This story doesn't just focus on characters and whatnot from Hero (though it will for a while). There will also be oneshots from Hero Chronicles, Riders, And Then the Time Came, Eye of the Storm, and True Storm (a side story that will go after the sequel). I promise not to write any oneshots with spoilers and whatnot. Also, some of these oneshots will be long, some very long, some will be short, some very short... There's no set goal for the length of any of these snippets of stories. Lastly, I have no guarantees on the update speed for this story. You'll just have to keep an eye out. I hope you enjoy!
~ソニック~
Being ten years old sucked. There was nothing else to say about it. It just sucked. Everything was so much harder to do because he was small, the few people he encountered thought they were better and smarter than him because he was young, he didn't have the money to buy a single, lousy present… It sucks.
Today was a special day. It was Locke's birthday, apparently. Had Sonic had more notice than this, he supposed he would have been able to make his friend something. But, as it was, he had no hopes of doing such a thing. He only had today. Locke was coming over to Sonic's house later, at the young hedgehog's insistence, and Sonic was out of time. What to do? It's not like I have the money to buy him anything. He refused to resort to thievery, but he really was broke. I can't afford any of this stuff. Sighing softly to himself, he set down the random, cool-looking object he'd been looking at and exited the store. He didn't think he could stand to be in there with all those people any longer, anyway.
Breaking into a run, Sonic exited the village and all but sprinted home. He didn't have terribly much time left, but he was determined. I'll think of something. …Maybe. Pushing aside that last portion of his thought, he skidded to a halt before his front door and walked inside. Almost immediately, his feet carried him to the kitchen. Maybe some food will help me think. With that in mind, the young hedgehog began rummaging through his cupboards. It wasn't often that he had so much food. Locke was partly to thank for all of this food. He'd spent a lot of money to get it, and Sonic was more grateful for that than he would have cared to admit. However, he wasn't grateful to Robotnik, from whom Sonic had stolen all the rest of this food. I swear, that guy's a pig or a hoarder or something. He had way more food than he can probably even eat. Some of the food the man had had hadn't even made sense for him to own, in Sonic's opinion. Seriously, who eats dried cumquats? It occurred to him that Robotnik had probably just been stealing the food from the villagers to starve them, but he did his best not to think about that. I don't have enough here to feed them all, anyway.
After a few minutes, Sonic sighed. I don't want to eat any of this. It was true that he knew better than to be picky and he really was grateful for all the food, but… I really don't want to eat these things. He pulled down a box of something to see what was behind it, only for the over-packed cupboard to suddenly dump all of it's contents out on him. Grumbling irritably, he began shoving things back into it, only to pause when he noticed a bag of cake mix. Wait, cake? Isn't that what people eat on birthdays? He wasn't entirely sure. It wasn't like he'd ever celebrated a birthday before. Still, he was pretty sure. Even if I'm wrong, these things taste good, right? Maybe… maybe Locke would like it? It wasn't like he had a better plan.
Mind set, he put everything else away and looked the bag over. Actually rather thrilled to find that there were instructions on the packaging, he pulled out everything the directions said he'd need and set to work.
~ソニック
"Okay kid, what're you hiding?"
Sonic gave Locke a sidelong glance. The two of them had been sitting on the couch for the past hour talking about nothing in particular, and Sonic was torn between enjoying it and finding it annoying. On the one hand, Locke was fun to talk to, and matching wits with him (or at least attempting to) almost always proved to be entertaining. But, on the other hand, Sonic didn't generally enjoy talking at length. At all. But even still, he knew that Locke enjoyed such things, so Sonic put up with it for his sake. It's his birthday, after all.Which, of course, brought Sonic back to the situation at hand. "Wait here a sec," he said, a slight promise in his voice.
Locke blinked as Sonic stood. "Alright."
Not giving any real response to that, Sonic walked out of the room and into the kitchen to retrieve the simple cake he'd made. It was no masterpiece, but it had smelled good coming out of the oven. I just hope it tastes as good as it smelled. He retrieved the carefully baked cake and walked back to the living room with it.
Locke blinked again and immediately sat up when Sonic walked back into the room. "Sonic, where did you-"
"I made it," Sonic answered simply, cutting his friend off.
For once, Locke didn't even attempt to lecture him on his manners. "You made it?" Thankfully, he didn't say anything about the rule he'd made a while back that essentially forbade Sonic from cooking due to the fire he'd once accidentally started.
"Yeah," Sonic nodded. "For your birthday."
Locke blinked yet again. "You know I said you didn't have to do anything for my birthday," he said.
"I wanted to," Sonic replied honestly. "You would've done the same."
Locke stood up and walked over to Sonic. Using one hand, he ruffled the fur atop the young hedgehog's head with a smirk. "You're right," he admitted. His smirk grew a bit. "Thanks, kid."
Sonic found himself smiling then, in spite of his great dislike for that nickname. Being a kid sucked, after all. Still, today wasn't the day to be thinking about such things. It was Locke's birthday, after all, and Sonic refused to let himself become sullen on a special day like this. "Come on, let's go see if we can track down some candles or something."
Locke smiled back at him. "Sounds like a plan."
~ソニック~
1,001 words for this first chapter. I really hope you all enjoyed. :) Posted 09-26-15.