Warp Topaz

With a modest charge, I could open "windows" to the world in an instant. I looked farther and further in hours than the Badniks could do in a day.

— Dr. Starline, Sonic the Hedgehog #13

The Warp Topaz^[1] (ワープトパーズ^[2], Wāpu Topāzu^?) is an object that appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-offs published by IDW Publishing. It is a gemstone that warps space. It used to be in Dr. Starline's possession, worn on his left glove until Dr. Eggman took it from him when Starline refused to allow its use to destroy the Metal Virus.

Concept and creation

The Warp Topaz was meant to be a plot device. It was meant to establish the importance of Dr. Starline, bringing Dr. Eggman back, as well as using a "MacGuffin" to get rid of. Ian Flynn did not want to make it similar to the Chaos Emeralds.^[3]

Description

Appearance

The Warp Topaz appears as a round topaz gemstone. It is orange with a red spiral pattern.

Powers and traits

The Warp Topaz is capable of warping space. This allows the user to create localized wormholes to other places, thus allowing the user and others to travel great distances around the world in an instant.^[1]^[4] These "gateways" can be opened from a great distance, as Dr. Starline was able to open a gateway in Windmill Village from the Final Egg.^[4] This ability also allows the user to open "windows" to the world in an instant, allowing the user to look farther and further in hours that what the Badniks could do in a day.^[4] However, for the Warp Topaz to work, a source of power is required.^[1] According to Starline, the Warp Topaz responds strongly to even the most passive of energy waves and anything above a light, controlled charge to it can result in extreme reality alteration.^[5]

The Warp Topaz does not seem to tolerate anything that is more powerful than it, such as the seven Chaos Emeralds. If subjected to such power sources, it will begin to absorb their energy and spin out of control. Such power has been proven to cause a powerful explosion and even cause a rift that sends users to different dimensions.^[6]^[7]

History

Classic Era

Fang the Hunter miniseries

The stone was first found by the Hard Boiled Heavies in a remote cave and tested it aboard the Heavy Wing on Eggman's orders. However, its constant disappearing and reappearing annoyed him, causing the doctor to hire Fang, Bean, and Bark to find the missing warship and have it returned to him.^[8] Fang would use the Warp Topaz to help him and his gang escape. Shortly after, Fang would upgrade his Marvelous Queen for his next adventure.^[9]

Modern Era

Dr. Starline has claimed that he has put research into the Warp Topaz over his entire career. He later managed to acquire it at a later point in time.^[1] Upon discovering it, he found out that the Warp Topaz responded strongly to even the most passive of energy waves. As he put more research into the stone, he discovered that the Warp Topaz needed a source of power to charge it but anything above a light, controlled charge would result in extreme reality alteration.^[5] Since Warp Portals were difficult to create and direct, the components of his custom left glove were made after countless hours of careful testing, but this was not enough to prevent the power of the Warp Topaz causing damage to his regular glove underneath.^[10]

After discovering that Dr. Eggman had disappeared after the Eggman War, Starline used the Warp Topaz's ability to create "windows" to search for Eggman.^[4] After finding Eggman, who was suffering from amnesia, Starline freed Rough the Skunk and Tumble the Skunk from prison with the Warp Topaz so that they could help kidnap Eggman from Windmill Village.^[1]^[11]

Battle For Angel Island

Starline used the Warp Topaz to get to the Final Egg. There, he was successful in helping Dr. Eggman reclaim his memories. When Starline presented the Warp Topaz to Eggman, the latter took no interest in it.^[1]^[12]

Infection

Using his Warp Topaz, Starline made a letter appear in Tails' workshop that would lure Sonic into a battle with Rough and Tumble. Starline later demonstrated the Warp Topaz's ability to create "windows" to the world to Eggman. Using this ability, Eggman and Starline watched Sonic and Tails' battle with Rough and Tumble. When Rough was about to reveal info about Eggman to Sonic upon his and Tumble's defeat however, Starline used the Warp Topaz to create a portal that took Rough and Tumble back to base.^[4]

When seeking to preserve the contents in an Eggman base on Frozen Peak, Starline used the Warp Topaz to make a portal for his Badnik escorts to take the base's contents through. When Sonic and Silver later showed up and fought Metal Sonic, Starline freed Metal Sonic from Silver's telekinetic grip by creating a portal beneath Metal Sonic with the Warp Topaz. Starline subsequently used the Warp Topaz when he fought Sonic and Silver, whom he eventually sent to the other side of the mountain with a portal. Starline then used the Warp Topaz to get Metal Sonic home, but got interrupted by Sonic before he could get through the portal. When he later thought he had killed Sonic, Starline created a portal back to base.^[13]

Reflections

Starline used the Warp Topaz to create a portal that would lead him to the Faceship. To his surprise, he saw Metal Sonic in his lab, and soon got him out of there.^[14]

Eggman's Day Off

Using the Warp Topaz, Starline could see how Eggman's Metal Virus was moving through the world and said that the doctor was a visionary. However, in one of his Warp Portals, he saw Eggman screaming in fury, so he used the stone to go to him.^[15]

The Last Minute

Dr. Starline used the Warp Topaz to travel to the Lost Hex to convince the Deadly Six to work with Dr. Eggman again. After they accepted his offer, he used the Warp Topaz once again to return.^[16] Later, Starline used the Warp Topaz to help provide himself and Eggman an escape to the Faceship. Following that, Starline privately used the Warp Topaz to visit the Deadly Six to make sure that they could exert their will over machines. Afterwards, Starline used the Warp Topaz again to make a portal to the Faceship and told Zavok that after he made some last-minute preparations on his end, he would be in touch. Later, Starline used the Warp Topaz to bring the Deadly Six onto the Faceship.^[5]^[17]

All or Nothing

When Starline was unable to control the Deadly Six with the Cacophonic Conch, he quickly used the Warp Topaz to create a Warp Portal to flee to Angel Island with Eggman and Metal Sonic. Soon, after Starline refused to use the Warp Topaz to get rid of the Metal Virus due to its instability, Eggman removed the platypus' custom glove with the stone with the help of Metal Sonic and made the robot throw him out via a Warp Portal. Under new ownership, Eggman thought to create a "Multi-Portal Generator" powered by the Warp Topaz to help Sonic and the others reach each member of the Deadly Six with a synchronized approach. He was able to make the machine a reality with Tails' help and it was shortly activated to allow the survivors to go out and confront the Zeti.^[10]^[18]

Most of the survivors soon returned to Angel Island back through the Warp Portals of the Multi-Portal Generator. After transforming into their super forms, Super Sonic used the Warp Topaz to open a Super Warp Portal to the sun, while Super Silver with used his enhanced psychokinesis powers on the world to remove every inch of the Metal Virus present. As a result, all of the excess energy from the super forms was applied to the Topaz, energies which were too much for the fragile gem to bear. During the removal process, the Topaz started to react vigorously. In the end, when the Warp Topaz could no longer take the energy, Super Sonic tried to send it through the Super Warp Portal. This backfired, causing a large explosion to occur, creating a large distorted green surge of energy in the sky.^[6]^[7]^[19]

Sonic the Hedgehog's 900th Adventure

While Sonic and Tails were recalling adventures which leads to Sonic saving the world 899 times, the Topaz warps right beside him, much to their surprise as they assumed it was destroyed after the incident with the Metal Virus. Tails analyzes the Warp Topaz and discovers is still supercharged from the the Chaos Emeralds. He detects the gemstone will cause a cataclysmic amount of damage if it overloads again. Sonic asks what they need to do and Tails says they could neutralize it if they put it back where Starline found it. Tails warns him, however, if he takes too much of its unstable energy, he may not come back the same. Sonic says they can figure that out on the fly and he will guide him as always. Tails checks if Sonic has his wrist-comm on and Sonic grabs the topaz, warping out of the lab.

Sonic has wound up in Green Hill and Tails says he will see if anyone is around to help him. He races off to find a place to put the Topaz. later, he calls Tails to ask what the gemstone will do. Tails expects lots of portals to open up and objects to appear out of them. Sonic does his best to avoid the portals and one of them brings out a road from Dragon Road into Green Hill. Sonic races around the road, only to come face to face with an Orca that has come through one of the portals. Amy then comes to Sonic's rescue by hitting the Orca with her hammer. This causes it to crash into the road and Amy to fall with it; she calls out for Sonic to help. Sonic grabs her hand and they ride the fin of the Orca. He tells her this wasn't her best rescue effort and Amy says she didn't expect this when she got Tails' call. Sonic explains they have to get the Topaz as far away from him as possible to stop portals from appearing. Amy says it's doable but is worried about what will happen to the Orca. Amy comes up with a plan the involves Sonic running on the water to get the Orca's attention. He makes his way up a tall island via some portals and throws the rock at Amy, who swings it away with her hammer as the Orca jumps to get Sonic. The Orca goes through the portal behind Sonic and he and Amy slide off its back into the water.

Soon, Sonic winds up running in a desert with the Warp Topaz. Tails tells Sonic Knuckles is really close to him now. Sonic soon sees him and thanks him for leaving Angel Island to help. Knuckles says Tails told him this was important, and Tails is usually right. Tails tells Sonic he has to get rid of the Topaz right now because the readings are going off the scale. Sonic tries to hand it to Knuckles, but he is warped away before he can. Tails frantically asks what is happening and Sonic says he has been transported to a lab. Metal Sonic is in the lab and with Sonic seemingly too weak to stop him, Metal picks up the Topaz. Tails demands Sonic to get out of there with the stone, but Sonic insists he is too weak. Sonic pleads with Metal to put aside their differences and give the Topaz to him so he can dispose of it and save the world. Metal ponders for a moment and smacks Sonic to the side Tails starts to get scared as he hears Metal attacking Sonic. After Sonic tricking Metal he tells him to run back to Eggman seeing how he can't handle the Warp Topaz energy. leaving the echidna angry as Sonic decides to continue on and not pass it to Knuckles.

Meanwhile, in an abandoned city, Doctor Eggman is testing out his new mech robot. Orbot and Cubot cheer him on in the Eggmobile, when suddenly, the Warp Topaz drops into Cubot's hands. They alert Eggman and he himself is surprised to say good job to them. Eggman almost tells then they need to leave before Sonic shows up, but he shows up. Cubot tries to use the Topaz to get them out of there, but to no avail. Sonic tries to take it from them and Eggman uses the mech's sword to attack Sonic, cutting the Eggmobile and building in half. He looks around and finds Sonic has teleported somewhere else. He tries several times to hit him, but Sonic manages to get the Topaz and get Eggman to hit himself. Eggman has had enough and launches a barrage of rockets at him. They blow up in the air, but Sonic manages to hitch a ride on one and redirects via a portal to Eggman. The rocket hits the mech but doesn't do much damage. Sonic, now on top of another building, says he would love to destroy Eggman's robot, but he is too busy saving the world and leaves via a portal.

He runs into Blaze in a colorful desert, who is out sightseeing with Cream and Cheese. She cheers with Cream and Sonic tosses the topaz to Blaze, which causes them to warp to Tropical Jungle. But they are teleported again to Water Palace. Blaze is teleported to Monopole and looks through the portals to find the others. She then warps to Red Mountain, where she notes the topaz has more power than she realized. Blaze realizes the more she chases after them, the more portals will appear, separating them more. She decides to go put the topaz back on her on for their safety, but she hears Cream calling out to her. She turns and sees Sonic and Cream over a lava pool and jumps to help them, creating another portal. The portal causes them to free fall in the sky. Sonic holds the Topaz with Blaze and explains if they focus, they can guide where the portal will appear. They focus on the gorge from earlier and a portal to it appears. Cream tries to get them there, and with a boost from Blaze, they go through the portal. They arrive back in the desert and Blaze thanks Cream, but she says Blaze is the one who saved them. Sonic thanks them for the help but Blaze says they didn't make any progress. Sonic points out they are in the lower part of the gorge now and leaves. They wave goodbye and Blaze notes how Sonic can find the positive in any situation; Cream says that's why adventures are fun with him.

Sonic puts the Warp Topaz back in its place

Later, Sonic runs through a mountainous terrain. sonic then runs into the Babylon Rouges, with Jet demanding he hands it over them, with Wave saying they will auction it off. Sonic runs off, saying he assumes they intercepted a transmission, so they should know the Warp Topaz is unstable. The Rogues are unfazed, but Sonic makes work of them and runs ahead. Jet isn't worried because he knows Sonic is going to a dead end. Sonic reaches the end of the mine, where Shadow and Rouge are sitting on a large gold nugget. Sonic assumes Tails brought them to a gold mine to entice them to help, and Rouge partially admits to it. Shadow says he can't stand power in the hands of fools. The Rogues then arrive on the scene and Sonic gets ready for a 3 on 3 battle, but Shadow has other ideas. He demands Sonic give him the topaz or he will take it by force. Storm buts in, saying they want it too. Sonic drills a hole out of the mine for him and blocks the path with a portal. Jet admits the topaz is more trouble than its worth and tells the group to kick the "wanna-be ultimate lifeform" through the portal and take the gold. Shadow hears his comment and uses his Chaos powers to blast the rouges into the portal and into a snowy mountain. Tails communicates with Sonic again making sure he is OK and apologizing for cutting out before he could say Rouge and Shadow were there.

Sonic starts to feel the Warp Topaz act up again and says he needs to get rid of it, causing him to warp into a cavern. Tails manages to partially tell him he is in the cave where Starline took the gemstone in the first place. Sonic runs around to find the exact spot and finds a hole with graffiti left on it by Starline. He thanks the late doctor and places the topaz into it. The stone starts to go haywire and Sonic quickly gets out of the cave before it collapses on him.

Trivia

The Warp Topaz is similar to Dr. Finitevus' Warp Rings as both can create gateways to other places and are used as gauntlets, but they also need that the user to know exactly where they want to place those wormholes specifically. This might be because Starline was made as a spiritual successor for him.
According to Ian Flynn, the Warp Topaz was meant to be destroyed at the end of the Metal Virus story arc. Sega wanted to keep it however, so instead it was left intact.^[20]