Adapting

Snacks

Winters in Green hills rarely consist of snow, HOWEVER, it does get very cold. Sonic was sprinting around the town running some errands. What errands does a 14 year old have you may ask? Food gathering. See... despite moving in with his human parents, Sonic had many habits he'd have to break. One of these habits was storing food for the winter. He didn't like going outside during the cold days so he still stores food. While out gathering his next bounty, Tom and Maddie decided to finally inspect the hedgehog's room. "Ugh! Definitely coming from in here..." Maddie recoiled. Sonic's room was messy and had a rancid smell, and it was beginning to spread throughout the home. "Alright... let's clean up..." With hesitation, the two begun cleaning. They found nothing the whole time they were cleaning, and the last thing they had to do was flip the mattress and make his bed. The two humans lifted up the mattress in the racecar frame. "EH!" "OH MY GOD!" The two gagged. Hidden under the bed, was a big pile of food and scraps. Some of it was stale, unpackaged and even expired or moldy. "What the hell...!?" "Phew...! Oh my... Sonic..." Maddie was holding her nose and Tom got angry. "Is he TRYING to being rats to infest this attic!?" "We definitely have to have a talk with him... until he returns, let's toss this stuff." They gathered the rotten food, and moved it outside so they could catch Sonic on the porch. Soon enough, Sonic returned, stopping in front of some angry humans holding a full garbage bag, with his arms filled with more food. "Uh, hi?" "Sonic. What is that?" Tom asked, already knowing the answer. "Mm... food... Don't worry, I-I planned on sharing..." Sonic stuttered, noticing that BOTH of his friends appeared to be VERY angry. "ALL of this?" Sonic lowered his ears as Tom showed him that they put his food in the bag, placing the new stuff on top, trying to take the bag. "No no no. This is all VERY rotten, Sonic. Where did you get this? And how long have you been collecting this stuff?" Maddie demanded. The humans stood, not even taking into account how intimidating they appeared to their practically toddler sized alien. "Uh...town... and only a few days..." Sonic coward and the pair still didn't notice. "Sonic, how dare you!? Stealing AND keeping the most disgusting and vile food under your bed, which was BRAND NEW by the way." Sonic felt tears threatening to fall as he was scolded like child. To them, he was. The realization of that hit hard... they were treating him like a human child, but he wasn't one... Sonic was a Mobian. And Mobians who were considered homeless would store food for long periods of time. Sonic wasn't even listening at that point... just trying not to cry. "I think it's best for you to go to your room. You're grounded for this young man. Go." Tom demanded, pointing to the house. Sonic flinched when he took the bag away from the poor creature and rushed to his room before Maddie shouted. "No running in the house!" The two sighed and threw out the trash before heading back inside. While they got ready for bed themselves, Sonic cried into his pillow. Saying he was sad was a massive understatement.

The following day, Maddie stayed home with the grounded alien while Tom went to work. He was sat at the speed trap, Wade joining him in his own police car. The deputy immediately noticed to sheriff's frown. "What's wrong Tom?" "Nothing... just... teen drama." "Ah... what'd Sonic do now?" Sonic was no longer in hiding and was well known and welcomed in the small town with open arms, so he came in alot with Tom... meaning Wade saw him often. "We had to ground him last night." Tom explained. "Ground my alien nephew? Why?" Tom avoided eye contact. Anytime Wade referred to Sonic as his nephew or himself being Sonic's uncle, the implications were obvious. "Well. Partially because his room was a mess and he didn't clean it, partially because he was half an hour past curfew... but mostly because he had rotting food hid in his room." Wade was confused by this. "The first two I get... but having a food stash? That's not that big a deal." "Wade... it was ROTTEN. Not just stale or a couple days old. Rotten. Moldy. Horrible stuff. A whole mound of it was stashed under his mattress. Me and Mads almost threw up." Tom continued going on another rant about how ungrateful and disrespectful Sonic had been, but Wade stopped him. "Shhh... for a sec. Maybe that's an old habit of his..." "Collecting repulsive food?" "....not collecting repulsive food... just food. Carl used to say that Sonic was less active during the winters, remember? What if a habit of his is to store food so he can hide away during the cold days?" "....but..." "....he ain't like a human kid, Tom... he's lived in a cave in secret... scraps and stolen foods were all he had." Tom's anger turned to guilt. "I... I never thought of that...! I...I gotta go. Cover for me, radio if you need me." "Sure thing." Tom didn't even hear him as he got back in his vehicle and rushed home, sirens on.

Back at the house, Sonic was packing. He had never been yelled at like this... he thought that he didn't belong here... he wasn't a human. And his instincts seemed to be the exact opposite of what he was supposed to do. Maddie had just checked on him so now was his chance. He grabbed his bag, and his sack of rings and grabbed one. Just as he was about to throw it, a siren caught his attention. Tom had made it to the house. Rushing into the house, not even closing the vehicle door he called for his wife. Sonic shook his head, hearing Tom. It was now of never... for his friends happiness. "Tom? What's going on, what happened?" Maddie asked in a panic. "Sonic's a hedgehog Maddie. A hedgehog. We yelled at and grounded the kid for storing food, but that's what he's always done! It's getting cold, he's only storing food because he doesn't know any better." Tom explained while he and Maddie made their way to the attic....

However... they were a little late. Sonic had already thrown a ring. A portal open in front of him... he took a deep breath as he stared at the familiar world in his path... he decided to return to his own home... the world where he lost his guardian all those years ago... hearing Tom and Maddie opening the attic door, he had to make a choice... stay here and hope that he can learn to be human enough.... or return to a most likely still dangerous world... one with people similar to him. No humans... no Pretzel Lady... no Donut Lord...

His mind was clear.

He stepped through the portal. His feet touched the soft ground on the other side as the two humans entered, looking for him... Sonic turned and faced them. Neither human moved, feeling their hearts shatter as the portal already began to close. Sonic let tears fall and said one last thing to his friends... "....bye mom... bye dad...." Sonic waved goodbye as the two realized what was happening. "Sonic NO!" Maddie ran, trying to get to the runaway... but she was too slow. The ring portal disappeared and both adults fell to their knees. Sonic was gone... and they could do nothing about it.