When I first met you... I am gonna be honest, you might have being the second person I truly hated. And that's something I have never said carelessly.

We were going to face off against you guys in the competition, so I thought it would be best to dig a little deeper into you. I mean, what people say in the competition were ridiculous. Even when I searched for stuff, I couldn't find much about your team.

I did find a lot about the Babylonians, legends and other stuff. As for the actual members, just the basic: Jet was the leader, hot headed and brash; Storm was the muscle and probably as strong as Knuckles; and you, the girl, were the mechanical genius.

Even before we met, I knew you were a capable mechanic. I mean, you were the pioneer and leading expert on extreme gears: most of the extreme gears used on the race were created by studying your damaged boards' pieces you left behind from other times. I... I wanted your approval when I presented you my board. In a way, I was a fan of your work.

Well, we now know how that resulted. And I had never being so upset with anyone, not like in that moment. I had being ridiculed before, but they were people that were mean because I was different, so, in a way, they were meaningless. Eggman was the only genius I knew before, but he was crazy and evil. I just didn't care for his opinion. But yours weighted so much on me.

To put it simple, I obsessed on the idea of beating you: I made my research on extreme gears and the laws of air energy and its uses, energy reservation and maximizing efficiency. Just about everything to beat you and your team.

I was not only disappointed that, when all was said and done, Sonic was capable enough to beat Jet with or without my improved gear, but that he lost because mine malfunction. I had never felt so guilty or disappointed at myself for such a thing. My friends reassured me about that there was gonna be other chances and competitions, which I took a little to seriously. For the next few days, I was with the mentality of becoming better at extreme gears than you, and started to forget some of my promises to my friends. I am now so glad that Sonic convinced me to having a talk with him, despite me being mean to him, since I didn't want to talk about it.

He explained to me that you were my first rival, hence why I was so much into the idea of beating you. He understood that feeling, but he asked me if I wanted to dedicate to extreme gear exclusively. I said yes, thinking I wanted to beat you, but Sonic told me no and convinced me to think it for a while. And, soon, I changed my mind.

Yes, I want to become a better extreme gear mechanic and rider, but I also wanted to work on my planes, robotics, alternative energy sources, just about everything, really. I realized this when I saw Sonic and Shadow meet again. Yes, they are rivals and there is a spark each time they face off, but that's not the only thing in both of their minds. They have other priorities. And just focusing on besting you wasn't healthy.

That interaction between Sonic and Shadow made me realize something else. Did we really need to meet and trash talk or being up and ready to attack one another? I thought no. I preferred you to be my friend.

A friend to which I could talk about machined or building or inverse engineering, or one that I could relate better. That sounded like a dream come true. But it was one not meant to be at the time.

We would meet again at the Meteo Tech facility and then at the Extreme Gear competition. I tried my best to be polite and tolerant to you, but you would always be mean to me, each and every time we met. Which were numerous since we were booked on the same hotel. I was too close to scream at you so many times.

Honestly, in no way my mind could understand what was going on with yours. I was treating you nicely, trying to be your friend, but your answers were always mean. Honestly, I started to think you were not worth it. And I wasn't the only one, since Amy also wanted a piece of you for being like that.

I did my best to try to understand but you were unsolvable for me.

I questioned if I was doing something wrong. I mean, what if I was the problem? My friends reassured me that you were the problem, that I was doing literally nothing wrong. That some people couldn't be friends at times. I didn't believe that.

I had seen the respect you have for Jet and sometimes, you could actually be nice to me with words and actions: something as simple as passing me a tool I couldn't reach or even saying something nice before or after saying something mean. I did thought at times that we were making progress, but you would always distance yourself even more. I think I was losing my mind a bit, almost as much as when I obsessed with beating you.

I don't like to admit it, but I was glad that the competition was over. I can only willingly take getting an earful every time we see each other for so long. I was also happy that I didn't have to deal with you anymore, at least for a few years.

That day, I recognize you, but you didn't recognize me. And the first thing you did was annoy you the hell out of me. At least you are consistent.

However, we still talked, and started to enjoy the party together. I will admit, I wanted to keep my distance from you, but I couldn't.

You didn't know how to dance, but neither did I so, we let ourselves have fun instead of trying to take it somewhat seriously. You were funny, and just as smart as always. But, you also proved me that day that you could be nice, attentive, even sweet.

And that smile and laugh, God, I could hear it all day without ever getting tired of it. Unfortunately, you found out and give me an earful. And I gave it back. Yeah, I was ashamed of myself at that moment, but wouldn't admit it to you at the moment. I was more upset at me, because we were having such a fun time and I just fuc- screwed it up in a blink. If I am being fair, I am guilty of everything, since I could have just told you it was me. But I didn't want to spoil our moment. Like really badly.

It wouldn't be until I was alone thinking about the events of that night that I developed a crush on you. You, of all people.

At the time, I was just starting college, and I was having lots of difficulties. Trying to balancing job, studies and the fact that I was a few years younger than everyone else made it difficult for me to connect with people. I have never being good at making friends with my friends but it was worse here.

Cream, Amy, Knuckles and the others were trying to help me, but I was feeling lonely.

Plus, these people were so different from me. I have always being treated as the good kid, but here it felt ridiculous. I was a complete fish out of water. Without much time to reconnect with someone or ease to do so, I was getting a little desperate.

Not desperate enough to hang out with that fox girl. Not again. She had being bothering me for a week straight at that point, but that girl doesn't seem to know what no means. You appearing that day was a God send! After that, the first thing I did was say sorry for being so rude to you and you accepted it. After that, we talked, like, non stop. About our friends, about the good of our lives, about the bad. And complain. We complained a lot.

When I checked the time, hours had gone away and we had to say goodbye, even though I didn't want to. But a thought appeared on my mind. Why were you even here? This lead to the next: Did you want something else that I didn't know about? Some hidden motive?

God, it didn't feel right to suspect you like that, but. Had you ever done something nice to me? Were you spying? I had so many mixed feelings that I didn't want you close. Except, I was feeling alone and wanted someone to talk to.

God, I was such a mess, but I stood my ground and aimed to keep my distance, at least until I sorted this out. I succeeded... for about four days. Fiona wasn't the only girl that couldn't take a no for an answer. I don't know what you do, but with you I find it so easy to scream my frustrations, to leave nothing in. And, obviously that shouldn't be healthy for the two of us.

But when our anger was gone, we found ourselves ready to talk in a such a calm manner, I can't believe we fought like that just a moment before. Before I knew it, we were talking about ourselves again, enjoying our time.

You started opening up to me: You talked to me about the Battle Kukus, where you spent most of your childhood. I had fought against them once before, so I couldn't even imagine what could have being like living in there. That also were you developed your own problems, like the fact that you don't trust people easily, or the fact why you can't help but b so nice to Jet: you feel you still owe him and his family.

You actually confessed that you were a little jealous about me, which I found surprising. You were renowned, skilled, beautiful, funny. It was hard to believe. But you would tell me about how I was so sweet and caring for people and how I was never worried that people would hurt me or trick me, even after they did. I noticed you kind of look down on yourself.

You got that wrong. Maybe I am not as evident as you, but I worried about people betraying me, too, tricking me, hurting me. Worse, I cowardly avoided a lot of relationship for the fear of getting hurt. Cosmo is the important one, but she wasn't the only one, not necessarily in the same manner. Heck, I just hurt you because I didn't want to get hurt.

We came to an agreement. Yes, I wanted a relationship with you, but I couldn't do it fast. I know that disappointed you, but you accepted.

We had something special back then, slow, but fun, helping with both our loneliness. Leading to kisses, and cuddles. I never get enough of the feeling of protecting people in my arms. It is kind of addicting.

You were fun, smart, but you were also sharp. And I know that you were always taking care of both of us. You might be a little loud and violent, but your heart was always in the right place. You had a way of getting more of me than everyone I knew. In a way, your constant challenge helped me, but I also learned that it was always for a good reason. Honestly, I am sure that you would never hurt me.

Then, came the I love you. And I think I pissed myself when you did. I never expected you to say it, but deep down, I knew it would be you the one who said it. It should be a phrase that brings a lot of joy and happiness, but all I felt was anxiety, fear, worry.

But then, I looked at you, also insecure, but more grounded, dedicated and demanding. I made the decision: you were worth it, and I wanted it. If I ever felt like I wasn't enough, then I was glad I could count on you to scare those feelings away.