Tu Shanshu | Application

[neoguardian]

Player Information:
Name: Pixie
Age: 22
Contact: pixienixis@gmail.com
Game Cast: NA

Character Information:
Name: Lara-Su of the House of Edmund
Canon: Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie!verse)
Canon Point: From "Light Mobius" between her defeat of King Shadow the Hedgehog and his revival by Lien-Da and the Dark Presence.
Age: 17 (thereabouts)
Reference: Here

Setting: Most of the information in this section will be heavily geared toward the Echidna kind since Lara-Su is an Echidna and how her life plays out relies heavily on the history of her people. I will incorporate bits and pieces of other Mobian places, ideas, and events as well because all things just connect like that and as you'll discover events that happen on the Mobian mainland effect what happens to Angel Island, the Echidna, and inevitably Lara-Su.

World of Mobius: Mobius Map and Angel Island (You'll notice it's called Floating Island here.)

Because it would probably take forever to describe every single land mass I have provided maps. These maps give a pretty good overview of various places on Mobius and exactly where they are located on the planet. As far as the layout of the land goes, it’s very terrestrial with hot zones, cold zones, tropical zones, desert zones, mild zones etc. There are mountains, forests, rivers, streams, and various kinds of Earth-like nature goodies riddled about. There are also cities, very human-like futuristic cities with hover-cars and video screen phones built into the walls, a bit like the Jetsons. Certain regions of the world include the following:

Angel Island - also known as the Floating Island, it is the only landmass that doesn’t have an Earth equivalent. It floats miles above Mobius and is home mostly to the Echidna race and a random scattering of other Mobians. It also floats on a predictable track.

Efrika - is the Mobian equivalent of Africa

Eurish - is the Mobian equivalent of Europe and the Echidna ancestral stomping grounds before Angel Island was founded.

Downunda - is the Mobian equivalent to Australia and one of the more important locations in the world of StH. It is the home of the Downunda Freedom Fighters and it was also a place where certain conflicts took place.

Northamer - is the Mobian equivalent of North America and the land mass where most major settlements and locations can be found including Mobotropolis/Robotropolis, Knothole, New Mobotropolis, the Forbidden Zone etc. It is also a cesspool for conflict on Mobius.

Northern Tundra - is the Mobian equivalent of the North Pole.

Soumerca - is the Mobian equivalent of South America.

Southern Tundra - is the Mobian equivalent of the South Pole.

Yurashia - is the Mobian equivalent of Asia.

Major Players in Light Mobius:

Sonic: The title character, Sonic is the main hero and is typically viewed as Knuckles's friendly nemesis. Apart from his connection to her father and Sonic's role in disturbing the space-time continuum there's surprisingly not much relationship development seen with Lara-Su and Sonic on screen. In the Light Mobius timeline Sonic is the King of Mobius.

Knuckles: Lara-Su's father. They seem to have a close, if not typical, father and daughter relationship. They often butt heads over training Lara-Su as a Guardian. Lara-Su wants to be a Guardian and for a long time Knuckles would have none of it. Once Knuckles realizes he is taking away Lara-Su's choices in the same way his own father had done with him, he relents. They are seen sharing hugs and Lara-Su insists that her first dance at her Unveiling be with her father. He's also protective over her where boys are concerned.

Sally: Wife to Sonic, childhood friend of Knuckles, close friend to Julie-Su, and Queen of Mobius. Sally and Lara-Su seem to get along well enough that Sally along with Julie-Su spend bonding time with Lara-Su and Sonia when the girls have a sleepover. She's comfortable around Sally, enabling her to talk openly about personal girl things and she treats Sally as another one of the girls.

Julie-Su: Their relationship as mother and daughter is one of closeness as well. Julie-Su might come off as a little overprotective and tends to act as a buffer between Knuckles and Lara-Su. She even called Knuckle's barbaric for suggesting spanking when Lara-Su refused to attend her Unveiling. They have an open relationship in which they can talk about almost anything together and while they argue from time to time their's is a loving dynamic.

Lara-Su: She could be considered one of the main players in the Light Mobius timeline. She is the daughter of Knuckles and Julie-Su, her greatest ambition is to become a Guardian, and she ends up defeating the big bad in the first half of the Light Mobius series.

Shadow: He is the main antagonist in the Light Mobius series and he pretty much takes over Sonic's role in the Altered timeline, marrying Sally and becoming King of Mobius. He is described as efficient and able to get things done, but his methods are cruel and vindictive in nature. Naturally Lara-Su dislikes him and sets about trying to find a way to overthrow Shadow.

Lien-Da: The half-sister of Julie-Su, Lara-Su's aunt, descendant of Dimitri, and one time leader of the Dark Legion. Lien-Da does not and has never had a loving relationship with Julie-Su though they seem pretty civil and she's almost deceptively kind to Lara-Su. In the Altered timeline she works for the big bad, suggesting she'd never really changed her ways--she's almost sadistic. She's a strict and loving mother to her son Rutan. There is very little personal interaction between her and Lara-Su.

Sonia: Lara-Su's best friend in the unaltered timeline, unfortunately there is a scant amount of interaction between these two to prove such a relationship other than it being stated. They are also seen playing on the same team together in a game of volley ball. She is the older sister of Manik and the daughter of Sonic and Sally. In the Altered timeline Sonia wasn't born until after the defeat of Shadow and by this time Lara-Su is well into her teens so she loses her best friend, becoming Sonia's babysitter instead.

Manik: Manik is the baby brother of Sonia and son to Sonic and Sally. In the original Light Mobius timeline he has a humiliating crush on Lara-Su that she wants no one to know about because he's younger than her. She often makes threats whenever he flirts with her or gets inappropriately close to her. In the altered timeline she becomes Manik's babysitter. Also, instead of being the baby brother, Sonia and Manik are twins.

Rotor: Very little development between Lara-Su and Rotor, he's the Kingdom of Acorn diplomat who works with Cobar and with his help the two of them figure out why there is so much discord happening with the Mobian weather. Lara-Su rescues him from the catacombs, carrying his prone body to safety after he was imprisoned and tortured by Shadow.

Cobar: A one time member and scientist of the Dark Legion, he and Rotor end up working together for the good of Mobius and they figure out that the world is coming to and end because of certain events involving Sonic. He gives Lien-Da a device that helps her to hang on to her memories in the Altered timeline. There is no interaction between him and Lara-Su and it is implied that Cobar was beaten to death by Shadow much to Lien-Da's amusement.

Tails: Again, very little character relationship between Tails and Lara-Su, but the two of them work together in order to find Sonic so they can overthrow Shadow. Apparently Sonic and Tails had a falling out years ago, but it was forgotten as soon as the two were reunited. Lara-Su was rather touched by the bitter-sweet reunion.

Light Mobius: Since I'll be taking Lara-Su from the Light Mobius universe it's probably a good idea to explain what this means.

If you take a peek at the historical event section it reveals all of the most important events that took place on Mobius up until the present. All of this basically takes place in the Mobius Prime universe which is the main timeline.

Light Mobius is the timeline that Lara-Su comes from, it represents a possible future which has its own split timelines and can therefore become very confusing. It is especially confusing since certain things require a knowledge of Sonic's deeds in Mobius Prime because a lot of his Zone/Universe hopping and time shenanigans set the scene for the Light Mobius timeline. So I'll try to explain it to the best of my ability in a way that I hope is easy to relate to.

Keep in mind that Light Mobius is a what-if kind of future, it's Archie fulfilling a need to know what happens outside of the main plot which is why some things may seem disjointed or they are not fully explained or explored.

So what happens between Mobius Prime and Light Mobius?

Knuckles becomes enriched with Chaos energy enabling him to defeat Dr. Eggman, but with his new found power he begins to reshape the world in his image removing his girlfriend, Julie-Su's cybernetics. Sonic regarded him and his power as threat and in an attempt to neutralize the Guardian, Knuckles lost an eye.

Sonic and Sally would get married, but it would be two years before Sally's father would step down from the throne, leaving Sonic with all of the pressures of running a kingdom. This will create some contention between Sonic and Sally in their marriage (Sonic is an adrenaline junkie who must constantly be on the go).

Tails would move to Downunda creating a rift between himself and Sonic.

Knuckles would lose his father, Locke, to cancer.

A couple of Overlander conflicts would crop up...and this is where the transition from Prime to Light begins.

Twenty-Five years later the characters are living in an age of peace. Sonic and Sally have two children, Manik and Sonia and Kuckles and Julie-Su have a daughter, Lara-Su. The two families would often get together on Angel Island (Angel Island is also enjoying a period of peace) and apart from old tensions existing between Sonic and Knuckles over the eye thing, both families get along swimmingly.

All's well, more or less, but we know this just cannot be. So in comes Rotor who was once a Freedom Fighter and is also friend to Sonic and Sally...in Light he is a diplomatic representative of the Kingdom of Acorn (a Mobian government ruled by Sonic and Sally and previously ruled by King Max and Queen Alicia). Well, Rotor gets together with this Echidna called Cobar, who was apparently a scientist with the Dark Legion, and the two of them discover something funky going on with the weather patterns on Mobius.

It's unknown how Rotor and Cobar got together and began collaborating, this is one of those plot holes designed to move the story along rather than examining it.

They are able to explain the light shows and the bizarre weather as a disruption of the temporal space-time continuum that could bring about the end of their world. Apparently Sonic's access to the various Zones and Multiverses on top of the activation of the Ultimate Annihilator (a machine created by Robotnik to destroy Knothole. This machine was tampered with by his nephew Snively who made it so that the UA would lock on to Robotnik alone, destroying him). The activation of the UA led to a breakdown of the Zones.

So they came to the conclusion that Sonic had to go back in time using a machine created by the late Dr. Eggman from an alternate universe called the Tachyon Chamber...a time machine essentially. So Sonic was going to use the time machine to go back in time and repair the damage.

Lien-Da, a leader among the Dark Legion learned of this plan, demanded that Cobar give her a divice that would enable to remember everything happening in this timeline before Sonic would go back in time to change things.

So Sonic, Knuckles, Rotor, Cobar, and Lara-Su (who was actually a stowaway since her father announced his intention to train her as a Guardian--she wanted to be involved in the mission, but he refused this time) the five of them went to the Badlands, a waste land where the Tachyon Chamber was stored. When Sonic entered the Chamber something went wrong, everyone disappeared, and the timeline was Altered completely.

It is important to note at this point that anyone who was close to the Chamber when this happened will retain their memories. Lien-Da will also retain her memories because of a device she requested from Cobar after she uncovered what was going on, but again, how the device works is unexplained.

Another transition will happen, we are still in the Light Mobius timeline, but we enter what is called the Altered timeline.

Here is where the details really get sketchy.

Sonic's return to the past isn't chronicled in detail, but apparently things were altered a great deal. In his fight with Robotnik he was declared dead and somewhere in all of this chaos Shadow the Hedgehog turned up, saved the day...but at the same time he conquered Mobius, bringing it under his rule. Under his rule a number of things happened:

Lien-Da, who is now the leader of the Dark Presence (her version of the Dark Legion), supports Shadow.

Shadow marries Sally, it's a marriage of convenience, very political. Sally is able to create a kind of soft wall between herself and the rest of the Mobians under, the now King, Shadow's tyranny.

Shadow moves the world capital to Angel Island to the city of Portal, which is Lara-Su's hometown.

It is important to note here as well that Shadow is aware of the change in the timelines due to his Chaos Control and views those who have retained their memory as a threat. He is only aware of Rotor and Cobar because of Lien-Da who rats the two of them out. He imprisons and tortures the both of them for information in the catacombs of Castle Mobius, but neither Rotor nor Cobar cave in. He never discovers the truth about Knuckles and Lara-Su.

Knuckles puts up one hell of an act as the law enforcement of Shadow's new regime. He also tries to contain Lara-Su's actions and memories for her own good while not letting on to his daughter that his memories were also preserved.

Also, while Shadow was in power, an Elemental War took place. The details are hazy, but the Echidna Tikal confronted a creature called Chaos binding herself with it in order to control it. This created the being known as Tikhaos, an unstable creature that was subjugated and locked away in the catacombs of Castle Mobius.

Apparently all of these negative events actually repaired the disruption, but I'm not sure how that worked because, again, there are no details...it just ironed itself out.

So, how does this effect Lara-Su? She has her memories of the unaltered timeline and her friends Sonia and Manik who do not exist in the Altered timeline and she doesn't really know what to do with it all. She and her father are approached by Tails who propositions them into helping him find Sonic. Knuckles, who is still strategically maintaining his ignorance, angrily dismisses him, but Lara-Su joins Tails.

Together they manage to find a ruined Sonic eating chilidogs in the gutter and after a heartwarming reunion between Sonic and Tails the three of them stage a coup. Unfortunately they are caught by Knuckles, arrested, and thrown into the catacombs with Rotor. All a part of Knuckles's grand plan to get them inside of Castle Mobius in order to confront Shadow. In the confrontation Sonic is defeated by Shadow, but Lara-Su steps in, freezing Shadow in time using her Chaos Control against his Chaos Control.

After Shadow's defeat things were set to rights. Sonic and Sally were married, Manik and Sonia were born, and there's a five year period of peace.

This is where I will end it because I'm taking Lara-Su from this point. Light Mobius has one more huge event attached to it involving the return of Shadow at the hands of a vengeful Lien-Da. He unleashes Tikhaos on the world as punishment for forsaking him as their King. Other than that this pretty much covers Light Mobius which isn't much different from Mobius Prime in terms of geography, a few changes might have been made under Shadow's regime, but the layout of Mobius itself remains intact more or less.

In this five year period of peace Lara-Su will still be training in her duties as a future Guardian.

Inhabitants:

Mobians - Mobians are the dominate race of beings that inhabit the planet Mobius. They are anthropomorphic in nature and are the evolved form of their animal counterparts. Lara-Su is an Echidna type Mobian. While most Mobians are an evolved form of some animal species, there are normal animals as well, like Sonic's pet dog Muttski.

Overlanders - Overlanders are the descendants of the Human race except they are generally more aggressive and they harbor a great deal of prejudice against Mobians. They are different from humans in that they have four fingers instead of five, but there are continuum errors in this in that with different artists came contradictions in the number of fingers.

Humans - Humans are very uncommon and depending on the universe (*note there are multiple universes, zones, and timelines in StH) they may not even exist. They are different from Overlanders, they have five fingers instead of four and they tend to be on friendly terms with Mobians. Station Square is one of the last human settlements on Mobius.

Factions: There are a number of nuanced governments and factions that exist on Mobius, these are the most Echidna/Lara-Su relevant organizations:

Guardian: On Angel Island, Guardian is the equivalent of royalty in that they command the same respect whether they want to or not. In formal situations they will more often than not be referred to by their title, Guardian, as opposed to their name. Guardian is a position given to an Echidna, specifically an Echidna of the Edmund family line. Their duty is to protect the Echidna race, Angel Island, and the Master Emerald. They also perform a number of other duties such as protecting important visitors on their island and maintaining law and order to an extent. This is what Lara-Su strives to be.

Freedom Fighters: This is a military group of rebels that came about after Ivo Robotnik came into power in order to combat his rule. There are a number of Freedom Fighter groups scattered throughout Mobius. Even after Robotnik's defeat the Freedom Fighters do not disband, they scatter, but they come back together in times of crisis. Much of the main cast in StH are involved with or are part of the Freedom Fighter organization in some way. At the end of Light Mobius Lara-Su becomes a full fledged Freedom Fighter.

Chaotix: The Chaotix are a one of the many groups of Freedom Fighters riddled throughout Mobius, they protect Angel Island and give the Guardian their full support when he or she requires it.

Brotherhood of Guardians: These are generations of Guardians who have at one point or another protected Angel Island and Echidna kind from internal and external threats. It is their job to protect the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald (this Emerald gives Angel Island the ability to stay aloft). The Brotherhood of Guardians are descended from the line of Edmund and tend to be related in some way or other. Lara-Su becomes part of the Brotherhood when her father finally decides to train her as a Guardian. Lara-Su becomes the second female Echidna to join the Brotherhood after Janelle-Li. Apart from her, current existing members are: Knuckles, Sabre, Thunderhawk, Sojourner, and Spectre.

Albion Government: Albion was one of the first Echidna settlements before the migration to Downunda and the creation of Angel Island. The city was lost, but not entirely abandoned and the Albion High Council was the reigning government. It's a rather corrupt government and was eventually dismantled.

Dark Legion: A cybernetic group that resulted in the aftermath of Dimitri's death. After Dimitri empowered himself with Chaos Emeralds and became Enerjak he would erect his own Dark Tower in his effort to exercise his power over Echidna kind. He did not expect the Fireants (Fireants are fire-breathing insect type Mobians, they are wise and often act as advisers to the Guardians) to rise against him, eating the foundation of his Dark Tower which resulted in the building collapsing on top of him and killing him. Dimitri's son, Menniker would create the Dark Legion in his anger and grief, Menniker blamed Edmund and the High Council for his father's death and struck out at them killing Edmund and enraging Edmund's son, Steppenwolf (the first official Guardian of Angel Island). This would lead to an endless cycle of of conflict between Dimitri's line and Edmund's line or the Dark Legion and the Guardians.

High Council of Echidnopolis: The Council is an old organization that has existed since Echidnopolis was still a part of Mobius, before the creation of Angel Island. There's a hierarchy in the Council, at the top is the spiritual class, then the high councilor, then the citizen elected councillors. It would eventually be dismantled.

Dingo Regime: This is basically a militant group of Dingo Mobians who are constantly at war with the Echidnas over control of Angel Island. This is actually a nod to the Nazi Regime and there are various similarities.

Historical Events:

Why does Mobius resemble Earth so greatly? Well Mobius is Earth…apparently, but long ago an Alien race came to the planet. These Aliens were called the Xorda and they started a war, their invasion led to the dropping of Gene Bombs which would lead to the creation of different species on Earth thousands of years later. Mobians—the anthropomorphic creatures descended from the animal kingdom and the Overlanders—descendents of humans. Overlanders tend to be aggressive toward Mobians, they have little respect for the environment, and are brutish in their nature. While there are evolved creatures on Mobius that doesn’t mean that Humans and normal animals don’t exist either. Humans are found few and far between and they tend to get along well with Mobians and unlike their Overlander counterparts they have five fingers instead of four which is generally how they are told apart. The Anthropomorphic Mobians became the prevalent species, with Echidnas being quite advanced.

The Echidna race was so advanced in fact that they dappled in science, created the city of Albion, and were the first to discover and utilize Chaos Emeralds. This led to other creatures learning of their existence including the Mammoth Mogul who became saturated with Chaos and became a tyrant who would come to be known as Ixis Mogul, a sorcerer who created crystalline magic. This discovery of Ixis Magic would lead to battles that would throw the world into ruin. These battle would later be referred to as the Forgotten Wars.

In order to combat Ixis Magic, Albion sent some of its scientists to Downunda where a research center was created. Their research led to some unethical genetic finagling with the residents which led to the transformation of the Tasmanian Devil tribe into vicious Devil-Dogs. These scientists were punished for their crimes and the Devil-Dog race was forgotten. Over the next several hundred years the Echidna would make several attempts at colonization across Mobius and many of these attempts would be met with hostility and a dwindling of the Echidna race. The remaining Echidna would establish an Echidnopolis in Downunda.

Echidna peace would not last. Many years later scientists would discover a comet set on a crash-course with their city. So the Echidna devised a plan with the help of the resident Fireants. The Fireants would dig Echidnopolis free from the rest of Mobius and the Echidnas would harness the power of the Chaos Emeralds enabling the land to float leading to the creation of Angel Island.

Angel Island would experience peace for several generations until the brothers Edmund and Dimitri enter the scene. Dimitri wanted to drain the Emeralds and return the island to Mobius. This was risky so the government overruled him and he revolted which would lead him to transforming himself into Enerjak (Dimitri's god-like form imbued with the power of Chaos Emeralds) and the creation of the Dark Legion, his followers. His brother Edmund would oppose the Dark Legion leading to the creation of the Guardian line. Edmund’s son Steppenwolf would become the first official Guardian, training in the ways of the Chaos Force and banishing the Dark Legion.

Echidnas would also come into conflict with the resident Dingo race who were on the island at the same time it was lifted from Mobius. The Dingos adapted to the Echidna technology and would use it against them. This conflict between the Dingos and the Echidna would would have a hand in creating the Brotherhood of Guardians. It would also set the course for a nuclear conflict that would force the present Guardian to send Echidnopolis into the Hyper Zone until Angel Island became habitable once again (the Hyper Zone, also known as the Hyper-wave Projector, isn't detailed all that well. It exists in the same space and time as Angel Island, but in it's own protective pocket so that it wouldn't be effected by the radiation. It was created by the Guardian Hawking).

While all of this is going on the Mobians and Overlanders are starting to define their own borders. Alexander Acorn would bring Mobians of all races under his wing, welcoming anyone and everyone into his society thus becoming the first in the Royal Acorn line. Tensions would slowly mount between Mobians and Overlanders with Overlanders squandering their resources, an Overlander noble killing a Mobian prince, and eventually the Overlanders would ally themselves with the Dark Legion as soon as their desperation for resources reached epic proportions.

When Princess Sally Acorn was an infant the Overlanders invaded the Kingdom of Acorn and the capital, Mobotropolis, was destroyed. Queen Alicia and Prince Elias were evacuated to Angel Island.

The war would change completely when Julian Kintobar (Ivo Robotnik) defected to the side of the Mobians. Julian provided the Mobians with the technology and the tactics to gain the upper hand in the war and defeat the Overlanders. Mobotropolis would experience a brief period of prosperity, but Ivo Robotnik and his nephew Snively would betray the Kingdom of Acorn and its King, Maximillian. Turning his advanced weaponry against the kingdom Robotonik seized control and banished the king to the Zone of Silence. Those who were able to flee created the safe haven Knothole, those who couldn’t or made an attempt to fight against Robotnik were Roboticized by means of a machine called the Roboticizer (it turns organic things into robots and was originally created by Sonic's uncle, Charles).

Bands of Freedom Fighters would emerge and many of them would also be Roboticized and/or sent to the Zone of Silence.

Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends would then create a new generation of Freedom Fighters. They would perform small military attacks against Robotnik over the years, foiling many of Robotnik’s plans and slowing his conquest. They managed to liberate many of their Roboticized loved ones while at the same time destroying many of Robotnik's machines. Robotnik was eventually betrayed by Snively and, in a battle against Sonic, Robotnik was destroyed by the Ultimate Annihilator. The activation of the Ultimate Annihilator would have reverberating effects.

Mobius’ struggles do not end with Robotnik however. Ixis Naugus, who had been sealed in the Zone of Silence by Ivo Robotnik, managed to free himself and sought world conquest. He was eventually returned to the Zone by Sonic and Tails, but unfortunately he doesn't stay there.

Another Ancient entity would also rear its ugly head and give Sonic and the Freedom Fighters and Knuckles and the Chaotix a run for their money. Mammoth Mogul returned to the scene in another effort to take over the world.

The Dark Legion would also make a comeback.

The Ultimate Annihilator would create a disturbance that would return Echidnopolis from the Hyper Zone where it had been safely hidden ever since the last Dingo attack years before, enabling Knuckles to finally learn about his heritage.

The Dingoes would also reemerge to give the Echidnas grief.

Knuckles would be reunited with his father and he would learn about the Brotherhood of Guardians. He would also learn all about the history of Angel Island.

The sinister Dr. Eggman will also enter the scene filling the void left behind by Dr. Robotnik.

Doctor Who?: In order to make sure I have clarified as much as a can...and I hope I have, because it's a lot of information to try and condense...let's talk about this Doctor guy for a second. You may notice I have been using Dr. Robotnik and Dr. Eggman interchangeably. So what's the deal with that? Which one is he? They are the same actually. Dr. Eggman is Dr. Robotnik 2.0 he also goes by other alters as well, but he is from a different timeline in which he has defeated Sonic and the royal family. He will discover that his alternate from Prime was defeated by the Freedom Fighters and he will go to their world. So when I use Robotnik I am referring to Prime and when I use Eggman I'm referring to the alternate version of Robotnik. There is a lot more that goes into this, but in a nutshell that's the story behind the Doctors.

What is this Ixis thing?: I felt my explanation of the Ixis concept was a little light as well, I talked about Ixis Mogul and mentioned Ixus Naugus. They are all part of the Order of Ixis which was founded by Mogul, which is an order of sorcerers and they are all christened with the title Ixis (think Star Wars's line of Darths). Ixis Naugus was one of the last surviving members of the Order of Ixis, he was the royal sorcerer for the Kingdom of Acorn, but he was also a deviant. He did things to perpetuate war between Mobians and Overlanders. Eventually he would escape, as all cowards do when they are discovered, to the Zone of Silence where Robotnik would trap him.

Personality: Apart from being an anthropomorphic Mobian, Lara-Su is just like any other teenager. Okay so she’s not entirely the vile, testy, snarling, secretive beast one might expect a normal girl her age to be, but she shares plenty of other characteristics with other teenagers. She attends school, she fights with her classmates, she struggles with her parents over independence issues, and she has to deal with her identity. Otherwise she has a remarkably stable life—involved and concerned parents, a fine group of friends, and she lives rather comfortably being the daughter of a Guardian.

Lara-Su can be described as a determined individual, when she wants something she pulls out all of the stops to get it. Her deepest desire in most recent years is to become a Guardian like her father, Knuckles, a position denied her because her predecessor decided he wanted to put an end to the Guardian line. Knuckles didn’t have a choice; he’d been forced to take up the mantel as had been the burden of his forefathers. He wanted something different for Lara-Su. What Knuckles didn’t realize was that he was doing to Lara-Su what had been done to him except in reverse; he was still taking away her choice. It’s something the two of them would argue about constantly, but no matter how many times he refused her Lara-Su would still pursue her dream.

Of course these denials would often put Lara-Su into an emotional state. She once got into a physical confrontation with her cousin in the classroom because he was teasing her about her status, or lack thereof, as a Guardian. Her anger switched to being extremely upset when she returned home, she locked herself in her room and curled up in the darkness refusing to attend her Unveiling which is the Echidna equivalent of a Debutant Ball. She then became extremely argumentative with Knuckles when she told him she didn’t want to go to her Unveiling and they immediately began to argue about her prospects as a Guardian with her demanding her father to tell her why she couldn’t be one and Knuckles pretty much defaulting to the “because I said so” excuse. The issue was not resolved in this incident, but Knuckles and Lara-Su entered a happy medium based on reasoning and she eventually came out of her room, tears in her eyes, declaring she would go to her Unveiling as long as Knuckles promised her the first dance.

So, while Lara-Su can work herself into a real emotional state over something she feels strongly about it seems she loves her father dearly and not just her father, but her mother, Julie-Su, as well. Like all teenagers she butts heads with her parents, but she’s actually quite proud of the fact that she is their daughter. Like most parent's Knuckles and Julie-Su often fail to realize that Lara-Su can handle more than they think she can so they try to protect her.

Lara-Su has also been described by Sonic himself as precocious and in a way he is right. While prone to having an emotional crisis now and then and being stubborn to a fault about her own ambitions, in some ways she is beyond her years. Even while arguing with father Lara-Su was able to apply her reasoning in order to bargain or meet somewhere in the middle. She also appears to be book-smart, ahead of her classmates in some areas. She could answer questions some of her other classmates were unable to answer, like why Angel Island is a democracy when it is referred to as the Republic of Angel Island. She’s also revealed the ability to look past her own pain and show optimism in sad situations. When Lara-Su and Tails found Sonic in a deplorable state in the gutter after King Shadow took over and stripped Sonic of everything, Lara-Su forwent her sadness, optimistically saying they could fix things and stating in a twist of irony that “times change.”

Eventually Lara-Su convinces her dad to let her train as a Guardian and while she’s very excited and proud to finally be achieving her dream she struggles with her confidence and identity. It tends to wax and wane, one moment she can be fighting the enemy and making cocky remarks while simultaneously throwing punches and the next moment she can be overwhelmed. Ever since she defeated King Shadow by freezing him in time with Chaos Control she’s held herself at an incredibly high standard because she feels as though she has something to prove now, that no matter what she can maintain that level of excellence. When she perceives herself as failing she can become frustrated and angry, often directing her anger at the wrong target. For example, when her aunt, Lien-Da, makes an attempt on the life of King Sonic and Queen Sally on her watch she becomes very angry. She storms the home of her Cousin Rutan (Lien-Da’s son) trying to threaten him into telling her where his mother is hiding. Fortunately her distant uncle, Dimitri, was able to make her see reason and once she calmed down she was able to see reason as well. She also has a tendency to panic when she feels as though she’s in over her head and occasionally requires a stern voice to make her focus, but once she’s in the zone she can actually be rather efficient, able to dish out orders effectively, she simply needs more experience and confidence.

Overall Lara-Su is friendly, trusting of others unless they give her a reason not to trust them...and she can be incredibly shrewd when sizing someone up. This was the case when her father threw her in jail, she was hostile with him until he revealed his knowledge to her and she was quick to trust him again. When it comes to her loved one's she tends to be unfailingly trusting. She has a playful nature as well, jocular in most situations even when it seems inappropriate like in the above prison scenario Lara-Su and Sonic were quite happy to trade wisecracks much to Rotor’s disapproval of their timing. She made a kidding remark to Sonic and Tails that she would inform on her father to her mother about her imprisoned situation. She also seems to be very good with kids, as shown when babysitting Sonic and Sally’s children Sonia and Manik: she read them books and played games with them. Though before the timeline was altered Sonia and Manik were older, Sonia was Lara-Su’s best friend and Manik had an embarrassing crush on her. She’s shown the capacity to get along with most people unless they provoke her—like Rutan, but even then she has the capacity to inevitably put differences aside if there's a job to be done.

Lara-Su also has her own little quirks, she’s a tomboy so she really doesn’t like wearing dresses, a fact that she expressed on her Unveiling day when she was forced to wear a dress. She’s also a picky eater, expressing a dislike for escargot soufflé and clam pie…perhaps not so unusual for a teenager.

In response to learning that they are now part of the In Between life, dreaming, and death, Lara-Su will definitely struggle with it. She’s a Guardian, that’s who she is and there are obligations and duties that come along with that station. She will exhaust all of her options without giving up and even if she accepts it she’ll probably continue to push herself, because she'll view her inability to escape as a personal fault if she throws in the towel. She won’t let it show in how she treats others, fortunately, because they are all in this same boat with one another. Still, reconciliation will find her with great difficulty. She probably won’t be too shocked or surprised given that her world is filled with different Zones, dimensions, alternate realities, and Lara-Su herself has had experience with time travel.

Appearance:


Abilities: Many of her abilities are the result of her grandfather, Locke’s, experimentations on Knuckles when he was still an egg. His egg had been saturated with radiation from the Master Emerald altering his genetics and therefore these altered genetics were passed on to Lara-Su who has certain altered abilities in addition to what her father gave her.

Gliding: Lara-Su inherited her ability to glide from her father, Knuckles, though occasionally it appears as though she’s flying…the Archie Comics are deceptive like that. Officially she glides. If she gets a good running start she can jump and catch air in her dreadlocks allowing her to glide upwards.

Strength: Like Knuckles she is also physically strong, able to carry immensely heavy loads both on the ground and while gliding. She was able to hold her own against hurricane-like winds.

Retractable knuckle spikes: Another trait inherited from her father is her knuckle spikes, but unlike Knuckles hers are retractable. She can climb walls and burrow under the ground with them.

Basic fighting/brawling skills: Since her father only began training her at the age of 16 her fighting skills are still in their infancy and she tends to rely mostly on her strength to throw amazing punches. She doesn’t become a fully realized Guardian until she is 21 years old.

Chaos Control: Those who are able to utilize Chaos Control are imbued with the power of Chaos Force which can be drawn from magical objects like the Chaos Emeralds. Tikal’s Prayer can amplify the ability to use Chaos Control and Lara-Su has been shown using Tikal’s Prayer in order to enhance her own Chaos abilities enabling her to calm Tikhaos. Chaos Control can be used in various ways like shifting through time and dimensions, but apart from using it to calm Tikhaos, Lara-Su has been shown using energy spears and in the case of babysitting Sonia and Manik…and in a more extreme case with Shadow…stopping time.

Chaos Force: It's the personification or the realization of Chaos Energy. The best way to explain this is with another Star Wars example: use the force Luke. It's the magical mystical energy that when utilized as a weapon becomes Chaos Control. Chaos Control would be controlling this energy.

Chaos Emeralds: In the Archie!verse there are a number of different Chaos Emeralds. The Chaos Force is tied to the Chaos Emerald, some individuals can simply access the Force some require a Chaos Emerald to act as a medium. So essentially Chaos Emeralds are a connection to the Chaos Force.

Tikal's Prayer: Strengthens one's connection to the force and enhances their Chaos abilities. Using this can nullify and/or drain chaos powers. Lara-Su is shown using it against Tikhaos: "The servers were the seven Chaos...Chaos is power, enriched by the heart...The controller existed to unify the chaos!"

Inventory: Glasses, hair ties for her long hair piece, black shirt, black vest, belt, gloves, and boots. Pretty much the clothing on her back, everything else is just sort of built in.

Suite: Anything in the water sector…and I’m basing this on what I know about Echidnas in general. They use water to regulate their temperature, they don’t like the heat (Knuckles himself did very poorly in the desert), and they are fairly good swimmers.