Life at SEGA

by Stitchfan 82

In March 2001, Sega discontinued the Dreamcast, withdrew from the console hardware business altogether, and restructured itself as a third-party developer. This story tells how the Sonic characters were affected by the change. Chapter 4 has been updated

4. Advanceing forward

Author's note OK I updated this chapter. Again sorry for the long wait .

Not shore when the next one will be up but I hope this one is good.

Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog, or any other SEGA employees, staff, or representatives.

The names of actual people are only used for the purpose of authenticity. The opinions expressed by the characters do not necessarily reflect the positions of actual SEGA employees, staff or representatives.

Beta, editing and enhancements by Phaenur

################################################## ########################

Advanceing forward

Sonic woke up. Where was he? It wasn't his room, was it?

Everything was blurry, but he could smell something. Something was cooking, and it smelled delicious.

"Good, you're awake," a voice said. "Breakfast is almost ready."

Sonic's vision finally cleared up and he could see where he was.

He was in Tails's room; it was like Sonic's in many ways. It had a SEGA Logo bed and a TV cabinet with gaming console's, there was no SEGA Sonic arcade cabinet but there was a workbench and a computer. Tails was in another area, and behind a wall there was a small kitchen. Sonic turned to the TV.

Music played as a human hand held a passport. The scene cut to hands putting a stick through the trigger of some type of rifle, then cut again to a wrench tightening a bolt on a steering wheel. "MacGyver," Sonic thought, one of Tails's favorite shows.

Tails came in the room with two plates of food, "So," Sonic asked, yawning, "what's for breakfast?" .

"Chili dogs," said Tails with a smile. "What else?"

Tails set the chili dogs down on a small table that had been temporarily set up in the main pat of the room. Sonic came over to the table, picked up a chili dog, and took a bite.

"WOW!" Sonic said, giving the fox a thumbs-up, "I think these are your best chili dogs yet."

Tails smiled. "Thanks, Sonic, I'm glad you like them."

After they had eaten they got up to leave, but Tails spotted something on his workbench he had forgotten.

"Oh Sonic, I almost forgot," Tails exclaimed as he picked up what looked like a wristwatch and presented it to Sonic.

Sonic smiled as he recognized what it was, "You made a new one, didn't you? What's this one do?

"Well the old one only had a cell phone and a calendar watch, but this is like a cell phone, a calendar watch, a GPS, a camera, an MP3 player, and a P.D.A. all in one!" Tails explained. "It also has text messaging if you really need it," he added as an afterthought.

Sonic gave his friend a confused look "Why would anyone want to send texts when you can just talk?"

Tails shrugged his shoulders. "Well I don't think it's going to be extremely popular or anything but they're putting it on all the humans' cell phones now so I threw it in too," Tails explained.

Tails then handed Sonic two small things that looked like hearing aids. Sonic scoffed. "Hey, I may not always understand what you're saying but I am not hard of hearing."

"No Sonic," the fox said, trying not to laugh. "They're not hearing aids, they're wireless headphones."

Sonic put the head phones in his ears and looked to Tails skeptically. Tails just pushed a button on the watch.

BUMP, BUMP, BOMP, BUMP, BUMP

The Sonic the Hedgehog 1 tidal theme blasted through Sonic's ears at an extremely high volume. Sonic yanked the headphones out of his ears. "Any more of that and I will need a hearing aid!" Sonic cried out.

"Oh, sorry," Tails said, concerned, as he adjusted the volume. "OK, try it now."

Sonic put the headphones back on.

Bump, bump bomp bump, bump, bomp bomp, bump bump bump bump, bump

"Hey! Now that's way past cool."

"Oh," Tails broke in, "I also added something else."

"What's that, little bro?" He inquired.

"Remember Nicole from Sonic SatAM?" asked Tails.

"Sure," Sonic said. Then his eyes went wide. "You mean…"

Tails pushed a button.

"Hi Sonic, my main hedgehog," Nicole's voice came over the headphones. "I am here to help you in whatever way you may need."

"Like, uh, what?" Sonic asked.

"Well I can tell you that it's going to be a great day for running as there are no signs of rain today. As an example."

"Cool!" Sonic said. "I can even understand what you're saying. What else can you do, Nicole?"

"I can tell jokes" Nicole announced

"Really?" Sonic asked, "OK, go ahead."

"Two highly advanced wrist communicators with advanced AI walk in to a bar.

I forget the rest."

Sonic stared in confusion, and Tails looked embarrassed.

"I guess I haven't got the joke generator working right yet," Tails said.

"OK," Sonic said. "Anything else you got?"

"You have a meeting with Toshiro Kezuka in exactly 30 seconds."

Sonic's eyes went wide. "Why didn't anyone tell me?" he yelped as he grabbed Tails and ran out the door.

################################################## #############

Sonic and Tails came into Toshiro Kezuka's office and sat down.

Toshiro looked to both of them. "Thank you for coming in, Sonic, and you too, Mr. Prower. We have just made a deal with Nintendo and we are going to be making a game for the Game Boy Advance."

Toshiro then pulled two paper gift bags from behind his desk and gave them to Sonic and Tails. They both picked up the bags and removed brand new boxed Game Boy Advances. Sonic shuddered and dropped the box back in the bag as if just holding it was morally wrong.

"Come on Sonic, you can't stay anti-Nintendo forever. The Game Boy Advance is a good console." Toshiro explained.

"He's right, Sonic," Tails said cheerfully as he held up a piece of paper. "I just read the specifications, comparing the Game Boy Advance to the SNES and SEGA Genesis. And the Advance is 32 bits, which makes it more powerful than either of the other two."

"32 bits," Sonic scoffed. "I'll bet it doesn't have Blast Processing."

Toshiro put his hand on his forehead. "Um, Sonic, Blast Processing was a marketing term. It's not a real thing; it never was."

Sonic stared at Toshiro like a small child that had just been told that there wasn't really a Santa Claus. "What do you mean? Of course Blast Processing is real." The hedgehog looked as if he was going to cry, and Tails came up next to him and set a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, hey, you're both right. I mean, the SNES may have had more power than the Genesis, but the Genesis was faster, right?"

"Well, isn't speed what matters most?" Sonic whined. "Just tell me – how is this new Game Boy better than my Genesis? And tell me so I can understand it," he added with a warning glance at Tails.

Toshiro sighed. How was he going to explain this?

Tails than smiled. "I'll explain it" he said. "In the 90s the SEGA Genesis boasted Blast Processing. It's now 2001, and the Game Boy Advance boasts 32 bits. What's that mean? It means the Game Boy Advance is way past Blast Processing. It can handle more, remember more, and do it all at nearly the same speed."

"OK," Sonic said blankly, "now I understand."

Toshiro then pulled out a cartridge and gave it to Sonic. "This is a demo cart of Green Hill Zone; there are still some bugs in it but it should give you an idea of what the Advance is like."

Sonic finally opened his Game Boy Advance and was surprised to find that it was black and somewhat resembled a SEGA game gear, only smaller. Sonic put the Green Hill Zone cart in and tried to play the game. The sound was not exactly right and the control response time was off. OK. It looked…ok.

"Well, this sure is not SEGA hardware, but I guess it will have to do," Sonic said. Toshiro eyed Sonic; his eyes turned to Tails and then to the door. Sonic then turned to Tails. "Hey little buddy, I forgot, I wanted to use my skateboard today. Can you take my new Game Boy to my room and get it for me?"

Tails gave Sonic a funny look. "You're faster, why don't you do it?"

"You need the exercise," Sonic said, "now go."

Tails walked off muttering something about Sonic getting lazy. Sonic then looked back at Toshiro. "OK, what did you want to get Tails out of the room for?"

"Sonic, you need to stop all this looking down on Nintendo. They are helping SEGA and they are helping you, Sonic. And I am sorry to say that I think they are being a lot nicer to us then we would have been to them had we won the war."

"What do you mean?" Sonic asked.

"Would you have wanted Mario on our console?"

"What? No!" Sonic said. "Why would I want…"

"Sonic," Toshiro broke in, "SEGA lost the war and Nintendo wants us as allies now. You can ether accept this, or you can go to the realm of forgotten characters."

Sonic gasped in horror. "You wouldn't…"

"I would not have a choice, Sonic. If you do not do what we need you to do we can't use you and so there is no point to you existing – and that includes all your friends. Even if you do not do this for yourself, what about them? What about Tails?" Toshiro inquired. "Do you want Tails to go to the realm of forgotten characters?You would have plenty of time to explain to him why you gave up and let him suffer for it."

#################################################

Tails caught up with Sonic in the library, holding his friend's skateboard. "OK Sonic, I got the skateboard," he said, "not that you really wanted it."

Sonic gave Tails a fake confused look. "What do you mean, little bro? I wouldn't have asked for it if I didn't want it."

"Yeah right Sonic," Tails said with a smirk, "Mr. Kezuka just wanted you to get me out of the room." Sonic looked back at the fox, surprised. "Yeah Sonic, I figured it out. I don't mind that much, but I still don't know what you were talking about."

"That's probably best, Tails." Sonic looked away for a second, then popped back up with a much brighter expression. "Anyway, I do want to use the skateboard, it's real good on those steep San Francisco streets."

Tails sighed, but then Sonic's choice of subject caught up with him and the sigh became a smirk. "Well Sonic, just remember to watch out for trucks."

"Excuse me, Mr. Prower," a voice asked. Tails looked to see a man that was clearly one of the lowest-paid people in the building. The fox hadn't noticed him come up, but he was too mousey to be startling.

"Can I help you?" Tails asked.

"I would really appreciate it if you would," the man said with desperation in his voice "but if you're too busy then…"

"Hey, I'll help if I can," Tails said. "What's your problem?"

"My car, it will not start, it's been having problems for some time but I can't afford a mechanic, so I thought…"

"You thought that you could ask me to fix it for free?" Tails asked

"I know," the man said, "I should not have asked, I just…"

"No," Tails said, "I'm here to help. Just let me get my tools." Tails then ran off to his room.

Sonic then looked to the man with a grin. "You're getting the best mechanic there ever was," Sonic said, "and I am not just saying that because he is my best friend."

################################################## ############

Sonic stepped out of the SEGA building and carrying his skateboard he ran up Kansas Street until he came to the intersection with 20th Street. Sonic then put on his headphones and selected a track to play on his watch. Sonic then jumped on the skateboard and went rolling down the hill. Sonic then started singing.

"Rolling around at the speed of sound,

Got places to go, gotta follow my rainbow..."

################################################## ############

"OK," Tails said, leaning over the car. "Try it now."

The man turned the key.

Chug Chug Chug Chug Klump

Chug Chug Chug Chug Klump

"OK," Tails said, "this is going to be harder than I thought." The fox then looked at the dashboard. "Ahem, Sir, how long has your oil light been on?"

The man looked up funny "Um, about a month or so? I am not sure."

"Aw man," Tails said burying his face in his hands in frustration, "I'm going to need my big toolbox."

################################################## ###

"Follow me - set me free - trust me
And we will escape from the city
I'll make it through, prove it to you
Follow me"

As Sonic rolled down a hill he saw two moving men carrying a large mirror. Sonic started grooming his quills until he saw an 18-wheeler truck clattering up behind him. "No way." Sonic abandoned his skateboard and tried a sidestep to let the truck pass him, but it kept after him. "OK," Sonic thought, "either some seriously disturbed fan is trying to reenact City Escape or this truck driver is drunk – that or just plain crazy!"

################################################## ########

Inside the truck the driver was oblivious to the fact that he was about to squash a blue hedgehog. He was too busy singing.

I'm drivin' a truck
Drivin' a big ol' truck
Pedal to the metal, hope I don't run out of luck
Rollin' down the highway until the break of dawn
Drivin' a truck…

#################################################

As Sonic was running the unthinkable happened he tripped and fell flat on his face. The truck was still coming and now it was all over.

"I am going to die," Sonic thought. Then he remembered something.

He was Sonic the Hedgehog and the Sonic franchise could not survive without him, and if the franchise could not survive then…Tails! The realm of forgotten characters! "No! I can't die!" He threw himself under the truck and tucked himself between the wheels, letting it roll safely by.

After the truck rolled over him he heard someone call him.

"Sonic! Sonic, are you ok?" Sonic looked up to see a kid, about 10 years old. "I saw the whole thing Sonic it was like that guy did not even see you." The kid helped Sonic to his feet.

"'The street is no place to play. Sonic sez.' I need to listen to my own advice."

"Sonic, is SEGA really going to make your games for Nintendo now?" the kid asked.

Sonic sighed. "Yes, they're making something for that new Game Boy." He had no idea how the kid had found out, but he was too busy being disgusted to care.

"The Game Boy Advance? Thanks for telling me; now I know what to ask for!"

"Hey Sonic!" someone else called. It was a teenager, about 15. Where did they keep coming from? "Sonic, I never thought I would get to see you. I have all your games – got the first one Christmas of 1991 – can I have your autograph?" The teen just happened to have a Sonic poster with him at the time. As Sonic was writing the teen spoke. "I see you manage to ditch that useless two-tailed fox."

Sonic stopped and clenched his fists, glaring enough to make the teen flinch "What did you say about Tails?" Sonic asked darkly. "I don't like 'fans' that insult my friends, especially my little bro. He means a lot to me, and if you call yourself my fan you should know that! I'd die for Tails if it would save him, but as it is," he heaved a sigh, "I guess I have to stay alive to do that. The games are changing; they may be good, they may be bad, but I must go on. I must go on for my friends…I must go on for Tails."

The teen was speechless for a moment and then spoke. "I am sorry, Sonic I…I did not know you were really that close. So are you and Tails g –"

"NOOOO!" Sonic yelled. "What is wrong with you people? Just because two guys really care for each other you think they're… No, I said he's my little bro and my best friend, and if you have a problem with me running away from Amy? Well, you never had to live with her."

################################################## #########

"Look," Tails said emerging from the engine of the car, "as much as I like fixing things I hate to see machines being abused. Please, if your oil light goes on again put oil in your car and get an oil change every 3,000 miles or three to six months. I can do the oil change for you if you can't get it done elsewhere, just tell me." The fox's normally fluffy fur was slicked down with grease.

"Thanks so much, Tails," the man said. "I thought I was going to have to get a new car and I can't afford it."

"Well," Tails said, rubbing behind his head, "I don't like to brag but I'm not sure anyone else would have bothered to fix this car. I had to take the whole engine apart and put it back together. Anyway, I need a shower. Catch you around!" Tails said, and ran off.

Tails went in to his apartment and into the bathroom.

He turned on the shower but nothing happened, at least at first. The shower began to sputter violently.

"Oh great, here I am covered in grease, and my shower's on the fritz."

Tails turned off the water and activated his communicator.

"Hello, maintenance? Um, my shower isn't working right."

"…"

"Hey, I'm a mechanic, not a plumber." he yelled. "Since you and Nintendo are making an agreement, why not have Mario fix my shower!" Tails then hung up. "Plumbing always gets me on edge," he grumbled to no one in particular. "Now what am I going to do?" Then his head and tails snapped up. "Sonic's! I can use his shower; he won't mind." Tails scooped up his towel and soap and ran over to his brother's room.

################################################## ###############

Amy Rose was walking down the hall. She came to Sonic's door and smiled. "I think I will just drop in on Sonic and surprise him." Amy keyed in the door code. She hoped Sonic wouldn't figure out where she'd gotten it from, since she was sure he thought he'd only given it to Tails.

Amy stepped in the room. "Hey Sonic, are you here?" She heard the sound of running water and chuckled "He's in the shower, good. He won't have his shoes on so he can't run away this time."

She then positioned herself in front of the bathroom door ready to grab Sonic when he came out. The water stopped. "This is it," Amy thought. The door started to open and Amy closed her eyes in her excitement. "SONIC!" Amy screamed, hurling herself at her hedgehog.

Tails didn't have time to protest as Amy forced her lips against his. The pink hedgehog ran her hand down Tails's back before coming to a jerky halt. "What…Sonic has... and there's..."

She opened her eyes and pulled away. "TAILS!" she fumed. "Where is Sonic and what are you doing here?" Enrgaed, she pulled out her hammer and swung it at Tails. He managed to slip away from her, grateful for the soap he'd just used, and rolled on the ground.

"Amy, I can explain," Tails cried out.

Amy was not listening and so she swung again and Tails dodged her by rolling over again and again. But Amy wasn't giving up. She prepared to swing yet again and this time Tails was cornered.

This was it, Tails thought; he was about to become a pancake. Amy could be deadly with her hammer, especially when she was angry. And right now Amy was very angry. Tails knew better than to get between Amy and her prey.

"AMY, NO!" Sonic screeched into the room, immediately grabbing first Amy's hammer and then Amy herself. He turned her around more roughly than he usually might. He held Amy's head, fire still burning in her eyes. "Amy, what were you thinking? You could have killed him. Tails, go to your room." The fox looked frightened, but he hesitated. "Go!" This time, Tails bolted for the door.

Amy finally started to come to her senses. "Oh my gosh," she thought. "Sonic's right, I almost killed Tails, and if I killed Tails…Sonic would hate me forever."

"I…I'm so sorry," Amy said, shaking. "Sonic, I am so sorry…"

################################################## ########

Some time later Tails came back into Sonic's room.

"Hey, Sonic, did you talk to her?"

"Yes," Sonic said, "and she told me to tell you sorry."

"It really isn't her fault, it's the programming," Tails said.

Sonic sighed. "I know, and it makes it harder since she doesn't understand all that."

"Then why not just tell her?" Tails asked.

"What would I say? 'Sorry Amy, I just don't know if you really love me or if it's the way Sega made you?' She would smash me for sure."

"You told me," Tails said.

"You were only programmed with back stories and your intelligence. But you were never programmed to like me. That happened for real, but the others didn't get your chance. A different department made Amy and the rest later on.

"But you, Tails..."

#############################################

Flashback

Sonic was in a room waiting.

He still felt terrible for what he had almost done.

・OK, Sonic, we've finished his base programming and now we need to see what he thinks of you,・Yasushi Yamaguchi said.

"Hello" a voice said. A two-tailed fox came into the room.

Sonic cringed. The boy was probably going to hate him, or be afraid of him, or something like that.

"Hey, you look cool," the fox said, looking at Sonic. Sonic blinked. "My name is Miles Prower, but you can call me Tails."

He blinked. Well, so much for all of that. "Tails?" he asked a little weakly.

"Yeah. I have two of them."

・That・s what they want his name to be・ Yasushi said.

"I like it," Sonic said. "Easy to remember, right?"

"You and everyone else" said Yasushi with a sigh. He put his hand on Tails's head. "You'll always be Miles Prower to me."

"What's your name?" Tails asked.

"I'm Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog."

"Well Sonic, can we be friends?"

"You're not afraid of me?" Sonic asked.

"No, you're cool," Tails said.

Sonic looked at him, worry for himself slowly shifting to the little fox. "Do you know how you got here?"

"No, I don't," Tails said, "do you?"

・I don・t think Sonic knows either,・ Yasushi said, "but don・t worry ・ we'll tell you when we think you're ready. But for now I will let the two of you get to know each other.・

End Flashback

Sonic spotted something on his bed. "Must be all the info for the new game," he thought.

Tails spoke up. "Oh, Sonic I was about to tell you about the new game, it's a classic sidescroller."

"Great," Sonic said, "it's been a while since I have had a new one of those."

Later that evening

"Hey Sonic," Tails said.

"Yeah, Tails?"

"Looks like Top Gun is on HBO tonight!" Tails said.

"You're always reading something" Sonic said with a chuckle. "But I didn't think we got HBO".

"We do now," Tails said, holding up a screwdriver.

Sonic eyed Tails. "Oh, I'll put the box back to normal after the movie," Tails said. "I wouldn't even do stuff like that if SEGA let me sell my inventions or if they had listened to my ideas for the Saturn and Dreamcast."

"So that's it," Sonic said.

"That's what?" Tails asked.

"The reason you didn't care about SEGA going third party."

"Well yes, I cared, but I would care a lot more if I had made the consoles myself. And if I had I don't think we'd have had to go third party either."

Sonic ruffled his brother's bangs. It wasn't like him to make claims like that, which meant this whole situation had the little fox more riled up than he was letting on. "I am sure they would have been great, Tails," Sonic said soothingly, "but let's just watch the movie."

Tails settled down a little. "Sure, Sonic."

Time for a healthier conversation, then. "I feel the need, Tails," Sonic prompted.

・The need for speed!" Tails yelled back.