Eeek! I'm really at the Smash Mansion! The little Inkling Girl thought as she stood at the mansion's gates. She gave the mansion a quick top-down scan with her eyes. It's pretty, but I was expecting it to be more colorful...
She wheeled her suitcase behind her as she took a few steps forward. She eagerly placed her hand on one of the elegant door handles. She pulled on it, and the door quickly opened. Wait, really, I can just go in? It's not even locked? Wow!
She entered the building and gasped as she saw the interior. The main lobby alone was huge, and guests were spread across the floor chatting, eating food, and wandering around. The other houseguests were of a multitude of shapes, sizes, races, and colors.
She hesitated and trembled a bit as she rapidly glanced around the room. Get a hold of yourself, Snapback-chan...She reassured herself, pinching the edge of her hat with one of her hands. Its bill was a shade of magenta, which matched her pink tentacles and contrasted with her dark skin tone.
She took a letter out of her pocket and looked at it. My room is in the east wing of the house...um...
She started walking towards her left, struggling to squeeze both herself and her luggage in between the people in the crowd. "Uh, excuse me!" She quickly mumbled every time she bumped into someone. She felt her backside, just to check that the Splattershot strapped to her back hadn't fallen off. She touched it and sighed with relief as she kept walking.
Eventually, she snuck through the crowd and found herself in the east wing of the mansion. Room 64...Room 64...she kept repeating to herself as she proceeded down the hallways, glancing at each room number.
After a few minutes of wandering aimlessly, she stopped and let go of her suitcase. This is exhausting.
She took a moment to notice the uniformly painted beige walls. She put a finger to her chin. They're so empty! How has no one inked these yet?
She reached behind her back to pull out her Splattershot. I know, I'll do everyone all a favor! They're gonna be so excited when they see what I've done!
She pulled the trigger, spraying pink ink all over the wall directly in front of her. She then grabbed her luggage in her other hand and started to walk down the hallways again, this time spraying ink everywhere she went. Both the walls and floor gradually became soaked with pools of her vibrant paint.
She increased her walking speed until it turned into a jog and eventually a sprint. Every so often she transformed into a pink squid, slipping and sliding down the halls. She emerged from the ink upon spotting Room 64.
Finally, there's my room! She began to search through the pockets of her shorts for her room key.
Suddenly, the lighting in the hallway lowered until she was covered in Shadows. When she realized she couldn't see the items in her pocket that she was sifting through, she raised her head and looked first to her right, and then to her left. She didn't see anything at first, but then it ocurred to her to look up.
A giant gloved hand was floating over her, flexing its massive fingers. "What have you done to these hallways, Inkling Girl?" Boomed a deep voice.
"Oh, I inked them! They were really bare." She looked up at the hand, unsure of where to make eye contact with a being that had no eyes. "Oh, and my name is Snapback-chan..."
The hand stuck out its long pointer finger down towards her. "How dare you deface these hallways!"
She took a couple steps backwards, eyes still on the giant hand.
"Such rebellious behavior must be dealt with. This is inexcusable."
She continued to backpedal, muttering "Woomy..." underneath her breath. "Well, um, look at the time, Mr. Giant Hand sir, I think I need to go refill my ink tank, I'll see you tomorrow!" She quickly morphed into a squid and super jumped high into the air. She flew straight into the ceiling and fell straight back down to the floor with a thud.
"I am Master Hand, and you will address me as such." He commanded, looming over Snapback. "As much as I wanted to give you a warm welcome to the Smash Mansion, you must face the consequences. As punishment for your vandalism, you have to clean up all of the ink you have spread before you can participate in the tournament."
"Aww..." She sighed. She quickly bowed her head and apologized, "Sorry."
"Apology accepted." Master Hand stated. "You may go. However, as I previously mentioned, until you clean up this mess, you will be banned from tournament activities."
With her shoulders held stiffly upright, Snapback whipped around to face her room door. She fumbled through her pocket once again until she found her room key, which she then used to enter the room before slamming the door shut and locking it.
A shiver went down her spine. That was terrifying... She thought as she rolled her luggage over towards a corner. She flopped down on her bed with a sigh. Looking at her wristwatch, she noted the time: 3:30 in the afternoon. I wanna practice, but...she glanced towards her room door. I guess have to clean up the ink first.
She stood facing one of the hallway walls, which was still drenched in pink paint. She took a washcloth and started to rub the ink. It simply moved from one section of the wall to the other. It won't come off? Um...
She examined the tools at her disposal; all she had nearby were her weapons, ink tank, and her washcloth.
She lifted up her Splattershot in one hand and sprayed her washcloth with ink before rubbing it against the wall a second time. Still, the ink did not come off. She rubbed the cloth harder with no luck.
"Excuse me, do you need help, miss?" Asked a voice that came from behind her; it sounded like that of a young boy.
"Oh, yes please, thank you!" She turned around to see a boy wearing armor that was colored both light and dark shades of blue. Even his eyes were a bright blue. His hands and feet were strangely shaped, causing Snapback to stare for a moment.
He stepped beside her. "Are you trying to clean that ink of the walls?"
She nodded. "I tried spraying some ink on this cloth, but the ink still won't come off."
He gave her a puzzled look. "You were trying to get the ink off...with more ink?"
"Well, ink solves everything, doesn't it?"
He smiled and sighed. "Not when you're cleaning, it doesn't."
"Oh." She looked back at the wall. "No one ever really taught me how to clean. It's not really a thing we do at home, so..."
"Don't worry, I can help you out! I was programmed to help, and that includes cleaning."
She tilted her head to the side. Programmed...?
He held out his hand. "I'm Megaman. It's nice to meet you!"
She shook his hand. "Nice to meet you too, Megaman! I'm Snapback-chan. Although...you're a weird looking man..."
"I'm a robot." He answered. "I was originally built to help my Dad, but he had to convert me into a fighting robot and, long story short, here I am." He took the washcloth out of her hands and walked into a nearby bathroom. He stepped back out a moment later, with the cloth covered in water. He then started to scrub the wall, removing the ink.
"Oh, you clean with water?" She asked with realization.
"Yep!"
"I never would've thought of that. Usually I try to avoid water, I don't like it too much..." She rubbed the back of her neck with her hand.
"It's fine, sink water won't bite. Get another washcloth and try it!"
She ran into the bathroom and searched through the cabinets until she found another washcloth. She turned the sink on and held out the washcloth underneath the faucet. She winced at first. After a moment, she thought, hey, wait, he's right! This isn't too bad!
She re-entered the hallway and returned to her place next to Megaman. She reached up towards the wall and started to scrub it.
"See, you're a natural!" Megaman praised her.
"Woomy!" She replied.
He looked at her, startled.
"Er, thanks!" She corrected herself.
"Oh, anytime!"
"Wow, you really can turn into a squid? I thought you were a human..." Megaman commented. He and Snapback were sitting together at a table outside, in the area behind the mansion. Not only was there a set of tables, but there was a practice battlefield nearby, and even an outdoor hot tub and a pool.
"I'm an Inkling!" She smiled. "So I'm part kid, part squid." She stood up for a moment and turned into a squid, bouncing up and down before returning to her inkling form and sitting back down.
"That's fascinating!" Megaman exclaimed.
She looked at him. "Oh, so since you helped me yesterday, I was wondering, like, is there anything I can do to help you in return?"
Megaman waved his hand. "I told you, it was nothing, helping is literally what I was made for."
"Well, if you insist. But, it means a lot that I finally have a friend here. I just got here yesterday and I was kinda too afraid to talk to anyone. I mean, there's so many people here..."
"Aww, I get that feeling." He patted her on the back. "I was a little like that when I was new here too, this is only my second time being invited." He looked out at the crowd that was gathered outside. "But, I can try to introduce you to some people, if you want."
"Oooh, really?"
"Sure, I can even point some out to you right now." He first pointed to a short plumber wearing a red and blue outfit. "That's Mario. He's been here the longest out of all of us, and he's a really nice guy, although he doesn't talk much, so I'm not too close with him."
"Who's that little yellow guy?" Snapback pointed towards a yellow mouse who was drinking straight out of a ketchup bottle.
"Oh, that's Pikachu. I don't really know him too well either, since he's a Pokemon, so he can only speak in the Pokemon language, so I can't really understand him."
"Oh. Well...what about that cool guy with the big shield?" She gestured towards a boy who was wearing a green tunic.
"That's Link. I'm not too familiar with him, because...he doesn't really talk either."
"Wait, are there really that many people who don't talk around here? How am I supposed to make friends besides you now?"
"No, it's fine because there's lots of people who talk around here too. Like, there was this guy who I got along with really well the first time I was here." His voice became a bit quieter. "His name was Sonic. I've been waiting to see him ever since I got back, since, for some reason, I just kept thinking about him after the first tournament."
Snapback leaned in closer to Megaman, her eyes wide with curiosity.
"He was the fastest person I've ever seen, I even thought he was a robot at first because I didn't think any living creature could be so fast. He was really cool and confident too, and when I fought him, well, I don't think I've ever fought against someone as close of a match to me as him. He didn't even compare to Proto Man, or Bass..." Megaman looked back at Snapback, his face tinted a slight pink."Oh wait, you probably don't need to know all that, you don't even know who Proto Man and Bass are."
"Not a clue!" She shook her head, smiling. "But, you're a robot, and you can still blush? That's so cute!" She gasped. "Wait, do you like him? Like, like him like him?" She leaned in even closer, grinning.
His face turned a brighter shade of red. "Well, I guess you could say that. B-but, no, I probably just have a virus. I mean, I've never really felt like this before, wanting to see someone so badly even though it doesn't really have anything to do with my function, so it's probably just an error in my programming, and I'll just have to ask Dad about it when I get home-"
"You like him!" She repeated.
"Well, okay, if I was programmed to be capable of that, I mean, Dr. Light did program us to feel emotions just like humans, so..." He looked at her smug grin. "So maybe you're right, I guess I do like him-"
She gasped again. "YOU LIKE SONIC!" She shouted.
Several heads in the crowd turned to face her.
"Shh!" Megaman held one finger to his mouth and leaned in towards her to shush her.
"Oh, sorry, was that too loud?" She leaned back.
He sighed. "It just might not be good to give away just yet. Rumors could spread and I'm not even sure if Sonic likes me in the same way."
"Aw, c'mon, I bet..oh, hey!" She exclaimed. "You helped me get the walls clean, so in return, I'll help you hook up with Sonic!"
"R-really?" Megaman smiled.
"Woomy! Anything for you, my new bestest bud!" She quickly hugged him.
"Thanks!" He said. "Wait, what did you say, what's...?"
"Woomy?" She repeated.
"Yes, that."
"Oh, it's just a word in Inkling language. I can teach you some words later, if you'd like."
He nodded. "Sure, it might be fun."
Sonic zipped around the mansion backyard. Where's Megaman? They didn't forget to invite him this year, did they?
He skidded to a stop as he spotted Megaman's silouhette. He was waving goodbye to a girl with squid tentacles, who was jogging away.
Does he not remember me? Sonic thought as Megaman still hadn't noticed his standing nearby. He's probably made a lot of new friends since last time...he eyed the girl as she walked away from Megaman and towards the pool.
"Should I ask him?" Sonic muttered to himself. He tapped his foot on the ground for a moment. He put one foot forward, but then hesitated. What would Tails say if he were here?
He imagined Tails grabbing his hand to prevent him from running off. Wait, Sonic! You should probably hold off in case he doesn't remember you.
Sonic itched his ear. Is that kid rubbing off on me? Well, whatever, I'll just play it cool.
Sonic dashed over towards Megaman once the girl was out of the way. He put his elbow on Megaman's shoulder. "Hey, Megaman! How's it goin'?"
Megaman's face appeared to gain some color. "Sonic!" he greeted.
Ha, he does remember! Sonic thought.
"I hope you've been practicing!" Sonic said as he stretched one of his arms.
"Actually, I haven't been able to practice just yet. A friend needed my help, and you know how that goes." He smiled. "But, I was going to ask you anyway, do you want to practice with me?"
"You bet I do!" Sonic gave him a thumbs up.
They hurried over to the practice battlefield.
Sonic stood on one side while Megaman took his place on the other.
Sonic picked up a remote and glanced at the large screen above the battlefield. He clicked a button, which caused its timer to reset to 3 minutes.
"I set it to 3, but I bet I can finish this even faster." Sonic smirked.
"Oh, please. Remember last time, I was one of the only people here who could hold my own against you!"
"Oh, I remember..." Sonic grinned. He watched as the countdown descended from 3, and once the announcer shouted "GO!" He dashed towards Megaman. He began to curl into a ball, but Megaman quickly stepped to the side to dodge his spin attack.
Megaman used his Super Arm to grab Sonic and lift him above his head.
"Not bad." Sonic smirked, looking down at him.
"Thanks!" Megaman smiled as he tossed Sonic up into the air. He used his Air Shooter to launch a tornado upwards.
Sonic dodged the tornado and then kicked out his leg as he shot down towards the ground.
Megaman quickly dashed a few paces backwards as Sonic landed on the ground. He then dashed towards Sonic, preparing his Super Arm to grab Sonic once more.
As soon as Megaman reached towards Sonic again, Sonic reached out one of his hands, grabbing Megaman's and stopping his grab in its tracks.
He and Megaman made eye contact for a moment, before Sonic glanced back at his hand. There's that feeling again. What is it about him that makes me want to keep practicing with him?
"Man, that was a close one!" Megaman commented as he and Sonic walked towards a food cart.
"You did great, but I think both of us knew how it would end." Sonic said.
"I'll keep trying my best in practice rounds, so when the tournament comes out I bet I'll be able to beat you this time!"
Sonic leaned against the food cart. "I'll take a chili dog." He asked the Koopa Troopa behind it. "Y'know, you seem a lot less timid about fighting since last time."
"Well, I know the ropes this time so I know that the fighting is all friendly competition so I'm not really hurting anyone." He looked at the Koopa Troopa. "Can I have an E-Tank, please?"
The Koopa Troopa handed them one chili dog and one E-Tank.
"So, what do you feel like doing now?" Megaman asked as he sipped the E-Tank.
"I think I'll go for a run. Maybe catch up with Mario, it's been a while. You?"
"Oh, well, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out with me in the mansion, or something."
"Megs, c'mon, that's not an if question, you know I've been wanting to hang out with you since last time." Sonic smiled at him. "We can do it later tonight, or tomorrow, or every day even."
"Really? Every day?" Megaman leaned forward, hopeful.
"Of course!" Sonic put one hand on Megaman's shoulder. "But for now, I gotta run and I have a lot of catching up to do. I wanted to say hi to that new challenger too."
"You mean Snapback-chan?"
"The one with the tentacles?"
"Yeah, that's her. She's really nice, we were talking earlier."
"Well, any friend of yours is a friend of mine." Sonic gave him a thumbs up. "Well, I'll be back before you know it!" He ran off.
Snapback sat in a chair by the pool. She gazed into the shining blue water and sighed.
Suddenly, a strong gust of wind approached, blowing her tentacles upwards. She held onto her chair as it became stronger, and soon a blue streak shot by. Her chair flew backwards until it slammed against the wall behind it. "Ow!" She exclaimed.
The blue streak rushed back, stopping directly in front of her. "Hey, are you okay?"
Snapback looked up and saw a blue hedgehog wearing red sneakers and white gloves standing above her. He was holding out his hand.
She took his hand and stood up. "I'm fine!" She said. "And thanks!"
"Sorry about that, people get caught up in my speed sometimes, you could say."
"I've never seen anyone move that fast before, you were really running just now?" She looked at him with wide eyes.
"Yep, that's me!" He held up one finger. "I'm Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog."
This is the guy Megaman likes! She thought. "I'm Snapback-chan. Nice to meet you!" She shook his hand.
"So, what are you doing here, going for a swim?" He eyed her tentacles.
"Oh, no, I...I can't swim." She admitted, looking down towards the ground.
"Heh, that's nothing to be ashamed of." He used one finger to tilt her head back upwards. "I can't swim either, but why should I need to? I've got other talents, and I bet you do too."
"Oh, I do!" She exclaimed as she took her Splattershot out from behind her back, where it was strapped. "Wanna see me use my Splattershot?"
"Hmm, tell ya what. How about we practice tomorrow and you show me then?"
"I'd love to!" She briefly jumped in the air.
Sonic quickly saluted her as he said, "Well, see ya then!". He then ran off.
Megaman stood up when he heard a knock on his room door. Sonic? He thought. He opened the door to reveal an excited SnapBack.
"Hey!" She began. "I met Sonic today!"
"You did?" He asked. "I mean, so did I, but, you did?"
She nodded. "I see what you meant, he was like, really cool! And he said sometime we could practice together, like tomorrow. But how did your meeting with him go?" She plopped down on Megaman's bed.
"Pretty good. Well, he remembered me from last time, and he seemed pretty friendly, and we did some sparring for practice. Oh, and he said he wanted to hang out with me sometime, and we could even do it every day if I wanted."
She gasped. "He likes you?"
He sighed. "Well, I don't know that. I mean how do I know if he just wants to hang out as friends, or what?"
"Hmm, well, you gotta start out as friends anyway, right? That's what it says in all those romance books."
"I suppose that's true. But how am I supposed to control whether he feels the same way that I do?"
"Duh! You impress him!" She stood up and tapped her fist to her chest.
"Impress him?" He echoed.
"Yep! I mean, think about it, Sonic is like, a really proud, cool guy, right? You just gotta make it obvious that you're cool and on his level too."
"You mean, you want me to show off? I'm not sure if my personality was programmed with that capability."
"If you were programmed to love, you probably were programmed to show off, too."
He shrugged. "I see no logical errors in that..."
"Besides, even if you think you don't know how to be cool, I can just teach you how! I hang around the cool squidkids all the time! Well, okay, mostly I just watch them, but I think I got the hang of it!" She started sifting through Megaman's belongings. "Do you have any paper?"
He shook his head. "I log all my notes internally."
"Hmm...oh, I'll use my phone!" She took out her phone from her shirt pocket and started to type on it. "I'll show you all the slang I know." She held out the phone towards him. "Here are some we can start with."
Megaman squinted. "I can't read those."
"Oh yeah, you don't speak inkling." She crossed her arms. "Well, I can write them in English. This might take a while, though..."
"And, you're sure my slang data was outdated?"
"Positive." The duo sat outside in the backyard.
SnapBack eyed Sonic as he entered her field of vision. "Ooh! There he is!"
Megaman stood up.
"Now just do it like we practiced." She encouraged him as he began to step towards Sonic.
"Yo, Sonic!" He began with a wave.
"Hey, Megs!" Sonic waved back.
"You feelin' fresh?"
"Er...yeah, I'm good."
"Fo shizzle, my hedgehizzle! So, are you down..." Megaman paused as he spotted SnapBack standing behind Sonic giving him a thumbs up gesture. "Uh, you down for some practice, yo? And then we can get some food and chill?"
"Sure! Although I told that Inkling girl I'd practice with her too-"
"That ain't no thang!"
"-so we'd have to practice after that, sometime in the afternoon."
"That sounds wicked!" Megaman grinned. "So are we getting dinner?"
"Yeah, But, just gimme a second." Sonic ran off. He skidded to a stop when he saw SnapBack. "Yo, do you know anything about robots?" He asked her.
"Uh, not much, why?"
"Well Tails isn't here, so I can't ask him, and Mario wouldn't know much... but I was wondering, is Megaman okay? Like, is he robo-sick?"
"Oh..." she hesitated. "He's fine. Actually, he's great! Like really great like, I bet you'd really like him. You should probably spend some time with him and like, get to know him."
"Oh, I'm gonna, but he was just talking way different than usual..."
"O-oh, well, he probably just...learned some Inkling slang from talking with me yesterday. Yeah. I was teaching him some new words-"
"Got it." Guess that explains that. He thought. "Well, I'm gonna go get some dinner with him. Catch ya later, Inky!" He waved as he turned around.
"Stay off the hook!" She replied. She looked behind Sonic and made eye contact with Megaman. She slid her finger across her throat and cringed.
Megaman nodded.
Sonic reclined on a couch, chili dog in hand. "So, how've things been going back on your world?"
"Things have been going great! Although not much has been happening. And I gotta admit, it's been a bit lonelier without your company."
"Well hey, can't blame you there, I do have quite the presence." Sonic held up a cola can, taking a sip from it. "Although, I gotta admit, I really missed you too."
Megaman chuckled. "So, how have things been in your world?"
"Great! Me and my friends went to war against Dr. Eggman, who took over the world after he threw me in prison."
Megaman's face turned a bit pale. "Whoa, whoa, are you all right? You were a soldier? And you were a prisoner of war? Oh man, if only I had been there to help-"
"Calm down, worry-bot!" Sonic reassured him. "I'm here and I'm fine now, aren't I?"
"You are, but, you didn't mention all this stuff happened before! Is your world ok? And everyone you fought with?"
"They're all fine. And we're working on fixing the damage Eggman did now, it'll all be back to normal in no time."
"Are you sure? Should I come with you to help after the tournament's over?"
Sonic put one hand on Megaman's shoulder. He lowered his voice a bit and spoke more quietley. "Don't stress it. Besides, your world needs you too, y'know."
Megaman looked into Sonic's eyes, his face tinting a bit red.
Suddenly, an announcement came through the PA system. "Attention, all Smashers! Dinner is ready, so join us at the main hall if you wish to participate."
Megaman stood up. "We should probably go to that. I don't wanna miss the E-tanks."
Sonic stood up with him. "All right, we can go, but only if I get the seat next to you."
"You're not half bad, kid!" Sonic said as he wiped pink ink off of his quills with a cloth. It was the next day.
"Thanks!" SnapBack said as she reached for her lunchbox. She and Sonic took a seat down next to the practice battlefield.
She took out a large stack of waffles covered in fried shrimp, whipped cream, and chocolate. She opened her mouth, then paused and held it out towards Sonic. "Wanna bite?"
Sonic waved his hand. "Nah, I'm good."
She shrugged and then took a large bite of it, getting whipped cream stuck on her face. "So, are you close with Megaman?"
"Yeah, we're pretty close, why?"
"Um, well..." she licked some whipped cream off of her nose. "I just noticed you two seemed to have a lot in common, so, I was wondering if you guys ever hang out, because I was like, 'I bet those guys would get along real well. Like super really well.' You know?"
Sonic smiled. "I get it. But yeah, we're close." He looked at her. "Although, I kinda wanna be even closer to him."
SnapBack unconsciously leaned in until she was inches away from Sonic's face.
"You're a little close, Inky." Sonic said. He put out one finger and stroked her cheek, taking off a dab of whipped cream. He put his finger in his mouth. "Hmm, that does taste pretty good though."
"Right, they're my favorite! And oh, sorry..." she retreated. "But, you wanna get closer? Can you tell me more?" Her voice raised a bit in pitch.
"Sure." He chuckled a bit. "Well, ever since I fought him for the first time...something about him really struck me. Honestly, it was the first time I had ever felt I might lose." He smirked. "But don't tell anyone that."
She shook her head as if to say "I won't."
"I just felt some kind of spark, I guess. I wanted to fight him again and again, but the more I did, the more I admired him, and I wanted to spend time with him outside of the battlefield, too."
"Well, you should try that!" She exclaimed. "After your next practice with him, try to hang out with him and then tell him how you really feel!"
He hesitated for a moment, his eyes widening a bit. Play it cool.
"Hm? What do you mean by that?"
"Oh, um, I just meant, tell him you wanna spend more time with him."
He stood up. "You've got good ideas, kid." He smiled at her. "Well, I'm gonna go for a run. Enjoy the rest of that, um..." he gestured towards her concoction.
"Double Fried Super Schwaffle?" She answered.
"Yeah, that." He dashed off, causing her tentacles to blow in the breeze.
"So, the slang didn't work out too well, so I thought maybe I should start you off with the basics." SnapBack pulled out a whiteboard. It was the next day and she was standing in Megaman's room. Megaman was sitting on his bed.
"If the slang didn't work out, what makes you think I was even programmed to learn Inkling language at all?" Megaman retorted.
"Don't worry, I'm starting you off way easier this time." She wrote a word on the whiteboard. She then turned to face him and used a pointer to point towards the word.
"Now, repeat after me. Woomy."
"Woo...my?" He echoed.
"Woo! My!" She repeated louder, pointing towards each syllable.
"W-Woomy...?" He said again. "Wait, what does that even mean?"
"It depends on the context, but it can mean hello, goodbye, peace, thank you, you're welcome, I love you-"
"Wait, that one word means all of those things?"
"Yeah, it can also mean good morning, good night, yes, no-"
He held out one hand. "Can you slow down? This is difficult to process."
"Sorry." She lowered her pointer. "Oh, are you going to practice with Sonic again today?"
"Yeah, we were meeting after lunch. Why?"
"Well I got to talk to him yesterday and he seemed like he really wanted to spend more time with you."
Megaman appeared alert. "Did he say anything about liking me?"
"I couldn't tell if he does or not but he still seemed pretty interested." She paused for a moment. "But if you're seeing him, how about you tell him how you really feel? That way you'll know."
Megaman blushed. "I'm not sure if I should, I mean, what if he says no?"
"Then...I'll try to think of more slang words!" She picked up her marker and began to write more on her whiteboard.
"Nonono, that won't work, trust me. We can just figure out something different."
She sighed. "Fine. But if he doesn't feel the same, I'm gonna by some real fresh romance novels to try and get more ideas. Although..."
"What?"
"Well, like I said, he did seem interested, so don't be surprised if he does say yes."
Megaman smiled. "That's a relief. But how do I even bring it up, or say it?"
"Um...well in the books, they always say it'll come to you in the moment."
"In the moment, huh...?"
"You've got some time to think about it, don't sweat it." She pushes the whiteboard towards the corner. "I'm gonna go make a Schwaffle, want one?"
"I can't eat." He reminded her.
"Oh, well, good luck with Sonic!" She exited his room and closed the door."
In the moment...can a robot like me really feel emotions in a moment just like she says living things do? Megaman thought to himself. He looked up as he saw Sonic zipping towards him.
"Oh, hey Sonic!" He waved as Sonic skidded to a stop.
"'Sup, Megs?" Sonic replied. He picked up the remote, which had been on the ground nearby, and prepared the timer for three minutes.
Megaman's eyes jumped towards his right as he saw something moving in his peripheral vision. He spotted a pink tentacle moving behind a bush.
Oh, it's Snapback. He took a step towards her, but then hesitated. I guess she can watch us, it won't do any harm.
I hope they didn't see me...Snapback though as she crouched behind a bush near the battlefield. She lifted her Schwaffle up to her face and took a messy bite of it, with her eyes intensely focused on Sonic and Megaman, who had begun their practice fight. One of them better take my advice...
Megaman prepared a charge shot while Sonic dashed towards him; Sonic quickly dodged out of the way as Megaman fired. Megaman then summoned a Metal Blade in his hand, tossing it in Sonic's direction. Sonic quickstepped out of the projectile's way and continued to approach him.
"You're gonna have to try harder than that if you wanna beat me!" Sonic taunted him as he reached out with both of his hands to try and grab Megaman.
Megaman immideatley repositioned his hands to be directly in front of Sonic's; as Sonic could no longer grab him, they were grappling hand to hand with each other, each trying to gain an advantage.
Megaman looked directly into Sonic's eyes. It'll come to you in the moment! Snapback's words echoed in his mind.
Tell him how you really feel! Her words rang in Sonic's head as well as he also made eye contact with Megaman.
"Sonic, I have to tell you something!" Megaman blurted out.
Sonic loosened his grip on Megaman's hands. He does too? That can't be...
"I-wait, you go first." Sonic said.
He was gonna say something too? Megaman felt a drop of synthetic sweat rolling down his face. It's now or never! Just say it! He imagined Snapback cheering him on.
"Woomy!" Megaman exclaimed.
Sonic slowly let go of Megaman's hands and took a step backwards. "Uh, 'scuse me?"
Did I really just say 'Woomy'? Megaman thought. If Sonic wasn't with him, he would've thrown his face into his large robotic palm.
"Woomy." He repeated. "...It means...I love you, in Inkling. Snapback taught it to me. Although I guess I could've worded that better..." He retreated by a couple of steps.
Sonic's eyes widened.
"Listen, I couldn't stop thinking about you, and I just had to say..." Megaman's face had turned a bright red. "Oh, but what were you going to say?"
Sonic sighed, his cheeks a bit pink. "Woomy." He smiled at Megaman.
Megaman gasped. His eyes began to shine as he realized what had happened. Sonic likes me too?
Sonic held out his hand. Although Megaman's hand was shaking slightly, he took it.
Sonic quickly kissed Megaman on the cheek.
"S-Sonic...thank you..." Megaman stammered. Is this really happening?
Unbeknownst to them, Snapback's head was now visible as she had stood up from behind the bushes. She squealed as she super jumped towards Sonic and Megaman, landing just behind them.
"Whoa!" Megaman exclaimed, jumping up.
Sonic winced. "Snapback? What are you doing here?"
She looked towards her left, then towards her right, and finally towards the ground before looking back up at them. "Oh, well, I was just, y'know, a-am I interrupting something? Because I can just say hi later-" She stuttered.
Sonic and Megaman both stared at her for a moment.
"Well, I saw you kiss him, and I got really happy, and I guess I wanted to say congratulations or something-"
Megaman blushed brightly. She was watching! How'd I forget? She saw...all that?
Sonic averted his gaze for a moment as he realized what had happened. He then looked back at Snapback and gave her a thumbs up. "Yo, thanks!" Was all he said.
"...Thanks?" She echoed.
"Well, you did tell me to tell him how I really feel, didn't you?"
"W-wait, she told you that? She told me to...to do the same thing."
Sonic chuckled. "See, you helped us out, Inky!"
She giggled. "Yes! My work here is done!" She super jumped up into the sky.
"...huh?" Megaman wondered aloud.
After a moment, she fell back down to the ground. "It's...it's a party trick...where I say my work here is done, and then I...y'know..."
Sonic sighed.
"Oh, didn't you guys have a practice fight to finish?" She quickly changed the subject.
"We did, but..." Sonic watched as the timer reached zero and buzzed. "We should probably take a breather first. I might go get a chili dog."
"Yeah, we should." Megaman agreed.
"Oh, can I come with you? I need to go to the kitchen to make another Schwaffle because I dropped mine in the bushes anyway."
"Er..." Sonic appeared confused.
"Oh, it's nothing, I was just feeding some birds."
"With a Schwaffle?" He asked.
"Yep, with one of those." She started to speedwalk towards the mansion. "I'll see you guys in there!"
Megaman shrugged as he looked at Sonic. He then began to take a few paces forwards.
"Wait." Sonic said, causing Megaman to stop in his tracks. "Wanna try a faster way?"
"Faster?"
Sonic scooped up Megaman in his arms.
"Y-you're gonna carry me?" Megaman blushed and his body tensed up. "I'm not sure if I need to be carried..."
"It's not as scary as you'd think." Sonic responded. "And besides, don't you wanna see what it feels like to go this fast?"
Hmm, I've never gone faster than the speed of sound before...Megaman thought. "Oh, sure I do!" He agreed.
Sonic zoomed towards the mansion, with Megaman in his arms.