Spoilers: For Sonic Adventure (though really, does it need a spoiler warning when the game is 17 years old?)

~Chapter Twelve: Sonic's Aquaphobia~

Mario was the first one to wake up the next morning and quickly glanced at the clock, the bright red numbers blinking seven in the morning. Yawning, he stumbled out of bed and looked over at the adjacent bed; Sonic snoring loudly and tangled in his bedsheets.

'I shouldn't wake him,' Mario thought. 'I put him through a lot last night.' Instead, he quietly entered the bathroom in order to get ready for the first day of training. He wasn't exactly sure what kind of training they'd be put through, but he was prepared for anything.

Half an hour later Mario exited the bathroom wearing his iconic outfit, expecting Sonic to have woken up; but found the hedgehog still snoring beneath his sheets, and by the look of it not planning on waking up for another few hours. Mario inwardly winced, wondering if he was the reason Sonic was so tired. But as much as he wanted to let him sleep, they had things to do today. Mario silently crept to Sonic's side, and gently shook his shoulder. "Come on Sonic, wake up."

Groaning in protest, Sonic responded by wrapping the covers tighter around himself and turning away from Mario. Annoyed, Mario shook him again; a bit harder this time. "You have half an hour Sonic, you need to get up."

No response. Frustrated, Mario looked around the room to see if there was anything he could use to possibly wake up Sonic... before his eyes rested on his pillow. A devilish smile spread across his face as he grabbed the fluffy object - hey, he and Luigi had used this method to wake each other up for years - and wandered to Sonic's side again. Grinning, he whacked Sonic in the head with the pillow yelling, "GET UP!"

"GAH!" Sonic shot straight up after having a very rude awakening, rubbing his temple and glaring daggers at Mario doubled over in laughter. "What in Chaos' name was that for?!"

"You need to get up," Mario lightly stated between bouts of laughter. "You should have seen the look on your face!"

Sonic usually would have come back with a snarky comment, but found he couldn't for two reasons. One - he'd just been hit in the head and his thoughts were still a bit fuzzy from the abrupt awakening, and two - he was relieved to see Mario smiling and laughing, a sharp contrast to what he'd been the night before. Moving the covers aside, he stood and placed a hand on his hip.

"So I guess you're feeling a bit better today, huh?"

Smiling, Mario nodded. "Sì. Grazie for listening last night, and I'm sorry if that's the reason you're so tired."

Snorting, Sonic waved a hand in the air. "Trust me, it's not," he began to walk in the direction of the bathroom, calling over his shoulder, "I'm always lazy when it comes to wakin' up, unless the world is in danger."

Mario closed his eyes and let out a short laugh, sitting on his bed and deciding to wait for Sonic. After all, how long could he possibly take in the bathroom?

...

...

...

A long time, it seemed. Staring at the door in annoyance, Mario wondered what on Doppel he could be doing in there. He'd heard the shower turn off minutes ago, and it's not like Sonic wore many clothes. Glancing over at the clock, he saw they had five minutes; slightly panicked he went to knock on the bathroom door.

"We have five minutes, Sonic." Mario warned.

"Yeah, yeah, gimme a minute..." Sonic's voice floated through the door.

"If you don't mind me asking, what exactly are you doing in there?"

The door flew open, and Sonic exited the bathroom looking slightly irritated. "I was shaving," he said simply, confusing Mario even more.

"Shaving... what?" he dared to ask.

"My arms and chest of course," Sonic stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "What, you just thought fur didn't grow there? 'Cause you'd be wrong buddy, dead wrong."

This only raised more questions, but Mario just gave a quiet, exasperated sigh and the two of them headed out of the room, this time being smart enough to not race down the stairs and embarrass themselves. Heading into the lobby, they found several of their teammates had already gathered there clearly waiting for one of the Mii's to tell them where to go. Tails and Luigi immediately gravitated towards their brothers, and Sonic was about to ask Tails what it was like rooming with Luigi when Sandra entered the lobby.

"Okay, is everybody here?" she asked, glancing down at the sheet of paper on her clipboard. Clicking her tongue, she let out a noise of aggravation before brushing past the two teams and storming up the stairs, muttering to herself. Quickly surveying the area, Sonic let out a quiet snicker.

"Looks like Shads and Waluigi are gonna get in trouble..."

"That was nearly us," Mario reminded him. Sonic grinned.

"But it wasn't." he sang, Mario rolling his eyes and facepalming. Not even a minute later, Sandra reappeared with Shadow and Waluigi in tow, neither looking very happy. Waluigi immediately went over to stand next to Wario while Sandra stood at the front of the group, motioning for them to follow her.

They ended up back in the banquet hall that they'd had dinner in the night before, and Sonic took a seat between Tails and Mario, who in turn was sitting next to Luigi. Pash was just as bubbly as ever, standing up and clinking her spoon on her water glass, causing everyone to cringe at the loud noise.

"Okay everyone, listen up!" she announced in her shrill voice, with everyone flinching once again.

"It's too early for her to be that perky," Sonic mumbled to Mario, who nodded in agreement.

"So training starts today, and boy is it exciting! All of you will be training with your roommate, for convenience, and this is the list for today!" she dramatically unfurled a piece of paper, and cleared her throat. "So training in the pool today will be Mario and Sonic!"

Sonic felt his breath hitch, and felt the eyes of his friends on him. Tails nervously glanced up at his big brother, while Mario surveyed the situation with an odd look wondering what had Team Sonic so panicked. He'd noticed Sonic had gone unusually quiet, picking at his food and wearing a frown that definitely didn't belong on him.

What had him so worried?

He didn't get his answer until an hour later when the two of them were at the poolside, Mario doing a few warm-ups and Sonic glaring at the water like it was going to jump up and bite him. Finally he sighed, and hung his head in shame.

"I can't swim. I'm aquaphobic." Sonic muttered, Mario stopping his exercises and looking over at him.

"Well, that's a problem. Have you told anyone here that you can't swim?"

"Obviously not," Sonic shot back, Mario giving him an annoyed glare.

"Well don't take it out on me!" he snapped, before continuing in a calmer tone, "But if you can't swim you really need to tell someone so they won't make you compete in water-based events. The last thing anyone needs is you getting yourself seriously injured."

"I know, I know," Sonic groaned. "But it would be nice to get over my aquaphobia, ya know? Egghead's gonna realize at some point that I don't like water, and then he's gonna use that to his advantage. It was bad enough when I had to fight Perfect Chaos in a flooded Station Square, even though I was Super at the time it was still nerve-wracking."

Mario looked down, deep in thought. Suddenly, an idea struck him, and he looked up.

"A lifejacket."

"What?" Sonic mumbled, confused.

"A lifejacket, that's how you're going to get over your aquaphobia!"

Sonic noticeably brightened at the suggestion, but then returned to frowning again. "It's a good idea, but won't that break a ton of rules?"

"Sonic," Mario stated, slinging an arm over the hedgehog's shoulder and beginning to lead them away from the pool. "Have you forgotten that we're well respected heroes? Somehow I don't think they'll have an issue giving you a lifejacket. And if they do, I'm your backup."

Sonic just stared at Mario for a moment, before he finally smirked, a small laugh escaping his lips.

"And here I thought I was the rulebreaker. You're just full of secrets, aren'tcha?"

Mario shrugged, seemingly unaffected by Sonic's quip. "I guess...?" was all he said, leading them through the halls of the stadium, trying to locate where the offices would be. As they searched, Sonic began to feel strange again, kind of similar to how he'd felt when Mario had complimented his guitar skills.

It was only then he felt acutely aware that Mario's arm was still around his shoulder.