Knuckles and Sonic were fighting in the presidential SEGA office. Knuckles was losing. He was no match for Sonic. While Sonic had spent these past months training and getting into shape, Knuckles was the company's vice president. He didn’t have a very active life. Like most vice presidents of companies, he only attended business meetings and conference calls.
The last time Knuckles had been physically active was when he defeated the previous vice president in a fight. That was a long time ago and now Knuckles was an out-of-shape Japanese businessman. He was no match for Sonic who was running circles around him.
“This can't be happening,” Knuckles was out of breath. He was about to collapse. “Not this again. I’m not letting you take this away from me. Everything in my life you took away from me not this too.”
“What are you talking about?” Sonic said.
“You ruined everything for me. I should’ve had a career. I fought Robotnik just as hard as you did but they gave you all the credit. They gave you the reins of a video game franchise. While I got nothing. I got one chance on the 32X with that ‘Knuckles Chaotix’ or my PS VITA game. Both games are for systems nobody owned, and nobody played. I was screwed from the start. You were allowed to make so many bad games, yet they always called you back for more while I got nothing.”
“I understand your frustration Knuckles-“
“You understand?!” Knuckles snapped at Sonic. “What do you know about anything?”
Sonic tried to speak softly, “I understand why you hold resentment towards me. I deserve it. I wasn’t the best person back then-“
“Not the best? You always held it over my head that you were the boss. You never made anyone forget how important you were.”
“Okay, scratch what I said earlier, I was a terrible, horrible person. If I had a time machine I would go back and undo everything I did. For what it’s worth I’m sorry. Truly. From the bottom of my heart, I’m sorry.” Sonic said very apologetically.
“Oh now you say you’re-“
Sonic changed his tone and said firmly, “As bad as I was back then, that doesn’t excuse what you are doing now. Polanzo’s plan and Robotnik’s new machine are a real evil threat. Whatever wrongs I did to you, doesn’t justify supporting a wanted war criminal and a machine meant to monetize dreams.”
“I never would have allowed that to happen.”
Sonic raised an eyebrow. “What?”
Knuckles sat on the ground. His strength had given out from their fight. He was outmatched and he was ready to give up. “Since I’m losing to you, I might as well tell you my plan. I was fully aware of Polanzo’s plans from the start like you already knew. I wanted to push the Mean Bean machine situation to the breaking point. Then, in the last minute, I would challenge Polanzo to a fight.”
“Challenge Polanzo?” Sonic got closer to Knuckles and also sat on the ground.
“Yes. The idea was that after I would defeat him, I would become president and cancel the mean bean machine project. I wouldn’t have let it ever take off.”
“Why on earth did you plan this?” Sonic squinted his eyes.
“I wanted to be finally seen as a hero. I figured what got you your video game career was being recognized as a hero. If I did something where I was seen as the sole hero, I could have potentially gotten my own video game franchise.”
“That’s a really convoluted plan. You do realize that even with all that it was possible that you wouldn’t have gotten a game franchise. Many heroes exist in the world. Most of them don’t get to be video game directors.”
“Still, I would have been the president of SEGA. I would have wielded a ton of power and could have given myself what I wanted. But that all was the plan. Now none of that matters.” Knuckles fell into his hands. “Now you’re taking that away from me like you did everything else.”
Sonic paused for a moment to clear his thoughts. “I understand how you-“
“You don’t understand nothing!” Knuckles snapped and interrupted Sonic.
“Can you please at least hear what I have to say,” Sonic said in a joking manner. “You have the hear someone’s opinion first before you decide to toss it away.”
Knuckles sighed. “Okay. Say what you have to say.”
“I get how you ended up with your wacky plan. In fact, I was exactly like you until recently. I thought success and recognition was the most important thing in life. I was willing to sacrifice anything and everything just to taste success. I have been in both the highest and lowest you could be in this industry. And let me tell you, ain’t nothing particularly interesting at the top. You get a lot of money but that’s about it.”
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“Easy for you to say when you received recognition for your work. I never had any fame or sales. Any fame I got was off of your back.”
“Fame and success are very fickle. Just because you never got to be a superstar doesn’t mean you don’t have qualities or things you are incredible at. For example, I could never in my life make the music you make. I think it would be impossible for me to reach your level. And you do have a lot of fans that love the music you make.”
“That’s cool but my games never made any impact. The games I directed never saw any spotlight.”
Sonic shrugged. “So?”
“What do you mean so?” Knuckles raised his voice a bit. “They were failures. Who even remembers ‘Knuckles’ Chaotix(1995)’ or the other PS VITA game I made.”
“Well, I love those games. My pride never allowed me to tell you this, but I am telling you now. I think the games you made were fantastic. Especially that weird RPG game you published independently for the PS VITA.”
Knuckles scoffed. “Bullshit. You’re lying. You never even played my PS VITA game. Why would Mr. Important even look at that game? Especially back then, you were still SEGA’s star.”
Sonic made a soft smile. “I knew you wouldn’t believe me. I came prepared to prove it to you.” Sonic took his backpack and pulled something out of it. “I went to my apartment to get it before our fight so I can show you.”
Sonic gave Knuckles a PS VITA. Knuckles didn’t know what to make of it. “This yours?”
Sonic nodded. “I haven’t used it in a long time but take a look.”
Knuckles booted up the PS VITA. He scrolled the many apps installed and saw among the bubble icons the indie game he published. Knuckles opened the game and saw a 100% completed safe file. At first, he didn’t believe it. He thought it was a fabrication. A way to trick him but Knuckles opened the trophy list. The save file could be a fake but you can’t fabricate trophies on the PlayStation network. Scrolling through the trophy list Knuckles found his game. 100% completion with a platinum trophy dated in 2013. when the game came out.
It was true. He did admire Knuckles’ game. Sonic just never told him. Knuckles was moved and flattered seeing the 100% completion. Judging from Sonic’s trophy list, Sonic rarely completes every single facet of a game. The only games he went so hard for were games he truly loved playing so much. It was to Knuckles a genuine compliment.
“I never told you because,” Sonic lowered his head, “at the time I felt so envious. I had tarnished my reputation and despite a few good games I made, I felt like your tiny little game no one heard with almost no budget was better than I made in years. I just couldn’t bring myself to admit to you how I felt. In a weak display of insecurity, I remember I made fun of you back then for releasing it on the PS VITA and having poor sales. I’m sorry. I was conceited I could accept that someone was better than me.”
Knuckles didn’t say anything. He had accepted the apology though. In his mind, he never got any recognition for his games. To hear a sincere ‘good job’ from someone who put him down for so many decades, had him ready to forgive. The chasm between them was gone and all it took was a simple kind word.
Knuckles smiled and said: “While I am flattered by your platinum trophy it still doesn’t change that except for a few people nobody seems to like my game. It might as well have never existed.”
“I have to ask you, what do you think of the games you made? Not about the sales or the reception. What do you think about them as games and as your projects?”
“I like them.”
“Are you proud of them?”
“Of course, I am. I put in a lot of work!”
“Well, that’s all that should matter. It might sound a bit corny but, a wise man taught me recently. When you are making any kind of art or creative project there is only one judge’s opinion that you should care about.”
“Who?”
Sonic said, trying his best to imitate Kiryu, and pointed at Knuckles:
“You. You should be the ultimate judge of your own work. Your own opinion of your work is what should matter most to you. Chasing fame and success just for their own sake leads you to emptiness. You start resenting everyone else, you become bitter, and you become unhappy and lonely. Convinced that your success is the most important thing in the world.
“There are far more important things in life than being famous and recognized. Success should be just a by-product of your work, not the goal. Whatever you make should be because it makes you happy. And if you get famous and rich from it then that’s amazing. So many artists never get any recognition and fame, yet they work so hard. You should be fulfilled from the work itself.”
Knuckles nodded. Everything Sonic said clicked for him. Sonic continued:
“I don’t want to come off too much like a romantic. Obviously in our industry if you want to keep directing you need good sales, if art is your only work then it’s terrible if you don’t make any money. You should always have a backup and bla bla bla… You get it. To cap it off. Success is good and important. But it isn’t the end all be all. The art you create should be good and enough for you. Everyone else is just a plus. There. Went a little bit too preachy but being with Kiryu does that to you.”
“I never got to truly meet Kiryu. We only talked on business occasions.”
“Well, you’ll get to meet him.” Sonic stood up. “So, are we ready to drop this convoluted plan to stop Robotnik? And can we start over as friends? Are we cool?” Sonic said a bit nervously. He still wasn’t sure if he had convinced Knuckles.
Knuckles stood up. “Yeah, we cool.” He grinned and extended his hand to Sonic.
Sonic shook Knuckles’ hand and the two finally made up. Knuckles continued shaking Sonic’s hand and said:
“Congratulations on defeating me. You are now officially the vice president of SEGA under the company statute. I transfer my power to you.”
***
Meanwhile, on the SEGA roof. Polanzo was lying on the ground. Bloodied and defeated by Kiryu.
Kiryu had done this rooftop final fight many times in his life. He was also in perfect shape. Random people in the street still challenged Kiryu for the occasional brawl. It was almost business as usual. In comparison, Polanzo never stood a chance against him. While Polanzo is a ruthless man he just doesn’t have the fighting experience that Kiryu has.
Kiryu stood over the defeated Polanzo. Although Polanzo’s face was bloody from the fight he had a kind grin on his face.
“What’s so funny,” Kiryu said.
“You may have defeated me, and I may be going to trial very soon but you had to do it my way.”
“Your way?”
“Through the so-called Polanzo’s law. Or more specifically, through violence. Do you know why I never repealed that law? I mean I legalized my seizure of power through it but decades later I could have removed it. It was a way for me to be ousted from office. Why not consolidate my power and have one less way to be kicked out of the presidency hmmm? Tell me what you think.”
“I have no idea,” Kiryu said without much emotion.
“To prove to myself that the world does indeed work how I think it does. The rule of the powerful. The powerful can do whatever they want with the weak masses. In fact, the masses voluntarily submit to you like slaves. Whatever criticism someone brings towards you, simply shrug, and say so what and everything continues as normal. I knew I was never going to lose an election, the only way I was ever going down was if someone more powerful than me showed up. You and I both know that if you ran against me for president, you would have never defeated me.”
“We can’t know that. We are talking about a hypothetical that never happened.”
“Oh please, don’t be so foolish. If you believed that you honestly had a chance at defeating me in an election, you would have run against me. Many have tried and all of them failed. "
"You said yourself that the elections are unfair but free."
"Yes. The employees can still freely vote against me. But no amount of sound arguments and fair critiques can beat populist platitudes, paychecks, and a little intimidation in politics. Instead of the clean route, you chose your fists and force. That’s how it always is in the world. Power, force, violence. You will probably retort with Shadow’s little success story. Your friendly neighborhood hedgehog wins a local election. Those are rare exceptions to the rule. Sometimes flukes like that happen. Most of the time, it’s who’s got the bigger stick.”
Kiryu didn’t say anything.
Nameless goons arrived at the top floor, and they surrounded the defeated Polanzo and Kiryu. All of them carried weapons. They looked in awe and shock. Their boss, who they saw as an undefeatable god was there on the ground. Polanzo started coughing and starting to lose consciousness. Before he went unconscious,
he uttered one last thing:
“Congratulations on defeating me. You are now officially the president of SEGA under the company statute. I transfer my power to you.”
With that Polanzo closed his eyes. He wasn’t dead, just out of it. The nameless goons all dropped their weapons, and they bowed down to Kiryu.