Chapter 7: Father and Son
June 12th, 2307 – 9:00 PM – Hedgehog Residence, Forest Town, Elona
Swift decided that after he got the call from Kyle that he was going to spend the rest of the day with his son, before he had to go off to war and leave him alone again. The two of them had decided on one of their old favorite pastimes, which was to go on runs through the Elona wilderness. With so few people living in Elona, much of the land was uninhabited and unsettled, which gave the two of them a lot of unrestricted running space.
Swift was faster than his son at running, but Sonic was rapidly catching up to him. Last year, Swift could have outrun him without breaking a sweat, but nowadays he had to put in a little effort to be able to stay in front. He thought that in another couple years his son would surpass him in speed, and then he'd be the one trailing behind from then on.
At noon that day, they had rushed back into Forest Town to eat at Sonic's favorite restaurant, which was actually just a hotdog stand that was sometimes set up near their apartment building. He had become quite addicted to chilidogs, ever since Swift had given him a little bite from one a couple years ago at dinnertime. Swift hoped that when he got back he could get Sonic to eat something healthier. Too many of those things would fatten him up and slow him down.
That afternoon, the two of them took a ride in Swift's biplane, which he called the Tornado. It was a single-seater, but Sonic was small enough to sit in Swift's lap while he worked the controls of the plane. However, Sonic was growing bigger fast, and Swift probably wouldn't be able to fly like this much longer.
"If you get any bigger, one of us might have to ride on the wing from now on," he said aloud to Sonic.
Regardless, the Land of the Sky was a beautiful sight from the air. The islands and continents that floated above the planet were covered with beautiful forests, lakes, rivers, and mountains. The sight was even more beautiful considering all of the land was floating on a sea of clouds far above the surface of Planet Freedom. You had to watch closely to see the surface from way up here, since there were so many clouds down below to block the view. The sky was amazingly blue up here, and it felt like it stretched forever. All in all, it was no wonder that the Land of the Sky had tons more people living in it compared to the Land of Darkness.
Too soon though, the sun was starting to go down, and Swift turned the plane around and headed for home.
"Daddy!" Sonic shouted. "Come on! I wanna keep flying!"
"I'm sorry, son, but we have to go home," Swift replied. "If it gets dark I won't be able to see where I'm going, and we might crash. I promise we'll fly again later."
"You promise?"
"Yeah. We'll fly again as soon as I get home from the war."
The two of the arrived home that night and ate a late dinner. As the two of them sat at their kitchen table and ate their food, Swift watched the news on their nearby TV set through the door to the living room.
"Because of the release of Dr. Robotnik by his army," a news anchor said. "The human council has determined that it is too dangerous for Freedomians to live in the Land of Darkness at this time. Robotnik's hidden headquarters are reported to be hidden somewhere in this region, and so residents could be dangerously near Robotnik and not know it. All who are living in the Land of Darkness are requested to evacuate immediately to the Land of the Sky. The council advises trying to stay with friends and family during this time, but there are shelters being set up for those who cannot find a place to stay. Stay tuned for further details. And now, a word from our sponsors,"
A commercial for some brand of coffee came up, and Oliver "Old Man" Owl, the legendary racer in the Freedomian Flying Speed Races, was starring in the commercial and endorsing the product.
Well... Swift thought. Make that FORMER legendary racer. This poor guy's eyesight is getting worse and worse by the day, and his formerly great reaction times are getting slower too. It's a miracle he hasn't killed himself out on the track yet. Why, just six months ago, when Sonic and me watched him racing right here in Elona, he scraped the right side of his racing jet along a cliff wall. The wing got torn off from the impact, and the jet came crashing down to the ground. It burst into flames moments later. Yet, that bugger managed to escape with just a few scratches and burns. He's one lucky owl, that's for sure.
Unlike in real life, Oliver's trademark gray and orange jet in the commercial flew around an aerial track without making any mistakes at all. The pilot made dangerous and death defying moves, like getting within a few mere inches of cliffs and doing barrel rolls through narrow canyons. High-energy music played in the background throughout the ad. Swift had little doubt it was a hired stunt flyer doing the tricks rather than Oliver himself, because Oliver would have crashed at least two dozen times during this whole commercial if he was trying half of these stunts.
As the jet settled down at the pit stop near the finish line, Oliver stepped out and cheerfully said, "I start every day with Reglof Coffee to assist my lightning reflexes during my early morning training runs!"
"Lightning reflexes... That's funny..." Swift said between chuckles.
"So, buy your Reglof Coffee at your local supermarket today and get your daily morning adrenaline rush!"
"All you need for an adrenaline rush is a run at a good 200 MPH..."
The phone on the wall near the table rang. Swift picked up the remote sitting on the table next to his plate, and turned down the TV's volume to silence the annoying bird's voice. He picked up the phone and put it to his ear.
"Hello?" he said.
"Hey Swift, it's me, Kyle," the voice on the other end said.
"Oh, hey Kyle. What is it?"
"Have you seen what was just shown on the news?"
"Yeah. The Land of Darkness is being evacuated. I'm guessing you're having to leave, since Ronoh is down there?"
"That's right. This isn't a problem for me, but Natalie's going to need a place to stay. I was wondering if she could stay in your house while we're going off to war."
"That would be great. She could take care of my house, and look after Sonic too. Sonic can take care of himself easy enough, but the kid needs to learn to clean up after himself. My apartment was a mess after I came home from that parade in New Earth City."
"Heh, maybe my new wife could keep him from doing it, and she'd get practice taking care of a kid before we have our own one."
"Sonic is a handful though, so she'd better watch out."
"That's all right. Better to be stuck with him than in one of those government shelters."
"Yeah. Lemme give you some directions to this place."
After Swift had provided them with how to get to his apartment, Kyle said, "Thanks buddy. I hope my wife likes your son."
"Me too. I'll tell him to let her in when she gets here."
"Bye then! See you out in Chawak!"
"Bye."
Swift hung up to the phone, and turned to his son. He was still eating his dinner. He looked up at his dad.
"What is it, daddy?" Sonic said.
"Sonic, last time I was gone, you were living alone, remember?"
"Uh huh..." Sonic said as he nodded.
"Well, this time you're going to have somebody living with you and taking care of you."
"But why? I can take care of myself!"
"I know that, but you do a terrible job of it. Remember how you broke all those plates that were in the cabinet while I was gone?"
"Umm..."
"And all of the crayon marks on the walls, and the clothes all torn out of our closets and lying all over the floor,"
"But..."
"Oh yeah, and all those hotdogs and candy you bought with the money I left you for food, when I told you to buy healthier stuff."
"But that health food was yucky!"
"Look Sonic, you're a growing boy and you need that healthy food to keep you from getting fat. You don't want to get fat and slow, do you?"
"No..."
"Then you'll eat all the good healthy food that this baby sitter is making."
"What's her name?"
"Her name is Natalie Prower, and she's the wife of Kyle Prower. Remember him? I told you all about Kyle after I got back."
"Yeah."
"Anyway, she's going to be here tomorrow or the day after that. When she gets here, I want you to do everything she tells you to do and behave for her, okay?"
"Aww...okay..."
"I'm sure she'll be a good babysitter, since Kyle married her. So, be nice to her, so that she'll be nice to you back, okay?"
"Okay..."
"I'm leaving at five in the morning tomorrow, so you won't see me around when you get up. When Natalie gets here, ask for her name and look at her through the spy hole before you let her in. She's a yellow fox and she wears glasses. Can you remember that?"
"Yes."
"Good. After you let her in, be sure to give her a house key so that she can unlock the front door whenever she wants."
Swift stopped talking, trying to think of something else he needed to tell his son.
When he couldn't think of anything else, he said, "So, tell me again, what are you doing when Natalie gets here?"
"I'm going to ask for her name and make sure that it's her before I let her in. I'm going to give her a key so that she can come in here whenever she wants. And...I'll behave for her and do everything she says."
"That's a good boy. Now, it's your bedtime."
"Aww...I wanna stay up!"
"No Sonic, you got to do what you wanted to all day today, so I think it's fair that I get to tell you to do one thing."
"Okay..." Sonic muttered as he sighed. He dragged his feet as he walked off to bed.
"Good night, son," Swift said.
"Good night, daddy," Sonic mumbled as he left the kitchen.
"Little troublemaker," Swift muttered as he settled down into a recliner in the living room, turning up the TV's volume again. "Then again, I guess that's my fault...heh heh..."
Swift watched TV until 10:00 pm, and then he went to bed. He had to get up in the morning, and so he wanted to make sure to get in enough hours of sleep. Not only that, Swift knew he wasn't going to get much sleep out in the war zone, so he wanted to enjoy being able to rest while he could. It was going to be a while before he'd be able to sleep peacefully in his own home again...
Just as Swift had promised, he was already gone by the time that Sonic had woken up in his room. Sonic sat on the couch in the living room, watching some old cartoon from Earth about a coyote trying to catch this purple bird. It was really funny, because the coyote could never catch the bird, since the bird ran almost as fast as Sonic. It stunk how they never talked though. All they did was show some signs to talk, but Sonic wanted them to talk out loud to him.
I wish I could run around outside like that today, but I can't. I gotta stay here and wait for Mrs. Prower to show up. I hope she's nice. Dad told me that she was a professor at a college, I think. Is she really smart? I wonder if she knows what the tallest building in the world is. I hope she lets me run around outside and doesn't make me clean up my messes...
Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Sonic jumped up off of the couch. He ran over to the front door, but he was too short to look through the spy hole to see if it was Mrs. Prower. So, he had to drag a chair from the kitchen to stand on. He looked through the small hole, and saw a yellow fox wearing glasses, just like dad had told her to look out for.
"What's your name?" Sonic said.
"Natalie Prower," the fox said. "Is that you, Sonic?"
"Yeah, it's me," Sonic said.
He got down off of his chair and moved it away from the door. He opened the door. Natalie looked down at him and smiled. She had several bags on a cart behind her.
"Aww…you're so cute! You look a lot like Swift."
"Umm, thanks Mrs. Prower..."
Natalie stepped in and looked around the apartment.
"Well, this is a nice house, I guess."
"Yeah, but I always mess it up."
"What do you mean?"
"I really like making messes," Sonic said with a broad grin. "Last time daddy was gone, I broke a lot of dishes and marked up all the walls with crayons."
"What? I can't believe you, wasting good dishes and walls like that!"
"But it's fun!"
"Look Sonic, fixing up after things like that is expensive. I'm going to need to keep an eye on you then if you keep doing that."
"Aww...you're no fun! Daddy doesn't mind too much if I make messes."
"Well, I think your dad needs to give you some more strict discipline then. I'm really going to need to watch you then."
This is really going to be bad if Mrs. Prower is always like this, Sonic thought. I can't make messes and get away with it any more. Oh no, I hope she doesn't make me eat—
"What foods do you like to eat, Sonic?"
"Chilidogs..."
"What else?"
"Candy, and uhh...that's about it."
"Is that the only thing your daddy gives you?"
"Well, mostly, but sometimes he tries to give me vegetables and stuff, but I usually don't eat it."
"I can't believe that irresponsible hog! He doesn't watch after his child and feed him right!"
Oh no... She's gonna give me health food now! ARGH!
"Sonic, don't worry. I'm going to help make you into a perfect young boy. Starting tomorrow, I'll buy us vegetables and fruit to eat, and I'll help you not to make such a mess of this place anymore."
NO! Daddy! Come back soon!