Issue 15: Purpose

**"I warned you..."**

This article contains **SPOILERS**!
It is **HIGHLY RECOMMENDED** that you catch up with the comic or comic dubs in order to understand what is happening!

 **"Seems half empty..."**

This article is a work in progress about a current installment of *The Murder of Me*! Expect frequent updates and changes!

## Publication Details

### Date Published

* Oct 31 2022 (Part 1)
* TBA part 2

## Production Staff

### Pencils

* Gigi Dutreix
* CupidSonic
* ModistC
* NeonInk
* Miitara
* Biscuit
* Miku\_Meeku

### Inks

* Gigi Dutreix
* CupidSonic
* Topaz
* Starlord
* FallenAJ
* CheezyPotato
* NavyDevil
* NamesNiche
* Nightcomet
* Sogfeelsdizzy

### Colors

* Gigi Dutreix
* Cupidsonic
* Wubbydubkinz
* Spacefunclub
* Kuraeyaa
* Topaz
* NamesNiche
* Miku\_Meeku
* Yulen
* Chaos\_q
* Sonix

## First Appearances

### Characters

* Sonic the Hedgehog
* Shadow the Hedgehog
* Silver the Hedgehog
* Amy Rose
* Miles\_"Tails"\_Prower
* Knuckles the Echidna
* Zielo
* Antoine D'Coolette

### Locations

* Station Square
* Zielo's "Cave"

**Issue 15: Purpose** (often referred to as **Episode 15: Purpose**) is the first in the series to not be in a comic format, instead it is in a semi-animated format similar to an animatic or storyboard sequence. Issue 15 proceeds issue 14.

### Blurb

The Murder of Me issue 15 will not be a comic, it will be a finished fully animatic posted on youtube. Estimating it will be done and ready to go by 2022 sometime.

#### Plot

In the depths of Eggman's old base, Sonic and his friends discover the truth of Sonic's abilities...and how dangerous they can be. Meanwhile-- Silver and Shadow are stuck in their memories with no way out!

Will Sonic be able to keep control? Will Silver and Shadow be able to break free?

And most importantly..

How will Zielo's game for Sonic end?

Only God knows...

## Summary

### Part 1

The episode begins immediately where Issue 14: In The Depths Of God: Sonic, Amy, Tails, and Knuckles watching a hologram entry made by the late Doctor Eggman discussing his findings about the old gods to his two assistant robots, Cubot and Orbot. He has claimed to have found the key to God's weakness, all of it relating to an old symbol that always seems to pop up during his research. He mentions that there is always a single lone figure near the symbol each time it has appeared. He isn't sure who or what the figure is, saying his presumably deceased brother, Eggman Nega, was close to finding out before he "disappeared". He pridefully presumes that getting the god of everything to care is an accomplishment in and of itself. Cubot questions what all of this has to do with Sonic, which is where Eggman starts to detail his vast understanding of him. Eggman's descriptions of Sonic are all scarily precise, nailing down all of his abilities from his super speed and wind manipulation all of it having to do with defeating the dark god, even referring to him as a Son of Heephis. Before he can continue his thought and explanation, his base is ambushed by government agents which leads to his arrest and possibly his death. Before the hologram ends, he states that he will find the symbols meaning no matter what it takes.

Sonic and his friends are all taken back by everything Eggman had said and start to pile the questions on Sonic. For the first time since the end of issue 14, Sonic is able to speak albeit in broken structure and begins to explain his life post-Issue 2, his brothers, detailing everything from the old gods, being ambushed on his first mission, and his corrupted powers up to now.

Meanwhile, we find a young Silver running aimlessly through his desolate post-apocalyptic illusion of his past. He's in denial that he's in the past and begins to fall victim to his emotions before he hears a familiar voice call out to him. He manages to find the source of this voice-- the uncorrupted half of Antoine's soul projected in a window. Antoine helps Silver ground himself briefly before he begins to demand that Silver and Shadow defeat him like the enemy he has become. Silver outright refuses and says he plans to save him, which makes Antoine finally tell him that Soulless and Bloodthroats cannot be saved unless a deal is made with Zielo to get the other half back. Silver presses to know how he can get the other half of his soul back, which makes Antoine solemnly state that Zielo *consumes* souls, meaning that it's inside of him and a part of his very being.

In disbelief, Silver begins to argue with Antoine, frustrated that as far as he and his brother's knew, they were lied to about saving soulless. He states in a fit of anger that he vows to make a way to get his soul back, which causes Antoine to lash out at him. He yells at Silver saying that he can't save anyone if he's trapped in this illusion and he must become stronger if he wants to make what he vows a reality. There's a moment of silence between them before Silver tearfully says that he understands, promising to find a way out and to still try to save him.

After a fade to black, we see a young Shadow with Maria Robotnik as they float in the ARK in space. Shadow is elated to see his informal sister, stating that it's really her and that she's really here with him, losing himself in the happiness of the moment. His peace doesn't last as he soon begins hearing Antoine's voice outside of the space colony's window, warning him that this is an illusion and isn't real. He expresses to Shadow that they have limited time to act, that Sonic needs him and Silver, and stresses the importance of finding each other before he vanishes all together. Maria asks him if there's something wrong after he's caught staring off, which is when Shadow begins to walk down a dark hallway. His sister reaches out to him and asks if Shadow wants to stay with her, which makes the hedgehog stop in place.

Without looking at her, Shadow begins to vividly recount her final moments of putting him into an escape pod, how she died at the hands of G.U.N, speaks about how the human government experimented on him in a white room for 50 years, and ending with stating that she would be proud of him because he made a new family after losing her. There's some shared silence between them before Maria tearfully states that she's happy for him, to which Shadow merely bids her farewell before running off.

Back in Eggman's old hideout, Amy, Tails, and Knuckles reiterate (in a quick and easy to understand fashion) every single event from ARC 1 and the beginning of ARC 2. After the recap, they all sit there in stunned silence over what Sonic has been put through. Amy questions how they aren't soulless right now, which makes Sonic state that he doesn't know. Tails begins to speculate that this is all a part of the dark god's plan for Sonic to make him break so his friends can see him at his worst. Knuckles then chimes in now that he's finally understanding why Sonic was so different growing up. Tails joins in saying that this whole god thing explains his powers and that he was truly unlike any mobian out there apart from his brothers. Sonic laments that his power is still tainted and that every second he's stuck with it, it continues to hurt him.

Amy approaches him and begins to share her thoughts about why his power may be corrupted, citing how he appeared angry and enraged, yet there was a heavy sadness in the air around him. She believes that unless Sonic can forgive himself for what happened on their first mission, his power will remain corrupted. Sonic immediately disagrees, saying he can't forgive himself for what he did and begins to tear up as he beats himself up. Amy tries to help ground him by saying they can sort this out when they escape where they're at, but for now, to help him get control of his emotions, he should try giving himself positive affirmations. She places his hand on his cheek and guides him to repeat after her that he is not his anger, he is not his pain, and reminding himself that he is Sonic. Just as he's about to finish repeating his name to her, his tainted energy begins to flow through him again as he can hear Soulless quickly approaching them.

Amy, Tails, and Knuckles begin to devise a plan to escape as the Soulless inch closer to the lab. Knuckles orders Tails to find an escape tunnel, Amy to assist him in holding the door closed, and Sonic to stay back with Tails. This makes Sonic feel even more useless as he follows Tails, who is desperately trying to find a layout of the room via an old security system. The door begins to give way to the hundreds of soulless beating on it, tearing a hole through the metal that Amy is able to push against to keep it holding. Knuckles asks if there's any luck, which Tails explains that there is a hidden shaft somewhere in the room, but he'll need some light to find it, referring to the ball of hope.

As Sonic looks over to Knuckles and Amy, he sees Amy get swiped by a Soulless before punching it away. This activates his tainted energy and he begins to approach them before Amy yells at him to stop, saying that she'll be fine, but they need to hurry and find a way out. Frustrated, Sonic storms off back to Tails, who has found the secret escape hatch but the door is jammed shut. Sonic tears it off without any issue, just confirming to Tails that he does indeed have god powers. He tells everyone to jump in, but Sonic insists that Tails goes first and he will go last, which Tails agrees with and jumps down. Next is Knuckles who follows, then Amy who attempts to drag Sonic into the escape hatch, but he's standing there frozen as his tainted energy begins to cloud his judgement. In a desperate attempt to get him to move, she distracts him by tickling him before grabbing him and jumping down the hatch. Tails tells Amy to close the landing hatch before the soulless follow them, which she does. After, Amy asks if Sonic is okay, and thankfully he is. Tails notices and points out that Sonic's light is getting smaller, shrinking in his palms. Sonic finally says a complete, unbroken sentence, stating that his brothers are in trouble.

We cut back to Silver, who is now his current age, running from voices and memories of his past that keep trying to haunt him. He shouts that he's just trying to find his brothers, only opening his eyes and paying attention when Shadow (who is also his current age) calls out to him. He runs to reunite with him, but they're both separated by an invisible forcefield that prevents them from touching each other. Silver explains that he saw and spoke to Antoine and that the only way either of them can escape is if they fight their ways out. Shadow figured as much and is about to say more before a dark tendril of illusion begins to coil around him. Silver starts getting stuck in a negative mindset where he says that Blaze was right and he's failed in his promise to bring Sonic back. He starts to blame himself for not being strong enough to get them out of this illusion before Shadow interrupts him, reminding him to keep himself together and to not let their god powers speak for them before he gets violently ripped away by the dark tendrils. Silver then realizes that those same tendrils are wrapped around himself and he's pulled back into darkness.

When he opens his eyes, he finds that he's back in Paradise with Sonic and Shadow, exactly one week before their first mission. He remembers the events of that day: Mogul giving them a tour of the palace, being properly introduced to the residents, and finally the other survivors seeing him for the first time. The survivors gawk at him in terror, gossiping about how identical he looks to Zielo and saying he's a monster who will end up just like the being that destroyed their homes. The voices begin to overlap as the view of the palace distorts, leaving Silver alone in the middle of a circle of rotating judgmental refugees repeating that he's a monster, that he's going to be just like Zielo, and that there is truly no hope for him or the refugees. Shaking and beginning to lose control, Silver asks them feebly to stop talking before the scene cuts to black.

Back with Shadow, he's reliving his moments in the white lab room as he desperately tries to look for a way to escape. He starts talking about how he needs Silver's help to break the illusion they're under. Suddenly, the ceiling above begins to crack and Shadow realizes that Silver is breaking the spell.

Silver, now floating in a black void of nothing, hands clutching his temples, is sobbing and screaming from the loudness of the voices he's hearing. He shouts that he can't focus before everything goes deadly silent around him. Just as he turns to look around him, he sees Zielo standing from a distance... watching him and smiling. Finally losing what little grip he had on his powers, Silver screams and erupts into an aura of god power that shatters the illusion and breaks both him and Shadow free.

In a fit of emotional rage, Silver freezes the bloodthroat Antoine and begins to slam him into the earth as he levitates above him. He starts to take all of his pent up anger, hurt, rage, doubt, and sadness on the corrupted being. He speaks to Antoine as if he's Zielo, knowing fully well that the dark god can hear him and starts to unleash his fury on the soulless. He states that Zielo has not only ruined and erased his world, but that he's also murdered his family, his teacher, and how he continues to torture him and his new family, which makes Silver question if Zielo is just jealous of him. He begins to repeat to himself, losing his sanity as he has to remind himself that he will **never** be anything like the awful monster that Zielo is before his emotions reach a fever pitch, making him pull more energy and become partially tainted in the process. He laughs manically as he starts to form a massive landmass-sized fist made up of blunt and sharp rocks, aiming directly over Antoine. Right before he can slam it into the bloodthroat, Shadow grabs him by the shoulder and tells him he's had enough. This snaps Silver back to reality instantaneously and his god powers instantly fade. It takes him a moment to realize the sheer gravity of what he's done, looking in shock and immediately dropping the 'fist' he had created into the ocean. He has not only created a meteor-sized crater where Antoine used to be, but he has also effectively buried the bloodthroat entirely as there is no sign of life, no color, nothing left. Nothing remains except the two of them, Silver levitating and Shadow propelled by his rocket shoes as they stare at the devastation.

Shadow pulls Silver in to a tight embrace, mirroring the hug Silver gave him in issue 13, saying that he doesn't need to say anything. Silver breaks down and holds his brother close as he sobs, letting out what is basically years of pain and trauma.

## Credits

**Voice Actors**
Shadow: https://twitter.com/JosephTheHynes
Silver: https://twitter.com/Starlit\_SkyVA
Tails: https://twitter.com/justajayyyy
Antoine: https://twitter.com/kieranreganva?s=21
Amy and Maria: https://twitter.com/meggilypuff
Eggman, orbot, and cubot: https://twitter.com/ArionMiitoons
Misc. voices:
Infernokit
Starlitsky
Topaz

**Music**

**Editors**

**Artist credits**
https://www.deviantart.com/miitara
https://mobile.twitter.com/kuraeyaa
https://www.twitter.com/12neonlit\_stage
https://twitter.com/cristal26t
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkZG...
Chaos\_q
https://twitter.com/SpaceFunClub
https://twitter.com/sonixartistic
https://twitter.com/silverace6022
https://twitter.com/SpiritofSonic?s=09
https://twitter.com/nightcomet01
https://www.instagram.com/modistbutso...
https://twitter.com/it\_s\_no\_use
https://www.deviantart.com/soggycerea...
https://twitter.com/wubbydubkins
https://twitter.com/pichi08\_?s=09
https://linktr.ee/aggieandco
https://twitter.com/AfkRanger
https://twitter.com/X\_Devilicious\_X?s=09
https://twitter.com/Yulen\_chan?s=09
https://fallenaj-2475-art.tumblr.com/
https://twitter.com/so\_shy\_Dianna?s=09
https://twitter.com/namesniche?s=21
https://twitter.com/CupidSonic

## Trivia

* Issue 15 is the first time the series has had a trigger warning/content warning screen before the episode begins.
* This episode has the largest and longest amount of credits in any episode.
* Prior to the episode's release, there was little to no public information regarding issue 15. This is the first entry in the series to not have a corresponding comic issue.
* There is an unknown voice that calls Silver, "my sterling silver".
	+ According to Gigi, this is a hint to one of Silver's parents.
* This is the first TMOM episode to be released in separate parts. The decision to split the episode up was made by Gigi and Jay and was due to how long the episode was taking to be produced.
	+ Part 1 was released on October 31st 2022
	+ Part 2 still has an unknown release date
* The episode features a new minor voice actress, Sammy, who provided a miscellaneous line for Silver's flashback scene.
* Issue 15 was originally announced shortly after issue 14's release in 2021. The cause for the large gap in time between episodes is due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Hurricane Ida.
* Issue 15 has the longest turnaround date following a previous episode.
* There is a running gag between the voice actors in the bloopers where Gigi is constantly asked about when issue 16 (18, 20, 100, etc) will be out. It's a subtle jab to people who continuously spam the question regarding issue 15 in the comments section of videos.

Cover art by GigiTeaser gif 1The Murder of Me- ISSUE 15 TEASER TRAILERissue 15's teaser video