Disclaimer:

All Sonic characters belong to their respective owners.

Oh, and Rikku belongs to RikkuMcClowFox on Fanfiction. (Or Slashin' Azriel Hacke on FictionPress.)

Now, on with the show!

Floral Madness

"…If we must get him one, it must be from the ground. Fresh…" Cosmos said, Nodoka nodding.

"Let's start…shall we?" Nodoka nodded, running across the meadow, her emerald eyes darting back and forth for that flower that she and Cosmos thought would make up for the previous night's events: a mere rose.

She ran past quite a gorgeous lake, and nearly stopped to look at it…but continued to run, trying to focus on the objective: find roses. "Marigold…Dandelion…Lilies…"

"Rose!" Amy suddenly said, in front of Nodoka, a reluctant Shadow being dragged alongside her.

"Where?!" Nodoka said, in slight surprise.

"My last name's Rose." Amy said, a grin on her face, Nodoka getting annoyed.

"I have no time for foolishness!" Nodoka said, about to run off, when she saw Shadow lipping: "HELP…I need HELP…"

"…Hey, Amy, look! It's Sonic!" She pointed to a random direction, Amy running there in an instant.

"Thanks. What's your name again?"

"It's Nodoka."

"Ah…Well, I may as well be on my way. Thanks for getting me out of there."

"Just wondering…how does she manage to get deceived so easily?"

"No idea…" The duo turned to find Amy hugging a red hedgehog, around Sonic's height.

"What'cha doing, chick! Get off!" The hedgehog pushed her aside to the ground, and she looked at the hedgehog.

"Oh, my…I'm so sorry!" Amy turned to Nodoka, who merely shrugged.

"…Can you help me out? I'm trying to search for some pink or red roses, and-"

"Speaking of pink and red, she's coming here with a hammer." Nodoka turned to Amy, who was running in their direction, holding an absurdly large hammer.

"Recoru…Juuchi Yosamu!" Juuchi was materialized, and she ran up to the furious human, and sliced her hammer in two before running back to Shadow.

Amy, who realized this, pulled out ANOTHER hammer, and this time threw it at them. "Chaos Control!" Shadow yelled, Nodoka and him disappearing in a flash of green light.

"…SHADOW!" Amy screeched into the sky, people, including Cosmos looking at her awkwardly.

Nodoka and Shadow ended up going to a different area of the park altogether, Shadow cracking his knuckles. "We should be safe here. A good mile away from that place. She can't run that fast." Shadow smirked.

"…Now then…what'd you need help with?"

"Know any place to get roses?"

"Why not just go to a florist?"

"They need to be fresh."

"…No idea. Good luck with that." Shadow said, walking off.

"Wait! At least tell me...what is that technique?" Nodoka asked, Shadow smirking.

"…Ask your friend. He'll know." Shadow Chaos Controlled away, Nodoka sighing as he did so.

"…Well…I know that I'm still in the park. I may as well try to find my way ba-Oh crud." Amy was running towards Nodoka, mallet in hand and eyes of rage glaring at the hedgehog.

"You…Where is he?!" Nodoka merely shrugged.

"Don't lie you…you…"

"Recoru…" Time slowed down as she ran up to Amy, sliced her hammer in two, and ran away from the raging femme fatale.

"Juuchi Yosamu." She continued to run, trying to search for Cosmos.

"Hey, Nodoka! Where are you?!" The feline walked around along, trying to find the regimental hedgehog, when suddenly, the answer hit her…literally.

"Ow…Hey, watch your ste-Where were you?!" Cosmos said, Nodoka sighing.

"A…friend teleported me away from his…well, not exactly morally straight in terms of love." Nodoka said, chuckling slightly.

"Found anything?" Nodoka shook her head.

"…Have you?" She shook her head, Nodoka nodding.

"Let's search elsewhere…" Nodoka propounded, Cosmos nodding, the duo walking off together…

"Nodoka…" A certain ebony hedgehog merely sighed, looking at the sky, a cloudless day had arrived, and such was rare in and around the area of Station Square.

"Cosmos…" His eyes trailed to Sonic and Blaze, Blaze reluctantly teaching Sonic how to swim…not exactly what you'd call a good idea.

"Ack! Blaze, stop it with the water!" She playfully splashed water on the cobalt hedgehog, causing him to merely cover his face in defense.

A smile appeared on her face, a chuckle audibly heard from Blaze, Sonic smirked. The ebony hedgehog sighed, lying down on the sand below him. "…Jeez. Had it not been for their argument, I wouldn't be in this situation…" Sam sighed as Rikku walked up to him.

"…You seem down." Rikku said, sitting next to him.

The hedgehog scoffed at the statement, closing his eyes. "Two friends of mine, one my girlfriend, just got into an argument with each other. In rage I ran out, and I don't exactly want to talk to them…what should I do?" Rikku sighed, shaking her head.

"…Do what you think is right. You can't talk to them, you'd be breaking your promise. Try to find them, and try to get them to get along a bit. Something could happen." Sam nodded, Rikku sighing.

"You can't rely on me forever, y'know…it's eventually going to be that you're gonna get married to someone, and you probably can't ask me whether I can." A small chuckle escaped her lips, Sam chuckling as well as Tails walking up to the duo.

"Well, I may as well stop moping about it…put the past behind…besides, the masters decided to give us a break for today. Dunno why…but alright." Sam said, a smirk appearing on his face.

"…Why did you give them the day off?" Sam's father appeared from a darkness puddle, and smirked.

"He needs a break…" Decretus sighed, and paced around his room in worry.

"Why?" The ebony hedgehog smirked as he looked out Decretus' window.

"…Let's just say an incident happened. Leave it at that." Sam's father said, Decretus sighing.

"…Was that really your mission? Running that shop?" Decretus said, the ebony hedgehog merely shaking his head.

"No. But on the other hand, it's the perfect place to plan it out and execute it and other things I need to do." Decretus was about to say something, but was cut off.

"And no, I will not tell you of my mission. I cannot." The hedgehog merely cracked his back, Decretus sighing.

"Fine…"

"…Well, I'm out…things to do, people to see…all that jazz." A darkness puddle formed underneath him, the hedgehog slowly sinking.

"Goodbye." Decretus said, Sam's father nodding before his head could go under, and he disappeared after he did so.

"…Well…still nothing. After searching for around an hour or so…nothing." Cosmos said in slight weariness and frustration.

"Won't give up yet…not yet…" Nodoka stretched, audible cracks heard from her back.

"Jeez…a rose shouldn't be that hard to find. More than one…10 would be a nice number." Nodoka sighed as the duo walked together, seeing a sandwich store nearby, tables near the store.

"Let's get something to eat…" Cosmos nodded as the duo walked up to the clerk.

"Excuse me, can we get one tuna and one egg salad sandwich?" The clerk nodded, Cosmos pulling out a small wallet from a bag she was carrying, a designer's design.

"…Nice bag." Nodoka said, looking enviously in her direction.

"Thanks. It was a present from one of my patients…no need for thanks. I did what I did." Cosmos said, paying $5.00 for the two sandwiches.

"I was going to pay…but thanks."

"No problem." Cosmos said, a smile appearing on her face.

"…Why should we fight? We're teammates, aren't we? And she's friendly to me and…aw, heck with it." Nodoka thought, Cosmos taking her sandwich.

Nodoka did so, and they sat at the tables nearby. "...Let's start over, shall we?"

"Hmm?"

"…There's no reason for us to fight…and besides…we're acting civil to each other now." Nodoka smiled, Cosmos smirking.

"I guess. I'm sorry about what happened…I guess I let-"

"My protective side get to me." Nodoka cut her off, Cosmos nodding anyhow.

The duo chuckled, and began to eat. "You don't know what you see in him, don't you?" Nodoka asked, Cosmos nodding slowly.

"…Actually…no I don't." Cosmos said with tuna in her mouth.

"Neither do I, to be frank. You just-"

"Get something from him?" Cosmos cut her off, the regimental hedgehog nodding before taking another bite of her sandwich.

"We shouldn't fight over something so trivial…I mean…c'mon. We sound like kids. We're 13-"

"…I'm 14, actually…"

"Which only proves my point: we sound like kids, fighting over…a pint of ice cream, or something!" Cosmos began to imagine a pint of ice cream, beginning to drool a bit as she did so.

Nodoka merely grabbed a napkin from the counter where the clerk was, and wiped her mouth, bringing her back to her senses. "…I suddenly feel like ice cream now…" Cosmos said, Nodoka nodding.

"Same here…we'll get after we're done eating sandwiches, alright?" Cosmos nodded, biting into her tuna sandwich.

Nodoka taking colossal bites into the egg salad sandwich, now had some on her regimental dress. "Nodoka!" Cosmos threw a napkin at her, who caught it, and wiped the egg salad off her dress.

"Thanks." She merely did a thumbs up, her sandwich nearly falling; Nodoka rushed forward, picking it up before it even hit the ground.

"Close…heads up." She lightly tossed the sandwich upward, Cosmos grabbing it with her mouth.

"Too close…thanks." She bit it, Nodoka nodding in response.

"…Well, it seems you're having fun." Sam's father appeared from a darkness puddle in front of his son, said hedgehog getting up from the sandy floor.

"Define." Sam said, looking down.

"Ah, that habit again." He grabbed his head, and elevated it to his face, revealing tears were coming out of his eyes.

"…What's the matter?"

"Nothing." Sam quickly pivoted away from his father, who placed a hand on his shoulder.

"It doesn't look like it." Sam's father sighed, looking at Blaze, who was STILL trying to teach Sonic to swim, now to some effect, and the duo of Tails and Rikku, who were currently in the water as well.

"…Oh. I get it now." He figured it out, and sighed once more.

"…Just forgive them. Everyone makes mistakes."

"I know to…but still, it just urks me…"

"…I know you're sad about the entire situation, and want to be with them. Now are you going to stay here and waste time while they're breaking their back, trying to find a way to forgive you?!" His father said, shaking the daylights out of his son.

The adolescent felt rather light headed…but nodded, and disappeared into the light plain, the rest of the group just watching. "Where is he…" Blaze wondered, her eyes quickly going to Sam's father.

"Isn't that his father?" Rikku said, Sam's father quickly sinking into a darkness puddle, disappearing.

"…It was. He must've talked him into something…it's nothing much, I guess." Tails said, Rikku nodding slowly.

"…Does he know about…nah." Rikku thought, Tails playfully splashing some water onto her face, the vixen giving a smirk and splashing water of her own in retaliation.

"Well…we've searched…not a rose in sight." Nodoka said, sighing.

"Yeah…what a shame. It's been three parks already. How much more can we take?" Cosmos took a spoonful of rainbow sherbet as she asked, Nodoka shrugging.

She sulked slightly, her eyes closing as she placed her bowl of ice cream on the floor. "Agh…this is nearly my breaking point…any more, and I'm as good as a grandmother." Suddenly, someone grabbed both her arms, pulled them back, and placed his knee on her back quickly, a large cracking sound being heard.

"Hey, what's your-" She turned to face Sam's father quickly, realizing she wasn't sulking anymore, she nodded.

"Thanks."

"…You seem tired." Sam's father said, the duo nodding.

"When we've gone through 3 parks dashing in search for roses, and you can't find ONE, it's frustrating." Cosmos sighed, sweating a bit.

"I can imagine." Sam's father picked up Nodoka's bowl of ice cream, and gave it to her.

She merely nodded, and took a spoonful of her mint chocolate ice cream. "…Y'know, he'll probably end up forgiving you sometime today." Cosmos' ears perked upward, and she looked at him.

"How would you know?" He simply dismissed the topic, waving his hand and chuckling.

"…We're trying to search for these stupid roses to make him forgive us in the first place!" Cosmos said, a small grin appearing on the ebony hedgehog's face.

"I know." Sam's father dismissed the subject once more, and sighed.

"Well, I've gotta go. Things to do."

"Like running a café?" Cosmos quickly said, the ebony hedgehog merely smirking before a darkness puddle appeared underneath him.

"More or less. Ciao." He sank into the darkness puddle, Nodoka sighing.

"…Well…let's go…again…" Nodoka's voice had an almost depressing level of boredom to it, and she began to walk, spoon and bowl of ice cream in hand, Cosmos following.

"Hey, Cosmos! Nodoka!" Sam ran through a forest like area in a park, in search of the duo, and sighed as he stopped.

"…Jeez, where are those girls…" He stretched for a bit, a crack being heard from his leg as he did so.

"Ahh…I really should've forgiven Nodoka when I had the chance…" He face palmed, thinking back to that night where he, out of rage, refused to talk to her until the two had settled.

"…I guess there's no point in dwelling upon it now…so, less talking, more searching." Sam said to himself, sighing as he stumbled upon a sight.

Blurs of pink, crimson and black were seen at a park, the pink one chasing the crimson and black, it seems they only increased in speed. "…Good feeling of who that is…I still wonder why can't he just use that move…I wonder…" Sam sped forward, and then focused his internal energy.

He then imagined he was next to Shadow, and kept running, still focusing on his internal energies…and in a flash of green light, he disappeared and reappeared next to Shadow, still running. "So, you've learned Chaos Control. Good for you."

"Yeah, I have. Is it hard to learn, usually?" Sam asked, Shadow merely nodding.

"…You aren't exactly normal, are you?" He asked, Sam smirking.

"What is 'normal'?" Sam asked, Shadow shrugging.

"SHADOW!!!" Amy screeched, Sam covering his ears as well as Shadow.

"Chaos Control?" Sam proposed, Shadow nodding.

"Chaos…Control!" The duo disappeared in a flash of green light, leaving an even further enraged Amy in the park.

The ebony duo was at yet another park, far away from Amy, her oddly romantic threats, and her raging rampage of destruction that she was carrying out, leaving the people in the park for quite a sight… "…My, my…she's quite the definition of persistent…" Sam said, stretching.

"Got that right." Shadow crossed his arms.

"How can she even TRACK you, anyway?" Sam asked in slight disbelief, Shadow sighing.

"Ask Sonic. Not that he would know, 'cause I surely don't." Shadow said, eyes closed in slight aggravation.

"Well, thanks for the drop off, I suppose…well, not that I know where I am."

"AGH! Forget it! I'm tired, dirty, my back hurts, my eyes are practically sore, and what's worse? After searching for SEVEN HOURS, considering we awoke before the rest of them, I've reached my limit! There is no possible way that I can go any further! I am DONE, DONE, DONE!" Nodoka complained, actually near Sam and Shadow, who saw Cosmos behind her, people staring at the duo.

"Nodoka…calm down, alright. Look…we can start this over tomorrow…and maybe we'll find it then, alright?" Cosmos said, the regimental hedgehog nearly in tears due to her now sore throat, barely was able to nod.

"…Well…of any time, now's the chance. Thanks, Shadow." Sam said, the ebony hedgehog a bit confused as to how he knew his name: after all, it was rarely said.

"What I would do to not have a raging and stubborn girl…" Shadow said, walking away.

"…Hey, look! Roses! Honest to goodness roses!" Cosmos said, pointing to a group of roses…which Sam stepped on while rushing to the duo.

"Nodoka, are you-" He was abruptly cut off by a punch to the face, sending him flying backward.

"…You idiot…" Cosmos shot him a death glare, Sam merely backing away.

"I came to apologize. There was no need for me to go into that outburst….can you forgive me?" Sam said, receiving yet another punch, this time by Nodoka.

"…We were searching SEVEN hours for those dang roses. SEVEN HOURS. You step on them, and now they're-"

"Nodoka." Cosmos cut her off quickly, a smile appearing on her face.

"What?"

"…You realize you're letting all this get to you. Think about it. Why did we want the roses in the first place?" Nodoka's face enlightened, a small smile appearing on her face as well.

"Exactly…he's here, forgiving us, don't just stand there!" The duo hugged him as he sighed.

"…Well…I can see that they've become friends throughout all this…it became kind of evident when she was helping Nodoka. Guess my message got across." Sam thought, a smile creeping onto his face.

"…Where IS he? It's been two hours…" Sonic tapped his foot impatiently, Blaze sighing.

"He'll be back soon…don't worry." Blaze said, Sonic sighing.

"…It's been a while though…"

"Do I detect WORRY from you, your Highness?" Sonic asked, Blaze sighing.

"Just wondering where he is." Blaze snapped her finger in slight aggravation, her body instantly being covered in flames, water evaporating from her fur.

She reverted to normal almost immediately, however: last thing she wanted was to burn, or completely destroy her two piece swimsuit, made for her by request. "…Jeez, I need a new cell phone…" Rikku merely looked at her old cell phone, scratches, dirt…many things on the contraption, but yet, she kept it: a reminiscence of the good times of matchmaking galore…and the not so good times of rage and frustration to go with it.

"I could just…hmm?" Tails felt something in the air…as though a rift of space and time was about to open…and it actually did, Sam, Nodoka and Cosmos appearing from a green flash of light.

"First time. Good job!" Sam said, Nodoka sighing.

"You're not exactly the master of it either! We tried twice to get here until you told me the location!" Sam sheepishly smiled, Nodoka slapping him playfully.

"What took so long? We're starving!" Sonic said irritably, the cobalt hedgehog tapping his foot in impatience.

"Nothing much…a bit of problems here and there…but that aside, how was your time here?"

Sonic merely smirked, wrapping a hand around Blaze's shoulder, who merely blushed. "It went well…what of it?" Tails said, Rikku ruffling the vulpine's fur.

"Nothing much." Sam shrugged, and saw a nearby grill.

"…You wouldn't happen to have-" Sonic was cut off by Sam, who threw him some bought and packed meat.

"Meat? Yeah. I figured you guys were hungry, and I know that there are some grills…so here. All on Nodoka." Sonic nodded, but hesitated to place it on the grill.

"…You realize one thing, right?"

"What?"

"We need a flipping utensil." Sonic said, tapping his foot.

"Oh…Right." Sam said, sweating bullets as the rest of the group merely stared at him, to even a near menacing extent.

"Stop staring…Heck, I can-" The hedgehog began to run as the group, minus Cosmos and Nodoka, chased him.

"…So…I can get Sam?" Nodoka asked, Cosmos nodding.

"Yeah. But know this: if you make him break up with you, or if we meet after a long time…let me at the very least hug him or something." Cosmos said, Nodoka nodding.

"Fine, fine…" Nodoka waved her hand lazily, and the duo watched Sam being chased, as he was finally getting tired, he nearly stopped, only to jump into the air with Chiharu, doing flips, and planting Chiharu into the ground.

"Hope this works…Spiritual Resonance!" Sam and Chiharu said in unison, glowing a golden aura.

The rest of the group backed away slightly, looking at Sam. "The ultimate Swordbend, the ancient blade of light, darkness and chaos dispelled…" He raised his armed hand with a smirk.

Chiharu glowed white, and grew to twice his original size. "Ken no Hikari!" Sam slashed forward, a large white slash appearing from Chiharu, headed toward the group, who dodged the attack.

Sam looked at the destruction he caused: a wrecked pier, wood everywhere, the entire place a mess. "…Shall we take our leave?" Sonic suggested, looking at the damages.

"I think we shall…" Blaze said, the duo rushing off in blurs of blue and purple.

"Well, Tailsy, let's go." Rikku said, the vulpine chuckling.

"It's been a while since you've called me that…" Tails said, thinking back to the times…

"Tailsy, huh?" Chiraikou materialized next to Rikku, smirking.

"What of it?" Sengen materialized next to Tails.

"Nothing…just that it's kind of funny and cute, that's all." Chiraikou chuckled, Tails wrapping his two tails around Rikku's, making her blush only slightly as the four of them proceeded to walk back to the treehouse complex.

"Finally…everything's back to normal with you three…well, as much as 'normal' gets." Juuchi chuckled as she materialized beside Nodoka.

"Yeah…don't worry; I won't go for Chiharu…I'll just make the deal Cosmos made with you." Shitsuren appeared, Juuchi nodding.

"Don't worry…I won't go berserk either." Juuchi jokingly remarked, Chiharu materializing behind Juuchi.

He then hugged her from behind, surprising her quite a bit. "Good to have you back."

"Good to see you. It's been a while." Juuchi said, turning around and returning the embrace.

"I'm getting kinda hungry…if you want, we can go get something to eat." Shitsuren said, Chiharu and Juuchi nodding.

"Go on to the complex without us…we'll just get something to eat." Cosmos gave the trio $20, Chiharu nodding.

"Thanks." The trio dashed off quickly, Sam looking at the duo, gesturing for them to walk with him, the duo happily rushing to his side.

FRIENDSHIP HO! With the situation resolved, and the girls friendly with each other, our heroes happily are going back to the treehouse complex, save Chiharu, Juuchi and Shitsuren, who are going for a bite to eat. Fun chapter to write, especially with the Amy scenes…tournament's this Saturday, and we've decided we aren't going to Crew Battles: too late at night. Well, I hope you enjoyed reading as much I did typing, R&R, I'll see you next!

~ADarknessInHeaven

Aka: Sam