It Isn't Always Black and White – 50 Sentences Challenge
Chapter 1: Sonic the Hedgehog
Notes: What can I say? I like challenges? This particular one I found on LiveJournal. I'm disregarding the rules almost completely (supposed to use pairings), but that don't matter. I seriously needed a break from all of the plot and multiple Sonics (Generations wise) in my other fics, and I thought this would be a good character-analyses thing to do. Hopefully, I can do the other characters with different lists. It was fun!
Disclaimer: Sonic the Hedgehog and all other recognizable material belong to SEGA and its affiliates. I'm simply playing in their sandbox for a while.
1.
Sonic the Hedgehog was not a Mobian of idleness; in fact, when he was idle, he was always moving, forever in a state of action, and he liked it that way.
2.
Tails always said that Sonic was cool, but Sonic thought that the fox cooler; why else would he hang around him?
3.
Sonic's so young, they said when they first saw him after he released them from the Egg-Prison; he didn't feel young, especially when he was running for his life and dodging bullets fired at his head, but who was he to judge his age?
4.
He was never last, never at the back of the pack, yet he was willing to stand behind his friend when Knuckles yelled "Leave this to me!" and punched the hell out of a rock in Frog Forest.
5.
It was wrong, this feeling of heaviness he got as he trudged through the water, bubble precious inches away from him; it wasn't the water weighing on him, but the lack of oxygen and the way his lungs screamed at him to hurry the hell up and get the damn air bubble or you're gonna die.
6.
Considering that he smashed robots on a daily basis, Sonic was very gentle when it came to extracting splinters from Tails' fingers – almost like he practiced the tender way he held the fox's palm and eased the tweezers around the offending piece of wood, then yanked quickly, but in a way that was aware of the kit's flinch.
7.
Why do you do it? was a common question he received, and his answer was always the same: I'm the only one that can.
8.
A thousand ways Eggman had tried to kill him; a thousand ways he had learned to survive…and smile while doing it.
9.
Sonic wasn't cut out to be a king – he cherished his freedom too much – so why did Shadow – Lancelot – insist on calling him 'King Arthur' and bowing every time he walked into a room?
10.
Live and Learn was his mantra, his metaphorical Bible of sorts, and he fulfilled it to a tee; when he was grazed by a bullet, he learned to move quicker; when he said something wrong to Tails and made the fox cry, he learned to suck it up and apologize; when Eggman kidnapped one of his friends, he learned that anger could get him a long way, but it would only lead to bad things in the end; but, above all else, he learned that to live you have to learn, or else you won't grow as a person.
11.
He is the embodiment of the wind, a blur of azure as he protects his home and everyone he cares about, but more than that, he is a blur of hope.
12.
'Wait' is not a word in Sonic's vocabulary, so when Tails tells him that he'll have to do just that if he wants to eat his precious chili dogs, he just stares at his friend stupidly.
13.
The moon causes a change in him; it morphs him into a creature that is unrecognizable, but, despite that, it cannot alter what is going on in his heart, and that is why Sonic the Werehog is Sonic the Hedgehog.
14.
The way Eggman's beam snakes into Tails' back leaves no doubt in the hedgehog's mind, even when the evil doctor gains command over his friend, and he has to decide how – if – he's going to fight back.
15.
Holding an angry Knuckles back when he's on a rampage because certain humans decided they wanted to unleash their newest brand of robots on Angel Island was no easy task, but Sonic tried his hardest anyway.
16.
Contrary to popular belief, Sonic does – in fact – need sleep, though he usually gets it in small bursts, and only when he feels absolutely safe, which is only when one of his best friends is nearby and he knows they have his back.
17.
Sonic's eyes have changed colors through the years – this is true – but the way he sees the world hasn't; he still smiles as he watches a sunrise and still sees the best in every person he comes across – even Robotnik.
18.
Sonic's attention span is short and he is easily distracted, so when Tails waves a shiny piece of metal in front of him when he's trying to concentrate on the video game in front of him, he can't help but follow it and then scowl when his character gets thrown off the stage.
19.
Sonic had one of the purest souls Shahra had ever sensed, which put the genie in a strange position; she wanted to grant all that his heart desired, but how could she, when he's content with everything he has and doesn't want any more?
20.
Sonic doesn't own many pictures, mainly because he moves too quickly from one stage of his life to another, but, those he does have, he treasures like they are made of gold.
21.
You are a fool, Shadow tells him when he sees Sonic grinning at him like a maniac, holding up a pair of pink bunny ears like they are a rite of passage and not a damnable accessory to Shadow's quiet existence.
22.
Sonic rarely got angry, but when he saw the mess Chaos had made of Station Square, his brain shut down and all he felt was despair, depression, a sense that he had failed, and then… anger, so thick and hot and heavy that it was all he could do to keep it contained.
23.
When he happened across Tails for the first time, it was when the kit was in the middle of a brawl – see: getting beaten up – and his first impression was that the kid was what he appeared to be, a child; now though, he knows different, and he's happy to have been proven wrong.
24.
Sonic lives in the here and now, in the moment that is just passing; he rarely looks back, and, on the off chance that he does, he never regrets anything.
25.
For a while, Sonic didn't like seeing his own shadow; it revealed a body that was too lean and quills that were too long, just like they all complained back, but then… he got over it and realized that he needed to accept himself before others could.
26.
Sonic doesn't like goodbyes – they're too final – so when he high-fives Yacker and says "Right on!" it's a promise to see the little alien again, not a goodbye.
27.
Sonic really hates the badniks that hide; he can't anticipate them, and only his fast reflexes save him…and sometimes, he fears that his reflexes won't be quick enough next time.
28.
Sonic doesn't need a lot to be happy, just a few chili dogs, room to run, and – most importantly – his friends; when he has all of that, he feels like the richest person on Mobius.
29.
Safety is relative; Tails feels safe when Sonic's around, even if he's in the middle of an active volcano or a busy Eggmanland; Knuckles feels safe when he's alone on Angel Island, despite the fact that he has no backup; Sonic feels his safest right after a fight with Robotnik, because there's no way he can attack again with his mecha smoking, but also when he's waiting for Eggman to attack, because he knows that the doc wouldn't dare try to kill him with badniks.
30.
Sonic can only laugh when Knuckles flinches at the mention of the word 'ghost'; the echidna won't dare to make fun of Sonic's aquaphobia again, or else risk a possible fake-haunting on Angel Island.
31.
It was a simple thing, a book resting on the table in the Workshop, but then the damn thing came alive and asked for his help and – damnit – he couldn't say no when someone needed him, even if that someone lived inside a fictional world filled with fire arrows that ate into his chest and echidnas that insisted they were Sinbad and little bros that didn't recognize him and submerged boats that he had to cross in the middle of a storm – Sonic was convinced that whoever wrote this book hated him.
32.
Sonic loved looking at Tails' eyes, simply because they were so pure and clear and full of emotion; they never lied, and they showed Sonic that all of his hard work raising the fox had paid off, despite if they shimmered with tears or lit up with excitement.
33.
Sonic never thought on impossibility, simply because it wasn't a concept that applied to him; he gotten pulled into a book and been turned into a werewolf for Chaos' sake!
34.
Sonic knew he couldn't sing, but he still couldn't help it when those first few bars and then the lyrics "Rolling around at the speed of sound" came from the radio.
35.
Life could change suddenly, in a moment, but Sonic was always ready, always prepared to take it in stride and to keep running, even when everything was trying to trip him.
36.
Sonic had a backward thought process; when someone yelled "Stop!" he usually sped up, especially when that someone was egg shaped.
37.
He always knew time was flexible and moldable – his trips back on Little Planet had told him as much – but he was still unprepared when he caught sight of the crisis plaguing the flaming city in front of him.
38.
Tails always took care when washing the Tornado, because Sonic liked to sneak up behind him with a bucket and give the fox himself an impromptu bath as well, which then caused the two-tail to retaliate; more often than not, the Tornado only got half washed, while the two who were supposed to be cleaning it ended up getting baths themselves.
39.
Sonic was always torn; he always wanted more chili dogs that he could feasibly eat, but if he stuffed himself, he would be unable to run, which was something he loved just as much as chili dogs – the decision was unbearable.
40.
History was not Sonic's strongest subject, so when he found himself staring at a younger version of himself, all he could say in reaction was, "Another Sonic? What? Wait a second!"
41.
The difference between Sonic and Robotnik was clear: more than anything, Robotnik wanted the power of the Emeralds, but couldn't harness it; Sonic could harness the power of the Emeralds, but he couldn't care less if he had it.
42.
It didn't always bother Sonic when Amy chased him, only when she insisted on squealing.
43.
If there's a god watching over me, Sonic thought to himself as he watched Knuckles throw back his head and laugh before pushing his foot down on the switch in front of him and sending Sonic and Tails downward toward a dangerously wet landing, please, somehow, teach me how to swim in the next two point eight seconds.
44. Walls didn't necessarily stop Sonic – as was evidenced when he ran up them – but the metaphorical ones he had to get over when he was on a late-night running trek were just as troublesome as the physical ones.
45.
The humans thought that Mobians were disgustingly naked, and Sonic happily reversed the sentiment back onto them; who in their right mind walked around without gloves?
46.
When Tails questioned why exactly Sonic could drive, the hedgehog always just winked deviously toward him and promised to tell him when he was older and could understand the boring tale.
47.
You only had one chance to harm Tails; after that, you would never do it again, or risk facing the wrath of Sonic the Hedgehog a second time.
48.
The Emeralds are precious, but not in the physical sense as they are virtually indestructible; they represent hope and a fighting chance, something that Mobius needs when facing Robotnik.
49.
In those first few years, Sonic and Tails were constantly hungry, simply because they didn't have a place to live or a way to get money; now though, Sonic vowed to never let his little bro feel that way again…
50.
In the end, it all came down to was that moment of indecision, when you must decide if believing in yourself is worth it or not; for Sonic, that moment never happens, because he doesn't dare doubt himself; he knows what he is capable of, and he believes that it is enough, and that's enough for him.
I didn't want to clog up the prose with the names of the topics, so I've put them down here if you want to reference them.
Theme list: Epsilon
1. Motion
2. Cool
3. Young
4. Last
5. Wrong
6. Gentle
7. One
8. Thousand
9. King
10. Learn
11. Blur
12. Wait
13. Change
14. Command
15. Hold
16. Need
17. Vision
18. Attention
19. Soul
20. Picture
21. Fool
22. Mad
23. Child
24. Now
25. Shadow
26. Goodbye
27. Hide
28. Fortune
29. Safe
30. Ghost
31. Book
32. Eye
33. Never
34. Sing
35. Sudden
36. Stop
37. Time
38. Wash
39. Torn
40. History
41. Power
42. Bother
43. God
44. Wall
45. Naked
46. Drive
47. Harm
48. Precious
49. Hunger
50. Believe
I feel like I cheated with all of those semicolons...
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