A mediocre starting artist. I like Pokémon, Steven Universe, Sonic, Mario, And more! And I can’t make decent bios! This is my main account/blog, go here for my art: @eliment-art-blog
Hi there! I’m a starting artist so any criticism (that isn’t malicious) is welcomed! I’ll be posting more random garbage here so for now you should follow my art account (where I’ll post, art... kinda self explanatory...) If you like art!
Forgot to add link to art blog, I’m gonna sleep after this... @eliment-art-blog
Its finally time to show ya'll my story for the Motobug! :DD This whole plotline has actually been in the background of my AU for a while, but I just didn't have time to draw it what with working on Omega's story. But now that that's done, I can share this story! :D
This all started before they had Omega. This was when the Badnik (at the time Gerald called them G.U.N droids) problem had only really just started, and Sonic and his friends only moved in a few months ago.
Miles and Gerald were in the shop disassembling some droids (badniks) for study. When Sonic and Knuckles showed up. Knuckles was carrying a new droid over his shoulder, and plopped it down with a rubbery thud. Sonic stood beside it and helped it keep balance with his hand.
"Miles! Dr. Gerald! We found a new one."
The new droid they had discovered was very strange. It was basically a wheel well with a face and two little arms. They weren't sure how it was supposed to be much of a threat.. they theorized it might have something stuffed inside of it..? But to its credit, it could bob and weave through trees with incredible control and speed. Sonic had a hard time catching it despite being much faster than it.
As Miles stopped welding and approached the droid, Gerald had finally put down what he was doing and got up to look.
Gerald was.. shocked to see it. He just froze and stared..
The 3 talked back and fourth about it and how fast it was. When they eventually turned to Gerald.
Knuckles gave it a rough pat. "Doctor. This bot is broken. The wheel is not spinning. It is heavy. You tell me where I will move it."
Gerald continued to stare at it with kind of a sad look.. but then he waved Knuckles off.
"Just leave it there, we'll take care of it."
It was a strange request considering what Knuckles had just said. But Gerald was sure. So after a bit more chatting, Sonic and Knuckles left to go look for more droids.
Miles moved behind it and gave the droid a good push, but the wheel was locked up tight. And boy was Knuckles right, it was MUCH heavier than it looks.
Miles stood up a bit baffled. "He was right, its really heavy. Dr. Gerald, How are we gonna move it without Knuckles?"
Gerald said nothing. He approached the droid with his hands in his pockets.
Miles stood back, "Maybe we use the cherry picker..?" Gerald knelt down beside the droid, reached under its red body and flipped a leaver with a quiet thunk.
Like magic, the wheel came loose and droid then began to roll freely. Gerald silently stood up, placed a hand in his pocket and used the other to guide the droid further into the shop.
Miles watched kind of in awe.. how did he know that lever was there..?
Gerald guided it to the back of the shop by his desk and sat down. then he just.. hung his shoulders low and stared at the droid. Placing a hand on it, he seemed very sad and in thought..
Miles approached him with caution..
"..Dr. Gerald? How did.. how did you know that?.. How did you make it roll?"
After a moment, Gerald responded "..All Motobugs wheels lock up when they lose power.. Its a failsafe, you see. But they also have that lever so that you can disable that failsafe and move it if needed.."
Miles perked up. "Motobug?" Gerald nodded. Miles shyness was gone as he went right up to Gerald "Is that what it's called? H-How do you know that?"
Gerald's gloom didn't budge at Miles' excitement. He leaned back and looked around at the various other droids that they had been disassembling. The blue bee-like droids hanging from the walls, the fish-like droids they stored in a metal drum, and the brown monkey droid that was crammed in the corner.
Gerald's gaze fell back on the Motobug, and another wave of sadness washed over him.
He could still feel Miles staring at him though. So with a sigh, he stood up and turned to him.
"Follow me, Miles. There's something I need to show you."
They walked in silence out of the shop, into the house, up the stairs and into Gerald's office. Miles had only been in here once or twice to grab something, but now he got to get a good look at the room.
Along the walls was old framed news papers, posters and ads of.. what looked kind'a like the droids they'd been fighting.
Gerald kept walking and lead Miles to the main display at the center of the far wall. It was another old news paper page, but this one had a familiar looking droid on it..
"This," Gerald started, "Is my Great Uncle. Dr. Ivo Robotnik. This story was printed back in the 1940s, when my Uncle had just unveiled his newest invention. The Motobug.."
Gerald looked sad once again. "I.. wasn't sure at first. Or.. maybe I was just in denial. But seeing that Motobug.? Now it's all very clear to me. All these droids are just remodeled versions of the W.T.S.D series.."
Miles looked up "W... T.S.D.? Series.?"
Gerald nodded. "It stood for Wildlife Themed Service Droids. It was a A series of droids that were designed to assist people in their everyday lives. They were all invented by my Uncle. These.. are all his designs.."
Gerald took a breath to stifle his emotions. "..The Motobug specifically was a mail delivery bot. And it was actually my favorite of all his inventions."
Miles perked up. "Really?"
Gerald nodded. "I was never really interested in robotics until I found out about the Motobug. It was revolutionary for its time, and it still was considered a marvel by the time I had heard of it."
"The big thing about the Motobug was its self balancing technology. Its ability to balance with just one big wheel was like magic." Gerald emphasized this by tapping the picture, pointing at the large white walled tire the old model had.
"I was so inspired by the Motobug and how something so cute and unassuming could just.. WOW everyone with its technological prowess.. you know?" Miles nodded.
"I had so many questions. I always wanted to discuss the Motobug with Uncle Ivo.. boy I wish I could have. To talk to a genius like him would have really been something.."
Gerald looked sadly at the newspaper..
"..Or, you know.. at the very least I.. I really wanted to see a Motobug in person.. but.."
Gerald paused for a moment before letting out a watery sigh.
"..Not like this.. " Gerald wiped his tears helplessly.
"I'm disgusted with what G.U.N has done. To take my Uncles inventions.. which were- were meant to help people. And just.. now all they do is.."
Gerald sighed again and backed away from the wall to better wipe his tears. Miles carefully followed him with his ears drooped back.
"..Uncle Ivo.. I didn't know him well, but he was still family.. I really looked up to him. And he worked for G.U.N. For years! To think they repaid that loyalty by butchering his inventions after his death is.."
Gerald shook his head. "Its horrible.." After a moment he looked to the ceiling as more tears fell. "..Gosh.. I hope its not be..." Gerald trailed off as more and more terrible thoughts swirled in his head.. what had become of his family name? Ivo's memory was disgraced by these droids, and Gerald himself was a felon. Was there anything of value left for Maria? The last of the Robotniks..?
After another moment, he shut his eyes and sighed. He wiped away more tears and then put his glasses back on.
"Sorry, sorry," Gerald said trying to compose himself. He cleared his throat and adjusted his coat. "The point of showing you this was not to uh.. "reminisce". But to show you how I know all of this."
Miles nodded, he still looked at Gerald with concern.
"Its all very clear to me now. The blue droids are remodels of the Buzz Bombers.. the fish are the Chompers.. and then Crabmeat.."
Miles cracked a smile hearing the true names of the droids.
Gerald fixed his shirt collar with a shaking hands. "This is very valuable information to us. Knowing what they used to be, will help us better understand how they function now. It will help us teach Sonic and Knuckles how to fight them.."
Miles couldn't help but chime in, "..They.. kind'a had silly names, didn't they?"
Gerald dryly chuckled, "Well yes, that was the point. A lot of these droids would be in areas where children could see them. So if you told a child what they were called, they'd laugh."
Miles cautiously stepped closer to Gerald and smiled wider, "Aww, that's so wholesome!"
Gerald wiped a tear from under his glasses and chuckled again. "It is."
As they began to leave the room, Miles turned back to look at the newspaper again. "..So.. uhm.. what are you gonna do with it?"
Gerald thought for a moment. "Well.. tomorrow I'll probably check for any salvageable parts and.. just toss the rest in the scrap house." His last comment sounded defeated and sad..
Miles walked faster and caught up with Gerald in the hallway.
"Hey, lemme do it for you! I know what parts to look for and that way you.. uh.." Gerald looked down at Miles, his cheeks were still red puffy.
"..wont have to.. you know.. look. At it.? I'll just get rid of it for you.."
..Gerald smiled at the gesture and ruffled Miles' hair.
"I'd like that, thank you. Go do whatever you want to it." Miles grinned and made his way past Gerald and down the stairs. Gerald stood in the hallway for a moment, before wiping another tear from his cheeks and retreating to his bedroom.
The next morning, the Motobug was gone from the shop. Miles must have already tossed the rest to the scrap house, but Gerald wasn't about to go check and see it again.
It wasn't really brought up after that. Anytime another Motobug was brought into the shop, seeing it would cause a pang of sadness in Gerald's heart. So Miles began swooping in and rolling all Motobugs away before Gerald could see them. Eventually Sonic and Knuckles stopped bringing Motobugs into the shop and just piled them up behind the scrap house for Miles to dissect.
This had been the routine for the Robotnik household for while. All up until about 2 months after they had found the first Motobug. Gerald was in the kitchen drinking his morning coffee when Miles came in all wound up on chaos energy.
He could barely contain his excitement as he held out a blindfold and told Gerald he has a surprise for him.
Miles lead a blindfolded Gerald by the hand around to the back of the scrap house.
Once he had the OK and took off the blindfold.. Gerald could not believe what he was seeing.
It was like looking at a time capsule.. Before Gerald could even question anything, Miles couldn't hold back his excitement anymore.
The words tumbled out over each other as he explained his whole process of rebuilding it. He had done some digging into the history of the original Motobug design by Ivo, and replicated it in every way possible. He fabricated a new faceplate, head and neck mechanism, and two brand new custom eyes. Now it looked just like the original models, and could also emote exactly like they could!
Miles had also painted it with #FFBE3C yellow, #5FD4FF blue, #ED261C red and #242424 black. The EXACT colors the original models were painted with. The original models were manufactured with Whitewall tires, and while Miles wasn't able to find that, he took the spare off of Gerald's truck and painted a perfect white ring on both sides.
Miles had also discovered the originals were able to play music and cute tunes to put the children they were delivering medicine to at ease. So he built a custom audio player that could play the exact list of songs and sounds the originals could play. But he also did one better! He ALSO gave it a radio and a standard voice box so it could communicate! Something Ivo would have liked to put in the original models, but at the time a proper voice box with responsive AI would have been too big to install.
Miles naturally removed what turned out to be tranquilizer pods from his carriage and replaced it with a storage compartment. Just like the originals had. Now he can follow Gerald around and carry tools for him!
In the midst of Miles' ramblings, he realized that Gerald hadn't spoken or moved. Feeling embarrassed and concerned now, Miles slowed down and then sheepishly asked if Gerald liked it..
Gerald approached the Motobug in silence.
Tears quickly welled in Gerald eyes and poured down his cheeks. He took off his glasses and wiped them away, but they just kept falling and falling.
To Miles' question, Gerald nodded. He loved the Motobug and his tears said it all. Miles just beamed. His tails glowed brightly as Miles and Gerald reached for each other.
After all the disrespect G.U.N had shown to Ivo and the Robotnik name.. Miles rebuilding this relic with so much love and attention to detail..? It was so tender hearted, and it showed so much honor and respect to his late Uncle. Gerald was so impressed with Miles, and he was beyond happy that he finally got to see a normal Motobug in person.
Ever since then, through out all of the events I've drawn and discussed, this Motobug has been in the background following Gerald around.
I've had a really hard time coming up with a solid name for this particular Motobug. I've heard Motobud, I've considered Stuart, Timmy, Ivo JR, Junior, Moto, Momo, etc.. but so far nothing has really clicked. I want Gerald to be the one who named it which I guess makes things more difficult.. what name would he have picked..? But anyways-
Thanks to being around Sonic, Miles and Shadow, and having the chaos emerald in the bunker, chaos energy slowly began to bleed into his circuits. So just like all other Badniks, he began to develop sentience and became more intelligent. But that was ok. He was still a loyal little bot. And his personality just made him all the more charming.
Today he can usually be found following Gerald from place to place. He carries around all kind's of tools, meds, and other miscellaneous things for Gerald. He plays little tunes when Gerald gets stressed and can relay his to-do list when needed.
They still collect the Motobugs they defeat in the forest, but Miles is the one that dismantles them. Miles theoretically could rebuild those as well, but it would be just too much work..
And besides, their one little Motobug buddy is more than enough for the Robotnik household.
We need less power-couples and more fail-couples. A pair that individually are disasters but together make everything even worse. Not in a toxic sense, they are just both so lacking in common sense that being together creates a shenanigans feedback-loop. They will become everyone's problem.
Random thing, I like how when Gummigoo got confettied, while Pomni was basically trying to process seeing the first person she likely truly connected with on a personal level die instantly, Ragatha came in like a mother consoling their child after seeing their newest toy get destroyed in their face, and I just think that’s a neat character interaction moment for me.
