Prologue

Out of all the unfitting names they had to pick, they had to pick Sonic. Maybe it was due to the fact that he started walking at the age of one. Maybe it was because he was a pretty fast walker at that age. Maybe it was the fact that he was always the first one to his classes, even if he didn't understand anything they were talking about. It may have been many things, but none of it seemed to hold any water. The matter still stood: his parents named him Sonic, and he couldn't change it.

That Monday morning, just like every other day of his past 17 years, the hedgehog had always wondered how he could change. The sunrays, as always, glistened through the window and returned him to reality, and the fact that he was Sonic continued to greet him. But he hated it.

What kind of name is Sonic? He always wondered as his eyes slowly opened back up. I mean, it doesn't even make sense! I'm one of the slowest people in the class. It always brings the wrong idea.

But no matter his thoughts, the hedgehog knew he had to live life like everyone else on Mobius. He threw the covers up against the wall set against his bed, and swiveled his feet over the edge. Planting his feet firmly on the floor, he pushed off his mattress to stand tall. However, it was a Monday… and a scornful look was ever so slightly sketched onto his face. It wasn't really that he hated Mondays… it was more that he didn't much like the idea of waking up on a Monday.

Sonic simply sighed. In a way, he always depressed himself in the mornings. All those negative thoughts on his name usually bugged him continuously throughout the day. It was something of a downer, to be honest. But even with his saddening thoughts, he worked himself to slip on his puffed socks, blue sneakers, and banded gloves. Quickly hopping over to the mirror slanted slightly off his dusty desk, he looked himself over. Shoes and gloves? Check. Brown sling backpack? Check! A dozen crazy quills in the back? Check!

His gloved hands simply brushed a set of his spiky quills in the back of his head. Unlike his father, mother, and uncle, Sonic had (what seemed to be) dozens of quills popping out from his head. His family relatives seemed to have maybe four or five on their heads. It was peculiar… but then again, Sonic was fairly peculiar.

Most Mobians had a talent… a power or attribute that they use to perform their tasks. For Sonic's uncle, it was his mechanical genius and intellect. For his father, it was being extremely effective in strategy and tactics. His mother was well-minded and also doubled in cookery (and, as his uncle would tell him, "lots of sass"). Sonic's friends… well, Sonic didn't have many friends.

But everyone had a special talent… everyone except Sonic.

That was why his name was so unfitting. That's why it always bothered him… because there was nothing special about him. He was literally a hedgehog. A regular, brown, million-quilled, and painfully average hedgehog. But it always amazed him how he woke up… every single morning… and kept going.

He tried to smile back at the mirror, but all he saw was a shamble of a smile. He wasn't even able to look that good either. Everyone had a look, but Sonic… he just seemed a little awkward in his fashion. What was there about Sonic that was special? Nothing much… no one knew… and no one was really dying to know. At one point, Sonic thought his special talent was being invisible to girls… which might have actually been true. But he wasn't sure if that was really a talent, so he let it slide and kept hoping.

He just wished that he could be good at something… anything. No one really knew what he could possibly do… not even him. And when he looked in his mirror… and the black, colorless eyes of his brown-quilled reflection stared back at him, he couldn't help but feel disgusted.

However, like everyone else around him, he fought to put on a smile and brace through it. Maybe this wasn't going to be the day that he got his talent all figured out… but as long as he kept up the fight to find it, he was all right with it.

Sonic casually opened his bedroom door, and began to march his way down the hall into the living room. The leather couch was spread out across from a small television, which had a bookcase filled with volumes of history propped up next to it. To the side of the living room sat the kitchen, where a small dining table was added in just recently. And standing at the counter-top, tinkering with the red-hot coffee machine once again, was Sonic's only family member left… his uncle Chuck.

"Still not working?" Sonic chimed in, making his uncle jump slightly and drop a bolt off the counter. He seemed intent on grabbing the bolt up, but looked back at Sonic and greeted his morning with a smile.

"Nice to see you up this morning, Sonny boy." He cheerfully said before bending down and grasping the bolt.

Sonic chuckled as he ventured back over to the counter, hoping to help him out a little.

"Oh, come on, Uncle Chuck," Sonic slightly begged, "give me some credit. I get up every morning."

His uncle laughed for a moment, rising from the floor, and looked back at his nephew.

"At 11 in the morning!" He jokingly retorted. "It's always good to get up early."

"Easy for you to say." Sonic replied with a grin. "You're a genius; it's part of your system to be up and about every hour of the day, making something new."

Uncle Chuck smirked underneath his thick mustache, soon returning his attention to the coffee maker and grasping its parts.

"Well…" He began, fiddling with some knobs, "… that's not all there is to being a mechanic."

"It's about all I really know about you." Sonic pointed out.

His uncle looked back at his nephew. Sonic never thought he'd be special anytime soon… but Uncle Chuck always thought different. He was certain that the little hog would figure it out any day now. But it always occurred to him that his constant mechanics might be the problem. The old man was the closest thing Sonic had to a father… and he knew it well. He felt like he was distancing them from each other… but Sonic's cheerful attitude always let him know that they were close.

Chuck simply smiled back at his only real son.

"It's all you need to know to live with me." He put simply.

Sonic only grinned. He loved his uncle. He appreciated his offering to take the little hog in after his parents left him. And living with his uncle was one of the best parts of his life… probably the only good part of his life.

Uncle Chuck pulled his arms from the machine and swiveled to his nephew, patting his shoulders.

"Now go on!" Sonic's uncle cheered. "You got to get to school!"

Sonic plainly nodded and began to jog to the front door. Twisting the knob and swinging the door behind him, he barely had enough time to hear his uncle's last words.

"And bring up your math and science!"

Sonic constantly thought it was gonna be a good day.

But it just so happens…

… that today was going to be the last day…

that he would be normal.

Welcome to STH.