~Kitchen (4:50 P.M)~
Putting a white apron over his orange t-shirt and navy blue jeans, Silver tied the back of the apron before removing all of the vegetables from the brown bag on the kitchen counter. Tomatoes, spinach, green and red bell peppers, mushrooms... and oddly, cucumbers and eggplants. Yeah, that's a bunch of vegetables for a pizza; mainly the last two. Mushrooms on a pizza? Normal. Spinach? Sure. Cucumbers and eggplants? Uh... Not your typical pizza topping, but since Vector oddly likes to have those two in a pizza, it's completely normal for Silver. Very normal after spending almost ten years with him.
After setting the vegetables from the bag, Silver turned his head around when the door made a slight creaking sound, and spotted Sonic, Jet, Wave, and Marine entering the kitchen wearing white aprons over their clothes, with Wave currently putting Marine's brown hair into a ponytail.
"I'm so psyched to make pizza! Are you guys psyched as I am?" Sonic exclaimed happily, making a few fist pumps in the air.
"I am!" Marine cheered after Wave put her hair in a ponytail. "I really, really can't wait to make pizza!"
"Me too! And let me tell ya Marine, the last time we made pizza the old-fashioned way, we practically made a wild but tasty mess in this kitchen!"
"Tasty mess?" Marine wondered while hearing Jet and Wave groaning behind her after hearing 'wild but tasty mess' from Sonic.
"Oh, that? You want to know. Well, while I was making the pizza sauce with Tails and Shadow..."
Dear god. Does Sonic have to re-tell this story to Marine? It's bad enough to experience the actual event, but hearing it again?! Horrible.
This is pretty much why Silver wasn't looking forward into making the pizzas. Normally, he doesn't mind making pizzas every month or two with Vector and Espio or his friends for dinner, but not now. Why? Last month, Sonic decided to throw a bowl of pizza sauce to Knuckles' face and in response, he threw pepperoni slices to Sonic, only for the slices to land on Shadow's face. And it pretty much went into a food fight after that. Flour, eggs, tomatoes, mixture of the pizza dough, shredded cheese, and oddly, apples were flying across the kitchen room with everyone taking part of it once they were hit by a random food item. Hell, it even went into a full scale war between Sonic and Jet, flinging piles of eggs and tomatoes towards each other while being assisted by Tails and Wave respectively! The food fight eventually came to a halt when Silver yelled for everyone to stop, using a megaphone with a horn.
And cleaning this mess up was just... ARGHHHHH!
Silver hopes he doesn't get a repeat of last month. That could be so nice.
"...But it was worth it to have that food fight in the end." Sonic concluded white juggling tomatoes with ease.
"Wow." Marine said in amusement. "I wonder if we're going to have a-"
"No, we are not having another food fight!" Silver, Jet and Wave announced before Marine can finish her statement.
"Darn." Sonic and Marine muttered in disappointment, with the former sighing deeply.
"And by the way Silver, where's Vector?" Sonic asked Silver, the former placing the tomatoes back on the counter.
"He's upstairs, getting Espio and Tikal to join us to make pizza with us." Silver answered to Sonic. "He won't take too long. Give him about a minute or two."
"Fine by me."
Blaze, now having her hair tied into a ponytail and wearing an apron over her clothes, entered the kitchen doors, having her head lowered down slightly and muttering something that's suppose to be inaudible to everyone in an annoyed tone before sitting on a three-legged stool. Silver knew what Blaze muttered since he overheard it. Those words:
"I can't believe that I'm wasting my time making pizza instead of working on the book report."
Hearing that Blaze isn't pleased on what she's about to do, Silver walked to where Blaze is and told her, "Don't worry, Blaze. Once we're done creating the pizzas, we'll get back on working on our book report. I promise."
"And the book report isn't due until next month. You'll have plenty of time to work on it with Vennie." Sonic added, now ruffling Silver's hair with his hands.
"Sonic! Don't mess around with my hair!" Silver demanded, getting a hold of Sonic's hands.
"But it's fun to make your hair all messy!" Sonic commented.
"To you, Sonic! But to me, not that enjoyable!" Silver told Sonic after finally having Sonic's hands off of his hair before finally speaking to Blaze again. "Like Sonic mentioned, the book isn't due 'til next month, so you should just relax and have fun with making pizza with all of us. Alright?"
"Alright." Blaze nodded her head in agreement.
It might not be such a bad idea to take a break from the book report. For one, it's Friday, and a lot of people tend to work on their homework on Sundays (or Saturdays for Blaze). Second, she gets to cook with others besides her parents. Cook with people she just met two days ago to be exact, or just yesterday for Jet's and Wave's case. Since it's Blaze's first time cooking without her parents, she wonders how this might turn out. When helping out in the kitchen with her parents, it's always silent, minus the music coming from the radio, with one or two small laughs coming from her mouth whenever somebody screws up. But with people that possess special 'gifts' that are currently in this kitchen, it might be noisy, sure, but maybe Blaze would have more than just one or two laughs.
SLAM!
Vector hastily stormed through the kitchen doors, his eyes wide in terror like he witnessed something horrible and his face covered in a few beads of sweat while taking quick breaths before falling flat on the tiles. Not too long after Vector fell, Silver levitated Vector off the floor and back to his feet. What could cause Vector to storm into the kitchen, panicking all of a sudden?
"Vector, what happened?" Silver asked his guardian.
"I... I... Espio... katana... threat... heplannedtokillmeifI-"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Bagalan!" Jet advised Vector, using the Tagalog term for 'slow down'. "None of us can't understand you if you talk that fast."
"Yeah," Silver agreed with Jet. "Now what happened upstairs? And explain it slowly."
Taking a few deep breathes, Vector answered, "I asked Espio if he and Tikal can assist us with making the pizzas for dinner, but before I can finish the offer, he pointed his katana near my throat and threatened me!"
"How?"
"He told me, 'Get the hell out of my room before I lacerate your-' and I knew I had to rush downstairs before he can kill me!"
"Really?" everyone in the kitchen wondered. Whenever Espio threatens somebody using his katana, or a sharp object since he received the katana as a birthday present from Silver last year, he always has a purpose for pulling his sword. "Why?"
"I have no idea why Espio did that!" Vector yelled, now walking towards the fridge to get something.
"A simple 'no' is what Espio should have said instead of that harsh response." Sonic commented.
Ignoring that comment from Sonic, Vector pulled out what he needed from the fridge, which happens to be two bowls wrapped in plastic, and set them on the counter before explaining what they're going to do.
"Alright everyone," Vector started out, "you all know we're making pizza. We're going to create about five to six pizzas for dinner."
"What happened to four pizzas?" Silver questioned his guardian. Usually, they make four instead of the number Vector just mentioned. Why the sudden change of numbers?
"Oh, that. Vanilla is going to be coming over-"
Just as Vector mentioned Vanilla, everybody except Blaze ended up laughing out loud, with Sonic and Jet falling to the floor after laughing incredibly hard that they might have difficulty breathing. They knew Vector invited Vanilla over for dinner simply because Vector has a crush on her for some reason. Maybe it's because of her sweet and proper personality or the way she looks. That's a few reasons why Vector has a crush on Vanilla, but nobody knew, not even Silver or Espio, the real reason why Vector likes Vanilla in the first place. Everybody in this room just knew about Vector's crush...
Except Blaze. She has no idea why everybody ended up laughing like crazy just when he mentioned her English teacher's name.
Were they laughing about our English teacher coming over for dinner? Blaze questioned herself, her head twisting to the left in confusion. Maybe if she asked Silver for an explanation, she'll get her answer.
"Uh... What are they laughing about?" Blaze asked Silver who ceased his laughter.
"Vector having a crush on Cream's mom, or our English teacher." Silver explained to Blaze. "Whenever Vanilla comes over, Vector turns from a reliable guardian to a goofy adult in just one second."
"Really?"
"Yeah. And when he tries to ask her out on a date, the results aren't usually pretty."
As in... Vector stumbling on his words, tripping on his own two feet, face turning to the darkest shade of red (if that's even possible) and a thousand of other stuff Silver can think of on top of his head but doesn't feel like it at all. Not to mention the various screw-ups from Vector.
"I don't want to imagine it." Blaze commented under her breath.
"Me neither..." Silver agreed with Blaze, "but I can't shake it off my head! Just thinking about it make me..."
Silver didn't finish his sentence as he started to burst out laughing again after having thoughts of Vector and Vanilla stuck in his mind. He almost fell to the floor, and held on to the edge of the counter to prevent himself from falling to the ground like Sonic and Jet are, with the former now rolling back and forth laughing his butt off.
A minute later, everybody's laughter died out, with the two laughing teens that were on the floor ready to get back on their feet and ready to listen to the remainder of Vector's information before they somewhat rudely interrupted him.
"Anyway, Vanilla, Cream, and a few of her friends are coming over for dinner at about 7:30," Vector added, "so in order for the pizzas to be done on time, I already made the dough for the pizza, which can also be used for the pizza crust. Now..."
A few of Cream's friends? Now why would...
"... I'm going to spend the day with Cream right after school."
"AMY IS COMING OVER?!" Sonic randomly blurted out, interrupting Vector once again.
Everybody turned their heads around to Sonic who's covering his mouth with both of his hands while his cheeks are blushing a bright shade of pink. Oh god, he didn't want this to happen at all. Just why?!
"Sorry guys..." Sonic apologized, silently laughing to himself. "Just remembered Amy being with Cream for dinner... and... and... and dear god, I hope it doesn't go horribly wrong..."
"Emphasis on 'hope'." Silver muttered, putting air quotes on hope.
"Can I finish?!" Vector impatiently yelled to the two teens, which they responded with a simple nod. "Okay. As I was saying, once we're finished with the pizzas, as in fully heated and ready to eat for dinner, I have a special surprise for you guys. And it has something to do with the multiple bags full of food I'd carried."
The only things they've pulled out were the toppings going to be used in the pizza such as the multiple vegetables, pepperoni, shredded cheese, sausages, onions, and olives. And that was just two bags combined. Three of the bags contained food items for the orphanage, but what about the remaining half? Were they extras? Is Vector going to give them away to Vanilla just in case she needs some food items? Who knows?
"Are we going to make an ice cream sundae after this?!" Marine excitingly asked her guardian.
"Better." Vector told the nine-year old. "We're having a food fight!"
"AWESOME!" Sonic and Marine yelled in glee.
"And you're okay with this?" Wave asked Vector while finally putting her hair into a bun. "I mean, we made a hell of a mess the last time we had one."
"Yep." Vector answered casually. " And this time, I'm gonna be in the food fight and once all of the food from the five bags are gone, we'll clean it up. Does that sound fine to you guys?"
"I guess so." Silver nodded his head. "And we can clean the whole kitchen quickly by using our powers anyway."
"Alright! I can't wait for the food fight!" Sonic cheered as he hastily teared up the sack of flour, causing some of the flour to not only spread around the counter for the pizza dough but to the boys faces, with Silver and Jet already spitting out the remains of the white powder before the latter can give the blue-haired teen a nasty glare.
"And I can't wait to smother you in ketchup." Jet replied back, taking the dough out of the bowl.
"Guys!" Silver shouted to the boys.
While getting the bowl for the pizza sauce, Wave silently giggled to herself as she overheard the boy's conversation and the look on all the boys with their faces covered in flour. Not even thirty seconds passed, and already they're a mess. Maybe that will get them ready for the food fight before being dirtied up with eggs and milk. Or Marine might soak them in water if she uses her powers in the fight later on.
She closed the cabinet door before placing the bowl to the other side of the counter and grabbed a wooden board in order to slice the tomatoes into small pieces before mixing them up into pizza sauce. But before Wave can start slicing, Blaze snatched three tomatoes from the board before the knife can make any scratches on her hands.
"You forgot to wash them." Blaze told Wave bluntly, heading towards the sink.
"Oops. I kinda forgot about that." said Wave, face-palming herself as she felt stupid to forget that simple rule.
"Forgot? Everyone should remember to wash the food before doing anything to it. Only an idiot would forget that rule."
"I'm not an idiot! Everyone forgets it at times! Even short head forgets it!"
"Hey!" Jet replied back, now covering the dough with flour, after hearing that embarrassing nickname. 5'5 feet isn't short! It's... average.
"Well keep that reminder in your head." Blaze told Wave while washing the tomatoes.
"I will. Now I'm going to wash the remaining tomatoes."
"With the help from me!" Marine chipped in.
Just by using one finger, a small ball of water appeared and with one swish, she splashed all three tomatoes quickly without making too much of a mess in the counter. The joys of having water powers as a 'gift'. With the tomatoes cleaned up, Wave quickly sliced the tomatoes into tiny pieces in a matter of seconds and slid them up into the bowl.
How Wave learned to slice that quickly without making a scratch to herself was from her dad. First time she tried to cut a food item, which was an orange, the knife slipped out of her hands an nearly killed Jet; the silver dagger sticking to the wall. By her third day on using the kitchen knife, she can easily cut anything from start to finish in about a minute or two without hurting herself. Man, any lessons from her dad can pay off big time. Maybe one day he'll teach Wave to drive well in less than two months.
Amazed how quickly Wave sliced the tomatoes with ease, Marine's eyes widened in awe and she asked her older sister figure, "Will you teach me how to do that?"
"When you're older. Trust me." Wave responded. As in, when Marine turns either eleven or twelve. She can handle matches and sharper scissors with no problem by the age of seven, but knifes at nine? That's an entirely different story.
"Because if you handle a knife right now, bad things will happen." Blaze commented, now finished with cleaning the tomatoes and setting them on the wooden board.
"Like bleeding horribly, accidentally stabbing yourself in the chest and other dangerous things?" Marine guessed.
How does this girl...? Blaze can only say in her thoughts, surprised a nine-year-old can know about that.
"She's mature for her age." Wave informed the lavender-haired girl.
"Very mature!" Silver added while tossing the dough up and down into a circular shape.
"I'll say." Blaze muttered under her breath before quickly slicing the tomatoes in a fast fashion like Wave did a few moments ago. And did she gain any scratches from that? Uh... No. No bleeding occurred from any parts of her body.
"Wow." Marine can only say after looking at Blaze chopping down the tomatoes quickly.
"Now what's the next step?" asked Blaze, putting the chopped tomatoes into the bowl.
"Put them into a blender and let them puree for a while." Wave informed, now getting the blender and setting it up. "Luckily this doesn't have a plug."
Understanding the next step, Blaze poured the chopped tomatoes from the bowl and into the uncovered blender before she covered it with the lid. Once covered, she pressed the button that reads blend, and in a few moments, the tomatoes went from solids to liquids in a matter of seconds. While waiting for the sauce to be ready, Marine went to the bottom cabinet where she pulled out a modestly sized electric kettle, which like the blender, doesn't required to be plugged in, and set it next to the blender.
"Is it ready yet?" asked Marine.
"No." Blaze answered to the nine-year-old. "Might have to wait until it's turned into a complete liquid."
"Alright."
"And while you're waiting, how about helping us spinning the dough?" Silver requested, catching the spinning dough with ease. "We really need it since Sonic somewhat screws it up easily."
"Not my fault if I toss it too high!" Sonic yelled to Silver before having the dough landing flat to his blue hair and covering one of his emerald green eyes.
"I guess I can do it." Blaze decided, walking to the opposite side where the boys are.
Silver handed her an already flatten pizza dough from the counter, but she didn't start tossing it in the air like Silver is doing. She basically has no clue the proper way to toss the dough without making any tear marks in it. Should she use her hands? Or her fists like Silver is doing? Yeah... She's basically lost on what the heck she should do. Maybe she should just...
Nah! Blaze might figure it out just by her first try. She noticed the dough is about to slip away from her left hand an tried tilting it a bit, but the right side is off balance, and this annoying process kept repeating itself for about a minute before Blaze felt Silver's hands underneath her's, trying to get the dough to stay in balance. After thirty seconds, the dough stayed in place in Blaze's hands, with Silver's hands still underneath hers since the silver-haired orphan knew this is her first time making pizza in here. Or a better way, the first time cooking with people other than her parents.
He can easily tell since Blaze's cheeks slowly turned into a tiny shade of pink, her hands slightly shaking when his hands are still touching hers, and the change of temperature of her hands as well.
"Uh... You okay?" Silver asked Blaze.
"Y... yeah..." Blaze answered, cheeks now transforming from pink to red. "Just... fine..."
"I thought you needed help with the dough. Am I right?"
"Y... You are right. But I can-"
"Do this on your own? Based on you struggling with the dough, you might need some help."
"I don't need any help!" Blaze told Silver, turning her head away from him.
"Come on. There's always a first for everything. I mean, it's your first time making dinner with others besides your parents and the first time you've been into someone's house. Or in this case, an orphanage. So maybe this can be your first time accepting help from others."
Well, it's either waste something just by screwing up with the tossing part of the pizza or have Silver help her out. Two choices and only one right answer. Her answer:
"Alright."
"Yea!" Silver cheered, still not letting go of her hands underneath the dough. "Okay, first, put one fist inside the dough, but be careful not to tear it."
"Okay." Blaze nodded, doing the exact steps Silver has told her, with Silver still holding her fists. "One fist on each side?"
"That's right. Now, carefully stretch your fists apart to stretch the dough more."
Blaze slowly moved her fists, with the dough slowly stretching a bit longer every second and looking like how Silver did it a few minutes ago.
"Good! You're doing it right!" Silver cheered. "Next, shift your left fist towards your fist and your right away from your face. That way, the dough will rotate while stretching."
Doing the exact steps Silver told her, Blaze witnessed the dough rotating in her own hands and her amber eyes widen in surprise as she's actually doing it! This is so amazing, she might have to ask her parents if they can make a handmade pizza together! Maybe next week would be a good time to ask!
"Move your left fist in an arc that goes backwards while twisting your right away from your face. Give your right a push, it'll rotate a bit faster. Got it, Blaze?"
"Got it." Blaze nodded her head, seeing the dough rotating faster than before while continuing the steps given by Silver. "Now what?"
"Toss it in the air."
"Really?"
"Use you fist and toss it real high, but not too high or you'll end up screwing up like Sonic."
"Hey!" Sonic yelled, having the dough that landed on his face a few moments ago now landing on Vector's. "Oh crap! Sorry Vector!"
Blaze now tossed the dough into the air, high enough to reach the ceiling light, but not enough to land on the ceiling itself, and the dough came falling down towards Blaze, which she quickly caught it with her two fists.
"Wow. That's just amazing!" Blaze commented.
"Isn't it?" Silver added, now letting go of Blaze's fists. "I guess two more times couldn't hurt just in case."
"Sure thing."
Repeating the process with tossing the pizza dough up and down, Blaze finished perfected shaping the dough into a proper circle without screwing up big time like Sonic did. But seeing Sonic having his dough landing on either Jet's or Vector's face every time he tosses the dough into the air makes her giggle to herself before placing the shaped dough into the clean part of the counter. After that, Blaze spotted Wave and Marine already adding some vegetables and two tablespoons of olive oil into the bowl full of tomato sauce, eventually turning into pizza sauce once the two get the right ingredients.
Maybe I can help them a little. Blaze thought.
However, before Blaze can even take a single step, she spotted a pizza dough coming down towards her above her head, and with quick thinking, Blaze caught it with her hands, happy she didn't tear it apart in the process.
"Too close." Blaze said, holding the perfectly fallen shaped dough.
"Sorry about that, Blaze!" Sonic yelled to the amber-eyed teen. "I didn't mean for it to happen! I guess my tossing skills need a little work."
"Little work? More like tons of work to me!" Jet commented, shaking his head to get rid of the dough and the flour from his head.
"It's alright, Sonic." Blaze told Sonic while placing the finished dough to the counter. "I'm lucky that it didn't land in my hair. Or covering one of my eyes or into somebody's arm..."
"I get it! I suck at catching the dough!"
"Why do you keep doing it anyway?"
"Because it's so much fun!" Sonic replied. "Especially if it lands on Jet."
"Wha-?!" Jet could only manage to say.
Sonic could only laugh after seeing Jet's mouth dropping down and his blue eyes widening in shock from hearing Sonic's reply, though not to the point he's falling down to the floor laughing again. However, the laughter spread once Silver started to burst out laughing loudly and the room filled with everyone's laughter, even Jet's, despite being laughed at a few seconds ago.
Helping out one another and sharing more than one or two laughs while making something delicious for everyone to enjoy, is this what it feels like cooking with people not related? If it is, then Blaze is glad she accepted Silver's offer to go to the Chaotix Orphanage. Very glad.
Now if only Espio and Tikal were here...
~Silver and Espio's Room (5:15 P.M.)~
Tikal is sitting on the edge of Espio's bed, clenching tightly onto the black sheets while she patiently waited for Espio to perfectly tune out his electric guitar since he knew Charmy and Bean messed with his guitar by making it way out of tune. Luckily, he knew how to tune it out quickly without using a tuner since Vector taught him to play and use the guitar properly ever since the guardian took Espio under his sacred roof.
While waiting for Espio to finish tuning his guitar, Tikal took in a few deep breaths, knowing what's going to happen once Espio is done with his instrument.
Oh, I'm going to sing in front of Takeshi-san. Tikal thought. I don't know how it's going to go! I'm so nervous... yet at the same time... I kind of feel relaxed. I wonder how Takeshi-san is feel-
Wait a minute... She can! She does have the power to read people's minds! Tikal doesn't use that ability that much due to the fact she hates invading people's privacy, but when she really wants to know something that nobody is telling her... Tikal will use that power.
Tikal closed her eyes before channeling into Espio's mind without him noticing to read his thoughts. And maybe get some information she wants to hear. Not too much though.
Stupid Charlie and Benjamin messing up my guitar. I'm lucky they didn't horribly damage the guitar or I'd lacerate their...
Okay! She didn't want to hear that!
But not now. My first priority is helping Tikal overcome her stage fright...
Aw...
Just thinking about her voice...
Her voice? There's more to her voice! Oh god, please tell her! She really wants to know so badly!
God, her voice is... Well finally my guitar is in perfect tune!
So much for hearing what's going to happen next. Hearing that Espio has finished tuning his guitar for the past ten to fifteen minutes, Tikal released parts of the black sheets out of her hands and put her hands together before placing them on her lap. Espio pulled out a chair from his desk, moving it close to the bed where Tikal is at, and sat on his chair, holding his guitar in an appropriate position.
"Sorry for making you wait." Espio apologized.
"I don't mind." Tikal replied.
"Good. Now you're wondering why I have my guitar with me."
"Are you going to play a song that I might recognize and I have to sing it while you-"
"Were you reading my mind?" Espio asked the orange-hair girl.
"M..maybe..." Tikal quietly replied. That was actually true!
"Well... yes. But you can sing whenever you feel like it."
"Whenever? In front of you?"
"Yes. You're going to sing in front of me. Alright?"
Uh... Sing in front... of... Oh God, help her right now! But since it's Espio...
"Sure." Tikal answered to Espio. She'll sing to him.
Once he gotten the response he wanted to hear from Tikal, Espio started to play the full notes of one of her favorite songs: Shake it Out by Florence + The Machine! She'll play this song whenever she has her iPod with her, and if she's alone of course, she'll sing it to herself. Hearing this song played with the guitar by the hands of Espio, however, Tikal didn't know whether if she should sing or not. Her mind says 'Don't sing', but her heart is yelling, 'Go ahead and let him hear your beautiful voice again!'. Which should she choose?
Her hands are now gripping tightly onto her red plaid skirt after trying to get a single note out of her mouth in order to sing the song she loves! Oh dear! This can't be good! Whenever Tikal is going to talk in front of the class, she always freezes before speaking the first word from her mouth! So this rule applies to not only speaking but singing as well?! Well, that's just great! Just. Flipping. Great.
Come on, Tikal! Just make a note from this melody! Anything! Tikal encouraged herself.
Taking a deep breath, what was suppose to start off as a pleasant voice ended up being a small squeak that sounded a little bit off tune, causing Tikal to cover her mouth and Espio to cease playing the guitar. Espio knew Tikal is going to be nervous when she's suppose to sing in front of him, but he didn't expect her to be THIS nervous!
Getting off the chair, Espio placed his electric guitar next his bed and ended up sitting in his own bed, next to Tikal. He can see Tikal's violet eyes ready to flow with tears, though she's doing her best to fight them; not wanting to cry in front of Espio. Not wanting to see Tikal cry, Espio placed his hand onto her shoulder and rubbed it in a soothing fashion, trying to calm her down before she can start sobbing more tears.
"I'm sorry if I made you do this." Espio manage to say.
"It's alright." Tikal answered, wiping away her tears. "I was just-"
"Nervous? Is that all?"
"Err... Yeah. You did remember what I said at Asia Diamond yesterday about my stage fright?"
The part about being nervous when there's too many people around? Yep. Big time. Espio nodded his head to answer Tikal's question on their conversation yesterday. He can't get rid of Tikal's stage fright completely in just one week, but he can help her be less nervous before next Friday sweeps by the corner. Now... what can-
CLICK! Something brilliant just popped into his mind. This should work!
"I got an idea that will work." said Espio, now grabbing his guitar and back to the chair he sat a few moments ago.
"What is it?" Tikal wondered.
"Can you close your eyes for me?"
"Like this?" she questioned, now having her eyes fully shut and patiently waiting for the next instructions from Espio.
"Yes. Now, I'll play the same melody, but this time, pretend I'm not there at all."
"Huh? Wha-?" Whoa. Didn't expect that coming.
" You sing when you're alone. But if you close your eyes, you won't see me looking at you. You're getting this so far?"
"I am."
"Once you feel comfortable, slowly open your eyes and continue singing. Alright?"
Tikal nodded her head, still having her eyes closed. With the two of them taking deep breaths at the same time, Espio started to play the beginning of "Shake it Out" and wondered if Tikal is going to sing the first chorus of the song. He heard this song, and he knew the singer started to sing at the two to four second mark, and he's been playing the beginning melody for at least fifteen seconds. Maybe this idea seemed to be a-
"Regrets collect like old friends. Here to relieve your darkest moments. I can see no way, I can see no way. And all of the ghouls come out to play."
Fantastic one after all! Tikal is actually starting to sing! Her eyes are still closed, but maybe they'll open by the first minute or two. Espio hopes her eyes open in one minute.
"And every demon wants his pound of flesh. But I like to keep some things to myself, I like to keep my issues strong. It's always darkest before dawn. And I've been a fool and I've been blind. I can never leave the past behind. I can see no way, I can see no way. I'm always dragging that horse around."
After singing the first half of the first verse, Tikal slowly opened her eyes, only seeing Espio's hands playing the melody to "Shake it Out" in his guitar. She continued to sing the song while letting her eyes fully open very slowly. She wanted to see if Espio is smiling to her for following his advice and if he's enjoying her beautiful voice.
"And our love is pastured such a mournful sound. Tonight, I'm gonna bury that horse in the ground. So I like to keep my issues strong, but it's always darkest before dawn."
Finally completing the first verse to her song she memorizes by heart, Tikal fully opened her eyes while singing:
"Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh woaaah! Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh woaaah! And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back. So shake it off. Oh whoa!"
Now that her eyes are fully open, Tikal felt her heart beating a bit faster than before, a little nervous on the inside that Espio is watching her sing fully, but happy on the outside that Espio is the first one who gets to hear her voice. Sure, she wanted Knuckles to hear her voice first, but lately, with an AP class in his schedule (World History), having soccer and just recently baseball practice after school, and now having to go to Rouge's photo shoots until October 19th, there's no way Knuckles can even listen to Tikal sing out a melody to him.
All of her other friends had multiple stuff to do, such as Silver taking care of the orphans while finishing his school work and writing articles for the Journalists Club, Sonic and track practice, Shadow juggling volunteer hours in the library, holding his job at Asia Diamond, attending both track and tennis practice, and loads of work from his AP classes, Tails working on homework and part of the Student Council as Historian, Cream spending time with her mom, Amy doing whatever hits her mind (mainly chasing Sonic or hanging around with Cream), and Rouge with her print modeling duties. None of them have time to hear Tikal's voice...
But Espio. He did have to take care of the orphans along with Silver, holding two part time jobs from Beverly Hill's top restaurants (Asia Diamond and Sapphire), being a reporter in the Journalists Club, and dealing with four Pre-AP classes, yet he still has time to hear Tikal singing. Who knew?
"And given half the chance would I take any of it back. It's a fine romance, but it's left me so undone. It's always darkest before the dawn..."
Before Tikal can finish singing the second verse, Espio stopped playing the melody from his guitar and lowered it in order to see Tikal a little better. He can see Tikal is giving out a modestly big and sweet smile to him, a giggle coming out of her mouth.
"Well? How did I do?" Tikal asked Espio.
"Just amazing. You hit every note perfectly, and maybe did better than the original artist." Espio told Tikal his honest opinion.
"Aw! Thank you, Takeshi-san!" Tikal replied back, her cheeks blushing bright red. She swears she can see Espio's cheeks blushing a light shade of pink.
"And did this somehow get parts of your stage fright to fly away?"
"Yes."
"Well, let's try a different song, but this time, keep your eyes open and imagine your brother is here, along with your friends."
"Okay!" Tikal cheerfully answered, ready to sing.
Picking up the guitar once again, Espio immediately played the notes from "Connect" and heard Tikal already singing the opening to this song.
"I won't forget the promises we exchanged. I close my eyes to affirm it. I will shake off the overwhelming darkness to move forward."
So far, so good. Tikal thought as she listened Espio playing the beginning solo to the song and tapped her foot to the wooden floor to the rhythm of this sweet song. Once Espio played from the solo to the chords of the first verse, Tikal continued to tap her feet while singing and thought of her brother and Rouge in this room right now, smiling and tapping their feet like she was at this moment.
"When will I ever be able to see the lost future from here again? Let's move forward in this world by shattering the overflowing shadows of anxiety again and again."
This is better than I imagined. Espio commented in his mind, still focusing on playing "Connect" from his guitar. He thought Tikal would sound a bit off for a few moments once he started playing, but instead, Tikal kept her wonderful voice from start and hopefully finish.
"Time now begins to tick away incessantly. Let's open the closed door, while carrying our unchanging feelings. My heart awakes in order to depict the future, even if I come to halt on a tough road, the beautiful blue sky always waits for me. Therefore, I'm not afraid. I won't be disheartened anymore, no matter what happens."
After Tikal finished singing the chorus, Espio stopped playing his guitar and finally placed it on his guitar stand before sitting next to Tikal once again in his bed.
"Great job." Espio complemented Tikal. "You weren't off-key and maintained your beautiful voice in tact."
"I know!" Tikal agreed with Espio, nodding her head. "Throughout the song, I imagined Kennith and Rouge in this room, listening to my voice and I can see that they enjoyed it a lot!"
"Now what if others like Ryan and Venice heard you sing?"
"Sonic would be yelling out 'Yeah! Sing it out, Tikal', Silver will give me a thumbs up, and almost everyone's mouths would drop wide once they can find out that I can sing beautifully!"
"So you can't wait for next Friday?"
"Yes!"
"And I know it may seem weird for me to ask, but what song are you planning to perform?"
"Oh... I was thinking about singing 'Secret Princess'."
Secret Princess, huh? Suites her perfectly. Espio thought.
"You think I can ask a few people to play that song for you?" asked Espio.
"Uh... I don't know. They might think that-"
"You're a horrible singer? Once they hear you, they wouldn't mind playing the song for you." Espio added.
"Who would you ask?" Tikal wondered, kind of worried on who'll provide the instruments.
"Vector would be one, playing either the drums or the bass, Ryan playing the guitar, and that's all I can think of on top of my head. But in order for them to believe me, you might have to sing in front of them."
"I have to?"
"Yeah. Do you think you can do that?"
Having other people besides Espio hear her voice? Well, she did want others to hear her voice, but at the same time, she doesn't! But knowing Espio, he'll ask people he personally knows to hear Tikal's voice such as Sonic or Silver, and will provide the tunes in order for her to sing "Secret Princess". So maybe the wise answer would be:
"Sure! Maybe after dinner would be great!"
"Okay." Espio nodded his head, pleased that Tikal is going along with his plan.
Once tonight is over, Tikal will shake off most of her stage fright to the ground, opening the door to escape from her fears she locked up for years and ready to spread her long-kept secret to the world! From a shy Secret Princess to a shinning idol in just one week!
"Takeshi-san?" Tikal called out to Espio.
"Yeah? What is it?" the purple-haired teen wondered.
"Do you think if we should go downstairs and help everyone out with the pizzas?"
"Uh... I'm sure they'll be fine." Espio answered.
He really didn't want to think back to 'that' moment almost an hour ago where he literally screamed to Vector on refusing to make the pizzas with everyone. Normally, he'd helped out with Silver, but with helping Tikal to overcome her stage fright, he can't waste any time and went to great lengths to make Vector go away by pulling out his katana! Harsh, but it worked.
"We can go downstairs in about ten minutes to see how they're doing." Espio suggested. "Does that work for you?"
"Yeah." Tikal nodded her head. "Do you think there's going to be a huge mess in there?"
"Maybe."
Wonder how things are going in the kitchen? Hopefully, they might be done by now with a huge mess in there thanks to Sonic.
~Kitchen (5:45 P.M)~
"Alright! We're almost done!" Sonic, now off of his apron along with everyone else, cheered with glee as the six pizzas were on six large metal cookie sheets on the counter.
Everyone couldn't believe that the only thing they have left to do is to heat up all six pizzas for about ten to fifteen minutes, and then they can finally have that food fight most of them wanted! Especially Sonic and Marine!
"You ready to put the pizzas into the oven?" Silver asked Sonic.
"Duh!" Sonic nodded his head.
As Silver opened the oven, he immediately took a few steps back as a bunch of toys were flowing out of the oven for at least five seconds! And god, were they horribly messed up! The dolls having their heads melted down (though Silver did admit it was funny to see a Barbie doll with wax), toy pieces missing, stuffed animals having their arms turn into crispy black, and checker pieces not looking like checker pieces at all! And if the damage to the toys was just horrible enough, the oven almost wanted to make Silver throw something to the wall! There were melted crayon waxes all over the oven, above and below where the cookie sheets are suppose to be, cotton from the stuffed animals burning, and somehow, there's Play-doh on the bottom of the oven, all dried out, but scorching hot once Silver tried to touch it!
Oh great! Heating up the pizzas is going to take them a whole lot longer than they expected, and they might not have the food fight after all! This is just... This is just... just... just...
ARRRGGHHH!
"This will take an hour to clean this oven up!" Silver shouted, shaking his hand to get the hot feeling off from him.
"What if I used my water powers to clean this up?" Marine suggested. "That way, we'll still have enough time to bake the pizzas and have our food fight."
"That seems to be a great idea, Marine, but considering the large mess, we still won't have time to heat up every pizza before 7:30. With your powers, it might take until 6:30 just to get it completely cleaned, and the pizzas take about fifteen minutes for it to be fully cooked. So..."
"Not enough pizzas equals no food fight for this weekend." Wave concluded, waving her hand to her face to get rid of the disgusting smell of wax and heated play-doh.
"Yeah, that."
"Aw..." Marine said in disappointment.
"Now who would stuff a bunch of random toys into an oven?" Sonic questioned. "You have to be-"
"Bean and Charmy in order to do that crap in the first place!" Jet figured it out, clenching both of his fists tightly.
Ooh, Bean is sooooo going to get what he deserves once they get home! Maybe Jet should take away Bean's Extreme Gear for a month and let Wave make it into a complete mess that he'll never mess with him or anybody else ever again. And if possible, never be around with Charmy again! EVER!
"It practically screams these two! I just know it!" Jet continued, kicking a stuffed dinosaur away from his feet. "They probably did this when they got out of school!"
"That explains why they were carrying those toys into the kitchen." Vector added.
"WHAT?! YOU LET THEM-?!" Jet yelled to Vector, furious that this orphanage owner would let them do this ridiculous action in the first place.
"I thought they were going to play in the kitchen." Vector admitted, now face-palming himself after he felt like a total idiot. Before he left to the grocery store about three hours ago, Vector spotted Charmy and Bean carrying a pile full of toys, and thought that Charmy's room didn't have enough space to play in, so he decided to let them play in the kitchen as long as they cleaned up their mess after they were done playing. Uh... big mistake...
"Hello?! Bean practically puts the toys into the oven whenever he's done playing! Did you not happen to remember?!"
As in, no matter what house Bean is in, he'll stuff some toys into the oven. Heated in max temperature. Not fun for those who have to clean it up. Like now.
"Uh... can we forget about those devils later?" Wave suggested, snapping the orphanage owner and her best friend's minds back to reality. "Right now, we have a situation we have to handle. A huge one."
"Getting the pizzas ready before 7:30." Sonic reminded everyone. "And to be honest, unless there's a genie right now, we might have to make something else."
"And I don't think we want to make another dish after spending at least an hour making these pizzas." Silver commented. "Now what?"
I can use my pyrokinesis to heat up all the pizzas in less than a minute. Is what Blaze wanted to say in front of everyone, but how would they all react to her 'gift' she hated almost her entire life? Would they run away like everyone else? Scream and say she's a freak of society? Okay, that last one seemed way off for people like Silver and Sonic, but the first one is possible. However, what if everyone accepted her powers and treated her like they treat others? Would they possibly do that?
Either I let the situation go the way it is and make everyone suffer, or I would make a solution that would make everyone happy but will end up revealing my powers in the end. Which one should I choose?
"We're not going to waste perfectly made pizzas for something that's pre-made!" Silver commented. "We still need to complete it!"
"Yeah! Oven or no oven! We'll find a way to make these pizzas all baked!" Sonic agreed, raising his fists in the air. "Right, guys?"
"Yea!" everyone yelled.
And with some encouragement from Silver and Sonic, Blaze finally made up her mind on what to do. Even if it means she may be called a freak by everyone in this kitchen. Her right hand fully clenched, Blaze walked towards to the counter, the pizzas in rows of threes going straight, and placed both hands on the edges of the counter. Everyone, mainly Silver, were curious on what Blaze is going to do right now with the pizzas. Maybe she's finally going to show her special 'gift' to everyone! Yea! That could be it!
Maybe her special talent is having fire coming out of her mouth! Or is she a spell caster that has unlimited magic on her hands? How about having the power to make everything complete no matter what it is? Or...
Silver and everyone in the kitchen eventually got their answer when flames erupted on her hands, surprisingly not burning the counter, going through the cookie sheets with pizzas filled with various of toppings such as pepperoni, spinach, mushrooms, and sausage, and watched the pizzas from being white to golden-brown in a matter of seconds! It's like they expected to see in the oven, only a thousand or a million times faster than the oven! Maybe they should be glad that the oven was messed up by Bean and Charmy! Not only that, they finally witnessed Blaze's special talent: pyrokinesis. An incredibly rare gift to possess in the whole world! Only about .08% of the population possessed pyrokinesis! Seeing Blaze having that power, it's just... Silver needs to make up a new word just to describe that power.
No wonder you were called 'Blaze' at your old school. Silver thought, still amazed at Blaze's powers.
After about thirty seconds of completely cooking the pizzas, Blaze released her grip off of the counter and turned around to see everyone 's eyes widen and Sonic's mouth dropping down much wider than before. Possibly the widest ever! She knew it was going to happen. They were just speechless on what just happened right now, and could only think she's 'a total freak that will one day destroy us all' in their heads. Well, to her at least. But what are they really thinking? This might be the best time to ask them on what they think.
"Alright. You witnessed my 'gift'," Blaze started, now leaning near the counter, but is careful on not to put her elbows on the pizzas. "Now, you can say anything you want concerning about my powers. I don't care if it's insulting, just let it out."
Silence came to the kitchen once Blaze said that last sentence. Nobody let out a single slip out of their mouths. Until...
"Holy crap, that was amazing." Sonic made the first comment. Once Sonic made that comment, everybody started to make various comments about Blaze's powers, one by one.
"SO COOL!" cheered Marine, eyes now sparkling.
"Damn girl, you gotten some amazing powers." Wave complemented to Blaze, now letting her hair fall down to her waist.
"More than amazing." Jet added.
"Great to see more people with these 'gifts'." Vector commented. "Silver, what do you think?"
"Yeah, Vennie? What do you think?" Sonic repeated the question to his friend.
Nothing came out of his mouth as he still doesn't know what to say about Blaze's powers. He knew it was amazing, but like Jet mentioned, 'amazing' isn't enough to describe this special 'gift' Blaze possessed. What should he say?
"Vennie!" Sonic called out to Silver one more time.
"Yeah, Sonic?" Silver responded.
"You're opinion?"
Here goes nothing.
"Well Blaze, none of us are not terrified of your power, but I have to say..." Silver started.
"Say what?" Blaze wondered, arms crossed.
"I can't believe you would hide that incredible, amazing, and unique power from everyone."
...What? That's what he thinks about her 'cursed' flames? Incredible? Amazing? And that one word: unique? Nobody has ever used those words to describe her powers. Most people would use 'horrible', 'crazy', 'psycho', or even 'sadistic' whenever they see someone having pyrokinesis inside them. Silver is the first person to say those words, along with the people in this kitchen right now. God, she can't believe this day is actually happening! No way!
"You mean those words?" Blaze asked Silver.
"110% true." Silver answered. "And the same goes for everyone. Right?"
"Big time!" Sonic agreed with Silver, holding a thumbs-up, along with everyone else.
"And like I said, having a 'gift' from God is one of the best things you can ask for in the whole world."
"But nobody but my parents can accept my powers." Blaze pointed out.
"That's because their idea of a 'perfect society' is just screwed up and dumb." Wave pointed out, putting emphasis on perfect society. "As in, anyone who has powers are classified as 'freaks', or not normal. And in my dictionary, there's no such thing as normal."
"Or a normal human being to be exact." Silver added. "But we aren't those people who call people 'freaks' just because they're different than the rest of us. We accept them for the way they are, just like we did with you. So, I guess we're the first people to accept your powers. Is that okay with you?"
Okay with her for Silver and everyone in the kitchen to accept her 'gift'? Silver is the first to keep coming back to her even if he fails miserably. He's the first to take her somewhere outside of school. He's the first who wanted to be friends to her, along with his friends. And now, they're the first to accept her powers and not call her a freak when they first met her. Okay, Sonic had a hard time accepting Blaze at first, but he eventually made his mind to be friends with her. With all of this happening in just three days, Blaze wondered if she should say yes or no. Well, everyone in this room has special 'gifts' from god, and she should say the obvious answer to them.
"Yeah. I'm fine with you guys accepting my powers." Blaze answered to everyone in the kitchen.
"Well that's-"
"GREAT TO HEAR!" Sonic interrupted Silver by jumping and yelling with glee. "Now that we figured out Blaze's special 'gift', we should celebrate by having our food fight right now!"
"Not until I covered them with a shield." Silver added, using his psychokinesis to surround a huge aqua bubble around the six freshly baked pizzas before levitating the five brown bags in each bottom corner of the counter, one corner having two bags. "Alright. Now, are you guys ready for a-"
"Can I say it, Silver mate?" Marine asked Silver.
"Sure." Silver nodded his head.
"Alright! It's time for a FOOD FIGHT!" Marine shouted, grabbing a large tomato from the brown bag, splattering onto Silver's face once it made impact.
"Go Marine!" Wave cheered to the brown-haired girl while shaking a six canned pack of Coke, opening them one, the taste of cola soaking Jet's green hair. "Got'cha, short head!"
In response to the cola soaking his head, now falling to his face, founded a package of white eggs, and started to fling them to Wave in the opposite side, hoping it'll hit her in the opposite side where the three girls are now. So instead of Sonic and Jet having their own teams, it's now the battle of the sexes; three girls and four boys. Seems to be an uneven match-up, but in the Chaotix Orphanage when having a food fight, anything goes. With everyone having powers, it's the best food fight in the whole world!
Silver tossed four tomatoes using his psychokinesis powers, hitting Marine in the head and Wave on her hair, but Blaze dodged the tomatoes and while grabbing some marshmallows from the plastic bag, she slightly melted them in order for it to be a bit sticky. Once she thought it was sticky enough, she threw the melted marshmallows to the boys' side, hitting Sonic in the cheek, screaming out loudly and rubbing his cheek in order to sooth the red mark.
"Hot, hot, hot, hot, SO FREAKING HOT!" Sonic screamed before he tasted some of the cream from the marshmallow off of his cheeks. "But it tastes so good!"
"Sonic!" Jet, Silver and Vector yelled to the blue-haired teen.
"What? It's seriously good! You want some?"
"Why would we want-"
SPLAT! Salsa now went all over Jet's clothes and parts of it now sliding down into his hair. He already had dough and soda on his hair, but this is the last straw when he witnessed Wave laughing loudly when she saw Jet covered in salsa. Oh. It. Is. ON!
"You have anything sweet and sticky?" Jet asked Sonic.
"Would chocolate syrup do?" Sonic suggest, pulling out chocolate syrup out of the brown bag.
"Perfect!" Jet agreed, snatching the bottle of chocolate syrup out of Sonic's hands, and opened the child-proof lid in order for the syrup to squirt out.
Once he tested out a few times to see if it can do long-ranged shots, Jet smiled to himself before screaming, "Taste chocolate, Wave!", squirting the brown syrup to Wave, most of them ending up on her face, dripping down to her dark jeans and light green shirt. Before Jet can laugh at how much of a mess Wave is, Marine and Blaze, holding piles of peaches and pomegranates in their hands, threw the two sweet fruits to Jet all at once, and Jet, along with Sonic and Vector, were now covered in pomegranate and peach juice all over their clothes.
"Nice comeback!" Sonic complemented to the girls before flinging pasta sauce to the girls, only hitting Marine in the face.
"Good shot, Sonic!" Silver cheered for his friend while he flung guacamole to Wave and Blaze, only for Blaze to use a box full of Cocoa Puffs to protect them from getting smothered in the green sauce.
"Why don't you have this?!" Blaze yelled to the boys, now throwing a mixture of pasta sauce, squirting pink, green and blue cake frosting, and flinging cheese spread towards them, most of them ended up on Silver's hair, while the remaining went to Sonic's and Vector's face, the latter licking the frosting off of his face.
"Delicious." Vector muttered under his breath.
Scrambling her hands on the second brown bag since the first one is completely empty, Blaze founded about twenty boxed pies, a pound cake filled with white frosting, and two cans filled with whipped cream. This bag is full of sweets... Sweets she can throw to those boys, and maybe if possible, make a funny mustache on them. Okay, the last one seems to be not possible, but still, covering them in whipped cream is too hilarious to imagine.
"Are we going to..." Marine started to ask Blaze.
"Yep." Blaze answered to the young brunette.
"Hell yeah! This is going to be sweet!" Wave cheered, though she heard Marine giggle to herself after her older sister figure made an unnecessarily funny pun. "I didn't intend to say that!"
Opening the boxes of pies, one in a different flavor and about half of them are covered with whipped cream and chocolate sauce, Blaze and Wave started to fling the pies filled with whipped cream to the boys, and in a flash, all of the boys had whipped cream and chocolate sauce smothered all over their faces; Silver being covered in the most whipped cream.
"How come they get pies while we have some fruits and vegetables?!" Sonic commented.
"I have no idea!" Silver shouted to Sonic before having his face being more messed up with strawberry sauce. "But I'm enjoying it a lot since I'm like a human cake!"
"Awesome, right?!" Sonic and Vector told Silver, licking off the cream off of their faces.
"Okay, it's a bit fun, I'll admit." Jet added, now wiping the cream from his mouth before tasting the cream from his hands. "But now, let's try and get them with cream!"
"Agreed!" all the boys shouted together, now shaking a can of whipped cream before spraying them to the girls.
The cream landed on their shirts, or hair in Blaze's case, and in response to the boys covering their clothes in a sweet cream, Blaze and Wave sprayed back to the boys while Marine threw the pies to the boys and taking the hits from the whipped cream on the opposite side. And if that wasn't enough, Silver threw maraschino cherries to the girls, along with some of the sauce that came along with it, with Blaze only taking the full hit from the cherries on her face.
This is so ridiculous, yet she's enjoying herself with others that have those special 'gifts' like her. Who cares if she's acting like a Kindergartner? Who cares if her face is all covered with whipped cream and maraschino cherries? Who cares if she's participating in an immature fight that has no meaning other than to have fun? Not her, apparently! For what seems to be like an eternity to Blaze, this is the first time she had this much fun! And the first time she's having fun with people other than her parents! How she wishes it could last until midnight! Oh, how she wish!
But that wish might not last for a while when Espio and Tikal entered the kitchen, and everybody stopped on what they were doing, though Marine tossed the pie to Espio's face, covering his mouth with whipped cream and lemon filling. And once that happened, things are going to go down the drain. As in... below the Earth's surface to be exact.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU GUYS DOING?!" Espio demanded in the most loudest voice anyone has heard from him.
No response.
"WELL?!"
"Uh... we're having a food fight..." Vector started, "And-"
"A FOOD FIGHT?!" Espio yelled in front of his guardian's face. "WHY?!"
"I'd allowed it this time! Is that right everyone?"
"Yea!" Marine, Sonic, Silver, and Wave nodded their heads.
"Oo, ginawa niya!" Jet nodded his head as well while saying 'Yes, he did' in Tagalog.
"He most certainly did." Blaze answered to Espio.
"See? I told you." Vector said to Espio.
"And tell me you guys are all done with making the-"
"Yes." everyone in the kitchen answered before Espio can finish his question.
"And besides, be an awesome kuya for Marine and have fun in the food fight with all of us!" Jet told Espio while tossing his can of whipped cream up and down. "You can have Tikal get involved in this food fight if she likes to."
"No way! I'm not going to get involved-"
However, Espio was cut short when Tikal smothered his face with cherry pie; his face now smothered in maraschino cherry sauce and a mix of whipped cream.
"Tikal!" Espio exclaimed in shock, surprised that Tikal would do something like that to him.
"It's a food fight. Anything goes, right?" Tikal told Espio before going to the girl's side.
"Aw, damn Tikal! I didn't know you had that in you!" Wave commented, giving Tikal a high-five to her.
"Now do you want to join this fight?" everybody asked Espio.
Short silence came from him, but after seeing Tikal smiling and the only one not covered in any food item, Espio gave out a small smile to the boys, snatched a bottle of whipped cream from the counter, and started to shake it.
"Sure." Espio replied before spraying whipped cream to Tikal's hair.
Having her hair covered in white cream, Tikal responded back by throwing another pie to Espio, only for the pie to hit Vector in the chest. And with that, the food fight is fully back to where it was! Whipped cream squirting on everyone, tomatoes, eggs, peaches and plums flying in the air, hot marshmallows landing on the boys' faces, with Sonic not minding it not one bit, shaken soda from a can soaking clothes or hair, and Blaze yelling 'Eat this, suckers!', this is really the best food fight ever in not just the whole world, but the whole universe!
And most importantly, by seeing others who have special 'gifts' from God like her, being accepted for what she is and what 'powers' she possessed, and being involved in rowdy but fun and exciting events, this is Blaze's best day. Ever.
Author's Note: WHEW! Man, it's been ages since I've uploaded this story! And this is the longest one so far! Sheesh, with school attacking me with homework from almost all of my classes, I thought it may take forever to write this chapter, but I did it! YEA! And I hoped you liked this chapter as much as I did! Especially the food fight! That's by far my favorite scene to write as of now!
Now, for names, I'm going with Tikal's name, minus her last name since I've already covered that with Knuckles in Chapter 8. Her name can either mean "at the waterhole" for the Yucatec Maya Language, or "the place of all voices" in the Itza Maya Language. I'm mainly leaning towards the latter since she can sing in this story, and her voice is known to be pleasant.
Songs Heard in the Story:
"Shake it Out" by Florence + The Machine (I blame and thank my sister for playing this song while doing other stuff)
"Connect" by ClariS (loved the opening to "Puella Magi Madoka Magica")
Also mentioned is "Secret Princess" from the Shugo Chara Character Song Collection 2 (though I forgot the names of the singers. Two versions.)
And again, I'll be busy with school, so maybe you can expect the next chapter of Gray Flame to come up before next month arrives. I promise.
Now then, if you'd like this story so far, please leave a review, and if possible, tell me your three favorite parts of this story! I'd like to know! Until then, see ya! ;D