The Ice Age Menace

**The Ice Age Menace** is the eighth episode of Shard's Journey.

## Characters

* Shard the Hedgehog
* NICOLE
* Amy Rose
* Manic the Hedgehog
* Mighty the Armadillo (Mentioned)
* Rosemary Prower
* Amelia Rose (Mentioned)
* Joseph Rose (Mentioned)
* Brandon Mutt (Voice only)
* Princess Acorn the Ricky (Unnamed)
* Johnny Lightfoot the Pocky (Unnamed)
* Flicky the Flicky (Unnamed)
* Porker Lewis the Picky (Unnamed)
* Lily the Flicky
* Brian the Flicky
* Hope Kintobor (Mentioned)
* Chaos (Mentioned)
* Daryl
* Trisha
* Boss
* Doctor Eggman (Mentioned)
* E-20 Glaciamoth (First appearance)

## Plot

The episode begins with Amy visiting the Prowers and chatting to Rosemary, complimenting her cottage. Rosemary also asks Amy if her parents were Amelia and Joseph Rose, to which she says yes, and they had spent a lot of time in Northamer, which is the Mobius equivalent of North America and where the Kingdom of Acorn is located. Rosemary expresses condolences for Amy's loss and that Amelia taught Rosemary some French before heading back to Mercia, which is Mobius' equivalent to European regions. Amy also explains her parents taught her English and a bit of French so she could speak to some of the natives there. Amy then catches sight of Shard meditating and Rosemary explains he's staying here to complete his lessons in restraint and he works at the Daily Square. Amy is very excited as she has a subscription to that paper, reading the daily horoscopes and gossip tabloids, but, Rosemary cuts in, saying Shard's a janitor. Amy is a bit surprised by this revelation, given what Shard's capable of, but, Rosemary said he didn't fill out the form very much and janitor was all he really qualified for. When Rosemary goes on to explain Shard is treated poorly at the Daily Square and he cleaned up the building six times in one hour on his first day and is left thankless for it, Amy is utterly shocked and appalled. She feels it would be a good idea to whip out her hammer to hit everyone at the Daily Square, but, Rosemary quickly advises against that for fear of Amy getting in trouble with the law. Amy wonders what she should do instead and Rosemary said that if Amy doesn't renew her subscription to the paper when it expires tomorrow, the Daily Square will have one less supporter and Shard will have an extra one. Shard thanks Amy for the support and he leaves for work, but, Amy is surprised Shard doesn't take any lunch with him. Rosemary explains he doesn't need to eat and Amy wonders what he does on lunch breaks. Rosemary asks Amy if she saw the robot octopus battling the robot hedgehog in this morning's paper, but, she admitted she hadn't had a good look because of the horoscope, tabloids, and coupons. When she takes a good look, she recognizes Shard's Robian form fighting off Octo-Limb and is surprised when Rosemary explains that Shard contacting the Freedom Fighters for help would be an inconvenience due to saying they need a break. Amy mentions she's been boxercising a lot since the six month time gap between the first Chaos Control on Earth and Chaos' first appearance and be more than happy to help out. Rosemary explains Shard doesn't want any help on the battlefield except from NICOLE. Amy is very surprised when NICOLE shows up in her lynx form and less faded than normal, but, she explains that nanites have been keeping her solid. Amy mentions Hope mentioned it to her, but, she didn't understand the details. When NICOLE reveals she and Shard have a close connection, Amy immediately assumes they are dating and NICOLE reveals they aren't, but, that doesn't mean she isn't hoping something will start. Fangirling over this, Amy shows off her story she's been working about for Shard and NICOLE's romance. However, Rosemary and NICOLE are not too impressed as NICOLE and Shard are shown to be dying on their wedding day and their romance isn't well developed. Amy admits it's a rough draft and Rosemary suggests Amy to take up a writing class, which she feels is a good idea.

Now nearing noon, Shard is cleaning Daryl's office as usual when Trisha comes in. Shard is a bit standoffish and Trisha tells Daryl that they and the rest of the staff are being too hard on Shard. Daryl doesn't listen to her, saying Shard's position is the lowest of everyone here and he's only cleaning while they do the real work, much to Shard's disgust. Shard's internal communicator goes off again and he rushes to the men's room to talk to NICOLE. She's spotted yet another robot on Downhill Street and on lunch break, Shard is off again.

At Downhill Street, the robot, E-20 Glaciamoth, is freezing the police officers on the spot with ice, causing everyone to run in fear. Shard shows up in his Robian form, demanding him to stop harming everyone. When he tries to attack Glaciamoth, Shard is punched to the ground. Seeing he took damage, Shard uses his Nanite Fix heal skill he developed before to repair himself. Glaciamoth tries to freeze Shard, but, his liquid nitrogen tanks just ran out. Glaciamoth summons an Egg Keeper, which paralyzes Shard in one of its lasers and Glaciamoth gets away. The Egg Keeper then starts to move toward Shard, unintentionally freeing him, and the Egg Keeper pulls itself back together. Shard tries to launch an attack, only for the Egg Keeper's arms to push him back. This time, when the Egg Keeper splits in two, Shard avoids the laser, then attacks the body, causing it and the head to explode. He then jumps over to Glaciamoth, using the Cyber End technique to finish him off. Satisfied, Shard uses the heat from his Power Gem to melt off the ice from any unfortunate citizens caught in the ice attacks from before and rushes back to the Daily Square in his organic form just in time, getting back to cleaning.

During the evening, Amy and NICOLE are having a great time doing boxercise and NICOLE was collecting data on it, just as Rosemary enters the room. Amy admits NICOLE could end up with a nice figure once she's done enough practice, but, Rosemary explains NICOLE's nanites allow her to shift into whatever form she saw fit. Amy then asks why NICOLE is wearing a brooch, saying it's pretty on her, but, she's concerned that NICOLE's wearing it during exercising. NICOLE then explains that it has a Power Gem in it which keeps her nanites pumping energy she needs to keep going. Amy also sheepishly realizes she and NICOLE have been sparring for the last 5 hours, and she hadn't even stopped to eat anything, and asks if she can stay for dinner and if Manic can come over. Rosemary agrees, saying she wouldn't want Amy to leave on an empty stomach. Shard walks in looking exhausted and NICOLE and Amy express concern for him. When Shard heads for bed, Amy is about ready to use her boxercise on the humans at the Daily Square, only for Rosemary saying she could get in trouble and she's used up her energy for five hours and NICOLE points out that there's other ways to get back at someone without getting into trouble. Amy then asks NICOLE to call Manic.

At the Mobini Ranch, Manic is putting the Mobinis that have been rescued at the ranch to bed, (including a new Picky that had come over earlier that day), and he goes to take the call further away so he doesn't wake them. Amy asks Manic to come over to the Prowers' cottage and Manic realizes Amy's been training overtime again. She reveals she's been sparring with NICOLE, much to Manic's surprise as she usually does so with Mighty, who is currently on Angel Island. Manic accepts Amy's request and heads to the Prowers' cottage as the episode ends.

## Trivia

* This takes place at the same time as Episode 33 of the main series and Episode 4 of The Gamma Files.
* Amy's fanfiction about Shard and NICOLE is based on Romeo and Juliette, and pokes fun at the plot of the story.
* Amy writing fanfiction was unintentionally a reference to Sonic Boom, where Boom!Amy has written fanfictions in the episode Cabin Fever.
* This is the first time Amelia and Joseph Rose were mentioned by name.