Sonic's Gamebuddy
By Sonic2nd
We go to Sega headquarters where Sonic is speaking with a representative...
"Sonic, do you even know why you're here?" A Sega representative asks.
Sonic quickly glances down at his wristwatch before looking back at the Sega rep. "This isn't going to take up too much of my time, is it?"
"I've been inform to tell you that Sega has decided to enroll you in the Gamebuddy program."
"Gamebuddy? Is Sega making another handheld system?"
"No, that's not it." He hands Sonic a rubber bracelet.
Sonic gives the rep an annoyed glance. "I don't want this ugly thing."
"Look at it carefully."
Sonic holds the bracelet closer to his face.
"It's still hideous no matter how I look at it."
"What does it say?" The rep asks.
"It just says #326." He tosses the bracelet back to the man who clumsily catches it.
"That's the number of the person you're going to help."
"Help? Is this some sort of community service?!"
"It's Sega way of showing that they care."
"About what exactly?" Sonic asks.
"You're going to help a fellow video game character in need."
"You didn't answer my question." Sonic glares at the man but instead of getting an answer the representative hands Sonic a map before shoving him out the door.
Sonic turns around to speak to the man but finds that the door is already closed. He sighs to himself as the scans the map. I guess I should just go and get this over with. He reaches the place in less then a minute. He walks inside and looks around. He sees that Shadow the Hedgehog is there.
"Hey, Shadow what are you in here for? Stealing? Destroying property? Reckless shooting?"
Shadow scowls at Sonic before speaking up. "I'm a volunteer."
"They made you do this too?"
"Hmmph. It's none of your business."
"Fine, be that way. Later." Sonic goes over to the customer service desk.
"Hiya, I'm looking for #326."
"He's in room Rt."
Sonic races over to Room Rt and knocks on the door.
"Hello? Is anyone in there?"
"Go away." A voice responds.
"I'm here to help you out."
"I'm beyond help. Leave me alone."
"Sorry, but I don't give up that easily." Sonic says as he opens the door to a dark room.
"Geez, no wonder you're so gloomy. There's no light in here." He flips on the light switch revealing that the person in the room is Cloud from Final Fantasy VII.
"Hello there. I'm your Gamebuddy."
"I don't care." Cloud replies.
"How can you say that?! Don't you even know who I am?"
"Pac-Man?" Cloud answers.
"No, I'm Sega's mascot Sonic the Hedgehog and you're.." Sonic looks at Cloud fully noticing the height difference between them.
"..you're really tall." Sonic finishes.
"………"
"Come on, Tall Guy. We're going to spend the day together. You do want to get out of this place right?" Sonic asks.
"I suppose." Cloud answers softly.
Sonic leads Cloud out of the room and towards the exit. Shadow sees the two and stares at Cloud. "Sonic, do you know who you're with?" Shadow asks.
"Of course. He's obviously from Phantasy Star Online. Bye Shadow." Sonic says before he and Cloud leave the building. They start walking away when Cloud speaks up.
"Final Fantasy."
"Is that a secret code?" Sonic asks.
"That's what video game series I'm from."
"Can you guess which game I'm from?" Sonic looks at Cloud hoping to hear the right answer.
"….Zelda."
"You're not even trying!" Sonic yells at him.
A couple of minutes later Cloud and Sonic go to the local park.
"Why are we here?" Cloud asks.
"To have fun." Sonic hands him a kite.
Cloud looks at the kite bewildered. "What am I suppose to do with this?"
"It's a kite. It's not complicated to figure out." Sonic replies.
Cloud throws the kite into the air. It promptly falls on the ground with a loud thud.
Cloud sighs. "I can't do anything right."
Sonic picks up the kite. "All you have to do is run around so that the kite goes soaring into the air."
Cloud simply stares at Sonic. "…….."
"I get it. You're feeling down because you can't run as fast as me, right?"
Sonic grabs Cloud's arm and gets ready to run. "We're going to go super fast!" He says with a grin.
"Huh? What do you mean by that?" He asks.
Sonic starts running at full speed, Cloud stumbles as he tries to keep up. A minute later Sonic looks back at Cloud hoping to see him smile; instead he sees that Cloud is completely exhausted.
He abruptly stops. "Wasn't that fun?" Sonic asks.
"No." Cloud answers.
Hmm.. Maybe that only cheers up female princesses?
"I need to rest." Cloud sits down on the ground.
. "There's no time." He pulls Cloud up and brings him to a tennis court.
"Why are we at a tennis court?" Cloud asks as he looks around.
"It's simple. You're an Rpg character. That means you wave a weapon around all of the time."
"Not exactly.." Cloud begins to say.
Sonic smiles proudly as he holds up a tennis racket. "Therefore this kind of sport should be easy for you."
He throws a tennis ball into the air and hits it with his racket. Then he dashes over to the other side of the court to hit the ball to himself. After doing this back and forth for a few minutes, he looks around for Cloud. He spots him sitting down on a nearby bench.
"You can jump in anytime." Sonic calls out to Cloud.
"I'd rather not." He responds.
"…Okay, we'll try another activity."
Sonic brings Cloud to an arcade.
"It's too noisy in here." Cloud says.
"Want to play House of the Dead? It's really easy. All you have to do is shoot the zombies."
Cloud merely glares at Sonic as he begins to play the game.
"Do you have any idea what I do in my game?" Cloud asks him.
"Sure I do. You're in that game where you're in space and you have to defeat the aliens to level up. Is that it? Do you want to play a sci-fi game?"
"I'm going outside." Cloud turns away and begins to walk off.
"Wait! Don't go! I'll let you pick where we go next!"
Sonic now finds himself at a lake. He kicks at a small rock. "This place sure is quiet.. Kinda boring too." He looks at Cloud who is sitting down at the lake.
Sonic walks up to him. "Do you want to go swimming?"
"Looking at the water reminds me of her." Cloud says to himself softly.
"?? What do you mean by that?" Sonic asks.
"………."
Sonic stares intently at the water trying to figure what Cloud is thinking. After a few seconds he grows restless.
"Her who?"
"Someone who was very special to me."
"And?"
Cloud still stares at the water refusing to talk. There is only silence until Sonic speaks up again.
"I'll be right back." He hides behind a nearby tree and pulls out his cell phone.
Meanwhile Shadow the Hedgehog is at an Ice Cream Parlor with Vincent Valentine.
"This Black Raspberry is delicious." Shadow says as he continues to eat his ice cream.
Vincent holds up his ice cream cone. "I can't believe that I'm the only one who likes pumpkin ice cream."
They continue eating until Shadow speaks up.
" I heard you were in a spin off game?"
"That's correct." Vincent answers.
"I had a spin off game too." Shadow begins to say. "Say Vincent, aren't you from Square?"
"Yes I am."
Shadow begins to turn away while looking slightly embarrassed.
"Is something wrong?" Vincent asks him.
"Well.. you see… How do I put it? My game wasn't critically acclaimed.."
"Neither was mine." Vincent tells him.
"Really? I thought that all of Square games were beloved by the critics?" Shadow asks.
"Mine wasn't. But that's okay."
"What exactly did you do in your game?"
"I shot at creatures while trying to survive." Vincent answers
"That's what I did in my game too. Were they aliens?" Shadow says.
"Uh..no they weren't." Vincent answers. "So.. Shadow is it?"
"Yes?"
"According to the Gamebuddy pamphlet it says we should talk about ourselves."
"Isn't that what we're doing?" Shadow asks.
"I think it means that we should talk about ourselves and not just about our games." Vincent answers
"Do you want to?" Shadow asks.
"It depends on what we have to say to each other."
"We could talk about our back stories." Shadow says.
"That sounds fine." Vincent replies.
"I'll start:
I grew up with a professor and his granddaughter Maria. She sacrificed herself to save my life. She sent me away in the last escape pod to earth. Once I arrived I was sealed away until Dr. Eggman the professor's grandson released me."
Shadow looks at Vincent waiting for a response.
"I was sealed once myself." Vincent begins to say.
"What happened?" Shadow asks.
"I loved this woman and wanted to be with her. It didn't work out and our lives took a downward spiral. She died so I sealed myself away for many years."
"So, you know what it's like to lose someone special you care about?" Shadow asks.
"Yes, I certainly do." Vincent answers.
"It's amazing. I never thought that we would have so much in common.." Shadow says.
"Does that mean that you have deal with those fans as well?" Vincent asks.
"What do you mean by that?" Shadow asks.
"The really obsessive fans." Vincent tells him.
"I have to deal with them from time to time."
"Do you have to deal with human fans?" Vincent asks.
"Yes, and a lot of them are quite strange especially the female fans."
"I suppose it would be odd to have fans that are of an entirely different species." Vincent says while Shadow nods his head in agreement. He is about to speak up when his cell phone beeps.
'Sorry, this shouldn't take long." Shadow says as he pulls out his cell phone. "Hello?'
"Hiya Shadow." Sonic says.
Shadow sighs irritated. "What do you want?"
"Is that any way to talk to a friend?" Sonic asks him.
"Why did you call me?"
"I could use your advice."
Shadow smiles smugly. "You mean you need my help?"
"No, I don't need it but in this situation it couldn't hurt."
"Is it your pride that's keeping you from asking me nicely?" Shadow says feeling a bit fed up with Sonic's attitude.
"Look if you don't want to talk to me I'll hang up."
Why must that fool always be so difficult? Shadow thinks to himself. He sighs again before speaking up. "Fine, tell me what the problem is."
"I'm trying to cheer this guy up but all he's been doing is acting mopey. Kinda like you actually."
"I don't act mopey!" Shadow yells angrily into the phone.
"What would you call it then?" Sonic asks.
"I contemplate." Shadow responds. He listens as he hears Sonic laughing from the other end of the phone. "Is that what you call it?"
"Listen up, Sonic! You're far too arrogant! You can't help that man until you learn how to truly care about other people!" Shadow yells at him.
"That's not true." Sonic says.
"Tell me then, what do you know about the man you're suppose to help?"
"I…" Sonic begins to say.
"Do you even know his name?" Shadow asks.
"Not yet." Sonic replies softly.
"My point exactly and another thing.."
"Hold on a minute, Shadow." Sonic pulls the phone away and walks back over to Cloud.
"Hey, Tall Guy?"
"Are you talking to me?" Cloud asks.
"Yeah, I mean.. Could you please tell your name?" Sonic asks in a rather sweet tone.
"It's Cloud."
"Thanks!" He takes out his cell phone again. "Shadow? Are you still there?"
"What is it now, Sonic?"
"His name is Cloud and I promise I will make him happy!" Sonic abruptly hangs up not giving Shadow a chance to reply.
Vincent looks at a now enraged Shadow.
"You seem upset." Vincent tells him.
"Sonic the Hedgehog just called. I swear that guy lives to torment me. There's no way that he'll be able to help the person he's working with."
"What is this person's name?" Vincent asks.
"It's Cloud." Shadow answers.
Vincent eyes widen in surprise. "Cloud? I know him. What is this Sonic trying to do with Cloud?"
"He's trying to make him happy."
"That won't work. He's been depressed ever since Aeris died."
"How long ago was that?" Shadow asks.
"Around 1997 and he's only gotten worse since then.
It was hard enough just to get him to fight again…" 2
(Sonic used a similar tactic to cheer up Princess Elise in Sonic 06)
2 (Vincent had to encourage Cloud to fight again in Advent Children.)
Where will Sonic and Cloud go to next? Find out in Chapter Two!