WHAT IF ESPIO WAS TRAINED BY MASTER ZIK? PART 1 | Sonic: What If? 

Just for clarification to anyone who might be confused about the whole "Classic Sonic > other dimension" thing that Forces introduced: "Classic" is still part of the character's past, as established in Sonic Generations. However, a popular fan-theory suggests that Sonic Mania branched off from Gens; creating an alternate timeline/dimension. This is what I'm operating on for this What If, and any other What Ifs that may/not feature Classic versions of certain characters! 🙏

The moment Espio loses his honor is when he becomes an entirely different character. Just thought I'd throw that out there

Ever since the Archie's universe was "destroyed", we kinda lost some stories of origin from some characters. Espio was one of my favorites of those cases: being a member of a secret clan of ninjas, son of the leader of one of the four houses, under the rule of the Iron Dominion. I'm proud of Espio, although he's been through a hard trial, his soul and mind wasn't altered by Master Zik's teachings, for four years. Will he ever be free from this place and return to the surface? If he encounters the Chaotix now, what will be his approach?

Now this is interesting. Just from the title alone I can tell. Espio doesn't even have a backstory really do giving him one is super cool.

*Espio, looking at the lost hex:* 𝐼'𝑚 𝑔𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑎 𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑝 𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑡.

never thought this would be a combination that works, yet here we are. I'm really glad that Espio choose to spare Zavok in the end, but i don't think his future will be so bright from now on

Jesus, this story is amazing! Espio is one of my favorite characters and seeing him be trained by Master Zik and seeing the results of this training has made me absolutely dumbfounded. I’m really curious to see how things will be when Sonic, Tails, and Eggman arrive at the Lost Hex. With Espio there, I’m sure the story will take an interesting turn. I can imagine Espio seeing the devastation they are causing the world below, Espio wouldn’t want to have any part in using the planet’s power for evil. I can also see this as a way for Espio to turn against the Deadly Six by rescuing Tails, saving him from being Roboticized. And after the Deadly Six are defeated, they would arrive in Sonic’s world and be introduced to the main cast. Thanks to his new strength and Master Zik’s training I feel he would be a valuable asset to the Sonic gang as for Team Chaotix, I’m honestly not sure but it may be an interesting take on how they would all meet. Awesome Job as always, Scourge. Keep being awesome!

When Espio used his tongue against Zavok it had me thinking, The sonic characters should really use their animal tendencies and abilities

Segascourge: arrogant, hot-headed Me(being a weeb and such): *K A C H A N N !*

I have an idea to expand on this "What If?": since Espio is now part of the Deadly Six (or Deadly Seven in timeline), who takes his place in Team Chaotix especially the events of Sonic Heroes? I would suggest Mighty the Armadillo considering he was present during the events of Knuckles Chaotix plus it would be fun to see his interactions with the Adventure cast.

When you said he poked zavoc in the eye with his tongue I forgot that chameleons have long toungues.

I just wan't to say, Espio is my Favorite sonic character, so it is awesome to have the sonic aficionado talk about him.

I’m guessing Mighty the Armadillo will take Espios place in Team Chaotix for the time being, considering he was also part of the team originally and they probably want at least 3 members.

The Lost Hex needs more origins and backstories.

ok... I never thought this was something anyone would want to know about. Whatever. you gave us nothing but gold so far.

It's nice to know Espio didn't lose his honor and purity, for a moment I thought he would actually go through. I wonder though, despite now seeing the Zeti as what they are, is he truly confortable being a part of them? I'm excited for the next part! Mostly because I'm curious about what the Zeti team even does everyday.

If you played as Espio in Sonic the Fighters you’d notice that he’s got a neat little top-spin attack like Crash Bandicoot. Might be cool to see that move again considering how strong he’s become in this story.

Excellent story, especially since you have basically constructed this story from scratch. I have watched your other “What if...” stories and they have all been great, but this one really takes the cake. You even made the fight scenes great; each character’s fighting style does well in reflecting their personality. I’d just like to recommend two slight but significant changes, both having to do with Master Zik’s line, “we learn little from victory, but we learn much from defeat,” just to give that line a little bit of payoff in this story and to help with Espio’s character development. 1) Zik said that line as part of Espio’s lesson about his over eagerness. And you mentioned something about Espio going back to the desert to a lot to fight those sand worms. What if in his attempts of fighting the sand worms, after months and months or even years of that, he starts learning subtle but important characteristics about how they fight, their strengths and weaknesses, in particular their ability to sense vibrations underground? This is a good payoff for Master Zik’s line, because Espio could have only learned that the sand worms could do that after trying and failing to fight them, and after observing them for a long time (Espio is a smart guy and all, but after his rigorous training, the fatigue he is suffering from that is affecting his focus, and the fact he was caught off guard by the worms in the first place, I’d think he would have a tougher time figuring out how the sand worms operated upon first meeting them). It is through this process that Espio is able to defeat the worms; maybe he learns to stand perfectly still, not moving a hair on his body, basically becoming invisible to the worms (he masters total self control of his body, which he practiced via mediation). Then, when the worms are asleep or otherwise passive, Espio kills the worms while they sleep. Of course, this is dark and not honorable, but this seems like the kind of tactic Espio would resort being a ninja and radically trained by Master Zik. Master Zik is after all trying to get Espio to forgo his ideas of honor and righteousness, and this choice of tactics would reflect the impact Master Zik and the other Zedis have had on Espio (after all, the impact of Espio’s training is reflected in his outfit later, so it seems like this change would fit well). 2) when Espio defeats Zavok but refuses to cast aside his morals and kill Zavok (which I would like to say is an excellent character moment for Espio, good writing), and Master Zik tells Espio, “you still have much to learn,” Espio should have replied, “It is as you said Master. We learn little from victory, but we learn much in defeat.” Espio using his Zik’s own words here can work on many levels; It can be interpreted as Espio has much to learn to truly be a Zedi, Espio is mocking his master by basically saying “you have failed to turn me to the “dark side” so learn that I will not truly become a Zedi” (basically pouring salt into Master Zik’s metaphorical wounds from his failure to convert Espio by using his own words against him) and/or since Espio won this fight there was little more Zik could teach him (not to mention that Espio won the true battle here in that he put morals and desire to do good above his quest for power and revenge against Zavok; Espio has learned to control his emotions, whereas Zavok couldn’t. He mastered self control of his body and his mind/heart. In martial arts, and life in general, those are the two most important things to master. Once you’ve got those, you have little else to learn that is important). Having said all of that, excellent job. I look forward to your future episodes. Keep up the good work. Also, out of curiosity, did you take inspiration from Kung Fu Panda? I ask because I could not help but to notice some similarities: a young but optimistic and eager boy (Po/Espio) is taken as the apprentice of a powerful and strict master (Zik/Shifu) who pushes our protagonist to his limit, while he is being harassed/bullied/ridiculed by the master’s other students (the deadly six/ the Furious Five), one of whom is the superior of the students and really does not take kindly to the arrival of the protagonist, mostly because of jealousy (Zavok/Tigress). If you did, then I find that pretty cool, because Sonic and Kung Fu Panda are two of some of my favorite franchises. I was only curious.

Thanks for this video I just realized the worms have eyes lmao Also the ending bassicly refeclts Batman and Ra's Al Ghul and the Shadow Clan relationship lmao, nice

If I knew how to, I’d turn your stories into fan-games

So wait, Does this mean that we're going straight to Lost World or are we gonna backtrack to Sonic Heroes? If Espio isn't in Team Chaotix, who will replace him? Maybe Mighty the Armadillo? Would that story play out the same way? What about the Black Arms invasion? How effective would the Chaotix be without their ninja? Also, let's not forget Generations.

I need Sonic to show up and save this child. Then he can somehow meet up with the Chaotix, maybe they bump into each other during detective work?

I love these kinds of videos! This one is a really interesting concept for Espio. You could be a really good book writer! Also I love how you did Zik, Zavok and Espio’s voices. ^_^

I always wished there was some mystery seventh member of the Deadly Six for a sort of "Seven Deadly Sins" angle to them, but Espio taking up that role of the seventh member is just as awesome. I'm guessing Heroes and some parts of Shadow's game might go different if Espio isn't present, perhaps another certain OG Chaotix member or two makes a modern reappearence? *dun dun DUN*

This story has left me amazed. Espio happens to be my favorite character. Giving him such a deep backstory and awesome redesign, combined with a clean, entertaining video, has been wonderful. Please upload part 2 soon!

Honestly, this is my favourite Sonic: What If? so far. This gives Espio, one of my all time favourite Sonic characters, a really epic backstory as well as giving us some pretty cool set up for The Deadly Six. I also think it makes Zavok a lot more interesting than just Discount Bowser. Although, Zavok having fire breathing abilities does also further the comparison between him and Bowser, but I am honestly willing to overlook that because I un-ironically really like Zavok and just really wish SEGA and/or Sonic Team would tweak his personality a bit, like this what if did, to make him more unique. Because I truly do think Zavok has a lot of interesting concepts, from his badass design to his(and The Deadly Six’s) unique ability to manipulate magnetic fields to even his name, which sounds like havoc but with a Z! I really think Zavok has potential and The Sega Scourge might have just given us a gateway for Zavok’s potential as a pretty cool Sonic villain. Thank you so much, Sega Scourge😁! Mad respect😎👊! Going back to Espio, I really like his Deadly Six redesign, but if I’m being honest, I don’t think it’s within his character to keep them Chun-Li wrist bands. I think, and also hope, that Espio will eventually leave the six, removing their garments and possibly trapping them on The Lost Hex with some kind of ninjitsu art, explaining why we don’t see them for the rest of the series until Lost World. After that, he would gain his classic modern look or at least something similar, probably keeping his bandages and possibly keeping his nails, or claws, sharpened as they could be some sort of benefit. He would then find a new home and family in The Chaotix Detective Agency, bringing us full circle. I really didn’t plan for this comment to be so long, so I really apologise for that🤣. Things just kinda got outa hand when I started talking about Zavok. To end things off, I would like to ask The Sega Scourge for a request. I’m thinking of making my own comic some time in the future where I retell the Sonic story from scratch, from my own perspective, and it would be really awesome if I could use this Sonic: What If? as an origin for Espio. It would be really cool if you replied, Scourge, but if you don’t then that’s ok. I can just ask you again in what if Espio was trained by Master Zik part 2! Muhahahahahaha😈! Anyway, that’s enough outa me. Thanks for reading this long-ass comment😂. Chao😊✌️!

Here's some more ideas I have for the What If series; •What If Sonic never met Tails, Knuckles, & Amy •What If Sonic Xtreme was never cancelled •What If Sally Acorn & The Freedom Fighters were in the games •What If Hyper Sonic was brought back •What If other Classic characters (i.e. Nack & Team Hooligan, Mighty, Ray, etc.) were brought back in the Modern games •What If Classic Knuckles, Classic Amy, the Classic Chaotix, etc. were in Sonic Generations •What If Sonic met Crash Bandicoot (I'm *_really_* wanting to see you cover this one) •What If Project S.H.A.D.O.W. was based on Mother Wisp instead of Black Doom •What If Maria Robotnik never died •What If Sonic & Mario had a true platformer crossover game

I saw the title and the thumbnail of this video... My immediate reaction was: "Uh oh." But i think these are awesome! I definitely like to see more though!

Would his name be Zspio? (Pronounced Zes-p-o).

What if: infinite create sonic clones after the battle he has with he...

Could you do what if sonic never met tails

The deadly seven makes a bit more sense for the Sonic series since 7 is a common number with the 7 chaos emeralds 7 time stones 7 Sol emeralds it was rather confusing when the threw the number 6 out there.

I love this kind of Espio, and I love your vids!

Dude I've seen all of these and these should be turned into comic book series

Now that was Epic, great work, gonna be interesting to see how Sonic and the others would interact with this Espio

I wanna see Sonic, or Shadow fight this version of Espio.

Ooooh, this is awesome! Really liking this interpretation of Espio! If I may, I’d like to suggest an idea for a What-if. I actually got this idea from a fanfiction on Archive of Our Own, so all credit goes to AnImaginaryColor for the story Sonic Leashed. Basically, we all know that when the planet broke apart in Sonic Unleashed, Dark Gaia broke apart due to not being fully formed yet, and Light Gaia became a small spirit for the same reason. And as we all know, that spirit was later dubbed Chip by Sonic. Well, what if the roles were reversed? What if Light Gaia broke apart instead and corrupted Sonic, giving him its own version of the Werehog during the day, and Dark Gaia became a small spirit with amnesia? Tbh I really like AnImaginaryColor’s interpretation of this idea, but I’d like to see your take as well :3

This what if is so cool combing these characters is awesome I would love to see a part 2 to this at some point

This series is basically just SegaScourge reading us his Sonic fanfics For real though, they're pretty fantastic stories, and if you are willing to accept ideas: What If Sonic 06's Timeline Never Reset. How would the series progress forward if the characters still remembered the events of the Solaris Crisis?

Amazing story telling I am so exited to see what happens when Eggman goes there.

I wonder of these Zeti are like the ones reimagined by Garrulous 64.

I wonder how the events that espio played a part in played out seeing how he wasn't there. Espio is a crucial part of the story and most events would need him. But I wonder if espio would fight sonic in the events of song lost world. Way past cool vid as always

This is so oddly specific and random show me what chu got Edit: I just watched to the end. That was climactic, bro!

i love what you did for Espio! Not many care about his character as much which is very sad to me.

When your so early you are the only veiw

This is my new favorite what if. I enjoyed every moment and I'm glad this what if finally came out.

That was amazing!!! Part 2 definitely needs to happen!!

I love this. Just all of it. Also, it's really that easy to change the story? Only "He heard about a different floating land mass"? Wow. Still, this is amazing, thank you.

This what if has been in my mind for a while. Remember that trap Eggman put on Sonic back in Sonic Adventure 2 to where Sonic was inside a exploding capsule with the fake chaos emerald. Well what if Sonic didn’t have that chaos emerald while he was in the trap. What if Sonic actually died during that trap?

Here’s a What if suggestion: What if Sonic used the Chaos Emeralds in Forces?

Ima combine this with garrulous64’s lost world rewrite to make my head cannon

Very epic! Can’t wait for part 2!

The voice acting is top notch!

Waiting eagerly for part 2, very good start! A nice way to give some attention to these usually underrated characters

I love these what if's, keep up the good work

Should have a "What if the Deadly Six were incarnations of the Chaos Emeralds?" like people theorized before Lost World.

I will not get over how much the What If? Intro slaps! Yet another great What If Episode, bro! 💙

This is a lot better than I thought it was going to be. Wow you are a natural at this kind of storytelling and I can't wait for even more.

I love this but I would like to point out the canon ages of the Deadly Six. In order from oldest to youngest; Master Zik: 1036 Zavok: 148 Zomom: 133 Zazz: 127 Zeena: 120 Zor: 112 that is all. Other than stating ages far beyond the canon, this is a really good theory!

Maybe after these events maybe some of the zeti will warm up to him heck even be a bit more friendly with espio.

This is a nice What If. Look forward to seeing where this goes :)

Bruh, this was amazing.

This is amazing!!!! 🤩 Please do more!!!!!

I like how you gave the zeti some personality

Even though this idea is so unheard of and so original, I love it! This gives Espio an amazing backstory, and shows his true potential of how strong-willed he is! Can't wait to see more!

Oh man, I can't wait for part 2 of this au to come out. Espio is my favorite sonic character and seeing him in this au with the Zeti just makes my all excited.

I have to admit, I thought that this idea was horrible, but you really made it AMAZING! Can't wait for the next video!!!

Here's My What if Idea,What If Mighty Was In Sonic Heroes.

Request: What if the Master Emerald broke during S3&K

Nice work, The Sega Scourge!

I just started watching your videos. I love the voices you do for the characters!

What if Solaris "The Flame of Hope" wasn't blown out at the end of Sonic 06?

Oh The Sega Scourge, your voice acting is incredible.

What if future Shadow was freed in 06? Either by Mephiles who tries to manipulate him or by present Shadow himself. Either way Future Shadow would be injured, angry, and both physically and mentally defeated after everyone on earth turned on him. That or maybe he got amnesia again? Whatever makes for a better story!

YESSSS Espio is a super cool character! I'm sure you're gonna manage to make him even cooler!

Great video

this is really good!

Can't wait for the next one

The power levels in this universe baffle me So Zavok is Zik’s prize pupil, and has been trained for likely Atleast a hundred years. And he easily dominated Espio And then sonic has easily bested Zavok on several occasions. And is only I believe sixteen, with little to no structured training, So is Sonic a god?

Very interesting vid...

28:54 Zeti: 🎵Black-hearted Evil!!🎵 Espio: 🎵Brave-hearted Hero!!🎵 Both: 🎵I Am All, I Am All, I Am!!🎵

Weird how Espio ended up in that silly detective agency, doesn't really fit him.

Right, time to subscribe!

Loved the video 😄 can you do a what if there were other werehogs in a hidden village?

This was well worth the wait. But perhaps he flip flops between Hex and Earth for training. Maybe Zeena takes an interest in Espio for passing up the Zeti title?

How do you even come up with these amazing "What if" theories >:OO no kidding this would be amazing if he was actually trained by the zeti!!!

I can't wait to see part two

That is so good i want to hear more please do part 2 please i want to see more it's so fun to listen to this

You're the guy who introduced me to the "metal sonic is sonic" theory, and its still my favorite theory to this day. So what if... The theory is correct and Metal somehow remembered everything? And what if eggman couldn't control him anymore?

This makes sense for Espio growing up as a kid, being trained to use his skills

Your Zik impression is on-point.

I've got an idea for a video. What about some sort of story about Blaze's backstory? Maybe be there could be some special connect between Blaze and Sonic (not romantic). They basically have the same job on their own dimensions.

The Sega Scourge: "So what do you guys think?" Me:...😤"That was freakin lit. I LOVE it."👍

dear god I binged all your sonic what ifs help me please i need more.

Cool man

I am loving this. Please continue this and the robot's stories. I want more emerl and beta

Huh, now that I think about it. In the normal timeline, the chaotics are a three man team, because Knuckles was there just because he was the main character of Knuckles Chaotics, (obvious by the title), and Mighty is just . . . Gone. So this makes it where Knuckles chaotics would be a 4 person team. Would Mighty stay with Vector and Charmy to keep Chaotics as a team, and not a partnership? Since Espio isn't around in this timeline, wouldn't that change the personality of charmy and Vector? I point this out because Espio is a ninja, someone who is quiet and calmer about annoying times. He has to deal with Charmy's loudness and non-stop bugging, along with Vector yelling and forcing the two to do work with him for money. Since this timeline doesn't have Espio in the Chaotics, what if Mighty and Vector get along really well, and both ignore Charmy when he's annoying? Maybe Charmy will stop being his peppy and annoying self and become more quiet and keep things to himself more often. He wouldn't blurt things out because he doesn't have anyone to "listen" to him. Vector might be more laid back because of Charmy being more quite, and Mighty being around to be the "Sonic" of the group. The fact that a non canon timeline will get me goin like this is something I wouldn't expect from myself (-cough- cause of laziness.) So thank you for bringing these Ideas to us! I'm sure these videos take a lot of time to write about. Getting the characters personalities and actions on point. It's an effort that I wish I had! So thank you! 👌

This is something I never knew I wanted so badly

I don't care what others say, the Deadly Six are a nice set of villains in the Sonic universe. This ruthless, powerful Zeti leading a team of quirky and colorful, yet inept and violent wackos is interesting and is at times pretty funny.

....that was amazing im claping good sotry bud cant wait for part two