Chapter 11: Kindness to the Enemy
It happens every time. There is a moment in everyone's life where they are doing too much. Too much volunteering, too much working, too much learning, too much studying, too much playing, too much anything. A person will find themselves so overwhelmed that they will not be able to take it anymore. They'll resort to all kinds of things that will slow down their wheel or help them ease to a nice stop, but it won't matter. Unless they finally drop one or two of the many things that they're doing, the stress and weariness of it all will overtake them.
A cheer rose through the entire crowd as the blue teen reached the finish line. He wheeled himself back and slowed down. Someone on a loudspeaker yelled above the noise.
"First place! Number one nine nine one! Nineteen ninety-one!" Sonic puffed out his chest and waved to the crowd as he did his cool down lap. Everyone clapped and hollered at him. He spotted his parents with Silver and Scourge and raised his fists in the air. A shining look was on his face.
Can Sonic even afford to drop one?
He jogged up the bench and saw that Mephiles was waiting for him. The junior hedgehog handed him a bottle of water and an apple. Sonic took it with gratitude.
"Thanks. I needed this." The mysterious hedgehog nodded.
"You'll need a towel too. Hold on." He grabbed an icy cold towel from a bin and chucked it at Sonic. Placing the towel on his head, he plopped himself down on the bench and drained half his bottle. About two weeks have passed since him and his friends declared "war" on Pokey and Brick. They haven't had much luck in trying to stop Brick's wrath from befalling them.
Brick has been a terror, but that is only an understatement. For two full weeks, Brick has been snooping about the football team and giving them grief. Knuckles, who is usually semi-tolerable of the bear, has already threatened to beat him up seven times. Brick ruins their plays and interrupts practices on a daily. Sonic knows they won't admit it verbally, but everyone's seen a couple football players walking or limping to practice with a few fresh bruises. Jasmine is ready to blow her top, but no one can seem to stop Brick. Even though the team has been winning their recent games, the overall moral goes down every time they face Brick again.
Something needs to change.
A sudden increase of weight on the bench jolted the blue teen from his musing. He turned to see Shadow was sitting next to him. His shirt was a little soaked through, and his white chest fur was damp. He threw his head back and chugged down his water as Mephiles came up with cold towel. Sonic couldn't help but scowl.
"Welcome back," he muttered. Shadow placed his bottle down and cut his eyes at Sonic with a smirk.
"Is someone still made that they couldn't compete in the competitive race?" The black hedgehog's taunt made him jump from his seat.
"Again, that is such bull! I should've been able to compete!" Mephiles sighed.
"Sonic, we went over this. Only junior and seniors can compete in those races." He turned back to Shadow. "Good job scoring first place, Shadow." Shadow hummed; Sonic scoffed.
"Uh, hello!? I got first too!"
"But that race was nothing. Even for you." Sonic huffed but didn't reply. He's only competed in three meets so far in cross country, but a boiling sense of anger has only risen. The races were divided into two: standard and competitive. The standard races were a joke to Sonic; they included barely any turns, one or two pits of sand and easy tracks. He took one look at the competitive course and went on a rampage to Shadow when it was over. Apparently, the reasoning behind this set up was because Chaos High students were entering the race. Many parents believed that by separating the students monitoring trouble would be easier too.
Sonic couldn't agree with that ruling at all. The cross country team was basically made up of the "good students" of Chaos. They never got in trouble and posed no threat of starting anything. We're just a bunch of misfits and loners. And it was true. The blue hedgehog looked over to see that Espio had just finished his cool down. The chameleon shook his head at Sonic.
"When you said you were kind of fast, I didn't think you were that fast. You left me in the dust." A grin formed on Sonic's lips, and Mephiles cut in.
"I've seen you run. Just keep practicing, and you'll be around Sonic's level in time." He handed the chameleon a bottle and observed the others as they trekked in. "I must say that our team is quite impressive. Good physical strength. Capable stamina. Regionals should be a breeze." Sonic looked up at the hooded hedgehog with curiosity.
"Hey, Mephiles, why don't you run too?" Shadow stopped wiping the towel on his head, and Mephiles froze. Espio too looked over at the hooded Mobian. Mephiles didn't say anything at first, but Sonic was sure he sensed hesitation somewhere in him. The hooded Mobian finally cleared his throat and spoke.
"I'm bad at running. I rather not make a fool out of myself than race with others." There was something about his statement that stirred more curiosity in Sonic. When he said something about checking the others and walked away, Shadow stood up and narrowed his eyes down at the blue teen. Yikes!
"Instead of asking so many questions, I'd improve on your time. Even I could top that measly time." He stalked away, leaving Sonic fuming. He had to go a little slower because he didn't want to start an uproar. He could've left everyone eating more dust than they already did, but he didn't want to get Chaos under any more suspicion. Sonic didn't know what was up with mysterious duo but decided to leave it be for now. He and Espio talked a bit until they saw Silver and Scourge jogging up.
"You were awesome! Those guys didn't stand a chance. No offense, Espio," Silver carelessly chatted out. Espio shook his head.
"It's okay. I don't mind." Scourge reached into his back pocket and pulled out a recently used popsicle stick. Sticking the stick in Espio's face, a dodgy yet snarky look took up his face.
"No, Espio! Get offended! Your teammate, Sonic the Hedgehog, just wiped the floor with you and is rumored to be an accomplice in the rebel attack against Brick Wilde. Any comments?" He sounded confident. He sounded provocative. He sounded zealous. He sounded untrusting.
He sounded like a reporter.
Espio narrowed his eyes but smiled nevertheless.
"Why, yes. Yes, I can spare a few words about the guy."
"Where does he get his speed?" Scourge asked.
"You just said it yourself," Espio answered. The green teen gasped.
"He does drugs?"
"I never said a word." The group of boys laughed, and Silver piped in.
"Pokey would have a field day with that!"
"Don't give her any ideas, guys," Sonic warned half-heartedly. "She's a real beast. By the way, you can eat popsicles, Scourge?" His twin shook his head.
"No, they have too much artificial flavoring. I ate one of those naturally-flavored ice pops that Mom bought." Their mother was obsessed with finding alternatives for Scourge. He couldn't eat much anyway, so she was very dedicated to finding things he could eat and would usually shot down any ideas of having fast food for Scourge's sake. Sonic couldn't blame her; Scourge did have a very sensitive digestive system. The friends walked towards the team's bus and chatted along about the race.
"I have a question. What happens if you do eat artificial flavoring, Scourge? Do you start to vomit or something?" Silver asked. Scourge shook his head.
"No, I'll get hives and have an asthma attack. Sometimes I can go into shock and faint." The three other teens stopped and looked at him.
"Are you kidding? That's terrible," Espio stated. Sonic shook his head.
"I agree. No wonder Mom is so protective of you." Espio and Silver laughed while Scourge crossed his arms. Sonic chuckled a bit too. "Anyway, me and Espio better go. We'll see you guys later." Scourge eyed the bus they were supposed to go on, and a confused look crossed his face.
"You're going on that bus?"
"Yeah. Why?" He looked at it again and shrugged.
"Nothing, I guess. I thought it was some other team's bus." Scourge turned away and began to walk off. "See ya." Silver also said goodbye and jogged after the green teen. Something resembling an internal alarm started to buzz inside Sonic, but he quickly dismissed it. However, once he was on the bus, it went off again. Scourge's statement struck him as odd. Some people may find it insignificant, but Sonic didn't. He couldn't. He decided it was all because of his connection to Scourge; their twin connection might be calling out to him. Sonic couldn't help but look around the bus as the guys started piling in. Espio caught his glances.
"Thinking about what Scourge said?" The blue teen sheepishly grinned and shrugged.
"I can't help it. Sorry." Espio quickly held up a hand.
"Do not apologize, Sonic. It is natural for you to heed your twin's warning."
"I guess, but it could be nothing. I mean, what could go wrong?" Finally, Shadow and Mephiles entered the bus and seated themselves in front of Sonic and Espio. The hooded hedgehog looked back at them.
"Get comfy, guys. This is going to be a long drive." Espio looked puzzled.
"Why is that?"
"There was an accident on the highway we previously took. We're taking another route to get to the school." Sonic leaned back but felt a sense of worry prick him.
Of all days, there's an accident now? On the road we're supposed to travel on?
He tried to push the thought away, but the intent look on Espio's face couldn't keep his feelings at bay. Something was going on.
It wasn't until the bus started rattling that he got a clue.
Everyone on the bus started talking loudly, and when the rickety yellow vehicle took its last breath, loud speech turned into startled yells. Shadow and Mephiles quickly stood up and went to the driver's seat. Sonic and Espio exchanged appalled glances and stood up as well. They followed Shadow and Mephiles out of the bus and watched as smoke seeped through the hood. The driver, an old groundhog, lifted the hood and coughed violently at the enormous amount of smoke. He stepped back and made a upset noise.
"Well, I'll be a darned. She's dead," he declared. Shadow gaped at him. This was a new expression on his face, and if Sonic wasn't shocked too, he would've laughed.
"Dead? You're kidding, right? We can't have this bus dead." The driver gave the black hedgehog a leveled look but backed off a bit when he took in the teen's frightful appearance.
"Well, she is. Seems like something funky got in the water pump, and the exhaust system is funked up too. I don't know what happened, but this big girl's going no where no time soon." Mephiles brought a hand to his hooded head and shook it.
"No, no, no, no, no. You don't understand. We have a bus full of exhausted teenagers in there. Some have even sprained their ankles. You don't expect us to walk to the school, do you? It'll take us hours to get there. We won't even make it by midnight. Can't you call someone or something?" The driver shook his head.
"I'd love to, but there's no signal for about a couple more miles. We're too out in Dust Hill to do much. Such a barren and forgotten place too." He sighed. "Well, I better get started on fixing this girl up. It'll take some time. If I were you boys, I would start trekking down the road. You'll hit a gas station soon and get signal there." He turned and went back to the engine. Shadow slowly turned to Mephiles, who turned right over to him.
"Are we seriously stuck in the middle of the desert right now?" No one wanted to answer Sonic's question, for it was true. They were stuck in the middle of the desert. Shadow ran a hand over his face and mumbled some dark things before taking action.
"Get everyone off the bus. We're walking." Sonic looked at him.
"You can't be serious!" Shadow narrowed his eyes at him.
"You have a better idea? Fine, let's hear it then!" By then, all the other members had exited the bus and were watching the confrontation. Sonic placed a hand against his chest.
"Let me go! I'll be way faster than all of us going together." Shadow scoffed at him with narrowed eyes.
"Are you stupid? No way." Sonic glared.
"What?" Mephiles agreed with Shadow.
"We can't have a student running along the road. We could get in trouble for that, and it's getting dark. You may be fast, but are you fast enough to escape some of these speedy drivers? Some of them even forget to put on their headlights." The hooded hedgehog turned away from him. "It's too dangerous." Sonic was sure he could handle it, but even he knew when a lose was a lose. The blue teen folded his arms as Shadow started to round up the others. Espio stood beside him.
"I'm sorry, Sonic, but they have a point. It's dangerous."
"I know, but this is stupid. We'll never make it to the gas station before midnight." He gestured his head to a Mobian prairie dog with a swollen ankle. The poor teen limped over to a friend for support. Sonic merely shook his head. "This is a bad idea."
"It's our only option since the bus was sabotaged." Sonic paused for a moment and looked at Espio. The chameleon's face was blank. "What? You didn't figure it out? It's pretty obvious. First, the detour, and now this. My guess is that someone planned this." Sonic eyes quickly swept over his teammates. Espio and him kept quiet for a while as the group started to walked along the side of the road.
Dust Hill was a hellish place. The dusty ground was swimming with sand, and the air blew awkwardly against their sides. As the sun started to set, sly scorpions and feral rats began to appear from out of dead bushes or cacti. It wasn't uncommon for dust to get in their eyes, and their clothes, which were slightly damp from their previous and current sweat, accumulated sand and dirt on them. At one point, the boys witnessed a pair of vultures picking apart some dead animal, a raccoon perhaps. Sonic wiped a sheet of dust from his cheek and swore he felt sand fill his shoes. When he looked at Espio, he saw that the chameleon's skin had merged into the same sandy yellow of the landscape. It looked beautiful on him, and the blue teen could still see his light saffron eyes.
"It can't be one of our teammates," Sonic stated after a while. He observed everyone and saw no suspicious behavior. "Who could've done this?" Espio, from what Sonic could make out to see, shrugged.
"Anyone. If they have something against the team, then this was the perfect way to handle it." It was after that statement where both teens stopped talking. Wait a minute... Sonic carefully looked at Espio.
"Are you thinking about who I'm thinking about?"
"I'm afraid so." Suddenly, the loud roar of an engine started to rumble in their ears. Everyone stopped walking, and when they turned their heads, a large black truck speeded down the road, dodging cars and causing mayhem. It was a black monster truck. It was THE black monster truck. The truck raced up to them with a gang of teens hollering their heads off. A pair of burnt orange eyes flashed at Sonic before the truck zoomed away, sending a cloud of thick sand and dust all over the team. It was official.
Brick was after the cross country team.
Sonic was on the floor of his room, studying various papers. Silver kept laying out pictures and articles they found on the web while Scourge slept on the bed. This seemed like a normal activity if it weren't for the fact they were studying Brick Wilde instead of Biology. The task was proving to be more tiresome than completing their homework.
After it was confirmed that Brick sabotaged the team's bus, everyone got pissed. Shadow, for example, looked like he wanted to murder someone, and Mephiles stood still while a similar killing intent radiated off him. Espio said that this should've been expected since Pokey posted that article about them. Sonic was just mad and wanted nothing more than to run after Brick and his crew. When they finally reached the gas station, it was around midnight, and all the parents came to pick the students up. Remembering what Scourge said, the blue teen asked him if he saw a black bear or any other large Mobians near the bus. When Scourge confirmed that he did, Sonic was thoroughly annoyed. He realized he couldn't hold anything against Scourge since the green teen had no idea what Brick looked like, and he wasn't too jolly from walking miles and miles in the middle of no where.
Now they were home, and Sonic was planning his revenge against the black bear. Brick had to be stopped if any of the sports teams were going to get some peace. Silver had suggested they look up articles on the bear and see what they could use to their advantage. So far, the search wasn't very profitable. Sonic leaned back and stretched his back. He spoke out to Silver.
"I thought you said Brick was infamous or something. Shouldn't there be more stuff about him?" Silver looked at the papers they accumulated.
"So far we have a juvenile detention record, a couple bad posts on different social networks, a Chaos High student ID, a couple speeding tickets, some recent arrest records and police altercations and profiles on several different sites." Silver looked up from this and took a breath. "Basically, we have a lot of crap." Sonic groaned.
"There really isn't anything useful here. What are we gonna do with speeding tickets?" Silver shrugged.
"I don't know, but as long as we put our minds to something, we'll get results." He paused then looked at the computer. "Say, I got an idea. Let's look at his MuzzleBook again." MuzzleBook was an social network that almost everyone had. It was quite popular, and all types of Mobians were always posting and sharing something new. Sonic had one too but abandoned it long ago. His old friends were still connected to his, and he didn't want to login and be bombarded by questions and past friends. They went behind his computer and searched up Brick's page. The black bear's fierce face came up with him smirking deviously at the camera.
"What are we looking for?" Sonic asked. His silver friend took control of the computer and began scrolling down Brick's page.
"If we want to find something good on Brick, then it's got to be here." Going past random posts, Sonic noted how popular Brick was. He had a bunch of dangerous friends and was looked up at by a lot of people. There were multiple party invites and posts about hanging out. Sonic's page would look the same, but the ambience would be safer and more preppy than Brick's. It was around that moment when a certain Mobian's name kept coming to his attention. He touch the screen.
"Who's this girl? This Fianna Schewber chick." The female Mobian was a red panda with vibrant green eyes. She had this tough but seductive look from what Sonic could tell from the picture. Silver clicked on her profile, and it didn't take long for them to see the nasty comments and fights she had with Brick.
The interesting thing was that before the fights there was a major flirtation going on with them.
"Brick used to date this chick?" Sonic was surprised. In his mind, any girl that wanted to date Brick had to be mentally unstable. Mentally unstable's actually too light of a condition for something like this... Silver was also shocked by the revelation.
"I guess so. Wow. I didn't know Brick had a girlfriend before."
"I didn't know girls actually went for guys like Brick!"
"Yeah, you're right there too." Scourge, who was glaring at them from the bed, spoke up.
"Can you two pipe down? I'm trying to rest and recover over here." Sonic turned the laptop screen to him.
"Forget that. Check this out." Grumbling, Scourge crawled from the bed and slid beside him. "This girl used to date Brick Wilde." Scourge stared hard at profile picture and page.
"I didn't know some girls were still into the off-kilter meathead types," the green muttered semi-surprised.
"There was a time when they were?"
"Yeah, like, I dunno. Around the time our parents were kids. Trends like that come back every so often."
"Like party pants?"
"Bingo."
"I think she's kind of cute," Silver muttered to himself. The other two hedgehogs turned their heads to him. Looks of disgust evident on their faces. "What?"
"Dude, she dated a guy like Brick," Sonic stated. Silver look confused.
"So?" Scourge scoffed at the silver teen.
"So there's obviously something wrong with her."
"Mentally wrong with her," Sonic added.
"What could be wrong with her? She looks normal to me." Sonic saw his twin think hard before replying to Silver.
"She could have a fetish. Like one of those creepy boy fetishes. She probably likes her guys with lots of body hair. Something like that."
"Gross!"
"Nasty!"
"Exactly." Scourge wagged a nagging finger at Silver. "You have to be careful of girls like that. They're freaks."
"Plus who knows what she's done with Brick. Look at these comments, Silver." He began scrolling again. "It's pretty obvious she's gotten pretty far with..." Sonic voice trailed off as he read a particular post. Scourge looked at what caused his brother to freeze, and his jaw dropped.
"Holy hell! She's not even straight!" Scourge cried. Silver whipped his head at the post.
"HUH?" Sonic snapped his own jaw shut and quickly amended what Scourge said.
"Scourge, shut up! Don't say it like that. She's just bisexual. Grow up." Scourge pointed to the post they were looking at.
"She's totally flirting her ass off with this one chick. Damn. She's got some moves too." He shook his head. "This fixes everything."
"What are you talking about?"
"She's not mentally unstable at all, just carefree. Look at all these different people she's friends with. She's obviously one of those free-floating types. She's compatible with everyone. Wanna hear my opinion?" Since he doesn't look he'll stopped talking, Sonic let him go on. "My guess is that Brick is a control freak. Fianna, being a total free spirit, was probably too much for him to control. Aren't most of their fights about meeting up at places or keeping dates?" Silver scrolled up and review the post.
"They are," Silver confirmed, "Fianna couldn't hold a date with Brick to save her life. She apparently always got distracted by some other people she knew, whom, afterwards, went on the end of Brick's snare." Scourge looked victorious, and Sonic continued.
"So, ultimately, Fianna can't hold her word and makes Brick super jealous. He breaks a couple people's faces. She calls it quits. End of story."
"Seems like it. And, bisexual or not, she's still hot." Scourge nodded.
"Yeah, I'd be all up on that too if she didn't date Brick."
"Guys." Scourge and Silver looked at Sonic. He was smiling. "Don't you see it? This is it. This is how we're going to get back at Brick."
"You want to taunt him with his ex? Come on, Sonic. That's low."
"I agree with, Glimmer. No good."
"It's Silver." Sonic shook his head.
"We're not gonna mess with him. We're gonna get him back together with her."
"Huh?"
"For real?"
"Yeah! Have you not seen Brick's comments? He was obsessed with Fianna. It also looks like he was in some sort of grace period around this time too." Sonic picked up some of Brick's records and other reports. "During the time they dated, Brick was really inactive. See? No speeding tickets, no police altercations, heck, no detention in school! The guy must have been so wrapped up with her that he cared about nothing else." Silver looked at the reports and back at the screen.
"So if we get them back together, Brick'll lay off?"
"For a while. Yeah, he will." It was an act of kindness. Sonic, who already had a full plate, wanted to add getting Fianna and Brick back together with his other tasks. This will surely kill me, he thought, but if it worked, he wouldn't be seeing anymore of Brick for a while.
Defeating an enemy with pure kindness. A new type of strategy has been born.
"Good plan, but what happens if Fianna begins dissing Brick again?" Scourge asked. He then picked up another report. "During the time after they broke up, Brick practically goes on a rampage. How will you deal with that?" It was a good question, but Sonic didn't know how to reply. It was a good plan. Rekindling Brick with his former flame would distract the bear all the way until after Homecoming. If they were lucky, which seems doubtful, it could last longer. But what of the backlash? What will Brick do when Fianna pulls the same stunts she did before? One could only imagine what Brick would do if he found out that Sonic set him up with Fianna again. The blue hedgehog swallowed nervously.
Kindness doesn't win over all enemies. The strategy might as well die now.
"Honestly, I have no idea, but we have to try something. We have something on Pokey already, but if we really want to limit trouble, we have to get Brick to stop harassing the sports teams for a while. It has to last until we can dish out the stuff we have over Pokey." Sonic paused and went into deep thought. "I think I have a plan."
"Fire away, Commander Sonic," Scourge teased. Sonic shot his twin a amused smirk before continuing.
"Well, first thing's first, we have to get a hold of Fianna. I think Bark will be able to help us with that, but we'll also need a venue, which is where Scarlet comes in." Scourge's eyes bugged out.
"Wait. What? I think I'm missing something." Sonic laughed.
"No, you didn't miss much, but I think tonight we're going out." Silver looked confused.
"It's a Tuesday afternoon. Where in the world would we..." Finally, he looked at Sonic. "Wait. You can't be serious."
"I am." He smiled. "Fellas, it's about time we hit up a certain bar."
Back in Emerald Town, Sonic would usually spend his nights doing a couple of things. These things included going to house parties, catching a flick, raiding the arcade or just going down to a cafe for a bite. His former group of friends loved doing stuff like that, and Sonic enjoyed it as well. It was always legal and safe, and his parents, being trusting of him and his peers, allowed him much freedom, so it was relatively fine with them if he wanted to stay up late on a school night. As long as he could pick himself up out of bed the next morning, there were no complaints.
Now living in Chaos Village, Sonic's night was about to take a turn to not a movie theater or arcade but a bar.
Mom and Dad would skin me alive.
The blue teen looked to his left, wondering when Knuckles and Rouge would show up. He decided to invite the whole gang for this operation. Espio and Deuce, the blue lizard friend of Espio's, were already in the bar, finding seats for the group. Jasmine was busy tailing Pokey, watching to see if she would make any more moves. Bark was bringing Fianna. At first, the polar bear was hesitant about bringing his older brother's ex. While texting Sonic, he described how bad things got after Brick and Fianna called it quits to which Sonic said he already knew. He could only hope that Fianna would agree to come. Silver nudged him and told him to relax.
"I'll try," Sonic sighed. He wore a dark denim jacket with scuffed up jeans. A pair of green-tinted shades were on top of his head along with the green studs in his ear, which he decided to wear for the occasion. He looked much older and rougher than before, which was good for tonight. Silver was dressed in gray jeans with silver-threaded highlights and a black and blue sweater. His spikes had more bands in them than usual. The silver teen frowned.
"I know you're worried, but hey, this is gonna work. It has to." Someone snorted beside him, causing the silver teen to frown at them "Shut up, Scourge." Scourge was wearing a black leather jacket with flames on the sleeves and a black shirt underneath. His dark pants were adorned with small chains, and his shoes of choice were green-version of Sonic's. Sonic decided to dye a pair just to match his brother's fur. He also wore his blue studs in his ear. With a pair of prescription red-tinted glasses over his eyes, he gave the two a toothy grin.
"This doesn't have to work. You only want it too, not that I blame you. Just lighten up and wait for what happens." He placed his hands behind the back of his head and leaned against the wall. "Since Mom and Dad think we're just prowling around the city, looking for some fun, we have all the time in the world." It was true. Sonic had told his parents they were just going to hang out around town, and while he wasn't too proud of himself for lying to them, something inside him told them they deserved to be lied to for once since they've been doing it to him. Wanting to change the topic, Sonic pointed at Scourge's glasses.
"Are your glasses okay?" The green teen looked up.
"Yeah, they work perfectly. My eyes feel so much better." This made Sonic happy, and suddenly, the roar of an engine hit his ears. The hedgehogs looked up to see Rouge's car drive on up. Said bat was the first to get out. A tight, strapless pink dress fitted her alluring body with a pair of pink-hearted black heels. A small black jacket was over the dress, and she cared a clutch in one hand. A flashed the boys a fanged smile while Knuckles came from the other side of the car. He wore a fitting maroon sweater with dark blue jeans. They came over to the hedgehogs and greeted them.
"What took you so long?" Sonic questioned. Rouge elbowed Knuckles.
"This guy decided fall asleep at his house, so I had to honk the horn and call him so many times. I finally snapped and banged on the front door. I'm lucky your dad likes me." Sonic raised his eye ridges. Rouge already met Knuckles's dad? The echidna smiled sheepishly, obviously catching Sonic's expression.
"My dad and you are such complainers, and I didn't fall asleep. I was simply resting my eyes." Rouge rolled her perfectly made up eyes.
"I bet you were." Sonic couldn't help but smile. Knuckles and Rouge were practically a couple. He could see it in the playful fights they shared. They had many differences but many similarities too. Knuckles bumped his hip against Rouge, causing the bat to teeter in her heels.
"Stop that!" Rouge cried. The boys laughed while she fumed. "So immature. Come on, we better get inside before Bark gets here." The group finally entered the bar. The main theme was red and black. Red leather seats with a black chrome finish and table. There were booths around the room and stools up at the bar itself. Sonic soon spotted Brick and two pals drinking on the stools. The room was partially split with a half wall, which was topped off with stained glass windows, so the group slipped behind the glass and approached a party-sized booth in the corner, where Espio and Deuce sat. Scarlet stood by it in black slacks and a red shirt. Her lavender spikes were tied up in a ponytail. She smiled at the teens.
"Hey, guys," the mixed Mobian greeted. Everyone said hello and slide in. "Brick's only been here for an hour but already downed three Blow Jobs." Sonic, not having any prior experience with liquor, choked up at the name.
"Bl-Blow Jobs?" Sonic asked. Scarlet smiled.
"Yeah, Blow Jobs. It's a popular shooter around here." She whipped out a pad and pen but continued talking. "Along with whatever beer he drank before he got here, he's pretty out of it. His guys are too. I heard them talking about sending invites to more of their members, so you better be ready for a full house. If any of them recognize you and try starting a bar fight, I'll get you out using the back door." Sonic smiled at her.
"Thanks, Scar."
"It's my pleasure. Just be sure to have Bark direct his girl to the bar when they come in. I'll keep Brick stationed there." Finally, she clicked her pen and placed it on the paper. "So. what do you want to drink." Sonic froze. This was new. Silver spoke first.
"Wait. We have to drink alcohol?" Scarlet looked somewhat uncomfortable.
"It'll look better if you did. I can always bring out water bottles, but won't it look weird if a table full of people ordered water at a bar at night? I'm just trying to cover for you guys." Sonic looked around the table for any other comments. Rouge ordered first.
"I'll have a water bottle along with a Redheaded Slut." Knuckles turned to her. "What? I'm driving, so I'll need something to down the drink. You should get a Peanut Butter and Jelly shot. It's lower in alcohol than the others." Sonic knew personally that Knuckles never drank anything but the rarely-given light beers his dad handed him. Drinking shouldn't be too bad for him. The echidna shrugged away his worries and ordered.
"I guess I'm having a PB&J shot." He looked at Espio, who seemed startled at first but soon ordered after examining the menu.
"I'll get a Flaming Dr. Pepper."
"Make that two Flaming Dr. Peppers please," Deuce added. Sonic felt trapped. He looked at Silver, who seemed nervous as well. The silver teen thought for a moment before ordering.
"Jell-O please." Sonic scrunched up his face. "It's a type of shot too, Sonic. It just has Jell-O with the alcohol." The blue teen couldn't believe it. A shot with Jell-O in it!? What will the world come up with next? He turned to Scourge, who was looking him with pouting eyes. Sonic knew what that meant.
"No," the blue twin stated firmly. The green twin's jaw dropped.
"But-"
"What are the side effects?"
"Uh, I dunno. Stomach cramps and difficulty breathing, but I took a pill before I left home! I'm cool with like one."
"I don't care! Mom will skin me alive if I let you drink." Scourge frowned at him but soon smirked.
"Fine. I'll take a water too. What are you gonna get?" All movement of the mouth halted for Sonic. He's never seriously drank before and didn't feel like starting. The only time he did drink a little was about a year ago at his Aunt Liz's birthday party. It was bit of champagne, and his parents didn't mind much. To be frank, Sonic had morals that he wanted to uphold. Drinking always seemed like poser thing to do, and he wasn't fan of it back at Emerald, where his friends and him held fairs to limit teenage substance abuse.
Back at Emerald...
Suddenly, all his morals went out the window.
The blue hedgehog smirked.
"I'll get a Jell-O shot too." Scourge's own smirk dropped to an agape look while a surprised Scarlet wrote down the orders.
"Okay, I'll be right back." She left, and the group stared at Sonic. Of all people, did Sonic the Hedgehog just order a drink? Rouge snickered into her hand while Knuckles stared at his friend in disbelief. Espio and Deuce exchanged furtive glances, and Silver just sat there.
"Sonic, you could've just ordered a water," the silver teen suggested. The blue hedgehog waved him off.
"Nah, I'm good. What? You guys didn't expect me to order something?" The silence at the table answered his question just fine. He narrowed his eyes. "Really, guys? Really?" Knuckles held up his hands.
"Hey, don't look at me! Remember all those alcohol fairs we held back in Emerald? I thought you would be the only guy not to drink until you were like in college. You were always taking a risk taker though." Sonic felt insulted. Sure, he had a habit for taking risks and doing things without caution or reason, but he had morals. He had a truckload of them back at Emerald. He would never drink alcohol. He would never pierce his ear. He would never lie behind his parents' backs. He would never go to a bar. He would break into someone's car. He would never do any of that.
But now I have.
He's done all of that and more. He's doing things he never even imagined trying. Was this a good thing or bad thing? Sonic didn't know. All he knew was that this is what he's doing now. Changing it all now seems pretty pointless to him. Coming back to his senses, the blue teen rewarded Knuckles with his trademark grin.
"Risk taker? Dude, I'm the the king of risk takers! Get it right!" For the first time tonight, the group laughed. "Anyways, those fairs were kind of boring."
"Boring? They sound pointless to me," Knuckles's date added. Rouge linked her arm with his and stared up at him with semi-disgust. "I can't believe they actually held such things. Almost every teenager drinks in Chaos."
"So you're a regular drinker?" Knuckles asked. Rouge shook her head.
"No, I'm not. How would I keep this flawless skin if I did?" Another round of chuckles, and Scarlet came back to the table. She placed short glass of something crimson red in front of Rouge while giving Knuckles a longer glass of a watery, amber liquid. Espio and Deuce's were literally on fire; fire danced around the rims of their darkened glasses. Sonic and Silver received two plastic cups that jiggled happily. Lastly, she set down the bottles of water for Rouge and Scourge. Sonic eyed his blue, jelly drink.
"I'm supposed to drink this?" Scarlet nodded.
"Yeah. Drink up." Without a moment to lose, Rouge threw back her head, emptying her glass with ease. Knuckles watched in amazement as the white bat slammed her upside-down on the table with a smile on her face.
"Easy as pie," she sang. Knuckles shook his head and tipped back his own drink. A confused look crossed his face.
"It doesn't really taste that much like PB&J." Rouge cocked her head.
"What type of jelly do you eat with your sandwich?"
"Grape." She pointed at him.
"There's your problem." Espio and Deuce blew out their drinks together and gulped them in sync. Immediately, Espio coughed and changed colors. His skin turned into a rustic red shade with black stripes here and there. Despite his eyes tearing up, Deuce laughed at the transformation while Espio glowered. Sonic saw Silver eye their drinks and decided to take his first. With quick and careful movements, he lifted the drink above his mouth. It didn't fall in. Puzzled and slightly embarrassed since he was sure the others were watching, Sonic placed the plastic cup against his muzzle and slurped the drink. It took a really hard suck to get the Jell-O out, but he did it. Chewing, he found the drink sweet-tasting and not all that bad. I don't taste too much alcohol, he thought. Everyone at the table stared at him, and Rouge smiled.
"A round of muted applause to Sonic the Hedgehog for completing his first shot." The group snapped giddily, and Sonic smiled after swallowing. Silver soon had his too and was relatively fine. After Scar left to inspect Brick and his crew, the gang relaxed and observed the bar scene from afar. Sonic wasn't sure when or if the alcohol hit his blood, but he felt his body relax while his mind was on high alert the whole time. Conversation was slow, and when the bar started to fill with more drinkers and Brick's followers, the gang rarely talked at all. Sonic would see when Rouge turned to hide herself in Knuckles's sleeve or when Espio would hide himself the best he could. Scourge was looking around in wonder at the scene, and it was fine since no one knew him. Multiple times, Sonic and Silver would duck their heads out of sight. Things were getting tense.
Finally, their prayers were answered.
Sonic's phone vibrated, and Silver check on it. A smile was on his face as he addressed the blue hedgehog.
"Bark's just around the corner!" Sonic felt victorious, but a sudden scream from Scarlet dismissed his mood.
"Hands off, asshole!" Like a shot, Sonic jumped up and went from behind the glass, despite Rouge's hiss of danger. He had his shades on, and the lights were dim, but he saw everything. Scarlet, who was behind Brick's seat with another drink in hand, peeled his hand of her butt and pushed him. The mixed Mobian was steaming.
"Did you not hear me!? No touching, asshole!" Brick looked up, and Sonic finally saw how wasted he was. His fur was matted with sweat, and his burnt orange eyes were watery. His entire posture was hunched and noodle-like. Just how much alcohol did he consume!? It was obvious the answer would be more shots than Sonic had, which was only one. Alcohol was warped into the stench of his breath and only wafted towards Sonic's nose as the bear spoke.
"Don't be that way, baby," the black bear sang. It sounded so wrong but so hilarious with his rough voice. "I just wanted a hug. Every guy deserves a little lovin'." Scarlet tried to push away again when he grabbed around her back. Brick's peers, both male and female, only hooted and whistled.
"You're a douche when you're fucking drunk, you know that?" Scarlet couldn't hit a customer; it was against bar rules. She could, however, push him around a bit. She pushed again. "Back off!" Sonic wanted to intervene, but he knew what would happen if he did. A fight would break out, and things could get ugly.
"Don't be that way," Brick cooed.
"You're pissing me off!" He held on tighter, and before Sonic could stop it, he heard the door chime. He whipped his head over and saw her.
She was beautiful. The red fur and green eyes. The tight but fitting outfit. Her sparkling eyes connected with his but soon swiveled to Brick. The pretty green eyes went wide. Tears soon filled them. Sonic heard Brick gasp and moan. The bar went silent. The pretty green eyes looked back at Sonic and turned away. She ran back out through the doorway.
Fianna was gone.
Sonic wanted to go after her, reason with her and tell her it was a mistake, but all of that was cut short by the sight of Bark hitting the ground. Brick, drunken and angry, was on top of his brother in seconds. The look of absolute fear in Bark's eyes sent Sonic over the edge. In a flash, the blue hedgehog throttled the black bear, shoving him off his brother. Brick was drunk; Sonic was not. It was an easy feat. The bar erupted into chaos then, and before the black bear could get up, Sonic shouted to his friends.
"RUN!" They scattered. Chairs flew. Glasses were broken. Doors were banged. Windows were shattered. Rouge and Knuckles went for her car. Silver ran down the street. Espio and Deuce disappeared in the back with Scarlet. Sonic wanted to grab Scourge, but the green hedgehog was gone. Fear gripped him, but he saw a flash of a green blur heading in Silver's direction. He thundered after. Despite the blood rushing to his ears and the pain pounding in his shoulder from him hitting Brick, the black bear's barbaric roar chilled him to the bone. It was a call of anger. It was a call for reinforcements. It was a call of revenge. They were to be surrounded. Sonic swallowed back the taste of rising Jell-O.
They were to be trapped.