A Merhog's Tale

The Truth

Sonic lived with his Uncle Chuck at a small house not far from the beach. Sonic was currently sitting in his bedroom, which had posters of rock bands and his track and field trophies all over the place. His comforter on his bed was a custom blue design.

Right now though, Sonic was busy looking at his unexplainable, colour changing fur with a mirror.

"How am I going to explain this one?" He wondered as he tossed the mirror onto his desk and flopped back onto his bed.

"Sonny-Boy, I'm home!" Chuck called.

"I'm in my room." He called as he pulled the covers over his head. He wasn't ready for 20 questions just yet.

Chuck came into the room.

Charles was a Mobian middle-aged hedgehog who bared many physical similarities to Sonic, such as blue fur, although Chuck's is a few shades lighter than Sonic's. He had a thick, grey moustache that obscures his mouth, as well as similarly thick, grey eyebrows, arching over his blue eyes. For attire, Charles wore maroon coloured, slightly pointed shoes with two dark yellow straps and and white cuffs, and, like most other of his species, white gloves.

"I heard about what happened at the competition today." He said. Sonic felt his heart stop. "Too bad about the wipe out. It can happen even to the best surfers."

Sonic relaxed and his heart started again.

"Uncle Chuck," He started, trying to figure out how to word his dilemma. "Have you ever had something odd or weird happen to you before?"

"Do you mean odd or weird like 'whoa.'?" He asked with his whoa sounding a bit breathless. "Or 'whoa!'?" This 'whoa' sounded like a 'that is so cool!' whoa. "Or maybe even a 'whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!'." The last group of whoas sounding like a "whoa! Slow down a minute!'.

"Well," Sonic didn't think any of those 'whoas' were it. "Something like this." He sighed in defeat and came out from under the covers, revealing his now changed fur.

"Whoa!" Chuck exclaimed, this 'whoa' was an 'I'm surprised because I didn't expect you to do this'. "You dyed your fur?"

"No." He replied in a neutral, well he hoped neutral, tone of voice. Chuck, however, caught the small bit of underlying desperation. "It happened during the competition. I was surfing when my fur just suddenly changed colour."

"Really?" Chuck asked, his full attention on the recently turned 16 year old teen.

"Yes." He said a bit exasperate. "I didn't and still don't know what's going on. Anyway, I sunk under the water, where I thought I was breathing. And then a purple dolphin came up to me and started acting like we were old friends."

At these words, Chuck sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Whoa." He said, this 'whoa' being the breathless one.

"Uncle Chuck," Sonic turned to his guardian with fearful eyes. "What's happening to me? Am I going crazy?"

"No, you're not going crazy."

"Then what's going on?" He asked as he sat up. "What is happening to me?"

"You're growing up." He answered with a weak smile.

"Growing up? That's it?" Sonic couldn't believe his ears. He was growing up? For crying out loud, his fur had changed colour!

"Sonic, this may seem off topic," Chuck said and he looked a little fidgety, "but, do you remember what happened to your parents."

"Sure," He said with a shrug. "They died in an house fire when I was a baby."

"Well that is only half true." The older hedgehog said, shocking his nephew. "Your father died in a fire."