Emerl

"Show... power... OR I sh...all ob...ey... Sha...ll conqu...er a...ll..."

- Emerl

Emerl (エメル) is a fictional character from the Sonic the Hedgehog video game Sonic Battle. Emerl is an ancient weapon known as the Gizoid/Emerl discovered by Professor Gerald Robotnik. Emerl is classified as a superweapon. Gerald attempted to nullify his destructive programming, but failed. In an attempt to curb it, he gave it the same qualities as his creation, Shadow the Hedgehog, a "soul" based on that of Gerald's granddaughter, Maria Robotnik.

Overview
Doctor Eggman takes the Gizoid in the hopes of using it to rule the world, but tosses it aside when he finds no use for it. Sonic the Hedgehog finds it on a beach, names it Emerl out of a sheer lack of imagination, and he and his friends teach it how to fight. As the player plays the Story Mode, Emerl learns the abilities of the various other characters. Emerl's principal power is perfect copy: he can observe a technique, skill, or trait in action and then remember and copy that technique with unnerving accuracy and precision. This apparently extends to all aspects of a target outside of its physical form, enabling to mimic running speed, jumping ability, stance, voices, attacks, and even coloration. Interestingly, Emerl also has a set of skills he acquired 4000 years ago before he was shut down; powerful and destructive, they can be unlocked by the player in a special Colosseum gauntlet that is only available in Emerl's Story Mode. Emerl can also mix and match techniques to suit his taste: Each character has a three hit combo followed by a finisher that sends the enemy flying. Emerl can absorb each of the four different attacks from any character and create an original combo from the data he has (Like so: Rouge ATK 1 -> Shadow ATK 2 -> Sonic ATK 3 -> Sonic Finisher). The combinations are extremely widespread, and because each move has its own power and speed, range from fast to slow, weak to strong, and so on and so forth. If Emerl himself is not physically capable of performing a technique (Tails' Flight ability, for example), he mimics it in another way (in this case, by spinning his arms around his body like a helicopter). This is especially apparent in the case of Chaos' attacks: he is liquid and malleable, which Emerl is not. So, the latter copies by extending his arms outward with a cable-like cord to lengthen his reach. He has shown himself to be capable of Chaos Control (copying Shadow's skills) and can summon a Chao to attack enemies (Cream's skills). Emerl can also summon and manifest weapons for certain attacks (Amy's Hammer techniques and Gamma's attacks). However, he cannot copy multiple acts at one time. In Sonic Battle, Emerl is a unique character: During the Story Modes, after any battle Emerl participated in the player receives a card for each character that also participated in the fight (Gamma Clones, Phi, and Emerl himself not included). For example: Sonic, Rouge, Knuckles, and Emerl all participate. Emerl will gain a skill card for each of the former three. What's more, he will also gain skill points after a battle based on how well he fought. If the player wins the battle, he gets one point. If the player wins without getting knocked out once, he/she gets two points, and finally, if the player wins without taking any damage whatsoever, he/she will gain five skill points. These points have a cap of 500, and each skill can range from 5-30 skill points to use, the most expensive generally being the most powerful, such as the Ultimate Series. During each Story Mode, there are opportunities to "train" with Emerl and the character accompanying him. During these battles, players will take control of Emerl himself and face off against the character he is following.

Creation
Emerl was originally created as the strongest and most powerful of the Gizoids, a series of robots warriors that can copy peoples abilities, more than four thousand years prior to Sonic Battle by an ancient civilization of echidnas known as the Nocturnus Clan, referred to as The Fourth Great Civilization by Gerald Robotnik, with the purpose of aiding the Nocturnus Clan in conquering the ancient world. During his brief time with the Nocturnus Tribe, Emerl apparently befriended one of the Echidna living there, called Nestor the Wise.

With his creation however, the Nocturnus Clan had become so powerful that they caught the attention of a supposed being called Argus, who transported the entire Nocturnus Clan and the Gizoid army into the Twilight Cage in an event that came to be known as the Argus Event. Emerl however, somehow managed to escape imprisonment, or was simply left behind, and was the only one from the Nocturnus Clan to do so. As the Nocturnus Clan faded into legend, history came to regard Emerl as the one who destroyed that civilization, and Emerl himself was lost.

Rediscovery and Reprograming
About fifty years prior to Sonic Battle, Professor Gerald Robotnik found it in a warehouse, and took it to the Space Colony ARK for research. He managed to create a Link with the Gizoid, and figured out that it could learn how to do anything, and that it got stronger when absorbing Chaos Emeralds. He then started Project: Gizoid and equipped the robot with a "heart", a free-willed emotions-based AI. Unfortunately, the project was never finished as Gerald had to hand over the Gizoid to the government in order to buy more time for his Project Shadow, the research experiment to create the ultimate lifeform. However, the Gizoid soon absorbed a large amount of weapons, and decimated a large section of the ARK. The government then finally decided that Gerald's research was too dangerous to continue, canceled Project Shadow, and killed or imprisoned all that knew about it.

Rasing a Living Weapon
Gerald's grandson, Doctor Eggman later found the Gizoid, and brought it to one of his bases. While experimenting with the robot, Eggman gave the Gizoid a Chaos Emerald which it absorbed. As he couldn't retrieve the jewel, Eggman got angry at the robot and threw it away on a beach.

Later, Sonic the Hedgehog found the robot lying around on the beach and tried to communicate with it. The Gizoid only mumbled "Show... power... OR I sh...all ob...ey... Sha...ll conqu...r a...ll..." Sonic answered by showing off a few lightning quick moves. The Gizoid reacted to the moves, and created a Link with Sonic, without him knowing. Sonic, wondering what was up with the robot, decided to take it to Miles "Tails" Prower to ask him about it. However, he stumbled upon Shadow the Hedgehog who demanded that he was given the robot. Sonic fought him off and went to see Tails. He examined the robot and figured out that it could copy abilities and absorb Chaos Emeralds. Sonic and Tails then fought the Gizoid for a while, teaching him their moves and Sonic decides to (in a spectacular show of a lack of imagination) named it "Emerl" due to the fact that it absorbs Chaos Emeralds. They then decided to give him a Chaos Emerald, and went to visit Knuckles the Echidna in order to borrow the one he currently owned. On the way they met and fought both an E-121 Phi robot and a rebuilt E-102 Gamma, who both escaped. When they finally arrived, Knuckles attacked the Gizoid due to a misunderstanding, but the Gizoid defeated him and absorbed the Emerald. After his second Emerald, Emerl learned how to speak, but could only say words that he had already heard, and always repeated them twice.

After discovering how the Gizoid worked, Sonic started fighting the robot constantly to teach him new attacks. Tails, who wanted to learn more about the mysterious robot, instead wanted to take him to Central City in order to use a large database to figure out what he was. However, the data was forbidden and Tails and Emerl were attacked by guard robots, from whom they escaped. On the way home, they ran into Shadow, who again wanted to destroy Emerl. Tails and Emerl defeated him, and Rouge the Bat arrived to take the weakened Shadow away. He continued home, only to run into an angered Knuckles who again challenged Emerl, who won. E-102 then found them again, and they had to fight him off. After the fight, Tails finally got home to tell Sonic about the information he had found, namely that Emerl was a weapon. Sonic shrugged it off, and started teaching Emerl more moves.

Three days prior to the game, Rouge had been ordered by the President to find out all she could about the Gizoid. She went to the database, and discovered that Dr. Eggman was already accessing the information. Upon being confronted, Eggman told Rouge that he had already thrown away the robot and then sent a Phi robot to attack her. Rouge destroyed it, kept the Emerald shard and left to find the Gizoid. She found it in the hands of Sonic, and tricked him into letting Emerl listen to her. When Sonic was away, Rouge then swiped Emerl from Amy Rose, who spent time with the robot as she thought of him as a baby project between Sonic and herself. After fighting off the protective female hedgehog, Rouge took Emerl home, fighting Gamma on the way. Once home, Rouge told Emerl that he was to become the world's greatest thief robot. She trained Emerl for a while and then took him along to steal a Chaos Emerald. However, once she got her hands on the jewel, Emerl took it from her and absorbed it, much to her dismay. Sonic then arrived to take Emerl back and Rouge left, saying that the immature robot could never become a master thief.

After this third Emerald, Emerl started to talk normally, but could still only use words he had heard. Knuckles, interested in Emerl's connection to the Chaos Emeralds and doubting that Sonic could make him into a great warrior, later decided to spend some time with him. Upon arriving at Tails' lab, the two friends saw on TV that two Emerl-looking robots were out stealing jewelry. Knuckles decided to do something about it, and took Emerl with him to destroy the copies. They ran into Gamma, and beat him yet again. Rouge then appeared, and told them that Eggman was trying to get his hands on Emerl. Knuckles and Emerl then proceeded to Night Babylon, where they asked around to where the fake Emerls were. However, Emerl was mistaken for one of the robber robots and they were forced to fight several guard robots. Eventually they ended up in Rouge's club, where they fought Rouge herself. After that, they quickly found two Phi robots, destroyed them, and took their shards. Rouge thanked them for stopping the Phis from attacking her club, and gave them her own Emerald shard. The echidna and the robot then continued their search and ended up destroying two more robots and creating a fourth Emerald for Emerl.

On one of her usual trips searching for Sonic, Amy again scared the blue hero away, and took it as a sign that he wanted her to take care of their "baby", Emerl. While Amy was overjoyed by Sonic's decision, Emerl ran off to fight two nearby Phi robots. Amy followed suit and they ended up with two new Emerald shards. Deciding that Sonic would be very impressed if she gave Emerl a new Chaos Emerald, Amy went on a search for new Phi robots. She first decided to train some, though. Amy and Emerl went to Amy's apartment, where Cream the Rabbit and Cheese the Chao temporarily lived. Amy then taught Emerl about boxercising, which Cream disliked. The trio fought for a while, until Emerl felt Chaos Emeralds nearby and ran off. Amy followed him to Night Babylon, where she found him insulting Rouge. After fighting the disdained bat, Amy started to explain only to be interrupted by two attacking Phi robots. After Amy and Emerl destroyed the robots and took their shards, Rouge gave them another shard as well, creating the fifth Chaos Emerald for Emerl to absorb.

Eggman finally decided to take matters into his own hands and captured Emerl, along with Cream, and took them to the Gimme Shelter. While trying to escape, Emerl destroyed four Phi robots and got their shards, but was stopped by the shard-powered Gamma, as Emerl stopped fighting since it made Cream sad. After watching Emerl getting constantly smacked around, Cream decided that fighting can be good if it is used to protect someone, and attacked Gamma. Along with Cream, Emerl managed to defeat the robot and take its shard as well, creating a sixth Chaos Emerald. As Eggman came there to check up on things, Cream and Emerl managed to trap him and escape.

Prior to the game, Shadow had been hearing voices. Upon investigating, he found the Gizoid in Gimme Shelter. Rouge, who was also there, explained that it was The Ultimate Being (Ultimate Lifeform in the western versions) and that it was a weapon just like Shadow had been. The duo was then attacked by guard robots. They fought back most of them, but Shadow got injured and Rouge had to drag him home. Shadow had some disturbing nightmares, and decided that the weapon of mass destruction, the Gizoid, had to be destroyed before it got all the Chaos Emeralds. After a few attempts to take the robot by force (mentioned above), Shadow decided to simply tell Sonic his point of view. Rouge told him that Emerl could be made into a peaceful being by giving him all the Chaos Emeralds and saying "bring hope to humanity". Shadow then did just that, and instead of becoming an insane world-destroyer, Emerl continued to be his usual self. Impressed by the ultimate being, Shadow fought Emerl and won. He then decided to go all-out, and let Emerl train against all of his friends before fighting Shadow again, this time winning. After this Emerl got the chance to fights his friends again, except Sonic was nowhere to be found. Upon returning to Shadow, he also found Sonic, who wanted to fight Emerl again, this time with Shadow. Emerl managed to defeat the two hedgehogs, and started living a normal life with his friends.

Final Goodbyes
That didn't last long, however, as Eggman had finished his Final Egg Blaster, placed on his newly rebuilt Death Egg, and threatened the Earth with it. Using a teleportation device built by Tails, Emerl traveled to the Death Egg and defeated Eggman.

Thinking that the doctor had learned his lesson, Emerl turned away to leave, as suddenly Eggman fired the Final Egg Blaster on some nearby stars, destroying them. This overwhelming power activated a part of Emerl's program that his friends did not know about: if the Gizoid is shown ultimate power, it will break its old Link to form a new one with the owner of the power. However, it did not go as Eggman had planned, as the old Link breaking also included Emerl's personality to be deleted, and allowed him to turn into the weapon of mass destruction that he was built to be. Emerl spouted out some binary (it should be noted that the binary doesn't actually mean anything), knocked Eggman out, and aimed the Final Egg Blaster at Earth, which was set to fire in 60 seconds. Thinking that Emerl could be stopped by negating the energy of the Chaos Emeralds, Sonic brought the Master Emerald to the Death Egg. However, Emerl got annoyed by the light the large jewel produced, and shattered it. Meanwhile, Tails had devised a theory that Emerl's initial programming could be reversed again if he took enough damage, but this would most likely destroy Emerl's body. As it was the only way out, Sonic and Emerl fight at astounding speeds (seeing as the Final Egg Blaster has only 30 seconds left to fire) and succeeded with the plan.

As Emerl started to break down, he reverted to his old personality and thanked Sonic for all the good times they had together. Sonic desperately tried to save his friend, but Emerl disappeared in a flash of light, leaving only the shards of the Chaos Emeralds behind. Some time after Emerl's destruction, Eggman may have used some of the Gizoid's data and hardware to construct Gemerl.

Other Game Appearances and Cameos
Although Emerl has not had an official return or playable role since Sonic Battle, he is a character that has had a lasting impact on the series and continually appears alongside the rest of the Sonic gang in many other games. Emerl's story and origin are referenced and affect the plots of Sonic Advance 3 and Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl an Emerl sticker can be collected. In Sonic Rivals 2 an Emerl card can be collected. In the Wii version of Sonic Colors one of the default file names is "Emerl". In Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games an Emerl costume can be obtained and then placed on a playable Mii.

Abilities

 * Like Metal Sonic, Emerl has the ability to copy abilities from other beings and machines.
 * Like Chaos, Emerl gets stronger (and smarter) with each Chaos Emerald he gains.
 * In Sonic X, Emerl cannot copy more than one being's abilities at a time, and takes a certain amount of time to do so. However, the Emerl in Sonic Battle can equip abilities from several characters simultaneously.
 * In Sonic X, Emerl is equipped with a jetpack, and this is why he does not need to copy flight ability. Emerl had this in the game, but he didn't use it.
 * Ultimate Emerl has the ability to destroy star systems/solar systems by absorbing the energy of the Final Egg Blaster.
 * Ultimate Emerl possesses the ability to move several times the speed of sound and is thus several times faster than Sonic. He takes on Sonic and engages in a 10 round fight in under 30 seconds. (The Final Egg Blaster fires in under 30 seconds.)

Personality
Emerl has no original personality: His tendency to copy all things he sees carries over into his personality and intelligence, which grows based on the number of Chaos Emeralds he has absorbed. This leads to interesting results, as he initially is childlike and is only capable of repeating a phrase he has only just heard (and he usually repeats it twice).

As the game progresses, he develops a sort of amalgam identity from every other character, incorporating each of their traits into himself and bringing them together. Despite this, he is said to be most similar to Sonic (which stands to reason, seeing as Emerl formed a bond with him and spent the most time with him). Emerl also develops minor bonds with the people he meets. These are not true bonds, as with Sonic, but personal ones of friendship. For example, he refers to Amy as "Mom" because she instructed him to refer to her as his mother (she is under the assumption that Emerl is Sonic's practice "baby" for their future--a patently erroneous assumption no one has the courage to dispel). He sees Knuckles as a good friend and sparring buddy, Tails as a surrogate brother of sorts, Cream as a little sister, Rouge as a sort of Aunt, and so on and so forth. His relationship with Shadow is more one of professional acquaintance, but maybe a kind of cold hearted miserable Uncle (thanks largely to Shadow's recalcitrance and annoyance at Emerl's similarity to Sonic). Emerl does have one major flaw. He will immediately form a bond with the person who shows him the greatest power. Shadow attempted to circumvent this by using a passcode that should have disabled the needed programming, but was apparently unsuccessful. This is exhibited when Doctor Eggman fires his newly reconstructed "Final Egg Blaster," a weapon of ruinous power, far superior to Space Colony Ark's Eclipse Cannon. This completely overwhelms Emerl and his personality, reverting him to his "Gizoid" state and forcing him to attempt to use his newly acquired power to destroy the Earth itself, much to the surprise and dismay of the Doctor, who did not intend for that result. This leads to his destruction at the hands of Sonic, which ends the game.

Despite Emerl's apparent kindness and courtesy towards characters, it is heavily assumed that, during his previous life under the influence of the Nocturnus Clan, he was a power-hungry machine bent on doing his masters will. It is all ready quite obvious, as made evident by his will to kill everyone on Earth using the Final Egg Blaster at the end of Sonic Battle, that he was a blood-thirsty god of war. It was also stated by Nestor (a friend of Emerl) that he was one of the best Gizoids ever built by the Nocturnus, but "always had such a temper".

E-121 Phi
{C The E-121 Phi are copies of the robot Emerl used by Eggman. They are small silver robots with powerful weaponry. There were 14 Phis which each copied an ability of Sonic and friends. They were all powered by Chaos Emerald Shards and because of this Emerl destroyed them in order to get all the Chaos Emeralds.

Gemerl
{C Gemerl was a robot that appeared in the game Sonic Advance 3. Dr. Eggman created Gemerl from Emerl's "data", but he most likely used some of Emerl's remaining parts. Gemerl had the ability to "merge" with other machines, such as Eggman's boss vehicles. Like Emerl, Gemerl became destabilized in the presence of all seven Chaos Emeralds. He betrayed Eggman and transformed a powerful orb-shaped machine with four extendible arms that could fire energy beams and missiles. It is believed that this form is similar to the form that Emerl became when he "destroyed" the fourth ancient civilization mentioned in Sonic Battle. Gemerl was defeated by Super Sonic and Eggman. Afterwards, he was found on a beach by Cream and her mother, Vanilla, and taken to Tails for repair. Tails also deleted all of Gemerl's destructive data, leaving his normal data. Gemerl then remembers Cream, becomes her friend again, and is seen playing with her at the end of the game.

Friends/Allies

 * Sonic the Hedgehog ('Foster Father')
 * Knuckles the Echidna (Also Rival)
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Amy Rose ('Foster Mother')
 * Cream the Rabbit (Best Friend, Sibling bond)
 * Shadow the Hedgehog (Also Rival)
 * Rouge the Bat
 * Professor Gerald Robotnik
 * Chaos (Also Rival)
 * Nestor the Echidna (Implied)
 * Nocturnus Clan (formerly, implied)

Rivals

 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Shadow the Hedgehog
 * Chaos

Enemies

 * Doctor Eggman
 * Chaos Gamma (temporarily)

Sonic X (anime)
In the English dub of the TV series Sonic X, Emerl was called "Emel" because of a mistranslated R. An ancient robot recovered by Doctor Eggman, Emel is activated by Bokkun to help him distract Sonic while the Doctor is being broken out of prison. With the ability to copy the attacks of anyone he sees, Emel is a formidable opponent. He joins Sonic and co., particularly becoming friendly with Cream the Rabbit. As he watches Sonic and the gang in action, he copies their moves. Like several other characters, Emel enters into a fighting tournament for the red Chaos Emerald. After winning, Emel absorbs the Emerald. His old programming, wiped because of his defeat at Sonic's hand, is restored, and he sets about destroying the area. Despite the efforts of Sonic, Knuckles, Rouge, Tails, and Amy, Emel is unstoppable. This is because, since he can duplicate all their moves, he can match anything they throw at him. Finally, in episode 46 (Sonic Battle Finale) Cream the Rabbit and Cheese defeat Emel by working together, alternating attack patterns too fast for Emel to copy. Overcome, Emerl fell into the ocean and sunk. He and Cream became good friends while he was around, and it broke her heart to attack him. The last thing that Emel captured was Cream and Cheese crying, and he learned how to cry (In the Japanese version, he cries out oil), moments before exploding.

Sonic X (comic)
In the ongoing Sonic X comic, it chronicles the events leading to Dr. Eggmans' discovery of Emerl. Found within the catacombs of France, Rouge and Topaz were unaware that they were being followed by the Gizoid, let alone knew of its existence as it secretly followed them back to Washington D.C. and later on over to France again. At Chris' birthday party when Eggman attacked with the intent purpose of stealing a prototype space shuttle design, Emerl managed to develop a Link with Sonic and copied his spindash technique to easily destroy the robot without anyone taking notice of his presence. After spotting Eggman, appears to have mistaken Eggman for his grandfather, Gerald Robotnik, and considers him to be his master. After collapsing from a drain in energy when he first met Dr. Eggman, the Gizoid was disassembled by him in issue 11 for study and was most likely put back together again by him (Due to the continuity of the issue taking place before either the Shadow the Hedgehog Saga or the Egg Moon Saga in the series itself).

Sonic Channel
Emerl has a profile and artwork on the official Japanese Sonic website, Sonic Channel. It is believed that his inclusion on Sonic Channel is the reason he makes so many cameos with the rest of the Sonic characters in games like Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Sonic Colors.

Sonic Tweet
In the Japanese Sonic 20th Anniversary Twitter App. Emerl appears as a rank 5 card (The highest rank available) in the Sonic Battle section.

Gizoids
In Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, it was revealed that Emerl was created as part of a Gizoid army created by the Nocturnus Clan. He is said to be the most powerful Gizoid created, but was left behind when the Nocturnus clan was pulled into the Twilight Cage. The Gizoids in the game appear to bear some resemblance to G-mel (but without the "fins" on the arms) but with Emerl's color scheme, and they hold an unusual weapon in their right hand. The Gizoids fight using attacks from other characters, including Sonic's team. There are also two prefect Gizoids known as Charyb and Scylla who live in Nocturne and guard two chaos emeralds. Both have a different horn design from other Gizoids and are coloured blue and a red-brown color respectively. Charyb deals water based attacks and Scylla deals fire based attacks. There are also two bigger Gizoids called Gizoid Guardians. These two appear to be the guardians of Ix and assist him in the second battle in Nocturne.

Trivia

 * In the Japanese version of Sonic Battle, all of Emerl's "spoken" text is written in katakana, a Japanese alphabet that is generally used for names and loanwords, instead of the ordinary hiragana.
 * When Emerl gains the ability to speak, he addresses Sonic as "Metal", hinting that he has met (or at least heard of) Metal Sonic.
 * In Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, Nestor the Wise makes references to a Gizoid he befriended prior to the Nocturnus Clan being pulled into the Twilight Cage, and says this Gizoid must not have been transported along with them. Nestor and Sonic then speculate that this was most likely Emerl.
 * As Sonic stated, Emerl's name is based on Emerald, referring to his power to absorb Chaos Emeralds.
 * In Sonic Battle, it is said that the Gizoid was what caused the government to grow wary of the research performed on the ARK. However, in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, it is said that Emerl was a side project that Prof. Gerald used to bribe the government and buy himself more time. It is possible both are true; Gerald used Emerl to bribe the government, but because of the robot's power, they became wary of the happenings on the ARK.
 * In Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, it was revealed that the Nocturnus Clan was pulled into the Twilight Cage. However, Gerald Robotnik wrote that Emerl had destroyed the civilization. Nestor states that he and the Gizoids did, in a way as he states that the creation of the Gizoids and especially Emerl, served as the breakthrough that lead to the Nocturnus Clan being whisked away to the Twilight Cage, due to the power they gave the Nocturnus Clan. In other words, Emerl indirectly destroyed their civilization.
 * At the end of the episode of Sonic X after Cream and Cheese defeat Emerl when he was underwater he was crying in tears, but in the Japanese version he was crying in oil.
 * In Sonic Battle, he talks very much throughout the game. However, in Sonic X, he is silent, he instead communicates by chirps, beeps, buzzes, and body language.
 * Emerl is considered one of the three strongest Gizoids, the others being Scylla and Charyb.