For those of you who aren't aware, Sonic Says was a part of the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon that played at the end of each episode. In these segments, Sonic would talk about real life issues such as smoking, gangs, and (the most famous one) sexual harassment.
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"Hey little bro, whacha doin'?"
Tails, who was sitting on his bed, looked up from his laptop computer. Sonic the Hedgehog was standing beside him, looking curious.
"Just chattin' with somebody," said Tails. He typed something and pressed SEND. "He's this really cool guy I met in a chatroom. And guess what, Sonic?"
"What's that, kid?"
"He's a two-tailed fox, just like me!" Tails exclaimed excitedly. "He wants to meet me! I said I'd go over to his house in a little while, 'cuz he lives pretty close."
"Woah, hold up there, buddy," said Sonic quickly. "How do you know this guy is actually who he says he is?"
Tails scratched his ear thoughtfully. "He seems pretty honest…" he said.
"Lemme see that chat for a sec," said Sonic.
Tails turned the laptop so that Sonic could see it. The hedgehog leaned over and read the exchange.
"…'rollingjackknife', huh?" Sonic raised an eyebrow. "Mind if I ask him something?"
"I guess," Tails said uncertainly.
Sonic leaned over and tapped the keys. His message appeared in Tails' chat window:
thekitsunewholost7tails says: Hey, tell me where you live again? I forgot.
A moment later, the response appeared:
rollingjacknife says: i live
rollingjacknife says: wait
rollingjacknife says: um
rollingjacknife says: brb
rollingjacknife says: i need to ask scratch cuz he isnt around to remind me this time
rollingjacknife says: ill be back in just a sec
rollingjacknife has signed off.
Sonic looked at Tails, who had an embarrassed expression on his face.
"See, Tails?" said the hedgehog. "You would have walked right into a trap if you'd gone."
"Sorry…" Tails said, looking down. "I can't believe I almost fell for that."
"You gotta be careful, bro," Sonic said, putting his arm around Tails in a partial hug. "The internet isn't like the real world. It's really easy for people to pretend to be someone they're not, and some of those people can be pretty dangerous."
Tails looked at his laptop. "So I shouldn't chat with people at all?" he asked.
"No, no," said Sonic. "Most of the people you meet on the internet are pretty honest, but there's still the more-than-occasional bad apple that you need to look out for. That's not a reason to stop chatting with people altogether, though."
"How can I keep from getting tricked again, then?" asked Tails.
"Well, make sure you don't put personal information where everybody can see it," said Sonic. "That means phone numbers, addresses, your name, your school, and other stuff that somebody could use to find out where you live. And watch what the people you're chatting with say and see if they're consistent in what they're telling you. If they tell you they're thirteen and then later on say they're twelve, then they might be lying to you about who they really are."
Tails put a finger to his mouth thoughtfully. "Yeah…" he said. "He said he was eleven, and then later on he said he was thirteen…"
"Most importantly, Tails, if somebody you're talking to says anything that makes you uncomfortable, you need to come right to me," Sonic continued. "If they threaten you or ask you to do anything inappropriate, it's a crime, and the police have to know about it."
"I guess I can't meet anybody now, can I?" Tails said, his ears drooping sadly. "There's this girl I chat to a lot, called 'Cosmonaut' and she didn't ask me to meet her, but I really wanted to…"
Sonic smiled. "Kid, if you wanna meet somebody you know online, you just gotta go to your parents – or big brother, in your case – and ask them if they can work something out with the other person's parents. They might be able to arrange something where you can meet them in a public place with supervision. As long as they're not asking you to keep it a secret, or to come on your own, you don't have to worry."
"Do you think we could do that?" asked Tails. "Set up something with her parents and all?"
"Yeah, next time she's on, ask her to talk to her parents," Sonic said. "We can go from there."
Tails grinned. "You're the best, Sonic!" he exclaimed.
Just then, a small 'ding' announced rollingjackknife's return. Sonic and Tails watched the screen for a moment, and then a message appeared:
rollingjacknife says: scratch says i live in dum-dum land
rollingjacknife says: wherever that is
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All right, so that's that. If you didn't get it, rollingjackknife is Grounder (because he's described as a Swiss army knife on tracks), and Cosmonaut is Cosmo from Sonic X. I thought Sonic X was a terrible show - the only redeeming factor being Cosmo, because I thought she was a good character.
About Tails' screen name, thekitsunewholost7tails – Tails is often incorrectly labeled as a 'kitsune', a mythical creature in Japanese lore which resembles a fox with up to nine tails.
Currently listening to: Kreator – Impossible Brutality
Read and review or I'll pop through your computer screen and smash your face with a hammer. And that's not a threat, it's a Cannibal Corpse reference.
When I edited it to include the Cannibal Corpse reference, I was listening to Briefcase Full of Guts by Dethklok.