SatAm

Sonic the hedgehog opened the door of his cottage and yawned. He stretched his arms skyward, feeling his bones crack. Blinking the sleep from his eyes, he noticed a strange girl lying on the ground in the village square. His eyes widened. "Huh?" he said to himself, then dashed over to the figure and bent over her. She was certainly the strangest person he had ever seen. She was a hedgehog, but unlike any Mobian hedgehog, her fur looked like she had been thrown in a vat of rainbow tie-dye paint.

He reached to touch her shoulder. "Don't!"

Sonic looked behind him. "Sal!" He looked from her to the young girl.

"Don't move her. If she's seriously hurt, you could make it worse." Sally felt of her wrist. "She has a pulse and she's still breathing."

The hedgehog's eyes snapped open and she groaned.

"She's awake!" said Sonic. Uncurling from her fetal position, she looked up at them and smiled.

By this time, Tails had joined them. "Aunt Sally, who is that?"

Tails couldn't help but stare at her. Her eyes were rainbow, each ring around the pupil a different color.

"My name is Mary Sue Smith, but I like to be called Sparkly."

Tails laughed. "I see why they call you that! You have really sparkly clothes!" She was wearing a pink t-shirt with a fairy on it which was adorned with glitter, blue jeans splattered with glitter, and white shoes with pink glittering laces.

"Welcome to Knothole, Sparkly. They call me--"

"Sonic. I know."

He gasped. "How did you know?"

She let out a flirtatious giggle and batted her eyelashes at him. "Everyone in the real world knows who you are."

"Say what? Real world?"

"Yeah, the real world. This isn't the real world. This is a cartoon that's really famous on Earth."

Sonic's brow furrowed in confusion and then he laughed nervously, thinking she was playing some joke on him. "Earth?"

"Yeah. That's the planet I came from. I was a human there, but I guess I'm a hedgehog now!" She giggled.

"Right," said Sally. She regarded Sparkly carefully, her thoughts a turmoil of suspicion and concern. "Where are you from and how did you end up here?"

Sparkly stood up, glaring at Sally. "You don't believe me? How can you not believe me?" Her voice dripped with hate. Sally flinched at Sparkly's sudden, extreme mood change.

"You're speaking nonsense, Sparkly. Are you okay?"

"I am not talking nonsense!" She stomped her foot in emphasis. "It's all true! It started with that earthquake!"

"What earthquake?" said Sonic. "The one in Hydro City?"

"No! One in California!" she shouted in frustration. "California has them all the time! The house was shaking really hard, harder than normal, and a bookend fell off the shelf and onto my head! When I woke up I was here! I was watching your TV show just before I blacked out. I must have been sucked into my television like in a fanfiction." She got a glimpse of Tails out of the corner of her eye, who quickly looked away from her and began fidgeting. What is his problem?

Sally stared at her, confused. None of what Sparkly said made sense. She didn't know what California or a fanfiction is, but one detail of the story stood out. "You hit your head?" she asked.

"Yes!"

Sally grabbed Sonic's wrist. "I'll be right back," she said to Sparkly, pulling Sonic away.

"I don't know what to think about her." Her voice was a whisper. "She said that she hit her head, so that makes me think that she's ill, but how did she know your name?"

"That's easy, Sal." He ran to his hut and back in the blink of an eye and returned with a rolled-up sheet of paper in his hand. "We're the most wanted so-called criminals in Robotropolis, remember? These have been everywhere." He unrolled it. It was a wanted poster depicting Sonic with the following text.

WANTED! DANGEROUS TERRORIST!

Sonic the hedgehog, the leader of a heinous terrorist cell hiding in an unknown location, is wanted for attempts to overthrow the government, bombing of manufacturing facilities, disrupting the power supply of Robotropolis, and a myriad of other crimes.

"Every time I turn on the television, I see my face. Everyone knows who we are, Sal."

Sally sighed in relief; she had thought that Sparkly could be a spy, but Sonic's explanation made sense. She glanced at Sparkly, but had to turn away quickly. Looking at the garish creature hurt her eyes.

"What do you think we should do with her?" said Sonic.

"We'll have to keep her here for now until we find out where she really belongs It worries me that she mentioned hitting her head. I think that she may have a head injury. She needs to see a doctor now." Sally walked over to Sparkly and gently put her hand on her shoulder. "Honey, based on the story you told us about hurting your head, we think you might have a concussion. Come on, the doctor lives at the end of this street."

"I don't have a concussion! What would make you think that?"

"You're speaking in nonsense and you said that the last thing you remember is having a bookend fall on your head."

"Nonsense? What nonsense?"

"Sparkly, you were just saying that you're living in a TV show."

"But it's true! This is a TV show! Why won't you believe me?"

Sonic looked into Sally's eyes; they had a way of communicating without words. Don't push that poor girl, that look said. She nodded her head in understanding. "I believe you, Sparkly," said Sonic.

"You do?"

"Of course I do, but I think we should check you out any way, just in case, okay?" Sonic plastered on a smile for her. Happy that someone was finally understanding her, Sparkly happily complied, following them to the end of the road.

Sparkly sat on the edge of her seat, swinging her legs back and forth. The raccoon shone a light into her eye and then clicked it off. "I see nothing wrong with her physically," he said to Sally. "The problem appears to be psychological."

"So you're saying I'm crazy," said Sparkly, glaring at him. Why did the doctor have to be on Sally's side? Why couldn't he believe her, like Sonic? She had been sitting here for the last ten minutes, listening to Sally's obviously exaggerated account of the "strange tales" she had told them, and it had infuriated her.

Dr. Ringtail shook his head. "No, but I am saying that you are a girl who needs help. I am going to make an appointment with a psychologist for you."

"A psychologist? You do think I'm crazy! I'm not going to some shrink! He'll just make me crazy for real! You can go ahead and make that appointment, but I'm not going!" She hopped off the table and stomped out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

"Sparkly!" said Sonic, running out after her.

After a few seconds of silence, the doctor said quietly, "Princess, that girl is suffering from psychotic delusions; do you think that she may be a danger to herself or others?"

"Not from what I've seen."

"I see," he said, tapping his pen against his chin in thought. "Don't hesitate to contact me if she gets any worse."

"I will, Doctor."

After Sonic had found Sparkly, and after many assurances that everyone did not think she was a lunatic, Sonic helped her settle with what few possessions she had on her in a spare hut. Sparkly watched him leave, meeting back up with Sally and Tails on a street corner. Sonic put his hand in Sally's and they walked away together, Tails following closely behind. She glared at him with something that was slightly like jealousy, but not quite. After all, she thought Sonic was really cute, but not as cute as him. She thought to herself, Sonic deserves better. I'll see to that, and he'll thank me later. So far things were not going the way she had planned. Sparkly had come here expecting to actually be accepted and liked, which was the opposite of the way things had been going back on Earth. Instead everyone thought that she was a nutcase and she didn't like the way Tails had been treating her today; after their initial encounter he had suddenly clammed up and kept looking at her as if she frightened him. Sparkly clenched the window sill, her knuckles turning white. No matter. She would fix everything and this time she would make sure that things wouldn't go wrong.

When they had gotten out of earshot, Tails said, "Sonic, why did you tell Sparkly that you believe her? I could tell that you really didn't."

"She's sick, little buddy. It would only make things worse to argue with her."

"Why?"

"I think that she really believes in what she said."

"That she's from another planet?"

"Yeah."

"I think that maybe she is. She looks funny."

Sonic chuckled. "Yeah, I know what you're talking about! Have you ever seen anything so weird? Who has fur like that? She must have dyed it that way."

"Sonic the hedgehog! Don't encourage him!" said Sally.

Tails looked down at the ground and nervously shuffled his feet. "I don't mean funny like that, Sonic. It's a different kind of funny, a bad one. Sparkly creeps me out."

"People are often scared of people in her condition," Sally said.

"It's not that. I don't know how to describe it, but there's something really scary about her."

"The eyes?" said Sonic. "They are ugly. They have to be contact lenses."

"No. It's something different. I don't know how to put it in words. I don't want her to be around me."

"Tails," Sally said. "That's a horrible thing to say! How could you?"

Tails didn't answer her. He stared at the ground, dragging his feet. He reached the doorstep of his house and opened the door. "I'm going to take a nap," he said without looking at them willing his voice not to betray his distress. Closing the door softly behind himself, he thought to himself, why don't the older Freedom Fighters ever listen to me? Just because I'm a kid doesn't mean that I don't know anything! He flopped down on his bed but never fell asleep because of all the thoughts racing through his head.