WHITE ORCHID TIMELINE
« White Orchids are said to represent innocence, reverence, and a clean slate. »
A story mostly based on IDW canon with a sharp divergence after the Metal Virus.
Some of this is far more specific than other parts. Most of it is pulled almost directly from the original doc, and some parts are just more "fleshed out" than others. Chapters 1 and 2 are actually mostly written. There are also some unspecifed time gaps, where nothing much of interest happens.
Characters whose name or pronoun use changes during the story are referred to with the name/pronouns they use at the time, up until they change. Most noticeable for Neo, Orchid, and Cupid.
With the Empire
Setup
After the events of Sonic Forces, Neo Metal Sonic makes a valiant attempt to take over the world in his Master's name. Shadow shows up in the last moment and attempts to talk him down, reminding him of his previous rebellion. He's annoyed to be reminded of his fall from grace, but Shadow says Eggman shouldn't have punished him for rebelling. The power of the Master Emerald allows Neo to overcome Eggman's control programs so he can actually consider this, and Neo has the revelation that he's been used. He's indignant and furious, and the Emerald further re-writes his entire mind into an unrecognizable OS - one no one can code for, so no one could control him again.
He decides to pursue his original goal anyway - just, for himself now. He is still defeated as Master Overlord.
Tails repairs Metal Sonic to give him a chance to change his mind, since he seemed to be close. Shadow is there this time. They force Sonic out of the room (recognizing his presence will make Metal unhappy). Metal genuinely starts to consider their offer, but then his EggNet connection finally comes back online and he receives a backlog of panicked messages from his younger siblings. He leaves in a rush to check on them. Shadow is left uncertain as to how that went.
1: Back to Normal
Dr. Eggman is brought back to himself by the familiarity of Metal returning to the base two snapped cords away from a scrap heap. After some initial repairs - which Metal mostly submits to out of habit - he stalks off to consider what exactly he's going to do. He doesn't want to be controlled, but the familiarity and routine are somewhat comforting. What would he even do if he left? He's not sure.
Eggman calls him to a room, where he's clearly reveiwing what happened during his time away. He's proud of Metal for his actions as Neo, and tells him he's officially in charge if something happens to him again. Metal is borderline glowing from the thrill of fatherly pride and praise, and thoughts of rebellion are zipped. The twins are happy for him, and the question of loyalty further fades.
Orbot is nervous about having failed to protect the base, but Metal assures him he couldn't have done anything to stop Starline from warping in, and he called security when it happened, Tinker just called them off. He did everything right; his failure, too, was out of his hands. And Metal's proud of them anyway.
Everything's back to normal.
But Metal's still getting error messages for two missing internal devices: "vsynth" and "neo".
2: New Voice
Metal beeps at Starline in patterns mimicking speech, convincing him he's trying to speak. Starline asks if his voice has been repaired, and Eggman tells him Metal doesn't usually have a voice chip, and calls him out for trying to trick Starline into giving him one. But he still okays Starline giving him one. Starline is ecstatic. Metal is mortified. But goes along, despite being given a subtle choice, because he doesn't want to "admit defeat".
Metal is stuck in Combat Mode the whole time (badnik fight-or-flight). Starline also repairs a broken wire while he's there, restoring the ability to shapeshift. Metal doesn't tell him that's what that part was, and even tells him not to tell Eggman because pointing out his "mistake" would "breach social etiquette". He takes a smartass tone with him when he questions whether a machine can understand manners, and then flashes his claws and offers to "disable them" when asked why. Starline finally sees the value of a weapon having a concept of socialization.
Metal continues to stay in his standard form to not break the illusion, and rarely speaks to Eggman and Starline anyway. He does speak with the twins, who are excited he can speak now.
Tinker & Belle
I Know We Can Make It Better
Mr. Tinker makes a sudden return one morning, and Metal isn't enough to change him back this time. Neo introduces himself by that name to avoid the "Metal Sonic? Like a robot copy of Sonic?" discussion. He silently messages Orbot and Cubot not to correct him, and they assume this is his preferred name now and - for whatever reason - he's hiding that from Eggman. They update their files for him - both evidently keeping a note to deadname him around Dr. Eggman (Orbot's idea).
Cubot starts explaining things around the base to Tinker while Orbot tries to figure out what’s going on and Neo tries to figure out what to do. Orbot pulls Neo to the side and says this is likely DID, explaining why Eggman regained his memories but lost all memory of his time as Tinker. He then explains it to Tinker, finally confirming for him that he kind of is Eggman.
He expresses concern for Belle and resolves to go find her, but Neo stops him because his alter is a wanted criminal and he’d likely be attacked.
Neo offers to go instead. Tinker asks if he’d be attacked, which he confirms. Tinker’s apprehensive, but Cubot says he’d stand a better chance because he’s made for combat. Tinker is surprised by this because he looks so cute!
Neo goes non-speaking out of embarrassment.
Cubot mentions that it's because he’s based on Sonic, which ruins the niceness of the moment. Tinker says he sees that and Neo feels really annoyed, but is still in a nonverbal mood so he reverts to his silent killer robot persona as if to cut such a stark personality difference that he might take it back.
Orbot notices this change in mood and asks where Belle is to steer the conversation away. Tinker tells them that she’s (hopefully) still in Windmill Village. Neo, now fully back in Pure Vessel Mode, silently steams and waits for a final command. Orbot assures Tinker that Neo could return safe with Belle, as he’s been sent on successful retrieval missions before. Tinker finally caves, asking Neo to do it... carefully. Stay out of trouble! And don't hurt anyone!
The twins find this almost uncomfortable because it's so far from normal. Neo has already created a separate file for Tinker and is thus not considering him 'Eggman' at all, so instead it feels weird to take commands from someone else.
Tell Me Whose Side You're On
Shadow is looking for Mr. Tinker in the same location, so the two end up meeting. Shadow, still uncertain what Neo's choice was, approaches with optimistic peace. Neo finds that past data shows they can be cooperative when goals align, and decides locating a missing person is "in alignment with their personal beliefs", so he tells them why he's here and they agree to help look.
Shadow brings up their previous collaboration, and Neo is frustrated to realize he doesn't remember this pertinent information. He tells Shadow it was probably deleted by Eggman. They are furious to find out Dr. Eggman messed with his memories to keep him under his control. He's confused as to why Shadow would care.
Shadow asks why he hasn't left yet, and Neo argues first that rebelling again would ruin it when he's finally gotten his trust back, then that he can't even rebel because of the control code - before he remembers it was deleted. But he doesn't mention that. They point out his previous rebellion, and he says the control code was a patch in response to that.
They finally give up for now, promising to find a way out for him eventually.
And they help him find Belle. Neo introduces himself to her as Neo. Shadow overhears that and starts calling him that, too; even telling others about it. Because it's any small spark of identity, and it gives them hope, so they want to encourage it and hopefully divorce his identity from Sonic's completely.
Mr. Tinker is still around when they get back, thankfully, and is relieved to see Belle.
Who You Were, Who You Are
When You Were Someone Else
While clearing out an old base, Starline finds a disc with a symbol on it resembling Neo's yellow intake with four evenly-spaced white spikes surrounding it. Neo instantly recognizes the spikes as being a star, like those on his Neo form, behind the engine. He's hesitant to look into it. These are likely memories Dr. Eggman deleted, from before the rebellion. Trying to access them could be considered rebellious.
Starline insists he check it, and he was told to cooperate with Starline, so he does. There's some stuff that surprises him, especially a still crisp memory of catching Shadow as they fell into the atmosphere. He backs out quickly and tells Starline it was just an old backup. Starline asks if he can have it, then. Neo pointedly asks about Starline's video logs. He backs off.
Sonic, Silver, and Shard show up to investigate what's going on. Shard especially is thrilled to find out Neo can banter now, but also seems all the more keen on trying to convince him to rebel, too. Neo snaps at Shard to stop calling him 'bro'. Shard, trying to be a smartass, calls him 'sis' instead, and Neo freezes up for a second. Shard sees that and lightens up, hoping to get through by appealing to this spark of identity. Neo returns to fighting, but doesn't object to Shard continuing to call her 'sis'.
Starline nearly manages to blow up Sonic and Silver while Shard is still distracted with Neo. Starline portals back to base and immediately gets Vibe Checked, closing the portal. Shard didn't see what happened but suddenly asks where "the Portal Guy" went. Neo assumes Starline deliberately left her to fly back to base on her own, so now she's even more pissed at him. She put aside her frustrations with him just fine, but he's gonna be petty? Shard says something like "Woooow. Y'know the heroes wouldn't do that to you, right? You should leave." Neo takes his advice and leaves to fly back to base. It doesn't take that long because she's Neo but it's still annoying.
Conditional Acceptance
Back at the base, Neo tracks down and confronts Starline about leaving her and Starline says he was "preoccupied" and accusatorily points out that she corrected Shard on her pronouns but never corrected the heroes when they called her 'Neo'. She attempts to argue she was correcting him on the familial relationship, but Starline points out that she didn't object to 'sis' and she clearly considers the twins her siblings. Neo, coming to terms with it enough to suggest it for a comeback at least, calls him a hypocrite. He's offended and says that she, as a robot, couldn't possibly have enough of a sense of identity to be transgender, and suggests she shouldn't copy such personal things. The accusation of copying strikes too close and Neo physically attacks him. He finally relents and warps off.
Lucky for Neo, Starline had been avoiding Eggman so he wasn't present for any of that.
Unlucky for Neo, Eggman had been monitoring Starline and saw the whole thing on cameras. Or maybe not so unlucky, because he reacts about the same way he did with the voice chip 'request'. A cheeky reprimand for being so secretive about it, but ultimately acquiescing; this time because he 'agrees' that his greatest creation shouldn't be held back by being a mere copy. Not when she has grown beyond that role.
He also finally tells her he knew she got her shapeshifting back. He was, again, monitoring the cameras, making sure Starline didn't mess anything up.
Apparently, he takes all of this as a show of loyalty, even if performative. That she's trying so hard to appear loyal that she's holding herself back. But as long as she does whatever he asks of her, he really doesn't care what she wants to look like or be called.
Neo is relieved, but also assumes that her identity would be revoked if she rebelled again. But she's not worried about that. Because she was going to be loyal anyway.
Orbot and Cubot ask why she didn't tell them she was a girl sooner, and she tells them she had never considered it. Cubot is surprised and says "Doesn't everyone consider that?" Orbot agrees that he thinks most people consider it 'just to be sure' at least. Neo says that she was never given the choice, so she had no reason to consider it. Orbot thinks that's kinda sad, but Cubot is just glad she has the choice now.
Starline starts using her new name and pronouns, now seeing it as some kind of marketing ploy to separate the "character" of Neo from the identity of Sonic (but still refusing to consider Neo a person). He tells Eggman he thinks it was a good idea. Eggman says it was Neo's idea, and that she was purpose made to be intelligent after all. Very ominously says he shouldn't disrespect his robots.
Starline realizes he probably thinks that he thinks Eggman couldn't make a robot sapient, so he tries to course correct and says he didn't think he would've made her that smart. Cubot asks how you could make a robot smart on accident. Orbot remarks that that is the kind of mistake Eggman would make, thinking about the robots who have reasoned their way out of working for him but hoping it sounds like 'even your mistakes turn out good!'. Starline agrees, realizing he shouldn't imply he thought Neo was stupid when it seems very clear Eggman will take her side if he gets attacked. And not catching on to the double meaning. Eggman did catch the double meaning, but he also realizes Starline didn't, so he just gives Orbot a sharp look and dismisses everyone, tired of the whole debacle.
Rough and Tumble are surprised robots can be trans, but decide it isn't too surprising in retrospect.
Metal Virus to Rebellion... 2!
Neo is uncomfortable the idea of Sonic become a zombot; y'know, becoming metal? Sonic but metal? A metal Sonic? Orbot and Cubot assure her that she's really completely different anyway so it hardly matters. And that she's way better too. It helps more than she expected. She starts to identify more with 'Neo' as her name and not sharing an identity with Sonic, thus not having to fight for it.
She finally gets to throw out Starline. So long, gay doctor!
Give Up and Be Happy
Post Metal Virus. Neo is sent to stall Shadow so Eggman and the twins can escape. She decides talking is a sufficient method of following that order. Shadow then manages to convince her to stop following orders entirely. She only returns with Eggman in the hopes of getting Omega back, and then leaving to join Shadow's emo band.
She starts to second guess that decision when she returns to the ship and is greeted by her very relieved siblings.
Mr. Tinker takes over when they get back to base. Belle is seeing them all for the first time since they left on the Faceship, and she is distraught. She can't stand seeing Eggman, so Tinker asks Neo to take her to Sonic, because he was a very nice young lad, surely he'd help her find a place to stay.
Neo takes her to Tails' lab where he repaired her, because that's the most recent base she's aware of. Shard happens to be there. He notices Neo is dropping off a very distraught wooden robot girl and is not attacking, so he takes a casual approach. Neo humors this for once, calling him 'brother' for the first time. He promises to look after Belle, so Neo returns to the base.
I think I need to pull this directly from the summary doc: "Tinker encourages Neo to go live xer gay robot dreams with the Ultimate Lifeform, and xe sets off to do just that. Starting with retrieving Omega."
Leave with Each Other Now
Orbot (just Orbot) is hanging out with Omega. Neo immediately clocks it as weird for him to be without Cubot, for both of them. He correctly accuses Neo of planning to defect, and laments that he has it worse but doesn't want to leave because he thinks he'd have no purpose. Neo says something to the effect of "bullshit. your purpose is to be my brother >:" so Orbot is defecting now too.
Cubot is, of course, extended the offer, but he freaks out about it and wants to stay. Wants everyone to stay, mind you. Neo decides to honor his desire to stay and not force him, and for just long enough for it to be too late, Orbot agrees with Neo on that.
White Orchids
Find One That's Yours
Neo brings Orbot and Omega to Team Dark's house using Omega's directions. Rouge is the one who answers the door, and she is absolutely flabbergasted. Shadow is bad at keeping people updated.
Omega is very picky about his body so Neo focuses on building a stealth android body for Orbot while Rouge looks into replacement parts.
Orbot makes the specific request to be a fox. He will not admit it, but he's still slightly attached to thinking of himself as the Tails to Neo as Sonic. They're both different, of course, but Neo's still a hedgehog so Orbot should be a fox, right? Don't ask how Cubot fits, that's another reason he's so guilty about the whole fantasy. Especially now.
Neo gives Orbot's android body psychokinesis (based on xer biodata for Silver) 1) for self defence. 2) matches the cyan glow that he's kind of attached to 3) xe thinks he'd use it well because he's very clever.
Of course, his name being largely a play on 'bot' is a bit of a giveaway, so he decides to change it. "Orchid" was a great choice because it sounds a bit like his old name, he likes flowers, and it may even share an etymolgical root with the word "orb"!
Also, he's wracked with guilt at having left Cubot behind. He's worried Eggman will straight up scrap Cubot, either because Cubot will accidentally anger him, because he decides he's useless without his 'counterpart', or as retaliation against Neo and Orchid. The advice he receives when admitting this is mostly that it's not his fault and projecting.
Rouge gets a lead and comes up with some goofy plan to get the parts. Shadow thinks that's ridiculous and they should just rob the guy, there's no way his security is THAT good. Rouge assures them that she's going to steal the parts, this is all part of her plan to steal them. Shadow still thinks it's too much, and decides they'll prove their point by stealing the parts without her plan. Neo sides with Shadow because the straightforward approach feels more familiar, the Chao Race will waste time, and xe does NOT like the thought of attempting to negotiate.
So the team splits up. Other than Shadow being joined by Neo, Chao Races sublot is fairly canon from this point.
Far Away from all the Trouble
Orchid has made some friends and is trying to be a normal kid, but the guilt is still getting to him. Luckily for him, Eggman sends bots to attack the town he lives in now. Orchid manages to keep a few of his friends safe, and stops a building from collapsing on Tails just long enough for him to get out. Tails thinks he's pretty and likes his accent, and immediately develops a crush on him.
No time for Tails' bi awakening. One of Orchid's friends got crushed and was nearly killed. Orchid is instrumental in her survival. He still insists he's not a hero, and Tails thinks it's kind of relatable so he tries to talk to him about self confidence. Also hoping to win him over. Just a bit.
Orchid tells him that he always thought everyone made it out okay because Sonic always won, and it never occurred to him that normal people got caught in attacks and injured. He then gets a bit carried away and admits he left his brother behind in an abusive environment and he's worried about him. Tails isn't sure how to handle all this, but tries valiantly.
Orchid feels bad for trauma dumping and pretends to get a phone call from his sister to get away. Tails sits there for a while hoping he'll come back. He realizes that Orchid called him by his name (probably knowing it because he's a celebrity), but he never asked him his name. Orchid doesn't come back and Tails is sad.
Tails goes back to that town the next day hoping to see Orchid again by chance. He does, and this time initiates conversation by confronting him for not saying his name. Then apologizing for saying it like that.
Conversation mostly stays away from guilt despite it hanging over them. Orchid is welcoming the distraction even though it's not distracting him enough.