Author's Notes:

Happy belated 4th of July Holiday!

The night of events we're entering is one of the big scenes of this story. Therefore, I've broken it up into parts. As it stands, this is a two-part chapter. It might go to three parts, but I'm not sure yet. I'll have to see how the next chapter goes to determine that. This part, I'm happy to say, contains the drama I've been promising. The long-awaited action, however, will come in the next chapter, I PROMISE. Also coming in the next chapter, at long last, I'm going to reveal the entire list of cars. Whether you know a lot about cars or nothing at all, it doesn't matter. You'll get an idea of just how insane the car list is once you see it.


Chapter 9 - Night of Trouble Part 1- Veteran's Reunion

The cityscape of Station Square was starting to become visible from the cockpit of Tails' plane. At this hour the sun was at the angle that it illuminated the city with a stunning aura that could be seen for miles. As they got closer all the buildings looked like crystals protruding from the ground that reflected the orange, red, and yellow rays of the sunset. Currently, Sonic had donned a pair of sunglasses that Tails had lent to him since the glare at this time of day was difficult on the eyes. Tails also had a pair on as well, though his were a rather expensive looking pair of Ray Ban aviator sunglasses.

"Damn that's a beautiful sight..." Sonic said suddenly, lifting his shades up a little to get a better look.

"I almost forgot I had a co-pilot," Tails joked.

Sonic smirked at his long-time fox friend. Tails couldn't help but admire Sonic as he looked out cockpit looking at him after all this time took Tails back to the night he realized Sonic would always be there to help him. His mind drifted back to a night with a similar sunset.


(FLASHBACK)

It had been almost a month after the war with Robotnik had been interrupted by the inter-galactic war with the robotic Metarex race. Though the Metarex uprising had been squelched, it came at a lofty price. Tails, only eight years old at the time, had experience a grave loss. Cosmo, a young alien plant girl he'd fallen in love with during the war, had to be sacrificed in order to defeat the enemy. What was worse was that Tails was the one who was responsible for the final act that resulted in her death. The effects of that event on the young fox were apparent in both his performance in the field and at base.

On this particular night, everybody was celebrating a monumental victory against Robotnik. A huge party was thrown and all were having a good time, rejoicing and embracing the momentous occasion. All except one person. Alone, in his hut, sat Tails, curled up and under the sheets of his bed. He was in no mood or condition to be part of the celebrations. Naturally, this absence did not go unnoticed, particulary by a certain blue hedgehog.

"Hey Tails! You in there, big guy?" Sonic said, knocking on Tails' front door.

The little fox did not answer, nor did he want to. He knew why Sonic was there and he did not want to deal with him right now. But little did Tails know that Sonic had borrowed one of his brother's lock picks and with very little effort, Sonic had the door open. At first, Sonic thought Tails wasn't there, judging by the fact that nothing appeared to have been moved for quite some time. Tails tried to hide his presence by pulling the covers up over him completely, but such a childish trick was useless.

"Tails... I know you're there," the hedgehog said, shutting the door behind him and flicking on a lamp Tails had made. "Come on, little buddy! There's a party going on! Let's go have some fun."

"Leave me alone..."

The tone of Tails' voice confirmed his hunches that Tails was still upset with what had happened. Of course, Sonic couldn't blame him, but he still knew something had to be done. The fact was Robotnik was still in power and if they had any chance of winning, they would need Tails' up and coming mechanical and technical skills to do so.

"We need to talk, Tails."

"Go... away..."

Sonic took a seat on the end of the bed and tried to pull the covers off of Tails, but he held them back.

"Come on, Tails. You know I'm not gonna leave until we talk."

"Shut up and go away..."

"Don't you think you're being a little unfair to me?"

"Unfair? Unfair!" Tails shouted, sitting up and throwing the covers off of himself. "What the hell would you know know about unfair!"

"Tails, shhhhh! And watch you're language."

"See! There ya go already! You're trying to avoid the problem at hand! Well I won't let you! You think I'm being unfair? What about what happened to me! That's unfair! And don't give me that crap that life isn't always fair! This goes beyond that!"

"I know you're upset, Tails, but we still have a war to win with Robotnik. I know you don't want to hear this, but you can't let this keep bringing you down like this."

Tails looked at Sonic as if he were a mad man, but then broke down crying into his hands as he wrapped his twin tals around himself.

"You just don't get it..."

"Get what?"

"I... murdered... her... How do you think that makes me feel?"

"You didn't murder her, Tails.

"What do you mean?" Tails said, looking up.

"Nobody wanted Cosmo to die the way she did, especially you. I know that. What happened to her is one of the saddest things we've ever seen. But you did not murder her, Tails. Murder is when a killing is thought out before hand and done for a bad reason. Now you tell me honestly... did you think about this before hand?"

"...No..."

"Did you do it because of malice?"

"...No..."

"Then did you murder Cosmo, as you say you did?"

Though Tails didn't answer, Sonic knew he'd gotten the point. But there was still something troubling the young kitsune.

"You're right, Sonic... but..."

"But?..."

"I still... killed her... I pulled the trigger that shot you and Shadow into her..."

"I know. But how do you think I feel? Remember, you may have fired, but who was the bullet?"

Tails' eyebrows raised. He'd never considered that before.

"I know you're sad, Tails. But that doesn't mean you have to grieve alone. We're all grieving. And we're all here for you."

"But... I'm too much weight for anybody to carry right now..."

"Tails... you ain't heavy... you're my brother."

Once again Tails broke into tears, but not of sadness. They were tears of relief, of appreciation, and even of happiness. Even if they weren't related by blood, the truth was they were brothers. Tails leapt forward and embraced his hedgehog brother, which Sonic gladly returned.

"I love you, big bro..." Tails said into Sonic's shoulder.

"I love you too, little buddy..."

(END FLASHBACK)


Many times after that night for the next two years Sonic was there to comfort Tails. Even after a six year absence, Tails still got the same feeling of security and warmth from just looking at Sonic. He always felt the brotherly love from the hedgehog every time they communicated, despite the fact that he and Sonic weren't related by blood. It didn't matter though, because regardless of how they were related or how long they were apart, it had always been and still was the same. They were always there for each other, especially now.

"Sonic..."

"Yeah?... Sup?..."

"...You alright?... From earlier, I mean."

"Hmph... Yeah, I'm good. I just got a lot on my mind, ya know? But being up hear, flying with ya, it's bringing back so many memories."

"Glad you're back to your old self. The last thing I need is an emohog flying with me."

"Teh heh! Yeah, that's for sure!"

A beeper sounded on the auto-pilot control panel. Tails pushed a few buttons and flicked a few switches on that panel, then switched his headset to the passenger cabin.

"Alright guys, we're getting close to the city. I'm gonna ask you get into a seat and buckle up."

Clicking back to cockpit frequency, Tails took hold of the control stick started to nose the aircraft down while pulling back on throttle levers to reduce speed. There was, however, something that was bugging Sonic. Rather than turning inland for the Station Square International Airport, Tails seemed to be turning towards the edge of Station Square, headed for the ocean. Before Sonic could ask what was going on, Tails clicked onto the frequency to talk to air control towers.

"Emerald Coast Tower, experimental, November tango oscar romeo one two, requesting permission to land."

"Experimental, November tango oscar romeo one two, cleared for landing on runway one niner."

"Roger, cleared for landing, runway one niner, experimental, November tango oscar romeo one two."

In order to line up for their runway, Tails slowly tuned the plane around roughly one-hundred and eighty degrees. Now lined up for the runway Tails pulled way back on the throttle, lowered the flaps, turned on the landing lights, and nosed down a bit more. But just as he was reaching for another lever, the door to the cockpit slammed open.

"W-W-W-W-W-WHAT'S G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-OING ON! W-W-W-W-W-W-ERE HEADED FOR TH-TH-TH-TH-TH-TH-TH-TH-E WAT-T-T-T-T-T-ER!"

Sure enough, Sonic looked outside and saw that they were indeed headed for the water. This puzzled the hedgehog since they'd taken off from the land. Before he could start to question if anything was wrong, Tails laughed.

"Ray... do you honestly think that I'm not aware of that?"

"Then... everyth-th-thing is o-o-o-okay?"

"Maybe I should have mentioned this earlier, but this plane is designed to take off on both land and water."

Tails reached back for the lever from before and pulled it all the way back. The sound of some sort of mechanical occurrence could be heard and felt inside the cockpit, followed by a slight bump. "Water Pontoons Down" flashed up on one of the control panel's display screens.

"See?" Tails said.

Ray blushed a deep shade of crimson in embarrassment as he turned away and left the cockpit, pulling the door shut behind him. Sonic and Tails shared a quick humorous glance, then returned forward. Pulling the throttle back even more, Tails lined the jet up perfectly between the buoy markers for the water runway. A few hundred feet off the ground Tails pulled the throttle down to practically nothing and leveled the jet out. Moments later they touched down on the water. It was a little bit rougher than Sonic had expected, but it was still a picture-perfect landing. Tails activated reverse-thrust to slow down and brought the jet down to a crawl. A few hundred feet away thee was a perfect view of the Emerald Coast beach resort and hotel, the same one that Sonic and his siblings had parked at earlier. Tails flicked a new switch on his headset.

"Emerald Coast Harbor Master, this is the Tornado Twelve, an experimental seaplane. I'm requesting permission to dock, over."

"Copy that Tornado Twelve, you have permission to dock. Proceed to beach-side piers, dock seven, over."

"Roger, proceeding to beach-side piers, dock seven. Thank you. Over."

After a few minutes of taxing, the jet was pulling up to the docks out front of the Emerald Coast hotel and train station from earlier in the day.

"Hey Tails... You're not gonna fit in the dock. What are you going to do about your wings?"

"This."

Tails pulled yet another lever, initiating another round of mechanical commotion. On a display screen Sonic noticed an LED image of the jet's fuselage and incremental lines around it. He watched as the lines went from being next to the fuselage to being folded over the top.

"The wings are hinged halfway down so they can fold up over the body. Slick, eh?"

"Very. By the way, what time is it?"

Tails looked down at his very Breitling Co-Pilot Emergency aviators watch and smiled. He held up his wrist and showed that the hands pointed precisely at 7:30 P.M.

"Way past cool, Tails. Way past."

Shortly there after the jet was docked and everybody was filing out onto the pier. Tails was busy putting covers over the engines to keep water from getting in and was checking a few other things to make sure his jet was okay.

"I swear, when this is all over, this is the first thing I'm gonna do is buy one of these for my boutique!" Sonia exclaimed, stepping out onto the dock.

"Why the hell would you need a business jet for a boutique?" Manic asked.

"In case I have clients from far away who want to come visit. Or, I could take my merchandise on tour and go to fashion shows..."

Manic rolled his eyes as his sister ranted on about what things she could do. Finally Tails finished all of his post-flight activities and briefly went back inside the jet, then came back out. A few moments after he stepped off the walkway the door closed and locked by itself. No sooner had it done so when Tails realized they had a problem.

"Uhh... did anybody uhh... make arrangements on how we're gonna get to Club Rouge?"

Every looked at each other and realized that was one thing they'd overlooked.

"I guess we'll have to call for a few cabs to come get us," Chuck suggested.

"Eeeeew! I'm so not riding in a stinky, yucky, dirty taxi!" Sonia complained.

"Well, technically, we can fit four in my car, five if we really try," Manic pointed out.

Suddenly Manic's phone rang. Taking the phone out of his fanny pack Manic looked at his caller I.D. and raised his eyebrows.

"Dude, it's Antoine!"

Nobody had been expecting a call to come from Antoine so they all watched eagerly to see how things went.

"Antoine, how's it going dude?... Well yeah, I know working with Robotnik is no picnic, but you know what I mean... He's letting you go to Rouge's party?... Coolness, so are we... There's just one problem... There's ten of us and we only got four seats, five at the most... Yeah, ten... Well, let's just say we've made some friends that want to help us out... Uh-huh... Well, we have a bit of a problem... To many asses and not enough seats... You think you could swing by here in your BMW and pick us up?... Righteous... We're at the Emerald Coast Hotel... Oh good, then you'll be here shortly then... Alright, sounds good... Later dude..."

Manic ended his call and turned to the group.

"Antoine is on his way to the party too. He's gonna help take us to the party. It'll be tight, but I think we'll manage."

"You're, like, kidding right? I'm not doing this squish into a car thing."

"Then you can ride in a front seat, sis. Stop being such a pain in the ass."

"What did you call me!"

"You heard me."

In a huff, Sonia began letting off steam with Julie. That's when Sonic pulled his brother off to the side.

"Manic... doesn't this worry you a little?"

"Now that you mention it, you might be right... I mean, why all of a sudden is Robotnik letting Antoine have a social life? It doesn't make sense."

"Yeah, I know... Uh oh..."

"What is it, dude?"

"Manic... you car has been sitting in that garage all day."

"Yeah?... So?...

"Who's to say it hasn't been tampered with?"

Manic's expression changed from cautious to fear upon this realization.

"It only takes a few minutes to set a bomb... I should know... In my thieving days I set them all the time..."

"Maybe that's what Robotnik wants. He figures Antoine would help take some of us to the party while the rest of us get into you're car. He does something that takes all of us out and ta-da, he's free to do what he wants.."

"I hate to say it dude, but you might be right. And since you think you saw somebody... or something... around here earlier today, who's to say it wasn't one of Robotnik's old SWATbots spying on us to know when to plant a bomb?"

"It's more than possible."

"And even if the cars are safe, who's to say he doesn't strike at the club?"

"At this point, anything is possible."

"Dude... what should we do?..."

"You know I don't say this much, bro... but I have no idea."

Sonic and Manic watched as all of their friends stood huddled together at the entrance to the hotel, eagerly awaiting their ride of luxury to the club. Both of them felt utterly helpless since they didn't know if something bad was about to happen.

"I guess I could always have the valet driver bring my car up instead of me. If nothing happens that's a good sign, I guess."

Sonic nodded. Manic went into the hotel and turned in his valet ticket. A few minutes later a driver came out and parked Manic's black Camaro IROC-Z in front of them.

"So far, so good... I guess..." Sonic said.

"Doesn't mean a thing. With a good enough system he could have a remote detonator a mile away."

"HEY! Here comes Antoine!" Ray squeaked excitedly.

Sure enough Antoine's black 1990 BMW 750iL came around the corner and pulled up to the front of the hotel.

"Bonjour mes amis!" Antoine exclaimed, holding out his arms in an overly-elaborate greeting as he stepped out of the car.

There was an exchange of greetings and friendly comments before everybody starting piling into the limo until only Sonic, Manic, and Antoine remained outside.

"Antoine? Can we talk to you real quick?" Sonic asked.

"Oui, oui. Of course."

Antoine joined the hedgehog brothers, curious as to what they were so eager to talk about.

"What's the deal with Robotnik letting you go to this party, dude?"

The coyote only shrugged.

"You don't know?" Manic asked.

"Robotneek asked eef I had any plans for zee night. I said zat I was eenvited to a partee, but I wasn't goeeng seence my car broke down. Zee next theeng I know Robotneek has Sneevely feex eet een no time and he said I could go to zee partee."

"That seems a little generous for Robotnik, don'tcha think?" Sonic asked.

"Oui, eet eez. Een fact, eet eez a leettle, how you say, supersteecious eef you ask me."

"Suspicious, not superstitious, Ant." Sonic corrected.

"Who eez caring! Zee point eez zat zis eez unlike Robotneek, yes?"

"That's exactly what we were thought. We think he's set up for something bad to happen to us since we're all together," Sonic started.

"Or we think Robotnik is gonna hit us at the club," Manic added.

"I know zat you weell be t'inking zat I am, how you say, loseeng my mind, but... I don't t'ink zat we are een danger from Robotneek."

"Ant... are you saying that..."

"You trust that dude?"

"...Oui..."

Sonic and Manic looked at each other, both thinking the same thing.

"Zee fact remains that Robotneek needs zee cars, one way or zee other. I know zat trusteeng Robotneek eez sometheeng zat nobody should do... but all points conseedered, what other options do we have? As far as I'm concerned, zere eez no other choice."

"Come you guys! Let's get going!" Sonia exclaimed.

As much as they didn't want to, Sonic and Manic accepted that they would have to not only trust Antoine's word, but also Robotnik's.


"Come on Sonic, you figjam! Where the hell are you!"

Such were the thoughts of the driver who sat now on the verge of sleep from boredom. A couple hours had passed and although a few more guests had showed up, there was still no sign of Sonic. Not more than a minute and a half later however, a black BMW followed by a black Camaro pulled up to the club.

"Finally..."

It was quite humorous to see how everybody had crammed into the two cars. In Manic's Camaro Sonia sat shot gun while Sonic, Uncle Chuck, and Ray squeezed into the back. But the situation was even tight in Antoine's BMW. Rotor, being the largest, had sat shotgun. Then, by some miracle, Julie-Su, Silver, Cosmo, and Tails all crammed their way into the back. This had only become possible by Cosmo sitting on Tails' lap the whole time while Silver sat sideways in the middle and laid against Julie. Everybody was more than glad to get out of the cars by the time they got to the club, needless to say.

"Let's, like, go have some fun!" Sonia exclaimed.

The clan headed into the club with a bustle of excitement. Sonic Manic, and Antoine, however, held. back.

"Ya know something Sonic, I think we're alright," Manic said quietly.

"I think you might be right, bro."

"May I eenterupt?"

"Sup dude?"

"Sonic... Manic... I know zat I 'aven't exactly earned zee right to ask for a favor, but... I need to ask for one anyzeeway."

"If your worried about us bringing up the job, don't worry. We've already agreed to keep that on the L.D. for tonight," Sonic said.

"Zat eez good, but eet's not what I was goeeng to ask."

"Then what's up, dude?"

Antoine took a deep breath. One look at the coyote's face told Sonic and Manic that their friend was deeply distressed an that this was clearly going to be about something very important.

"Zee reason I came to zis partee eez zat... Bunnie Rabbot eez going to be 'ere..."

"Oh really? Coolness!" Sonic said.

"Oui... eet eez a good theeng... and yet... eet eezn't..."

"Why's that?"

"Well Sonic... you see... Bunnie and I... have been, how you say..."

"In love?"

"Oui... een love... for a long time now..."

"And how is that a problem?"

"I think I know where this is going," Manic interjected.

"Eef you theenk you know, please tell Sonic... I am too ashamed to do eet myself..."

"Well, correct me if I'm wrong Antoine, but you've been keeping the fact that Robotnik has been forcing you to work for him a secret from Bunnie so she wouldn't get worried and do something that might get her in trouble."

"Beembo..." Antoine said, his head hung in shame.

"First off, it's bingo Ant. Second of all, Antoine... What the hell were you thinking?" Sonic asked.

"I love Bunnie more zen you can understand, Sonic... Eef aneething were to happen to her... I would have no deesire to leeve on weeth my life... I just deedn't want anee trouble for her... Zat's all..."

"It's your business to tell her, Ant, not ours. Your request is my command. I won't say anything about it to her."

"Same here, dude."

"Merci..."

"Your welcome. Now, before we head inside, is there anything else we need to get off our backs?" Sonic asked.

"I wanted to tell you guys something. I did something to the list that I think is gonna help us once we get to the job."

"What deed you do?"

"Well, I got to thinking-"

"Normally when you do that things go wrong."

"Whatever, dude. Anyways, I got to thinking and I said to myself... we need some sort of codename system for the cars."

Both Antoine and Sonic cocked their heads, not knowing what he was getting at.

"Think about it. If somebody overhears us or if we need to keep things quiet while in the public, what's going to attract more attention? Mentioning a bunch of things about a car, or an innocent codename? That said, I figured that what we would need is something easy to remember but that you would hear in an everyday conversation.

"Keep going, bro..."

"Yes, continue. Deed you come up weeth sometheeng good?"

"You bet I did. I hopped online and found a bunch of websites that had listed female names and gave each car a name that fit it well. Like, some names sound close to the actual cars, others have a similar set of letters, and still others if the car is linked to a famous person, I named it similar to that. You get the idea."

"Bro, I'm no expert thief, but I have to say that's one hell of a cool idea. In fact, it's way past cool."

"I don't geet zee point."

"Think about it, Antoine. Say you were going to pick up a car and you were talking to somebody next to you, over the phone, whatever. You could say that you're going to go get the car by mentioning it's name, or that you're going to go pick up the car and use a female codename to cover up what you're doing. What's going to attract more attention? "

"Oooooohhhhhh... I geet eet now. Zat eez a good idea."

"Yeah, every now and then I get something right."

"Agreed. Good job, bro."

"Thanks dude."

"Don't mention it."

"Okay then. If there isn't anything else to discuss... shall we?"

The trio made their way into the club where they found everybody was already having a good time. There was the sound of pleasing jazz music playing through a sound system on a stage as some sat gossiping while a few were already dancing.

"Eef you don't mind, I'm going to go join Bunnie."

Antoine wandered off to find who he was looking for. Sonic then noticed that Silver had found Blaze and was dancing with her to "Move Your Body" by Eiffel 65. Blaze seemed to be pretty good on her feet, but Silver was a few steps shy of making a complete and utter fool of himself.

"Awwwww, wook at the cute wittle hedgehog twyin' to dance with his giwl fwiend..." Sonic said sarcastically, nudging his brother who was already snickering at the same thing.

"I see Amy, dude. I'm gonna go join her if you don't mind."

"Why the hell does everybody keep asking if I mind about them having fun? This is a party!"

"So what are you gonna do?"

"Well, since nobody seems to have noticed me yet, I think I'm gonna make a dramatic entrance."

"Have fun."

As Manic made his way over to Amy Sonic discovered an off-to-the-side doorway that led into a hallway to the backstage area. Once there he found a whole plethora of equipment, ranging from musical instruments, lights, speakers, amplifiers, smoke machines, and even a giant disco ball. Then Sonic spotted what he was looking for: The digital music center for the speaker system in the club. Sonic scrolled threw menu's of music on a laptop connected to the system looking for the perfect song to make his entrance. Then his eyes fell on one song: "Supersonic" by Jamiroquai.

With the simple click of a mouse Sonic added the song to be next on the play list. Knowing that the last song was almost over, Sonic quickly hurried back down the hallway and waited by the archway into the main room. Soon enough the current song ended and it was silent for a moment. Then, the dance song Sonic chose started and Sonic made his entrance by showing off his own dance moves, thus making him the center of attention.

Even though a good majority of the people in the room knew Sonic had been there all along, they were still all a little baffled at his little stunt he'd just pulled. But what was even more entertaining was the look on the faces of those who weren't expecting Sonic to be there.

Sonic's signature entrance was followed by a squeal of delight to Sonic's right. "Oh mah stars! Tell me Ah'm not dreamin' this up!"

Sonic turned to see a very familiar face. There before him sitting at the club's bar next to Antoine was a tall golden female rabbit with long hair and bangs of the same color, purple eyelid highlights and mascara, and eyes the same color green as the finest jade in the world. She was also wearing a purple leotard underneath her brown cowgirl jacket. To finish off the look was a matching brown cowgirl hat and brown cowgirl boots.

"Why don't you kiss me to find out if your dreaming, Bunnie."

"With pleasah!"

With little time to react Bunnie leaped up from her stool and practically sucked Sonic's face off her kiss was so forceful. She then embraced Sonic with her well-toned arms in what was supposed to a hug but could have been qualified as an assassination technique. Still, despite the the fact that his trachea was being prevented from functioning normally and his spine was being bent out of shape, Sonic knew all too well how special this was. At one time Bunnie's left arm and shoulder, both legs, and lower torso were all roboticized thanks to Robotnik's demented ways. All that changed however after the war when Uncle Chuck had successfully developed an effective de-roboticizer and used it to reverse Bunnie's condition. Shortly before Sonic left for his leave of absence Bunnie had sworn to never take her body for granted again and would do everything to tone her body to be the best it could be.

"Judging... by your strength... I see you've... kept your promise to... stay in shape!" Sonic gasped.

"You got that right, sugah-hog!" Bunnie said, releasing Sonic. "Ah'm in the best shape of mah life!"

"I can see that. How strong do you think you are?"

"I reckon I could lift a car off the ground if I wanted to!"

"Oh great... Please don't tell me everything tonight is going to remind me about the job."

"What's the mattah, hon? Y'alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just..."

Not wanting to accidentally let the dark secret slip, Sonic looked desperately for something to change the subject. His search ended when he spotted the guardian of the Sol Emeralds walking toward him.

"I was just looking for Blaze, that's all! And here she is! How ya doing Blaze?"

Bunnie smiled and returned to her seat with Antoine, talking about the fact that Sonic was back. Surprisingly to Sonic, Blaze had barely changed. She'd grown to be roughly the same height as Silver and her ponytail was a bit longer. Other than that, her purple and white attire, pink high-heel shoes, fuzzy-cuffed gloves, and red gem on her forehead were the same.

"Hello, Sonic. It's been a long time."

"That is has Blaze. I hope you're not offended by this, but you haven't changed a bit since I last saw you."

"Hmph... I guess I'm one of those examples of some things that never change."

"Sometimes that's a good thing. Like you and Silver, for example. I hear you two have kept pretty close over the years."

"Well... you can kinda of say that."

"Kinda say that?"

"Let's just say that between Silver's faltering music career and his inability to be less naive, there have been plenty of times I just about told Silver to get a car, hit the road, and never come back."

"Not again!..."

"Sonic, you're acting a bit strange..."

Twice now in less than a minute Sonic had nearly been busted. Once again he started to look around for a way to get out of this.

"I don't believe it..."

A breath of relief. A breath of relief. Sonic could recognize Mina's angelic voice anywhere. She had the kinda voice that you knew could sing even if you only heard it in a whisper.

"Ah, I see. I'll let you two be," Blaze said, walking away.

"You'd better believe it... Mina."

Of all the people Sonic knew he would be meeting back up with tonight, this was the one he'd probably been looking forward to the most. Looking at her was also a pleasure. She'd grown to just the right height and she'd kept up her slim physique. She'd also kept her long purple hair in top-notch shape and still wore her teal boots, short brown cargo pants, black headband, and black belly shirt. There was, however, one thing he did notice a change in.

"Uhh... Mina... The last time I saw you you had four earrings, three on your left and one on your right... Now, if my count isn't off... You've got about... Mmm... twelve on each?"

"That's... that's right..."

"Please tell me you didn't get that... tongue piercing... you were thinking about getting."

Mina shook her head no. Right about now it was starting to bug Sonic as to why Mina was acting so shy. She stood with her hands behind her back, her knees crossed slightly, and a stand-offish look on her face.

"Mina... are you alright?" Sonic asked lightly wrapping his arms around her, looking deep into her emerald eyes..

"I... I just don't feel comfortable... being with you... Especially after all this time..."

"Let me guess... You feel the crush you had on me at one time led to the event that resulted in me leaving, am I right?"

Mina didn't have to answer. The forlorn look in her eyes told Sonic he'd seen right through her. Looking like she might start crying, Sonic planted a light kiss on her forehead and grinned warmly at her.

"Mina, even before I left you were always apologizing for the little crush you had on me. I've said it before and I'll say it again... Stop... blaming... yourself... What happened was my fault, plain and simple. You had nothing to do with it... okay?"

For the first time Mina smiled a little bit. She even managed a light, friendly peck on Sonic's lips.

"That's better. Now, my sis told me that there was something about you that was going to surprise me. Care to share?"

Mina nodded and the two of them took a seat at the bar to get comfortable.

"Alrighty Mina, surprise me."

"You now how everybody used to call me Songoose?

"Of course."

"Well... I finally got a chance to put that name to good use."

"How so?"

"Well, about a year after you left there was a new competition started called Mobian Idol."

"And that is?..."

"Put simply, it's a program that tries to find the best singer on Mobius each year. What happens is there's auditions all over the world where tens of thousands people try out to get into the first round. From then on they keep going through round after round of singing with new challenges along the way."

"Challenges? As in you have to jump through hoops of fire while singing?"

"No, you dumb-dumb!," Mina said, rolling her eyes and giggling. "What I mean is for a certain round they might make everybody sing a song from a particular genre, year, group, whatever. Anyways, after each round more and more people are voted off by the public until only two remain. Whoever gets more votes at that point is crowned The Mobian Idol for that year."

"Mina... are you saying that you... won?..."

A smile was all that was needed to tell Sonic that she'd won.

"Mina, that's fantastic! I always knew that you'd do well! It was just a matter of time!"

"I know, I could hardly believe it myself. And what's ever more amazing is that I was the first winner ever for the competition."

"SAY WHAT!"

"That's right. And what really cool is that after the competition is done there's a big tour that the winner and a handful of the top competitors go on to perform for all the fans. And not to mention the competition helps set up the winner with a record contract to get their career going on the right road."

"In other words... you're a star?"

Once again, only a smile was needed to know the answer.

"Mina, you know I don't get speechless very often but... I'm speechless. I'm sure that by now you must have quite a good record out, huh?"

"Three, actually, with much more on the way."

"Amazing... Tell me, every artist always had that on song that they seem to always be known for. You have one like that yet?"

"Oh goodness, yes. It was one of my songs off my first album. I titled it "Love Thief."

"Oh no... oh dammit no... And we we're going along so nicely!..."

Sonic was always known for his cool, calm, collected character. That, however, was not that case now. It was amazing that Sonic's heart was still beating at that point because every muscle in his body had locked up so tight. His breathing had quickened as sweat began to form on his forehead from the constant subtle reminders of the current predicament he was in.

"Sonic... are you okay?"

"Uhh... yeah!... Fine!... Why?..."

"You're breathing like crazy and... and your sweating! Are you ill or something?"

"NO!... I mean, no. I'm just... I can't believe I'm sitting next to a friend-turned-celebrity, that's all!"

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Perfectly fine. I think I just need a glass of water, that's all."

"One glass of water, coming up."

The new voice was a low but very feminine one with a hint of seductiveness. There was only one person in the world that Sonic knew had a voice like that, and it was the very same person who the club was named after. It was no secret that Rouge had always been one for looks and Sonic was about to discover that fact was now more true than ever. Turning around Sonic just about had a nosebleed when he saw Rouge. Her stature, which was easily half a foot taller than Sonic, was perfectly proportioned to her slender frame. Her gorgeous white hair had grown in perfectly and now reached past her shoulders. In addition, she'd let her bangs lengthen let them drape in front of her eyes. And has tradition would have it, Rouge wore her trademark heart-themed body suit, light blue mascara, and pink lipstick.

"DAMN ROUGE, YOU LOOKIN' FINE!"

Rouge chuckled seductively, a certain twinkle flashing in her eye as she set down a glass of water for Sonic. Sonic was sure his face was about to be leeched off again, but instead he received a platonic kiss on the cheek. For the moment, Sonic had managed to let go of his fears.

"I'll take that for what it's worth," Rouge teased.

"You do that. And by the way, Rouge, this is one bitchin' pad you got here."

"Always happy to hear that. Glad to have you here... finally..."

"I know, I know. So tell me, is everybody here that you were expecting?"

"I think so. I think other than the Chaotix I got only one other person who couldn't make it."

"Anybody I know?"

"Just an old friend of mine. She's in town right now but she's... busy."

"I won't ask. But I'm surprised the Chaotix aren't here. I woulda thought they'd love to come to something like this. Did you hear from them, by any chance?"

"Vector called earlier, actually. He said he and the crew really wanted to come but had prior engagements. He said something about a possible new lead on some big case he took recently. I'm guessing it probably has something to do with a big car-theft operation I heard about on the news a few nights ago."

Just as Rouge had been saying that Sonic had taken a giant swig of his water. Simultaneously, Manic and Tails had approached the bar. Tails had just beaten Manic in a game of eight ball and the deal was the loser would buy the winner a drink. Even though Tails wasn't old enough to drink alcohol, that still didn't mean Manic was off the hook. Just as Manic had gotten to the bad and opened his mouth to tell Rouge what had happened she'd just finished telling Sonic about Vector's call. As a result, Sonic nearly choked on his water and ended up spitting it out, right into Manic's face.

"Aw, dammit! Shit! What the hell is your problem, dude!"

Sonic, however, couldn't answer. Although he wasn't choking on his drink, he was still gagging from having nearly done so. Not wanting to draw too much attention, Sonic made a dash for the restroom, Manic not far behind. Once in the restroom Manic found his brother hunched over a sink and coughing vigorously, trying to get the residual water out of his throat.

"Nice going out there, dude! Now I've not only lost in a game of pool to Tails and have to buy him a drink, I'm drenched thanks to you tryin to chug down water like a dumbass!"

"Manic... ack... we're... ugh... in trouble..."

"Yeah, no kidding! I hope Rouge doesn't throw us out of here because of your stupidity."

"No no... bro... We might be... in trouble with... you know..."

Suddenly Manic got what his brother was saying and realized that this was serious.

"Rouge was saying that... ack... Sorry... Rouge was saying that Vector and the Chaotix didn't come tonight because they were investigating, and I quote, a possible new lead on a big case he took recently. My guess it that Vector is on this case now and he's trying to find out things about what we're up to."

Manic looked half-sick to his stomach, knowing this wasn't good.

"Manic, think... Did you leave any, any, trails as to where you might have gone or what you were up to?"

"Other than the cars, hardly anything. Minor tire tracks and a few pieces of gear, that's all."

"Do you have any idea what Vector might be up to?"

"My only guess is that they might be investigating the areas where we stole the cars we did to see if there's a pattern or tell-tale evidence. Or maybe they're investigating possible ways how we got the cars so easily and are trying to trace that back to something that might lead them to us. Hell, they might even have a witness that recognized us and they're telling them right now that they saw a well-known known Freedom Fighter in a stolen car."

"What eez goeeng on in 'ere?" Antoine said, bursting into the room. "Sonic, what eez zee meaning of zis behavior? Everybody zat doesn't know about zis yet eez geetting auspeeceeous out zere!"

"Suspicious, dude. Suspicious."

"Who eez caring about my eencorrect speaking! Zee fact eez Sonic eez blowing our cover! Now what eez goeeng on?"

Sonic and Manic knew there were no other options at this point. They had to bring Antoine up to speed, they had to spread the news to the rest of the team, and Sonic had to play off his actions to prevent any further suspicions that something might be going on.

"Manic... you update Antoine on everything from today. Once you're done that you two try to spread the word about our possible problem as quietly as you can. While you're doing that I'll take care of playing off my actions. Got it?"

There was no getting around it now. This night was going to be anything but peaceful and enjoyable. Luckily Sonic was able to playoff his actions really easily by acting shy and pretending that he was just being bashful because he hadn't been with his friends in so long. Once Antoine had been updated he initially accused Sonic of being crazy for his one-night operation idea, but then admitted he saw no other alternative actions. From that point on the trio used the cover of Mina's performance, periods of dancing, rounds of drinks, sessions of gossip, and just about every other possible moment to spread the word to all their other teammates. Some of them, like Tails and Uncle Chuck, took it well and pointed out it could very well be a false alarm. Others, like Silver and Sonia, were a little more concerned. And then there was Ray who basically had a panic attack that they were just barely able to cover up. Although Sonic couldn't fully take the new news off his mind, the fact that everybody else on the team was now on the same page was comforting enough that Sonic could relax a bit. As chance would have it, by about 10:30 P.M. everybody had found their way over to or near the bar. Since Sonic was now old enough to drink alcohol he'd been asked if he wanted a drink. He figured now would be a good time to do that.

"Hey Rouge. I think it's about time for a good strong drink, whaddaya say?"

"I say one glass of the house brew coming up!"

"Cool. What do I owe ya?"

"Normally ten dollars given how small of a supply I have of this. But since it's you, it's on the house."

"Can't argue with that."

Rouge grabbed a clean beer glass and served filled it with a reddish, thick-headed, house-brewed beer.

"Bat blood" she said as she served the drink.

"Huh?"

"That's the name of it."

"Hmph. Hope it tastes better than it sounds."

"Don't worry, it does. People flock to my club for it. Its brewed with several red fruits, mainly blood oranges to give it a citrus taste. Just... are you sure you'll be able to handle this, Sonic? It's strong stuff, twice the normal alcohol content of a normal beer," Rouge warned.

"Considering during the whole war with Robuttnik all we had to drink was semi-pure water at best, I'd like to think I can survive a strong beer."

Rouge only laughed. She made a mixed cocktail for herself when suddenly Sonic came up with an idea.

"Excuse me, everybody! I'd like you all to come and join me in a toast!"

Everybody in the room was served a drink, some alcoholic, and some not so. Once everybody had a glass, Sonic held up his glass.

"Guys and gals... I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for my odd behavior tonight... It's just so weird being back around you guys because you've changed so much... and yet you haven't. It takes a lot to do this to me... but I'm getting a little emotional just being with you guys. We all went through a rough time early in our lives, but we were always there for each other to get through it. Even though I had my reasons for leaving, I will always regret doing that. So, here's to you guys for always being there... for always keeping ourselves together... and for always doing the right thing. I love you guys. Cheers!."

Everybody took a sip of their drink in honor of the toast. Sonic started to take a swig of his own drink. Rouge hadn't been kidding when she said it was a strong beer. It had a very dry, fiery, pale taste, and yet at the same time it had a pleasing citrus aftertaste to it as well. At that moment, despite everything that had happened, Sonic felt like everything was okay. Then, just as soon as he'd started feeling that way, he stopped. His eyes perceived the last thing he'd thought he'd see tonight. Despite looking through his frosty glass and dark-colored beer, Sonic knew full well what he was looking at, and put bluntly, it scared the living hell out of him.

Sonic's muscles failed him he was so shocked. The nearly full beer mug slipped out of Sonic's limp hand and spilled it's content's partially on him and the rest on the floor as it shattered loudly into multiple pieces upon impact. For a moment, everybody looked to Sonic, asking if he was alright. Although it only took a few seconds for all of this to occur, to Sonic it felt like hours. The last thing he'd thought would happen, the last thing he wanted to happen, the one thing he knew would only make this situation more difficult had just happened, and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it. The reason Sonic had left, the source of a hidden grief, the cause of a great love going bad was now standing in the club.

"Nice speech.. If only it were all true you lying son-of-a-bitch!"

Now everybody shared the same shock as Sonic as they spied the new visitor among them. Somehow Sonic's voice box managed to produce a single word, but only just.

"...Sally?..."


To Be Continued...


- "Move Your Body" property of Eiffel 65, uptown Records, and Universal Records.

- "Supersonic" property of Jamiroquai and Sony Soho Square.