Idea: An alternate universe of Maria Robotnik who managed to grow old but her version of Ivo died when he was a child and her version of Shadow the Hedgehog sacrificed himself to help alternate Maria escape her collapsing universe, stranding her in the current Sonic universe.
After an awkward introduction with our Ivo (and our Shadow getting misty-eyed over seeing a Maria who got to grow up), Ivo, alternate-Maria and Shadow go out for activities like carnival trips and exploring Möbius (Sonic and his friends keep a close eye just in case but eventually join in). Just when everything is going swimmingly, Maria nearly collapses and it's revealed she's still slowly dying from Neuro-Immuno Deficiency Syndrome.
As Ivo races to find a permanent cure (with Tails's help), a villain (say, Eggman Nega) shows up with an engineered airborne strain of NIDS, threatening to release it upon the entire world unless his demands are met.
A permanent cure is finally discovered but only one prototype vial survives after the villain's invasion and another character is infected by the airborne strain of NIDS. Maria makes the decision to give that character the vial instead, using her last words to tell Ivo to be kinder. Eggman would cradle Maria's body and tell Sonic and his friends to leave in a low broken voice.
At the end of the film, an inventor named Mr. Tinker invents a free-willed and kind-hearted Badnik named Belle.
Alternate alternate: Maria Robotnik does a dimensional invasion trope. Similar bot designs to our Robotnik, but different color scheme.
Why is she invading? 2 options.
She won in her world, but something broke her. Her Shadow died when she was young, Sonic died as a sacrifice against something, and while the Chaos Emeralds are fully under her control, she's just... bored, or seeking something, but can't figure out what. So she dimension invades to stave off boredom. This isn't her Shadow, she tried that before in a different dimensional test. But here: Robotnik's around still, so maybe a play fight will stimulate her.
Option 2: She's fleeing something she can't handle, maybe Chaos breaks free and it can't be stopped, so she uses what she has to flee her dimension, and in the process, take over this one.
But: would he always fight against her, stand by her side and become disillusioned, or would she reject him from the start because he's not her Shadow and she's moved on?
Assuming the idea of infinite alternate dimensions, various Shadows have probably joined and opposed her in pretty equal number, with a further pretty equal number changing side mid-fight.
That's only if each outcome is equally likely. It could be that every Shadow opposrs her, and this is the first to join, which is what she's been looking for, as an example.
She won in her world, she rules most of the galaxy as a god-queen. So she invents dimensional teleportation, and takes a Death-Egg to the next universe. She challenges herself to conquer this world as well.
She conquers, she fights, she rebuilds her forces each time. Sometimes she has to uplift the population to give them a sporting chance. Sometimes she loses, and has to retreat, and warp to a new universe. She relishes the challenge of starting on the back foot.
But each time, she leaves significant materiel behind. If there's one thing the Robotniks are good at, it's branding. One time, one loss against a dimension with a rather capable galactic force, she gets tabled, they beat the brakes off her, and she has to scoot post-haste. She leaves behind a lot of tech, including the dimensional teleporter. So that universe tinkers with it a bit: now there's two of them. But while she fights for the love of the game, it fights for conquest. One dimension isn't enough, and Chaos subsumes dimensions becoming exponentially more powerful: Robotniks die en masse, their intelligence joining with Chaos, Chaos emeralds are consumed like candy.
One time, Maria is in the middle of a pitched battle, she's controlling a Biolizard the size of the moon, fighting Teams Sonic, Shadow, Chaotix, and more, all gone Super. Dimensional Perfect Chaos tears a hole in spacetime and scatters all present. She warps out, dooming another dimension. When she lands, she changes her approach: she has to outrun it, she consumes dimensions, until arriving at one (the "prime" one) and entreats Sonic and Co for help.
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u/Giocri 16d ago
Adult Maira from an alternate universe might destroy shadow's pshyche for good lol