The Blue Pendrive ("El Pendrive Azul" in Spanish) is a Spanish Sonic the Hedgehog Creepypasta written by Sinuois at 2011, about a wicked game in a small pendrive.
Gonzalo Guzman Caamano recounts something horrible to him that happened two weeks prior. Back then, an unexpected visit from his friend occurred, who looked like his face was pale and his body was shaking non-stop. All he could do was give Gonzalo the pendrive, whisper him to take it, before then dying in agony. The friend's subsequent funeral was one of the worst days of Gonzalo's life, and eventually, after some mourning, he came upon the pendrive that was handed to him. He plugged it into the computer to get to the bottom of that thing, and that's where a strange game file caught his attention...
More than a decade after its original posting, an author-approved remake of the pasta, The Blue USB, was written by Seeth
, changing up certain elements and expanding upon the events prior to the protagonist getting the titular object.
English translations:
- The Blue Pendrive: Sonic Oddities Wiki link, Youtube link (English dubbed)
- The Blue USB: Sonic Oddities Wiki link, Youtube link (English subbed)
See also Sonic.exe, a more well-known Sonic creepypasta featuring a demon instead of just a twisted file.
Due to its short length, all spoilers are unmarked!
Tropes about the original version:
- Action Survivor: Gonzalo is an ordinary man who nonetheless survives the horrific stuff the game in the pendrive throws at him by avoiding imminent danger the moment he's given the chance.
- Almost Dead Guy: Gonzalo's friend manages to give him the pendrive and whispers to him to take it before he kicks the bucket.
- Can Only Move the Eyes: Gonzalo doesn't want to see and hear all the horrible stuff the game is bombarding him with, but his body's too paralyzed to make a move away from it. Eventually, he manages to break free just as the countdown gets dangerously low.
- Direct Line to the Author: The opening paragraph of the creepypasta has Gonzalo tell the reader that what happened to him two weeks prior - the events of the creepypasta itself - are all true.
- Epileptic Flashing Lights: What was deduced to be the cause of death for Gonzalo's friend. Later on, Gonzalo himself gets paralyzed by flashing lights coming out of the game in the pendrive, forcing him to witness all of the horrible stuff inside the game.
- Foreshadowing: Quite a few details point to the game being not right - the strange language written on the folder and where the copyright credits would be, the file initially being improperly named, as well as red squares instead of proper ring sprites coming out of Sonic when he's hit. Gonzalo himself lampshades this, being optimistic the red squares are just a bug, but deep inside he knows something's amiss.
- Know When to Fold 'Em:
- The moment the background turns red, Gonzalo quickly tries to close the game out of fear. Unfortunately, he finds that his computer's not cooperating.
- After ending up being paralyzed and forced to witness the horrific stuff inside the pendrive's game, Gonzalo turns away from the game the moment he can force himself to make a move just before the countdown finishes, then unplugs his computer and stomps the pendrive to oblivion once the scare's over.
- The Most Dangerous Video Game: Sonic_the_hedghog.exe, the game inside the pendrive, turns out to be less of a game and more of a horrifying, lethal horror show that disguises itself as a game. It features Epileptic Flashing Lights, horrific imagery, and loud female screaming. It's even taken at least one life in the case of Gonzalo's friend.
- Nothing Is Scarier: The only thing Gonzalo (and thus, the reader) gets to know about what lies at the end of the countdown is a far more horrific scream than the previous scare, and Gonzalo doesn't want to know any further afterward.
- Plot-Triggering Death: The death of Gonzalo's friend shortly after he successfully brings the pendrive to him sends him into grief, and eventually, drives him to check the pendrive his friend brought.
- Red Sky, Take Warning: The next stage in the game has a red, pulsating background instead of the usual Green Hill Zone background. And it's at this moment does Gonzalo get scared enough to try to close the game before anything worse happens to him.
- Screamer Prank: Gonzalo himself discusses this on the nature of whatever the hell the countdown brings when it hits 0, stating that the horrible, female scream he can hear sounds like such kinds of pranks but far worse. It's ambiguous if the game itself is actually an example of this, given the lethality and lack of an origin to it.
- Tears of Blood: Amongst the disturbing stuff happening in the game, Gonzalo could see a close-up of Sonic's face crying blood while "R.I.P." spammed the screen.
Tropes about The Blue USB:
- Adaptation Deviation: Some changes with the events of the story include the game skipping right to a corrupted Marble Zone, the sprites replacing dropped rings being black instead of red, the game itself being consistently shown in 16-bit instead of being described as in 8-bit but with some 16-bit elements, and so on.
- Adaptation Expansion:
- The story starts with several new paragraphs dedicated to both establishing the protagonist's relationship with their friend, as well as explaining how said friend ended up with the accursed game on their USB - they downloaded it in a Sonic fangame download binge.
- The pasta itself has illustrations that show what's in the story, such as the specific details of the USB's game, and the file location.
- Adaptation Name Change: The game itself, instead of being named "Sonic_the_hedghog.exe" is now "SONIC_T̴̡̧̛͍͔͓̞̮͈̳̻̰̜̟̍̔̾̈́͜͜H̵̞͍̯̙̼͕͍͈̘̖͗̑̕ͅĘ̸̼̥̖̝̦̬̫͈̽_̶̨̙͎̮͕̺͐̈͛̏̈́̇̇̽͝Ḣ̷̼͚̼̮̠̖̞͖͓̻̺͕̈́̂̓̅̿̚Ę̷̨͇͉͔͙̞͇͕̳͠D̶̢̯̞̙̤̍̆͌̄́̆́͒̚͝G̷̙̳̰͛̊̉H̸̡̻̻͖͚͎̩̟̣̹̱͈͒̓͒͐̀͋̒͂̅͌O̵̢̱͕͓͍̝͈͍̬͗͌Ğ̷̜̲͉̯̏̇̄̇͋exe", giving it a much more foreboding vibe.
- Death by Adaptation: The protagonist only gets to witness the horrors of the game itself after making Sonic lose a life, compared to how Gonzalo in the original pasta tried to get out of dodge before being forced to watch anyway.
- Bloodier and Gorier: Inverted - the images that illustrate the pasta don't show Sonic with Tears of Blood, just gradually putting on a Slasher Smile and furrowing his brow.
- Named by the Adaptation: Inverted - this remake doesn't give the protagonist a name unlike the original version.
