Gemerl, Orbot & Cubot Form A Giant Megazord in New Sonic Calendar Art

Act 7: Steel Mind Fusion Grand Botkaiser

A harbor base on the outskirts of Casinopolis…

Tearing apart the silence, three huge steel aircraft shadows flew in with an explosion… At a point in the void, they merge with an earth-shaking crash and are enveloped in a dazzling ball of light.

And the next moment, it happened…!

"Steel Mind Fusion! Grand Botkaiser!"

There, 400 meters tall, the invincible steel titan loomed in a ready stance, with the harbor and the city in the background.

---

“As per the intel, super high energy reading confirmed! …It’s the strongest we have ever seen!”

So reported “Red Iron Orbot,” the steel titan’s right body part and attacker, with a tense look on his face.

“Don’t worry. We’re done evacuating the citizens, so we’ll just clean up as usual!”

So cheerfully replied “Yellow Iron Cubot,” the left body part of the steel titan in charge of defense.

“Situation understood. G-Botkaiser, activate battle mode!”

Above the two heads was “Black Iron Gemerl,” the cephalothorax part with full control authority, that announced the start of the operation.

Then, as if in time with the trio’s preparations, Gemerl’s console monitor shows a huge body rising gradually from the sea, accompanied by an alert sound.

It is an oddly shaped giant robot equipped with copper-nickel alloy-colored steel spikes… The “enemy.”

In a seemingly businesslike but determined manner, Gemerl detachedly speaks to his companions.

“Arms fully open. Let the battle begin.”

---

It was only recently that “enemies” appeared out of nowhere and began to attack this harbor base.

The frivolous Orbot, the easygoing Cubot, and the cool Gemerl, who never says much. Their G-Botkaiser keeps the peace in the vicinity by blocking the enemies.

Then, the unprecedentedly powerful enemy attacks. G-Botkaiser waits for it with its maxed out equipment and no limiters.

“Hey, Gemerl. I think what we need to do when fighting combined is communicate.”
“He’s right. At least take me out for a drink at the oil bar after work!”
“…”

As they chat in front of their enemy, Gemerl replies in silence.

“…Well, as usual, we’ll leave the fighting to you, Gemerl.”

The enemy slowly approaches. The copper-nickel alloy-colored matte body with a single eerily glowing eye. The steel spike blades on its back make it closely resemble an animal. As the enemy moved in for a pause, it dropped low with a gloomy driving sound…

“It’s as big as we are… How about calling it a mecha hedgehog since it’s so spiky…?”

A shock interrupts Cubot’s lighthearted banter and strikes at him! The enemy’s charging attack grazes in front of his eyes and pops off part of the shoulder armor.

“Ow! What was that?!”
“All that just from a graze?! It must be those blades…”

This enemy is on different level of strength than any others. As the two robots stiffen, a terrifying pursuit by the circling enemy closes in on G-Botkaiser.

“…Deploy the anti-impact protector Cu-Shield!”
“Okay! I’m on it!”

*Ka-whaaaam!*

The moment the enemy makes contact with the shield, it is blown away by an unexpectedly large explosion and it totters before it falls on its knees…!

Cubot’s “Explosion Reaction Shield,” which reacts to impact and the surface of the shield explodes to offset and counteract the force, worked well. One could say the first move was a good one, inflicting counter damage, but…

“What’s with the explosion?! Gemerl, you’re so mean! My face is gonna turn into popcorn!”

Cubot, his face embedded in the shield and caught in the explosion to the fullest extent, protests furiously, battered and bruised. Bringing in a prototype of the most powerful armament backfired, but there’s nothing they can do about it now…

Despite the protests, Gemerl attempts to pursue the enemy, who has yet to get up.

“Unleash the thrusting EMP weapon Or-Drill at full power!”
“Roger that! I’ll avenge Cubot!”

*Whirrrr!*

Along with the ultra-hard drill in which Orbot is embedded, a spiral thunderbolt is unleashed on the enemy, burning through the electronic circuits.

*Grind-grind-grind…!*

Although the drill itself was blocked by the enemy, the joints of the arms were sparked and smoke erupted from various places… The electromagnetic pulse attack is certainly working.

They can push through like this!

But then the rotation of the drill gradually slowed down and finally stopped completely. Then Orbot’s face at the base of the drill made a fierce, gasping protest.

“The electromagnetic pulse is working on me, too… Also, I’m dizzy… Gemerl, you brute!”

With the self-inflicted damage and the falling out… G-Botkaiser lost a valuable chance to attack.

The enemy turns to counterattack, curling up its body and spinning at high speed…! The inverted blades of the ball-shaped body emit a dull glow, and the next moment it attacks with a single offense-defense assault technique.

The only remaining armament is Ultimate Trinity, a special move by Gemerl’s chest gun “G-End,” but it does not respond when the firing button is pressed…!

Gemerl shakes his head, as if he knew why.

The reason is that this armament has a safety device that prevents it from firing unless the three of them are of one mind. And they had never been able to fire it before.

It is no longer possible to avoid the enemy’s attacks…! Gemerl tried to take it on with Orbot and Cubot, but they are already at their limit with serious damage.

“…Taking emergency measures. Attempting to take on the strikes with the chest armor!”

Gemerl tries to deflect the blows by moving his own chest, which is the most heavily armored, forward and devising a reflective angle, but…

*Craaaash!*

The impact wasn’t strong enough to kill, but enough to almost penetrate the armor, causing massive damage…! The large body was sent flying and sank to the ground, sparking sparks here and there as it lay flat on its back.

On Gemerl’s console monitor, red pop-ups inform him where the damage is… The enemy was shown entering the next attack stance.

“…You could have protected yourself by disposing of us.”
“He did it to protect us…”

Seeing Gemerl more damaged than they are, Orbot and Cubot pour oil from their eyes.

“…We must join forces! The three of us will defeat it together!”

The two’s eyes light up. Perhaps their uprising spirit was conveyed, as Gemerl, who had been on the verge of shutting down, regained the light in his eyes and tried to wake up G-Botkaiser, which was at an impasse.

And at that moment…

Looking around, Gemerl’s eyes caught the sign of an ice cream shop that was a tenant in a building.

“Cream…?”

…Cream. That’s the only word that somehow stirred something in him…

Even though he didn’t even know whose name it was, Gemerl felt a strange sense of power just by saying it. There is something behind him that he needs to protect. …Something important.

Protecting Cream. Even if this body meets it end. Driven by this inexplicable yet certain thought, G-Botkaiser rises heroically.

Meanwhile, Orbot and Cubot also have their eyes glued to something marked on the wall of the base.

It is a distinctive symbol that represents the face of a mustached man with an egg-shaped head and a smile.

…Protecting this base. That is an absolute order from the “boss”… The symbol instantly brings back to their memory the dreaded mission.

If they don’t protect it, they have no future for themselves…!

“For Cream!”
“I can’t quite remember, but this is all for the boss!”
“This is so I… I don’t get scolded by the boss!”

There is something they want to protect.

G-Botkaiser is enveloped in a dazzling light at the same time as its disparate thoughts become one. The light gathers at the chest’s G-End.

“What are these signatures…? The Aegis Circuit kept silent this entire time!”
“Wow! Now we might be able to destroy that thing!”

The letter “G” shines on the console monitor. Gemerl nods silently… The three minds were now one.

"Our special move… Ultimate Trinity!"

*Crash!*

The ultimate electrical discharge weapon made possible by the latest technology. The wondrous plasma surges forth in a roar of light that burns all matter to ashes in the blink of an eye.

It pierced through the heart of the “enemy,” and as it increased in power and range, it split the ocean in front of it, gouging through mountains… even grazing the moon in the sky, changing some of its contours.

Seconds after the roar ceased… The enemy, now completely exposed, exploded at sea with a deafening roar.

*Ka-booooom!*

The seawater that had hoisted up into the stratosphere froze high in the sky, diffused the light, and scattered into a giant rainbow tombstone that shone brightly for several kilometers in all directions around it.

---

…A total victory.

The enemy vanished without a trace, and there was only G-Botkaiser standing there as an objet d’art of triumph, with smoke coming out of every part of its body.

“Extreme damage due to recoil from using the G-End.”

The three of them are no longer able to move, let alone disengage from the combination. Gemerl nonchalantly reports this to Orbot and Cubot.

“Well, we finished it off, so that’s all well and good! ♪“
“No, it’s not good! We’re wrecked all over… What are we going to do now, Gemerl?”
“…”

After a long silence, Gemerl announced, seemingly matter-of-factly, but with goodwill.

“Let’s go to the oil bar.”

…After an air of puzzlement… The two, and then all three, laugh heartily, even forgetting that they are stuck.

Their minds were now truly one with a sense of accomplishment and pride in themselves for having been able to protect something important to them.

---

After the Fight…

---

“Incredible! Hey, did you see that just now?!”

A short time after the enemy exploded and dissipated…

On a small hill a short distance away, Tails was very excited to see the majestic figure of G-Botkaiser standing on the ruins of the battlefield, and Sonic was watching with a slightly withdrawn smile.

“Tails… Guess your love of mechanical stuff hasn’t changed.”

Tails, who gets bashful when that’s pointed out about him, begins his specialized analysis with a serious expression on his face as if to switch gears. Before the “anomaly,” during the battle with Eggman’s army, this was indeed Eggman’s base, where Gemerl, Orbot and Cubot were supposed to have turned against each other. The fact that it turned out this way means…

“I think that… Eggman himself may not be able to control this anomaly.”

After a pause for breath, Tails continues.

“I think Eggman’s plan was to make the world more different, more convenient for him. But this is nothing like that now, is it?”
“It sure doesn’t make any sense that Eggman’s lackeys, Orbot and Cubot, are getting along so well with Gemerl.”

Sonic nods to Tails’s point.

“Yeah. But that’s not all. Shadow and Infinite’s gig, Amy and Blaze’s fortune-telling and magic, my clothes… There are so many changes going on here and there that Eggman would never have thought of. And all while all of us retained the base relationships, you know?”
“…Hey, Tails. What’s that supposed to mean?”

When inquired like that after he just explained so much in a single breath, Tails was a bit at a loss for words and replied.

“I don’t know how to put it better, but… I’d say the world’s ‘interpretation’… it’s being overwritten here and there by someone who isn’t Eggman…”
“‘Interpretation’?! …How? And by whom exactly?”
“I don’t know… But otherwise, I can’t explain why there are so many anomalies around the world, each with its own disordered concept…”

Tails, realizing that his deduction was too far-fetched, blushed and cast down his eyes.

“S-Sorry, that’s kinda… I know I’m not making sense…”

Tails’s shoulders slumped as he realized that he had not analyzed anything after all. But Sonic squeezed both of his shoulders and spoke to him.

“What are you saying, Tails?! I’m telling you, we’re getting closer to an answer.”
“…Huh?”
“I like the “Interpretation Override” theory! Even if we don’t know what’s going on now, we can find out who’s behind it by doing more research on what kind of anomalies are occurring, right? Aren’t we taking a step forward?”

Smooth words make smooth ways. Tails realized that’s what “interpretation” is all about, and while astonished, he felt a warm confidence return to his chest.

“G-Good point! Thank you, Sonic!”

Sonic runs off, saying, “Let’s go,” and Tails follows him with a smile. Having taken one step forward, followed by two and three, the two advanced boldly toward the future.