Recap / Sonic Prime S 3 E 7 From The Top

The battle against Nine reaches its climax, but the damage across the Shatterverse may be too much to fix without the Prism's full power. With no other options, both Sonic and Nine work together to save everything, but will they both survive long enough to do it?

Tropes:

• Ambiguous Ending: After dealing with the Chaos Council once again, Nine and Sonic work together to fix the Shatterverse and even help Sonic repair Green Hill as originally planned. With Shadow's help, the two return home in time to finish their original fight with their friends against Eggman while taking the Paradox Prism out of reach. Though things are finally back to normal, three unanswered questions arise:
  • Will the other Shatterspaces remain active?
  • What will become of the New Yoke City war, as well as the Chaos Council?
  • What new threat has hit Green Hill at the very end?
• Back for the Finale: The whole Primeverse cast besides Sonic and Shadow.
• Badass Boast: Shadow's parting words to Eggman before teleporting the Paradox Prism away:
  Shadow: I am the Ultimate Life Form. I go wherever I want. CHAOS CONTROL!
• Betrayal Insurance: The Chaos Council eventually betrays everyone and makes plans to take the completed Paradox Prism for themselves. As if knowing how the original Dr. Eggman operates, a weakened Sonic verbally leads the Doctors to fighting over who will take control from their egos getting the better of them while Nine opens a portal to send them out. The Shatterverse heroes then wait until the Council is dwindled down to just Mr. Dr. Eggman before they kick him out as well, finishing off their defeat.
• Big Damn Heroes: Just when Eggman is poised to finally grab the Paradox Prism (after being physically forced to let go of and whacked away from it by Sonic and his friends), Shadow warps into the scene, snatches it first, hands Eggman a humiliating defeat, and teleports away with the crystal, ensuring no one will ever break or misuse it again.
• Big Damn Reunion: Sonic with Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Rouge, Big, and even Eggman towards the end of the episode.
• Big "NO!": Eggman yells this after Shadow teleports the Paradox Prism away.
• Big "SHUT UP!": Nine shouts for Sonic to "stop talking" when the latter initially tries to apologize for his earlier treatment of him.
• Brick Joke: The chili dogs Sonic brings his friends at the end were clearly inspired by the Sea Dogs he had back in No Place, given the jalapeño slices on top.
• But Now I Must Go: With reality saved, and being anomalies outside of their own world, Sonic and Shadow say goodbye to the Shatterverse heroes and return home.
• Comfort the Dying: While speeding in their ship towards the portal, Thorn Rose stays by Sonic's side, holding his hand, as he's fading away.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Mr. Dr. Eggman takes a pathetically one-sided beating from Knucks, Rusty Rose, Nine, and Rebel upon being isolated, with the last hit knocking him through the portal into the void.
• Don't Make Me Destroy You: Said verbatim by Nine when he finds himself at the mercy of Sonic's allies. However, his threat comes off more as a veiled plea for mercy, and indeed, it's he who almost bites it before Sonic defends him.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Sonic not only manages to apparently save the Shatterspaces and Green Hill, but he finally reunites with his friends.
• Easily Forgiven: Downplayed. Nine almost destroyed the Shatterverse in his quest to transform The Grim, so it's understandably hard for anyone to trust him again; they're even willing to let the Chaos Council execute him before Sonic intervenes. After Nine helps fix everything, though, the others cut him some slack.
• Extreme Close-Up: The final shot of the episode, and the series, has the camera zooming in on Sonic's face as he speeds towards it.
• Fading Away: After Sonic's Prism energy is removed, he starts fading out of existence, as he was an anomaly thanks to absorbing said energy when the Prism was broken.
• Gallows Humor: Even as he fades into oblivion, Sonic can't help joking to Shadow en route back to Green Hill. Naturally, Shadow isn't amused.
  Sonic: I never knew you were a hugger.
  Shadow: Do you want me to save you or not?
• Grand Finale: Of Sonic Prime.
• Heel–Face Turn: Upon realizing he went too far, Nine finally comes to his senses and rejoins Sonic's side. He subsequently atones for his crimes by helping defeat the Chaos Council for good and restoring the Shatterverse, Green Hill included.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Once Sonic finally has Nine snap out of his Power High mania and fix the Shatterverse, the problem arises that the damage has become too extensive to undo. Sonic entrusts the rest of his Prism energy to Nine so they can fix the Paradox Prism first, even if it means Sonic will fade away. Luckily, after the Prism and the worlds are fixed, including Green Hill, the Roses and Shadow work together to bring Sonic back home.
• Jerkass Realization: More Innocently Insensitive than jerkish, really, but upon seeing the palm tree hammock Nine made for him in his lab, Sonic finally understands his motives and realizes their falling-out was as much his own fault as the fox's. While it hardly excuses Nine's crimes since then, Sonic recognizes his inconsideration toward Nine's feelings as the same inattentiveness that led the hedgehog to break the Paradox Prism in the first place. He quickly takes the opportunity to apologize when Nine comes to his senses.
  Sonic: I'm sorry for everything, Nine. I missed my home so much and was so keen on getting it back that I didn't think about what you wanted or appreciate what you were trying to do. I never meant to hurt you.
• Mythology Gag: Of the Call-Forward type.
  • Sonic's Prism energy being painfully drawn out of him in Nine's machine, with highly negative effects on his body, is very similar to the opening of Sonic Unleashed, when Eggman traps him while he's Super Sonic and drains him of the Chaos Emeralds' energy. Ironically, Sonic willingly gives up the power in this case, and it's used to fix the world instead of breaking it.
  • Sonic and one other person pulling a Cosmic Retcon to avert a spacetime apocalypse (after being rewound in time to before said apocalypse) is a nod to the end of Sonic '06. Whereas Sonic and Elise only implicitly recall their time together, though, Sonic and Shadow fully remember their experiences.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Nine has this reaction when Shadow and the others burst into his lab, leaving him cornered with the Paradox Prism just out of reach. His audible gasp and visible trembling say it all.
  • Eggman also gets one in response to Shadow's Badass Boast.
  • Sonic and his friends have one before the mysterious blast hits them at the end.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Sonic's friends in Green Hill are surprised at Sonic's change in attitude because, from their perspective, his decision to stop being a solo act in the middle of their fight with Eggman was entirely unprompted. That said, they're no less happy that he's finally learning a thing or two about teamwork. Eggman, on the other hand, is weirded out when Sonic hugs him (or, more accurately, his robot) before their fight continues, as the hedgehog even misses his nemesis.
• Rebuilt Pedestal: Sonic to Nine after they reconcile, cemented by the final hug they share before parting ways for good.
• Save Both Worlds: Sonic had still insisted on the process of fixing the Prism to not only restore Green Hill, but seemingly the other Shatterspaces as well. It shows near the end that it worked.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After Shadow spin-dashes Dr. Babble into the void, Dr. Don't decides to just cut his losses and skedaddle.
• Sequel Hook: The ending has Sonic and his friends hit with an explosion in Green Hill just as they get a chance to relax. Whatever it is, they head over to find out the source.
• Ship Tease: Sonic wistfully says "Sweet Amy" to her frozen prime counterpart as he arrives back in Green Hill.
• Status Quo Is God: Sonic finds himself not only back in Green Hill in its former glory, but back to the original battle at the start of the series before he shattered the Paradox Prism. Remembering how this mess started in the first place, he avoids making the same mistake and allows Shadow to take the Prism elsewhere via Chaos Control, away from Dr. Eggman, before he and his friends resume their normal lives. Per Word of God, Sonic and Shadow's actions undo the events of the series, preserving the franchise's continuity past Sonic Advance 3.invoked
• Villainous Breakdown: Thrice.
  • Upon landing in his lab with Sonic after their Free-Fall Fight, Nine loses his last ounce of composure and goes absolutely ballistic at the Blue Blur, not even bothering to draw power from the Prism anymore. It turns into a Heroic BSoD when he sees what his actions have wrought and has a change of heart.
  • Mr. Dr. Eggman has a minor one as he and his fellow councilors are ejected into the void, swearing to return and take revenge on the heroes before being cut off as Nine closes the portal.
  • Primeverse Eggman himself near the end, after Shadow denies him the Prism.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Sonic's reaction at the end when a new threat arises (and blows his batch of chili dogs all over the beach) right as he was about to tell his friends about his Shatterverse (mis)adventure.
• You're Insane!: Mr. Dr. Eggman declares Sonic has lost it when the latter defends the now-repentant Nine, even after all the fox's transgressions. In reality, Sonic is being quite the opposite.

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