10! Double digits! And nobody really cares…

No, I do not own any of the Sonic Universes, characters, rights, or merchandise besides a couple games for Gamecube. I do, however, own an OC or two; see my profile for more detailed descriptions now that they've all popped up. Also, see if you can figure out where all of my "civilians" came from.

Chapter 10, "Ghost of You"

Slowly, the residents trickled into the dining room. In the end, there were 26: Amy, Shara, Aubrey, Rouge, Topaz, Cream, Cheese, Tanaka, Chuck, and 17 civilians—mostly teens and young adults who had insisted on staying and helping and thus no longer counted as civilians—and 3 GUN operatives who were listed with them but weren't counted as civilians anyway. They were here on orders with Topaz and Rouge.

As they came in, though, everyone got the same greeting from Aubrey: "Grab a plate, grab some grub, and sit down. The gumbo goes over the rice." Not surprisingly, most in attendance had not had gumbo, and thus had not known that the rice and gumbo are to be served as one dish. Even Amy hadn't snagged a sample, yet.

The girl who Rouge had saved (ch.3), Momo, voiced this ignorance. "Isn't soup supposed to be by itself..?"

"Not gumbo. It can be put on with little enough to make it a sauce, or enough to make the rice a part of the stew." Aubrey set several bottles of Tabasco Original on the single oval table that could seat 30 comfortably. Not to her surprise, the former civilians were mostly at one end, while the usual group had the other. And, surprisingly, Momo was asking to sit next to Rouge.

"Sure, kid." Rouge gave her a wink.

"I'm fourteen," Momo replied shyly.

"You're older than Amy, then." Amy blushed at Rouge's comment from her nearby seat. Six covered baskets floated onto the table as Aubrey sat next to Shara sitting next to Amy. "And what are those?"

"Appetizers," Aubrey replied.

This oughta be interesting… Amy watched as Aubrey managed to coerce everyone into a simultaneous taste test, with hilarious results. Only Chuck seemed initially pleased.

"You, Ms. Aubrey," Chuck said, tears comically streaming, are a true Southerner."

A relatively recent development… "Thank you, sir." Aubrey then noted that Amy begrudgingly polished off her fried pickle spear. "See? You did like it."

"Hmph."

And now, everyone was nervous of the gumbo, whether they liked fried pickles or not. Only five people readily dipped in their spoons: Chuck and a little girl who were happy about Louisiana cuisine, Aubrey and Amy who made it, and Shara who was indifferent as long as it was nourishment. The latter avoided the fried pickles, but people slowly began trying it as Aubrey added Tabasco sauce.

"Huh?" Amy watched. "But you're the one who seasoned it!"

Aubrey calmly stirred in the extra kick. "Yes, but I like more heat than you." Aubrey took a spoonful before calmly blowing flames high over the table. All others at the table, other than Shara, reacted comically.

"…You may be right about the heat thing…" Amy sweat-dropped. All the same, most everyone liked the gumbo. With or without extra Tabasco—Chuck—and dinner was heavily quiet. "…"

Aubrey exchanged a glance with Shara, who nodded. "Are we keeping silence to mourn, or is everyone just depressed?" She was replied to with Gloom. "Ah. Well, how about this? Mourning is one thing, but sulking helps nothing. Therefore, the beatings will initiate and continue until morale improves." She was replied to with WHAAAT?! in one form or another, followed by "You psycho!" glares, all of the above excluding Shara (who had one eyebrow raised and was continuing to remind all of Shadow). "Amy, Shara finished eating before you. Therefore, she beat you, and I infer that she will continue to do so."

"Aubrey," Amy replied in gloom, "that's a really bad joke."

"Exactly. Does anyone else have one?"

You have got to be kidding us…

A weird guy named Grimmjow ("Grimm") replied with sarcasm and condescendence. "Why did the chicken cross the road?"

Aubrey assumed "that's the sprit!" mode. "Why, I have no idea."

"Because your jokes suck." Several sniggered, Aubrey included.

"Knock, knock," Momo said.

Everyone looked at a silent Aubrey. "Grumpy told the last one, so now he has to answer."

"You gotta be… fine. Who's there?"

"Banana."

"Orange I not glad you said 'banana'."

"Hmph." Momo crossed her arms.

"Next!"

Nobody immediately stepped up.

So Chuck did. "Why didn't the proton and electron go on a second date?"

"I don't know…"

"Because they repelled each other! Ha, ha!"

Aubrey smirked, the only one to get it (and acknowledge it as funny). Chuck had embarrassed himself. Again.

A little girl, about twelve, raised her hand. "Can we tell story-styles?"

"Sure," Aubrey shrugged. "So long as it's short."

"Hooray." She rested her pale elbows on the table. "Well, there was once a woman who lived alone with only her cat. She was being stalked and was getting weird calls all the time, too. One day, the call said, '3 left…' And she thought it was just another prank. But one day, she noticed that her cat was moving awkwardly. So she took another look and realized that it had one leg… chopped… off." Several, including Cream, gasped and covered their mouths.

"Jeez, girl," Grimm glared. "Not at dinner!"

"My name is Gretel, Grimm. I learned yours; please learn mine."

"Yeah, well—" Grimm was cut off by Aubrey's creepy chuckle.

Aubrey then gave an equally creepy, yet somehow also friendly smirk. Black Lagoon, Volume 6 Omake.

Gretel returned the smirk. "Correct." The two air-fived, but Aubrey popped a turkey.

"Okay, that's it," Grimm announced. "End of joke-a-thon."

"Get that stick outta your—"

"Miss Revy, please don't finish," Gretel asked.

"This has gone on quite enough," Grimm's… buddy sighed.

A boy, age 12 and the second youngest human, piped up. "Can I tell one first?"

"Sure," Aubrey smiled. Grimm shot her a glare. "What's your name, anyway?"

"Momotaro."

"Okay, Taro; shoot."

"Taro?"

"Is that an okay nickname?" Aubrey asked.

Momotaro looked at her with a surprisingly happy expression. "Yeah! Okay, so there are 3 guys together on a plane; one America, one Canadian, and one Chinese. When they fly over America, the American says, 'I love my country' and drops a gold nugget. When they fly over Canada, the Canadian says, 'I love my country' and drops a silver nugget. When they fly over China, the Chinese guy says, 'I hate my country' and drops a grenade." (There were various responses to this.) "So when they land in America, they see a little boy crying and ask, 'Why are you crying?', and he says, 'A gold nugget fell from Heaven and hit me on the head!' When they land in Canada, they see a little girl crying and ask, 'Why are you crying?', and she says, 'A silver nugget fell from Heaven and hit me on the head!' And when they land in China, they see a little boy laughing and ask, 'Why are you laughing?', and he says, 'My daddy farted and it blew up the house!'"

Taro ended with such a funny face that most—including Grimm but excluding his buddy—were forced to at least crack a smile. Aubrey chuckled. Shara suspected that Aubrey had already heard that one. She was correct, but Aubrey wasn't showing it. And Shara had little patience for such antics, especially when there was something important to discuss.

"Now that we've broken the ice—thank you, Taro—we may as well get to the main point." Shara looked about the table. "Children, it's group discussion time, starting with all of you." The n00bs. Something about Shara made even the adults gulp. Even Grimm.

Topaz took over much more gently. "Are you sure that you want to get involved like this? You don't even really know where we are; it's not too late to remain civilians, and not risk your lives. You don't have to fight." Her GUN fellows were clearly of the same mind.

"Hey, hey, you know it's our fight, too," Grimm replied. "My home and parents got petrified by those witches." Oh, God, his parents?

"Okay, while we are all here, let me say this: I'm a witch. They aren't. Stop insulting me."

Grimm made a funny face, then crossed his arms. "Sorry."

Aubrey shrugged. "Sure. Shara?"

Shara nodded, then somehow faced every civilian at once. Dead serious. "You call this your fight, but can you fight? If you'll merely hold us back or endanger each other, I'll take you back to Station Square. Tonight." There were some sounds of protest, but she simply continued. "They haven't taken over the world this time. There is no necessity yet for you to become soldiers."

"'This time'?" Rouge asked.

"They did, 3,000 years ago." Aubrey was looking more serious. "What they didn't petrify, they ruled with granite fists. When we restored the world last time, we removed the memory of it as a side effect. But, of course, the Gorgons were remembered before that from the time of Perseus, even though the two remainders were sealed by Shara. Medusa, was, of course, killed by aforementioned Perseus a thousand years before."

"Question," Grimm's buddy asked. "Exactly how old is Shara?"

"Can I ask a question, first?"

"What?"

"What's your name?"

"Ulquiora."

"Are you Italian?" Amy asked.

"… I only agreed to one question."

"Fi~ine." Amy rolled her eyes.

"And to answer your question," Shara said, "I am 3 thousand-something."

Those who hadn't known responded along the lines of "Holy crap!"

"But I was 17 when I sealed them, and died to do so. And, I won't revive for five more days."

"Re-revive?" Momo asked.

"I have no heartbeat."

Another effective chorus of "Holy crap!"

"I will, soon enough, and once I am fully alive, Amy and I won't be joined at the hip in battle."

"Why are you in the first place?" a pretty blonde named Lucy asked.

"Because she helped me revive." (Huh? Full explanation. Yet another "Holy crap!" A blood ritual! Egad, oh dearie me!)

Amy didn't like the looks she was getting. "…Why are you guys looking at me like that..?"

"That makes no difference," Revy scoffed.

"Hm?" Aubrey.

Lucy elaborated. "We resolved to join you and help any way we could, even before approaching you. We will fight."

"We have nowhere to go, anyway…" Momo added. "We lost everything in the attack…" That was a painful reminder.

"And that ain't gonna change 'til they're gone," Revy said, leaning back. "So you're stuck with us, and we're gonna help ya. Got it?"

"They're dead-set…" Rouge muttered.

"Excuse me…" Taro raised his hand.

"Yes?"

"There's one thing we've all been wondering. Where's Sonic?"

Nobody, not even Aubrey, looked happy with that question. The answer told on their faces.

"No way..!" Momo gasped.

"That explains why pinky's leading the charge," Grimm growled.

"That was mean!" A red-haired girl scolded him.

"I actually can't take any offense to that…" Even Amy was surprised with her response. What about her hammer? "This is Sonic's specialty, not mine."

"So tell us straight," a tiny and previously silent old woman said. "Who, in total, is gone from Sonic Team?"

Rouge picked up the reply. "Sonic, Tails, and… Knuckles." Momo flinched. "Eggy went first, but he doesn't really count."

"But Ella-san and Chris count!" Cream corrected her.

"Who?" Grimm asked.

"No-not on the front lines!" Amy jumped in to catch it.

"They're also not the only ones I'm not counting on for help," Aubrey sighed.

"Who else?" a red-haired boy asked.

Aubrey wasn't holding back. The GUN operatives studied their dishes. "The governments are faltering. The Gorgons have probably made demands, using Mexico as an example. It may be deemed to dangerous for the U.N. and similar organizations to get involved, and we may well wind up officially on our own."

"What?!" Grimm exclaimed. "That buncha cowards can't even stand up now?!"

"You can never count on the legals." Revy just blew him off with a wave.

The GUN troops glared at them. Aubrey shot them looks. "There are five government soldiers at this table, on orders. Note that I said, 'officially'."

Revy wasn't done. "Here's what I see: a bat, a gal with a civilian face, a punk, and two teenage boys. The gov's really comin' through for us all, I'll tell ya."

Revy was clearly making enemies. Fast.

"Sweetie," Rouge said, "you are barkin' up the wrong tree. So quit yappin'."

"Jeez. If you're gonna call me a bitch, just say so."

"There are children here!" Amy protested.

"Hey, I ain't no daycare worker, I'm a courier. Extra-legal. Deal with it."

"Care to explain?" Grimm looked a little… too interested.

"The rest of us don't care," one of the GUN teens, the one without a braid, said.

"Can we get on with this?" his partner, a boy with a braid, looked bored.

"Agreed," Shara sighed. "Do any of you feel any different, now?"

"Huh?"

"Sonic was this world's hero, correct? If he was petrified, what makes you think you won't be? On top of that, we may not get any help from those in power."

"I've never relied on the government, anyway," Revy replied lazily. "The only thing in this world you can rely on is your own power." For emphasis, she drew both of her very scary pistols.

"Those are real?!" Amy exclaimed.

"Sweet!" Yes, Grimm was very interested.

"You're a very scary lady," a silver-haired fox-face said. And yet he didn't seem to be taking this too seriously. What kind of a group am I assembling by this point?

"Psycho aside," a Korean teen said, "how many are here? Not even thirty. If we leave, you'll be cut in half. Not to be rude, but maybe you guys should be grateful for the extra help."

"Yeah!" Taro chimed in.

Aubrey had a response. "Quantity can't beat quality. Basic rule. Make a better argument."

Amy of all people didn't give them the chance. But she looked thoughtful. "Y'know, some of you guys kinda remind me of myself…" All eyes were on her. "When I first tried to join the Freedom Fighters against Eggman, I was 8. And I got flat-out rejected. When I turned 12, I tried again, but Sonic himself said no because I was still in over my head. I wound up getting sucked into it, anyway, but the point was that I wasn't ready. So I understand where you guys're coming from. Believe me, I know."

"So cut the crap, then." Whatever Revy did, this was clearly taxing both her patience and her pride.

"But now I know where Sonic was coming from, and I don't want you guys getting hurt. These guys would have no trouble with that, or even killing you."

"Y'know, Amy…" Revy wasn't done. "You're the one who seems unaccustomed to this kinda thing. Me, not so much. I'm pretty much a human gun, and I don't live in your stinkin' protected Station Square. I was just there on business and my crewmates got turned to lawn ornaments by the enemy."

"Sadly, she's got it pegged," Shara sighed.

"But bullets are no match for magic," Aubrey replied.

"Screw your magic—"

"And the attitude's not going to help."

"Screw you—"

"Not interested."

"Look, the point is, I'm not scared a' these guys and I'm willing ta work with ya. What's the problem?"

"You're all only human," Shara replied.

The red-head opened his mouth.

"And humans look out for each other," a Japanese boy not of Tanaka's drawing style, the youngest, said. "And we're gonna help. If you won't let us, I'll go to the military next."

"You won't get far, kid," the GUN "punk" (who, despite being the trio's commanding officer, looked around 20) shrugged. Did he even take any of these civilians seriously? Did any of them?

"Then the kids will probably do something stupid on their own," a brown-haired woman told him. "At least give them a chance."

"What're you even doing here, Rain?"

"I could ask the same of you, Domon." Any bets on his companions?

"You two know each other?" the braid kid asked.

"Leave it, Duo."

"Aren't you even curious, Heero, buddy?"

"No."

Amy sighed. "Shara, Aubrey, Rouge… Can I talk to you 3… alone?"

"Why alone?!" Revy and Grimm exclaimed.

"First off," Amy said, "because we're not an organization or anything like that. We're just doing what we do. What we have been doing. And second, because I don't want to get you hopes up."

"Do I look like a little girl?" both thugs asked.

Aubrey sighed. "Teleportation for 3: 'Shadowland'." The four wound up in a yet-to-be-used room. "If we do become an organization, this'll be the main office. Now…"

"What is it Amy?" Shara asked. This was becoming a headache.

"And it better be good, kid."

Soon enough, all four returned, through the archway, to where the others were still talking. Until then. Then, they all went silent and watched the girls take their seats.

Amy was the exception, and remained standing. "Those of you not a part of or related to Sonic Team, please listen carefully." She paused once more. "We can't let you fight them head-on. It's too dangerous." Cries of OUTRAGE!!! Amy paused again, gulping before continuing. "But that doesn't mean we're not giving you a shot. We'll let you show your stuff tomorrow and see where you stand, and in the way you may end up helping evacuate civilians or being our backup, but we're not making you leave if you want this to be your war."

"Finally." Grimm rolled his eyes.

"Ya know ya coulda just said 'okay' and avoided the speech," Revy elaborated.

"Ignoring them," the old lady said. "But it's good to finally get somewhere."

"Alright!" Taro exclaimed.

Everyone was in. Domon looked less than thrilled. Duo looked strangely interested, and Heero looked apathetic.

"Okay," Aubrey said. "Starting tomorrow, Rouge will lead some basic training. Although I honestly don't expect everyone to need it."

"Ya coulda said that earlier."

"I wasn't referring to the gunslinger."

"Hey!"

"Rouge will lead?" Topaz looked proud, but mostly surprised.

Rouge's eyes told her that it had been Amy's idea. "Since it's a big group, I'll be asking those qualified to assist, if you don't mind."

"My pleasure," Topaz said.

"I'd be honored," Tanaka said.

"Sounds like fun," Duo said.

Heero looked apathetic.

Domon looked like he would beat them all up.

"Meanwhile," Shara said, "I will watch Aubrey train Amy."

"Pinky needs training?" Grimm looked at a now-sitting Amy.

"Apparently…" Amy looked miffed and embarrassed.

"Remember," Shara said. "With this, you will be soldiers, even if not on the front lines. You have to agree to follow orders and STAY with this. If at any point you wish to leave, all pertinent information will be wiped from your memories."

Funny reactions. "This is important" lecture. Grimm and Revy fell asleep and get the "this is important" lecture again. Everyone, once again, agreed.

"Don't worry," Aubrey shrugged. "We all know it's only until the Gorgons go down. And you chose this."

"We're fully aware of that," Ulquiora said.

"We're not gettin' in your way, either," Grimm added.

"Coolness," Aubrey said, "but we also have to work together." The thugs shrugged. "Oh, and Shara, you may need to help train them. Remember the arsenal?"

Revy perked up. "Arsenal?" All guys, and several scary girls, had their heads instantly pop up.

"Of course," Shara said. "This is the hidden base of Artemis. What base has no weaponry?"

"'Artemis'?" Rain asked. "As in the Greek goddess?"

"It is true that she was fond of Sparta," Shara mused.

"What," Revy mocked, "now the pagan gods are real?"

"She, at least, is." (WHAAAT?!) "She is my mistress who summoned me from Mobius, what you call 'Sonic's world'."

"You've gotta be kidding me," Grimm muttered.

"And why isn't she comin' and helpin' us?" Revy asked.

Aubrey picked this one up. "The ancient deities left this world as their peoples converted to monotheism. This place is the most we could dare to help for from her. Well, this and Shara. And now Amy, but both of them chose this, so it's all good. Well, it's late; let's work on getting everyone bedded down. You guys know the advantage of going down instead of up? Shara, no answering." Shara shrugged, apathetic.

"Harder to detect," Revy ventured.

"Infinite room," the redhead suggested.

"Leg room," Grimm joked.

"Kurama was closer, although what I'm looking for is: Everyone gets their own room." (Woot!) "But you'll probably be thankful for the updated bedding." (Uhh…)

End of Chapter

I'm not going to list this as a crossover, if only because there are too many of them. Figuring out who to use also took up more time than I would have liked. The irony was that Gretel referenced her own manga. If I need to list who is from what series, I may do it in the next couple chapters. Is this a good twist or not? In any case, be prepared for possible EXTREME OOCness. And just so you know, their storylines may or may not apply, depending on how it may or may not fit. Bleach definitely won't. Won't that be fun?

Well, maybe not for me. This many characters, alternate storylines, and conflicting personalities caused by a complete change in the story's concept of "civilians" may cause delays and screw with my plot a little. I was originally going to create 17 human OC's, but that would have been a pain and a bore. So, I improvised. No Naruto, but I couldn't resist tossing in the Hueco Mundo boys. And captive. Hint. Who else is a civilian? Can you guess who the unnamed one(s) are? Can you identify every character from their manga or anime? Figure it out when I've finally put them all in, but Disclaimer Part 2 may help.

I don't own anything related to them, either. This means anything from Bleach, Gundam, Yu Yu Hakusho, Black Lagoon, Soul to Seoul, El El, 7 Seeds, or Fairy Tail. If this list grows anymore, I'll add those too.

Read and review, please.