Early morning and sounds of alarm clocks start ringing in Tails’ apartment. It has been several weeks since Sonic and Tails came to the agreement of Shadow moving in with them. Not much has changed with the morning routine with Shadow now in the house. They would all wake up in the early morning, have breakfast together, watch ‘Good Morning Tokyo’ and Tails would drive Sonic and Shadow to work at the SEGA HQ.
Right now Tails was making breakfast for the group, Shadow was still in his room and Sonic was once again fixing the toilet. The sewer system was the same as always, still causing the same problems and Sonic had to fix them every time. The three gathered in the living room and watched TV. The morning show had several lawyers arguing about the parole system. When and how someone should or shouldn’t get parole.
“They didn’t have any interesting guests for a long time,” Sonic said.
“Hey Tails,” Shadow said. “I don’t understand why you don’t want to talk about the Holocaust, I’m just asking questions.”
“Why must you start this every fucking day with this.” Tails grabbed his head.
“I’m just asking questions.” Shadow shrugged.
“Don’t you have anything better to do than obsess about the Holocaust every day?”
Shadow and Tails continued to bicker while Sonic blocked their sounds from his head. Tails in the beginning attempted to debate Shadow on many of his outrageous opinions but at this point, he had given up. The moment Shadow brings up something politics related Tails immediately shuts him down. It was pointless to try to debate someone so far dug into his own beliefs and beliefs so stupid and untrue as Shadow’s were.
Sonic had a different approach, he would simply ignore any of Shadow’s weird ramblings. He would nod in silence and wait for Shadow to finish and then Sonic would change the topic. He didn’t have the interest nor the energy to engage with Shadow.
“Anyways what do you guys think about our parole system,” Sonic said trying to change the subject.
But the two of them said nothing. They would remain silent for the rest of the morning.
Tails drove them to the SEGA HQ after they finished breakfast. As they were driving Tails was the one to finally break the silence.
“You guys mentioned yesterday that there is a lounge on the top floor of the SEGA building now?”
“Yeah”, Shadow said, “It’s a place for employees to go on break and get a cup of coffee. The place also works as a café and restaurant, it’s not well known but even non-employees can eat there. It actually works 24/7 and during the night people from that neighborhood go to drink there.”
“Things changed so much since I was last there, couldn’t have imagined that the SEGA building had its own café/restaurant.”
“When I did the mobile game I didn’t even know the place existed since I was there only for a day,” Sonic said. “You can come to have lunch with us after your down with your things in college”
“It is a little far away but I think I will join you guys. Beats eating lunch alone.”
The three arrived at the SEGA HQ and parted ways. Even though Shadow and Sonic were working on the same game they worked on different floors. Not only did they work on different floors but they also got different types of employee cards. The employee cards were a new thing that the SEGA corporation introduced. In order to access certain parts of the building you needed the key card to open certain doors. A lot of areas were off-limits but places like the lounge on the top floor were open to everyone.
Shadow got a low-level access card since he wasn’t playing an important role in the upcoming video game. Sonic on the other hand received the highest level access card an employee could get since he was game director again.
For today’s work, Shadow had to record his voice lines and Sonic had to design the levels for the game. Sonic’s job was easy for him, in these past years he had a ton of concepts and ideas he wanted to try out and he finally had an opportunity to put them into practice. Shadow had a harder time, it was over a decade since he had done any actual voice-acting work, and needed to repeat a lot of lines.
Once Sonic completed his work he made his way to the lounge. Shadow hadn’t yet finished his part so Sonic sat in the lounge alone for now. The lounge had a giant window that gave a gorgeous view of Tokyo since the lounge was on the top floor. Sonic ordered a cup of coffee and absent-mindedly flicked through his phone as he waited for Shadow to join him.
He texted Tails: “I’m done with work, Shadow will be done soon too, when will you be able to come over.”
Tails replied: “I am just about to finish on my end and will be there in about half an hour.”
“Excellent! We won't order our lunch until you arrive”
While Sonic was texting he hadn’t noticed that a person approached him. It was Kiryu Kazuma. As Sonic raised his head and noticed Kiryu, a sense of dread overcame him. He didn’t get the chance at the anniversary event and now he is here to make fun of me. I was trying to avoid him but I guess there is nowhere to run now. I better take the ridicule and get it over with.
“Sonic the Hedgehog?” Kiryu said timidly. “I apologize if I’m bothering you. I just wanted to say since I didn’t get the chance earlier, I really admire your work.”
“Nice joke. C’mon give the punch line, what’s it gonna be, a ‘Sonic 06’ quote?”
“No no, I am being sincere. I honestly really like your video games.”
Sonic was completely taken aback. It has been so long since he had heard any kind of praise for his video games that wasn’t steeped in irony. He felt unbelievably good. “Thank you” Sonic gave a big smile. “That means a lot. Especially coming from someone as great as you. I didn’t even know you played any ‘Sonic games’”
“Back in 2005. when I got the video game deal for the first ‘Yakuza game’ I realized that since my 10 years in prison, I haven’t played any video games. I had no idea what was contemporary now so I bought a Playstation 2 and played so many games to understand what was I going to make. One of the games I played the most was ‘Sonic Heroes(2003)’ so the games made by you and your friends were games I always liked.”
Sonic gave a nervous weak smile, “I guess you haven’t played any of the newer ones huh?”
“Actually I’ve played all of them. I like almost all of your video games to some degree.”
“Well, that’s certainly rare.” Sonic laughed.
“I read about your history too. I think I’ve done some impressive things in my life but you and your friends defeated Dr. Robotnik. You literally saved the world. Few people can say something like that about themselves.”
It was a long time since Sonic heard nice things about his video games and it was an even longer time since anyone mentioned Robotnik. Sonic himself sometimes forgets the battle with Robotnik. It feels so long ago. Almost like a different lifetime from where he was now. Once upon a time, he was an actual hero, running fast and not just a video game developer. That life is something Sonic has buried within his memories and now with Kiryu mentioning Robotnik, it unlocked Sonic's many old memories. The time when he was together with Amy and when
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“The Robotnik thing was such a long time ago. The Sonic and friends that fought him might as well have been different people.” Sonic said with sadness in his eyes.
“I apologize if I brought back some painful memories.”
“No need to apologize.”
Shadow entered the lounge and approached Sonic’s table.
“Well I don’t take any more of your time, just wanted to say that I am a fan,” Kiryu said and left.
Shadow sat next to Sonic and ordered a cup of tea.
“When is Tails arriving?” Shadow said looking impatient.
“He should be here soon.”
“I’m starving, I can’t wait to eat.”
“So Shadow, how do you like the work so far” Sonic wanted to start a topic to prevent Shadow to start another rant about how the Holocaust didn’t happen.
“I forgot how much fun making video games is. My voice acting is out of practice so I had to repeat a lot of lines but I enjoyed the process. What about you?”
“I feel really happy. I’ve been waiting to come back to video games for years now. Finally, I am doing a job that I love doing. Finally, I can prove myself to the world that I am able to make good games and I can save my reputation.” As happy as Sonic sounded, deep inside he felt like something was missing. He wasn’t sure what and he wasn’t prepared to admit to Shadow or to himself. There was an emptiness that Sonic didn’t know how to fill, he repressed that feeling and continued to tell himself that he was on the right path.
Before Sonic was able to get introspective Tails arrived and joined the table. Shadow grinned when he saw him since it meant he could finally eat. The group ordered lunch and made casual chit-chat about what each of them did during the day. The lunch arrived and the food disappeared from their plates as soon as it arrived.
“Damn, this place serves some good food. You wouldn’t expect a company lounge would serve food like this.” Tails remarked.
“The best part is since we are employees we get it for free and if we bring someone along that person gets a discount,” Sonic said.
“I want to eat here every day from now on.”
“I’m sorry for changing the subject,” Shadow said and made Sonic and Tails eye roll and sigh. The two thought he was going to go on another Holocaust denial spiel. “I wanted to ask what are we going to do tonight.”
Tails breathed a sigh of relief and said: “That’s a good question. Yesterday we played that co-op shooter, it was a lot of fun. Especially the airplane level”
“I wish we recorded that session, we laughed so much on that airplane level,” Sonic said. “However, as fun as that was yesterday I think we should do something different tonight.”
Tails nodded in agreement.
“If I may suggest,” Shadow pressed his arms together. “I know you guys have already seen it but I would for us to watch that ‘Jackie Brown(1997)’ movie. You guys talk about it all the time and I feel like I’m missing out. I want to see what it’s all about.”
“I am always down to watching that movie again. It’s one of my new favorite movies.” Sonic said gleefully.
Tails nodded once again in agreement. “I have an assignment to write for tomorrow but I probably won’t finish it till tonight. I guess I will take a break to watch the film with you guys and I will pull an all-nighter to finish it.”
“Shadow doesn’t need to go to work tomorrow and I will take a taxi to the SEGA building.”
The three of them actually got along really well when politics isn’t involved. They enjoyed each other’s company especially when it came to video games and movies. They often found themselves laughing together at the stupidest of things. Shadow enjoyed it the most because he had been alone for so long. He often considered himself a loner and that he didn’t need any friends but these days he realized how wrong he was.
“Shadow, I wanted to ask you how is your comic book coming along?” Tails said.
“I have this chapter I have to finish before the deadline.”
“Will you be able to meet it?”
“Yeah. I don’t think there will be a problem.” Shadow said without a hint of stress.
Despite Shadow’s flaws both Sonic and Tails found things about him that they both admired. For Tails, it was Shadow’s attitude towards life. He didn’t seem to be in any kind of hurry for anything. Sonic was always chasing his big break and Tails was obsessed with wasting time. Shadow never felt like he wasted his time nor was he stressing about his comic or about work. Shadow worked, never missed a deadline, and was stress-free all the time. It was very fascinating to Tails how easily Shadow navigated work including hearing from Sonic how relaxed he was at SEGA.
For Sonic he found Shadow’s creative endeavors really impressive. Shadow was making what he wanted when he wanted for an audience that supported him. He wasn’t beholden to a corporation or a boss. Shadow was his own boss. He had achieved something Sonic had always wanted, a truly independent and solo artist. Although for Sonic that was much less easily attainable because the video games Sonic would like to make cost millions. Money that Sonic, even at his peak wealth, never had.
“I thought I told you I wanted the steak to be well done, what the hell is this? You call this well done?” Someone yelled from the back of the lounge.
The three turned to look what was happening and they saw Knuckles berating a waitress. Knuckles had been sitting in the lounge the whole time but our group didn’t notice him up until now. He was unfairly treating the staff poorly, he knew that because he was vice president of SEGA they had to take his verbal abuse.
“What a fucking loser,” Tails said.
Sonic would normally make some kind of joke at Knuckles’ expense right now but the conversation earlier with Kiryu made him remember how in the past they were close friends and now Knuckles is an unrecognizable person.
“You guys know him from before,” Shadow said. “Was he always like this?”
“No, he wasn’t. It didn’t used to be this way.” Sonic said melancholically.
He is acting exactly like I used to be, Sonic thought to himself. Maybe I should say something to him. Maybe I can do something. On second thought what good would that do? He is alone and eating and I’m with these two. Maybe if I get a chance sometime in the future we could talk.
***
It was the evening and Sonic, Tails, and Shadow were back home and had just finished watching ‘Jackie Brown(1997)’. Shadow had greatly enjoyed the movie and the three went into a long discussion about it. He didn’t love it as much as Sonic did but he still saw it as an excellent film.
Sonic reminded himself of his fantasy. He wanted to one day be able to drive Tails’ red Saab 900, playing Across the 110th Street song in the background, looking back at his journey and crying happy tears knowing he had reached his happy ending. Exactly as Jackie Brown does at the end of her journey. If he learned anything these past few months was that life wasn’t going to give him a clear-cut path on a plate and he may never reach his desired happy ending. A hedgehog can still dream, can he?
After their film discussion, they moved on to playing who would win. They explained to Shadow how the game works.
“What about the copyright strike fines? You know they can fine you when you say copyrighted words as our phone microphones pick up any protected words.” Shadow said.
“We learned that the hard way,” Tails said. “Just avoid using characters that are owned by the companies that are known to aggressively protect their intellectual property”
“I got it” Shadow nodded. “Did you know by the letter of the law you aren’t supposed to even be able to dream about copyrighted material?”
“I heard about that but how would that even be enforced.”
“They always find a way”
Before Shadow was able to start talking about Jews Sonic started the game. After a few rounds, Tails said:
“Wait I got something just for you.” Tails leaned in closer to Shadow. “Sonic don’t say anything to him, I need to know his genuine response.” Sonic and Shadow were both confused but they let Tails move on with his question. “Who would win Shadow, Superman, or Lupin the 3rd”
“That’s super easy, Lupin the 3rd of course,” Shadow said without a moment of hesitation.
“You too” Tails was shocked. “Is there something I don’t get?”
“You don’t get it” Sonic grinned. “It's always Lupin the 3rd.”
“I don’t know what is there to get,” Shadow said. “It’s just obvious. Lupin the 3rd would defeat almost anybody.”
After some time of playing who would win, Tails went to his room to finish writing his assignment. Sonic and Shadow stayed up for a bit longer and then they both went to sleep.
***
It was 4 am and Tails was almost done writing. He looked through his window and watched the quiet city. The sun has yet to show up and it is pitch black outside. In this part of the morning, the city was at its quietest and Tails found the atmosphere the city radiated very calming and relaxing. His eyes were hurting from the computer screen he had been staring at for the entire night. He wrote the last few sentences and with the final press, he was done.
Before Tails could go to sleep his stomach growled at him. He realized he needed to eat something before going to sleep. He exited his room and went to the kitchen and was startled to see Shadow. Shadow had headphones on and listened to something while he poured himself a glass of milk. Tails approached him and asked him what was he doing up so early.
“Oh, I started watching this guy’s videos. He is a life guru and he says all successful people of the world get up at 4 in the morning. You eat 4/5 of a banana and drink exactly 283 ml of milk, that’s what all the millionaires of the world do and that’s what you do if you want to be successful.”
“Oh my god that’s so stupid.”
“You’re stupid.”
“You do realize he is lying to you and scamming you.”
“Why would he be lying. If he made an online video about it, it's probably true.”
Tails wanted to argue this but he had an idea. Shadow is probably a Nazi because he watches videos of Nazis. He must’ve watched one and the algorithm online is feeding him more and more. He doesn’t have any media literacy and just eats up whatever the algorithm serves him. Maybe the way for him to change his mind is for me to send him videos that debunk Nazis?
“You are staying home today right?” Tails said.
Shadow nodded.
“Can I send you some videos for you to watch today?”
“Sure, I have time send me whatever you want.”
Tails gave a mischievous smile as if he was about to execute an evil plan. He found some popular videos debunking holocaust denial and sent them to Shadow and went to sleep.
***
Tails slept until noon, Shadow was awake when Sonic got up and saw him off to work. Sonic took a taxi to SEGA as they had agreed. Shadow tried to be awake, he watched the videos Tails sent him and watched many new videos the internet algorithm was feeding him but around 9 am got very sleepy. He wasn’t prepared to wake up at 4 am and collapsed into sleep in his room. All three behaved today like they lived in different time zones.
It was the first time in a long time that Sonic and Tails didn’t watch ‘Good Morning Tokyo’. In fact, all three had somehow missed the big news of the day.
Later that evening all three were finally together again and they ate dinner.
“Guys I have something to say,” Shadow said as if he was about to give a speech. “I am no longer a Nazi. I see now how stupid and wrong I was.”
Tails had a proud smile on his face. He felt like he had outsmarted Shadow and did the world a favor by indirectly giving the world one less Nazi. Sonic was glad he wasn’t going to listen to Shadow’s unhinged rants and that mornings weren’t going to be political battlegrounds anymore.
Shadow continued. “I’ve seen videos online of the opposing viewpoints and have realized that my opinion just wasn’t correct. I want to tell you that now I am a communist. Speaking of which, hot take but the Holodomor didn’t happen.”
Tails grabbed his head in despair. “What have I done?”
“So Tails,” Shadow said. “Do you really think the Holodomor happened? I think it’s a capitalist lie.”
“What’s a Holodomor,” Sonic said confused.
“He is jumping from one genocide denial to another one.” Tails said still in despair.
“I am just asking questions,” Shadow said.
Sonic in an attempt to move the conversation away turned on the TV and said to the other two: “Hey guys we missed the morning show. Let’s watch the evening news together.”
As those words came out of his mouth all of them turned their heads to the TV and were shocked at what they saw.
Doctor Robotnik has been granted parole and is out of prison.