Disclaimer: All characters are copywrite to Sega, and I don't take credit for them. I made Sonic's parents for the sole purpose of this fic.
Note: Knuckles' past is unspecified; this was made entirely from speculation, same with Sonic's.
Another note: Sonic is a year older than Knuckles, as he was in Sonic 3.
It had been six years since the Chosen One was born.
And five since the Guardian was born.
In six years, the two were going to clash.
There was no changing this part of the future.
And despite both the Chosen One and the Guardian were destined to be heroes, the beginnings of their lives were completely different.
The Chosen One cradled in his mother's arms, fat, round, doe-eyed and adorable. He gurgles with happiness as she strokes his head.
The Guardian sitting alone in front of a giant emerald, horribly thin, bony, blank eyed and scrawny. He silently wails with hunger.
This was their life stories.
The small blue hedgehog plonked himself on the cream coloured couch. He was royal blue with six spikes sloping from his head. He also had two on his back. His muzzle, inner ears, arms, and stomach were tan coloured. He wore bleach white gloves and socks, with red shoes with a white strap on them. His emerald green eyes gazed at the television.
Chao in Space.
His favourite movie.
"Sonic," said a gentle feminine voice.
An adult hedgehog walked into the room.
She was a pale blue in colour, with six spikes sloping from the back of her head, like her son, but she had none on her back. Her muzzle, inner ears, and arms were tan. She wore a pink dress, slippers, and a yellow apron. Her soft green eyes eyed the young hedgehog.
"Sonic, have you revised today?" she asked.
"Revised? What for?" Sonic asked, yet his eyes didn't budge from the TV screen.
"For the maths test you have tomorrow."
"Oh. That. In a minute, mom."
"No, Sonic Hedgehog! Now!"
Sonic switched the TV off and stormed out of the room, grumbling.
He walked into a small, quiet room, with nothing inside but a table and a few chairs. He scrambled onto one of the chairs, to find his revision sheets were already on the table for him, as was his pen and pencil.
He snatched up his pen and began to revise, sighing.
"I wish I didn't have any parents…" he said to himself.
The small red echidna sighed and gazed up at the cloudless sky. He was crimson with seven spikes hanging down his face. His muzzle was a very pale tan. He had a white crescent on his chest, the Guardian symbol. His amethyst eyes started blankly at the blue.
His hands were bare, and fur was very thin and rough here. Dead skin was piled between his callused fingers, acting like a membrane. What was most startling about his hands, though, were the two spikes that tore through his knuckle area. Two on each hand. All of them were solid bone, and where they had ripped through the skin was caked with scar.
He grasped a broken stick and waved it for entertainment.
He let out another sigh, through his cracked lips. He quietly whimpered from thirst and hunger. He hadn't drunk for days, and he hadn't eaten for months.
'Guardian,' a soft whispery voice echoed through his head.
The echidna sat up and turned around, to greet his 'Master'.
It was a humongous green emerald. It was about ten times the size of the echidna and more. It glowed softly, illuminating the ancient temple.
'Guardian, are you ready?'
"Ready for what…?" the echidna, dubbed 'Guardian' asked, though his lips didn't move. He didn't have the ability to talk, but to communicate with telepathy.
'For your next test.'
"No… no… I'm not ready…"
'You must always be ready.'
A super-natural force threw the child off of the shrine and into the forest near-by.
He picked himself up, groaning in pain. He wandered through the forest, ducking under branches and slipping between the trees. He needed to find a river – and fast, before he died of dehydration. He finally found one.
He rushed over to it, and frowned. Birds had been bathing in it, which meant it was polluted. His main focus was hydration though, so he scooped some in his bare hands and sipped it.
"I wish someone was with me…" his plea bounced around in his mind, then was lost forever.
Evening dawned upon the horizon.
Sonic had long since finished revising, exercised, and watched TV.
He was then playing the Sega Mega Drive.
Alex the Kidd to be exact.
He smiled as he passed another level.
"I wanna be just like Alex when I grow up…" he said to himself.
"Sonic! Dinner!" called his mother's voice.
"Ok mom!" Sonic paused the game and ran into the kitchen.
It was a small room, with white tiling. There was an oven, dryer, sink, and washing machine. Sonic wasn't allowed near any of them. He sat at the beige table in the corner on one of the brown oak chairs. He picked up the plastic knife and fork on either side of the Alex the Kidd bowl.
His mother put lamb, potatoes and vegetables in the bowl.
Sonic had soon wolfed everything down.
Everything but the vegetables, that is.
He played with them for a while, moving them around his plate.
"I'm done!" he said, jumping off of the chair and going to resume his game.
His mother shook her head.
"Kids…"
The Guardian's stomach growled with hunger.
He groaned, and rubbed it. He hadn't heard any of his traps go off.
He couldn't eat the mushrooms, despite how very tempting they looked.
He knew this because he had tried, and they made him sick.
The polluted water he had drunk earlier hadn't helped with that either.
He leapt to his feet as he heard a snap.
"Food!" he thought to himself gleefully.
He ran over to the source of the sound, and found a brown rabbit, with its paws tied up, struggling.
He frowned. "How am I supposed to eat that?"
'Cut it…' the Master said coolly.
"Cut it!" The echidna's eyes widened. He knew he had to do it. He raised one of his giant paws over the rabbit, ready to slice it.
The rabbit looked back up at him, with adorable, fearful eyes.
He stood up again, hanging his head slightly. "You do it…" he 'said' to the Master.
'No. You have to fend for yourself.'
"But I've never killed an animal before."
'I'm not doing your dirty work for you.'
Whilst the echidna had a mental argument with the emerald, a fox grabbed the rabbit and ran off.
"Hey, wait!" the Guardian chased after it, his stomach churning as he did.
Sonic lay in his bed, covered by red quilts, and with a matching pillow behind his head.
His room was red coloured, and warm.
There was a TV on his chest of drawers, which was next to his wardrobe full of different shoes, socks and gloves, which was next to his radiator.
He smiled as he curled up, clutching his Alex the Kidd doll.
"Goodnight, Sonic," his mother kissed him on the forehead.
"Night, mom…" he said dozily.
The female hedgehog left the room, shutting the door.
Sonic yawned. "I wanted to play more…" he whispered to himself. "But I have a set bedtime… I must be the unluckiest kid in the universe…"
The Guardian hid in a bush, waiting for the moment to pounce on the fox and get his dinner back.
He lunged at the thieving animal, randomly flailing his arms.
The fox turned and slashed the top of his arm with its teeth, creating a large wound.
The Guardian wailed, and held his shoulder, feeling the blood soak into his hands.
He continued to follow the fox, until he came across its den.
Two fox cubs popped out of the hole, wagging their tails.
"It has children…" the Guardian thought to himself, now feeling bad for chasing the fox. "Maybe it's a mother…"
The fox cubs began to tear the rabbit apart, devouring its insides.
The Guardian's muzzle drained of its colour. He turned away, grossed out.
"Maybe I'll just fish…" he thought, grabbing a branch with a point on one side.
He walked over to the same river he had drunk from some time ago, and began to stab it, hoping to catch a fish.
For a long time, he had no luck, until he found something soft, he pulled the stick above the surface, to see a silver fish wriggling on the end.
He sighed, relieved that he finally had some food.
He didn't think of cooking it, and just as he was about to take a bite, he heard a howl.
He slowly turned around, to see a shadow looming around him.
He screamed and ran away, dropping the stick and the fish.
Giving up, he lay on his back, staring up at the now star-filled sky.
He turned to his right, his eyelids drooped.
He saw a large fly, and an army of smaller insects taking its wings.
"Why are they doing that…?" he wandered, staring for a little longer. "I see… it died…" he looked back up at the sky. "The same will happen to me if I die out here…" he sighed. "My substances will become nutrients for the plants… they will nourish herbivores, which will nourish carnivores… it's a cycle…"
A snap coming from his left made him jerk his head in that direction.
There was another brown rabbit, struggling to free itself from the binds, its paws tied up.
The Guardian stared at it for a long while, watching its fearful eyes. He got into his knees. He was too hungry…
He clenched his eyes shut.
"I'm sorry…"
He went in for the kill.
And then he struggled through another restless night.
I hope you liked it.
Remember not to take things for granted, there are children out there who live their lives in turmoil.
I may turn this into a Sonic 3 adaptation.