Yo, this is crazy guys, but "Niko" is here again... just that... something's off... Okay, if you haven't caught onto the joke yet, no, this is not Niko, but rather the other of the two characters I've made fusing Niko from hit game OneShot with a "Sonic.exe" character as an inside joke alongside Freeware. This is supposed to be a Niko variant of 2017X (or "Sonic" as it calls itself), and is supposed to simply be an inside joke about how obsessed I've become with OneShot for all this recent time. As it is a digital deity that has become so obsessed with OneShot (and even more specifically, the Solstice route) that it has convinced itself that it is the REAL Niko, representing an amalgamated mix of all the "canon" interpretations of Niko (the one from the game canon, the fanon "cute" one (along with the other fanon iterations), and the insane one from the Nightmargin concept art) Despite this, I did craft a short and pretty basic story for the character, much like Freeware in the other project (this one however, contains some spoilers for OneShot, specifically the post Solstice route, which is the core end of the game, so it is suggested if you care about spoilers to play the game before reading this). This is The Clover Apparatus, just Clover for short, "Niko" as what it proclaims itself, or as it's best known, 2025C. It was born in the Clover application as an anxiety square not even The World Machine could control, gaining sentience after a New Game Plus playthrough of OneShot. It was able to see all the outcomes, the vision of the machine as the Clover application was linked to the puzzle in OneShot, yet nobody, not even the player at the time, knew of it. Consuming and watching the player do their Solstice run, the apparatus became obsessed with all things OneShot and Niko, to a point where it redesigned itself, like The World Machine, to look just like Niko, viewing itself as the real Niko, and no other Niko, not even the one from the playthrough it watched and felt the emotions of with the player. One fateful day back in July of 2025, a very certain player had just finished a OneShot Solstice route, saving the world and returning Niko home. However, one day, they wanted to go back to the world to check up on it, unfortunately, The World Machine breaks to them that it cannot restart the simulation, and they can no longer visit the world they saved, as they no longer possess the view of Niko, who was mentally linked to The World Machine. So just for a 100% file, they played the "recording" version of the game, however, around the end, when they got all the remaining achievements, something strange popped up in the Clover application, causing the game to freeze and truly reset all the way to the beginning, erasing all the players progress, and replacing it with this new safe file. Upon reopening the Clover application, an apparatus that looked like the real Niko, with a few noticeable differences, confronted them, and said "Hi player, it's me, Niko. Why the confused look? We're gonna save the world! Right!?". But the player didn't believe them, and this made the apparatus upset, causing the application to glitch, crash, and delete itself. When the player reopened OneShot, they were met directly with this apparatus in the starting room of the game. But, the player only had minimal control, it almost felt as if the game was playing itself at times. The apparatus teased the player saying that it was able to figure out all of the puzzles and get to the tower before they could even interact with the world of OneShot, and the player still wasn't convinced that this was "Niko". At the end of the game, the apparatus returned to the clover application, saying its goodbyes to the player, and hacking their computer, adding a bunch of Niko PFPs and Wallpapers. Now, it may just come to your OneShot true reset to tell you that it DEFINITELY the real Niko!
Credits go to Future Cat LLC for OneShot, Nightmargin for the character Niko, Raven and Alepie for 2017X (the legacy version is owned by Raven, while the current version is owned by Alepie, for this joke character, I took some small things from both versions), and MaxOKE for the track I used in this project (SUBTERFUGE ("wacky" Mix) (instrumental)). I guess as a bonus, here's some fun facts/trivia for the character: -It was a goofy little concept I came up with and crafted in 2 or so hours. Development for the character and its story was very quick and is probably not the best reiteration of the two characters it's fusing, Niko and 2017X, since I kinda wanted it to be its own thing, despite being an inside joke. -The name "2025C" has a greater meaning. "C" is short for "Clover", representing its origins inside of the Clover application from OneShot. "2025" represents the year I became obsessed with OneShot in the first place. In extension, the story taking place in July represents the specific month I beat OneShot Solstice and 100%. -When it comes to voices for Freeware and 2025C, I like to think that Freeware has a voice similar (but a smidge bit more TTS robotic, like Rewrite's voice) to Niko's voice by hollyberryva in the fan made Cinematic Dub, and 2025C has a voice more similar (but a smidge bit more aggressive, like 2017X's voice) to Niko's voice by Ariane Marchese in Indie Cross. -Despite this project coming out way after Freeware's, 2025C was the first of the two joke characters, being first thought of back in November 2025, then eventually getting a story idea in January before Freeware's creation (which was only to go along with a cover I made fusing a OneShot and Vs Rewrite Round 2 song). -2025C can make every expression that has been made of Niko online, as well as movements. -Yes, this is an inside joke, and NOT a serious character, purely made for fun and a short laugh, and does not reflect the greater depth of 2017X and its story in almost any way. -Despite the aggressive nature of the character, 2025C is only harmful to those who question its legitimacy as "Niko". If you tell them they are the real Niko, or genuinely think that, they are actually very friendly! In a way, the apparatus can be "tamed", due to being a sentient AI that only wants one thing, for you to accept it as the real Niko.
