Prologue
I remember the good ol' days like it was yesterday, really. Though it was a long time ago when I came into existence, it's still vivid.
You could say my story in particular began with a simple television commercial, circulating around Little Planet around the time of my creation, 10 years ago.
~ If days are bad and you're feelin' down!
Or you're just findin' any simple reason to frown
Well don't you worry, don't you pout!
Cause Ziggerson the Rabbit iiiiis up and about!~
That's right kids! The new AI controlled walking, talking stuffed toy, Ziggerson the Rabbit, is finally here! It can sing! It can dance! It comes complete with a whopping 200 phrases at the start, is capable of learning many more with your help!
Get your new friend at any local toy shop today while supplies last!
That commercial sparked a movement across the planet. Everyone had to get a 'Ziggerson the Rabbit' toy. Anyone from tiger cubs, to eagle chicks, to even the rabbits they were based on couldn't get enough of them. And one day in the toy store I had been planted in, I was picked up by a family of hedgehogs, to be used as a present for their 2-year old daughter, Amelia, during the Christmas season.
She was delighted when she first laid her eyes on me, her two jade irises practically sparkling in wonder. That first hug is something I always kept close to my heart. She, in her not quite developed vocabulary, nicknamed me Ziggy, and the name stuck. Good; the name Ziggerson wasn't exactly my style anyways.
I was by her through thick and thin. I was her best friend, the one she told all of her secrets to, the one she shared all of her meals with, the one who stuck by her, even when she eventually went out into the world on her own.
At the age of 9, I became her travel buddy. She left home without looking back, taking only me, some Rings, and the clothes on her back with her. We went all around the planet exploring, learning new things, meeting new people and seeing new sights. It was only when she got into reading tarot cards did things become soured and complicated.
She became obsessed with the cards after a single reading from a fortune teller, one who told her that her true love would one day come for her. Being a starry eyed child, the possibility became irresistible to her. She would spend all of her free time looking over them, getting the same result that her true love would come to her in the near future. I wasn't worried; it was only a prediction. Surely it was an impossibility that it could have been fate. I let her have her fun, hopeful she would give up on the nonsensical dream.
At age 11, my world began to crash down around me, and all because of a fateful encounter with a pudgy, rude, lazy, moronic, annoying, homewrecking, awful blue hedgehog.
I hate him for stealing away my Amelia from me… Hate him for distracting her when she should be spending time with me…
She left me and ran to him on first sight, hearts in her eyes and giggling like a maniac. It wouldn't have hurt as much if he was at least accepting but he pushed her away… my sweet Amelia pushed away by that… blue demon…
Granted, I wasn't forgotten immediately. I was found by Amelia later, her having reached age twelve with a new wardrobe, but… something in her had changed. There were the occasional hugs, but she barely gave me the time of day otherwise. I would lie on her bed, unable to move as my chip had long since lost that function. Unable to talk because my voice box had weathered and broke in the palmtreed forest I was abandoned in. I was forced to spend my remaining days watching her fawn over her 'fated lover', as if the lack of movement wasn't torture enough.
And then, the day came when he dared to enter her room and pick me up with his filthy hands, telling Amelia I needed to be thrown away. And her poor brainwashed mind agreed with him. Minutes later, I was in a trash bin waiting to be taken into the dump!
And there I was, waiting for my inevitable fate of incineration while he got to have the pleasure of spending his days with Amelia… the unappreciative fool.
But no matter. Now in the arms of 'greatest scientific genius in the world', I will surely be reborn…
I will have the power to reclaim who is rightfully mine.
I will teach Sonic the Hedgehog fear before making him pay the ultimate price.