Tracy Martel Is My Mom

But at the same time- this oddly chivalrous person, where, Tails and Sonic both know they can count on it that if Eggman’s abducted someone, that hostage will be fed and taken care of- and they find that hostage utterly unharmed and pretty much complaining about the room service.

Mostly I like it because it honestly ropes Sonic and Eggman into this interesting dance as people who are in some sense, diametrically opposed- Eggman, who’s obstinately concerned with his own order to the point that nothing offends him more than senseless destruction; and Sonic, for whom nothing is more important than personal freedom, even if that’s the freedom to wither and die on one’s own time. 

But in another sense- they’re really two of a kind: these virtually unstoppable forces of nature- someone whose raw athleticism cannot be matched by man or machine and who can cut through industrial-strength steel like a living buzzsaw vs. an unparalleled genius who has invoked and manipulated ancient gods, unholy monsters from beyond time, and just about everything in between.

And yet, both are people who, for lack of a better word, believe in playing nice, at least insofar as their standards of being ‘nice’ go. Of course in Rush, Nega, who’s used to dealing with the much more tenacious Blaze, thinks that Sonic is a complete joke- because Sonic is literally able to break the sound barrier on foot but he’ll let Nega limp off with a barely frustrated little irritated finger snap, “Oh, darn, I guess he got us that time.”

Sonic and Eggman are old school super-powered nemeses- the kind that pick fights and the stakes are high, but, on a level, both of them are kind of keeping the gloves on. Neither of them really wants to cut it short. Sonic’s not the type who can really stand to retire as a hero- there’s something very proud and content about the way he says things like “Oh, I deal with stuff like this all the time” or lists off some of his weird adventures. Colors shows us that if things are too quiet for too long Sonic literally goes looking for trouble. And both Sonic X and SA2 show us that Eggman without Sonic is equally unhappy- even if it’s his fault. Even if he could get so much more work done just pulling the trigger and wiping Sonic out. Part of him would really rather not, and not just because Sonic’s a dang good failsafe to have when something like Chaos goes awry.

We had this HUGE test that day. There was a big party the night before and we were all so exhausted; I don’t think I’ve ever been in a more tired and unprepared class. I include myself in this, as I was making interval trips to the bathroom because I ate so much sugar the night before that I was throwing up the whole next day. Needless to say, we didn’t want to do the test and literally looked and felt like zombies. Girls were crying, boys were laying on the floor sweating profusely. It was weird and gross.

So there was this boy, the Windex Kid. I think his name was Jed or something. He was this really quiet boy who always was reading and didn’t make much of an impression until The Day. Five minutes before the test, in the cafeteria, he took the Windex bottle from the cleaning closest, emptied it and poured his blue Gatorade in it. Put it in his backpack and we went into the classroom, not really paying attention to what he did a minute prior.

It was all quite grand and not unlike a movie scene. The test is about to start. We all are ready to fail and our grades to crash for the semester. I’m ready to vomit again. Windex Kid stands up says in a loud voice “FUCK THIS TEST” and proceeded to drink the Gatorade out of the Windex bottle.

Naturally, it looks just Ike Windex and the teacher panics, thinking a kid just poisoned himself in her class. She calls 911 in a panic. The ambulance comes. We all get sent home early as he’s taken to the hospital where they would soon discover that all there was was Gatorade in his stomach. He was a real hero; he took a bullet for the team. His legacy is still spoken about in that school, my younger brother confirms. Afterwards, he slipped back into oblivion and his books. His glimmer of fame vanished into the darkness, not unlike himself.