A Day In The Park

The air is breezy, carrying the scent of summer picnics, barbeques, and fresh grass on the warm sun-drenched day. A small blue hedgehog holding the hands of his parents—a male hedgehog similar in color to his son and a female violet hedgehog—strides through the springy grass towards a spot under a tree they often use on their trips to the park.

Sonic, having spotted the large oak tree up ahead, breaks free of his parents hold and begins to run to the area with laughs and giggles galore.

“Sonic!” his mother calls out pointlessly with a fond smile on her face, knowing that his hyper activeness was bound to kick in at some point.

The little blue hedgehog with a jubilant smile sees his goal come within reach only something isn’t quite right, which causes him to halt his pace. Another family sits there without a worry in the world. Their red and white picnic blanket spread out with food already being passed around.

A large pout graces his face as his parents catch up and immediately after he points in the occupied area, a complaint on his lips. “Mom! Dad! There are people already there…”

His parents indeed do see the other family: an elderly human male with a rather large grey mustache, a young blonde girl with an angelic smile, and an oddly stoic black and crimson streaked hedgehog of around Sonic’s age. Humans and Mobians living in peace together is not unusual, but this family is rather… unique.

“Sonic, honey, it’s not our place. Others can sit there if they want,” his mother tries to explain calmly.

“Yeah, big guy. Or,” seeing the strong fight his son is about to give playing in the hedgehog’s emerald eyes, he begins to amend, “we could just go and maybe talk to them. Become friends even, and have a picnic together. What do you say to that?”

Sonic now feeling highly enthused jumps up excitedly and takes off towards the family while exclaiming his answer, “Yeah! That’d be way past cool!!” As soon as he’s directly before the chatting family who stare at him with curious eyes, he offers the biggest greeting he can muster. “Hi! I’m Sonic the Hedgehog!! Me and my family would like to join yours for a picnic and maybe even become friends! Would that be okay??”

They all stare at him, completely unused to such displays of excitement. His father is the first to appear behind the tiny blue hedgehog with a sheepish explanation already forming. “Err, sorry for my son. He can be very…”

“Impulsive.” The dark little hedgehog mutters under his breath much to the silent chiding of the young blond female.

“It’s quite alright,” she addresses the male Mobian as his wife arrives at last, “He seems very nice. Besides I think it would be lovely if we all had a picnic together, wouldn’t it grandfather?”

The man with shaded spectacles hums with a smile. “It’s quite alright with me Maria. What about you Shadow?”

The little hedgehog in questions simply hmphs while crossing his arms. The blond girl, Maria, nudges him lightly and chastises him softly, “Shadow, don’t be so rude. This is your chance to make a new friend!”

Sonic’s father begins to set up his family’s belongings next to the human/Mobian family’s just as his wife begins the introductions, her soft hands gently holding on to the shoulders of her son who’s wondering eyes finds and locks on to the Chili Dogs his family brought. “Well, I’m Aleena, my husband is Jules, and this is our son, Sonic.”

“It is nice to meet you all. I’m Gerald Robotnik and this is my granddaughter, Maria, and my adopted grandson, Shadow,” the elder in an oddly out of place lab coat offers in return.

Maria deciding now would be a good time to throw the two little hedgehogs together speaks up with the utmost innocence. “Shadow, why don’t you and Sonic go play for a while? We’ll set everything up for when you two get back.”

Shadow’s crimson eyes meet hers in an incredulous stare as he watches said blue hedgehog hop around excitedly while trying to steal a Chili Dog or two. Maria seeing where his thoughts are headed says in a low whisper, “Do it for me? I can’t be your only friend in life, Shadow. I want to see you happy.”

Sighing in defeat as he knows he can’t win against his sister’s angelic blue eyes, he stands reluctantly catching the attention of Sonic. The blue hedgehog runs to his side and begins to tug him towards the grassy fields already speaking a mile a minute, bringing a smile to those watching the two.

“So your name’s Shadow, huh? What do you do for fun? What do you wanna play? What are your favorite games? We could play tag, hide-and-seek, racing-”

“Do you ever stop talking?” Shadow cuts in after finally managing to pull his hand from the grip of the blue one.

“Um… yeah? But you didn’t answer my questions!” Sonic responds after getting his mind back on track after the abrupt inquiry.

With an annoyed huff, the small obsidian hedgehog responds with a simple answer. “I don’t do anything for fun.”

Looking as if the world ran out of its supply of Chili Dogs, Sonic grabs onto Shadow’s shoulder in disbelief. “You can’t be serious! Everyone has fun!”

Not dignifying him with retort, Shadow simply crosses his arms. With determined green eyes Sonic makes a life or death decision. “Well, I’m gonna help you have fun Shadow! I promise.”

Giving the hedgehog before him a bored look, he’s unsurprised by the suggestion that comes out of the fawn muzzle. “Let’s race! Racing’s loads of fun!”

“Whatever.”

Sonic nudges him playfully as he moves to stand beside his new friend in preparation. “Be serious, Shadow. Now we go on the count of three.”

“You can count that far,” Shadow mumbles earning a dead pan look from his opponent.

“Yes. Now. One, two, three!” The two beginning running, despite Shadow’s dislike for wanting to participate in the activity at all. Sonic’s having a blast with the wind blowing against his fur and the sun shining down like a sea of warmth against his skin. When he looks over though, he’s disheartened to notice there’s no smile or any signs of joy on his friends face. It’s as if he’s treating the fun activity like a chore or something.

“Shads! This is supposed to be fun! Why don’t you like it?” Sonic ask as they continue their race.

Shadow however turns his face quickly in the blue one’s direction in shock at his words. “Shads??”

Sonic, thinking quickly, decides to change up the activity in hopes of gaining a smile from his new friend. Changing the direction his feet are taking him he manages to tackle the unsuspecting hedgehog, the two ending up tumbling through the bright green grass until Sonic winds-up on top of his surprised friend.

“What are you doing??” Shadow questions as his mind tries to catch up with the rapid change of events.

Sonic sitting squarely on his counterpart lifts up his hands and wiggles his fingers mischievously. “I believe it’s time for… tickling!” he shouts before delving his fingers into the dark pelt below him and beginning to wiggle his fingers madly.

Shadow squirms and fights, oh he fights so strongly, but in the end a laugh breaks through followed by another and a hundred more. The two are a frenzy of laughter and snickers, Sonic working fervently to bring some joy into Shadow’s world.

“S-Sonic! Haha!! S-stop! Hahaha!!” Shadow cries out while squirming helplessly under the blue hedgehog.

“Do you give!?” Sonic questions over the widest smile, his chest heaving from effort and chortles.

“Yes! Yes! Hahaha! Fine!”

Easing back on the hedgehog below him, he’s completely surprised when he’s thrust onto his back with Shadow’s fingers poised for action, a playfully gleam shining in his crimson orbs. “I think it’s time to return the favor!”

“Shads no! N- Hahaha!!” Without pause his fingers copy the actions Sonic’s performed on him, enjoying the peals of laughter their activities warrant. An unusual sense of freedom and delight fill him as the two continue to play in the soft languid grass, thoughts of how silly their activities are completely lost to his mind.

Their sounds of happiness carry over to their watching families, relief and elation filing the onlooker’s hearts at the sight of the newfound friendship.