Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters related to Sega; however, the ones not relating to Sega are mine to own, or just ones I made up. Now please read, enjoy, and review! Fulfill your destiny, whatever that may be . . .
It was a quiet Saturday evening in the summer of Metro World. People were walking down the streets and into stores or shops, while others were in the park, either taking a walk at night or just enjoying the fresh air. Many just stayed home with their families for the evening, too. In the division of Metroville, South City, a young girl named Alexa Remington was sitting in her room, reading a book about those classic heroes of old who had conquered many victories and won great battles against evil villains. This got Alexa into thinking: why doesn't any of that stuff ever happen to real people in the real world? Then her father called her downstairs for dinner.
"What have you been doing up there all day?" Patrick, Alexa's father, asked curiously.
"Just reading," Alexa sighed with a note of sadness in her voice. Her parents exchanged glances.
"You don't mean those fairy tale books now, do you, sweetie?" asked Jane, her mother.
"Mother, they aren't fairy tales. They are legends about things that really happened long ago," said Alexa.
"Honey, those stories are just tales that people made up," sighed Mr. Remington, trying to encourage his twelve-year-old daughter to forget about those childish fantasies. But for Alexa, giving up her dreams was out of the question, and she was not willing to give up yet.
"I believe that someday, it will come true again," she said before asking to be excused from the table. Her parents sighed and dismissed her, but they were surely concerned for her.
"I am worried about Alexa," said Mrs. Remington as their daughter disappeared from the kitchen.
"I know," sighed Mr. Remington. "She will have to learn that fairy tales don't exist and that she can't put her hope in things which aren't real . . . one day."
Meanwhile, back in her room, Alexa was flipping through the pages of some of her favorite stories, most of which were stories of the Arabian Nights, such as Aladdin or Ali Baba. She read through these stories a couple of times before her father knocked on the door.
"Yes?" Alexa called out.
"It's me," said her father, whose voice she easily recognized in an instant.
"Please, come on in, Father," Alexa welcomed him, and her father came in and sat on the floor beside her.
"You know," her father began, "when I was a little boy I wished for things like this to happen. Once as I remember, I wished for some sort of hero to come down from the sky and save the world from an evil villain, just like you. It was all a fantasy, but I ended up learning that the hard way. Kids at school would bully me for believing in that stuff. Of course, I was only eight at the time. But you . . . you are twelve years old, Alexa. Don't you think you're getting just a little too old for this nonsense?"
"What! Nonsense? This is not nonsense, Father!" Alexa protested. "And you cannot stop me from believing! I will prove it to you, and then you will see!"
Her father sighed and departed from the room, leaving Alexa alone with the piles of books and drawings of her beloved heroes. Sadness filled her heart. She felt discouraged and disappointed. Alexa was just about to give up all her hopes and dreams when, suddenly, she noticed a shooting star outside. She raced to the window and sat on the windowsill, where she gazed out at the night sky. She opened her window, just to let the fresh air in.
"I wish I could fight villains and have adventures with a special hero like the ones in those stories," Alexa sighed to herself after the shooting star had passed.
Then she noticed that one particular star in the sky appeared to be growing bigger than all the rest. She stood on her knees, gazing at that star, and then realized that it wasn't getting bigger—it was coming right toward her! She immediately got down from the window and ducked as a strange blue, spiky object came rocketing through the open window into her room and landed on her bed in a big jumble.
"H-hello?" Alexa asked apprehensively.
The alien looked as if it were dead; it did not stir or move. She took one of her books and poked it in the stomach, and it giggled!
"Ah! What are you? And . . . who are you?" Alexa asked hesitantly.
"Huh? Where am I?"
"Ah! You can talk?" asked Alexa in complete astonishment.
"Of course I can talk," said the big blue, spiky thing, sitting up on the bed. Alexa now saw what it really was.
"Are . . . are you a . . . a giant porcupine?" she asked astoundingly, standing at ease and putting the book back on the desk.
"A porcupine? Pfft! Nah! I'm a hedgehog! And who are you calling a giant? I'm not that fat!"
"Really? Oh . . . Um, sorry about that. I didn't mean to offend you," Alexa chuckled nervously as she approached the hedgehog slowly.
"First off, I'm Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog," he said with a wink and a thumbs-up.
"Err, hello. I'm Alexa," she replied still slightly nervously as she walked up to him.
"Well this is awkward," laughed Sonic, now leaping off the bed and landing on his feet. Alexa was dazzled to see such a unique creature as this.
"Um . . . Are you hungry, Mr. Sonic?" she asked timidly, moving to the door very slowly.
Sonic put his finger to his chin and thought for a moment. "Hmm . . . Well, what'cha got, Alexa?" he asked curiously. "Don't try cat food on me, though. I hate that stuff."
Alexa nodded. "Alright," she said, opening the door and then discreetly shutting it again. Sonic looked at her funny.
"Is there something wrong?" he asked her. She turned her head away.
"My parents mustn't know you're here," Alexa sighed both anxiously and excitedly.
"Don't worry. I'm totally used to stuff like that. Happens to me all the time," Sonic said before seeing a tear in Alexa's face. He walked up to her and looked up into her eyes with a smile of compassion. "Is there anything I can help you with?"
"My parents don't believe in magic or in any of these stories," Alexa sighed sadly, pointing to the piles of scattered books on the floor. "I wish they could see you. Then they would believe . . ."
As she trailed off, Sonic looked over at the window and sighed.
"Don't worry now," he said gently, lifting her face with his finger. "I'll help you. You can trust me."
Alexa wiped her tears away and closed the window and the blinds as well. She moved the lamp down to the floor of scattered books and papers, where she and Sonic lay on their stomachs to read through them and just talk together.
"I was an only child," Alexa began. "It was lonely, you know, having no real friend to talk to."
"Sorry to hear," said Sonic.
"Yes, but I eventually found myself a friend, in these stories right here," she said, flipping the pages of the book out of habit. "Then I decided not to give up on hoping that some day, a hero would come to save the day from an evil villain, just like in these stories. I often imagined myself as a hero, stopping some murderer or thief from committing an evil crime. But my parents . . . they just don't believe in that stuff. They don't want me to either."
Sonic stopped and thought about this for a few seconds and then, looking up at Alexa, he said confidently, "They'll believe soon. I promise."
"But . . . Should I introduce you to them now?" Alexa wondered, getting up from the floor to pace around. Sonic stopped and thought again.
"I think you should do whatever you think is right," he said softly, also getting up from the carpeted floor.
"I think it's best to wait a few days before you reveal yourself," Alexa said with a nod.
Sonic did another thumbs-up and winked. "Okay!"
Then Alexa's mother knocked on the door, and Sonic had to hide, fast. As she was turning the knob, Sonic dove under the bed and Alexa got back down on the floor to look as though she were reading the whole time.
"Were you . . . talking to anyone, Dear?" her mother asked, inconspicuously suspicious.
"Err, no ma'am," Alexa answered casually, frequently glancing over at the bed skirts of her bed.
"Alright, just checking," said her suspicious mother as she slowly closed the door and left down the stairs.
Alexa took a deep breath and wiped her forehead as Sonic climbed out from underneath her bed.
"Heh, not bad for a rookie," he chuckled as he helped her up off the floor, picking up the scattered papers and a few of the books.
"Thanks," Alexa said still shyly as he laid her papers and books on the desk and then went over to the window and opened it.
"What are you doing?" asked Alexa quite alarmed when Sonic opened the large glass window door.
"Well, you've got to get some sleep, don't you?" he asked as he turned around to face her.
"I suppose . . ."
"Then I'll see you in the morning, Alexa!" Sonic said, winking before jumping out the window and climbing down the vine-covered brick wall.
Alexa was excited to know that she had made a new friend for the day, and that her wish must have come true. No longer did she have to linger about, hoping and waiting for an adventure anymore. Who knew that one wish could change her life and the future of the entire Metro World?
"Goodnight, Sonic the hedgehog," she thought to herself before drifting off into a deep and peaceful sleep.
The next morning, Alexa awoke to the sound of rustling in the bushes outside below her window. She rubbed her eyes sleepily and sat up in bed, only to find all that had happened the night before just a blur in the past.
"Alexa! Breakfast is ready!" called her mother from downstairs. Alexa instantly remembered everything in a flash. Sonic the hedgehog, the wishing star, and the stories of her fantasies. It was all coming true.
"Coming, Mother!" Alexa called back as she got up and got dressed for a new day of adventure.
Sonic was patiently waiting outside in the bushes for Alexa to come back. She brought him some breakfast and quietly locked the door. The bright sunshine of the summer morning made everything so light and cheery.
"So," Sonic began before swallowing a bite of pancake, "what're we gonna do today?"
"First of all," Alexa said, "I'm just curious to know how you got here. I guess after my mother interrupted us last night, I forgot to ask."
"Well," Sonic began, "I live on Angel Island in a world called Mobius, where me and my friends spend our days just chilling and hanging out together."
"Fascinating," said Alexa as she took a bite of toast.
"That is," Sonic continued, "until Eggman showed up and used Chaos Control to send us to this world," Sonic finished coldly, crossing his arms and looking over at the bright window to his left. Then he scooted back a few inches and rested his head against the soft blue covers of the foot of her bed.