Espikal

Espikal is the het ship between Espio and Tikal from the Sonic the Hedgehog fandom.

Canon
While the two characters appear in mainly the same canons, there never been shown meeting each other. Their appearance in the games used to be separate by two years, while in Sonic X it is about six weeks in terms of airing dates between Tikal's last appearance and Espio's initial. The first game in which they may both appear as playable characters is in the now-discotinued Sonic Runners mobile game. They are also playable in Sonic Forces: Speed Battle, albeit rare to unlock.

Their closest associate on good terms is Knuckles, in which Tikal shares ancestry with and Espio used to go with on Chaotix missions. Both are also acquainted with Sonic, Tails, and Amy in some way in their debut games.

In the Mario & Sonic series, Espio is a referee; and while Tikal doesn't physically appear, there are unlockable costumes featuring both characters. Both are stickers in Super Smash Bros. Brawl that Sonic can equip for an attack boost.

Fanon
Espikal is a somewhat popular ship, most likely due to the process of elimination when fans pair with other Sonic characters. There is currently only one work on FanFiction.net featuring this pairing, alongside with Silver and Blaze.

On DeviantArt, a fanclub featuring this ship was set up on April 2011 with currently 10 fan arts since December 2020. Under the Espikal tag, has made a stamp and few fan art, even though his main ships for both characters are Knuckles and Shadow for Tikal, and Sonia for Espio. SonicKnightWind also made a stamp for this pairing. also made a few fan art of the two.

Sonic the Comic Online
Even after the cancellation of the main Sonic the Comic in 2002, fans made an unoffical continuation. In the sole story of issue 250, "The Battle for Mobius", Espio and Tikal, together with rest of the Chaotix and Porker Lewis, are first seen watching the invasion from the Floating Island. Later, they man the island's defenses in a control room and destroy some of Doctor Robotnik's warships with it. When Espio detects multiple Buzz Bombers with the radar, Knuckles orders Tikal to take the island up in the sky and the chameleon to drop gum tree berry juice to the badniks. The red echidna then orders them to attack a few more ships then put the island into stealth mode.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Espio/Tikal on FanFiction.Net

DEIVANTART