Gemerl (WI02)

## Gemerl

**Gemerl** is a major antagonist from *What If Emerl Survived?*, debuting in Part 1 as Doctor Eggman's lethal enforcer. He goes to extreme lengths to battle against Emerl as much as possible, even to the point of defying orders from his creator to do so.

## Personality

Due to being programmed to surpass Emerl at all costs, Gemerl displays a single-minded obsession with proving his superiority over Gizoids. He goes to deranged lengths, endangering himself and defying orders just to get a chance at fighting Emerl, and earnestly believes that he should be capable of surpassing not just him - but all Gizoids.

Gemerl's arrogance and self-aggrandization have lead to him showing signs of existential dread when failing to fulfil his programmed function, questioning himself and the world around him when things do not fall into his black-and-white perception of things such as strength and purpose. When Emerl spared his life, he could not understand the idea of such mercy as there was no obvious strategic advantage it gave, rendering him incapable of continuing to fight. Prior to this, Gemerl questioned the worth of his existence as an imitation robot when Emerl tried to explain to him that it was his friends that gave him strength.

Despite having the free will to question his actions and defy Doctor Eggman for his personal goals, Gemerl is still overall unreasonable and standoffish, particularly towards Emerl. He is disgusted by those he deems weak, which is everyone except for himself, and can only be convinced to align himself with others if it furthers his own continued mission to surpass the Gizoid.

## History

### Sonic Advance 3 Arc

Gemerl appeared for the first time in Part 1, during the adaptation of *Sonic Advance 3*. His role in the story was identical to that of the games, but his origins were altered slightly, having been created as a weapon intended to specifically combat Emerl. Gemerl fought against Sonic and Emerl during their journey to fix the distorted planet and co-piloted Doctor Eggman's mechs using his ability to merge with machines. After the defeat of the Hyper Eggrobo, he briefly returned to the heroes so that he could swear revenge on Emerl before leaving again.

### Sonic 06 Arc

In Part 2, Gemerl attacked Soleanna's castle where Tails and Emerl were bodguarding Princess Elise, dispatching several human guardsmen offscreen before crashing through a window and immediately engaging Emerl in battle. The two's clash took them through the castle wall and over Soleanna, where they crashed into a square where Sonic happened to be in the middle of fighting Silver the Hedgehog. Due to Silver's meddling, Gemerl was able to avoid being engaged by Sonic and landed a vicious strike on Tails when he arrived to help, incapacitating him and opening the way for Gemerl to fly back to the castle and make off with Elise unopposed.

Gemerl's next appearance was at the site of the Solaris Prototype, where he was part of a ploy to banish Team Sonic through time and capture Emerl. When Emerl was in position towards the center of the Prototype's chamber, Gemerl dropped from the ceiling with several large tubes attached to machinery hidden above, grabbing hold of his rival and using his ability to manipulate Chaos Energy in order to command the Chaos Emeralds inside Emerl's body. The energy allowed the Solaris Protoype to activate and entrap Team Sonic in an energy field, warping them 200 years into the future while Emerl was left behind, damaged and temporarily crippled by the invasive process of having his energy controlled. Gemerl was noted to silently watch Emerl writhing on the floor, taking pleasure in his suffering.

A short while later, Amy Rose and Princess Elise freed Emerl from where he'd been imprisoned in the facility, and Gemerl appeared once again in the Solaris Prototype chamber to find him re-activating the machine. Gemerl was unable to break through the energy field that surrounded Emerl as the time vortex surrounded him, but swore that he would find him no matter where he went, watching Emerl leave for the future.

In the future, Emerl and Shadow's battle against Mephiles the Dark was interrupted by the sudden arrival of E-123 Omega, who mysteriously turned his artillery on Emerl even after being called off by Shadow. The cause of this was revealed to be Gemerl, who violently burst from inside of Omega's body after having used his merging ability to parasitically infest him, going dormant for 200 years alongside the other robot to awake in the era where Team Sonic, Shadow, Rouge and Emerl had been banished. Taking the form of Omegerl, he assailed Emerl and Shadow using his commandeered artillery until Emerl used abilities copied from Mephiles to open his own time portal, dragging the battle back to the present era in another town square in Soleanna. By physically grabbing onto Gemerl's head crest and pulling on it, Emerl was able to rip Gemerl out of Omega's body and forcibly end their fusion. Being outnumbered and having angered Omega, Gemerl retreated.

Gemerl was present on the Egg Carrier when it launched its offensive on Soleanna, having regrouped with Eggman after retreating from his previous battle for repairs. In the original timeline, he presumably perished alongside Doctor Eggman and Elise when the Egg Carrier's engine failed, or was destroyed when Iblis was unsealed along with Elise's death. After Sonic and Emerl came back in time to stow away on the ship before it launched, Gemerl was called to the bridge in order to help defend Eggman from the invaders. He dropped out of the ship with Eggman and joined him in the Egg Wyvern via his merge ability, engaging Sonic and Emerl on a scaffolding platform hanging below the Egg Carrier.

During the battle, it became quickly apparent that Gemerl's fixation on Emerl was causing problems for the Wyvern, as the two pilots were each focusing on different targets. Defying orders from his master, Gemerl assumed full control of the Egg Wyvern's systems and used its projectiles to destroy the entire platform below, dropping Sonic out of the sky and forcing Emerl to save him. Though the plan worked and Emerl was left vulnerable while diving for Sonic, his ESP abilities copied from Silver the Hedgehog were capable of immobilizing the entire Egg Wyvern at once, allowing Sonic and Emerl to perform a combination attack that gave Sonic the opportunity to re-enter the Egg Carrier and rescue Elise. Gemerl, unable to move, went down with the Wyvern after Emerl used Blaze the Cat's pyrokinetic abilities to melt its rotary blades, causing it to stall and plummet out of the air.

#### Grudge Match

Atop the hill where the heroes escaped, Gemerl was revealed to have survived the collective crash of the Egg Carrier and Wyvern, appearing on his own to demand a one-on-one fight with Emerl. Sonic allowed for this to happen without intervening, and the two robots began their battle after only a moments' stare-down. The fight was described as 'painfully slow, with no real turning point', Gemerl clinging on to functionality by sheer tenacity alone while Emerl tried every single copied skill he'd acquired thus far against him.

While exchanging blows, Gemerl expressed confusion and frustration at the fact that Emerl could rely his wealth of skills for an 'arbitrary advantage', questioning why Emerl had access to those powers while he did not. Emerl explained the notion that his strength was derived from his friends, downplaying his own power due to having to rely on others, but this only prompted Gemerl to in turn question the worth of his own life as a 'copy of the copier'. The comment shook Emerl right as he threw out a devastating hit, and he found himself unable to execute Gemerl with a follow-up after hearing something so pitiable. Gemerl attempted to use this moment to turn the tables and catch Emerl off-guard, but also found himself unable to throw a decisive attack in the midst of questioning the reason behind Emerl's mercy. Due to it having no immediately obvious strategic upside, Gemerl could not fathom being spared in this way, and became so distressed by this perceived error in logic that he fled the scene, leaving their duel inconclusive.

It is unknown if he attempted to return to Eggman after defying him in the battle prior.

#### End of the World

Gemerl appeared at the remains of Soleanna's ceremonial torch at the End of the World, after Solaris had begun its consumption of all reality. At first he was lambasted by the various heroes for potentially being the reason Emerl was not present, but it was then revealed by Elise that Mephiles had murdered Sonic and commandeered Emerl for himself.

Soon after, Emerl was ejected from Solaris' core in his Ultimate form and began to attempt mimicking its process of sapping energy from the dying multiverse. Given that the heroes required Emerl to revive Sonic with the Chaos Emeralds and wished to save him from succumbing to madness, Shadow asked Gemerl if he could use his merging ability to combine with Emerl and bring him back under control. Gemerl refused the idea over his personal hatred, leading to Eggman attempting to dictate his actions to no avail. While the other heroes attempted to berate or convince Gemerl, Knuckles the Echidna was finally able to get through to him by outlining Emerl's current 'one-upping' of Gemerl via the use of outside means. If Gemerl were to merge with Emerl now, he could get revenge on him by controlling his body and ensure that the universe would live on, giving him more chances in the future to prove his superiority. Gemerl agreed to these parameters, and laid in wait while the gathered heroes engaged Ultimate Emerl to provide him with an opening.

Ultimate Emerl proved to be too much for the combined fighters to contend with, but their combined efforts were able to draw his attention long enough to give Gemerl a chance to strike, rushing into Emerl from behind and beginning the assimilation process. Though Emerl attempted to wrestle Gemerl free from his body, Gemerl was capable of holding back Emerl's mutated arms long enough to completely merge with his body, creating a massive flash of light from which Masterl descended.

Gemerl remained a component of Masterl for the duration of it's battle with Solaris, and only separated after the fusion 'burned out' in the wake of the Ultimate Chaos Control. He was left unable to move, lying on the grass next to Emerl some distance from the other heroes after everyone had been sent back to the fields surrounding Soleanna during Masterl's intervention.

Masterl's role in restoring the multiverse after it had been partially consumed by Solaris earned the attention of Argus, who could recognize that Gemerl was part of the entity even when unfused. While still inactive, Gemerl was kidnapped by Argus while it effortlessly repelled the heroes who tried to save him and Emerl, resulting in his banishment to the Twilight Cage.

#### Twilight Cage

An unknown amount of time after arriving in the pocket dimension of the Twilight Cage, Gemerl woke in unison with Emerl and prepared to fight him, but the two ended up not coming to blows due to having shared memories of being Masterl, instead choosing to investigate their surroundings. Gemerl witnessed the arrival of the Nocturnus Clan's Marauders and Gizoid Centurions, enticed by the prospect of learning there were more of Emerl's kind to face off against. Not wishing to face an entire army alone and in need of information, however, Gemerl and Emerl went along with Shade the Echidna's demand to meet with the Nocturnus Clan's leader rather than pick a fight right away. After witnessing Emerl try to speak with a Gizoid Centurion and get no response, Gemerl attempted to get one to react by shoving it, but was equally met with no reaction.

In the Nocturnus' throne room, Gemerl remained a spectator for much of the proceedings due to being wholly overlooked by Imperator Ix. As his frustration mounted in response to this, he prepared to fight Prefects Charyb and Scylla alongside Emerl, but didn't get the chance to attack before Emerl knocked them away with a single blow. Gemerl proceeded to watch Emerl's one-sided battle against Ix, refusing his plea for help after calculating that even together they had no hope of winning against the ancient Echidna. He also claimed to have no desire to 'join bodies' with Emerl again, alluding to Masterl.

After the death of Emerl's persona in the wake of Ix forcibly removing the Chaos Emeralds from him, Gemerl's current status and whereabouts are both unknown.

## Powers and abilities

As a Super Badnik, Gemerl is a highly effective combat robot with potent physical characteristics. He can fly at high speeds, smash through solid stone and easily dispatch trained soldiers without any notable effort. His strength, speed and durability allow him to fight mostly on-par with Emerl and Sonic, and in the interim between Parts 1 and 2, his armour was upgraded based on data gathered by analysing Emerl's original right arm after it was severed, bringing his already high durability to a level where even Emerl struggled to damage him.

Gemerl's special abilities are identical to his video game canon counterpart, stated to have a 'particular fondness' for missile barrages. He is also capable of teleportation and creating energy shields, though he has yet to display this in the series.

### Machine Merging

Gemerl's most versatile ability is to 'merge' with other forms of technology, assimilating into it to augment its capabilities. By merging with Doctor Eggman's mechs, he's capable of acting as a co-pilot managing things such as movement and weaponry. Though he rarely directly takes control of Eggman's machines, Gemerl has also shown the ability to transform by assimilating himself into the bodies of other robots such as E-123 Omega and Emerl - and in the former's case can directly assume all command of their merged body by overwriting the other component entity's will.

A unique transformation derived from this ability is Masterl, a third persona formed by an exception created by Gemerl's inability to overwhelm Emerl's unfathomably complex inner workings when they merge.

### Energy Manipulation

Gemerl is capable of harnessing the power of the Chaos Emeralds and manipulating it to his will, first seen in Part 2 when he siphoned off the energy of the Emeralds from within Emerl's body to power up the Solaris Prototype.

### Learning Capabilities

Gemerl's artificial intelligence is capable of scanning, learning and calculating with incredible efficiency, explaining his evolving battle tactics in *Sonic Advance 3*. In Part 3, it was revealed he had been able to perform a deep scan on Omega's systems, granting him knowledge of the robot's status and even things like his current objectives. In Part 4, he scanned Imperator Ix in a similar way, gauging his overall combat power and deeming him too dire of a threat to consider fighting.

## Transformations

### Ultimate Gemerl

While never seen in the series, Gemerl's Ultimate form was mentioned during narration in Part 1, in which it was described as being inaccessible due to Emerl having the Chaos Emeralds inside his body.

### Omegerl

A fusion derived from Gemerl's merging ability being used on E-123 Omega. In Part 2, Gemerl buried himself inside of Omega's body while he was in his dormant state, falling into slumber along with him for 200 years. Once he arrived at the site of Emerl's battle with Mephiles the Dark, Gemerl displayed the ability to control Omega even without revealing himself, though at the cost of leaving him semi-aware of what was going on. Upon proper activation, Gemerl forcibly restructured Omega's frame to emerge from within, extending his midsection, splitting his head in half, reshaping his shoulders and causing yellow spikes to burst from his limbs.

Gemerl's will was capable of fully overwriting Omega's, allowing him free access to all of his features and weaponry. He was defeated in his sole appearance by Emerl, who was able to physically rip the fusion apart by pulling Gemerl out of Omega's body by the head.

### Masterl

> *Main article: Masterl*
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Gemerl is one component of Masterl, the other being Emerl. Unlike Omegerl, Masterl has a distinct personality formed by Emerl's systems being too complex to fully assimilate. This clashing of personas caused an exception, birthing a new entity and modulating the component's bodies to create a new form by 'filling in the gaps' left by their attempted merge.

## Relationships

### Emerl

Gemerl is programmed to surpass Emerl and the Gizoid as a whole, and as such showcases an absolute hatred for Emerl throughout almost every appearance. The grudge shared between the two is deep enough to drive Gemerl to defy direct orders from his master and gravely endanger his own life just to get a chance at fighting him, displaying an obsession that doesn't even fade after the two are forced to share a body as Masterl.

Gemerl's free will seems to allow him to find personal reasons to hate Emerl beyond just his programming, such as the fact he is capable of defeating him time and time again by relying on outside means; Gemerl has also been shown to take sadistic pleasure in watching Emerl suffer, showcasing a level of personal investment beyond that of a typical robot. Despite this, when Emerl spared his life during their duel in Part 3, Gemerl fell into confusion, unable to fight any longer due to being consumed by doubts about the meaning of 'strength' and what Emerl's mercy could mean. Though he still ultimately allowed Emerl to be mutilated at the hands of Ix, Gemerl was also briefly willing to associate with Emerl after they were trapped in the Twilight Cage, going along with him to meet Ix in the first place.

### Doctor Eggman

Doctor Eggman is Gemerl's creator and master, but as revealed in Part 3, he holds no actual loyalty towards him. Gemerl aligns himself with the Empire out of convenience, knowing that it is where he will have the most chances to do battle with his nemesis, and as such once compromised Eggman's battle plans by taking control of his Egg Wyvern mid-battle. After that incident and subsequently defying his creator's orders at the End of the World, Gemerl may have fully defected from the Eggman Empire.

## Gallery

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## Trivia

* Gemerl's rivalry with Emerl is compared to multiple rivalries Sonic has had in the past, namely with Shadow the Hedgehog and Metal Sonic.