Tails Abuse

I'm a retrogamer. I love to play both recent and old games. But specially games created by SEGA. Revenge of the Shinobi, Streets of Rage, Sonic, Golden Axe... But a month ago, something happened. Something made me look at these wonderful games in another perspective...

It was in a foggy night, 3am to be more specific. I was playing Sonic The Hedgehog 2 on the emulator, since I wasn't sleepy. I chose both Sonic and Tails as my character and started playing. After reaching Chemical Plant Zone, I got bored so I decided to play a little with the characters. I went to a part of the zone where I could find many enemies such as Grabber, a spider that grabs the character and then self-destructs and Spiny who shoots balls of acid. I used Tails to have a little fun, since he's invincible and imitates every move Sonic makes.

I took a few steps so the enemy could see me and when it attacked, I ran leaving Tails behind. I did that several times until something weird happened. All of the sudden,Tails' animation changed to the one he makes when he drowns. And the sound was different too. It was the sound your character makes when it touches spikes without having any rings left. The sound was very loud too, even more than the usual. I thought it was a bug, since the game was played on an emulator. I waited for Tails to appear again but he never showed up.

I decided to reset the game. Everything was normal, except for the part where the logo is supposed to appear, showing Tails and Sonic smiling. When I looked at it, Tails was missing. He just... Wasn't there at all... And instead of smiling, Sonic had a weird reaction, like he was disappointed or depressed. I was getting a little scared, since it was too weird to be a simple emulator bug but I tried to dodge it and began playing again.I went to the options to choose both Sonic and Tails like I did the last time but the only options there, were Only Sonic. The other options were missing... I didn't know what to think.

I began playing and when I looked at Sonic's sprite on the Emerald Hill Zone... He had the wrong expression. He looked uncomfortable, like when you don't touch the controller for some time. I controlled Sonic, but even running, his expression didn't change! I was seriously creeped out so I closed the emulator and turned on my Sega Genesis so I could play correctly without all those...

I didn't even know what to call but I'm sure those weren't just bugs... When the game started, SEGA's logo was different. It was red and the sound was... It was louder, like the one I heard when Tails disappeared. I tried to believe it was just glitch, because the console was already very old but I was starting to get my doubts...

Despite of that weird glitch, everything was back to normal. Tails was there again, the sprites were okay, the sounds too. I sighed in relief and started playing. When I reached the boss, I didn't have any rings and accidentally, Tails touched Robotnik's car and made the same animation he made on Chemical Plant Zone and the game froze. I started freaking out and reset it.

The screen was now white. No SEGA logo, no sprites, no sounds, no nothing! I quit, I was very creeped out by now and when I went to turn off the console.. A text box appeared, I couldn't believe it. I have never seen such thing in this game. I was more surprised by the text.

You killed him.

I tried to press all the buttons on the controller but nothing worked. I also tried to turn off the console but I couldn't. I even tried to turn off the television but...

I was very scared by now. I sat on the sofa and grabbed the controller. Again, another text box appeared.

You destroyed his life! Are you going to try to destroy mine too?! Are you having fun?! ARE YOU?

I pressed the button 'A' again and I was now on the Chemical Plant Zone. The background was different, tho. The background was more darker than usual and I could see different shades of red. Was it... Blood?

The music was different too. It was the boss's music but reversed and slow. Only Sonic was there. The gameplay was normal besides one little thing... When i defeated an enemy, instead of a sprite of a bunny or a chicken, I would see the same animal but torn apart and in a puddle of blood. The blood was so realistic... I didn't even reach the 2nd stage. In the end of the 1st stage, I couldn't control Sonic anymore. He began running for two minutes when he stopped. Another text box appeared.

Are you ready? Ready to see what you've done to him?

I was speechless. I asked myself what I could've done to let this happen. But then I realized... Did I kill... Tails? I couldn't believe it. It was just a game. It was just a bunch of codes, I couldn't do such thing!!

Then, another text box appeared, but this one was different. There was just a Yes/No option. I didn't hesitate and chose No. I knew it, I couldn't even choose that option. I had to choose Yes. The game WANTED me to choose Yes. I did that. It was a horrible mistake. The screen faded to black, but 5 seconds after, I saw a close-up of Tail's corpse. It was full of wounds, his guts were thrown out and he was missing an eye... That image was so realistic, I almost vomited. Then, another text box appeared.

I hope you're happy. You killed me. Were you having fun with it? I know you were. Do you want to do it again? Play with me again. I'm just a simple toy for you... A simple toy... FOR ALL OF YOU!

I was horrified. I felt something different inside me. Was it guilt? It couldn't be... I'm sure more players already did this with Tails but... Was he really in pain?

I never touched a retro game again... I spend my days playing in my PS3 and every time my character dies, I remember what happened... I will never forget...

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