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My first drawn cover since Perfect Chaos, and what a doozie this is! It’s simply the title, Sonic and Metal going head to head and that’s it, that’s all that’s needed. No fancy collage or anything, just this final confrontation, for that’s what the title means “Metal Final War”. Originally, this was just to be called Sonic Battle, but the sub-title came to me as I wrote it. Like Heroes, this comic is in a little series, as Chaotix: Roots and Sonic heroes were both presented with the Sonic Heroes logo, Metal Ragnorak and I, metal were both presented as Sonic Battle stories, to help with the hype machine lol. Gotta say, I love this cover, has to be easily the best Metal I’ve ever drawn and one of the best Sonic’s, even though I recently discovered that I may have mis-spelled Ragnorak *cringe*
Check out my fancy NEXT, BACK, HOME buttons lol. Anyway, we get a very small, very brief introduction here, like in Sonic Heroes, but this is just a scribe from the Echidna texts telling of a war that will start up in every generation, this would normally be best linked to Eggman but this time there will be another entrant looking to take over the world with evil. Introducing EMERL!! At this point, Emerl’s presence is very much WTF!? And almost disregarded within the big story of the war between Sonic and Metal, but it’s mostly explained here as Eggman, in his Sonic Advance 3 sprite (marking the first time I’ve ever had Eggman in a vehicle throughout my whole comic and never once on foot) tells to his journal about how he discovered the Gizoid, which Eggman calls Emerl, following his ancestors notes and repaired it and established a Link, putting him in control of Emerl. At this point it’s like what? How did Gerald know Emerl? How did Eggman find him? I did all that on purpose and explained it all in The Return Of Chaos, just so that Emerl would get some back-story. In the game Sonic Battle, Eggman finds Emerl but gets rid of him, in my comics he successfully establishes a link and controls Emerl and, thus, Emerl becomes Eggman’s newest warmonger and is, and possible forever shall be, a bad guy. Meanwhile, Metal Sonic Prime is creating a whole army of Metal Sonic Robots (based on the Sonic CD style to create a Brotherhood of Metallix feel like in Fleetway comics) with aspirations of destroying Eggman, he also views Emerl as no threat. Boy, is he wrong. Turns out, according to Eggman, Emerl has the same capabilities as Metal Sonic and is just as strong, if not stronger, with the potential to become even more powerful.
Anyway, so we know Eggman wants to discover Emerl’s true power and that Metal is up to no good, then we find Sonic taking a nap (something I stuck in because he seemed to do it WAY to often in Sonic X, as if Sonic himself were bored with the show lol). With a quick anime-like insert, Sonic is awakened by the presence of someone and it turns out to be Metal, with his buddies and, instantly they enter into a banter taken directly from Neo and Smith’s discourse in The Matrix Reloaded. It is here where we see Metal refer to himself as I and that Sonic becomes aware of the fact that Metal is now self-aware and working to his own agenda. Despite, Metal’s threats, Sonic is confidant that he can best his metallic counterpart, with the track record in Sonic’s favour.
As if the discourse wasn’t enough, we then enter an isometric layout for the actual Burly Brawl from The Matrix Reloaded, as Sonic-Neo takes on multiple Metal’s/Smith’s in a battle that, unlike Neo, Sonic simply cannot win. It’s a message to Sonic from Metal to say that steel is stronger than flesh and that Sonic cannot win against such odds. It’s the first and possibly only real beating that Sonic has received at this point, even after Mecha Sonic bitch-slapped him about in BFTCE, this is a crushing humiliating defeat.
However, Sonic recovers quickly and is barely fazed by such a show of power, adamant that they get everyone together to prepare for an all-out invasion. Tails finds the idea of a Robot becoming self aware to be very likely, unlike Eggman who never suspects it. Tails despairs at the thought of all-out war, but Sonic is sure that it’ll work out. This is important because Tails needs to adopt that same calm confidence later on.
Knuckles, diligently guarding the Emeralds. Lovely shot. Then, one quick anime-like insert later, and peace is shattered by the appearance of Emerl. This is taken from the game, as Emerl either didn’t answer or angered Knuckles, getting him more and more riled up. Here it is because Emerl is transfixed by the Emerald’s power, leading to Knuckles leaping into battle once again.
Three quick shots and the battle is over, nice little multi-layered frame there to show Knuckles’s punches. But wait, Emerl absorbed the attacks and copied them, he then wallops Knuckles with a punch that looks eerily similar, both they both leap at each other in exactly the same way, then both strike with the same punch, leaving Knuckles hurt and Emerl sure of victory. It was important to me to show that Emerl had a certain array of attacks known to him and that he would only display those attacks, so he wouldn’t do a Tails punch until he learned Tails’s moves (more on this later though).
Knuckles isn’t through just yet though, but one huge uppercut later and the fight is promptly beaten out of the poor Guardian. Emerl is pretty freakin’ strong that’s for sure and I felt it was important to display his power and prowess as often as possible to allow him to be built up as a significant threat and as well as I could given his reduced “screen time” in this particular comic. Emerl’s absorption of the Emerald’s powers is cut short by Chaotix, however it was enough and Emerl teleports away. Didn’t Emerl’s pose look familiar there?…(Also, check out Knuckles as he’s getting up, he’s pushing himself up and has the little \ | / over his head, like in Sonic & Knuckles).
Welcome back, Emerald Heights! Fancy new backgrounds for it as well, and here we have a few cameos- Spikes and Jaymz from my Bonus Randomness comics, Antoine from Archie Sonic and good old Johnny Lightfoot from Fleetway. And here comes Emerl, again striking an eerily similar pose, to eradicate the land and destroy all life. They get out of dodge as the place burns and Emerl starts kicking the crap out of them, only to draw out Sonic, who performs a new attack from Sonic Advance 3 (lots of kewl SA3 poses and sprites debuted in this comic).
Emerl mistook Sonic for someone else and hesitated before identifying Sonic as Sonic. But who? Find out a little later. But the battle between Sonic and Emerl is one, nicely broken into two fast-moving insert shots to show Sonic taking Emerl apart, just as Knux did before. Then Sonic cannonballs into Emerl and sends him flying, but Emerl has upgraded his offense now and doubles back, taking Sonic down with a bunch of his own attacks.
Emerl makes a run for Sonic to continue the fight but Ray of all people interrupts and knocks Emerl back! It’s Ray!!! Hoo-Ray!! And then Emerl teleports out again (again, looks familiar) having copied Sonic’s attacks, leaving Sonic and Ray to chat (notice the fires in the background are dying out now). Then we catch up on Eggman, who is in another Megaman background by the way, giving orders to his Metal Robots. For his invasion, he’s using his most powerful creations, not the Gamma machines, and he worries about Metal, but pushes any worries away, confidant that his machine can be trusted (he’s obviously not aware that his Metal Robots are all under the control of Metal Prime and will turn on him the second the war is over).
Speaking of Metal, he and his Robots have invaded Floating Island and not only that, they’re KICKING THE SHIT OUT OF KNUCKLES AND CHAOTIX!!! Seriously, they are knocking them silly! THAT’S some statement. The idea is to show that Metal is as obsessive and power-hungry as Eggman is, actually, better at being a vicious ruler and dictator and he could easily rule the Planet. However, for now, Metal wants only Sonic, wants only to destroy Sonic and prove that Metal is the better, so he spares Knux and friends and absorbs the full powers of the Master Emerald and the Chaos Emeralds into himself, finally absorbing enough power to be able to ascend to his next level and already claiming victory.
Sonic feels it, feels the increase in Metal’s power. How? Well, yes they are linked, through their energy, they both use the Chaos Emerald’s energy and thus they can sense each other’s powers and potential and presence. This leads to Sonic’s Neo-speech about having to go face Metal alone and that means Tails will have to lead the fight against Eggman. Originally this speech was shorter and Sonic left later in the story. Later when Tails gives his speech to the assembled Freedom Fighters, that was originally Sonic and he left then but I felt as though that looked like Sonic was abandoning them. Here it is Sonic and Tails, Sonic giving Tails the courage to carry it out and, later, when Tails gives his speech it is channelled through that confidence makes him look much more capable, as opposed to Sonic giving him command out of pity perhaps (not that he ever would). Sonic trusts Tails and gives allusions to his beliefs that Tails was destined to be a greater hero than he (tying in somewhat to Perfect Chaos, when Sonic told Tails not to fight Chaos).
Thus, Sonic goes, leaving Tails to muster his courage to lead the Freedom Fighters against Eggman’s army, which is heading there right now. Daunting. However, he musters the courage to give the story to the assembled Freedom Fighters (including RAY (lol), Antoine, Tekno from Fleetway, Bean, Bark, Spikes (now an actual character, though he has no lines and isn’t referred to by name), Sally, Bunny, Johnny Lightfoot, Mina and some raccoon character I found- cameos galore). They actually listen to him and take him seriously too, as they know that Sonic must have faith in Tails’s ability to lead them and they have faith in Sonic to do whatever it is he’s set out to do.
The odds stack more in their favour with the arrival of Knuckles and Chaotix, eager to join the fight as Freedom Fighters! Sonic, kind-hearted person that he is, blasts a few of the on-coming Metal as he leaves the Island to face Metal Prime alone. Now, these Metal Sonic Robots are seemingly as easy to destroy as the Gamma Robots and that might seem odd, especially how they’re meant to be Eggman’s strongest creations, but remember- the Sonic CD model was flawed in many ways and these have been mass-produced by Metal Prime, also maybe Metal Prime gave Eggman the weaker models so that Eggman would fail and he saved the stronger ones for his own personal army. Sounds good enough to me. And thus we get another Matrix element as the Metal/Sentinels descend upon the Emerald Heights/Zion, with four groups of Freedom Fighters in four different areas, each one doing their own part to fight off the Metal.
And here we go! The Metal swarm the skies ala The Matrix Revolutions at all times, with some coming down to attack. Notice Tails again automatically transforms his arm into his Sonic Battle cannon. I haven’t explained how he does this, and it’s not really explained in the game, suffice to say it’s something to do with nanobots no doubt lol. Of course, the actual battle between the Freedom Fighters and the Metal is pretty chaotic, to say the least, so you’re forgiven if you can’t make out what’s happening but I suggest studying the frames closely for details and such (like Bark and Big double-shoulder-barging the Metal, Bean throwing bombs at them, etc).
Sonic lands and dashes into the centre of Egg Island, yet another Megaman background, only to discover the place deserted. Now, here’s an interesting plot hole, what about Eggman’s Gamma Robots and his other Badnik forces, for he has Robots other than the Metal right? Right, but for this comic, it is implied that Eggman has began processing a huge army of Metal Sonic Robots and has replaced his usual Robots with them, that’ll do as an answer to that. Once again an overly dramatic dialogue sequence between Metal Sonic Prime and Sonic shows just how much Metal has evolved, for this is the most he’s ever spoken before and he’s really acting like a living creature. Here he explains how destroying him will destroy all the Metal, thus allowing Sonic to triumph.
But if Sonic fails then Metal and his army will overthrow Eggman and conquer the planet. So Metal’s really putting it all on the line here, he wants a real, straight-up one-on-one fight with Sonic to discover who really is the better man between them and is confidant of his new abilities to win but has an honour which means that if Sonic does win, then he wins forever and is the best, but if Metal wins then he kills Sonic and he is forever the best. Simple enough to explain the relationship between these two. Hey, how about some chaos? Here you go, lots and lots of chaos and MORE damn explosions lol.
Notice Knuckles is fighting Emerl one-on-one and Tails is trying to fight Eggman but Metal’s keep getting in the way? All the while Amy and Cream are holding off yet more Metal. There’s so many Robots and so little of them that it really seems impossible, despite their “Yay we’ll win” enthusiasm. We rejoin Prime and Sonic as they fall out the air and dash at each other, only for Prime to dash behind Sonic and wallop him a good one lol. Sonic busts out Sonic Wind again, again I took steps, as with Chaos Control/Spear, to make sure Sonic Wind always looks the same each time it’s used, right down to the sound effects.
Last time Sonic used that move against Metal it defeated him, it was new and surprising, but this time Metal Sonic Prime shrugs it off. Sonic gave Metal that one chance to surrender but Metal’s having none of it and we finally get what Metal’s been striving to achieve for so long- Super Metal Sonic! Super Metal’s aura crackles with golden electricity, this is a sign of how powerful he really is and helps to differentiate his aura from the others (for they all have a different aura). I love that lightning coming of Super Metal there, he’s psyched and really pissed now, and he wants to test his new powers against Sonic’s ascended form. Sonic says he didn’t want it to come down to this, so he is reluctant to bust out his Emerald powers now, perhaps for fear of how far the battle will go, but powers up nonetheless and they dash into the sky. Neo Vs Smith eat your heart out lol.
Knux gets the upper hand on Emerl and smashes him a good one, but Amy and Cream are being beaten up now as the Metal spout their little tirade. Tails produces his bombs from Sonic Battle, again from nowhere/nanobots, and takes them out, then a Metal blasts Knux and Emerl takes control again as Tails continues his relentless quest to get at Eggman. Check this bad boy out! Super Sonic and Super Metal Sonic hurtling through the skies of a Megaman background (*cough* Egg Island) tossing energy bolts at each other, we’re really getting into some decent Dragonball Z territory here folks. Metal cuts Super up, the cheater, bringing the race to a standstill.
Sonic blasts back with that kewl-looking Super Sonic Advance 3 sprite and a Dragonball Z blast, and the two stand stationary, powering up, crackling with energy and Sonic remarks that Metal can’t know what it means to be alive, allowing us again to see how deranged Metal has become. Suddenly Super delivers a stunning shot and then a huge energy blast, followed by a barrage of energy bolts, which envelop Super Metal in flames and explosions, just to make my job harder lol. Check out these guys though, they are really taking out those Robots, despite the fact that they’d never be able to destroy them all by themselves.
I like this sequence but I’m not sure how well it came off really, not sure if people got what Knuckles was actually doing. Tails is tied up with the Metal and Amy and Cream are being attacked again, and Knuckles sees this, so he leaps into the air and Emerl fires a series of energy blasts at him, which blast him out the sky but also take out the Metal that were attacking Amy and Cream, thus bringing Knux to his conclusions as Tails busts out that weird springy-fist thing again. I think I missed a frame here, as Super Metal is up and fighting out of nowhere, but the remnants and the smoke is there so you know he survived and got back in the air, but I think I was meant to have a transition frame there, oh well. Super dodges Metal’s blast but is hit with a barrage of small energy bolts, allow Metal the distraction needed to dart forward and grasp Sonic’s throat in a sudden move and claim victory.
Love that split-screen, you really see the tide turning as the Freedom Fighters start taking a pounding. Tails has made it to Eggman but was blasted by one of Eggman’s missiles, Emerl is beating on Knuckles, who is totally drained from the fight, and Amy and Cream are starting to worry. Knuckles’s line, stolen from Link in The Matrix Revolutions, sums it all up- things are going bad, they can’t keep it up and they’re going to die unless Sonic can finish things quickly. Things look hopeless Sonic’s end though, as he’s still in Super Metal’s grasp as Metal gives his little speech, but Super powers up and breaks free, perhaps hearing his friend’s anguish, and now Super sparkles and crackles with energy, for Super Sonic gets a power boost from his heart and courage, allowing him to deliver a shocking energy bolt to Super Metal- an electromagnetic pulse of sorts, which stuns the Robot, allowing Super to unleash some devastating physical attacks upon his rival.
Super Metal Sonic Prime uses his powers to break free from the shock to his systems, but Super Sonic simple blasts him with a huge energy bolt, and then another! The point of the EMP blast was to show that, despite Metal’s ravings, he’s still a machine, a Robot, and that means he has weaknesses now matter how much power he has. The energy blasts from Super have Metal reeling, so Sonic begins to power up a huge energy bolt, drawing on all his inherent Emerald powers and, from afar, the Master Emerald itself, siphoning power right out of it and forming it into a ball in his hands. It’s hard to make out through the light and power emanating from the Master Emerald but you can see a spirit, an outline, flying from the Master Emerald, and it flies into Sonic too. It’s Shadow, my friends, the embodiment of good, his spirit joins with the power of the Master Emerald and flows through Sonic, adding a surge of energy to Sonic and creating, for one brief instant, a power so spectacular that it will eradicate any foe. Metal’s sparkling, he can’t believe it, but it’s true, it’s…
HYPER SONIC!!! For just one brief moment, Sonic becomes Hyper Sonic, ascending above Metal’s powers and into the realm of Shadow’s limitless powers, and unleashes all that same energy outwards in a huge blast of power that envelops Metal Cell-style, blasting him to bits a piece at a time. I love that sequence, it was something I had in mind forever and really wanted to bust out out the blue almost, notice Hyper’s eyes are lime green like Shadow’s when he uses Chaos Control? It’s great stuff. With Metal eradicated, the Robots suddenly stop in mid-motion then, as one, they all explode with minimal explosions, drawing confusion from Eggman, who can’t believe he’s been defeated when he was literally so close to winning. However, the Metal are gone, leaving Eggman distracted and defenceless…
Allowing Tails one final moment of glory as he blasts Eggman with an energy bolt, reducing Eggman to scorched ash (ala Sonic 1 and other Sonic games). Eggman, quickly realising he’s been beaten, heads off and Emerl prepares to follow, but Knux whacks his head right off in a blazing uppercut and, as the finishing poses show you, it’s all over! Lovely stuff. Of course we get the epilogues, but this time there’s no dialogue, it’s just a still frame to show peace/conclusion to the story. Knuckles and Chaotix stand guard over the Emeralds, Shadow’s spirit standing with them once more, Ray flies through the skies of his home, his little friends following him…
Bean, Bark, Big and Spikes return to their lives, hanging out in Emerald Hill, Cream and that racoon go back home to Flickie’s Island for happy-happy-joy-joy peace, Sonic and Tails race through their home as usual, followed by Amy and Eggman seethes in his control room, defeated and humiliated. Night falls over Emerald Heights, that’s the moon from Mortal Kombat 2 I believe, and we see Emerl’s beheaded corpse lying on the battlefield, forgotten. Emerl does a Metal, using his mimetic polyalloy cells to regenerate and reform.
Fixed and once again fully functional, Emerl flies away from South Island, presumably back to Eggman’s side. On the battlefield on Egg Island, all that remains of Metal Sonic Prime is a scorched, burned out head, damaged beyond repair, still smoking. That insert is an edited pic from a Sonic CD cut-scene. Suddenly, Emerl drops out of the sky and crushes Metal’s head! That’s a statement right there- out with the old, in with the new. Metal may be forever gone, but it’s far from over, and now Emerl has taken his place, a dark future looms still, but that’s another story, as we get a simple, but effective I think, conclusion to this tale.
Overall
Sonic Battle: Metal Ragnorak is significant in many ways to me. It feels slightly more epic than other stories, more emotional and it feels as though the entire time we’ve been working towards this, as in Sonic Liberty, for we have seen the evolution of Metal and how he’s changed and it has all be leading to this inevitable, and final, confrontation. This story, heavily based and borrowed from The Matrix Trilogy as it is, also helps to elevate Tails further up the ladder as a capable hero in his own right and a leader of men. We saw Metal’s powers finally be revealed and he was close to ultimate victory, but Sonic bested him again, ascending even further, for that one brief moment, and finally and forever ending their feud. This story also introduced, rather hastily so, Emerl and brought him to the forefront, especially at the conclusion of the story, as Eggman’s new right-hand-man, for Emerl becomes everything Metal was before. However, Emerl was somewhat rushed into this story and feels underused sometimes, but that’s done on purpose, for his back story is revealed in the Tales Of Shadow comics and his power increases in the following comic, Sonic Liberty, allowing him to take over (but of course, never truly replace) Metal Sonic. Overall, I am very happy with this comic, I love the style of it, it all seems very crisp and clean and it’s pretty easy to follow, with not to many huge dialogue boxes or anything, and takes the series in a slightly darker direction and also, of course, sets us up nicely for the final comic.
Thanks for reading
-Stuart/SkSpAwN
