Village Center

The Village Center is a location that appears in the Sonic Boom franchise. It is a prominent marketplace and the central area of Hedgehog Village.

Description
The Village Center is a bustling marketplace where all sorts of goings-on take place. The location features a variety of public buildings, different shops and businesses. This include anything from the town hall to Meh Burger, to the foreign build-it-yourself furniture store (the last of which offers cheaply-made bookcases). As such, a person can find practically anything there.

Alongside its establishments, the Village Center contains a residential district with Seaside Island-style huts where villagers live.

Past
The Village Center was built generations ago when Jebediah Badger first founded the Village. When the villagers had enough of Jebediah's ruthless usage of power, they chased him out of town through the Village Center, before ridding the place of any trace of Jebediah.

Years ago in the Village Center, Knuckles would mess around with the Fennec Shopkeeper's inventory, costing his employee Charlie his job.

Season one
On a peaceful day, the Village Center was attacked by Fire Bot, but Team Sonic quickly arrived to dispatch it. As an outcome of that, Sonic took Sticks the Badger to the Village Center to find her a pet, where she took in a stray and disguising robo-dog she named "Buster." Team Sonic's opinion about Buster only worsened after he ruined their lunch at Meh Burger and their attempt to stop Orbot and Cubot's burglary of the DangerCo Deadly Equipment Warehouse. Not long after, the Village Center was bombarded by stray meteors, until it was saved by Sticks' meteor defense system.

While in the Village Center for lunch at Meh Burger, Dr. Eggman met Dave the Intern, a fan of his. After Dave had allowed Eggman greater privileges, he impressed Eggman so much that he made him his intern. However, Dave returned to Meh Burger after Eggman fired him for being too ambitious. Eggman later came to the Village Center again to return an umbrella to Mike the Ox. There, he got help from Willy Walrus to rob a helium warehouse, although Willy got caught by the cops. Orbot and Cubot came to the Village Center the next day looking for Eggman and were lead to believed Eggman had been arrested. After several attempts to raise bail money in the Village Center, Cubot had them break Willy out of jail, thinking he was Eggman. With intel from Willy, Orbot and Cubot sadly concluded at the warehouse that Eggman was dead, only to find him at the lair. The Village Center was soon after attacked again, this time by Eggman and his Mega. However, Knuckles, who had a severe case of bad luck, made Eggman withdraw when his bad luck made the Mega destroy itself as the echidna tried to join Eggman.

To restore Eggman's confidences as a part of his seminar, Soar the Eagle took the doctor to the Village Center where he had him get some small evil victories under his belt. On the day after stopping Eggman and his Moth Bot's attack on the Village Center, Sonic and Tails were informed by Wild Cat that Eggman was suing him for getting him injured in their battle. While Sonic thought nothing of it, Soar told him otherwise when he did a news report on him and the trial. When taking Tails away from his plane, Team Sonic found Eggman selling tomato sauce in the Village Center. Though suspicious, Team Sonic let Eggman carry on when his sauce proved clean. While Eggman's subsequent fame annoyed Sonic on his trips through the Village Center, Team Sonic discovered at Meh Burger that it was Eggman's sauce cans that were the threat, as they were actually small robots meant to take over Seaside Island by rewiring its electric appliances. After defending the Village Center from the appliances, Team Sonic went to Eggman's lair to stop them. Another time, when Sonic was creating a horrible noise while running, the Village Center's bystanders were subjugated to the noise as he passed by.

On a day where Sonic and Tails visited the Village Center to rent a film, a freak accident caused by Eggman created a time loop that made the day repeat itself endlessly. With only Eggman retaining awareness, he came to the Village Center several times to gradually get help from Team Sonic to stop the loop. It was not long after that a Granifer Giganticus, awoken by Sonic and Knuckles, attacked the Village Center, though it soon left to find a better place to sleep. Later on, when Team Sonic were at Meh Burger, they met Orbot and Cubot, who convinced the heroes to let them stay with them as they had quit Eggman's service at the time.

When Sonic had to deliver Amy's library book with a few minutes, he made several trips through the Village Center, but kept getting sidetracked by senior citizens, Sticks, a visit to Meh Burger, and Eggman launching an attack on him. With his friends' aid, though, Sonic got the book back to the library in time. Amy later wandered through the Village Center to Hidden Meadows as the rest of the team met up with her, and Sticks insisted to teach her the survival skills for the trip. Thinking he was better for that, Sonic bet with the girls that he could teach Knuckles better survival skills than Sticks could teach Amy, so they agreed to a race to Hidden Meadows. However, Sonic and Knuckles spent their preparation time goofing off in the Village Center.

During the time Eggman swore off technology, the doctor had Orbot and Cubot drag him to the Village Center to look for non-tech tools, all while Team Sonic looked on. As the Lightning Bolt Society took over Eggman's lair, they sent Eggman's forces on random attacks in the Village Center. Team Sonic tried warding the robots off, but eventually turned to the lair where they and Eggman stopped the problem. Later fed up with Dave the Intern's sloppy service at Meh Burger, Amy opened Chez Amy in the Village Center to give the villagers a better restaurant. The two establishments competed against each over the next several days over the customers, which ended when Amy's new partner, Dr. Eggman, blew up Meh Burger. However, when Amy hired Dave for Chez Amy, Eggman destroyed Chez Amy too when Dave could not provide him with decent service. Team Sonic thus helped rebuild Meh Burger and restored the Village Center.

Not long after, a hip shrew named Swifty came to the Village Center and captivated everyone, except Sonic. Becoming rivals, Sonic and Swifty had a race in the Village Center, with the loser getting banished. By cheating, Swifty won the race while Sonic got banished. Eggman then showed up and revealed Swifty was a robot in league with him, and that he had built several more Swiftys in order to ensure Sonic's banishment. He then had his Swifty army tear the Village Center apart for his new amusement park. However, Sonic returned in time to destroy the Swiftys and get rid of Eggman. The Village Center later hosted the annual Chili Dog Cook-Off, the set which Team Sonic set up. However, the team noticed that some phony peppers for the competition were in circulation, which set Knuckles off to find a new one. When Knuckles did not show up to participate, though, Team Sonic spent a whole day looking for him.

While Knuckles served as deputy mayor, the Village Center became the epicenter for much of the chaos caused by Knuckles' reckless approval of permits and laws. The chaos there was so great that the remainder of Team Sonic and Eggman teamed up to stop Knuckles. The Village Center later became a part of the set for a movie Eggman was shooting, which Team Sonic first noticed at Meh Burger. While initially refusing Eggman's offer to play himself in the movie, Sonic accepted it when Eggman got Dave to play him, and shot several scenes for Eggman in the Village Center.

The Village Center was later cast into an uproar when Sonic called Mike the Ox "just a guy" at Meh Burger, which the villagers took as Sonic being insensitive. This was only made worse when Sonic inadvertently got Mike's leg broken and helped him through the Village Center. However, when sheep stampeded through the Village Center, the latest in a string of shenanigans there caused by the Lightning Bolt Society, Sonic redeemed himself by not only saving the villagers, but also stopping an Eggman attack. Then, when an alternate Knuckles showed up, he went to the Village Center to seek aid from Dave, thinking he was a genius. The real Knuckles later went to the Village Center himself where Team Sonic noticed from him that their dimension was at risk of imploding from hosting two Knuckles, forcing them to sent the alternate one back home.

Following some failed attempts to destroy Team Sonic in the Village Center, Dave encountered Eggman. After Eggman showed off his Electrocage, Dave accidentally knocked Eggman out, allowing him to hijack Eggman's robots. Dave tried using Octopus Bot to battle Sonic in the Village Center, but he could not steer it and caused uncontrollable damage to the Village Center, including destroying his own house. Though Sonic stopped him, Dave still earned his mother's acknowledgement as a villain. On the day of New Year's Eve, the Village Center hosted the Village's New Year party, which Team Sonic set up while warding off Ball Bots. When the festivities were at full swing, Eggman returned to slow down time long enough with his Slow Motion Machine for him to beat Sonic in something before the end of the year. However, no one in the Village Center believed Eggman's victory as it happened too fast to be seen.

As news of Justin Beaver's fame reached the Village, the pop star came to the Village Center for a fan signing while his next concert was being set up here. Sensing something wrong about Justin's fans, Sonic, Tails and Knuckles pretended to be a boy band to infiltrate Justin's set, where they heard the fans had been brainwashed by Justin's music. At Justin's concert, the trio found the counter-frequency to Justin's music and played it as a rock ballet, freeing all the brainwashed victims. The Village Center was later attacked by Eggman who wanted a package from the post office, but Team Sonic stopped him. Over the next period, Tails made several trips to the Village Center to earn the love of his crush Zooey, while Eggman tried getting his package. Seeing Tails' attempts in the meantime, Eggman gave the fox advice to go by. Once he got his package, Eggman had his robots attack the area, but Tails stopped them while earning Zooey's affection.

When Bro-Down Showdown was being held in the Village Center, several people met up for the auditions. After the most beneficial pairs were chosen, including Sonic and Eggman, the show went on until Obliterator Bot attacked. Despite it meaning his disqualification should he fight his partner's robot, Sonic helped Knuckles defeat Obliterator Bot, but lost the show's prize to the winners. Later, Comedy Chimp came to the Village Center for a fan signing. Similarly, Knuckles, during his time of fame as "Trash Can Head Guy," would spent his time there enjoying the adoration from his fans. He also made a sponsorship deal with Meh Burger after rejecting an offer from Eggman Industries.

Some angry villagers later gathered at the town hall, believing Sonic had robbed them, where Knuckles promised to bring in Sonic. When Sonic and his allies returned to the Village Center though, they proved to the villagers that Eggman was behind the thefts. Later, during a heatwave, the Village Center was attacked by super-charged Badniks which Team Sonic kept at bay while bystanders felt the effects. However, when the Badniks started acting strange, Team Sonic went to check on Eggman. The Village Center's town hall eventually hosted Puppy Con during the Fuzzy Puppies craze. There, Eggamn tried stealing a rare game piece but Amy stopped him.

The Village Center was soon used Eggman to test his new Obliterator Bot until Team Sonic stopped it and got an award for it, although it lead to them getting an rule-strict image specialist who had them practice being role models at Meh Burger. The Village Center was ravaged by Eggman again as he tried to steal a trophy when the mayor would not give him one, until Team Sonic stopped him (once they got rid of their image specialist who held them back). Another time, Team Sonic and Dave held a play named A Rose Without Thorns for Amy in the Center to make up for past mistakes. While the play was a success and Amy forgave her team, an freak storm made everyone leave during the reception.

Knuckles later came to the Village Center in his search for Charlie to make up for his past screw-ups. Finding Charlie, Knuckles followed him around throughout the Village Center until he ruined his life. Charlie would thus bully Knuckles across the Village Center in his mech as revenge until Knuckles beat him in a fight, although Charlie got his life back in the process. The Village Center soon after became the site of a large battle when Team Sonic (while building a bookcase) got attacked by Team Eggman (Eggman's league of villains). As the heroes were winning, Shadow the Hedgehog came to defeat Sonic himself, but Sonic managed to win when Eggman distracted Shadow. With the villains beaten and Shadow having left, Team Sonic began juggling with Eggman as payback.

Season two
While Tommy Thunder promoted his next movie in the Village Center, Team Sonic averted an Eggman attack. Inspired, Tommy worked to convince Sonic to let him observe his heroism for his next role, only to take credit for Team Sonic's capture of the Weasel Bandits after he was given permission. However, when the cowardly Tommy got Eggman to attack him, Sonic rescued him, but gave Tommy the credit so Tommy's fans would not be let down. Eggman later announced in the Village Center that an asteroid would hit their planet and that he was selling spots in his bunker for the villagers to ride out the impending apocalypse in. Desperate, the villagers ignored Team Sonic's plan to stop the asteroid. When the asteroid later got shattered, meteorites would rain down on the Village Center, but Sonic was able to deflect them all.

When at Meh Burger to watch the news, Sticks' frustrations with the news fluff made her run around the Village Center to get the true news out. Getting her own TV news gig, Sticks did news reports in the Village Center until she realized she had sold herself out to the media. As Sticks started a village revolt to "fight the power," which Sonic calmed, she got the angry villagers to destroy Eggman's latest device when he came to show it before she quit the news media. Later in the Village Center, Sonic entered another plane of reality while testing Tails' Ultrasonic Speed Amplifier. As Team Sonic contacted Sonic there after he tried searching the area for his team on the other plane, Eggman and his Badniks ambushed the Village Center. However, Tails got Sonic home while his team provided cover, and together, the heroes drove Eggman away.

On Career Day, villagers (Sonic included) would come to the Village Center to elborate on their careers to the Village's youth. It was there Sonic met his biggest fan, Mark the Tapir, whom he introduced to his team over lunch at Meh Burger. It was later at the post office that Sonic let Mark become his assistant, unaware of Mark's fanatical motives. Later at Meh Burger, Sonic and Tails told their team of their bet to see if the latter could catch the former. Knuckles was soon after caught in a trap Tails set for Sonic in the Village Center (Sonic tricked him to spring it for him), but was freed later by Tails. Talking their bet's punishment in the end, Tails would perform at Meh Burger Karaoke Night.

While painting, Sticks saw Dreamcaster in the Village Center, but at Meh Burger the next day, her team did not believe her. Seeking proof, Sticks caught the robot making hypnotizing TV broadcasts (which Sticks did not watch) in the local studio. With her attempt to warn people ignored, Sticks was put in the Village Center's jail for vandalizing the studio, where she saw Dreamcaster's hypnotized victims build a world-controlling satellite for Eggman. However, Sticks would escape the jail, avoid Dreamcaster, and free her team, who helped foil Eggman's plot and free the villagers. After successfully demonstrating his new Eggman defense in the Village Center, Tails got a trophy ceremony as a reward. However, Eggman would tunnel under the defense and attack the Village Center. Exploiting the defense's flaws, Eggman dealt great damage to the Village Center before Team Sonic beat him, while Tails got scorned for his invention. Later, several dimwitted Tails clones visited the Village Center, whom Team Sonic rounded up in time.

After Team Sonic stopped Eggman, Orbot and Cubot's Egg Tank in the Village Center, a sour Eggman abandoned Orbot and Cubot here. Despite no one in the Village Center offering a ride, the duo got home, only to get sent back after rocks. Meanwhile, Amy inspired Orbot and Cubot to strike against Eggman's abuse. Eggman thus hired new minions in the Village Center. Seeing this, Sonic and Amy launched a fruitless rescue mission. However, when Eggman tried making his new minions steal ice cream in the Village Center, where Sonic scared them off, he realized they were too disobedient and got his robots back. As a crime wave hit the Village, during which Team Sonic foiled Eggman's attack on the Fuzzy Puppy Warehouse, Mayor Fink would announce to the Village Center that a permit was now needed to commit villainy. City Hall thus hosted several exams for villains seeking the permit. After Orbot orchestrated a scheme in the Village Center, he would battle Team Sonic during an attack on City Hall as an independent villain. This ended when Orbot accidently destroyed the villain permits' records, allowing Eggman (who failed to get the permit) to return to villainy while Orbot was returned to Eggman's service.

Searching for a foster family, Knuckles visited the Village Center many times to find someone to take him in or fit into the families that accepted him. Meanwhile, Team Sonic would watch Knuckles' progress. Eventually, Knuckles was taken in by Charlie and Belinda, who got him to become their fellow villain after some family activities. Charlie and Knuckles later attacked Team Sonic in the Village Center. However, Knuckles would switch sides to help his team beat Charlie, and would then realize that his friends was his real family.

Getting corrupted by his mech suit, Sonic would annoy others in the Village Center. After Sonic joined Eggman, the two came to the Village Center to strong-arm Mayor Fink for a ransom. Though Sonic returned prematurely for the ransom after shooting Eggman down in the Village Center, Team Sonic arrived and brought Sonic back to his senses after a brief battle. It was later in the Village Center that Sonic got attacked by Eggman and his new robot, FiendBot. However, Sonic demonstrated heroism during their fight that made FiendBot betray Eggman and drive him off so he could befriend Sonic. When Team Sonic returned to the Village Center with FiendBot, Eggman attacked them with his forces. During the fight, FiendBot helped fight Eggman's robots and took a laser blast for Sonic. Moved by this, Team Sonic drove Eggman off so they could save FiendBot.

Having arrived on the surface, Og would in his desperation for food and medical aid rob a few stores in the Village Center, prompting Team Sonic to investigate. Not long after, others Froglodytes would invade the Village Center from underground to plunder and ravage the area. However, Team Sonic and Og would force the evil frogs back underground and seal their access point. To pay his new house's fees, Knuckles came to the Village Center looking for jobs, eventually getting one at Diane Aardvark's ad agency and Meh Burger. However, this meant Knuckles was too busy to join his team's adventures in the Village Center. Eventually, Knuckles tried seeing to all his duties when his ad agency came to Meh Burger while Eggman attacked the Village Center. In the end, Knuckles lost both his jobs and had to face his team with his problems.

When the Village Center had a power outage, Team Sonic learned from the mayor in City Hall that the Village's power source (the Meroke Crystal) had died out. While Team Sonic sought a replacement crystal, riots broke out in the Village Center. These riots ended when Team Sonic restored the Village's power with a new crystal. The Village Center later hosted some town meetings which led to a referendum between Amy and Eggman's propositions for a new town name untainted by Jebediah Badger's name. Due to the reveal of Sticks' blood-ties to Jebediah, the villagers in the Village Center would also scorn her. After some voting campaigns in the Village Center, villagers would vote in City Hall. Having used the referendum (which he won) to become Village leader however, Eggman prepared to demolish the Village from the Village Center, with Team Sonic legally unable to stop him. Thanks to Amy and Sticks though, Team Sonic could remove Eggman from power and stop his plan. During this, Sticks restored her reputation, before giving the Village a new name.

After a bad trip to Meh Burger, Eggman had his competent robot workers replace Meh Burger's staff. Dave tried defending his job by facing one of the robots in a contest in the Village Center, but lost and got fired. At the reopening of the improved Meh Burger (which the Lightning Bolt Society tried to ruin) however, Eggman caught the place and its visitors (most of Team Sonic included) in a force-field and sent the whole site towards space. Arrived too late to save her team, Sticks had Dave help her return Meh Burger and its visitors to the Village Center. Afterwards, Dave was made Meh Burger's manager. Amy would later drop by the Village Center a few times with her new Bee Bot pet, Bea, which caused quite a buzz among the bystanders.

When Beth the Shrew won the Science Fair Awards at City Hall, she was allowed to observe the Village's top scientist, Tails. Eggman and Team Sonic later fought in the Village Center again, during which Beth took a bigger interest in Knuckles, making Tails jealous. After Sonic told Tails at Meh Burger about his playdate with Eggman, Tails sought to get Beth back from Knuckles. Ultimately, the two would work together to make Beth notice them both, but they got so caught up in their showcasing in the Village Center that Beth left them for Sticks. Tails would not long after show evidence of Muckfoot's existence to the Village Center, making him a local hero. The Village Center subsequently became the hub for the ensuring Muckfoot Mania. It was also there that Sticks pulled Tails into an investigation that showed that Muckfoot was just a muddy Knuckles sleepwalking. Tails tried to announce this in the Village Center, but could not break it to the adoring villagers. However, after Barker caught Knuckles and posed him as Muckfoot in the Village Center as an attraction, Team Sonic freed Knuckles, and Tails admitted the truth to the Village Center. Unbeknownst to everyone, however, the real Muckfoot dropped by soon after. Having stopped Eggman from attacking the Village again, Team Sonic would play around with their new pet in the Village Center. When their pet suddenly grew however, the team went to check on Tails' Build-it Box.

When getting attacked in the Village Center by Eggman with Decimator Bot, Sonic beat his foes thanks to the help of Steve Eggman. Sonic later told his team at Meh Burger that he had let Steve join them. While the others were suspicious of Steve, they soon had to go on a mission. When Knuckles returned to the Village Center with his friends though, he went into exile when shopkeepers accused him of theft. After Team Sonic disbanded completely, Sonic tried to keep Eggman and Steve from attacking on the Village Center alone, during which they revealed that Steve was an evil robot who staged Team Sonic's disbandment. However, Sonic's friends soon came to the rescue. Reunited, Team Sonic beat the villains and saved the Village Center. When Team Sonic had lunch at Meh Burger, Tails talked with his team behind Sonic's back about a way to get Sonic out of his house after he moved in with him. Eggman and Team Sonic soon fought in the Village Center again, but their fight was halted by ESC's Fastidious Beaver when a widabit appeared. It was then that several widabits ran through the Village Center, knocking Eggman away while Team Sonic protected bystanders.

When Team Sonic held a charity car wash in the Village Center, Eggman attacked them over a complaint he had about their service. Out of nowhere though, Mighton and Bolts appeared and helped Eggman beat Team Sonic upon seeing the team smash Eggman's robots. After Eggman left with his new allies, Team Sonic went to investigate the robot duo's origins. Just a few hours afterward, the Village Center got overrun by malware-infected robots. Amidst Team Sonic's attempt to stop this onslaught, Sonic and Tails, after reporting to the mayor, left Amy, Knuckles and Sticks to keep the infected robots in the Village Center at bay while they left to stop the source of the malware signal. Though Og would come to their aid, Amy, Knuckles and Sticks were slowly overwhelmed by the robots, so Knuckles convinced the villagers to help them. After the robots finally withdrew, the Village Center was left in a mess which Team Sonic was left to clean up. During the cleanup though, Team Sonic noticed Eggman's robots fly over the Village Center towards Morristown. Believing trouble was afoot, Team Sonic hitched a ride on FriendBot when he was forced to join Eggman's robots.

After foiling Eggman's candy theft in the Village Center by defeating HugeBot, Team Sonic met up at Meh Burger where they discovered that each of them had fleas (which were planted on them by Eggman). This led to the team getting quarantined when they tried to buy lotion from a public store, but the authorities soon released them so they could stop Eggman after he resumed his earlier theft in the Village Center. Sonic and Knuckles later made a wrong stop in the Village Center while trying to stop Eggman's fleas.

Archie Comics
Having the urge to destroy a bridge, Dr. Eggman tried selling one in the Village Center so he would not lose money while Sonic the Hedgehog watched, but could not get the mistrusting villagers to buy it. Eggman tried showing goodwill to the villagers, but only got a beating from them. With Sonic mocking him, Eggman called in his badniks, but Team Sonic took care of them. Eggman later returned to the Village Center to advertise his Eggtoberfest, but not before Mayor Fink had him go through some procedures.

Trivia

 * The Village Center's name was first revealed in Sonic Boom #5.