~Author Chat~
Jowy Avilon: Hello everyone, welcome at long last to...
Taurus Pixie: End Game!
Jowy Avilon: *Glares at Pix* Do you mind? *Clears his throat* Anyway, this collab has been months in the planning and we're proud to finally bring it to you.
Taurus Pixie: Hopefully you all enjoy reading this adventure as much as we enjoy writing it.
Jowy Avilon: I will be the one who has the privilege of writing chapter one for you. So without further ado, welcome one and all to...
Taurus Pixie: End Game! Enjoy!
Jowy Avilon: *Groans and mumbles to himself, rubbing his temples as he walks away*
~ End Game ~
Disclaimer: We own nothing here but the plot. Everything else belongs to and is copyright to Sega.
Chapter 1: A Date At Last
It was a bright, beautiful, and sunny day. Sonic the Hedgehog, Mobius' widely regarded and renowned hero napped lazily on a tree branch in the middle of the forest on the outskirts of Station Square. The only sounds that could be heard were the critters of the forest who were chipper and happily making various noises. The only sound that could be heard that seemed out of place was the sound of someone flying through the forest at a high speed.
"Sonic?! Where are you?!" came the voice of Tails, looking for his older brother figure.
The unexpected sound and tone of the young fox's voice jolted the blue hedgehog from his slumber, causing him to misjudge how much room he had for movement. A moment later he fell from the branch and crashed to the ground below landing directly on his head. Sonic let off a low groan, rubbing his head as he got himself up to his feet.
"What's the emergency little buddy?" the blue hero inquired still rubbing his head to get it to quit throbbing.
Tails came down from the treeline landing beside Sonic, trying to catch his breath with a look of panic on his face.
"It's Amy," were the only words the young genius could get out through his labored breathing.
The Blue Blur felt himself become instantly alert, his muscles tightening ready to take off at a moments notice.
"What? What about Amy?" Sonic inquired with a worried tone.
"I found this note in the workshop just a short bit ago," Tails replied quickly, producing the note to hand to him.
The Blue Speedster quickly took the note and opened it, reading it over a couple of times to give it time to properly process. After a moment his face turned to one of determination and tossing the note he took off like a shot, leaving only a blue streak in his wake.
"Sonic wait for me!" Tails called after his best friend, leaping into the air and propelling his tails.
Despite the fact he hadn't gotten the chance to fully catch his breath and recover from his mad dash to find Sonic, the young genius took off at an envious speed that could at times almost match Sonic's, following after the blue hedgehog. The duo quickly arrived back into the main part of the city, Sonic not slowing down and making his way to Station Square Park. When the two arrived they spotted what they were looking for. Amy Rose was tied up by a rope hanging from a nearby tree, struggling to get free.
"You'll never get away with this you badniks!" the hammer user shouted.
Three shadows emerged from the tree, a very large green scaled one, a purple skinned one, and a small one which made a buzzing sound as he flew around. The trio were dressed in very badly designed cardboard 'disguises' with what looked like crayon colored designs meant to, what Sonic assumed to make them look like badniks. Sonic slapped the palm of his hand against his forehead and simply shook his head. He should have known it was just another hairbrained scheme devised by Amy.
"Hey Vector!" the blue hero shouted out, instantly recognizing the trio.
"What... Errr... What do you mean, who is this Vector? I am one one of Eggman's top robots," Vector stated in a poorly disguised attempt to sound like a robot.
"You're not a top robot Vector, I am a top robot cause I can fly above you," Charmy stated clearly not even trying.
Espio looked over his two comrades and could only sigh as he shook his head. He knew this idea was a bad one from the start but when money, or love for that matter was involved, they just couldn't stop their leader. Sonic simply walked up to the the Chaotix and totally ignoring them glanced up to Amy, who now wore a sheepish smile.
"Of all the things you've attempted, this is probably by far your worse idea yet," Sonic stated in a disappointed tone.
He had honestly come to expect better of Amy's schemes, but this one just shouted desperation. Knowing they couldn't salvage this idea Vector looked over to the in love hedgehog who was still dangling.
"We're still going to get paid for this right? We did get Sonic here after all," the Chaotix leader inquired.
Amy simply nodded and Vector's eyes lit up.
"Just stop by tomorrow then with our payment for a job very well done," he stated in a sing songy voice.
He waved toward Espio and Charmy motioning for them to leave. Sonic left Amy tied to the tree for a moment longer as he watched the trio of detectives, if you could call them that disappear into the distance. When they were gone the blue hero finally leaped up and used his spin attack to cut the pink hedgehog down from the tree. Using his incredible speed he came back down and caught Amy in arms, holding her bridal style.
"Seriously Ames, I have come to expect better of these schemes of yours," Sonic stated with a smirk.
The pink hedgehog blushed at him as he let her down onto her own two feet. Tails meanwhile, just sat back and watched. Finding this whole scenario ridiculous he decided to just stay out of it and watch.
"So, what's the catch this time?" the Blue Blur asked of his fan girl.
"Well, the Moonlight Festival is tonight and I really want to go. I just... I don't want to go alone," Amy started.
Sonic instantly knew where this was going. Why she didn't just try to approach him and ask like she normally would was beyond him. For whatever reason that was beyond him she decided instead to devise this entire scheme just to get him there for this. Actually, what made it worse in the eyes of the blue hedgehog made him turn to the two tailed fox.
"Tails, of all people you should have been able to see through this," Sonic scolded.
Tails gave him a nervous smile, rubbing the back of his head innocently.
"Well, in my defense the hand writing was pretty convincing," the genius replied, his voice also making it clear he was nervous being suddenly in the spotlight.
"Uh huh," the Blue Speedster quipped not entirely convinced.
He then turned his attention back to Amy having made his friend squirm a little just for fun.
"So let me guess then, you want me to go with you to the festival?" Sonic asked.
Amy shuffled her feet nervously and simply nodded. The blue hero shrugged at the situation, his face turning to one of deep thought. This time, he figured he would do something unexpected, something that would take them all by surprise. He was feeling in a particularly weird mood today for some reason and now was as good a time as any to act on it.
"Sure I will take you Ames," the blue hedgehog replied giving her a confident smile.
"What?!" both Amy and Tails cried out at the same time, utter disbelief in both of their voices.
Tails quickly approached his older brother and placed his hand against the blue hedgehog's forehead.
"You feel okay Sonic?" Tails asked looking for any sign of illness.
Much to the young fox's surprise he didn't feel a fever and there were no other outward signs of him being sick.
"Maybe I should get you back to the workshop and test you. Perhaps Eggman slipped something to you in our last battle that none of us noticed?" the young genius continued not entirely convinced by this situation.
Amy herself was also absolutely stunned that Sonic had agreed to take her. She could only stand there and gawk at her hero, stunned as her eyes literally seemed to light up with the pure utter joy she was feeling.
"So, what time does this thing begin?" Sonic asked ignoring Tails' current worries, knowing he was absolutely fine.
"It starts at... Eight," the hammer user stated, still unsure if she was going to wake up soon and find this was all just a dream.
"Alright, I'll meet you outside the festival near the forest just before then," the Blue Blur stated nonchalantly, turning to walk away with Tails in tow.
Something then dawned on the pink hedgehog which quickly brought her back to reality.
"You better not be setting me up again Sonic! No supposed story book adventure this time!" she shouted after him.
Sonic turned and gave her his trademark thumbs up, one of the many things he did that made her heart flutter and feel like it was going to beat out of her chest.
"Don't worry Ames, no excuses this time I promise! I will be there!" Sonic called back.
Once Sonic and Tails had vanished from her sight Amy twirled around in happiness, clasping her hands together in front of her chest. She could not believe this, to the point where she actually did start to believe this could all be a dream.
"It's finally happening!" she cried out in pure joy, getting starry eyed at the prospect of all the things they could be doing together tonight.
She finally had her chance to show Sonic the Hedgehog that she was worth his time and effort. Tonight she was going to stun and wow him in a way he probably never thought possible. First though she had to go start getting ready, after all stunning a date started by shocking them by dressing up as an absolute knock out. The clothing however was only the start. She had to figure out a way to make this date the absolute best to ensure that he would be willing to go out with her again. After all, she had actually made it this far for once, she was not going to ruin this chance if she could at all help it. This was a once in a life time opportunity for the pink hedgehog, and she had to make it count. One mistake during this and her life might as well be over.
As Sonic and Tails made their way back into the city heading in the direction to get back to the Mystic Ruins where the young fox's workshop was, Tails couldn't help but just stare at the blue hedgehog with a confused stare. As they made their way along the sidewalk, dodging people as they went, the blue hero couldn't help but feel that his little brother was looking at him funny. Once the feeling became too much Sonic finally glanced down at the young fox and confirmed his suspicion.
"What?" the Blue Speedster asked slightly annoyed.
"So, you want to tell me what actually happened back there? You just agreed to go out on a date with Amy. Sonic the Hedgehog... Just agreed to go on a date... With Amy Rose," Tails started pressing the older hedgehog.
The Blue Blur simply shrugged at his little brother and turned his attention back to the street ahead.
"Yeah so, what's the big deal?" Sonic fired back.
"What's the big deal?! Let's reflect on this for a moment. All of the running away, all of the times you've had to get far away just because she was near, all of the times you've had to pry yourself free from one of her death hugs because they made you uncomfortable. Need I go on?" the fox genius stated, still in a state of shock and disbelief.
With this Sonic let off a soft sigh and turned his gaze back to Tails.
"Look, maybe this time I just felt like she deserved it alright. Besides, it may not be all bad to give her just one. It might finally make her realize in the end I am actually not everything I am cracked up to be in her eyes," he finally replied truthfully.
And there it was at last, the real reason he had agreed to do it. He was hoping to make Amy realize he wasn't worth her time, to get her off his back. Tails instantly felt sort of bad for the poor girl. Now in the back of his mind, as a bit of revenge the young fox found himself hoping the date went extremely well and that Sonic had just bitten off more than he could hope to ever chew. The duo was brought from their current discussion as they felt a presence closing in on them from above.
"My my, do my eyes and ears both deceive me. Did I just see and hear that Sonic the Hedgehog agreed to go on a date with our dear little Amy," came an all too familiar sultry voice.
Before either of them could react Rouge the Bat landed directly in front of them. Sonic's face instantly dead panned.
"Good afternoon Rouge, a bit too bright and early for you to be sauntering about," Sonic stated with faux enthusiasm.
"Well, I was on my way to bother a certain hot headed echidna we both know about a certain large green gemstone. However I saw and overheard what happened and just had to see about this juicy bit of gossip personally," she stated unphased by Sonic's remarks.
"Well it's all true, Sonic did agree to go out with Amy. They're going to the Moonlight Festival!" Tails exclaimed flailing his arms about.
"Oh really?" the jewel thief inquired cocking an eye up toward the blue hero.
Sonic raised an eye himself, noticing the tone the bat had said that in.
"Perhaps I should cancel my plans with Knuckie then and go give our dear sweet little Amy a hand," Rouge teased.
"Some how I think Ames can take care of herself," Sonic said uncharacteristically defensively.
"We'll have to see about that," the self proclaimed seeker of treasure stated lifting off back into the air.
"Rouge," the Blue Blur tried to interrupt with a frantic tone to his voice.
"See you boys tonight. Oh, contact Knucklehead for me and drag him along with you!" Rouge called back to the duo, disappearing into the distance.
"Why do I have the feeling this just became more complicated than it should be?" Sonic asked glancing down at Tails.
This time it was Tails' turn to shrug, not really knowing what to say about the situation. Sonic let off a sigh, this was the last thing he needed or wanted was for Rouge of all people to get involved. Unable to avoid it now though and trying to not think about what sort of things Rouge now had planned, the duo continued toward their destination. After only several more minutes of traveling they arrived at the Station Square Train Station which would transport them easily to the Mystic Ruins. Ignoring the fact that in all honesty, they really didn't need to take the train to get back home. Sonic though, still feeling in his weird mood that had led him to actually accepting the date with Amy, figured taking the train and just relaxing wasn't a half bad idea for once. Luckily for them since they were typically the only ones to ever go there they rarely, if ever had to wait for the train to come back.
"Good day Sonic and Tails," the station master greeted the duo.
"How are you today Irwin?" Tails inquired as they made their way toward the train.
"Same old same old, just a different day, heading back home already?" Irwin replied, adding a question of his own.
The fox genius nodded at the older gentleman.
"Yeah, someone has a date to prepare for!" Tails replied enthusiastically nodding toward his best friend.
"Oh, so Ms. Rose finally got him to agree did she?" the station master asked, giving Sonic a sly grin.
The blue hero couldn't help but let off a low groan as he hurried faster toward the train. Did everyone in this city know about Amy's unending pursuit of him? It sure seemed that way.
"Well, enjoy your date this evening Sonic, knock her socks off," the older man said, chuckling to himself at his comment.
"I am sure he'll do just that Irwin!" Tails called back speaking for Sonic.
Lowering his head and trying to disappear so no one else could spot him at this point he quickly boarded the train, grabbing the young fox by the arm and pulling his little brother along with him less than gently.
"The train to Mystic Ruins is now departing!" a low automated female voice rang out through out the station.
With a small lurch forward Sonic and Tails could feel the train starting to go into motion, carrying them to their destination.
~AN~
Jowy Avilon: Woohoo, it has begun! Welcome to the first chapter of End Game, a project as mentioned earlier months in the making. We have a lot of exciting things planned for this so strap in and hold on tight, because it's going to be one heck of a ride. As always R&R no matter what you have to say, good or bad it all helps, for the both of us. Till next time my... ahhhh... Our peeps!