Chapter 1: First Impressions
Alyssa Thorndike froze in her tracks. So did the blue creature she had come face to face with upon entering the house.
"Eheheh…Hi. You must be Alyssa, Chris' sister, right?" The blue creature greeted with a small wave. Alyssa nodded.
"Um….hi? You are…..?" She managed to say, though her mind wasn't quite over the initial shock that one: there was a blue animal like creature in the living room, and second: it SPOKE.
"Oh my name's Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog. I'm a friend of your brother's." Alyssa nodded once, still unable to shake the shock of the situation.
"Oh." was all she could say.
"Sonic, do you know where….oh! Is this Alyssa?" Alyssa turned to see a talking rabbit enter the room with a little….flying creature next to her.
{Great….as if this couldn't get any WIERDER. Chris has some explaining to do BIG time when he gets home from school.} Alyssa thought, running her fingers through her shoulder length reddish brown hair. The little rabbit girl smiled at her.
"My name is Cream, and this is my Chao friend, Cheese. It's very nice to meet you." she said politely.
"….Yeah." Alyssa was still down to one word responses. She didn't know how she was supposed to react to this situation. After a moment, she walked past them without attempting another word and briskly made her way up the stairs in the direction of her bedroom.
For most of the remainder of the afternoon, Alyssa didn't come out of her room, and she didn't open her door for anyone. She just laid back on her bed and played Skyrim.
"Alyssa, you've got to open the door sometime." Alyssa looked up at the door at the sound of her grandfather's voice. After pausing her game, she got up and opened the door with a scowl.
"You knew I was coming home today, Grandpa Chuck! Chris did, too. WHY didn't you tell me over the phone or through e-mail that his new 'friends' were from a 'little' farther than out of town?" she demanded. Chuck smiled apologetically.
"I really am sorry Sonic and Cream caught you by surprise a while ago. But you know, if you take the time to get to know them, you'll see that there's no reason for you to be afraid of them. Well…except for Knuckles on a bad day. Hahahaha." he said. Alyssa blinked.
"Knuckles? So…there's more of them?" she asked in surprise. Chuck nodded.
"That's right. Aside from Sonic, Cream, and Cheese, there's Knuckles, Tails, and Amy. I think you'll like Tails the most. He's only a kid, but he's smart. He likes tinkering away in the workshop and creating all kinds of gadgets like you used to do when you were in middle school. In fact, he's down there now. You should go talk to him." Alyssa bit her lower lip. She wasn't so sure she liked the idea, but they were her brother's friends, and she'd hate to come off as cold. For Chris' sake if nothing else. After a moment, she sighed reluctantly.
"….Alright, sure. Why not? But don't expect me to just get all buddy-buddy with the kid and the others right off the bat. …This is gonna take some getting used to." Chuck laughed.
"I can imagine, but like I said, Tails is in the workshop." he said, moving aside. Alyssa exhaled and nodded, walking past him.
As Alyssa peeked into the workshop, she didn't see anyone.
"Hello? Anyone in here?" she called. No reply, so she entered and tried again.
"Tails, are you in here?" she asked.
"….Huh? How do you know my name?" Alyssa jumped as a little yellow fox popped out from behind a large object that Alyssa now registered to be a plane.
"Uhm….err….well….I'm um, I'm Chris' older sister Alyssa. It's….nice to meet you." she said hesitantly, flashing a brief, uncomfortable smile before looking up at the plane.
"So…did you build this yourself?" she asked. Tails blinked and looked in the direction she was looking in.
"Hm? Oh, you mean the X-Tornado? Yeah."
"Wow. ….Impressive. So um…I'm gonna just….go back in the house now. I just wanted to come out and introduce myself. It was nice meeting you." she said. Tails smiled.
"Yeah. You too." he said, giving a small wave as she turned and walked out. As she closed the door behind her, Tails frowned slightly.
"Wow. She doesn't seem anything like Chris described her." he mumbled thoughtfully.
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"So how'd it go?" Alyssa sighed.
"Well…Tails is an okay kid, I guess. I'm heading upstairs to save my game and then I'm going to take a nap, Gramps. Let me know when Chris gets home from school, kay?" she said, walking past her grandfather.
"Oh, Alyssa, hold on. I should let you know before you go upstairs that Lindsay and Norman are home for the week." he said. At the mention of her parents, Alyssa groaned.
"Terrific…well, thanks for the warning." she said, going upstairs. Once in the sanctuary of her room, Alyssa flopped down on her bed and took her sketchbook out of her backpack. Sighing, she thought a moment, pondering what to draw. Before she could really contemplate though, a soft, hesitant knock sounded on her door.
"Who is it?" She asked.
"….Um….It's Cream and Cheese." Exhaling, Alyssa sat up.
"Come on in." she said. Cream entered and walked over and crawled up on the bed next to Alyssa.
"What're you drawing?" she asked. Alyssa smiled thoughtfully.
"Hmm….I wasn't sure, but now….I think I'd like to draw….you two." Cream's eyes lit up.
"Really?" she asked. Alyssa nodded at the six year old.
"Yeah, if you don't mind." she said.
"Okay!"
"Chao! Chao!"
-15 minutes later…-
"Can we see it now?" Cream asked eagerly. Alyssa laughed lightly and carefully pulled the page from the sketchbook and held it out to Cream.
"Here you go. What do you think?" Cream examined the drawing. In it, she and Cheese were both wearing flower crowns and playing by a stream. On the other side of the stream a fawn and its mother relaxed watching the little rabbit and her chao curiously.
"Wow, Alyssa. This is really good." Cream said. She tried to hand the sketch back to Alyssa, but the auburn haired girl shook her head.
"Keep it. I drew it mainly for you." she said. She then blinked and looked down when Cream hugged her.
"Thank you. I'll make sure to take extra good care of it." she said.
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That night at dinner was the most awkward atmosphere Sonic had ever been in. As he, Amy, and the others sat and ate, they could feel the aura Alyssa was giving off, and it wasn't a very pleasant one. At first, he guessed it was maybe because of him, but then he remembered something Chris had told him about Alyssa that he sort of disregarded until now: She had a very tense relationship with her parents. After some of the things Chris told him about from the last time Alyssa and Mrs. Thorndike were in the same room, he was surprised Alyssa was still at the table instead of excusing herself and going back up to her bedroom.
"So….how was school today, Chris?" Alyssa asked suddenly, looking up at her brother. Chris blinked.
"Oh, um…it was okay, I guess. But I'm kinda stuck on my math homework. Do you…think you could help me out a little after dinner?" he asked hopefully. Alyssa smiled and nodded.
"Sure, not a problem." She said. For the rest of the meal, everyone else conversed, but Alyssa remained silent. Sonic and Amy both thought about bringing up a conversation with her, but sensing her irritated mood, they decided it was best to leave her be.
After dinner, Alyssa helped Chris where he was stuck on his homework, and afterward the two went outside to shoot a few hoops.
"Hey!" Alyssa exclaimed playfully as Chris swiped the ball from her in the center of the court. She laughed and tried to get it back from him, but he maneuvered around her and tossed it into the hoop.
"You got lucky, I was distracted!" Alyssa said. Chris laughed.
"Sure, you were!" he teased. Alyssa scoffed playfully and tickled her brother, making him laugh and drop the ball. As soon as it hit the ground, Alyssa grabbed it and dribbled it towards the hoop.
"Cheater!" Chris teased, chasing after her to swipe it back. Alyssa stuck her tongue out and shot it into the hoop.
"Come on, little brother! You know ALL my tricks, you should've remembered it was coming." she said moving to tickle him again. Chris moved out of the way and swiped the ball again.
When the game was over, Chris had beaten Alyssa, just like always. But she didn't mind. She liked sports well enough, but she wasn't all that competitive.
"Good game." She panted, flopping down on the back patio bench. Chris plopped down beside her.
"Yeah. You almost…beat me." he replied. Alyssa yawned and stretched.
"If you say so, but the score was 6 to 16. I don't think that counts as almost winning."
"But you're getting better. Last time we played, the score was 2 to 18." Chris pointed out. Alyssa ruffled his hair.
"Ugh…don't remind me." she said, standing up. Picking up the ball, she smirked and asked,
"Ready for Round 2?" Chris opened his mouth to reply, but stopped when he heard a certain blue hedgehog.
"Hey guys, what's up?" Chris turned to him.
"Hey, Sonic. We were just getting ready to start another round of basketball. Wanna join us?" he asked.
"Well…"
"Actually," Alyssa said, tossing the ball to Chris, "I'm kind of tired, it's been a long day, so I think I'm going to go ahead and head up to my room. If you want, you two can play a round. Night, boys." She said hugging her brother and nodding at Sonic.
"Um….goodnight." Chris said. As Alyssa entered the house, Sonic turned to Chris.
"Does she…not like me or something?" he asked. Chris sighed and set the basketball down.
"It's not that. I think it's just she's gotta get used to the idea of you and the others being here that's all."
"Well she's never going to get used to us if she hides in her room all the time. By the way, what was with her at dinner? She seemed pretty tense." Sonic said. Chris sighed and set the basketball down.
"It's…because of our mom and dad. Alyssa's kind of distant when they're around because they're always gone. It's….kind of hard to explain, Sonic. Besides, I don't think she'd like me talking about her feelings. I don't want her to get mad at me OR you."
"….Okay. Whatever you say, Chris. Getting back on the original topic, I don't suppose you have any idea what we can do to help her relax around me and the others?" Sonic asked. Chris smiled.
"Actually, I do have an idea. Maybe we could get her to hang out with Amy and Cream tomorrow."
"Oh, you mean like a 'Girls Day Out'? That's a great idea, Chris. Well, if we can get her to go for it." Sonic said, crossing his arms in thought.
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"Come again?" Alyssa asked, placing a bookmark in her book and closing it.
"Well, we just thought it might be fun to hang out together today, you know?" Amy said. Cream nodded in agreement.
"That's right. We can go see a movie, and have a picnic in the park. It'll be fun." Alyssa was hesitant.
"Well…I don't know. I kind of had a lot of things to do today…" she said. Surprisingly enough, she wasn't lying. She still had some unpacking to do; the only things she'd unpacked when she got home were a few outfits, her hair brush, and her television and PS3. After getting the game console and TV hooked up, she'd spent most of the night playing Skyrim.
"Oh come on, it can wait. You just got home, right? Why not take a day and have fun?" Amy pressed. Alyssa exhaled.
"….I guess it wouldn't hurt…." she said in defeat.
To her surprise, Alyssa was almost glad she'd gone with the younger girls for the day. They went to see a movie she could never convince her brother to go see with her (a/n: No, it's NOT one of the Twilight Saga movies….bleh….), and on the way to the park, Alyssa learned the full details on what happened to get them stuck on Earth, as well as some things about Amy and Cream themselves.
"Hey, do you guys want to stop at the clothing store on the way home?" Amy asked suddenly. Alyssa yawned and sat down in the grass. Amy and Cream followed suit.
"That depends on how tired we all are when we leave the park." Alyssa replied, laying against a nearby tree and taking her sandwich when Cream held it out to her.
"Today was really fun though." Cream commented.
"Chao!" Cheese agreed. Alyssa closed her eyes. In all honesty, it was the most fun she'd had in a while.
"Yeah, it was." she said tiredly.
"Hey Alyssa, do you think…hm?" Amy started to ask Alyssa if she thought the spot they were in would be ideal for a date with Sonic or maybe an outing with the whole group, but when she turned her head to look at Alyssa, the older girl was already fast asleep. Amy stifled a giggle.
"Wow. I guess all the walking around we did really wore her out." Cream said. Amy shook her head with a smile.
"That, or she stayed up until five in the morning playing that game she likes. What did Chris say it was called? Skyrim, right? Well, regardless, is it just me or did she seem kind of down?" she asked, her amused grin turning to a thoughtful frown. Cream looked at Alyssa and nodded.
"She did seem kind of sad. Especially when we got to the theater." she said, thinking. After a moment, she smacked her fist into her palm.
"I know how we can cheer her up, Amy! Let's make a flower crown for her!" She said. Amy seemed kind of doubtful, but she agreed, stating it was worth a shot. Cream set to work right away looking for the perfect flowers to use, and Amy pointed out some white and red wild flowers she'd found. As the girls set to work on the flower jewelry for themselves and Alyssa, Cream asked,
"Amy, do you have your camera in your bag? Maybe we can take some pictures of all of us together."
"Great idea, Cream. But…we may have to do it while Alyssa's asleep, I think Chris said she's really camera shy." Amy replied, pausing from her task and digging in her purse to see if she had her digital camera with her.
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Alyssa looked around the room in confusion.
"H…Hello? Anyone here?" she called. No reply. She didn't recognize this place at all, but if she had to venture a guess by looking out the window, she'd have to assume she was in outer space.
"Is that….the Earth?" she murmured in awe, staring out at the aqua colored planet.
"…..Soon it will be nothing more than lifeless mounds of rock, floating endlessly amongst the stars." At the sudden voice, Alyssa turned to see who spoke. But to her confusion, there was no one there.
"Who's there?!" She called.
"….You won't live long enough for it to make any difference." the voice said. Before Alyssa could say anything else, she felt the wind get knocked out of her and she doubled over, clutching her stomach where she had felt the impact. When she looked up to see who her attacker was, she felt a hand wrap around her throat. She gasped, trying to free herself, but to no avail. Just when she felt herself fade out of conciousness, she was surrounded by a strange warmth, and heard the sound of two girls giggling. Realizing the person that attacked her was gone, Alyssa stood and ran in the direction of the voices.
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As Alyssa slowly opened her eyes, she saw a flash of light and winced, closing them again.
"What….what're you guys doing?" she asked, rubbing her eyes drowsily.
"Oops. Looks like we're busted. Sorry, Alyssa. I know we should have asked you first, but…" Amy started, rubbing the back of her head. Alyssa blinked, noticing the camera in Amy's hand. Her cheeks instantly turned crimson.
"You….didn't…." Amy responded by turning the camera so Alyssa could see. The eighteen year old opened her mouth to reprimand the younger girl, but stopped when she saw the photo. She was sleeping, and despite the nightmare she'd experienced, she looked peaceful. Atop her head was crown woven out of red and white wild flowers, and her hair was adorned with the same flowers. Amy and Cream sat on either side of her, and Cheese sat happily in her lap. Amy held the camera, and while Cream and Cheese wore crowns of all white flowers, Amy's was pure red.
"….." At Alyssa's silence and the hint of a smile, Cream and Amy grinned at each other and nodded.
"So….do you want a copy when I get ready to print it out?" Amy asked. Alyssa looked away from the image and nodded.
"…Sure, I guess." she mumbled. Crawling over to the picnic stuff, she started packing it up.
"It's getting dark, " she said, "we should get home." Amy frowned.
"Aw…I thought we were going to go clothes shopping." she said.
"We don't have time. I'd like to make it home before dark, and we won't be able to if we stop anywhere. We can go tomorrow afternoon, Amy. I promise." She said. Amy and Cream exchanged a glance and a smile as if to say, "mission accomplished!"
Despite claiming to be in a hurry to get home, Alyssa took Amy, Cream, and Cheese for ice cream before actually returning to the Thorndike estate. The outing ended in a slightly undesirable way; halfway to their destination, the girls got caught in the rain and Alyssa had to call Mr. Tanaka; the butler to come and pick them up.
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Alyssa sighed and moved one of her checker pieces.
"Man….I wish we weren't confined to entertaining ourselves indoors." She grumbled. Chris stifled a laugh and took his turn, claiming the piece she'd just moved.
"You only say that because you hate the rain, and it's always when it's raining that you want to be outside the most. Otherwise, you'd be playing Skyrim. Which reminds me, how come you're not playing now?" he asked. Alyssa took her next turn, taking revenge for her claimed checker piece by taking one of her brother's.
"I got stuck in a dungeon on the main quest line, so I decided to take a break. Besides, you're my brother and I wanted to spend some time with you." she said, reaching over and ruffling his hair.
"Hey guys, who's winning." Alyssa held in a sigh of irritation. Of COURSE family time would be interrupted by…..THAT.
"…Hi, Sonic. You know if you really want to know who's winning, look at the board." She said. Sonic arched an eyebrow and smirked slightly.
"Whoa, do I sense a little hostility?" he asked. She responded by sticking her tongue out playfully. Sonic laughed.
"Guess not. My mistake. Wow…Chris is really kicking your tail, isn't he?" he teased. Alyssa play scoffed.
"Hey, if you think you can do better against him, be my guest." she said, moving over. Sonic shook his head.
"Nah, I'll let you guys finish your game first. Hey do you guys know where Amy went?" he asked, looking around. Chris and Alyssa exchanged glances and shook their heads.
"No. Why? …It's not our job to keep tabs on your girlfriend, Sonic." Alyssa said. Before Sonic could make the hasty remark that Amy was NOT his girlfriend, Chris spoke.
"Are you looking for her for some reason?" he asked. Sonic shook his head vigorously.
"No, I was asking so I could head in the opposite direction." he stated.
"She's in the kitchen with Ella. She'll be in there for a while." Chris replied. Sonic sat down and sighed.
"In that case, I think I might take you on for a couple matches." he said. Chris looked up at Alyssa.
"You don't mind do you?" he asked. Alyssa shook her head and stood.
"Go ahead." she replied. In truth, she kind of DID mind. She hadn't seen her brother in a while, and it seemed every time she would be spending some time alone with Chris to hang out, have fun, and catch up, SONIC would make an appearance. But, he was Chris' friend, so she decided not to say anything. Heaving a sigh, she decided to blow off some steam by tinkering around with her gadgets out in the workshop. She hadn't invented anything in quite some time, and she missed her hobby.
Glancing around to make sure no one else was there, Alyssa slipped into the workshop and closed the door. Turning on the light, she made her way over to the back left corner where all her tools and stuff were stored. She had to dig through it for almost twenty minutes, but she finally found what she was looking for: a half finished hang glider with what looked like weapon or accessory compartments on it. This was the last project she'd been working on before starting her freshman year in high school. Exhaling, she heaved it up onto her work table and took a screwdriver out of one of the table drawers.
"Alright, let's see if I can get you working the way you're supposed to this time…." she mumbled.
"Alyssa?" Alyssa jumped and turned to see Tails enter the workshop with what looked like a pair of night vision goggles on his head and a remote control of some sort in his hand.
"Tails….what're you doing?" she asked. Tails took the goggles off his head and put them and the remote control in the front seat of the X-Tornado.
"Oh, I was just trying out one of my new inventions and an upgrade I was working on for the X-Tornado. What're you doing out here?" he asked. Alyssa shrugged and set her screwdriver down.
"I was just tinkering with one of my own inventions, that's all." she replied.
"You're an inventor? Chris never told us that." Tails said. Alyssa shrugged.
"Eh. It's more a hobby than a real skill. Most of the stuff I make doesn't really work as well as I want it to. And I think the reason Chris didn't say anything is I don't really like it being brought up. I just don't see it as a big deal, you know?" she said with a sigh.
"Well, practice makes perfect. Sometimes my inventions don't work right the first time around either. So what kind of stuff do you like to make?" Tails asked. Alyssa fidgeted with the charm bracelet on her left wrist.
"Mostly small vehicles, weapons, cameras, that sort of thing. But there's one thing I'd like to make that I think you might be able to help me with, Tails." she said. Tails blinked curiously.
"Really? What's that?" he asked. Alyssa smiled.
"…A portal. One that links your world and this one. That way, you guys could go home, but you and Chris could visit each other whenever you want." she replied. Tails' eyes lit up excitedly.
"That sounds like a great idea! I can't wait to get started on the blueprints!"
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-ALYSSA'S JOURNAL; ENTRY 1-
I met my brother's friends for the first time yesterday. I was….in shock at first, needless to say. I mean, who wouldn't be? But after getting to know Amy, Cream, Cheese, and Tails, I've kinda grown attached to them. Sonic, on the other hand….I don't know, I guess he just reminds me too much of my ex-boyfriend for him to really appeal to me as quickly as the others. Darren was annoyingly overconfident (not to mention a cheating jerk) and the way Sonic talks makes him come off as the same type of guy- a smug, self-centered creep. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm not. But the fact that he shows up EVERY time I want to catch up and spend some time with my brother doesn't help his case. I guess I'm a little edgy because my parents are home for the week. Well, hopefully things in the house don't get too tense. I don't want to relive what happened the last time my parents were home while I was here. Oh well, who knows? Maybe things will start looking up. At least Amy, Cream, Cheese, and I had fun on our trip into town. When they made flower crowns for all of us and took a picture, it reminded me of when my cousin Sara and I were little; we'd do that kind of stuff all the time. Speaking of which, I wonder if she and Uncle Sam know about Sonic and the others yet? Knowing my luck, probably. Even my parents were already in the loop. Why did I have to be the last to know? Seriously!
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