~After School (4:05 P.M)~
Silver, Blaze and Sonic were sitting on the steps on the stairs outside while waiting for Espio's car to arrive at the front of the school. Usually, Espio's car would be here right when Silver leaves from World History, but it's not here today. Maybe Espio had to stay after Art class to clean some of the art supplies like he always does every Friday since the 6th Grade. That could be the reason why Espio isn't here yet.
While waiting, Sonic listened to his iPod, in max volume, and singed loudly to the song he's currently listening to.
"Rolling around at the speed of sound. Got places to go, gotta follow my rainbow! Can't stick around have to keep moving on. Guess what lies ahead, only one way to find out!" Sonic singed the lyrics to his favorite song.
"Sonic, can you keep it down for a bit?" Silver requested, somewhat annoyed at his friend's singing. It's not that he doesn't like Sonic's singing, but the fact that Sonic sings this certain song over a thousand times, a thousand and one today, is getting onto his nerves.
"Aw, but it's my-"
"Favorite song to sing to, I know that." Silver finished Sonic's sentence. "And I've already heard you sing that song multiple times."
"Well then, I guess I'll have to change the song."
True to his words, the song Sonic was listening to transformed into a upbeat rock song, humming and tapping his feet to the rhythm of the music. Finally, Silver doesn't have to hear Sonic sing for now! Silver turned his head to see Blaze, ignoring Sonic's humming, reading a few pages of Battle Royale. And by the looks on where she's reading, she's almost done with part two of the story, not to mention she's about half done with the book! Silver just recently started on part two and hasn't gone to the part where the two girls were being shot by the ruthless Kazou Kiriyama with a machine gun! God, that's a lot of pages Blaze has read despite it being her first time reading this controversial book.
Silver, who's sitting next to Blaze, couldn't help himself but ask her, "How do you read that fast, Blaze?"
"I simply read whenever I can." Blaze answered, not taking her eyes off the book.
"Wow. You must have loads of free time." Silver commented.
"I do. And I finish a book in about four days or so. Depends if the book is interesting to me."
"Dang. It takes me either a week or even four months just to finish a book! That's really-"
"I DON'T WANNA GO, DAMN IT!" a nearby voice shouted to someone.
Blaze, Silver and Sonic stopped on what they were doing and turned around to see who's yelling. They shortly spotted Knuckles currently on the ground, being dragged by Rouge who isn't listening to Knuckles' demands, followed by Tikal, looking at her brother with a worried look pasted on her face while walking with the two. Rouge ceased her dragging near where Blaze's heels are, and looked at the three sophomores sitting at the steps.
"Why, hi there darlings," Rouge greeted the three.
"Hey, Rouge!" Sonic and Silver replied back, with the former snickering to Knuckles.
"Rouge, how come you're dragging Knuckles on the floor?" Blaze asked, closing her book and returning it to her backpack.
"Oh, it's just that Knucklehead has lost a bet to yours truly yesterday at Asia Diamond." Rouge told the three in a casual tone like it's no big deal.
Silver laughed to himself when he remembered Espio telling him during Journalism II about an eating contest that involved Knuckles and Rouge yesterday. During the contest, Knuckles fell out of his chair after leaning too close to the table, falling down to the floor, and once he gotten back up, Rouge ended up scarfing down the last of her pancit from her plate, making her the victor. And now, Knuckles has to watch ALL of her photo shoots until October 19th. How great... Not.
"Eating contest, Knuckles?" Sonic guessed, which Knuckles responding back to Sonic with a simple nod. "Sucks to be you."
"Ha ha, Sonic. Very funny." said Knuckles, getting off from the ground. "I just fell from my chair. If I didn't, I'd won the bet and not see Rouge wearing make-up for a whole month!"
"Are you sure you didn't let her-"
"NO I DID NOT LET HER WIN, GOD DAMN IT!" Knuckles yelled to his friend who's now laughing on the ground. Again. God, when is he going to stop doing that?
"Yeah... Ha ha ha ha! Right! Knucklehead! Ha ha ha ha!"
"QUIT LAUGHING!"
"Oh, let Sonic laugh, Knucklehead," Rouge told the red-haired teen. "You did let me win. If you didn't fall out of your chair, I'd be horrified to not have make-up on for a whole month!"
"I DIDN'T LET YOU WIN, BATGIRL!" Knuckles shouted to Rouge up to her face.
"Yes you did!"
"Nu-uh I didn't!"
"Yes you did!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
While Knuckles and Rouge were arguing about the bet from last night, Tikal ended up sitting on the steps of the stairs next to Blaze who's currently pulling her iPod out of her backpack and started to insert her black headphones in her ears. Blaze decided to pull out one of her earphones from her left ear and handed one for Tikal to listen to the song she's about to choose.
"You want to listen?" Blaze asked Tikal.
"Sure." Tikal nodded her head, putting the earphone on her left ear. "So, what are you doing here Blaze?"
"I'm waiting for Silver's friend to pick us up. I'm going to the Chaotix Orphanage with Silver to work on our English project."
"But what about Sonic?" Tikal pointed to the laughing blue-haired teen on the floor.
"He's coming with us." Blaze answered, finally playing one of her favorite songs.
"I see."
"And what about you? Aren't you going with your brother?"
"No," Tikal shook her head side to side. "Kennith said he has to go to Rouge's photo shoot by himself as part of 'that'," Tikal putting air quotes on 'that' (A.K.A. The bet), "and he told me to stay at the Chaotix Orphanage since my father is working overtime at the hospital."
"That's understandable. But I do feel bad for your brother for going to the photo shoot with Rouge with none of his friends."
And speaking of Knuckles, he walked towards Tikal with his black Sony Ericsson flip-phone, putting the cellphone in Tikal's hands. Sure, Tikal owns a cellphone, but she doesn't use it a lot or brings it to school like everybody else in school and often leaves it at home. Knuckles knows Tikal's tendencies of leaving her phone at home, so whenever Tikal goes without her brother, he always hands his phone to her so she can call home, or in this case, call Rouge.
"Rouge told me her photo shoot is going to last 'til nine or ten in the evening," Knuckles informed to his little sister, "so call me between those times. You got that, Tikal?"
"Yes, Kennith." Tikal nodded her head.
"Good." Knuckles sighed in relief before he turned to Blaze, now tapping her heels to the rhythm of the song that's currently playing. "And Blaze, are you going to the Chaotix Orph-"
"Yes I am." Blaze answered to Knuckles before he finished his sentence. "Along with Sonic."
"That's good to hear."
Knuckles then turned back to Rouge after Blaze answered his question. He didn't ask Sonic the same question to Blaze since he trusted Sonic to be around Tikal, along with Silver (duh), Tails, Shadow, and Espio. Mainly Espio since he's well disciplined and treats Tikal with respect.
BEEP! BEEP!
And speaking of which, Espio's black Toyota appeared in front of the school after waiting for about three to five minutes. Silver was about to walk towards the car until he was almost shoved down by Sonic, now off the ground from his laughing, and entered the car while yelling, "The window seat is mine!"
"We get it, Sonic!" Silver yelled to Sonic, knowing that he always sits near the window in the car no matter what.
"Yeah, you don't have to yell what seat you take, Blue Blur!" a new voice inside the car added, using one of the blue-haired teen's nicknames. The first being, obviously, 'Sonic', and now 'Blue Blur' since he sometimes leaves blue streaks when he's running at an incredible speed.
Knowing the voice belongs to Jet Hawkins, Knuckles shoved his head in the windows and spotted Jet sitting in the far back seat along with Wave.
Oh, god. Not again. Silver thought as Knuckles is going to big brother mode right now. Again.
"What the hell are you doing here, parrot?!" Knuckles viciously asked Jet, not flinching to the red-haired teen's question.
"Uh... Going to the Chaotix Orphanage, Knucklehead. Duh." Jet replied, sticking his tongue to Knuckles.
"Why? So you can flirt with my sister when I'm not around?!"
"No way! I would never do that! Wave and I are going to the Chaotix Orphanage to work on our English project with Espio."
"Like I would believe that, parrot!"
"Really! I have interest in another girl, and that girl isn't your sister!" Jet told Knuckles, ready to pull out one of his paper fans from his backpack.
"You sure?" Knuckles isn't buying Jet's reply, despite the fact that it is true.
"Yes I'm sure! If you want, I can tell you the girl I currently have my-"
Jet didn't finish his sentence when Sonic popped in between Knuckles and Jet, with the former having his head pushed away by Sonic. The blue-haired teen can practically see Wave's face blushing bright red, turning her head to the window to avoid Jet seeing her face like this. God, Wave knew Jet was going to say her name since he's very close to her. VERY.
"Like Jet mentioned, Knux, you don't have to worry about that." Sonic reassured his short-tempered friend. "And the same thing goes for the 'older' orphans in there as well."
What did Sonic mean by 'older' orphans? Silver and Espio are fifteen and sixteen respectively, making them the oldest orphans in the Chaotix Orphanage, but they aren't the only teens in the Orphanage. Male teens attending Middle School (ages 11-14). That's what Sonic means by 'older' orphans. No female teens living in the orphanage since the oldest female is Marine, standing at only nine years old.
"Are you-" Knuckles started to question Sonic.
"Yes, we are sure." Silver answered to Knuckles, now opening the front of the car. "Just go with your photo shoot with Rouge and try to make the best out of it. Okay?"
After quick thinking on what Silver has said to him, Knuckles answered, "Alright," before giving Tikal a quick kiss on the cheek like he always does whenever he leaves Tikal alone.
"You ready to go?" Rouge asked Knuckles as they were walking away from Espio's car.
"Yeah, and you're not dragging me, bat girl." Knuckles told the white-haired model. And that was the last bit Blaze and Tikal can hear from these two before they entered the passenger seats in the middle.
With Tikal taking a seat in the middle and Blaze in the right window seat, Espio hit the gas pedal and left the school in about thirty seconds. During the first few minutes of the car ride, silence filled the car besides the music that's currently playing. Silver can tell the song is in Japanese since it's Espio's favorite music genre, second being rock. The singer is singing the lyrics in Japanese, but Silver can easily tell what the lyrics means in English since he heard this song about one hundred and sixty-two times. Yeah, he somehow kept track of the times this song is played in this car or in their room.
On that day, my heart crumbled in silence
Even though I scream at being broken, inerasable memories and
Darkness flow into my eyes
And I sink into tomorrow whose colors can't even be seen anymore
I searched endlessly for the day of reconciliation
Only for the sake of losing it, I will live for the present
"Even when it is useless and I embrace solitude alone, if you turn on the lights..." Tikal silently singed to herself, hoping nobody would...
"Uh, do I hear somebody singing in this car?" Jet asked.
Hear her. Crap. She might as well tell-
"I will shine towards them!" Sonic singed out loud in the car.
"Sonic!"
"Sorry, Jet! That's one of my favorite songs as well."
Thank you, Sonic. Tikal sighed. She's lucky that Sonic's voice is much louder than her's. Otherwise, people will assume it's her. Wave is reading The Kite Runner, without getting dizzy at some point, and Blaze is listening to her iPod, along with Tikal who still has her ear phones on her, and oddly, it's playing the same song as the one in Espio's mix CD! How weird.
"And can you please try to sing silently to yourself?" Jet requested to Sonic.
"But what's the fun of singing to yourself when no one can hear you?" Sonic commented. "I mean, come on! It's awesome!"
"For you, that is."
"Well, how about you try singing this song?" Sonic suggested to Jet.
"No way."
"Please?"
"No."
"Pretty please?" Sonic begged Jet, with his emerald green eyes sparkling and growing wide. God, these can even beat Cream's puppy dog eyes by a landslide.
"Hell no." Jet refused, ignoring Sonic's puppy dog eyes.
Darn. That was Sonic's best puppy dog eyes he's done in years.
"Sonic, don't force Jet to sing if he doesn't want to." Silver told Sonic. "Okay?"
"Fine, Vennie." Sonic sighed in defeat, slightly sliding down on his seat.
"Thank god," Jet muttered under his breath, thankful he doesn't have to sing in this car. In front of Wave. And Sonic. That would've been embarrassing.
Shortly after Sonic's and Jet's argument, the car went into a sudden halt from the cursed stoplight again, which made Espio knock his head into the steering wheel a few times, not enough to trigger the horn of course. How. Much. He. Hates. That. Damn. Stoplight!
"Just great. Just freakin' great!" Espio grumbled, slamming his fist onto the steering wheel, which didn't trigger the horn luckily. "When will anyone figure out this stoplight needs to be majorly fixed?!"
"Years." everybody in the car answered.
"Or never if people keep ignoring that stoplight." Wave added, not taking her eyes from her book.
After making that comment, Wave hears her cell phone vibrating from her front pocket, and sighed as she wondered who's calling her? Might be her dad, who's calling her about their plans for the weekend. Maybe it's Jet's friend, Storm Albertson, calling from The University of California San Diego (or UCSD for short) and telling the two they should visit sometime this weekend. Or maybe it's her mother trying to plan a mother-daughter day for tomorrow. Anything but the last one! Why?
Most of the activities Wave's mother would plan out are just... Something that Cream and Vanilla would enjoy. Like going shopping for pretty clothes at the mall, taking a walk in a beautiful garden, making cakes or jewelry, Wave loathed those activities as they're too girly for her taste. She prefers to be riding her Extreme Gear with her dad and Jet in the park or help her dad with his engineering job than spend the whole day with her mom for a good reason. A real good reason that changed her life forever.
Luckily, it wasn't her mother calling Wave, but on her screen, it reads Jet Hawkins. Odd, Jet is here with her in the car. Unless it was...
Oh, it's HIM. Wave groaned in her thoughts.
Wave quickly pressed the call button on her phone, and put the call on speaker to hear two people trying hard not to laugh. Hearing the laughs being so familiar to Jet, Wave handed her phone to Jet and started to yell, "BEAN YOU ANNOYING BRAT! YOU STOLE MY PHONE?!"
"Hey there, Kuya Jet!" Bean greeted his brother using the Tagalog term for older brother (since Jet's family is Filipino) before Bean started to laugh. "What's up?"
"Benjamin Hawkins," Jet started to growl using his younger brother's real name, "you better answer my question right now or I'm going to-"
"Alright! I stole your phone. Happy?" Bean groaned, knowing his older brother is going to threaten him again.
"Why?"
"Almost everyone in my class has a cell-phone, and since you have an awesome Galaxy phone mommy and daddy gave to you two weeks ago, I thought I would borrow it-"
"WITHOUT MY PERMISSION?!" Jet yelled louder than before, with everyone covering their ears, minus Wave since she's used to Jet's loud voice.
"Forgive me! I'm sorry! Sorry sorry sorry sorry!"
"Fine. Since this is the first-"
But before Jet can accept his little brother's apology, he heard a crashing noise in the background with someone screaming, "Oh my god! Why?!"
Noticing that voice, Espio asked Jet, "Can I use the phone, please?"
He tossed the phone to Espio, which he caught with relative ease and started the call in calm yet firm voice. "Charlie Blythe, what are you doing right now?"
"Uh... Nothing." Charmy lied to his older brother figure.
"Are you sure? It sounds like you broke-"
"Okay! I broke a few plates since Bean dared me to balance plates on sticks!" Charmy cried on the phone.
"Charlie, what did I say about doing Benjamin's dares?"
Espio knew Charmy and Bean are classmates in school since the 1st grade, and the two ended up being very good friends. However, Bean seems to be a bad influence towards Charmy due to his immature and hyperactive nature, and the two always cause mischief whenever they're together. Whether it's pulling pranks on Vector, annoying Jet and Wave by singing a song about them (that old kiddish song about k-i-s-s-i-n-g on a tree) or stealing their belongings, or causing mayhem in the Chaotix Orphanage, these two spell trouble everywhere.
"Don't take on stupid dares?" Charmy guessed.
"And when I mean 'stupid', I mean all of his dares." Espio told Charmy. "You should know better that this dare is stupid and you'll end up damaging something."
"Well, I'm-"
"I'm not going to forgive you that easily once I arrive at the orphanage." Espio scolded Charmy.
"And the same goes for you too, Bean!" Jet added, his voice clear and loud, though not loud like the last time.
"Got it?" both Espio and Jet told the two impish eight-year old boys.
"Yes, Espio." both Charmy and Bean said, ending their call.
With the call finally done, Espio tossed the phone to Wave, where she caught it and returned her phone in her pocket before continuing reading The Kite Runner. And just when the call ended, the light finally turned green and Espio pressed the gas pedal, quickly going 50 miles in about ten seconds. After the car went to a smooth speed of 40 miles in about a minute, Blaze sighed very deeply, enough for Silver to turn his since he knew something is wrong with Blaze. Maybe it's about her decision about going to the Chaotix Orphanage seems like a bad idea to her after hearing about Charmy's dumb antics.
That could be it.
"Blaze, are you okay?" asked Silver.
"Uh... I'm fine." Blaze answered to Silver. "It's about that boy, and I'm..."
"Oh, don't worry about Charmy. He won't bother us after that incident. And besides, you'll love the orphans in there. I promise 110%. Okay?"
"Alright, Silver. I'll take your word on that."
"Good. And did anyone hear someone sing-"
"No! You didn't hear anyone singing!" Tikal squeaked before Silver can finish his question. She just started singing right when the car started to move again after six minutes, and thought no one can hear her soft voice.
After that comment from Tikal, everybody remained silent, with Sonic only muttering, "Awkward." throughout the remainder of the trip, minus the engine and the music coming from the speakers.
~Chaotix Orphanage (4:30 P.M.)~
With everybody out of the car and in the front door of the Chaotix Orphanage, Silver opened the door and before he can take a step inside the orphanage, Silver ended up being tackled by a group of little orphans, hugging him hard like almost everyday he came back from school, and ended up falling to his knees.
"Hey, guys! I'm back!" Silver greeted the young orphans. "And I've brought some of my friends from school."
"Even Sonic?" one of the orphans asked their older brother figure.
"Heck yeah!" Sonic called out before being hugged by ten boys before falling straight into his back while laughing and greeting them, "Did ya guys miss me?!"
"Yes!" the boys cheered.
"Aw, that's good to hear from you guys. Now how about giving a hug to your Kuya Jet?"
"Okay!"
"Wha..?!" Jet exclaimed, almost wanting to kill Sonic for this.
Half of the boys released Sonic from their hugs and ended up tackling Jet, almost making the green-haired teen lose his balance. Jet should have gotten used to this since he's a frequent visitor to the orphanage all because he picks up Bean everyday after school in his Extreme Gear, but no. Not the hugging part.
"Hi, Kuya Jet!" the boys greeted Jet in their cheery voices.
"Oh, hey." Jet replied back. "Next time, don't make me lose my balance. I swear, you could have broken a bone in my body."
"Sorry."
Confused on what's going on, Blaze asked Silver, "Is this normal for you?"
"Yeah, completely." Silver answered.
"It happens everyday when we get home from school." Espio added, finished hugging with the orphans.
"Also happens to my friends as well. Like now." Silver pointed out.
Blaze stared at Sonic giving the boys a tickle fight, with one of them tickling Sonic back on his stomach (his weak point), causing him to laugh hard, ceasing his tickling towards them. She also then looked at Tikal already having her hair being braided by some of the girl orphans and oddly putting golden glitter on parts of her hair.
"I see." Blaze commented before turning to Wave. "But what about-"
"Oh, me? I'm waiting for this certain 'girl' to appear." Wave told Blaze, putting air quotes on girl. What did she mean by that?
"Hope you're prepared, Wave." Jet said, now getting up from the floor. "That 'girl's' hugs has the power of a bulldozer."
"I am, short head."
"Wave!"
After giving a short chuckle to herself, Wave peaked her head inside the orphanage and yelled, "Hey, Marine! Your favorite captain is here!"
Marine? Now why does that name sound so familiar to Blaze? Hmmm...
Wait a minute... That's...
"Marine Ranta is my name if you want to know!"
She's the girl Blaze saved at the library two days ago!
And speaking of Marine, the nine-year old brunette dashed out of the orphanage and leaped into Wave's arms, catching her without losing her balance at all. Oh, how much Wave loves Marine! She pretty much treats her like the little sister she never had! Playing pirates, teaching her to ride an Extreme Gear board, having Water Balloon fights with Jet and Bean, and so much more Wave can think of. Once Wave caught Marine, she put the brunette down on the floor and patted her head a few times.
"Captain Wave! Boy, am I glad to see you!" Marine exclaimed, her blue eyes all sparkling with excitement.
"Same thing, Marine." Wave commented before sticking her tongue to Jet, which he replied back the same way after proving him wrong about not losing her balance like him. "So, how are you doing?"
"Oh, I'm doing-" but before Marine can start telling her older sister figure about her day, she spotted a girl with lavender hair now down four inches below her shoulders and remembered that's the girl who rescued her at the library two days ago! "No way."
"What is it, Marine?"
"Is that... that... Blaze?!" Marine pointed to Blaze before running towards to the said girl and greeted her, "Hi there! Remember me? Marine Ranta?"
Blaze blinked her eyes a few times before saying, "Yes. I remember you, Marine. And I see you remembered my nickname."
"Nickname?"
"My real name is Barbara Jewel if you wanted to know. But most people call me 'Blaze'." Blaze informed the nine-year old.
"Barbara is a nice name, but Blaze sounds a whole lot cooler if you ask me!"
What? 'Blaze' is a stupid name to her, but Marine thinks that nickname sounds cool to her? No one has ever said that the nickname 'Blaze' is an awesome sounding name to them, and this is the first time anyone had said anything positive about her nickname she decided to stick with for the rest of her life. Blaze smiled to Marine after hearing the positive comment from the nine-year old.
"Thanks, Marine." Blaze replied back.
"No problem mate." Marine exclaimed. "Now, can we go inside?"
"If you say so, Marine." Silver nodded to Marine's question, now getting back to his feet. "Come on, guys. Let's get inside the orphanage."
"Alright!" Sonic cheered as he entered the orphanage quickly, almost knocking down Silver and Espio. Seriously, when is he going to stop doing that?
Once everyone entered the orphanage and took off their shoes (a rule Vector made since he doesn't want anyone dirtying the floor), Jet and Wave ended up placing their backpacks next to the couches before the two, along with Marine, started to look for the mischievous Bean, Sonic plummeting down on the couch and started to read his assigned book, and Silver was about to guide Blaze to his room until Espio, who's holding Tikal's hand, tapped the silver-haired teen's shoulder and he knew Espio is about to tell him something important. He always taps Silver's shoulder before he tells him something.
"What is it, Espio?" Silver asked his friend.
"I hate to ask Venice, but can you and Barbara work downstairs in the living room?" Espio requested Silver.
"How come?"
Not wanting to reveal his real reason to Silver, Espio came up with, "Tikal asked me to help her with her Algebra I notes since she has a test coming up on Tuesday. In private."
"Sure. It's no problem."
"Thanks." Espio said to Silver before going upstairs to his room with Tikal.
After that short conversation with Espio, Silver ad Blaze ended up going walking down the stairs and ended up placing their backpacks on the floor before pulling out their copies of Battle Royale and two sheets of paper on the coffee table. Seeing the two with their knees on the floor, Sonic placed a bookmark on his book before closing it and he ended up sitting on his knees on the floor next to Silver.
"Silver, shouldn't you be working at your room?" Sonic wondered.
"Espio requested that I should be working downstairs since he's tutoring Tikal in private in our room." Silver explained to Sonic.
"I see. And you're about to-"
"Work on our book report? Yes, Sonic." Blaze answered to Sonic before he had a chance to finish his question. " And shouldn't you be working on yours as well?"
"Like I said in English this morning, Ames and I are making good progress on our project, I thought I should take a short break. Besides, the project isn't due until October 5th! We've surprisingly finished about one-fifth of it."
"That's good for you, Sonic." Silver commented. "Now, Blaze and I need to-"
CRASH!
"What was that?" Blaze questioned Silver after hearing that noise, ceasing her on answering her first question.
"Oh, here we go again." Sonic and Silver muttered underneath their breath while face-palming themselves knowing what's happening.
"GIVE US BACK OUR STUFF, BEAN!" yelled Jet, Wave and Marine.
That. Looking like his brother in terms of hair color and eye color, standing at Charmy's height, wearing a green shirt and ripped jeans, Bean ended up running around the house with Charmy; the former holding a white Galaxy phone, Wave's necklace, and Marine's compass necklace in his hands. And of course, the two impish boys were running away from Jet and Wave about taking their items. Jet was going to handle this situation nice and maturely with Bean, but once Charmy snatched Wave's and Marine's necklaces and Bean called his brother "Tanga!", or 'stupid' in English, the chasing started in full rage. Ooh, Jet couldn't wait to get his hands on Bean and rip his head apart for his actions today.
The chasing ended up continuing in the living room, with Marine carrying four pillows from the couch and ended up throwing to the two boys, hitting Charmy every time in the head while Bean easily dodged every pillow Marine threw. Despite that, Charmy didn't even slowed down from the hits and picked up the pillows to throw back at Jet, Wave and Marine, which luckily didn't hit any of them but instead, all of them almost hit Silver, Blaze and Sonic if they didn't dodged on time.
"That was close!" Sonic commented, putting back one of the pillows on the couch.
"Too close to be exact." Silver and Blaze said at the same time, picking up a pillow from the floor.
"Uh guys, it would be nice if you would help us catch these brats!" Jet requested the three, snatching a pillow off the couch before throwing it to Bean, which ended up going to Charmy instead but he didn't slow down. "Damn, did Bean and Charmy ended up eating a sack full of sugar while I wasn't looking?"
"Looks like it." Sonic agreed with Jet. "They might be fast for you, but not for me!"
"What do you mean, Sonic?" Blaze asked Sonic.
Sonic didn't say anything to Blaze when he started to dash in the living room, passed by Marine and Wave while waving hello to them, dodging the pillow throws from Charmy by swiftly dodging to the left and the right while catching one in the air, throwing it to Bean right in the back, making the green-haired boy fall to the ground, along with Charmy who ended up tripping on Bean's legs.
"Got'cha!" Sonic exclaimed, getting a hold of Charmy's and Bean's arms.
But before Sonic can grab the belongings from Bean's hands, the mischievous eight-year old ended up throwing the three items with a surprising good amount of force, and it seems to be aiming for... For the window! Oh god! This can't be good!
"Now try and get them you tangas!" Bean teased everyone in this room, sticking his tongue and pulling his eye to his brother.
"Gladly." Silver simply said to Bean as his hands started to glow aqua blue in front of Blaze.
The three items froze in mid-air as Silver levitated the white Galaxy phone back to Jet in his hands, and returning the red orb necklace and the compass necklace back to Wave and Marine on their necks respectively. Bean face-palmed himself since he forgot that Silver has psychokinesis powers to stop the items from crashing into the windows and he's going to be in huge trouble with his brother for not only stealing his phone and his friends belongings but wrecking property at the orphanage (breaking plates).
"Oh, thank you for returning our stuff, Silver mate." Marine thanked her brother figure.
"No problem." Silver replied back before turning to Bean and Charmy, having their arms being held by Jet and Sonic respectively. "Now, I believe these two should be separated for a while. Don't you think?"
"Agreed." Jet and Sonic nodded their heads before the former dragged his little brother upstairs, possibly taking Bean to the guest bedroom.
Seeing Jet and Bean disappearing from everybody's sights as the two walked upstairs, Sonic gave out a small whistle before commenting, "That was some show we put for Blaze! Right, Vennie?"
"Huh?" Silver managed to say before he turned his head to face Blaze, whose amber eyes grew wide after not believing what she has saw.
She wasn't the only one with 'gifts' of god! There were others like her who had different 'gifts'! Sonic with his supersonic speed and Silver possessing psychokinesis! So that means... No way! Blaze couldn't believe it! Out of all people, Blaze never expected Silver or Sonic to have special powers granted from god, and assumes the rest of his friends might have these 'gifts' as well.
Trying to speak after what she has saw, Blaze cleared her dry throat and brushed off a few more strands of her hair off her face and started to speak to Silver. "Did... Did you guys... Have... that... that 'gift' as well?"
"Of course I do!" Silver answered cheerfully. "And so do all of my friends!"
Well that knocks out Blaze's question of Silver's friends having special 'gifts'.
"That's... Oh jeez... I don't know what to say." Blaze sighed. "I thought I was the only one who has that 'gift' from god."
"Well you're wrong, Blaze. Everybody in this room has a different yet unique and amazing 'gift.'"
"Everyone? Including..."
"Yep." Wave nodded her head, now floating in the air with small purple wings at the back of her light green shirt. She loved to fly in the air using her wings since she was about four years old, but prefers to use her Extreme Gear as they're much faster than her wings. "I had wings ever since I was born and I can make them appear with a snap of my fingers. Same thing with Jet and his brother. As for Marine..."
Closing her eyes and clenching her right hand into a fist tightly, she opened up her fist and eyes and ended up forming a water ball out of her hands, tossing it to Sonic's face, who ended up spitting some of the water out of his mouth.
"I have water powers!" Marine cheered. "Isn't that awesome?!"
"Yeah, but next time, don't toss your water balls to me." Sonic told the brunette while shaking his head dry.
"Sorry, mate."
"It's okay."
Amazed at what she's seeing right now, Blaze asked, "You guys are okay with having these 'gifts' from god?"
"Of course!" all four with the 'gifts' answered, with Wave descending down on the floor, wings gone from the back.
"Not a lot of people have them, and having these 'gifts' is the best thing to have in the whole world." Silver added, sitting down at the couch. "People who have these 'gifts' should be happy that they possess them."
Happy? Besides her parents, girl's at her old school mentioned that those who were born with that 'gift' ended up miserable and unloved with no where to go in life after seeing Blaze's fire powers. Blaze thought that was true. But after seeing Silver and the others who had these different 'gifts', that dumb theory ended up being tossed into the trash. They were the opposite on what the theory mentioned: happy and respected with multiple paths in life. This is probably the first time Blaze has ever heard someone mention that people with 'that gift' should be happy, not thinking it's a curse.
"I... I never thought about being 'happy' about my gift." Blaze told Silver.
"What is your 'gift' anyway?" Silver asked Blaze, now off the couch and holding both of Blaze's hands. "You can tell us."
Should she tell them right now? Especially Silver? The guy she just met two days ago yet the first person who will do anything for her after harming her twice? Should she?
After thinking about it in her mind, Blaze was about to open her mouth when all of a sudden, Vector kicked the door open, carrying ten large brown bags full of food in his arms before closing the front door with his feet. Silver sighed and ended up using his powers to levitate half of the bags Vector was carrying before setting the bags near the kitchen door gently, while Marine and Wave ended up taking two bags from Vector with Sonic swiping the rest of the bags from Vector's arms and ended up taking them to the kitchen before Vector can blink his eyes twice.
"Whoa, thanks guys." Vector commented to the four. "I thought I would do that on my own just fine."
"Your welcome, Vector." the four replied back, with Sonic giving a thumbs-up to Vector.
While taking off his black shoes, Vector spotted a girl with lavender hair, who's putting the five bags Silver levitated into the kitchen one by one while returning the pillows back to the couches all on her own. He never seen this girl before. Maybe she's one of Silver's new friends. Silver often brings his friends over here in the weekends, mainly Sonic since he's easily bored in the weekends.
Curious, once Vector finished taking off his shoes off, he asked Silver, "Hey Silver. Who's that?" pointing to the lavender-haired girl.
"Oh, that's my partner, Barbara Jewel, but people call her Blaze." Silver informed his guardian. "She's here so we can work on our English project together."
"Her? You mean the one that soaked you in milk two days ago?"
Why did Vector had to bring that up again? And how did he know about that fact?!
"Vector!" Silver slightly yelled to his guardian who almost laughed.
"Hey! Espio told me all about it two days ago after dinner."
Oh, that explains it very well. Silver thought.
"Well, do you want to meet her?" Silver suggested to Vector.
The thirty-two year old guardian nodded his head before he followed Silver and ended up walking towards Blaze, who's currently starting to answer her second question for the book report.
"Hey, Blaze." Silver called to Blaze, now turning her head where she spotted Silver standing next to a tan man with green short hair. "This is my guardian and owner of the Chaotix Orphanage: Vector Maher."
"It's very nice to meet you, Vector." Blaze greeted Vector by shaking his huge and rough hands.
"Nice to meet you too, Blaze!" Vector replied back to Blaze. "So, are you one of Silver's friends?"
"Uh..." Now how is Blaze going to respond to that question?
"Vector, I've just met her two days ago." Silver told Vector, hitting his shoulder with his fist.
"Sorry. I thought you might be his friend." Vector apologized to Blaze.
"It's okay." Blaze said to Vector while writing her answer to her second question. "And by the way, what's with the bags? You seem to be carrying a lot of them when you entered the orphanage. Is it for a special occasion?"
The bags! Oh, right. Vector almost forgot about them for a moment!
"Yeah, what are they for?" Silver wondered as well.
"Oh... They're for..." Vector started before he whispered the whole thing to Silver's ear.
After Vector is done explaining about the bags to Silver, his eyes grew wide in horror and ended up stuffing his face into the pillow, screaming words Blaze and Vector couldn't hear. Why?! Why?! Why?! What did Vector whispered into Silver's ear that's causing him to be like this? The answer:
Cooking. Pizza. With everyone.
Everyone being himself, Sonic, Jet, Wave, Marine (since she wants to know how to make pizza anyway), Espio, Tikal, and Blaze (surprisingly).
Let's see how this will turn out. Silver thought as he plummeted down flat to the couch, still covering his face with a pillow after having an already chaotic Friday. And an hour hasn't even passed by. New record.
Author's Note: And here marks the first part of Blaze's visit to the Chaotix Orphanage, and things are already starting to get chaotic, haven't they? Now, how will the pizza making go? Good? Horrible? Will there be a food fight involved? You'll have to wait.
For names, I'm going with Marine's name since she hasn't made an appearance in a long time. Her first name is a reference to her water powers, while her last name, Ranta, is Finnish for "dweller by the shore; beach", referencing the location where Sonic Rush Adventure took place (Marine's debut).
Oh, and if you're curious what 'kuya' (pronounced koo-yah) means, it's a Tagalog term used to title an older brother (or an older male figure). The female term for that would be ate (pronounced ah-teh), A.K.A. older sister. I use these terms a lot at home. And speaking of which, I couldn't decide which character to be Filipino, so I decided Jet for the heck of it (and the fact that I haven't seen any Filipino references in any Sonic fan-fics as far as I know).
Here's another question if you can answer it. Out of every character that has appeared so far, who's your favorite and why? And if possible, you can list your favorite line from your favorite character.
Before I go, the songs that appeared in order were:
"Escape From the City" by Ted Poley and Tony Harnell
"Colors of the Heart" by Uverworld
And that's about it. I might not be updating for a while due to school starting in about three days from where I live, and I'll be busy with some of my school work (three AP classes and one Pre-AP class). But if you like this chapter, don't forget to review!