I'm back in the groove of posting! Thank you summer vacation! It's a rainy day aka a writing day!
Chapter: Burning on a Heat Wave
June traveled by as fast as the flutter of a butterfly's wings. The days were quick and predictable. Every time the sun rose it seemed to come back hotter and hotter. It hadn't rained for two weeks and everyone were starting to burn up in the July atmosphere.
"We could go to the beach," Rouge suggested over the table of sweating friends. The idea of fresh water pleased her.
Sonic on the other hand let out a long groan. He pouted and fell forward to rest his head on the table.
"I'll take that as a 'no'?" Amy curiously asked from beside him.
Tails smiled at his older friend's child like behavior. It was always amusing to see Sonic's reaction to things. They could be as spontaneous as predictable. "He doesn't like water," Tails explained.
Amy furrowed her eyebrows and looked down at the hedgehog who kept his head on the table. "Literally five minutes ago he poured five water bottles onto himself. It smells like wet hedgehog in here."
Everyone, but Sonic, chuckled at her response. Amy smiled in feeling slightly pleased to have made them laugh.
"It's not just water though!" Sonic was full on ready to defend himself. He lifted his head and looked straight at Amy. "I shower so obviously I'm not afraid of water." Sonic inwardly cringed at the thought of a six foot deep pool or an exaggeration of wild waves at the beach. "It's swimming. I can't swim. I was never able to an to this day I still can't. Frankly, I don't want to either. Water is no good. I could drowned in it, even if I was able to swim. It could choke me. If you fall in water from high enough, you could die. And if-"
Amy cut Sonic off. "But if you fall too far you could die anyways, with or without water."
Sonic held his hands up in defense. "My point," he carried on, "is that water is evil."
"The inanimate, liquid water is very evil," Amy sarcastically said.
Sonic gave Amy a peeved look. He slightly squinted his eyes at her, challenging her to make another comment. Amy just laughed along with everyone else. Sonic took this as his chance. He violently shook his head from side to side, allowing all of the left over bottled water to fall on Amy. The girl gasped as drops fell onto her face. She left her mouth hang open for a moment before glaring at Sonic. He had a pleased grin.
Rouge suddenly jumped up and yelled, "To the beach it is!"
"I can't go," Cryssi, who has been silent for a while, said.
Rouge rolled her eyes. She seemed to become tired and slightly annoyed with the dog. "I know, I know," Rouge waved her hand in the space in front of her, "you have to help your dad. That's all you ever been doing lately. Seriously, you never have time to hang out with us."
Cryssi frowned at Rouge. She narrowed her eyes that for once appeared dark. "Well sorry that it hasn't rained in forever. We may be facing a drought you know." Amy's eyes widened at how harsh she actually sounded. She never heard the dog speak like that. Cryssi seemed to always be quirky and lively, but not now. Everyone fell silent at the table. Cryssi's eyes traveled over everyone before landing on Sonic. He, for once, had nothing to say. "Bye," she mumbled before making a quick exit.
"What was that about?" Charmy asked, not caring about the elephant in the room.
Rouge ignored his question. "To the beach."
It took a whole hour to convince Sonic to go to the beach. He caved in when Tails, his adorable friend, begged with puppy dog eyes. He also didn't mention that he still felt slightly guilty about not being completely truthful.
Even though he agreed to go to the beach, he was not going in the water. He had to make that clear multiple times. Everyone understand even before he said it the first time, it was very noticeable that he was the only one not in a bathing suit.
Tails wore simple yellow trunks that seemed a size too big on his skinny legs. Knuckles had on green swimming trunks with a black, short-sleeved rash shirt. Cream was happy to wear yellow full piece with an orange skirt for the first time of the year. Amy also wore her solid hotpink, flyaway bandeau tankini for the first time. Then entire Chaotix team wore matching purple trunks, obviously Vector's idea.
Cream surprised Sonic by bringing a basket full of food, including the famous chili dogs, with her. He was satisfied with sitting on the sand and eating.
Rouge dragged Knuckles with him into the water. He didn't protest much as for once he was happy to hang out with the bat. It may have to do with the point that she was wearing a purple bikini that seemed two sizes too small.
Amy, Cream, and Tails stayed in a more shallow end. They waded in the water that went up to their knees. Amy was the first one to start a splash war. She bent down and scooped up the fresh lake water. It flew through the air and landed right on Cream. The rabbit wasn't upset one bit and returned the gesture. Both girls laughed before grinning at Tails. The poor fox went wide eyed before gallons of water were tossed at him.
Team Chaotix remained on the land like Sonic, although the had different intentions. With three metal detectors they searched the beach. Charmy struggled with weighing three shovels along with his own equipment. "Why me?" he complained to himself.
There was only a short amount of time for Rouge to yell out a warning. "Amy watch out!" The pink hedgehog looked over in confusion. "What-" Amy was cut off before she could fully muster the question. A ball flew right into her stomach at full force, knocking her off her feet.
"Amy!" Cream cried. "Are you okay?" She girl squinted her green eyes in slight pain before nodding her head. She groaned while blindly tossing the ball ahead of her.
"Oh man! I'm really sorry!" Everyone turned their heads to see a tall and skinny lemur holding the ball. His nuzzle was a dark brown that contrasted to his white fur. His tail stretched out far behind him and was decorated in dark stripes. His golden eyes shone brightly compared the the black rim around them. He gave a sheepish smile. "My friends and I were just playing ultimate volleyball when Scooter kind of got out of hand. Again, sorry." The lemur jacked his thumb over his should, pointing to a group of five people in the distance.
"What's ultimate volleyball?" Amy questioned from her spot on the floor. "And who's Scooter?"
The golden eyed boy tucked the ball under one of his arms and reached out a hand to help Amy up. "It's basically intense volleyball," he responded with a shrug.
"I'll say," Rouge murmured under her breath as she looked over the distance the ball had flown. The volleyball player were standing near a net that seemed over two hundred yards away from their spot.
"I'm Enzo," the Lemur held out his hand to the pink hedgehog. "Amy," she responded happily. Everyone else in the water took their turns shaking hands with Enzo.
"Do you mind if I join your volleyball game?" Amy her head tilted to the side and looked directly at Enzo.
The boy scratched the back of his head. "I'm sorry, but like I said," raised the ball to his finger tips, "it's intense." A golden mist rose from his finger tips. It surrounded the ball and rose it into the air. Amy stood with her eyes wide. Enzo chuckled at her reaction. At an intense speed, the ball was suddenly launched behind him and to his group of friends. Amy giggled as she saw it hit some one in their chest and knock them back.
Knuckles, seeming less impressed, scoffed. "We can easily handle that!"
"Oh really?" Enzo folded his arms and raised an eyebrow, sensing a challenge. "Fine then. Instead of a three on three with my friends, you guys can join and we will have a six on six."
Cream stepped back. "I would rather just watch." She shyly looked up at the lemur who nodded his head.
"Okay, then we need two more people," Amy looked back on the beach. "Hey Sonic!" The blue hedgehog propped himself up onto his elbows. He pulled up his black sunglasses and looked at them. He looked over the stranger lemur for a moment before turning his gaze to Amy. "Wanna play volleyball?" she questioned from the water. Sonic laid back down, hoping that she would understand his answer. "You lazy bum!" she yelled before turning her attention to someone else.
"Chaotix!" Vector, Charmy, and Espio looked up from their metal devices.
"Volleyball?"
Espio and Charmy exchanged knowing glances between one another. Both quickly dumped off their junk and joined the others at the water. In disbelief, Vector stared at his two friends that walked with the other group. "Traitors!" he shook his fist in the air at them. A frown was on his face at he looked at all the equipment at his feet. He grumbled to himself as he proceeded to pick it up and roughly continue work on his own.
"Hey guys," Enzo called to his friends as they approached, "I picked up some new people to join us."
Four more boys and one girl looked at them.
One hedgehog, like Amy, approached them first. "My name is Ashton, people call me Ash." His quills were dark grey. They were thin compared to Sonic's and messily split at the ends, which Amy assumed was for style. His right eye was hauntingly black as the other appeared to be a natural blue. He wore navy blue board shorts.
The girl, who was the last hedgehog of the bunch, pushed Ashton aside. He glared at her for a moment but she ignored him. "My name is Persephone," she smiled proudly while holding her hand out. Tails shook it. He was startled by her firm grip and violent hand shake. Persephone giggle as she shook everyone else's hands. The girl's fur was the brightest white. Her long quills waved down her sides and covered up one fourth of her face. Her eyes were a light shaded purple. Amy wondered if the she was wearing contacts, having never seen naturally purple eyes. Like Rouge, she wore a purple bikini. Although her's was greatly less revealing. It had a bandeau top with a white flower over her left breast. Her bottom's didn't tie at the sides either.
"You just met my brother, Ash," she jerked her head to the pouting boy. "We have three other friends: Rico, Scooter, and Jackal."
Rico held up his right and stuck out his pinky and thumb, signaling "hang loose." He gave a grin which showed off his pearly white teeth. As a jaguar, he had a tan print all over him and a couple sharp teeth. His ears were small and round. He had on board shorts like Ashton. They were light blue with orange Hawaiian prints on them.
Scooter came close to Amy. "Sorry about hitting you with the ball." The orange degus held out his hand to Amy. The pink girl shook it while she looked over him. He had a thin ponytail at the back of his head that streamed down to his mid-back. His eyes were large and round. They reflected the sunlight in their dark pupils. His red shorts hung low at the waistband.
A black Panther rounded the corner and grinned at the new 6, disincluding Cream. Jackal wore a blue rash shirt with matching swim trunks. He folded his arms over his chest and tilted his chin up. "So," he flashed his sharp teeth, "you guys think you can beat us at volleyball?"
"I still don't get what makes it ultimate," Charmy, seeming to be the only one left out, blurted. Everyone else groaned as Rouge facepalmed.
Jackal spun the ball on his index finger. He walked ahead, letting it roll over his arms and past his shoulders. He caught it with his other hand and proceeded to spin it on his finger. "It's simple young bee," his playful voice lectured, "we all have our own abilities, powers if you must. We use them to our advantage. I'm sure you have something you can do. You," he pointed his free index finger into Charmy's chest., "use your skills to beat me. Capisce?"
Charmy nodded, feeling eager and a little scared at the same time. Ashton chuckled at the young bee's distress.
Enzo stood in front of everyone else. "Okay guys," he cleared his throat, "just so we can make this more fair: we will have two captains. I will be one captain, one of you guys can be the other."
Almost instantly Knuckles raised his hand. "I call dibs," he jumped up. Everyone settled their gazes on the red enchidna. Knuckles lowered his hand and observed the raised eyebrows casted towards him. "What?" No one answered.
"Okay," Enzo carried on, "Jackal, my team." The panther nodded and jogged over to Enzo's side. The teens bumped fists with grins before turning to Knuckles. "Your turn."
"Rouge." The bat rolled her eyes. She didn't have to move since she was already next to the boy. No one was surprised that she was his first choice.
"Amy." Enzo grinned as the girl quirked an eyebrow. "Just thought I owe it to you to put you on the winning team." The girl giggled, "That is quite an ego you have there."
"Scooter," Knuckles bobbed his head at the degus, who returned the gesture.
Both continued to pick out the teams. It ended with Knuckles having five other teammates: Rouge, Scooter, Charmy, Persephone, and Ashton. Enzo had his own team: Jackal, Amy, Espio, Tails, and Rico. Cream stood at the side and was deemed referee.
"The first team to reach 15 points wins the round. First team to get 2 out of 3 wins the game. A coin will be flipped to determine who serves first," Cream called from the sidelines.
"You can choose first," Enzo called over the net. Knuckles nodded, "Heads."
"Then I get Tails."
Cream tossed her quarter in the air. It spun multiple times before landing in the sand. She squinted at it on the ground before calling out, "Heads!"
Knuckles quickly caught the ball. "Over or underhand?" Everyone turned to Cream. The young girl wasn't sure of what the correct answer would be. "Either," it sounded more unsure and as a question. The red enchinda nodded.
He threw the ball high above his head. He jumped in the air and punched the ball forward. It soared more than high above the net. Rico, being in middle back, sprinted back after the ball. No one called it out, although in a normal game it would have been. He dove after the ball. After realizing he wouldn't be able to reach it, the jaguar threw his hand up. In sync with it, water sprouted up from underneath the ground. Instead, a sprout of water hit the ball, sending it back towards the net.
Amy gasped when she looked at it. "How did he do that?"
"Rico can manipulate water," Enzo answered as he watched the ball come back. Seeing that it wouldn't make it, he jumped forward and gave the ball another bump, allowing it to make it over the net. Charmy flew up and spiked it. No one knew that the small bee had so much force in him.
Cream held up a white board and showed a score. "First point goes to Team Knuckles."
Knuckles grinned over to Rouge, "I knew you would just love being on my team." The white bat scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Just serve the ball," she commanded.
Knuckles gave off the same power-packed serve. This time Tails was able to bump it back. Scooter hit it easily back. Amy's mind swarmed as she observed the ball continuously go front and back. Eventually it landed once again on her side, giving the point to Team Knuckles again.
She grinned as she saw Knuckles prepared to serve the ball once more. Amy held her right hand out at her lower side. The ball came back once more. With the flick of her wrist, her hammer appeared through thin air. Even her team members appeared surprised with the sudden object.
She hit the volleyball head on and got it far over the net. No one on the other team rebounded it. Amy felt pride as she scored the first point for her team.
Everyone on her team rotated their positions. Amy was up to serve.
Like Knuckles, she went with an overhand. She threw the ball straight into the air and hit it with her hammer. It soared over the net with no hit. It was five points later until someone finally got Team Enzo to miss with Amy as their server.
The scores continue to slowly climb up. Team Enzo won the first round by one point after Knuckles slipped up from getting distracted by Rouge jumping. She called him a pervert and slapped him for two reasons: being a creep and making them lose.
If Team Enzo won another round, they would also win the game.
Charmy bumped the ball. Jackal, standing at the back, opened up a dark hole. The volley ball soared through it. Enzo grinned. Amy just gave him a confused stare, hoping for an explanation.
"Jackal can create portals through space," he gestured to the current hole, "another hole will appear when and where he wants it to. When it comes, the ball will come through it." The pink hedgehog nodded her head, finally understand.
The other team looked around confused, waiting for it to come back. "What-" Persephone looked around in, not wanting to miss it.
Amy saw the shadow hole appear above Team Knuckles' heads. The volley ball came falling down. Amy grinned. She liked how her new friends played. She could never think of a more enjoyable game of volley ball.
That point went to Team Enzo.
Tails served the ball. It was a normal serve. Static electricity burst from the palms of Persephone's hands. Sparks zapped the ball in the other direction. A burnt mark was left in the side as smoke came from it. Everyone was too scared to try to touch the burning object.
Ash took his turn to serve. He gave a fast over hand.
Espio released a grappling hook in the direction of the soaring object. It hooked onto the ball. As if he was casting a fishing line, the purple chameleon threw the line over his head. In the process, the hook released the ball.
Not being able to keep up, Charmy could only blink before he was hit in the middle of his face by the object. The bee tumbled back, landing in the sand. Everyone crowded around the down player.
"Can he still play?" Rico asked, wincing at the swollen bump on his face.
Scooter tsked at the almost black eye, "I don't think so."
"Way to go Espio," Knuckles sarcastically commented.
Rouge punched his shoulder. "Quiet you! This was an accident!" Knuckled glared up at the girl. She just turned away, not wanting to bother with him anymore.
Cream hoisted the bee up. Charmy's weight was fully supported by Cream. "I have some bandages back at my basket," the rabbit offered as she walked him away from the volley ball set.
"Now we are down one player," Ashton commented as he watched the two retreat.
"I can get someone else to play," Amy began following Cream, "Just give me a minute."
Everyone watched the pink hedgehog bob away.
"So," Knuckles said over the awkward silence, "how about that airplane food?" Everyone groaned.
Sonic squinted open his eyes once he noticed something was blocking the sun. Amy towered over him with her hands on her hips. This was one of the few times that she could actually look down at him.
"What is it?" Sonic asked, not getting why she was giving him a stern look.
"We are down one player," She pointed behind her at the group of people swarming a volleyball net.
"So?" Sonic shrugged, pretending not to understand what she wanted from him.
"Can you please come play?"
Sonic rolled on to his side so he wouldn't face her. "I said no earlier, my answer is still no."
"Technically you didn't say no. You just ignored me," Amy retorted.
Sonic didn't respond. He closed his eyes and pretended to block the girl off from his mind.
Amy got on her knees and began to shake his shoulder. "Please! Please! Please!" Each plead became longer and led to more violent shoulder shaking. Amy leaned over Sonic's side so he would be forced to face her. "Please?" She puckered out her lower lip and furrowed her eyebrows.
Sonic, surprised by the contact, opened his eyes. He almost jumped at the puppy dog look she gave him. "That wont work," he muttered. Although, truthfully, it was taking all of his strength not to give in.
There was a pause before she begged one more times, "Pretty please with a chili dog on top?"
"Fine," Sonic breather in exaggeration. Amy giggled and sat back up. A rush of air over came Sonic where she had touched his shoulder. "Come on!" the girl called before running ahead. Even with a head start, Sonic got to the group of friends before Amy did.
After a quick greet, the game was back in motion. With the absence of their referee, Vector volunteered to step in. He was more than tired of pointlessly searching for any riches.
Persephone smirked at Amy as their eyes met through the net. The pink hedgehog felt uneasy at the look.
Tails once more served the ball. Amy jumped and piked it with her hammer. With another zap, Persephone sent the ball back towards Amy. The girl gasped and ducked out of the way, not wanting to face any injury. She glared as she watched Sonic high five Persephone. Enzo held out a hand and helped Amy back up. "Sorry about that," he murmured. He gave a look of disappointment at the other cheering team. "Persephone gets a little overly competitive when she feels the need to impress someone."
"Who would she want to impress?" Amy asked. She only got a sly grin from Enzo as he glanced once more at Persephone. Amy looked back and forth in between the white and blue hedgehogs. "Great," she thought to herself.
The second round eventually went to Team Knuckles. It was probably beneficial to have Sonic spin dash into half of the serves given to him. Not to mention that Ash also slowed down time to get an easier hit at the ball.
Enzo once again had the ball. His team was one point behind so he really wanted to boost them forward. For the serve, he had his golden mist raise the ball and launch it forward. He was caught off guard when Scooter raised swirl of gold from his own fingers and sent an equally powerful attack back. Amy raised her hammer and hit the ball back, earning her team another point.
Sonic looked at Scooter with an impressed expression. "You can do that thing you just did as well?"
The degus scratched the back of his head. "Well, sort of. The power of light is Enzo's thing. I just have the ability to mimic others for a short amount of time." Sonic grinned. "Awesome!" he expressed before fist bumping Scooter.
Enzo raised the ball before slapping it ahead. Sonic was quick and hit the serve. Tails, in the normal hand position, flew up a bumped the ball back. Both Rouge and Knuckles dived for the volley. Everyone winced at the smashing sound of their skulls colliding with one another.
"Watch where you're going!" Rouge rubbed her forehead while groaning.
Knuckles looked offended from the floor. "That was not my fault! I was actually going to hit the ball, unlike someone..."
Rouge raised her fist and punched Knuckles on his already injured forehead. He yelled "ow!" once again before continuing to glare at her.
"Can we go one day without you two killing each other?" Sonic questioned while shaking his head in disappointment.
"They were killing each other?" Amy pretended to be oblivious. She gave a knowing smirk to the two that looked up at her. "I thought that the were just flirting again."
Sonic chuckled at the horrified look Knuckles and Rouge gave. Both of their eyes were wide with their mouths left hung open. They scurried away from one another and back into their positions. Before Rouge could yell at Amy, the next serve was given.
Persephone jumped the give it one more spark. The ball zapped over the net at its frightening speed. Everyone on Team Enzo ducked out of the way; all besides Amy. The girl spun and hit the ball with the force she had. Amy's arms shook as her hammer ricocheted. Everyone winced at the sound of a pop. In the sand laid the airless volleyball.
"Whoops..." Amy nervously laughed at it.
"Well looks like the game is over," Jackal bluntly stated. "Who won?"
Everyone looked over to Vector, the score keeper. "Team Knuckles has one round and 8 points: Team Enzo has one round and 9 points!"
Enzo's side cheered they all exchanged high-fives with one another.
"Good game," Persephone held her hand out for Knuckles to shake. He noticed that a small slip of paper was slid into his hand at the same time. "And if you ever want to hang," Persephone winked at him, "call me."
Amy and Enzo exchanged glances with one another before laughing. And to think, Amy had thought the girl liked Sonic. The pink hedgehog and lemur continued to laugh at Knuckles astonished reaction.
Amy promptly stopped upon looking at the white hedgehog hand it out to Sonic as well. "Maybe I spoke too soon," she thought grudgingly.
Enzo caught onto her sudden mood change. He put a hand on her shoulder and gave a sympathetic smile. "Don't worry about it," he reassured her," Persephone just likes to flirt a lot. She wont steal your boyfriend."
Amy gave a confused look at him. "I don't have a boyfriend though...?"
Enzo shrugged his shoulders, "I just assumed that it was Sonic. You've been keeping an eye on him."
Amy blushed at the thought of it. "Him?" she pointed at the blue hedgehog. "That Sonic? Ha! No." She shook her head. "You probably don't know him, I'm new here and all and I already know that he has a big ego. I'm pretty sure he would date himself before getting an actual girlfriend."
Enzo laughed at the playful insult. "Actually, he's quite famous for being a hero. People close by know him for stopping Eggman and saving citizens."
Amy almost forgot about that. It had slipped her mind that in the small populated area, Sonic was famous. She wasn't sure how far his fame had stretched, but people knew him. He was a hero that protects people from any dangers.
Amy wondered why lately things have quieted greatly from her first couple weeks here. "Bad guys don't take summer vacations..."
"Well," Enzo snapped the girl out of her thoughts, "we should really go." He looked over his own group of friends. "Come on guys!"
The lemur gave one last smile at Amy. She smiled up at him. He was really tall compared to her. Almost everyone was taller than Amy. Even Cream was almost as tall as the pink hedgehog.
"Bye," Amy said sweetly.
Enzo gave the girl a half hug. He innocently placed his lips to her forehead. "Bye, Amy."
The girl blushed furiously as she watched him pull away and catch up to his already retreating friends. Amy turned her head towards Sonic, who had his back faced towards her. She then saw Rouge fold her arms and smirk at Amy.
"Now isn't that just cute?" Rouge tilted her head to the side.
Amy narrowed her eyes at the bat before rolling them, "Shut up."
This took longer than expected to write. So now we can watch more relationships and friendship develop in the next few chapters! I'm so excited! BRING ON THE SUMMER WRITING!
I have a feeling that this wont be the last time we see Enzo and his gang.
Don't worry guys, it was just a simple kiss goodbye, right?
And what's up with Cryssi? There MUST be something...