Fragile Reality
Chapter 1: Normality
Disclaimer: Sonic and co. are owned by Sega. Sonic's, Tails' and Knuckles' families are owned by Archie comics. Human forms are property of me.
He was woken up by the worse sound in the world, the alarm clock. He hated that sound, it had plenty of meaning but none of them were good. That sound meant that the dream he was having was over and that it was time to get out of bed and go to school. If he had the energy he would've groaned. He settled for loftily sticking his hand out of the covers and after a few attempts finally hit the snooze button and pulled the covers over his head.
His feeling of content was broken when he heard the door open and someone walk in. There were several people it could've been but mostly likely it was the person he hoped it wasn't.
"Wake up big bro, its morning" a young voice said in a way too chipper tone for this time of the day.
He grumbled for answering, still tired and his voice showed. "I know, still tired."
"That was never in question but you still have to wake up. Good news is that it's Thursday."
"What's so good about that?" he replied with a yawn.
"Two more days until the weekend and a certain someone's birthday" he said as a clear hint of excitement.
"Wake me up then."
"But there's school to go to."
"Too tired, I want a day off."
"So do I and every other student."
"Not everyone is a genius like you" he shot back.
"Even I can want a break." After a few seconds of silence he shoved the figure in the bed. "Come on bro, don't do this. I know you're not a sleep." No change happened. "Fine, you forced my hand" he said with a sigh. "Get him."
He was confused for a second before a wet, rough object was then dragged his face several times but due to fatigue it took a few more seconds to realise he was being licked. After making that connection he instantly pushed away the object he didn't even know was there before finally emerging from the covers.
Naturally he was human, what else he would be, and was in his mid-teens. His clear green eyes were often eclipsed by his cobalt blue hair which was his natural hair colour; he didn't have the patience to dye it. Currently his hair was a mess and his attire consisted of a vest and blue boxer shorts.
He rubbed his hair. "Okay you win" he said, glancing at the small brown dog he had just thrown off the bed. "Happy now?"
This question was aimed at the other human in the room. He was younger than the one in the bed. He had light blue eyes and light orange hair, not ginger but light orange which again was his natural hair colour. It was straight but had three large bangs which stuck out of the rest just above his face. Unlike the teen he was already dressed for the day. He wore an open orange jacket and orange pants which were slightly baggy. His t-shirt was plain white and his shoes were half white by the heel and half red by the toes.
"You're dressed already Ty?" the teen asked.
He grinned in return. "I wanted to work on my model some more. Unlike some people I can do things before the alarm clock rings Sam. Now you may want to get dressed and stuff before I give your cereal to Muttski."
The dog happy barked in response to this causing Sam to pet him. "Ha, if he does that don't be afraid to bite him" before walking to the wardrobe, picking some clothes and heading towards the bathroom.
As he got ready for the day doing the stuff he always did: brush teeth, have a shower, gel his hair so that it was slicked back and shaped into three quills and get changed he went through some stuff in his mind just to make sure that he was awake.
"My name's Samuel Thomas Humphries, call me Sam. I'm nothing special except if you count how unbelievably cool I am or the fact that I'm probably the best runner in town. I've lived in Emerald Town ever since I was born, I like it. It's a nice place, not so big so it's crowded but not so small so that there's nothing here. I'm sixteen so yes according to the law I have to go to school." He mentally groaned at this part. "What a boring way to spend my days. At least home's interesting enough. There's Mum, Dad, Uncle Chuck, my dog Muttski and my little brother Ty."
He stepped out of the bathroom now dressed in a white t-shirt with a blue hoodie over it and baggy running pants of the same colour. He part of his outfit he adored the most though was his shoes, which were sneakers which were red with a white strap and a buckle at the middle. He dashed downstairs and into the kitchen where Ty was at the table with three older humans.
The first one to greet him was a man who looked in his early fifties but the walking stick next to him made him look slightly older, that and his now grey hair which had receded a little so that there wasn't too much more than the quiff he had. His eyes were dark brown currently he wore a blue shirt and formal pants and blue boots, not normal work attire but it worked in this case.
"Good morning son" he said as he saw Sam.
"Morning Dad" he replied. "Is your hip okay today?"
He nodded. "Yes, I told you it's not as bad now as was it once was."
"That's my Dad for you, never let's anybody worry about him" the teen thought. "His name is Jules Humphries and it maybe a little hard to believe now but he was once a soldier in the military but during a mission he got wounded and needed some surgery to fix his hip. That's why he needs the walking stick and it hurts sometimes but it never let it bother him, at least not when me or Ty are around."
The woman was about the same age as Jules and had short blonde hair in a parting and blue eyes. She wore a purple waitress dress which reminded Sam of the knee high dress that she normally wore, but the purple heeled shoes she wore were the same.
"Did you sleep well honey?" she enquired as she motioned to the empty chair with a bowl and spoon laid out in front it, causing Sam to move towards it.
"Yeah Mum, I sleep fine but I wish I could've got some more" he said with a yarn, stretching his arms as he did before going back to his mental narration to keep him on track.
"That's my Mum, Bernadette Humphries but her friend call her Bernie. I'll stick to Mum. She cares of course but isn't quite overbearing yet but knowing me I'll eventually do something that will make her distrust me a little. But until then she's pretty cool and well she's my Mum, I gotta love her but she makes it easy to. You'd think a former solider would be stricter though."
The second male was older than the other two adults and had grey straight but short hair and usually bushy grey eyebrows above his brown eyes which hid behind his glasses. But the thing that really made him stand out was the big white moustache which completely covered his top lip. At the moment he wore a sleeveless green shirt with a sleeveless brown jacket over the top with brown pants and boots to match but Sam imagined he would get changed at work, either that or being in a family run business really did have it's perks.
"Did you finish that piece of homework you were struggling with Sammy-boy?" he asked with a chuckle as he saw the teen scrunch his face up.
"You know not to call me Sammy Unc," he wined, "and I've got something down on paper at least, I'm not sure if it's enough though."
He then felt a reassuring hand on his shoulder and saw a smile through the moustache. "I'm sure you're going to be fine."
"Uncle Chuck always knows what to say to cheer me up" Sam thought as he smiled back. "Again it's hard to think that Charles Humphries was a G.U.N. scientist who once worked on designing and building weapons, a few that Mum and Dad ended using before Dad got hurt and Mum got pregnant with me. Not in that order because..." he mentally shuddered and put his head against the table with a thud.
"Are you okay?" Bernie asked.
"Yeah I'm fine."
"Why did you slam your head against the table then?" his father enquired.
"Because my brain is very scary place and I don't want it to be" he replied, causing the adults to shoot each other confused looks.
"Just don't damage the table" Chuck said, getting a thumbs up in return. Deciding it was time to actually have breakfast Sam started to pour cereal into the bowl followed by milk before the youngest person in the room spoke.
"Do I even want to know what you were thinking about?"
He shook his head. "Not really Ty, not until you're older."
An slightly malicious grin appeared the orange haired boy's face. "I seem to remember that test we did on the internet which said I'm the one with the higher mental age, right Sammy?"
The teen mirrored the expression and started ruffling the kid's hair. "And I seem to remember that you still can't sleep with one eye open Miles" he shot back before they both glared at each other for a few seconds before Ty blinked. "I win again" Sam said with a grin.
"Oh, I thought I would beat you this time" the kid moaned. "I'll end your staring contest winning streak someday."
"But that's not going to be today is it?" he gloated.
"You know what else isn't going to happen today? You two getting to school on time at this rate" Bernie stated with a slightly angry undertone.
"Yes Mum/Mrs. Humphries" they both said instantly before they started to focus on their cereal.
"You may think that Ty isn't related to me because he doesn't look like me or anyone in my family" he continued in his head. "And you'd be right, he's not related to me but he's still basically the brother I never had. I guess the best term to describe me and Tyson Miles Prower would be best friends, don't judge because he's almost half my age Ty's a genius. He could easily be in my year in school but always dumbs himself at school so that he can get the full experience. If I were him I do anything to spend less time at that dull place. I call him my little bro since I've known him since he was born, we're always together and he lives here and shares my bedroom."
He moved onto his orange juice. "You see, his family and my family are friends. In fact my parents are Ty's Godparents and vice versa. His dad Amadeus Prower was in the same squad as my Dad back when they were in the military and ended up becoming friends. It wasn't long before Mum and Ty's mum, Rosemary Prower, were friends too. But Ty's Dad is still in the military, think he's a general now, so he doesn't get a lot of time off while Mrs. Prower is a world famous writer and spends a lot of time on the road promoting her books. Knowing that's no way of life for him they decided it was best if Ty stayed here with us." He grinned. "Best decision ever."
"Oh yeah, I mentioned Ty's parents jobs but not mine. My folks run a restaurant, Uncles Chucks because he owns it and co-manages it with Dad while Mum's a waitress although I think her dresses were the base of the outfit. It's okay, during the holidays me and Ty help out a little."
With breakfast finished both students got up to leave, getting their bags and saying how they'll see them later. Just as they were heading towards the door Chuck asked the Ty "If you aren't too busy could I ask for your help Ty?"
"Sure, we've got nothing planned right?" he aimed at Sam.
"Not that I can think of" he said before continuing his mental narration. "Almost forgot about Unc's side business of fixing electronics. He was a scientist so he knows what he's doing although if there's too many he asks Ty for help as even though he's smart all around, electronics are his speciality. That and models of planes, he likes them for some reason."
With that they wished the grownups farewell and set out but as soon as Sam had closed the door they heard someone shouted his name and a set a quickly moving footsteps. The teen barely had time to turn out before he was tackled to the ground by a pink blur hold started to squeeze him in an iron grip.
"Good morning my darling Sam" a female voice said from above him, causing him to sigh before he replying.
"Morning Alyssa" he said sullenly. "Would you mind letting me up? We have places to go." The lump got off allowing the blue haired boy to get up and see for the first time today the person who tackled him.
She was young, not as young as Ty but just on the verge of becoming a teenager. Like Sam she had green eyes and an unusual hair colour, pink. It was just above her shoulders and was like waves around her head with a tuff of hair stickling out towards the top of her head. Attire wise she wore a knee high red dress, a gold bangle on each wrist and high red boots with white stripe going down them.
Before he could react she had already wrapped her arms around his left arm. "Alyssa, can you let go of my arm? I may need it later."
"But everything is always better when you're close" she replied, tightening her grip as he started to try and get out of it.
"Morning Alyssa" Ty greeted the girl.
"Morning Ty" she replied giving the teen enough time to make sure she was who see was.
"That's Alyssa Rose, the girl across the street who happens to be madly in love with me and is determined to make me feel the same way. I don't love her but she is good friend, just a good friend. I'm not interested in that stuff, not yet. Anyway she way look sweet but making her mad is a big mistake as she has a bad temper and is stronger than she looks. Her Dad, Andrew Rose, is an accountant at some firm while her Mum, Alison Rose is the local librarian."
"Come on Alyssa, people might get the wrong idea" Sam moaned.
"What idea would that be?"
"That we're dating or something like that."
"And why can't they think that if it's one day going to be true?" she countered.
"But it's not true, not now or ever" he shot back before turning to the orange haired kid. "Back me up bro."
"I don't know, there are some rumours about you two going around..." he trailed off, looking away with a guilty grin and his hands in his pockets. "Maybe it is fate..."
"Traitor" he shouted. "You won't help because you're slightly afraid of her."
"I am not" he instantly shot back before slumping and pressing the index finger on each hand together, a habit he did when he was nervous. "Besides even if I was look whose talking."
"There's no need to be scared my beloved" Alyssa said lovingly. "You know I only throttle you because I want you to be the best you can be."
"Pretty sure I'm the best I can be without the pain thank you" he retorted with a role of his eyes.
"Are you lot ever quiet?" a forth voice said behind them from the end of the garden. The trio spun round to see a boy Sam's age with purple eyes and straight red hair which resembled dreadlocks. He wore a red sleeveless shirt and a necklace in the shape of a crescent moon on its side around his neck. He wore similar style of pants to Sam only his in red while his shoes were yellow and green and on the top had an odd locking mechanism resembling a Lego block which increased the shoe's weight. It was easy to tell from the muscles on his arms that he in good shape.
"Why be quiet and boring like you when you could be cool like us Kai?" he shot back.
Kai crossed his arms as he frowned. "In your case in think you confused cool with irritating. I see you're wearing your favourite accessory again" he said, his gaze pointing towards the girl on his arm.
"You're just jealous" the girl shot back.
"And I think you mean irritatingly awesome" Sam retorted, grinning as the red-haired teen sunk his head into his hands. Taking advantage of this moment he went through the new arrival in his head.
"This ray of sunshine is Kai Edwards, the only person in our year who can give me a challenge when it came to sports. In fact that's how we became friends even if we don't act it at times. He one of the best marital artists for our age in the world and it's no surprise given all the time he spends practising. His Dad was quite a well known martial artist called Leonard Edwards, better known as 'Locke' and from what I've seen he's a bit of a slave driver when it comes to Kai's training. Wouldn't be surprised if that is what caused his Mum and Dad to get divorced."
"You're as impossible as ever" he grumbled. "Remind me how you keep your sanity living with him?" he asked Ty.
"I'm used to it" he answered. "Shouldn't we be going? I mean we do need to pick up Charlotte yet."
"And I wonder why you remember that so well?" his big brother asked with grin on his face, but everybody present knew the answer.
The orange haired kid turned red and pressed his fingers together again. "Well... I... She..." Sam was then able to get out of admirer's grip and put his arm around his friend's shoulders.
"Aw, it's okay. There's nothing wrong with liking someone."
"Yeah, it's cute" Alyssa added. "In fact you should teach Sam to be open with his feelings and get together so we can all double date."
"That sounds like a nightmare" the blue haired teen groaned.
"That sounds like something I have to see" Kai said with a smirk, which grew a little as his rival grumbled at his comment.
"Let's see if you're still grinning after I kick your butt at P.E. again" he retorted.
Kai crossed his arms. "Don't bet on it. Today its javelin which is a sport which lends itself to my skills and before you complain last time was hurdles, one of your specialities."
"I'm still not taking it back" he growled.
"You're only making yourself look stupid, or more stupid than usual" he shot back. They started marching towards each other but Ty got between them.
"Come on guys, can't you guys try to get along for once?"
"This is getting along" they both said at the same time, there glares unflinching.
Ty sighed. "Okay fine, but can we keep moving while you 'get along'. Alyssa went ahead for Charlotte already" he said while grabbing both teen's wrists and drag them up the street.
"Wait, she left?" Sam wondered, causing both him and Kai to look around only find that it was only the three of them.
"Yes, because at this rate we're not making any progress."
"He's right" the red haired teen sighed, getting out of the younger male's grip.
"He usually is" Sam said in the same tone. It was then that they heard a dog barking in the distance causing the runner to worry that Muttski had got out but when a little Yorkshire terrier with a bow tie around his ran and jumped into Ty's arms he realised that his dog wasn't the problem.
"Charlie stop licking me" the kid said as the dog started licking his face.
"She really needs to control that dog" Kai mutter under his breath. "For all your faults at least you can control Muttski" he continued to Sam.
He have closed his eyes and put his hands on his hips to show he was annoyed at that back-handed compliment for a moment before going back to his usual positive expression. "That's not fair Kai. Muttski's older and has been with me longer."
"Maybe he's trying to tell her something by running away."
He shook his head. "Nah, he adores her. He probably smelled Ty's scent and got excited. Muttski does it all the time when I go home after going somewhere. Now where there's Charlie there's..."
"Charlie there you are" a young female voice cried out, interrupting Sam statement.
"Right on cue" he said, giving his rival a know-it-all look who countered with an unimpressed glare.
The speaker was a girl even younger than Ty. She had big brown eyes and long light cream hair which she wore in two long pony tails coming from the back of her head. She wore an orange dress with a blue ribbon like design near the top with matching orange and yellow shoes. As soon as he heard her voice Charlie jumped into her arms.
"Charlie you shouldn't run like that." It was then that she noticed the others. "Oh, hello Sam, Kai, Ty."
"Morning Charlotte" the boys replied.
"Did Charlie get out again?" the orange haired boy asked.
She nodded. "Yeah, do you think he doesn't like me?"
"Told ya" Kai gloated quietly.
"You didn't tell me anything" he shot back under his breath but loud enough for his rival to hear but stepping forward. "Did you see how quickly he came to you? He loves you, can't you see that after a year?"
She looked down. "I just wonder if he wouldn't be better without me..."
Sam sighed. "That's Charlotte Roberts, ever polite and ever caring about everybody else. Maybe a little too much as sometimes her caring can sometimes leave her out in the cold. She hardly goes anywhere without her dog Charlie, they're inseparable. But of course she found him not long after her Dad died in a car accident. It was bad but it sort was how she became part of our group. They will never want me to say this out loud but Charlotte and Ty like each other, I mean really like each other not like me and Alyssa where one person claims they have a relationship. Her Mum, Vanilla Roberts, is also very polite and took her husband's passing hard. I should know, she's a vet so of course she knows the family well."
Charlotte felt a hand on her shoulder, and looked up to find it was Alyssa. "Don't be silly Charlotte. You know that you both would miss each other if you were apart."
"You're right Alyssa. I know that we were meant to be together but sometimes I can't help but wonder."
"Did I mention that Charlotte and Alyssa are sort of like sisters?" Sam continued.
The cream haired girl then looked towards the floor, her expression drooping which caused her dog to do the same. "Did anybody else's dreams finish sooner than usual?" she asked, causing the four older people to nod as their own expressions faltered.
"I wanted to know if Sonic saved the day" the older girl moaned.
"This bit's important as it's the only reason that I even go over stuff I know like the back of my hand. As long as I can remember I've always had these dreams where I'm a guy called Sonic the Hedgehog in a world where they have these human-like animals called Mobians. They follow on day to day like a story and they always start with Sonic waking up and end with him going to bed. And I'm not the only one as all of my friends have similar dreams where they are a different Mobian. Ty's a fox called Miles Prower who prefers his nickname of Tails, Kai's Knuckles the Echidna, Alyssa's Amy Rose, another hedgehog and Charlotte's Cream the Rabbit who has this pet called Cheese who's this creature called a Chao."
"There's something odd about them though. First, we remember them almost like there were a memory and they're really detailed, like I can hear Sonic's thoughts and if he gets hurt I don't jump and wake up, it just keeps going. And another think, if we see our Mobian friends they remember the exact same thing even down to conversations. Then there are lots of similarities between us and the Mobians. Sonic and Tails are kinda bros like me and Ty, Sonic and Knuckles are friendly rivals like me and Kai, Amy is obsessed with Sonic like Alyssa is with me, Amy treats Cream like a little sister just like Alyssa does Charlotte and Tails and Cream 'like' each other like Ty and Charlotte do. It's a little scary and that's not even the scariest part. Even our names begin with the same letter; Ty and Alyssa even have the same last name as Tails and Amy. We have no idea why we have these dreams or if they mean anything, but we will one day."
"Yeah, I mean Eggman's plan was crazy. Trying to erase all of Mobian life out of existence, I wonder what happened after that" Kai wondered.
"That's another thing; Dr. Eggman features a lot in the dreams. Here he's a war criminal who tries to take over the world with his robot army but he always end up fighting the military G.U.N. who are always there stop him with a little war first. In the dreams he tries to take over the world with his robot army like here but its Sonic and friends who stop him and been doing so for years. Did I mention that Sonic is super fast, Knuckles is super strong, Tails and Cream can fly and Amy can pull a giant hammer out from nowhere?"
"Bro, what did Sonic type before the dream ended?" Ty asked.
"He typed in Mobians to human just before everything turned white" he replied before frowning slightly. "I wanted to know what happened to everyone. Why'd it end like that?"
Everyone turned to Ty who just rubbed the back of his head. "I have absolutely no idea."
"They don't normally do that" the red haired teen pointed out. "I mean I've seen Knuckles get hurt several times but the worst I do is twitch."
"I hope they're alright" Charlotte worried.
"I hope so too but now there's nothing we can do about it" Alyssa assured her. "For now we need to get a move on."
"I have to take Charlie back home" the youngest member of the group exclaimed.
"Okay people let's move" Sam shouted, pointing his finger in the direction they needed to go in a dramatic fashion.
"Right" Ty added, pumping his fist in the air.
"Hey we don't take orders from you" Kai replied.
With that they started dashing to their destinations allowing the conversations to turn to less serious matters while Sam wrapped up his mental commentary.
"That's pretty much life in a nutshell, not much else happens around here. It's peaceful which is nice but sometimes I wish more happened, like Sonic. He's always got something to do but he's got no family, besides Tails, and his life before Eggman was pretty awful and very lonely. I've never had to go through that myself. I'm not jealous of Sonic but I wish I had the excitement and the family. Plus being able to run at the speed of sound wouldn't hurt."
"I've never told this to anybody but the reason I do this is to make that I'm the human dreaming of the hedgehog, and not the other way around."