Professor Membrane

Professor Membrane is the father of Dib and Gaz, and also one of the most important scientists and human beings on Earth. For this reason, he rarely has time for his children, so he is frequently forced to send floating video monitors to their house to check up on them. Nevertheless, Membrane still loves his children, in spite of being somewhat embarrassed of Dib’s insane behavior and paranormal obsessions. When he is not making significant advancements in the realm of science, Professor Membrane is making sure that the world is kept safe from cataclysmic disaster—hence his later involvement in the “Dimension” saga, when reality itself comes to be in danger of total destruction.

 HUNT FOR THE CHAOS EMERALDS  While at home one evening, Membrane is approached by his son, who asks about the possibility of building a time machine. In response, Membrane gives Dib a lecture about the risks of time travel, including the endangerment of one's own existence; upon hearing that this is simply another one of Dib's antics in "defeating" his alien friend, the professor becomes exhausted, having heard this many times before. However, his son then mentions an interesting piece of information: evidently there are powerful items known as "chaos emeralds" involved, as well. Membrane is intrigued by the scientific possibilities of these emeralds, and so tells Dib that, while using a time machine would still be dangerous, there may be another way to locate and reach these objects.

Membrane researches chaos emeralds in his lab, and learns of their origination from a completely different dimension. He recalls the spaceship that Dib has been hiding in the garage, and hypothesizes that this could be used for inter-dimensional travel. Much less time-altering, and more efficient, as well. The professor finds his son outside and suggests that they use the power signature of an emerald to input a destination for the ship. This is done, and the ship promptly responds, ready to take Dib to the location of one of the emeralds; Membrane watches his son take off, showing a rare display of pride for his endeavors—perhaps knowing now that Dib may have been right about some things.

 THE WAR ABOVE EARTH 

Some time later, Membrane is confronted by a strange doctor, identifying himself as "Eggman"— who has apparently learned of the professor's involvement in this chaos emerald hunt. Realizing that Dib left out a crucial detail of his mission, Membrane finds himself in hostile company, and is thereafter imprisoned and taken away from his house. He takes this time to also wonder where his daughter is right now, and becomes concerned for the safety of both his children, and what they've gotten themselves into.

The professor is transported to a huge, orbital space station, where he is kept in isolated containment; he later sees that he is not the only hostage, for several others are brought in as well, by a group of robots acting on the Doctor's orders. Membrane sees Dib in the company of countless other strange beings—presumably from other dimensions—as well as his alien friend, Zim, who is clearly not the kind of "alien" Membrane originally thought.

Some time later, the professor and the rest of the hostages are liberated by a dark, anthropomorphic hedgehog, and Membrane reunites with his son; a battle over the chaos emeralds ensues, between the inter-dimensional beings and the Doctor's forces, and Membrane sees firsthand the urgency of what Dib had been saying from the start. Eventually the entire space station begins descending toward the Earth, and Membrane soon finds himself transported to the surface along with everyone else, where they then witness the dark hedgehog and the reprogrammed robots stopping the falling station and sending it away, using the chaos emeralds and the Master Emerald.

Professor Membrane is then reunited with both his children, Gaz having been in the company of a paranormal investigator who had been tracking down the Doctor, and soon afterward, everyone is returned to their home dimensions.

 PRELIMINARY XEVIAN ATTACKS 

 CITY INVASION  Five years later, Membrane and Gaz bear witness to an invasion. A massive mothership appears and begins destroying their city, accompanied by a fleet of smaller Xevian vessels which begin doing the same. The professor and his daughter are soon evacuated along with several other survivors, but Membrane realizes that Dib is nowhere to be found; he opts to stay and search for his child, but eventually he gives in, and only hopes that his son is alright. Evacuees are kept out of the destroyed city for quite some time, with no news of Dib, or anyone else.

Finally, the civilians receive word that the invaders are gone, having been defeated at last. They all return to their homes in the still-ruined city, intent on rebuilding and setting things right again. However, Membrane and Gaz are then visited by Bill, the paranormal investigator, who brings terrible news—Dib is dead.

The professor is shocked and horrified. His only son, killed while trying to fight the Xevians alongside his inter-dimensional allies. They all gather and mourn the loss of Dib, and Membrane takes this time to reflect on how often he refused to support his son and his beliefs; he had rarely been there for Dib, always being either busy or ashamed of the boy's actions. At this point, Membrane swears that he will make up for this somehow, and vows never to let his daughter suffer the same fate as her brother.

THE "END REALITY" SCHEME Two months pass, and Membrane finds himself caught up in research; unlike past experiments that were based solely on scientific advancement, this time the research is personal. After checking up on Gaz—who has been sitting in Dib's room, presumably miserable still but bitter nevertheless—he ventures to his lab and looks up a specific item. The professor is intrigued, as he had been with the chaos emeralds, and hope momentarily returns at this point...

Some time later, something else comes up on Membrane's monitors. Upon observation, he realizes that this has to do with the alternate dimensions; evidently they are in danger of complete obliteration, thanks to several occurences of tampering with their stability, which has just about reached breaking point. Membrane summons his daughter, and fills her in on the situation. Deducing that a specific instigator is behind this threat against reality itself, the professor decides that he must confront said culprit and put an end to these catastrophic events. Gaz attempts to accompany him, but he refuses to allow this; he tells her that he cannot willingly allow his daughter to fall into the same situation that Dib had, and so makes certain that she stays while he leaves to find the perpetrator.



GIANT ROBOT RESTORATION Eventually, Professor Membrane reaches the base of operations for his target culprit, whom he catches in the act of further tampering with the dimensions. He reveals to the instigator his own knowledge of what he's been doing, and attempts to convey what horrific disaster awaits should these tamperings continue. However, the culprit appears undeterred, and simply accepts what will ultimately happen. Membrane deems the man insane, but this is countered by a severing reminder that the professor had at times referred to his own son as insane, as well—which strikes a nerve. The culprit mentions his daughter also, and Membrane angrily demands that she be left out of this—only to find out, via the giant monitor in the room, that Gaz has already gotten herself involved, by traveling to one of the alternate dimensions.

Membrane watches in horror as the instigator then initiates a process which summons a colossal robot in said dimension; the robot begins attacking everyone on the island, including Gaz, and Membrane pleads with the instigator to stop the attack, only to find out that the robot operates within separate parameters, and so cannot be called off. The professor is forced to watch as his daughter attempts to fight off the massive automaton alongside the inter-dimensional beings. However, the effort goes surprisingly well, since said allies have evidently faced this robot before; after a while, the robot is finally destroyed—at which point Membrane expresses high regard for Gaz's quick thinking and skill during the battle.

The instigator, however, is clearly less than enthusiastic about this turn of events. Membrane makes clear that he still intends to stop this scheme, but is then threatened with the life of his daughter, should any attempts be made on his part. He points out how well Gaz performed against the giant robot, only to be countered with the argument that it was the assistance of her allies that helped her emerge victorious, and that there is much more that the instigator plans to unleash on these beings. Membrane finds himself at a standstill.

THE BATTLE ON BLORCH The professor is subsequently coerced into creating countless androids, resembling the dark hedgehog he had encountered aboard the Doctor's space station. He is tasked with sending these androids to the planet Blorch, in order to stop the real hedgehog and his robot comrades from returning to Earth (which Membrane is mildly surprised to hear, seeing as he and everyone else thought that they had vanished for good). Placed in a substandard laboratory, Membrane finds himself constantly mass-producing squadron after squadron of battle-prepared androids—following Eggman Nega's specifications, in order to ensure that Gaz is not hunted down and killed.

Much time passes, as Professor Membrane continuously performs as he is tasked. However, Nega eventually enters and claims that the androids are being made faulty; Membrane makes a point of attributing this to the inferior quality of this lab, but Nega is quick to suggest that perhaps Gaz's safety is not particularly high on the professor's priorities, which greatly infuriates Membrane. Nega then reveals that Gaz has left the company of Sonic the Hedgehog and is now out on her own, completely vulnerable. Stricken with fear, Membrane tries to convince Nega that he is working his hardest on these androids, but he finds out that every single one that was sent to Blorch had been destroyed; however, Nega's accomplice apparently did succeed in taking advantage of this distraction and managed to escape the custody of Shadow and the E-Series robots. This seems to be enough for Nega, who decides that he will continue to let Gaz live for now, so long as Membrane continues working as instructed.

Before leaving, Nega then issues another set of instructions for the professor: the construction of a mechanical body, with deadly instruments and weaponry, for one of the co-conspiring aliens trying to defeat a specific enemy. Upon hearing this, Membrane stops what he's doing and ponders for a short while—before planning to use this request to his advantage.

DOGFIGHT AGAINST THE MASSIVE
Several hours are spent seemingly following Nega's orders. Though eventually, Membrane manages to overhear Nega speaking with someone who has just arrived, their conversation involving extraterrestrial attacks, a boy in danger, and finally: an "Infernal Machine." The professor realizes that this must be what Nega has been using to somehow tip the scales of reality in his favor, and subsequently decides to contact his daughter, to let her know what he has just learned.

Using the technology provided by his working laboratory, Professor Membrane successfully reaches Gaz, whom he is relieved to find in the company of Bill, the paranormal investigator, and a small group of other inter-dimensional allies. He urgently communicates to them the identified name of Nega's apparatus for altering the dimensions' stability—and it appears to be one that Frogger recognizes. When Gaz places more emphasis on inquiring where Membrane is, he attempts to cast her concern aside for more crucial matters; however, she refuses to listen and grows angry, demanding to know what Nega is making him do, to which the professor responds exasperatedly that his own survival is not important, and that salvaging reality is the vital goal.

At this point, Membrane suddenly realizes what he is implicating; much like what he had done to both his children in the past, he is once again placing "more important" matters ahead of what he puts toward raising his family. His daughter simply wants nothing more than to make sure she does not lose him permanently—as they both ultimately lost Dib. Having finally come to his senses in this respect, Membrane takes the time to acknowledge to Gaz how regretful he is of the neglect he obliviously imposed upon her and her brother, and how much she truly means to him in spite of how much he wasn't there for her. He urges his daughter to stay strong (for they will all very much need their strength and valor to combat this threat that Nega has wrought), and promises her that when all of it has ended, they will be a true family once more.

With that, the transmission is cut, and the professor returns to work on fulfilling his oath.

STORMING OF THE INFERNAL MACHINE
It comes to Professor Membrane's attention that it is only thanks to Nega being preoccupied with what seems to be hindering his plans in the outside world that contact with Gaz was able to be discreetly established—and so the professor decides to use this temporary advantage even further, by implanting a code of his own into his next battalion of androids, detailing exactly where Nega is located; this is made accessible only upon the android's decapitation, that way Nega will not discover the lead (until it is far too late). As another group of androids is sent to Blorch, Membrane prepares a different squadron for transporting to the Infernal Machine, where he knows his daughter will soon be. Confident that both groups with be able to overpower these androids, the professor—knowing that Nega will ultimately discover what he has done—begins planning for when he will inevitably have to make his move; he contemplates how he could go about having the monitor in Nega's study temporarily deactivated...

Soon, the moment arrives, and Professor Membrane enters the room in question to confront his captor. Nega discovers at last what the androids had hidden within them, and Membrane confesses to having been the one behind it all, deliberatetly goading Nega—for he cannot help but inwardly savor this moment, enjoying the shock appearing on his adversary's face. He gets Nega to turn away from the monitor, and uses this opportunity not only to have the screen turn to static, but also to reveal his own suspicions that there is something Nega is hiding, that has him truly worried about the outcome of this plot. The deception is timed out so that when Nega attempts to threaten the professor with the life of his daughter, he sees the static on the monitor and assumes that it is the Infernal Machine that has been sabotaged. Membrane seizes this split second and runs out of the room, hiding below the docking bay outside while Nega follows and sees only his other accomplice waiting for him. The ruse works successfully, as both are forced to accept, or assume, that their base has been compromised, and so they must evacuate while they still can. As they take off, Membrane waits until the coast is clear before reappearing—just as the base goes into lockdown, forcing him to quickly dash forward and dive through the closing doors.

All is silent, as the professor looks around and sees that he now has the tower to himself, along with its resources. Locked in, but able to use the monitor himself now, Membrane deactivates the static and sees that his daughter is still safe, and in the company of her allies at the Infernal Machine. As they are contacting the rest of their alliance, he sends Gaz a message, letting her know that Nega has now gone elsewhere.

THE POCKET DIMENSION CRUSADE
The professor soon activates the one-way radio transmitter he had placed on the alien ship while making his escape; this way, both he and Gaz will know where Nega and his accomplice have gone. And sure enough, the transmitter not only provides coordinates for their hidden refuge, but picks up the following conversation between the two, in which Nega reveals that he is in fact holding captives at his secondary base. This is news to Professor Membrane, who now grows concerned that his daughter and her allies will attempt to liberate these captives. Luckily, he remembers that he now has the tower's all-seeing monitor at his disposal, so he will be able to keep an eye on Gaz and make sure no harm comes to her.

However, something else comes to Membrane's attention in the meantime; an alert appears at the lower-right corner of the screen, indicating that one of Nega's assets has finally touched down somewhere in space, still intact. The professor is stunned, sure that he recognizes this particular asset, having come face-to-face with it once before. As the system verifies this extraordinary survival, a semi-clear picture confirms this—and Membrane sees at last that the asset is in fact Bowser, whom he recalls seeing blasted out of the Death Egg and sent hurtling through space during the War Above Earth ; though he now appears frozen (as a result of his incredibly long trip) and on a different planet entirely, Membrane knows that this does not make him any less of a threat. He deicdes that he must contact members of the alliance who were familiar with Bowser, and after many attempts, finally reaches GIR, though the transmission is faint and distorted. The professor tries to hastily state that Bowser is alive, but he is unsure whether his message is heard or understood, for something appears to collide with GIR, wherever he is, cutting the transmission short. (editing shall recommence soon)