What If Emerl Survived?

*What If Emerl survived? With his growing library of copied abilities - how much more powerful could he get? The lovable 4000 year old Gizoid now stands aside Sonic against new adversaries, like the formidable Gemerl!*

## History

*What If Emerl Survived?* is the second What If story and part of the original first wave of *Sonic: What If?*. Starting on December 3rd of 2019 roughly 2 months after the last instalment of the show (Part 2 of WI01), Emerl's story was the first departure from the story of the Werehog and provided the first glimpse at how even relatively minor characters such as *Sonic Battle's* Emerl could be given the spotlight. The Sega Scourge has claimed to have a particular fondness for the robot characters of the Sonic series, with specific mentions to Emerl and E-102 Gamma (who also received his own What If with a similar premise). This fondness is likely why Emerl's story came about to soon into the show's lifespan.

After the release of Part 4 and it's conclusion to the Sonic 06 Arc, *WI02* went on break due to The Sega Scourge believing it had reached a 'good stopping point for now', giving him time to plan the story ahead while dedicating his time to other What Ifs.

## Premise

In the climax of *Sonic Battle*, Emerl was sent into a berserk state by Doctor Eggman while all seven Chaos Emeralds were absorbed into his body as part of his journey to grow up. In the original depiction of events, Sonic persued Emerl onto the Death Egg with the Master Emerald to attempt to neutralize the Chaos Emeralds inside of him and get him away to safety, but Emerl shattered the Master Emerald before it could be used. Sonic was then forced to fight his surrogate son until he eventually go could go on no longer, his body disappearing as the Chaos Emeralds within were left shattered to pieces.

In this version of events, however, Sonic used the Master Emerald to become Super Sonic. With the added speed, durability and access to the Master Emerald's ability to neutralize the Chaos Emeralds, Sonic was able to deal with Ultimate Emerl and come out on top, at the unfortunate cost of accidentally slicing off Emerl's arm in the struggle. With no time to grab the missing appendage, the two of them escaped with the Master Emerald intact as the Death Egg went down around them - Emerl had survived.

## Characters

### Heroes

* Emerl (WI02) / Prefect Typhos
* Team Sonic
	+ Sonic the Hedgehog (WI02)
	+ Miles "Tails" Prower (WI02)
	+ Knuckles the Echidna (WI02)
* Amy Rose (WI02)
* Cream the Rabbit (WI02)
	+ Cheese (WI02)
* Team Dark
	+ Shadow the Hedgehog (WI02)
	+ Rouge the Bat (WI02)
	+ E-123 Omega (WI02)
* Princess Elise the Third (WI02)
* Silver the Hedgehog (WI02)
* Blaze the Cat (WI02)

### Villains

* Eggman Empire
	+ Doctor Eggman (WI02)
	+ Gemerl (WI02)

* Mephiles the Dark (WI02)
* Iblis (WI02)
* Nocturnus Clan
	+ Imperator Ix (WI02)
	+ Shade the Echidna (WI02)
	+ Prefect Charyb (WI02)
	+ Prefect Scylla (WI02)

## Reception

*WI02* has met solid positive reception since it began, mostly from devout fans of Emerl and *Sonic Battle*. With a protagonist from a niche game and having a story that tackles both it and the lore of other relatively more obscure games such as *Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood*, The Sega Scourge placed extra effort on making this series accessible via an explanation of Emerl's origins in the opening of the first episode (to dispel any misconceptions especially surrounding Sonic X's depiction of the character) and also explaining his grounds for including the Nocturnus Clan in Part 4. With this support and the charming character of Emerl, *WI02* has thrived in spite of the potential hardships woven into it's premise and helped introduce Emerl to a wider audience. *What If Emerl Survived?* has done consistently well on polls, in no small part due to it's 3 part adaptation of *Sonic 06* which, as well as being the first 'double episode' (Parts 2 and 3 were released a day apart), had a grim standing for the characters going into Part 4, which led to much outcry to see how the story would end.

## Trivia

* What If Emerl Survived was the first What If? series to feature a sponsored episode, as Part 2 was sponsored by Into the AM.
	+ This partnership has since concluded, and the segment has been cut from the video.
* As part of the first wave of *Sonic: What If?* episodes, it is one of the series that has featured the original pale blue background.
	+ The second and third episodes also featured the Casino Night background, with the current Time Machine background being implemented in Part 4.
* In Part 2, there is a moment at the start of the episode in which the green screen cuts off and The Sega Scourge talks to a voice off-screen who appears to be a member of some kind of filming crew. This voice was Mechanist Gamma, assistant writer for *WI03.*
* This is the first What If to have adapted the following games:
	+ *Sonic Battle*
	+ *Sonic Advance 3*
	+ *Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)*
* This is the first What If? to include the Gizoids as well as the Nocturnus Clan.