changes in Episode 60 which reveals that the Shroud are led by hyper-intelligent Shroud Primes. [[FromBadToWorse And then]] in Episode 69, [[EldritchAbomination Dark Tails]] evolves them to the point that they start using military tactics and language [[spoiler: and religion; they begin worshiping Dark Tails as their god]]. |
| 310 | * ItsAllMyFault: Dark Oak holds himself responsible for the destruction of his race at the hands of Tsali... which led to him starting a brutal galactic war so he could take revenge on his wayward creation and [[WellIntentionedExtremist find a way to rebuild his race no matter the cost]]. |
| 311 | [[/folder]] |
| 312 | |
| 313 | [[folder:J -- L]] |
| 314 | * JerkassGods: Maledict and Allysion fit this to a tee. One of them is {{Satan}}, the other is CrystalDragonJesus; both of them are cruel, manipulative, sadistic, genocidal maniacs with a [[FauxAffablyEvil thin veneer]] of [[WellIntentionedExtremist good intentions]]. |
| 315 | * JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Pretty much every single member of Eric's crew follows this trope. They often fight, make fun of each other, and make cruel jokes, but they're all firmly on Sonic's side and are willing to help others even at great cost. Sonya in particular embodies this trope - she's highly arrogant and willful, but also has a strong sense of justice. |
| 316 | ** The rewrite makes ''Tsali'' of all people into this. Under all his genocidal AxCrazy psychopathy, he has quite a few HiddenDepths. He considers his Tsali Endoskeletons as his children and shows remorse that most of them are gone. Likewise, when he hired a group of mercenaries to help him hunt down the Seedrians, he became quite fond of them [[spoiler: and was utterly devastated when they betrayed him]] - it actually causes him to consider whether getting revenge was really worth it in the end. [[spoiler: The fact that one of them was his little sister probably didn't help.]] |
| 317 | * JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: Allysion is an incarnation of this trope, at least according to the perspective of Jesus. Originally, she simply tolerated Angel excesses while focusing entirely on the defeat of Maledict. By the time of ''Dark Chaos'', she's turned into a megalomaniac BloodKnight who channels GodIsEvil and fully endorses rape and genocide simply to [[GodNeedsPrayerBadly glorify herself]], making her just as evil as Maledict if not even worse. |
| 318 | ** Maledict himself goes from "[[PragmaticVillainy Let's try to save the galaxy if possible so we can exploit its resources]]" to "Fuck it let's just blow up the galaxy" by the end of the story. |
| 319 | * JustBeforeTheEnd: This fanfic takes place in a Crapsack Galaxy torn to pieces by thirty years of civil war and the Angels and Demon forces fighting over the remnants, with an EldritchAbomination and the Shroud poised to devour everything else. Sonic and friends end up just barely managing to avert the end [[spoiler: except in Endings A and B, [[DownerEnding where they fail]]]]. |
| 320 | * KarmaHoudini: Pretty much none of the major villains are punished for their actions. Maledict pardons the heroes and leaves with his armies in tow, Jesus and the Angels call off their invasion, and Tsali and the Metarex leaders decide to end the conflict and go their separate ways. |
| 321 | * KatanasAreJustBetter: Sonya wields a custom katana made of focused plasma. Espio also carries two ''wakizashi'' that he uses during the final episodes. Somewhat fitting, as Sonya is ethnically Japanese (or the ''Sonic'' universe equivalent) and Espio is a ninja. And even then, [[CombatPragmatist Sonya prefers guns]] and [[ShownTheirWork only uses her sword as a backup]]. |
| 322 | * KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler:Molly, Alice, Venus, Trinity, and Tails]]. |
| 323 | * KnightInSourArmor: Sonic and his friends become this in this story. The Milky Way Galaxy is an [[CrapsackWorld utter shithole]] and the rest of the universe is [[CosmicHorrorStory somehow even worse]], but it doesn't stop them from trying to make things better. |
| 324 | * KnightTemplar: A common trope, particularly among the Angels and the more-fanatical Demons. The Muslims and the Emirate of Mecca take this trope up to eleven. [[spoiler: Cosmo's mother Hertia]] also eventually became this, [[spoiler: torturing Tsali's sister and killing a recently born Seedrian male child because of Daffodil's religious influence]]. |
| 325 | * KudzuPlot: This fanfic quickly becomes this trope as the GambitPileup becomes larger, the characters become more fleshed out, and the story begins to focus on the very complicated politics and conspiracies behind the Metarex War. Episode 74 basically revolves around [[ApocalypticLog explaining]] and [[TheReveal revealing]] what is going on; it's the longest chapter by quite a large margin [[spoiler:and even it doesn't fully explain everything]]. This trope is also part of the reason for the author's frequent ScheduleSlip for the rewrite -- he is trying to organize everything together. There's a rewrite that ditches and retcons quite a bit of expository material from the original, specifically to keep a clear central story arc and to avoid TheChrisCarterEffect. |
| 326 | * LadyLand: {{Deconstructed|Trope}}. Cosmo and the Seedrian refugees were only made up of female Seedrians after all the males were killed by Tsali [[spoiler: or became cyborgs and joined the Metarex]]. However, by the time Tsali finally kills them thirty years later, their society is already beginning to disintegrate over their clashing egos, personalities, and beliefs. |
| 327 | * LargeHam: [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Astorath]] in ''Fanfic/SonicXDarkChaos'' pretty much either yells or ''dramatically enunciates'' everything he says. Considering the fact he's an expy of the Heavy from ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', it's not entirely out of place. |
| 328 | ** Maledict loses his cool and goes into full scenery-chewing mode during his climactic duel with Jesus in Episode 75. And that's before the author said that his voice is similar to William Dafoe. |
| 329 | ---> "I am your '''god''', you half-formed chimp! When you swung from trees, I ruled '''TIME''' and '''SPACE'''!" |
| 330 | ** Allysion is so hammy she could've starred in every single Creator/CecilBDeMille biblical epic. Everything she says is either a flowery Bible quote, a dramatic threat, or both. |
| 331 | ** Once Dark Tails resurrects himself, he quickly puts BRIAN BLESSED to shame; |
| 332 | ---> '''"YOU SHALL NOT DIE HERE... DEATH IS NO ESCAPE... YOU SHALL BE DEVOURED, ANNIHILATED, DEFILED... YOU SHALL KNOW TERROR WITHOUT END... YOU SHALL BE TORN ASUNDER FROM EVERY ATOM, AND YOURS SHALL BE THE CRIES OF TORMENT AND HORROR!"''' |
| 333 | * LateToTheTragedy: When Sonic and his friends leave their world to find the Chaos Emeralds, they quickly discover that the galaxy is a largely ruined CrapsackWorld devastated by the thirty-year Metarex War, fought over by JerkassGods, and nearly wholly devoured by the Shroud. |
| 334 | * TheLegionsOfHell: The Demon Empire is this trope turned into a political state, complete with extremely advanced technology and slavery. And [[CrapsackWorld it's saying something about the 'verse]] that [[BlackAndGrayMorality they're considered the "nice" faction]]. |
| 335 | * LightIsNotGood: Played with in ''Fanfic/SonicXDarkChaos''. The Angel Federation stays neutral during a brutal civil war; Jesus decides to get involved, but sends his most powerful assassin Tephiroth to investigate. Neither of them are explicitly evil though, feeding into the setting's GrayAndGrayMorality. |
| 336 | * LighterAndSofter: The rewrite is simultaneously both this ''and'' DarkerAndEdgier than the original. While there is more violence and horrific content as a whole, the darkness is balanced with much more likable characters, a stronger message of hope and redemption in the face of terror, and the power of friendship. And BlackComedy. |
| 337 | ** Even with the darkness, it's also still LighterAndSofter compared to some of its [[Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei primary]] [[TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 influences]]. |
| 338 | * LogicBomb: [[spoiler:Tsali's FaceHeelTurn]] is brought about by one of these when he discovers [[spoiler:Maledict set his transformation into an android in motion.]] Then, directly afterward, he gets another one when Cosmo forgives him for his genocide against her people in a literal form of EvilCannotComprehendGood. |
| 339 | * LoveRedeems: Cosmo convinces Tsali and the Metarex to end their conflict in the last episode, helping them both realize that their lust for revenge destroyed themselves and brought nothing but pain and suffering to the galaxy. |
| 340 | * LovecraftLite: The rewrite becomes this in the canon ending. Dark Tails is ultimately defeated [[spoiler:though not without sacrifice]] and Sonic manages to make a tentative truce with Maledict and Jesus. |
| 341 | * LovecraftianSuperpower: Tails of all people gets one of these after getting infected with Shroud parasites, complete with tremendous amounts of BodyHorror. Among the highlights of his first transformation is ''his semen turning solid and slithering across the floor'' - before ''wrapping around him and hardening like body armor.'' Later on as he manages to take control of the Shroud inside him, he finds that he can do things like move his eyes out of their sockets and look around, grow his fingers into flensing claws, fire shards of his own bones from his wrists, and eventually fuse himself to the X-Tornado by connecting his nerves with its controls. Though all of his friends are utterly horrified and disgusted by his new powers, [[AngstWhatAngst Tails thinks it's the most awesome thing ever]]. |
| 342 | * LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler:Maledict created numerous "Ultimate" creatures to find a way to defeat the Angels. His first attempt resulted in Shadow, but when Gerald Robotnik discovered Maledict's [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt true plan]], he attempted to sabotage the project. After the ARK incident, Maledict abandoned Project Shadow completely and began Project Sonic, resulting in the birth of Sonic the Hedgehog. However, after discovering that the hedgehog only inherited the Devil's super speed, Maledict -- fond of his failed creation -- shot the infant Sonic in a capsule to Mobius, deciding to [[PetTheDog spare Sonic's life and allow him to make his own future]]. He decided to use Tsali as his next subject instead of a hedgehog, kicking off the events of the story]]. |
| 343 | [[/folder]] |
| 344 | |
| 345 | [[folder:M -- O]] |
| 346 | * {{Manchild}}: Beelzebub is an immature drug-fueled hedonist that would easily be the poster for a man child if he wasn't also incredibly dangerous. |
| 347 | * MassOhCrap: Everyone - including [[{{Satan}} Maledict]] himself - has one of these in Episode 75 when [[spoiler: Dark Tails steals the Chaos Emeralds and becomes a god]]. |
| 348 | * MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Eric the Hedgehog. Is he simply an eccentric and lucky IdiotSavant, or is he a HumanoidAbomination with the power of ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve? Both explanations are implied in the story. |
| 349 | * MedicalRapeAndImpregnate: The Empire of Mecca believe SexIsEvil to the point that they forcibly surgically impregnate their women every few seconds. |
| 350 | * MedievalStasis: Zigzagged due to the setting's massive SchizoTech. Demon and Angel technology, while still making advances, has stagnated due to [[ForeverWar endless warfare between them]], while Jewish and Muslim technology are deliberately held back thanks to religious fiat. Meanwhile, the Marmolims only regressed due to a near-apocalyptic Shroud infestation on their world. |
| 351 | ** Justified with the Shroud, since no known biological species in the universe can resist Shroud corruption. Indeed, the fact that [[EldritchAbomination Dark Tails]] is making them ''evolve anyway'' utterly terrifies both Maledict and Jesus. |
| 352 | * MementoMacGuffin: The red gem that Cosmo wears on her chest is revealed to be a very powerful and rare Doma Emerald that her family kept as a symbol of the Seedrians back on her homeworld. It allows her to communicate with the spirit of her mother Hertia [[spoiler: and her father Dark Oak]]. |
| 353 | * MercyKill: [[spoiler: Tails's death]] in Episode 77 is this after he sacrifices himself to stop Dark Tails and suffers AndIMustScream because of it. |
| 354 | ** Eggman and his robots terminate Beelzebub's "[[FateWorseThanDeath test subjects]]" in the Episode 67 rewrite. |
| 355 | * MetaphoricallyTrue: Maledict pulls this on Tsali in the climax. [[spoiler: He manipulated both Tsali and the Metarex to fight each other -- but they were the ones who destroyed the galaxy and did all the killing, not him.]] |
| 356 | * MindRape: The voice of Dark Tails either kills those who hear it outright or [[GoMadFromTheRevelation drives them violently insane]]. Cosmo nearly meets this fate in Episode 58, but her mother's amulet protects her from the worst effects. [[spoiler: Venus]], [[spoiler: Alice]] and [[spoiler: Trinity]] are not so lucky. |
| 357 | * MisplacedRetribution: Tsali ended up murdering Cosmo's entire race in revenge after [[spoiler:being slowly and tortuously turned into a robot]], even though only [[spoiler:his adopted father Luke/Dark Oak]] was actually responsible for it. |
| 358 | * MoodWhiplash: All over the place, but most notable in Episode 65. The chapter ends with a romantic scene between Cosmo and Tails -- and then it cuts to [[spoiler:[[WhamEpisode Jesus launching the Angel invasion of the galaxy]]]]. |
| 359 | * MoralityKitchenSink: |
| 360 | ** Sonic and his friends are firmly white, along with Eric and his own crew. |
| 361 | ** Maledict and his servants are dark grey. While they have genuine goals and motivations like order and peace, they cleanse whole planets and even entire galaxies if it suits them. |
| 362 | ** Tsali is black [[spoiler:at first]]. |
| 363 | ** Venus and Tephiroth are both lighter shades of grey. |
| 364 | ** The Metarex are grey too, mostly because they have entirely different motivations from their canon counterparts. Rather than cleansing the galaxy of animal life, they simply wish to gain freedom from the Demons so they can rebuild their race. |
| 365 | * MoreDakka: The Dreadnought is built entirely around this trope. It seems unarmed at first glance, until it reveals its extremely powerful hidden arsenal. It's actually described as carrying [[LampshadeHanging "enough guns to make an Ork blush."]]. And during the final battle, the ship unleashes ''[[RuleOfCool Super Duper Mega Ultra Extreme Wizard Mode]]'' -- turning it into a flying mass of guns and missile launchers that promptly massacres an entire Demon battle group. While playing the 1812 Overture at full volume. |
| 366 | ** Eric the Hedgehog's character basically revolves around this trope. His Super form, rather than giving him new powers or speed like Sonic, allows him to ''conjure gigantic guns out of thin air'' via ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve. |
| 367 | * MortonsFork: Later in the story, Maledict eventually realizes that the entire conflict has become this. Either he ends the stalemate by destroying the Milky Way Galaxy himself with the ''Galaxy Crusher'', or the Shroud are going to eat the entire galaxy and destroy it instead. He decides on the former, rationalizing it as a MercyKill compared to letting the Shroud get more powerful. |
| 368 | * MosesInTheBulrushes: [[spoiler:Sonic the Hedgehog]] was one of these; Maledict launched him into space as an infant in a capsule to euthanize him -- he survived and eventually landed on Mobius. Until Episode 53, Maledict has no idea his son was alive. |
| 369 | * MultipleChoicePast: When Chris asks [[RememberTheNewGuy where Eric the Hedgehog comes from]], Knuckles shrugs and says that Eric has a different (and "crazier") story every single time he's asked the question, so Sonic and friends gave up trying. [[spoiler: Turns out every single one of them is true - not that Eric knows it, since he's pretty much insane]]. |
| 370 | * MultipleEndings: The author wrote several alternate endings for the rewrite. |
| 371 | ** Ending A is the ending of the original version. |
| 372 | ** Ending B is a gigantic DownerEnding where [[spoiler:[[TheBadGuyWins Dark Tails implodes the Dark Planet Egg]] and opens up a NegativeSpaceWedgie that swallows the galaxy and kills everyone. It's eventually vanquished, but neither the Demons nor the Angels ever recover from the resulting Shroud invasion.]] |
| 373 | ** Ending C is a slightly modified version of the original ending where [[spoiler:the Forerunners don't invade the universe]]. |
| 374 | ** Ending D is a "[[BittersweetEnding good]]" ending; [[spoiler:Tails survives his battle with Dark Tails and successfully destroys the Dark Planet Egg, saving the universe. However, Dark Tails still lives.]] |
| 375 | ** Ending E is a silly ending where [[spoiler:[[TheDogWasTheMastermind Eric the Hedgehog]] [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall gets bored writing the story, deletes everything, and starts over from scratch]]]]. |
| 376 | * MutuallyAssuredDestruction: Played with on an intergalactic scale. Neither Maledict nor Allysion want the Eternal War to flare up again; when the Demon and Angel militaries collide, whole galaxies are exterminated and torn apart. But when the Metarex war distracts the Demons, Allysion realizes she can gain a massive advantage over her enemy by invading the Milky Way first. Her surprise attack quickly turns the ''entire Milky Way Galaxy'' into [[CrapsackWorld a hellish wasteland]] as the Demons and Angels go into open conflict. |
| 377 | * MyGodWhatHaveIDone: In Episode 74, Tsali's core systems are damaged in the previous Episode, causing his programming to become scrambled. Because of this, the programs preventing him from feeling regret or remorse for his crimes are disabled. When he and the heroes find out [[spoiler:Maledict had been manipulating him from the beginning]], he completely breaks down into a sobbing wreck as his systems starts going into full LogicBomb meltdown - and the horrors he unleashed come back to him. |
| 378 | ** Knuckles has one of these at the end of Episode 73 after setting Tails on fire to destroy his Shroud form, and nearly burning Tails to death when it changes him back to normal. |
| 379 | * NiceJobBreakingItHero: |
| 380 | ** During the Demon-Seedrian War, Venus attempted to kill (pre-android) Tsali in order to prevent him from becoming the Ultimate Weapon. However, she's stopped by Hertia and Luke, who loved him as their adopted son. [[CassandraTruth Guess]] [[StartOfDarkness what]] [[YouCantFightFate happened]]. |
| 381 | ** Maledict tried to euthanize [[spoiler:Sonic, Shadow, and Eric]] after he created them and discovered their severe flaws. Not only did all three of them survive, but all three of them end up destroying his conspiracy. |
| 382 | * NighInvulnerability: |
| 383 | ** Lord Maledict, being both a PhysicalGod and a HumanoidAbomination, has this. He completely no sells every single attack from Sonic and his friends, even in their Super forms. However, because of his sheer power, his physical body is slowly dying off on its own. |
| 384 | ** Astorath the Prince of Darkness is so physically strong he's completely unaffected by ''warship-class weapons'' fired directly at him. It's why Cream [[CombatPragmatist fights dirty]] and throws Cheese directly into his eyes. |
| 385 | * NinjaPirateZombieRobot: ''hoo boy''. Just to begin, Tsali the Ultimate Weapon is a Demon android two-tailed fox. Tephiroth is an angelic humanoid three-tailed cyborg fox. Maledict is a hedgehog-humanoid-reptile [[spoiler: cyborg]] PhysicalGod. Venus the Seedrian is a Seedrian cyborg vampire. |
| 386 | ** The king of this trope has to go to the Tsali Androids; *deep breath* batshit-insane cannibalistic flesh-eating demonically-possessed fox robots. |
| 387 | * NonEndorHolocaust: Surprisingly averted in ''Fanfic/SonicXDarkChaos'' despite the fact that it is quite soft science fiction. Episode 66 has a space battle above a planet -- and the planet below is quickly annihilated by the millions of disabled ships crashing into it. |
| 388 | ** In Episode 67, it's specifically stated that the Galaxy Crusher -- a Demon battlestation the size of a ''red giant'' -- cannot be deployed anywhere near planets or stars. Its sheer size messes up gravity so much that being anywhere near it destroys planets. |
| 389 | ** The birth of [[EldritchAbomination Dark Tails]] in Episode 75 causes nearby stars to literally burn out and moons to turn into clouds of blood. [[NightmareFuel The results are not pretty]]. |
| 390 | * NoSell: Maledict is basically immune to Super Sonic, Super Shadow, and Super Eric [[TheWorfEffect combined]]. Needless to say, it's a CurbStompBattle when they actually do fight in Episode 64. |
| 391 | * NoSexAllowed: {{Deconstructed|Trope}} horrifically by the Emirate of Mecca. The Emirate is a [[RecycledInSpace space]] Muslim theocracy that has extremely strict religious rules on sex. This naturally causes the Muslims to have very low birthrates, so [[LoopholeAbuse rather than having sex]] they [[FateWorseThanDeath turned their women into literal baby factories, which are surgically impregnated and forced to give birth every few seconds]]. |
| 392 | * NoodleIncident: Tails occasionally refers to the last time he tried to repair something made by Eric, which ended up with him institutionalized for a week. Also, both Jesus and Maledict consider the [[Literature/TheBible Temptation in the Desert]] to be this trope in-universe. |
| 393 | * NukeEm: Cosmo's mother Hertia nuked her own home planet into oblivion to stop Tsali. [[NighInvulnerable It didn't work.]] |
| 394 | * ObliviouslyEvil: The Shroud are animals following their natural instincts, those instincts being to infect and [[BodyHorror hideously mutate]] organic matter. |
| 395 | * OffscreenVillainDarkMatter: |
| 396 | ** Averted. Tsali got the funds to build his own PMC and have his own private asteroid base from Maledict himself, who gave Tsali basically unlimited access to the Demon treasury so that money wouldn't be a concern. Also justified with the Demons themselves, which have the resources of ''half the universe'' in their control. |
| 397 | ** Played straight with Dark Tails, [[EldritchAbomination although he isn't exactly "natural"]]... |
| 398 | * OmnicidalManiac: |
| 399 | ** Tsali, who declares that if he has to burn and murder the entire universe to gain his revenge, [[AxCrazy he would be more than happy to do it]]. Only slaying fresh victims gives him any hope for his future; the bloodier, the better. |
| 400 | ** The Shroud wants to consume all life in the universe, with Dark Tails then intending to turn all life including the Shroud into [[TheCorruption Dark Chaos Energy]]. |
| 401 | ** Dark Tails wishes to recreate the entire universe in his own image by corrupting it with Dark Chaos Energy. Of course, this puts him at odds with Maledict and Allysion -- who both want to do the same thing in their own images. |
| 402 | * OnlyAFleshWound: When Tails refuses to hand over Cosmo to him in Episode 73, Tsali throws him to the floor and graphically ''rips his heart and lungs out of his chest''. Tails responds by turning into [[EleventhHourSuperpower Shroud Tails]], immediately regenerates his wounds, and [[CurbstompBattle retaliates in kind]]. |
| 403 | * OrcusOnHisThrone: Lord Maledict is this until Episode 63, when he is so aggravated by Tsali's failures that he shows up personally to challenge Sonic and his friends -- [[CurbStompBattle and promptly wipes the floor with them]]. It explicitly justified, as he's both TheChessmaster and trying to run a gigantic universal empire at the same time. |
| 404 | * OrderVersusChaos: Despite having created the ''Chaos'' Emeralds, [[{{Satan}} Maledict]] Maledict firmly believes in imposing absolute order upon the universe - courtesy of his Demon Empire - and he will do anything to accomplish his goal. |
| 405 | -->'''Maledict''': That is why the universe belongs to me. We bring order upon the chaos. Without it, life and civilization would not exist. Brother would fight brother, parents would destroy their children. Darkness would swallow all. |
| 406 | * OrphansPlotTrinket: Sonic keeps an inscribed amulet in a desk in his quarters. It's not until later that he finds out that [[spoiler:the amulet was given to him by Maledict when he was created]] and that [[spoiler:the writing reveals Maledict is Sonic's progenitor]]. |
| 407 | * OurAngelsAreDifferent: Angels are HumanAliens who were originally slaves to the [[TheEmpire Demon Empire]] before they launched a massive rebellion and gained their independence. Humans themselves are descended from them. Their close ethnic counterparts, the Jews and the Muslims, are also HumanAliens. |
| 408 | * OurZombiesAreDifferent: The story has the Shroud, which is essentially a combination of the Flood from ''Halo'' and the Necromorphs from ''Dead Space''. Large parasites cause rapid and BodyHorror-filled mutation in organic matter, and the resulting monster is both extremely fast and extremely deadly. Multiply them by several ''trillion'' and it's not hard to see why Shroud are considered the greatest threat to the denizens of the galaxy. [[spoiler: And Dark Tails can control them]]. |
| 409 | * OutrunTheFireball: The heroes escape the incinerated remains of the Metarex battlestation ''Tryphon'' in episode 64. |
| 410 | * OverlyLongName: The Prophet Muhammad's full name is Muhammad Ali Hussein Abu al-Addin bin-Laden al-Zarqawdi Talib. |
| 411 | [[/folder]] |
| 412 | |
| 413 | [[folder:P -- S]] |
| 414 | * PoweredByAForsakenChild: In Episode 67, Eggman and Rouge discover the truth behind Beelzebub's fake Chaos Emeralds; they're empowered by Dark Chaos Energy - produced by dozens of lobotomized slaves undergoing AndIMustScream. |
| 415 | * PhysicalGod: Maledict is an interesting {{Deconstruction}}. He's actually a HumanoidAbomination that was forced to take physical form in order to survive his injuries after his epic battle against Allysion that created the entire universe. And he's trying to keep his physical form at all costs, as dying will unleash his power and cause the end of the universe. |
| 416 | %%* PlantAliens: Cosmo and the Metarex. |
| 417 | * PoweredArmor: Lord Maledict has one of these under his cloak that keeps his horrifically-mutilated and decaying physical body from falling apart. [[RuleOfCool And its]] "studded with sacred pentagram sigils and spikes, hewn from gold and rubies, adorned with screaming souls, flanked with flaming goat skulls on the shoulders and inscribed with six hundred and sixty-six prayers." |
| 418 | ** Tsali's metal endoskeleton is actually one of these, powered by Dark Chaos Energy which allows him to absorb impacts and tank nearly impossible amounts of damage. |
| 419 | * PraetorianGuard: The ''Kompanions'' serve as Maledict's personal bodyguards, as the most elite of the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Nephilim/Hell Knights]]. Their job is mostly ceremonial, and they spend more time guarding important diplomats and foreigners than Maledict - [[PhysicalGod who doesn't need guards at all]]. However, Episode 75 shows that they're so skilled and well-trained that they can each individually battle Jesus himself in one-on-one combat. |
| 420 | * PragmaticVillainy: Maledict doesn't want to destroy the galaxy with his galaxy-destroying superweapon because the resources of the Milky Way are too useful to squander - and trillions of his own subjects would die in the process, which could form another rebellion and hurt the Demon Empire. He only eventually relents once the Shroud start devouring the Milky Way in force under [[EldritchAbomination Dark Tails]]. The rewrite makes him [[MagnificentBastard so pragmatic]] that he quickly turns into an AntiVillain, often criticizing the excesses of his servants and turning him into a personification of HobbesWasRight. |
| 421 | ** Jesus decides to ally with Sonic and friends even though his Angels considers them evil, understanding that they're both a valuable distraction and could do serious damage to the Angels if they were antagonized. |
| 422 | * PrivateMilitaryContractors: |
| 423 | ** The Metarex are depicted as an extremely powerful version of this, funded and controlled by both their [[spoiler: Seedrian cyborg]] leaders and the mysterious "M" [[spoiler: who happens to actually be Maledict]]. |
| 424 | ** Tsali also founded his own private military company, although it's been almost completely destroyed by the start of the story (he's the only member of it left). |
| 425 | * ProphecyTwist: In the backstory of the fanfic, the Seedrians prophesied that they would be destroyed from within by the Black Wind. [[spoiler: The prophecy never said a Seedrian would be the "Black Wind" though]]. |
| 426 | * ProudWarriorRaceGuy: The all-male Hell Knights, also called the Nephilim, are an entire race of these who have dedicated themselves to Maledict as an eternal warrior class. In a similar vein to Vikings, they are utterly relentless in battle, but have extremely strong -- [[BlueAndOrangeMorality and unusual]] -- honor codes. |
| 427 | * PsychopathicManchild: Beelzebub, the Lord of Flies. A death metal druggie and MadScientist, he's also a sadistic pedophile who gets off on ColdBloodedTorture. After capturing them, [[spoiler:he ends up raping Chris and almost-raping Cosmo]] simply because [[BrainBleach he wanted to feel how "tight" they were]]. |
| 428 | ** Tsali is basically this trope personified, often going straight into AxCrazy with his playful attitude towards violence and bloodshed. It's justified later on with the reveal that [[spoiler: he was turned into a robot by Cosmo's race when he was only ten, which prevented him from ageing physically or mentally - and the entire Metarex War was basically a [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds genocidal temper-tantrum]] over it]]. Also lightly [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructed]], as his lack of self-control nearly ruins Maledict's plans several times. |
| 429 | * PurpleProse: Invoked, though the story itself typically averts this. Whenever Demonish is translated for the reader, it's quite flowery and dramatic. [[AllThereInTheManual Background material]] indicates that it's also pretty much all {{Woolseyism}} too, since Demonish is [[StarfishLanguage basically impossible for humans to even speak]] (let alone translate). This trope is also deliberately invoked whenever a character prays to Maledict or Allysion, with plenty of religious references to go with it. |
| 430 | * PyrrhicVictory: Both played straight and discussed in the final episode. Maledict succeeded in creating an "Ultimate Weapon" greater than he ever dreamed of... but the fact that his prized Ultimate Weapon ([[spoiler: both of them, in fact]]) ended up turning against him [[{{Irony}} thanks to his own actions]] made his success ultimately pointless. Even ''Maledict himself'' admits his GambitRoulette wasn't worth it in the end. |
| 431 | * RagtagBunchOfMisfits: Eric and the crew of the Dreadnought take this [[ExaggeratedTrope Up to Eleven]] - featuring Alice the Cat (a rescued orphan girl), Sonya the Hedgehog (a [[SirSwearsALot foul-mouthed]] Japanese Delinquent WrenchWench [[spoiler: who happens to be a former princess]]), Shadow the Hedgehog, Fang the Sniper, Mighty the Armadillo, and of course [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Eric]] [[IdiotSavant the]] [[GeniusDitz Hedgehog]] himself. They end up holding their own against Demon forces many times their size, and [[HeroOfAnotherStory indirectly]] help Sonic and friends save the galaxy. |
| 432 | * RankScalesWithAsskicking: Maledict is far more powerful than any of his subordinates, as he's both {{Satan}} and a PhysicalGod. |
| 433 | * ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: |
| 434 | ** Jesus Christ (yes, that one) is still in his thirty year old body despite being two thousand years old. Most of the Angels count as this, since they're all ageless HumanAliens. Some of the non-human Angels like Tephiroth take it up to eleven - several of them are ''trillions'' of years old. |
| 435 | ** Tsali the Ultimate Weapon, who is actually forty years old but in a ten-year old body. It's also justified, as he was roboticized into a combat android when he was ten. |
| 436 | * ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Most of the Angel leaders, except for [[GeneralRipper Metatron]]. They don't want the Metarex war to escalate, and immediately realize that Dark Tails is the biggest threat to the galaxy. |
| 437 | * {{Reconstruction}}: |
| 438 | ** The story starts as a deconstruction of Sonic the Hedgehog, from the concept of Chaos Energy and the Chaos Emeralds to throwing the kid-friendly characters into a [[CrapsackWorld not-so-kid-friendly]] [[CosmicHorrorStory universe]] filled with BlackAndGrayMorality. However, the second half - especially in the rewritten version - is spent showing that ThePowerOfFriendship and ThePowerOfLove can prevail even in the face of cosmic terror. |
| 439 | ** It also reconstructs the CosmicHorrorStory. [[spoiler:Not all of the all-powerful alien beings [[EternalRecurrence are evil]] [[BlueAndOrangeMorality per se]]]], even if they seem to be at first glance. |
| 440 | * RedBaron: Tsali is known [[TheDreaded and feared]] as "The Black Wind". Allysion calls Sonic "the Antichrist" and the "Son of Perdition". [[spoiler: She's technically not wrong.]] |
| 441 | * ReferenceOverdosed: This story could probably rival a Creator/QuentinTarantino movie with the sheer number of shout outs (both blatant and obscure) to other media, especially video games and movies. |
| 442 | ** [[LampshadeHanging Hilariously]], one of them is an extended reference to Quentin Tarantino's ''Film/PulpFiction''. |
| 443 | * RefugeInAudacity: [[spoiler: Maledict secretly controlling the Metarex using an incredibly poor disguise]] was basically this, and the only reason it worked was because neither Dark Oak nor Tsali could believe that [[spoiler: Maledict]] would be able to pull it off. |
| 444 | ** Basically everything Eric the Hedgehog does or says is this. Discovering that [[spoiler: Molly and Leon's refugee group are eating their dead]]? [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Ask for dessert]]. Taking on an entire Demon fleet led by Satan himself? ''[[LeeroyJenkins Charge in guns blazing]] and ram Maledict's flagship while blasting the 1812 Overture over coms''. Indeed, it's said in-story that the reason he's so dangerous is because he literally has no concept of fear. |
| 445 | ** The entire background setting runs on this - among other things, it features space Muslims with mechanical spiders [[PoweredByAForsakenChild powered by molested girls]], literal SpaceJews that are [[ANaziByAnyOtherName basically Nazis]], and enough BlackComedy to rival ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''. |
| 446 | * ReligionOfEvil: {{Deconstructed|Trope}} in ''Fanfic/SonicXDarkChaos''. Satan himself is worshiped as a literal god by many races of the galaxy, but the satanist churches are depicted as being rather friendly and helpful to their societies. Meanwhile, ''Islam'' (at least the [[TheThemeParkVersion version]] practiced by [[FantasyCounterpartCulture the Emirate of Mecca]]) and Christianity ([[LightIsNotGood to a lesser extent]]) are portrayed as this trope instead - [[DystopiaIsHard which is a major reason why many in-universe hate them even more than the Demons]]. |
| 447 | * RememberTheNewGuy: Lampshaded and PlayedForLaughs when Eric the Hedgehog shows up out of nowhere and Chris asks who he is. |
| 448 | -->'''Chris''': You guys never told me there was another hedgehog like Sonic on your planet! |
| 449 | -->'''Amy''': Yeah, and [[TheFriendNobodyLikes there's a reason for that]]. |
| 450 | -->'''Knuckles''': Believe us Chris, you're lucky he didn't get teleported to your world with us last time. |
| 451 | * {{Retcon}}: The rewrite not only retconned huge parts of the original, but it also retconned nearly all of the author's prequel story ''Fall of the Seedrians'' as well - to the point where the author discontinued the prequel entirely. |
| 452 | * RevealingCoverUp: Maledict sends Tsali to kill Venus after she steals tons of classified information from the Demon government. Tsali eventually finishes her off -- but not before she reveals that bits of the information she found pertain to him. This makes Tsali intensely suspicious of Maledict and leads him to go find out what she learned [[spoiler: which ends up with him discovering the conspiracy behind both him the Metarex War -- and wrecking Maledict's entire master plan]]. |
| 453 | * RightForTheWrongReasons: Tsali eventually surmises that Maledict isn't actually interested in fighting Sonic the Hedgehog at all, and guesses that it's because he's gonna replace Tsali with them. [[spoiler:It's actually because Sonic, Shadow, and Eric are his cloned sons.]] |
| 454 | * RockBeatsLaser: Played With in the background setting of the fanfic. The Demons initially thought that the Angel rebellion would be easy to defeat - the Demon Empire had technology that could ''destroy galaxies at the push of a button'' and ''control time'' versus [[FuturePrimitive simple projectile weapons and nuclear missiles]]. Turned out that the Jews, Muslims, and Angels had [[SchizoTech much more than that]], and used their more... advanced technology to fight the Demons into [[HopelessWar a bloody, eternal stalemate]]. It helps that the Jews of the Tribal Republic are the masters of stealth and guerrilla warfare, and the Muslims are suicidally courageous and fanatical in battle. |
| 455 | ** And then the Shroud appeared, playing this trope straight. The Shroud have no technology at all, being a parasitic HordeOfAlienLocusts, and yet there are so many of them and they are so strong that they can easily fight both Demons and Angels at the same time. |
| 456 | * RockMeAsmodeus: {{Beelzebub}} is the one who originally invented both the guitar and rock n' roll [[NoodleIncident (by accident, during the mother of all drug binges)]]. His guitar, ''Fuckslayer'', is the very first guitar ever made and [[ThePowerOfRock is so strong it can obliterate warships]]. |
| 457 | * RoleSwapAU: Tails and Cosmo end up exchanging the roles in their canonical separation [[spoiler:with ''Tails'' being the one to pull a HeroicSacrifice and ''Cosmo'' being the one to [[KillTheOnesYouLove kill the person she loves]]]]. |
| 458 | * RoyallyScrewedUp: The Emirate of Mecca is ruled by the House of Ishmael. How utterly corrupt and screwed up is it? The [[TheCaligula Prophet Muhammad]] (who happens to be a completely insane dictator who tried to irrigate fields with blood) is considered to be ''one of the better members''. The family is the primary reason for the Emirate being a nightmarish totalitarian theocracy. According to WordOfGod, it was explicitly based on the real life Saudi royal family. |
| 459 | * RuleOfCool: Most of the story runs on this with a generous topping of DarkerAndEdgier and [[{{Gorn}} graphic violence]] out the wazoo. From battlestations the size of ''stars'' to [[ImpossiblyCoolWeapon six-necked demonic guitars that can blast warships apart]] to murderous killer androids to ''Franchise/DragonBall''-esque Chaos powers, it's here. According to WordOfGod, most of the physics and science run on this too. |
| 460 | * {{Satan}}: Lord Maledict is the titular Devil. Ruler of the [[TheEmpire Demon Empire]], he's also the maker of the Chaos Emeralds, and helped create the entire universe. [[spoiler: And he also [[LukeIAmYourFather created Sonic the Hedgehog]]]]. Uniquely for the setting, Maledict is portrayed as far stronger than Jesus [[CurbStompBattle as he proves in Episode 75]] - while Jesus is simply a powerful (but technically mortal) Angel, Maledict is literally divine. |
| 461 | * SadisticChoice: Episode 75 has a truly crowning example. Satan gives Sonic and his friends a choice between giving him the Chaos Emeralds or the ''metaphysical annihilation of the entire Milky Way Galaxy''. [[spoiler:Sonic and his friends choose the latter, but D'Arnazhee betrays Maledict and shoots the Galaxy Crusher's firing mechanism right out of his hand]]. |
| 462 | * SatanIsGood: Played With. [[PhysicalGod Maledict]] is a FauxAffablyEvil ManipulativeBastard tyrant with semi-good intentions. However, compared to [[GodIsEvil Allysion]] and the Angels (especially the Muslims), he looks like a saint in comparison. |
| 463 | * ScaryDogmaticAliens: The story goes all over the place with this. The Jews are (ironically) Nazis, the Muslims are Fundamentalists, the Angels are a vague Communist/Fundamentalist hybrid, and the Demons are Conquistadores. |
| 464 | * SceneryGorn: The story vividly describes a galaxy torn apart. Sonic and his friends find many worlds devastated by the Metarex conflict and Shroud pandemics, and some changed beyond recognition from losing their Planet Eggs. Others have been turned into glassed hellholes by the Demon Empire or transformed into [[GeniusLoci living conduits]] of [[TheCorruption Dark Chaos Energy]]. |
| 465 | * SchizoTech: Technology is all over the place, depending on the planet and aliens involved. The Demons (minus Astorath and the Nephilim) and Angels are consistently portrayed as SufficientlyAdvancedAliens, but the Jewish forces range from [[FuturePrimitive flying pieces of welded scrap with machine guns]] to [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm secret tech so advanced that it cannot be physically understood]]. Some races that Sonic and his friends encounter have little to no technology at all, using old wooden sailing ships (the Zeko natives) or straight up satanic BlackMagic (the Marmolims). The Muslims may be the king of this trope, combining fanatical spearmen and suicide bombers with golden nuke-flinging battleships and BodyHorror-filled genetic engineering. It helps that its a totalitarian theocracy that considers many common pieces of technology to be ''haraam''. |
| 466 | * ScienceFantasy: The universe of ''Sonic X: Dark Chaos'', being essentially a twisted mixture of ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' and ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'', runs entirely with this. It combines SpaceOpera science fiction mixed in with magical Chaos powers, Lovecraftian horrors, and SufficientlyAdvancedAliens. |
| 467 | * ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: Tsali is able to get away with ''genocide and mass murder'' without Demon government interference because of his personal connections with Maledict himself. He also has near-limitless access to money from the Demon treasury for the same reason. |
| 468 | * {{Seppuku}}: In a flashback in Episode 74, Cosmo's mother Hertia committed seppuku with a plasma knife after Maledict devolved her to her original form. It's actually a case of BetterToDieThanBeKilled - Maledict explicitly gave her the choice between suicide or a FateWorseThanDeath. And in an interesting case of ShownTheirWork, Maledict ends her suffering by decapitating her as well. |
| 469 | %%* SequelHook |
| 470 | * SerialEscalation: The fanfic deconstructs the Sonic franchise's use of the trope by quickly introducing numerous [[InvincibleVillain Invincible Villains]] and demonstrating that the heroes are surviving not because of their power, but because the villains keep getting in each other's way [[spoiler:[[BlackAndGrayMorality or aren't really "villains"]]]]. And the heroes are [[BreakTheCutie affected]] by the seeming hopelessness of their situation, [[DeconReconSwitch even though they keep helping as many people as they can]]. |
| 471 | * ShipperOnDeck: In Episode 65, Team Chaotix try to get Tails and Cosmo together just like the regular episode. And just like the regular episode, all of their attempts fail. Tails and Cosmo do get together, though. |
| 472 | * ShooOutTheClowns: The Chaotix essentially disappear after Episode 65, until they show up for the final battle. |
| 473 | * ShootTheShaggyDog: Several of the episodes end up like this, but Episode 68 is probably the most notable. [[spoiler:Tsali steals the Chaos Emerald and murders Molly, and then a Demon fleet [[DeathFromAbove glasses the planet from orbit]]]]. |
| 474 | * ShoutOut: Beelzebub has a guitar called "[[Fanfic/ThirtyHs Fuckslayer]]". |
| 475 | * SinsOfOurFathers: As revealed in chapter 22, Tsali has been after Cosmo because [[spoiler: because her father Lucas made him into what he is now. Tails points out that Cosmo is ''not'' guilty of her father's crimes, but Tsali responds that she carries her father's blood, and that's enough for him]]. |
| 476 | * SlaveRace: The Jews were enslaved by the Demon Empire, before many of them rebelled and created their own nation. The Demons also tend to do this with many planets they conquer, if they do not exterminate them outright. |
| 477 | * SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: The fanfic lies closer to the middle. Sonic and his friends are still heroes and hold their ideals, even if several of them are traumatized by the [[WarIsHell things]] they see. However, the rest of the setting is [[BlackAndGrayMorality very]], [[CrapsackWorld very]], [[CosmicHorrorStory very]], '''[[BlackComedy VERY]]''' cynical. |
| 478 | * SlidingScaleOfPlotVersusCharacters: This fanfic is heavy on the plot side, although the rewrite does add more characterization to everyone to help explain the plot. |
| 479 | * SlidingScaleOfSillinessVersusSeriousness: Somewhere in the middle. While the story itself is ([[BlackComedy usually]]) treated quite seriously, the background material and setting is so blatantly tongue-in-cheek that the tongue goes right through the cheek. |
| 480 | * TheSociopath: Tsali the Ultimate Weapon is a {{Deconstruction}} of this. [[spoiler: Several systems in his artificial brain were secretly modified to completely suppress his empathy and sense of mercy so he would never feel remorse for his crimes. However, when those systems are [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone accidentally damaged]]... |
| 481 | * TheSpartanWay: Heavily deconstructed. Cosmo's race tried to turn the ten year-old [[spoiler: Tsali]] into the "Ultimate Weapon" by replacing every single body part with robotics (without anesthesia), infusing his mechanical body with [[TheCorruption Dark Chaos Energy]] abilities, and putting him through TrainingFromHell that would make a Space Marine wince. [[TheDogBitesBack It]] [[CameBackWrong backfired]] ''[[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters horribly]]''; by the time it was over, [[spoiler: Tsali]] was nothing more than a bloodthirsty AxCrazy berserker -- he promptly committed genocide upon the entire Seedrian race in revenge the instant he escaped. |
| 482 | * SpoilerTitle: Episode 77 is titled "''Tails's Work''". If you know that the original episode's Japanese title was "''Cosmo's Work''" and that Cosmo dies in that episode... |
| 483 | * SpoofAesop: Muslims are all psychopathic pedophile fundamentalists who enjoy rape and torture [[ArtisticLicenseReligion because Islam says they should]]. Both Christianity and Judaism - and their followers - are depicted as stupid and naive at best or complete ReligionOfEvil at worst. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in Episode 68: |
| 484 | -->'''Eric:''' Remember kids, Islam is bad and if you're a Muslim, you should feel bad!\ |
| 485 | '''Sonya:''' That's an... odd lesson. |
| 486 | * StarCrossedLovers: As in canon, fate (and death) serve to separate Tails and Cosmo. [[spoiler:Except this time, it's ''Tails'' who ends up sacrificing himself while ''Cosmo'' is the one to pull the trigger]]. |
| 487 | * StateSec: The Intelligence and Reconnaissance Department (IRD) is the state security of the Demon Empire. They are outside the military and follow only Beelzebub's orders. The Erelim is a more benign version of this for the Angel Federation. |
| 488 | * StatusQuoIsGod: A major theme of ''Dark Chaos''. Sure Sonic and his friends stopped Dark Tails and saved the galaxy... but the endless conflict between Maledict and Allysion continues, [[TheBadGuyWins they both got what they wanted in the end]], and there's nothing anyone can do to stop them. [[spoiler:Until the CruelTwistEnding.]] |
| 489 | * StealthParody: According to WordOfGod, the rewrite is this trope to grimdark "edgy" ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' fanfics via both deconstruction and BlackComedy. The background materials are also scathingly satirical of Judeo-Christian religion rather than the author's actual views. |
| 490 | * StrawNihilist: Tsali the Ultimate Weapon is one of these [[spoiler:until TheReveal in Episode 74]]. He decides that all morality and compassion is meaningless to him; only revenge has any meaning for him. |
| 491 | * SummonBiggerFish: Episode 63. Tsali is finally cornered and on the verge of defeat. Cue Maledict himself appearing to face Sonic personally. |
| 492 | * SuperPrototype: Tsali himself was this to the Tsali Endoskeletons. It's later revealed to be a JustifiedTrope -- the endoskeletons were built in the last days of the Demon-Seedrian War, with the Seedrians nearly wiped out and scraping together anything to slow the Demons down. |
| 493 | * SuperPoweredEvilSide: Tails gets one, although eventually he gains full control of it and keeps his normal personality. |
| 494 | [[/folder]] |
| 495 | |
| 496 | [[folder:T -- V]] |
| 497 | * TakeThat: The story has several examples in both its setting and its prose. |
| 498 | ** The ''entire Angel Federation'' is a ''truly enormous'' TakeThat to Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. Especially the Emirate of Mecca, which is basically a damning insult against Muslim theocracies in general and Islam itself as a whole. It's such a huge TakeThat, in fact, that it sometimes crosses into borderline racism - the Jews and Muslims are depicted as groups of FuturePrimitive brown-skinned HumanAliens who prefer fighting each other all the time over petty tribal squabbles, for example. All three countries represent the author's beefs with their religions, even though the recent rewrite balanced their depiction by [[BlackAndGrayMorality making them the gray to the Demons' black]]. |
| 499 | ** The pre-rewrite versions had numerous TakeThat moments towards 4Kids Entertainment, who originally dubbed ''Sonic X''. When 4Kids went bankrupt, the author decided the insults weren't needed anymore and removed them. |
| 500 | * ThatsNoMoon: This is the reaction of the Chaotix when they detect into the reactivated ''Galaxy Crusher'', a Demon battlestation the size of a red giant. |
| 501 | -->'''Vector:''' I thought stars were supposed to be, you know, bright.\ |
| 502 | '''Espio:''' That's not a star. |
| 503 | * ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: Beelzebub decides that there's only one way to finally take out Sonic and end the Metarex war; blow up the entire galaxy with the Galaxy Crusher. |
| 504 | ** Hell, the ''Galaxy Crusher'' is pretty much the physical incarnation of this trope - it's the size of a red giant and capable of obliterating ''galaxies''. |
| 505 | * TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Maledict gives one to [[spoiler: Jesus Christ]] while the two of them are dueling on the Typhoon's flight deck in Episode 75. |
| 506 | -->'''Maledict''': What would you know of courage and honor, slave? Listen to you and your wretches yelling of courage and honor, courage and honor, courage and honor! Do you even know the meaning of those words? Courage is doing what must be done, no matter the cost! You know nothing of courage. Honor is protecting ''my'' universe from scum like you! You know nothing of honor. You Christians and Muslims and Jews! You rape and pillage and burn, you oppress the weak, you torment the innocent, you keep the universe down with delusions of salvation! You and your Goddess take all they have, but that's not enough for you! |
| 507 | --> ''[[spoiler: Jesus]]'': [[ShutUpHannibal Then you're a slave as much as I am]] - enslaved by your power, blind to the future. Too hateful to learn. Too spiteful to prosper. |
| 508 | ** Earlier in the same episode, Shadow also gives one the Maledict in response to the latter's WeCanRuleTogether offer. |
| 509 | -->'''Shadow''': I made a promise to to a human I loved named Maria. I forgot that promise and I nearly wiped out an entire race because of it. You despise humans... and yet a human taught me the most valuable lesson of all; there are still things worth fighting for. Demon or Angel, it doesn't matter. I'm nobody's slave Maledict, especially not yours. |
| 510 | * TheTunguskaEvent: In the background material, it was the result of a disabled Angel scout ship activating its Warpspace drive in Earth's atmosphere just before it crashed. |
| 511 | * TheUnpronounceable: |
| 512 | ** Demonish, the common Demon language. Most of it is translated, but not all of it. The easiest way to replicate it is to [[WordOfGod "roll your face on your keyboard"]]. It is described in-story as a combination of Latin and Enochian put in ''reverse''. |
| 513 | ** Demonese Skript, an ancient form of Demonish, is literally only translatable by Maledict himself. |
| 514 | * TheWorldIsNotReady: Episode 75 reveals that this is the primary motivation for Maledict trying to rule the entire universe. He believes that sentient mortal beings are not ready for freedom to make their own decisions, and must be controlled (freely or by enslavement) for their own good. |
| 515 | * ThisIsUnforgivable: Shadow's reaction to Tsali insulting Maria in Episode 63. |
| 516 | ** Pretty much everyone's reaction to [[spoiler: Tsali murdering Molly after promising he would release her in exchange for the Chaos Emerald]] in Episode 68 and then calling in an entire Demon fleet to destroy the planet they're on. |
| 517 | * TimeAbyss: The Eternal War has raged between the Angels and Demons for five hundred ''trillion'' years. Maledict and Allysion are even older than that; they helped create the entire universe several times over. |
| 518 | * TimeSkip: There are short indeterminate time skips between most of the episodes. Only Episodes 55/56 and the episodes after 74 directly follow each other. |
| 519 | * TomeOfEldritchLore: In the lore of the fanfic, the Bible and the Koran are depicted as this, [[KnightTemplar driving people]] [[TheFundamentalist to madness]] and being able to summon Lovecraftian horrors with the right versions. |
| 520 | * TookALevelInBadass: Cosmo, especially compared to the original series. She protects Tails from Tsali, gives a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to ''the Devil himself'', and ends up commanding the Blue Typhoon during the final episodes. |
| 521 | ** Tails is the biggest recipient of badass levels with all the transformations and powers he gains over the course of the series. Not only does he command the Blue Typhoon, he gains control over Chaos powers as well. The rewrite tones it down considerably due to reviewer complaints. |
| 522 | * TorturePorn: Episode 67 is this trope, inflicted on Chris and Cosmo. [[{{Squick}} With emphasis]] [[BrainBleach on the "porn."]] |
| 523 | * TragicKeepsake: Sonic finds a shred of [[spoiler:Tails's]] glove after the final battle. |
| 524 | * TraumaCongaLine: Tsali's backstory/StartOfDarkness was a conga line of epic proportions. First, his home planet is annihilated and his family was killed when he was only ten. The Seedrians rescued him and then Cosmo's father Luke decided to use him in a demented attempt to defeat a Demon invasion of their homeworld. Tsali gets turned into a combat android powered by [[TheCorruption Dark Chaos Energy]]--[[BodyHorror very painfully]]--and Tsali promptly goes completely crazy from rage once he finally breaks out. He ends up slaughtering the entire Seedrian race before getting several dozen nuclear weapons dropped on him by Cosmo's mother Hertia. He barely survives by making a literal DealWithTheDevil--[[{{Irony}} becoming a pawn of the very same person who destroyed his home planet]]--and is forced to fight a brutal one-man war across the galaxy for revenge against the Metarex... yeah. And [[FromBadToWorse just to rub it all in]], he hired a group of mercenaries to help him, one of them being his (still living) younger sister [[spoiler: only for them to eventually betray him and force him to murder all of them]]. It's telling that when ''Dark Chaos'' begins thirty years later, he's been [[AxCrazy so utterly brutalized]] by his [[WarIsHell experiences]] that he considers ''disemboweling children'' to be a source of cheap entertainment. |
| 525 | * TrollFic: WordOfGod confirms that most of the content revolving around the Angel Federation -- especially its StrawCharacter extremely demeaning]] depiction of Islam - was created [[{{Troll}} specifically to piss off Muslim and Christian readers]]. |
| 526 | * TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: Tsali is the incarnation of this trope. He ''committed genocide'' on an entire race when he was only ten years old. Even thirty years later, he's still physically and mentally ten due to being turned into a robot - turning him into an AxCrazy PsychopathicManchild. |
| 527 | * TurnedAgainstTheirMasters: Tsali the Ulimate Weapon was involuntarily turned into a Dark Chaos Energy-powered battle android by Dark Oak. The second he awakened and freed himself, he immediately [[GoMadFromTheRevelation went off the deep end]] and promptly slaughtered the entire Seedrian race. |
| 528 | * UnwillingRoboticization: The story extensively deconstructs this trope to its [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul utterly]] [[NightmareFuel horrific]] [[BodyHorror extremes]]. [[spoiler:''Especially'' with Tsali - this trope was inflicted to him by the Seedrians, caused him to go [[DespairEventHorizon nearly insane from pain and despair]], and led to him committing genocide on Cosmo's entire race in revenge before starting the Metarex War and destroying most of the galaxy]]. |
| 529 | * UterineReplicator: One of the darker moments in this story is that the Miriam pods the Emirate of Mecca uses are a subversion - [[spoiler:they aren't a uterine replicator, they're ''actual women'', trapped in a metal pod and forced to bear a child every few ''seconds''. The heroes find this out when they come across a broken pod, still ejecting half-formed stillbirths.]] |
| 530 | * UnstoppableRage: Tsali pretty much runs on violently sadistic AxCrazy rage, [[BloodKnight especially in battle]]. |
| 531 | * TheUnFavorite: It's revealed that [[spoiler:Shadow and Eric]] are this to [[spoiler:Maledict]]; the former because he was [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure2 "corrupted by human frailty"]], the latter because a [[NoodleIncident serious accident]] during his birth turned him into... [[HumanoidAbomination something else]]. He only regards [[spoiler: Sonic]] as his true successor. |
| 532 | * ViewersAreGenius: Some of the backstory and references in the fanfic are nearly impossible to understand without a theology major, historical research into Literature/{{the Bible}} and the Koran, knowledge of American right-wing Evangelical beliefs, [[CosmicHorrorStory familiarity with the works of HP Lovecraft]], and knowledge of Christian and Jewish demonology. Some understanding of [[UsefulNotes/{{Satanism}} LaVeyan Satanism]] helps too. |
| 533 | ** Not to mention the numerous shout-outs to the original Japanese third season of ''Sonic X'' - which [[NoExportForYou was never officially released in the West]] and is [[DarkerAndEdgier much different]] than the western dub version. |
| 534 | * VillainousBreakdown: The story has a number of these. |
| 535 | ** Tsali completely loses his cool when he is defeated by Super Sonic and friends. |
| 536 | ** In Episode 74 Tsali has another mental breakdown after discovering Maledict was responsible for the entire Metarex war and everything that had happened to him. In the same Episode, the Metarex leaders (especially Dark Oak) have their own breakdowns when Maledict captures them and reveals that [[TheChessmaster they were his pawns all along]]. |
| 537 | ** Maledict himself has a minor breakdown from Sonic's (apparent) death in Episode 64. However, when Sonic refuses his WeCanRuleTogether offer, [[spoiler: D'Arnazhee destroys the Galaxy Crusher's firing mechanism]], and [[spoiler: Jesus and the Angels [[BigDamnHeroes come to Sonic's rescue]]]] in Episode 75, he [[ChewingTheScenery utterly loses it]] and [[CurbStompBattle unleashes his true power]]. |
| 538 | ** The Metarex leaders, especially Dark Oak himself, have a collective breakdown after their decisive defeat in Episode 64. |
| 539 | * VillainBall: This fanfic mostly averts this trope - with the major exception of Episode 67. Beelzebub wanted to study Tails' Shroud infection one day, so he goes about it by ''kidnapping, [[ColdBloodedTorture torturing]], and [[BlackComedyRape raping]]'' Chris and Cosmo... and then [[TooDumbToLive gloating about it to Tails when he comes to rescue them]]. Somewhat justified in this case, since Beelzebub is an utterly sadistic pedophile and narcissistic MadScientist rolled up into one. |
| 540 | ** Tsali grabs it in Episode 73. Rather than just blowing up the Blue Typhoon and killing everyone the easy way, he decides to rampage through the ship and meticulously slaughter Sonic and friends one by one. Trinity actually points this out to him... and Tsali retorts that just blowing them up is "[[AxCrazy way too simple for them]]." This ends up distracting him at several key moments, letting Tails and Cosmo get away. |
| 541 | *** He also temporarily grabbed it when he took on Super Sonic, Super Shadow, and Super Eric at once because he thought he could win. [[CurbStompBattle He was wrong]]. |
| 542 | * VillainDecay: The fanfic does this badly with the Metarex. In the canon ''Anime/SonicX'', the Metarex were a nearly unstoppable empire of powerful robots led by even more-powerful robot overlords that gave Super Sonic a run for his money. ''Dark Chaos'' reduces them to a side faction... and by the halfway point of the story, their armies are all but destroyed and their leaders have gone into hiding (with a collective VillainousBreakdown for good measure). It doesn't help that their motivations are also completely different from the canon; in the show, they wanted to exterminate all animal life in the galaxy and replace it with plant life. In ''Dark Chaos'', they're just trying to find a way to kill Tsali and revive their species by [[WellIntentionedExtremist any means necessary]]. |
| 543 | * VoodooShark: While the rewrite does a great job of filling the ''numerous'' plot holes in the original, a few explanations do fit this trope. |
| 544 | ** If Tsali is so powerful, why didn't he just kill Sonic and his friends in the very first chapter? [[spoiler:It's because Maledict was monitoring him and ordering him not to.]] But this turns into a plot hole because Tsali can still resist and defy Maledict - which exactly what he does later as the animosity between them grows. Downplayed later on, as it's revealed that Tsali is terrified of pissing off Satan (and [[DoNotTauntCthulhu for good reason]]) and [[spoiler:when he ignores Maledict and decides to attack the Blue Typhoon in Episode 73]], he fully expects to be harshly punished for it... but he decides [[AxCrazy killing Cosmo and Sonic is worth it]] and doesn't care anymore. |
| 545 | ** Exposure to [[TheCorruption Dark Chaos Energy]] is established to be able to rapidly evolve Shroud parasites. Despite this, during his fight with Dark Tails in Episode 69, Tails does not lose control and [[LovecraftianSuperpower mutate into Shroud Tails]]. This is explained later on - Tails has to directly absorb Dark Chaos Energy to mutate. However, this doesn't explain his first mutation in Episode 67...when he wasn't exposed to any energy at all. This is handwaved later on that the transformation in Episode 67 was an angry "spasm" rather than a full evolution, but it's not much better. |
| 546 | [[/folder]] |
| 547 | |
| 548 | [[folder:W -- Y]] |
| 549 | * WakingUpElsewhere: Sonic awakens after his fight with Tsali to find himself on a bed inside Dr Eggman's base. Turned out that the good doctor saved him from almost certain death and allowed him to recover his health during the week that he was comatose. |
| 550 | * WarIsHell: The entire galaxy is hit with this. Not many battles are described directly in story... but the aftermath of those battles are. The Metarex and Tsali steal the Planet Eggs of worlds to siphon Chaos Energy from them, turning the planets into lifeless rocks. Many of the planets Sonic and friends search are either beyond saving or [[JustBeforeTheEnd about to be destroyed]]. One world they find is nothing but a CorpseLand; another is obliterated by [[EarthShatteringKaboom an exploding Planet Egg]] before their very eyes. Others are corrupted by [[TheCorruption Dark Chaos Energy]] or infested with [[TheVirus Shroud]] feeding on the remains. Disease and starvation run rampant. The war between the Demons and Angels is described just as brutally, with gigantic war machines the size of towns clashing in merciless battles of attrition that can scour whole worlds of life in days, and plenty of RapePillageAndBurn (on a planetary scale) from both sides. |
| 551 | ** The best example comes at the end of Episode 68; a Demon after-action report details that the entire Leo constellation was eaten by Shroud, with "[[WeHaveReserves acceptable]]" losses of 36.8 ''trillion'' people. |
| 552 | * WellIntentionedExtremist: Maledict, in many more ways than one. He's willing to unleash horrific atrocities upon millions to keep peace in the Demon Empire and stop the Metarex uprising. [[BlackAndGrayMorality The Angels are not much better]]. |
| 553 | ** The Metarex are completely re-imagined as an organization of these. |
| 554 | * WhamEpisode: |
| 555 | ** Episode 65. [[spoiler: On the eve of the Demon New Year celebration, Jesus launches an Angel invasion of the galaxy and restarts the Eternal War, killing trillions of innocent people]]. |
| 556 | ** While not a WhamEpisode in the traditional sense, Episode 67 is easily the [[DarkerAndEdgier darkest]] and [[NightmareFuel most horrific]] episode of the story, and it marks the story's GenreShift from gritty SpaceOpera to grim dark horror. |
| 557 | ** Episode 73 - Sonic and pretty much all his friends are severely injured/crippled by Tsali as he rampages through the Blue Typhoon to find Cosmo. Catching up to them, he seemingly murders Tails, only for Tails to suddenly revive... as a [[LovecraftianSuperpower Shroud-infected]] monster. He defeats Tsali and damages the ship tremendously before Knuckles stops him and reverts him back by [[KillItWithFire nearly burning him to death with a fuel cell]]. The Blue Typhoon is heavily damaged and basically ''everyone'' crosses the DespairEventHorizon in the aftermath. |
| 558 | ** Episode 74, fittingly titled "''The Mystery Revealed''". [[spoiler: Sonic and friends - and a crippled Tsali - land on Cosmo's devastated home planet Seedrius]]. They soon discover a vault of stolen Demon data files hidden in underground tunnels beneath the same research facility where Tsali was made. [[spoiler: These files reveal that Maledict was literally manipulating ''everything'' in the backstory, from the destruction of the Seedrians to the entire Metarex war, and it was all part of a gigantic GambitRoulette to end the Eternal War and conquer the universe]]. Tsali is so enraged by this discovery that he decides to ally with Sonic and try to go kill Maledict. The Metarex leaders and Dr. Eggman are also captured by Demon special forces. |
| 559 | * WhamLine: |
| 560 | ** Episode 65: |
| 561 | --->'''Jesus Christ''': Brothers and sisters, commence Operation Armageddon. Let the galaxy burn. |
| 562 | ** Episode 75: |
| 563 | --->'''Sonic''': How would you know who my father is?!\ |
| 564 | '''Maledict''': [[LukeIAmYourFather [[[[spoiler:Because I am your father]].]] |
| 565 | ** Episode 78: |
| 566 | ---> '''M.A.R.Y.''': [[spoiler:"[[SequelHook They are coming]]"]]. |
| 567 | * WholePlotReference: The discontinued prequel, ''Fall of the Seedrians'', is basically a retelling of ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'' with the Seedrians as the Colonials and Tsali/the Tsali Endoskeletons as the Cylons. [[spoiler: The only difference [[TheBadGuyWins is that]] [[DownerEnding it ends much, much worse]].]] |
| 568 | * WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: Eric the Hedgehog is a non-evil example of this; [[spoiler: he was created by Maledict along with Sonic and Shadow to create an "Ultimate Weapon"]]. Unfortunately, an [[NoodleIncident unexplained accident]] turned him into a HumanoidAbomination at the cost of damaging his brain, turning him into a CloudCuckoolander ManChild who [[AlmightyIdiot isn't aware of his own powers]]. |
| 569 | ** Poor, poor [[spoiler: Tsali]]. Being [[spoiler: forcibly turned into a Dark Chaos Energy-powered battle robot]] ''[[AxCrazy really]]'' didn't do good for his sanity. |
| 570 | ** [[LovecraftianSuperpower Shroud Tails]], full stop. Although [[BodyHorror considering what happens]], insanity would probably be a step up. |
| 571 | * TheWorfEffect: Zigzagged. |
| 572 | ** Tsali manages to defeat Super Sonic one-on-one in the opening scene. However (unknown to Sonic), he was wounded and only barely won. Come Episode 64 when he fights Sonic, Shadow, and Eric in their Super forms, it doesn't take long for him to lose horribly. |
| 573 | ** Maledict is quickly shown to be an InvincibleVillain who curb-stomps the heroes into the floor. Then comes in Dark Tails, who grows so powerful that he shrugs off all of Maledict's attacks. [[spoiler: It's a good thing Sonic and friends end up allying with him]]. |
| 574 | * WorthLivingFor: A villainous example. Tsali tells Trinity that he probably would've lost his mind and/or killed himself years before, but his [[ThePowerOfHate genocidal hatred]] for the Seedrians (and his servitude to Lord Maledict) gave him a purpose. |
| 575 | * WorthyOpponent: This story has numerous examples. |
| 576 | ** After being beaten in Episode 66, Astorath strongly respects Sonic and his friends as warriors -- to the point where after he defeats them in Episode 75, he spares their lives. |
| 577 | ** Tsali considers Venus one of these, as she's "the only Seedrian who ever put up a good fight." |
| 578 | ** Jesus Christ respects Astorath for his honor and his PetTheDog tendencies, even though the two are archenemies on opposing sides. And although he hates Maledict on principle, he privately respects Satan's intelligence and cunning. |
| 579 | * WouldHurtAChild: Played horrifyingly straight with Tsali as a deliberate terror tactic. It's stated more than once that he slaughtered every single Seedrian he found down to the babies. In Episode 70, Trinity finds a recorded memory that Tsali saved for his own entertainment - which shows Tsali [[KillItWithFire setting Seedrian children on fire]] and using their screaming husks as {{Human Shield}}s. And Beelzebub [[{{Squick}} ''really'' has a thing for kids]]... |
| 580 | ** According to the background material, the Muslims also regularly rape and murder children for breaking ''Shariah'' law in their territories - including the developmentally and physically disabled. |
| 581 | * WrongGenreSavvy: Sonic and his friends go off into space expecting to find their Planet Egg, beat up Tsali and the bad guys, and return home as heroes. They don't realize [[CosmicHorrorStory the kind of tale]] they're ''really'' in until much later. |
| 582 | * XanatosGambit: The entire Metarex War is this for Maledict, as he's secretly TheManBehindTheMan for both Tsali and the Metarex. If Tsali lost, Maledict would just build up the Metarex as a proxy army to aid him in the future; if Tsali won, than he obviously was the better fighter and would also aid Maledict in the future in gratitude for giving Tsali his revenge. Only [[spoiler: his servant Venus' betrayal]] and Sonic's intervention causes the gambit to fall apart. |
| 583 | * YamatoNadeshiko: Deliberately subverted with Sonya the Hedgehog - she's brash, cocky, prideful, and hot-tempered ([[JerkWithAHeartOfGold but good underneath it all]]). She also considers women who follow this trope to be weak helpless doormats [[spoiler:although she has a FreudianExcuse to explain it]]. By contrast, Cosmo plays this trope completely straight as part of her AdaptationalBadass characterization. |
| 584 | * YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm: Trying to comprehend the true form of [[EldritchAbomination Dark Tails]] is a [[GoMadFromTheRevelation very]], ''[[MindRape very]]'' bad idea. Maledict -- who happens to be the biblical {{Satan}} and an immortal PhysicalGod -- is literally left ''stunned with terror'' after he sees it. |
| 585 | [[/folder]] |
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