Ko the Flicky

Art by SegaSteven

**Ko** is the name given to the pink Flicky from *Sonic Adventure*, who appears in *What If E-102 Gamma Survived?* as a major character. She was taken from her home on Flicky Island to be used as a power source for E-102 Gamma and was part of his motivation for wanting to free her animal brethren from the other E-100 units.

## Personality

Ko was a simple, carefree Flicky bird that had a strong desire to be close to and to protect her family. Despite not being capable of speech, she displayed strong sympathy for the other animals trapped in Badnik shells by Dr. Eggman and supported Gamma in his mission to free them; Ko would also later go on to comfort Gamma after his battle with E-123 Omega, showing a caring disposition.

## History

### Past

In the past, Ko lived a peaceful life on Flicky Island, surrounded by her kind and her siblings - Mi and Fu. When the Flicky Island Research Team arrived to perform archaeological investigations on Rusty Ruins, Aya came with them and later went on to become the owner of the Flicky trio. She took photos of them, one of which depicted the three birds together and was stored inside Mi's locket along with the cyan Chaos Emerald, both items incredibly important to later events.

Roughly 2 months before the Sonic Adventure Arc, Flicky Island was raided by Badniks in search of small animals, which Dr. Eggman required to power his expanding robot army in preparation for the launch of his Egg Carrier and attempted takeover of Station Square. Ko was captured and processed at the Final Egg base, her origins and basic information logged in the site's computers before she went on to be used as the power source of E-102 Gamma.

### Sonic Adventure Arc

When Gamma arrived on the floating Egg Carrier after it's crash, he believed that only himself and E-105 Zeta remained among the E-100 line and was prepared to self-terminate after eliminating it in order to release Ko. Upon doing so, Ko was set free and stretched her wings, flying around and taking a brief moment to silently thank Gamma for everything he had done. As she moved to fly away in search of her family, however, E-101 Mk.II appeared, within whom Ko could sense her brother Fu. She called out to him, but Beta's mind was too firmly set in its loyalty to Dr. Eggman to reconsider the situation, swatting Ko aside despite being afflicted with the same sort of visions that Gamma once had. Beta's single backhanded strike had been enough to cripple Ko and leave her near-death, so she weakly crawled back inside of Gamma's frame to curl up and hide within the safety of her 'friend'.

This act revived Gamma, who went on to continue his mission by eliminating Beta (as well as ZERO, who was not part of his initial mission, but threatened the Flickies). Amy Rose arrived with Ko's other brother Mi during the battle with E-101 Mk.II, finally bringing about the conditions to reunite the family. However, Gamma's attempt at self-termination a second time alerted him to the state that Ko was currently in, coming to realize that releasing her now would likely result in her death. Briefly lost on how to proceed with his mission at an impasse, Amy Rose guided Gamma to the Mystic Ruins so that Tails could investigate the situation.

### Gamma 3D Arc

Ko, while still remaining inside of Gamma, was important to the events of his arrival on Flicky Island. The mysterious link between her mind and Gamma's caused a surge of memories to occur when he first laid optics on Aya from afar, filling him with feelings of familiarity and longing while also teaching him her name. This had the adverse effect of terrifying Aya due to Gamma's imposing stature and status as an Eggman robot, leaving Gamma ostracized from the Flicky Island Research Team's camp.

#### The Storm

During the storm that rocked Flicky Island after Dr. Eggman's firing of the Eclipse Cannon, Gamma was finally able to prove his pure intentions to the Flicky Island Research Team and, most importantly - Aya. When he became waterlogged and broke down, Ko's familial connection with her brothers allowed them to intangibly sense her peril, leading Aya to his location out in the woods. Still yet unaware of Gamma's connection with her lost pet, Aya attempted to save Gamma to no avail; her being missing, however, drew the rest of the archaeologists out to her location, saving both her and Gamma (who had previously saved them from a falling tree).

Once Gamma recovered, Aya was finally able to learn through his explanation to her what had happened to Ko. She wept, but out of gratitude for all that Gamma had done in spite of everything he'd been faced with, hugging him tightly and pressing her cheek up to his chest - where Ko was sleeping.

#### Battle for Flicky Island

E-123 Omega's brutal attack on Flicky Island left Gamma heavily damaged and on the verge of death. After being sent flying and briefly rendered 'unconscious', Gamma witnessed a vision of Ko amidst the static filling his optics. Though she spoke only in chirps, Gamma could understand her message clearly: Protect the lives of innocents over hers. Gamma's conflicted missions of 'protect Ko' and 'protect the island and it's people' had weighed him down during the fight with Omega and led to Professor Tomo being shot in the back, but this new clarity gave him the drive to unleash his charged blast attack despite Tails' warnings. Though the blast was able to obliterate Omega completely, the backlash was severe enough that Gamma's body was totally destroyed. As he died, Aya and Ko's brothers mourned the loss of both him and Ko, touching the place on Gamma's chest where her life, too, faded.

## Powers and abilities

Ko is a normal Flicky, capable of flight, chirping and little else. However, many strange phenomena surround her relating to the intangible power of her bonds: Both with her two Flicky siblings and with Gamma. When exposed to objects or people such as the photo in Mi's locket or Aya - things that are strongly tied to Ko's memories - those memories can 'leak' into Gamma's mental circuits, making him hazily aware of things that Ko remembers. These visions helped guide him numerous times throughout his mission. The Flicky trio also share an almost psychic connection with one-another, able to sense the other's locations and know when they are in danger.

## Relationships

### E-102 Gamma

Ko has a unique symbiotic relationship with Gamma, formed after she was forced to rely on the process of being used as a Life Energy battery to remain alive in suspended animation. While Gamma at first expressed great distress over having failed to properly achieve his mission, it became apparent that she held no ill will towards him at all, instead content to remain as Gamma's heart so that he could live on and protect her loved ones.

In Part 3, after Gamma was on the verge of death in the wake of his battle with Omega, he saw a vision of Ko, as if having appeared to comfort and guide him. Again, she showed no signs of fear or distress, rather she was grateful for all that he had done for her and the ones she cared about.

### Mi and Fu the Flickies

Ko's connection to Mi and Fu led Gamma down the path of rescuing the animals inside the E-100s and even after she was forced to remain inside her own robotic host, their bond remained strong. Mi and Fu recognized Gamma as being Ko's guardian, extended their kinship to him and, were it not for the photograph of all three birds together, he would have never been able to locate Aya on Flicky Island.

### Aya

Aya is Ko's owner and she loved her dearly, taking sentimental photographs of her beloved pets together and forming a once-inseparable quartet. Ko's inability to speak or express her thoughts make it difficult to pin down her exact thoughts on Aya, but it is made readily apparent that they cared for eachother greatly and Ko wished to see her again after the incident involving Perfect Chaos was resolved.

## Trivia

* 'Ko' comes from *'kokoro'*, meaning 'heart' in Japanese and referencing her pink feathers.
* In *Sonic X*, the Flickies from *Sonic Adventure* were not given names, but were all referred to with male pronouns. This fact wasn't something The Sega Scourge was aware of when concepting further backstory and information for these birds, so it wasn't included. Art by SegaSteven, containing the name inspirations for the three Flickies