The formula has been the same time and time again. They rise to claim the power of the Chaos Emeralds, then subsequently retreat upon their dismissive defeat. Time and again, the lands are laid to waste and the people are plagued by the presence of mad scientists and ancient forces using these accursed stones for one thing or another. It cannot continue, there must be steps taken for the good of the world and those that are unfortunate to suffer the chaos. Should I be painted as the hero of the people or painted as the villain that threatened more to them than the forces I am trying to prevent, then I shall be the masterpiece upon the canvas.

If someone must bring order to the chaos, then I will take this burden.

If you ever read this, my dear sister, I cannot and will not apologise for what can and will happen. Be I successful or not, do not try to sway the public opinion of me. I do not need their input on what I've started.

- Snippet of an unknown data archive buried within an abandoned ice complex

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

FULL VIEW THIS GOOD-ASS ART BTW

At some point, Juniper came into contact with the Phantom Ruby, which fed upon the desire to see things finally be at peace. The problem, however, is that he had the potential to follow through with it-- and thus a timeline had split, with Juniper on the side of good. But on the other timeline...?

The heck'n good dog didn't stay good for long. Burying himself into research, the heck'n neutral dog looked into chaos energy manipulation, resulting in the deduction that to prevent the Chaos Emeralds being abused... he'd destroy them outright. He has been successful so far, but the repercussions of unleashing and destroying such powerful energy had problems across the lands. Juniper didn't care. If anything, the heck'n good dog was no more. The dog referred to himself as Alder, some sacrifice was necessary to save the greater good. He'd already destroyed several of the Emeralds... the rest would follow once he could find them.

Art by  Finimun / Deebs