Chapter 9 - Sonic Boom Breaks the 4th Wall

GeneX - The Series
Episode 9 - Sonic Boom Breaks the Fourth Wall

Note: Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters are (c) SEGA and
Sonic Team. You knew that, right?
GeneX and related fanchars are (c) 2BIT (TheGreatGator), the author.

Sonic Boom is... Cartoon Network? Who really knows. This is more informative than using their characters directly anyway.


The story thus far:
The year is 2014. The GeneX series is trapped in a time loop due to a hole between "Soleanna Struggle" and "Generations," requiring our cast to work on filling that gap in time with our own lengthy storyline. Suddenly, out of Sega comes word of a new revolution in the Sonic the Hedgehog series! The television show, Sonic Boom, branches out into the games as well, which the GeneX universe has always drawn its inspiration from. As our heroes are hard at work, the news is about to reach them. How will it impact them? And who is going to get fired over this sudden shattering of the fourth wall??
Now, on to the episode!


Sonic the Hedgehog faced down Dr. Eggman's latest creation, the Arachnoegg 3! It was looking more like a crazy scorpion now, but apparently Eggman was tired of thinking up new names for things. "Say your prayers, hedgehog! This time, I'm ready for you!" he sneered, having the robot hold up the capsule containing the once-again kidnapped Amy. "Who do you think I am, Eggman!? Peach!? Lemme outta here so I can bash you with my hammer!!" she yelled. Sonic pointed defiantly at Eggman. "If you think that's gonna slow me down, you're dumber than your robot looks!" he said. Eggman stroked his moustache. "Don't think Tails can help, either. I know he's circling around in his little biplane... but let's just say I've got it covered." he grinned. People started to clear the streets of Station Square as Sonic and Eggman got ready to have their battle right in the middle of the city. However, a big screen on the side of a building suddenly came on with a news report. "We have a breaking story from SSTV News! Stop the climactic showdown!!" shouted Katie the Coyote. Sonic and Eggman both glanced up in surprise. "How did the media know about this!?" Eggman stammered. "I'm betting camera-phones." Sonic chuckled. As Katie appeared onscreen, she had a look of distress about her. "We just got word through the grapevine that Sega, in association with various corporations and faceless beurocrats, are rebranding Sonic the Hedgehog." she gulped. Sonic's smirk quickly turned to an indignant look of shock. "This... is not our regular newscast, is it?" he murmured. Katie shook her head. "No, it isn't. As you can tell by the fact that I can hear you. Anyway, the rebrand is called Sonic Boom, and features new designs for the featured characters, and an overall rebooting of the franchise. No definitive word yet on whether or not the original series has a chance of continuing, but those of us who remember Spyro and Rayman 2-3 should prepare for the worst." she reported, "Pictures of the redesigns and additional info are being distributed across GeneX Prime as we speak." With that, the report concluded. Sonic frowned. "I like Rayman Legends, but Rayman 2 was epic... Wait, AM I GETTING FIRED!?!?" he shouted.

Since the fourth wall had been broken, a temporary truce was called, and Eggman released Amy from the capsule. Tails landed the Tornado nearby, and Knuckles climbed down from a nearby rooftop. "We knew Eggman had tricked you again, Knuckles." Sonic said. Eggman frowned. "You KNEW!? Err, I mean... ... Oh, get over it, Knuckles. You should know the deal by now." he grumbled. Knuckles shrugged. "Who cares. What's the deal with this reboot!? Does it affect us!? I was getting my own story FINALLY!!" he whined. Tails ran over with a photo. "I got the image of the... uh... new guys. It looks pretty grim." he said. Sonic snatched the photo and looked it over first. Only Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy and Eggman were present. Not a single soul from the rest of the series was confirmed to make the jump to Sonic Boom. Sonic and his friends had bandages all over their hands and feet for some reason. Sonic's arms were now blue; he had a few new quills and a brown cloth around his neck. "What am I, a mummified cub scout?? What's with the ascot? And why am I all extra hairy!? Who is this nerd!?" Sonic growled. Tails sighed. "I don't see why they didn't just call me to come in. I don't look much different." he said. Tails basically just had a pair of goggles on his head, sort of like...

"I'LL SUE!!!" Copter was stomping over with his own copy of the photo in hand, followed by a nervous-looking Punchy and Rainbow. Copter stomped over to Tails and sneered at him. "What's the big idea ripping me off so you could get on TV!? I had goggles first! Also, that new Tornado looks decidedly EGGMAN-built!" he snarled, pointing out the more modernized plane the new Tails was accompanied with. Tails backed away a step. "I had NOTHING to do with this! I-I might be fired!" he said frantically. Copter glared at him. "It's just awful COINCIDENTAL, is all I'm saying..." he grumbled. Punchy saw Knuckles and snickered a little. "If it isn't Captain America before he got pumped fulla super serum." he joked. Knuckles looked at him quizzically. "What...? Hey, someone lemme see that picture!!" he shouted, grabbing the photo out of Sonic's hands. The new Knuckles was a hulking beast, looking like someone chopped off his old head and put it on a monster's body. Knuckles crumpled the photo, his teeth grating and his eyes filling with fire. "What... the... %#@*!!!!" he screamed, forcing censorship into an already controversial episode. Amy grabbed Copter's copy and blushed at Knuckles's look. "Actually, I don't think you look bad..." she said. Knuckles glared at her. "I look like a freak! Why do guys have to look like Frankenstein to 'look' strong, or even BE strong in today's cartoons! I'm a normal-size guy, and I'm as tough as any dumb football player... tougher! Why isn't that MORE impressive!?" he snapped. She shrugged. "You're just not attractive." she said. Then, everyone gathered around and checked out Amy's new look. She was dressed in a tighter, more revealing outfit, and just generally looked more attractive. Even Sonic seemed a bit attracted to the new Amy. "Wow... Now this one I can get behind..." he murmured. Amy looked around at everyone gawking at her replacement and growled. "HEY!! STOP THAT!!" she shouted, swinging her hammer around and knocking everyone away until she was left holding the photo! "She... doesn't even look like me! And why do women have to be depicted all demeaningly all the time!? Whatever happened to modesty!?" she growled. "You have to be the new Rouge since she's apparently fired." Knuckles smirked, only to get smacked by the hammer again.

Eggman sat in the Arachnoegg, looking quite angry. "Replace me, just like I replaced me before, will they?" he growled. "The new Eggman looks better!!" Sonic shouted. "The new Eggman is a joke! He's a Wario-fat slob with an offensive military uniform that has no special functions!" he shouted. Tails scratched his head. "Special functions?" he asked. "Umm... Wait until we reach the Lost World time frame, kiddo." Eggman mumbled, "I'm a genius! This guy's a phony! And I'm not going to take this lying down!!" he said, punching some buttons on the Arachnoegg. "Uhh... What exactly are you gonna do?" Sonic asked. "I'm going to find the two-faced hack in charge and MAKE him give us our jobs back! OR ELSE!!" he growled. "Yuji Naka??" Knuckles asked. "Who's Yuji Naka?" Eggman asked, having replaced Dr. Robotnik before him, "Look, I'll figure it out. So stay out of my way!" he shouted. Sonic crossed his arms. "I'm not likin' the 'or else' part, Doc. My inner hero is compelling me to stop you!" he warned. "How about your sense of self preservation!? Bye!" Eggman yelled, taking off.

Tails, Knuckles and Amy scrambled aboard the Tornado. Copter called the Hurricane. Sonic wasn't about to let Eggman make matters worse by making their boss SCARED of them. "Bye, Speedy. Good luck with your job and all." Rainbow said. "C'mon, guys, we gotta find out what all this means for US!" Copter said as he, Punchy and Rainbow flew off. Sonic tore through the streets after the Arachnoegg, soon joined by Shadow, who was being followed in the air by Rouge. "Sonic... We've heard." he said. "They can't do this to us, right?" Rouge asked. "Well, they can do it to you. Your game stunk, Shadow." Sonic remarked. "It did NOT! It was just different! Maybe we'll be better off without YOU." Shadow growled. Sonic shrugged. "Well, no one but me would try to save the guy trying to end my existence. Think on that." he said. "Yep, clearly you're too stupid to survive." Rouge remarked. "I'd like to point out that, of the three of us, I'm the only one that's GETTING INTO SONIC BOOM! So don't lecture me." Sonic pointed out. Shadow sighed. "Very well... I'll be around if anyone needs me. Maybe this won't be the last anyone sees of me, who knows?" he said, turning away. Rouge frowned. "I think he's hurt by this more than he lets on... Poor guy." she said, flying off.

The Arachnoegg fired a strange beam from its tail, opening a warp hole through which Eggman started to escape! Sonic jumped through it, followed by the Tornado, and found himself running through an island in the Sol Dimension. "Huh? Why come here...?" he wondered. As he kept up the chase, Blaze the cat emerged beside him. "Sonic! The strange man in the gator suit was here with news! Are we to be fired?" she asked. Sonic shrugged. "Easy come, easy go... I gotta stop Eggman from hurting the ones responsible." he said. Blaze nodded. "I must see Eggman Nega does not try the same. I am deeply saddened that our adventures may be at an end... It feels like they hardly began, to me..." she said. Sonic sighed. "Think how Marine must feel. And Silver, and heck, Shade..." he said. Blaze scratched her head. "Who's Shade?" she asked. "Exactly. This isn't fair. Our world still has WAY too much gas in the tank!" he grumbled.

Eggman fired another beam and created another portal. "THIS time I have it! This time I'll get those little pests!" he growled. When Sonic jumped into the portal, however, he found a real mess. Eggman wasn't the only one using portal technology to try to find the ones responsible for this, and now they arrived at a strange dogfight taking place in the Final Rush areas of Space Colony ARK! Shadow Arcangel was there, shooting it out with a GUN Warship. Now that Eggman was here, he started firing at the GUN Warship, too. "Out of my way, Gunner!! I have great, big fish to fry!" Eggman shouted. Sonic stopped on a platform and stared out in disbelief, glancing over to see Kosmo and Gemini standing nearby. "What's the deal?" he asked. "I was following Gunner." Kosmo said. "Hunting Lost Ones on that ship." Gemini added, "Then Bucky got the idea that he was going to stop your reboot and secure the future of our fanfiction." she said. Sonic looked utterly confused. "Riiight... and GUN?" he asked. "Just listen." Kosmo muttered. Gunner was screaming so loud, he could be heard from inside the warship. "I REFUSE to live in a world where the FURRY FREAKS have completely TAKEN OVER!! Where GUN is no more and only EGGMAN remains!! I'LL KILL YOU ALL, YOU MONSTERS!! You'll all pay for what you've done!!" he roared. The Tornado flew over to the platform Sonic was waiting at, and Tails looked at them worriedly. "This is totally out of hand, Sonic! What do we do?" he asked. "I told you we should've grabbed the Chaos Emeralds before flying into the portals." Knuckles remarked. Amy shrugged. "It says in the info packet that there ARE no Chaos Emeralds in Sonic Boom, so we may as well learn to live without them." she muttered. Kosmo morphed into a mouse with giant round ears. "Well, I'm gonna see if Disney will give me a job. Later, guys!" he giggled, skipping away. Gemini sighed and shook her head. "I for one have had enough. Last time we broke the fourth wall, our creator fixed it, so let's call him. 2BIT!! Get in here!! ALAKAZAM!!"

With an impossible flash of lights and special effects that make HD look like poop, 2BIT the fox appeared on the platform before them! "For the record, that only worked because I allowed it!" he said. Sonic rubbed his eyes. "I... vaguely... think I..." he muttered. "No, you don't remember me. 2BIT & GeneX at the Olympic Winter Games never happened. So I decree! Deus ex machina!" 2BIT announced. Gemini crossed her arms. "Then why did I remember you?" she asked. "Because I like you. Now, what's all the hubbub? Oh... yeah, I see. That's really something up close..." 2BIT muttered, gawking at the dogfight going on. Sonic tapped his foot impatiently. "So, you're the boss? Are we fired or not, then!?" he asked. 2BIT cleared his throat. "Lemme stop this fighting first. I know just the thing. Watch this. WRITER POWERS!! ACTIVATE!!" he shouted. Just then, the Biolizard appeared among the ships at about double its usual size, causing Eggman to spin out in his panic and making the others wet themselves as it roared. "That gets a brief cease-fire. Now, we teleport back to Station Square and swiftly close all the portals. ABRA-KA-LAZY-WRITING-DA!!" With a lot of flashy and comedic flourish including some 8-BIT video game sprites and sound effects, the entire cast of GeneX suddenly found themselves assembled at Station Square City Hall, where the mayor handed the key to the city over to 2BIT. "About time if you ask me." he said, teleporting the mayor back to hammerspace from whence he came. "OK, enough troll-esque comedy." he said, approaching the podium. "When was any of this funny?" Gunner asked from the crowd. "Hey, how'd we get here!? It's a MYSTERY!!" Vector shouted. "Stuff it, Vector. If we're fired, we're not detectives anymore!" Espio growled. 2BIT banged a gavel to get everyone's attention. "Order! Order in the cast! I knew letting you know about this would create chaos and anarchy, but I felt you deserved to know. Let me just say: It IS perfectly possible that Sonic Boom could be a mere spin off and not a reboot. But Sega has to know that people still want the old Sonic series, and all that comes with it, which I hope we got some memories of through watching you guys go through your little bouts of desperation." he said. Cream hugged Cheese tightly. "A world without Chao seems sad..." she sniffled. Sonic sighed frustratedly. "No one's gonna go to Sega and ASK for us to come back. Anyways, not enough for Sega to think it worthwhile. I think folks kinda... take us for granted." he said. The crowd all looked a bit crestfallen. 2BIT nodded, but then shrugged. "Your Sega selves may end up fired. Maybe, who knows for sure right now? But I'm the boss here at GeneX. Don't any of you worry. As long as I'm around, no one is getting fired! Our series will be back to its regular schedule without delay!" he announced. A cheer, followed by a collective sigh of relief was heard from the crowd. "HEY! Why didn't you say that in the first place!?" Copter shouted. 2BIT chuckled. "Just to see what you'd do..." he said. Eggman aimed some missiles in 2BIT's direction. "Did you think I'd find it FUNNY!?" he growled. 2BIT snapped his fingers, and Eggman vanished. "Anyone else mad?" he asked. The crowd started to disperse nervously, but Sonic walked over to 2BIT. "Excuse me... What was the point of all this?" he asked. 2BIT looked out over the crowd. The crowd of extreme gear flying birds, fishing cats, experimental life forms, Chao friends, badnik robots, military spies, and fancharacters with a familiar, awesome style. "People need to know... What they might lose..." he said, disappearing in a subtle burst of light. "Don't mind the mess, I'll see it retconned by the next chapter!" his voice called out even after he had vanished.

Back at the ARK, Eggman emerged in a daze, looking around angrily. "Why that smart-alecky fox! Who does he think he--" A loud roar interrupted his thought, and as he turned, he saw the giant Biolizard was still kicking its legs and swimming through space! "Oh...no..." Eggman whimpered, frantically grabbing at his controls to flee for his life! "Bad Prototype!! Bad! Sit! Down!! Why can't you quit cameoing!!?? Aaaaaaaaugh!!" Eggman wailed.

Note From 2BIT: This Episode Has Been a Non-Canon Commentary about the Negative Possibilities Presented by Sonic Boom.

Episode End!

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