A blaring alarm went off next to Sonic's head, and he hazily woke up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes before turning it off... after which he then laid back in bed, pulling his quilt up over him and trying to get more sleep.
This didn't last long, as he soon woke up a bit clearer and managed to drag himself out of his bed. Clad in just some dark red boxers, he managed a sleepy shamble over to his bathroom, first urinating before undressing and then hopping into the shower for a quick wash.
He was soon all finished, stepping out to grab his towel when he felt nothing but empty air of where he'd put it; just over the shower curtain. He looked around, seeing only a smaller towel which did very little to hide his modesty, but it'd have to do.
He shrugged and dried himself off before leaving his bathroom, only to find that the clothes that he'd set up beforehand to get changed into were also now gone. He let out a little frustrated growl and looked through his cupboard, managing to find some light blue boxers to change into, followed by a dark green polo shirt and a pair of dark blue jeans, topped off by dark brown boots.
The blue hedgehog sighed as he turned to leave his bedroom, but was stopped by something tugging at the back of his jeans. He turned around as best as he could and found that they he a loose thread that was attached to the cupboard door, and by the time that he'd reach his bedroom door, the jeans felt like they'd shrunk three sizes.
He only grew even more frustrated when he saw more threads, these ones coming from his shirt and the waistband of his boxers, causing him to grow ever more suspicious before finally sighing heavily, having had enough. Soon, the other clothes joined his jeans in terms of how constrictive everything suddenly felt.
"Knuckles!" Sonic called, his jeans still tying him to the cupboard. "And possibly Shadow!" he added.
His door opened up, and Knuckles stood there with his phone, taking a picture as Shadow tried - and failed - not to burst into laughter. "Wow, we got you so good!"
"Shadow laughing?" Sonic pondered aloud. "What kind of world is this?"
"The normal one," Shadow replied, holding a pair of scissors in his hands. "You can tell because I have something sharp in my hands."
"Well, would you mind using that sharp thing to get me out of this?" Sonic said. "Seriously, my ass feels like it's getting a wedgie from two things at the same time. It's like a bad high school flashback."
"On the condition that you don't force us to delete the picture," Knuckles said.
"I'll do that, on the condition that you give me my old clothes and towel back," Sonic countered.
"Touche," Knuckles said. "You've got a deal." He then turned to Shadow. "Edge-head, cut the man free of his bonds! I will go and grab his garments!"
"You said that with way too much enthusiasm," said Shadow, using the scissors to cut the threads.
"This coming from the guy who seemed happy to be holding a sharp object," Sonic pointed out as he was cut free.
"I wasn't planning on doing anything bad to myself with it," Shadow shrugged.
"Oh, that makes it better," Sonic said. "You've improved over the years, I see."
"Can we not make so many jokes about that?" Knuckles said, having returned back with the blue hedgehog's clothes. "It's making even me uncomfortable."
"What? Worried that I'm going to stab you?" said Shadow, closing the scissors and holding them like a knife before mock stabbing Knuckles in the chest with them.
"Even if you did kill him, clean up could be a bitch," Sonic said as he took his new clothes. "Since he's all red anyway, it could be difficult to wash out of his fur."
"Yep," Knuckles agreed, lowering his dark brown pyjama shirt to show off his white crest. "It might even splatter over this."
"Why are we talking so much about killing Knuckles?" Shadow said. "We've got to get dressed, then pick Tails up, not to mention our training starts today."
"Can we get breakfast before all that?" the red echidna asked. "I'm hungry, and I'd like my last meal to be an easy to make pizza."
"Then make it yourself," Sonic smirked. "I ain't no gourmet chef. Now get out of my room so that I can change in peace. You guys should get dressed too."
"Aw... I really wanted to try out those test runs in my jammies," Knuckles shrugged, before chortling a bit and turning back to Sonic. "See you downstairs, dude."
"Later."
Sonic set his clothes aside and quickly dispersed of his old ones, throwing them in the trash with the exception of the boots, instead choosing to leave those by the side of his bed. He put on some black and white boxers with a zigzag pattern, followed by a pale orange sweater and some jeans similar in colour to his previous ones, only this time with an ice design around the calves of them.
He slipped his boots back on before heading downstairs, seeing Knuckles and Shadow already there. True to his word, Knuckles had put a small pizza into the microwave, since it wouldn't take long to cook, and significantly less time to eat.
Knuckles wore a yellow t-shirt with a design of a cartoon pug wearing sunglasses and smoking a toy cigar on it, complete with black jeans and grey trainers; Shadow wore a white t-shirt with a light blue wolf's head design on the left side over a long-sleeved black shirt, along with brown trousers and black boots.
"All right, time to hit up the fridge," Sonic said, noticing Shadow with a bowl of cereal which was chocolate and hoop-shaped. "We still have any of those?"
"Yep," Shadow confirmed with a nod. "Top cupboard, bottom shelf, fourth one across."
Sonic followed his friend's directions, soon finding the box. "Sweet." He pulled it down from the cupboard and opened it up, seeing that there was about half left. He then headed to the fridge to get some milk as soon as the microwave beeped.
"That's me done," said Knuckles, grabbing a tea towel. He used it to pull out the metal tray that had his breakfast on it, setting it down on a counter before grabbing a medium-sized plastic plate, making a quick point to get Sonic a bowl out whilst he was there. "There you go, bud."
"Thanks," Sonic nodded, soon going about his own breakfast.
"So," Knuckles asked as he sat at the kitchen table, "I know that I made a joke about it earlier, but what's the dress code exactly for our tests later?"
"I think we'll have to wear our uniform," shrugged Sonic. "It's not too clunky, and we can move around pretty easily in it."
"Yeah," Shadow agreed. "And the weight didn't seem to affect Tails much when he shot up into the sky like a cute, fluffy rocket."
"What about you, Shadow?" Knuckles asked.
"What about me?" the black and red hedgehog replied.
"Did the armour cause any hindrance when you teleported?"
Shadow shrugged. "I couldn't tell. In all honesty, I felt... weightless. That'd be the best way to describe it."
"Maybe we could take some lessons from you," Knuckles said. "Sonic's been looking a little bit chubby lately."
"Ah, the old days..." Sonic said with a sarcastic sigh before subconsciously putting a hand over his stomach. "And besides, you're one to talk. Roid rage..." he said under his breath.
Shadow shook his head. "Sonic is not chubby, and Knuckles is not juicing."
"Actually, I am," Knuckles replied, standing up. He went to the fridge and grabbed a cup full of orange juice that he'd left in there from earlier.
"You brought your juicer?" Shadow asked.
"I brought my juicer," Knuckles replied with an affirming nod.
"Couldn't make some for the rest of us, huh?" Sonic asked.
"If you wanted some, you could have just said so," Knuckles grinned, grabbing another plastic cup before turning to Shadow. "You up for it?"
The more silent hedgehog shrugged. "Why not."
"How about we take some to Tails when we go pick him up?" Sonic suggested.
"And some breakfast," Knuckles added. "Although, who's to say that he isn't enjoying a nice morning with Cosmo as we speak?"
"Maybe those two won't have made it as far as breakfast," Sonic smirked. "The way they are, I'd be surprised if they could keep their hands off of each other."
"That's your best friend," Shadow said. "You're really going to talk about him like that?"
"Hey, I'm just happy for him, is all," the blue hedgehog said. "In all honesty, Cosmo's a cute girl, and she and Tails make a cute couple."
Knuckles then cleared his throat, getting the attention of the others. "So, does that mean that Tails has lost his v card?"
"I think he lost it in high school," Sonic said. "I did too."
"Not until college for me," Knuckles said. "When I met Shade... that was it, man. That was it for me."
"What do you mean?" Sonic asked.
"I mean... well, just that. There's nobody else that can come close to her. Sure, there are other girls who are beautiful, intelligent, and smart, who won't take anybody's bullshit for anything. But..."
"They're not her?" Shadow asked.
Knuckles nodded. "Exactly." He then took a sip of his drink before speaking again. "What about you, edgy?"
"What, sex?" Shadow asked.
"No, I'm asking you if you knew what the square root of a raspberry fruit pie was," Knuckles deadpanned. "Of course I'm talking about sex."
"You go from saying something sweet about Shade to bagging on Shadow if he's lost his virginity?" Sonic said. "Effortless transition, there."
"Thanks. I try," Knuckles said. "So... did you?"
Shadow remained quiet for a bit before speaking. "I did. To Rouge. But... I guess that having someone with that much experience as your first time doesn't do much for your confidence."
"How do you mean?" Sonic asked. "Did she ever do anything you didn't want her to? Like, did she try to force you into anything?"
Shadow shook his head. "No, nothing like that. And when I say experience, I don't mean it like she's done the do with every other hedgehog in the world, but she's got enough to make you question yourself when it comes to bedding her."
"From what I've seen, it seems like the only person that she wants bedding her is you," Knuckles pointed out.
Shadow chuckled a bit. "It wasn't even her fault. It was my first time, I didn't last long, I didn't know what I was doing... but I think that's because of me, mostly. I didn't feel a connection with her at the time."
"What about with Maria?" Sonic asked.
"Are you sure that we can ask that?" Knuckles said, slightly warning Sonic.
Shadow picked up on it. "No, it's fine. Yes, there's a connection with her. I love her, but in kind of a protective brother/sister way. It's not your usual connection in a relationship, but it's more tangible than what I had with Rouge."
"You've got us too, man," Sonic said. "I'm not suggesting that you try sleeping with us, but we do love you, in the manliest, friendliest sort of way."
"I could almost hear you trying to sound butch as you said that," Knuckles grinned.
"Did it work?"
"Almost."
Sonic smiled. "Come on. Let's focus on food and go pick up our friend."
The others agreed, soon finishing their breakfast and juice, Knuckles having handed his friends some fresh cups of the stuff. They decided to forego coffee, choosing to wait until they'd returned with Tails and whoever it was from G.H.P.D. that was going to be observing them.
They hopped into Knuckles' car, with the red echidna cycling through his music collection from his phone. "You know, I'm glad that we like most of the same music."
"Yeah," Sonic agreed. "Shame that most of these bands are dead. Although seeing their live holograms is pretty awesome."
"We should do that," said Shadow.
"Become holograms?" Knuckles asked.
"No. We should see a live show," Shadow replied, chuckling. "It's been a while for me."
"You got to go to a gig?" Sonic asked. "I'm assuming that it was with Rouge."
The black and red hedgehog nodded. "Yep. She stole tickets for us. It was honestly one of the nicest things she did for me back when we were together."
"So, she's not all bad," Sonic said. "Good to know."
"Speaking of bad music," Knuckles said, breaking through the hedgehogs' conversation, "you guys got any requests?"
"Eh, it won't take long," Sonic replied. "Let's go for some Rise Against."
"Any specific album?" Knuckles asked, managing to find the band in question.
"Any will do," Sonic answered.
The red echidna smiled and put on the playlist of songs, setting it to randomise so that the tracks would switch it up. As the music blasted from his phone, which connected to his radio, he started the car up, grinning even further as the engine rumbled to life.
"Let's get going!" he smiled, pulling from the driveway.
Meanwhile, in Cosmo's room...
The plant girl in question was laying back and smiling as she thought back to last night. Her eyes were still closed as she moved her hand around for traces of a certain fluffy companion, but she opened up her eyes when she felt nothing after several seconds.
"Tails?" she groggily called out, wiping her eyes.
"Kitchen!" he called back. "How do you like your eggs?"
Cosmo was confused at the question before sniffing, getting the pleasant waft of bacon, sausage, and eggs up her nose. "Scrambled, please!"
"Scrambled it is!" Tails replied from the kitchen.
Cosmo happily got out of her bed and went to her mirror. She looked over her clothes in the drawers attached to said mirror, and debated putting some on before deciding against it, sticking to wearing her underwear from the night before.
She sneaked out of her bedroom, making sure that the door didn't make any noise as she left through it, and she followed her nose to the source of the smell. To her surprise, she saw Tails from behind, also wearing nothing but his boxers. She giggled silently and crept up to wrap her arms around him from behind.
"Hey there," she said, kissing his neck softly and nuzzling it.
Tails purred a bit at the contact and smiled. "Hi yourself, beautiful."
Cosmo giggled. "So, what's with the undies?" she teased.
"Last night, I was tempted into it by a rather beautiful girl who was also almost naked," Tails winked. "That, and because I didn't know I'd be staying, I forgot to bring a spare change of clothes."
"So, why didn't you change into the ones that you were wearing yesterday?" Cosmo asked.
"I'll get around to it," Tails said. "But I kind of wanted to make you breakfast in bed, minus the part about you waking up and hugging me from behind."
"I can stop that if you want," Cosmo whispered.
Tails finished scrambling and smiled. "Please, don't. I like your touch..."
"Really?"
The yellow fox nodded. "You feel warm. Like, kind and happy warm. Like I could hug you for a long time and not want to let you go. Not even a hug; I could just be near you and feel warm."
Cosmo blushed. "And here I thought that you'd be the warm one, what with all of that fur and all." She then paused and pulled away from the hug to grab his tails. "Not to mention these," she continued, petting them.
Tails smiled and managed to turn around. "How about we go warm up in bed with our breakfast?" he said. "You have trays around, right?"
Cosmo nodded. "I do. I'll go and get ready."
Tails smiled, watching as his girlfriend sauntered off back into the bedroom. He then went back to sorting the food out, making sure that there was enough on each plate before grabbing the trays from the top of the fridge; one for him, and the other for Cosmo.
He decided to bring her her tray first. He smiled as he saw her sat up in bed, awaiting her morning meal. "You seem happy," he noted.
"My cute as all hell boyfriend is making me breakfast in bed, and I get to see him almost naked," Cosmo replied. "What's not to be happy about?"
"Would it help to know that I have coffee prepared too? Shouldn't take too long for the kettle to boil."
"That certainly helps a lot," Cosmo smiled as she picked up her fork and knife.
Tails smiled. "Good." He then kissed her cheek and turned to leave.
"When you come back, could you bring the ketchup?" Cosmo asked.
"Sure thing," Tails said as he kept walking.
He came back to hear the kettle's boiling growing louder, reaching its most deafening point soon before the small switch at the bottom of it flipped back up automatically, signifying that it was finished. Tails quickly grabbed two mugs, poured some coffee beans into them, and then paused for a moment as he came to a realisation.
"How do you like your coffee?" he asked.
"Milk, one sugar," Cosmo replied.
Tails made the drink as she requested before making his own. Happy with his work, he put both mugs onto his tray before quickly grabbing the ketchup from the fridge, the red sauce joining the other items on his tray.
He soon made it back to the bedroom, holding his tray close to Cosmo. "Your coffee and ketchup, madam."
"Thank you, kind sir," Cosmo smiled as she took the items. During Tails' absence, she'd eaten a few strips of bacon and one of the sausages, and she felt the need to state her opinion on her boyfriend's cooking. "So, this is actually really good."
"You sound surprised," Tails teased as he sat down with her, moving his mug to a small table on the side of the bed with a coaster.
"You know what I mean," the green girl smiled, doing the same with her own mug. "Honestly, it's a nice surprise. How'd you learn to cook like this?"
"My mother," Tails said. "Turns out that she's not just a dab hand as a mechanic; she's a damn good cook too."
"So, is this food a family recipe or anything?" Cosmo said as she sprayed some ketchup in a huge glob on her plate of food.
"Nope," Tails shook his head. "Just regular bacon, sausage, and scrambled eggs."
"Well, either way, it tastes amazing," Cosmo said, leaning over to kiss Tails' cheek. "Thank you for doing this for me."
"No problem," the yellow fox smiled, blushing slightly at the kiss.
Meanwhile, just outside, Knuckles had pulled up to the Green Hill parking lot. He found a space to park before leaving the car, followed by his friends. They all walked through the doors of the Green Hill building.
"We're back again, bitches!" Knuckles called. "No offence to the women who work here, of course."
"None taken," Mina giggled from the desk.
"Isn't it a bit early to be behind the desk?" Sonic asked as he and the others walked over. "Don't you have time for breakfast?"
Mina pulled up a breakfast bar. "Strawberry. My favourite."
"You don't sound too enthused about it," said Shadow.
"Well, I haven't eaten it yet," Mina shrugged. "You don't sound too enthused about anything, yet I'm sure that you had a good breakfast."
"Good point," Shadow smirked.
Sonic chuckled. "All right, you know why we're here. Should we just go up to him?"
"I don't see why not," the female mongoose said. "But be sure to knock first. I know that you can't barge in there anyway, but just be careful about it."
"Ah," Knuckles said. "The old bow-chicka-wow-wow."
Sonic punched his red friend in the arm before turning to Mina and smiling. "Thanks. We'll go get him. Got a big day."
"Good luck with that, by the way!" Mina called as they turned to leave.
"Thank you!"
Soon, they reached the elevator and took it up to the third floor without much hassle. Not wasting any time, they headed for the main corridors where the rooms were. However, there was one slight drawback.
"So..." Knuckles spoke, "does anybody know where Cosmo's room actually is?"
"Oh yeah," Sonic said. "Come to think of it, we never did get shown where it was."
"Well, we weren't here for all that long," Shadow said. "Maybe she would have if she was given the chance, but she just never did."
Sonic then stopped to think for a moment. "All right, let's check the corridors. Some of the rooms should still be occupied, so let's just look up and down and we'll be able to find Cosmo's room eventually."
Knuckles then gets a whiff up his nose. "Or we could just follow that smell."
Sonic sniffed the air as well. "Bacon?"
"And other stuff too," Knuckles replied, turning to the other two. "You don't think..."
The blue hedgehog shrugged. "Only one way to find out. Lead the way, bloodhound."
"Bloodhound..." Knuckles smiled. "I like that. Might make a cool code name someday."
Sonic smiled before urging Knuckles to follow his nose. The red echidna nodded and led them across to one of the closer corridors. He kept following his nose before stopping by at one of the rooms, seeing the door closed.
"This is it," he said. "Should we?"
"Knock first," Shadow reminded.
"Right." Knuckles reached out a hand and tapped it several times against the door. Soon, footsteps were heard, and the door opened up, revealing Tails. "Hi there, buddy," Knuckles spoke.
"Oh, uh... kinda forgot you guys were coming over..." Tails said.
"We can tell from the dishevelled fur on your face and the fact that you're only wearing some boxers," said Sonic. "Do you mind putting some clothes on?"
Tails nodded. "On it. Just wait here."
The yellow fox went back to the bedroom, seeing that Cosmo had finished her food. He quickly leaned down to kiss her cheek as he took her tray to the kitchen, removing the plate from it and putting it in the washing up bowl before returning to Cosmo once more.
"Is that them?" the plant girl asked.
"It is indeed," Tails replied, looking around for his clothes from yesterday. "Are you going to be at the test run?"
"Sorry," Cosmo said. "I don't think that I can make it."
"It's fine," Tails smiled as he found his clothes.
"So, how do you think Knuckles found us?" Cosmo asked.
"He must have smelled the food when I was throwing mine away," Tails said. "He's got a nose like a damn bloodhound."
"Yeah... I did find it weird how they found us when I never told any of you where my room was," Cosmo said. "They probably should have given either of us a phone call to see where it was."
"Eh, at least they had the common courtesy to knock first," Tails smiled. "All right... I should probably I get dressed and go back to the base with the guys. See you later?"
"If you can make it," Cosmo smiled. "Take care and go ace your test. Good luck."
"Thank you," Tails smiled.
He then stole one more quick peck on the lips from Cosmo before focusing on getting dressed back up. Withing a few more moments, he was ready, turning to wave goodbye at the plant girl who was also getting changed before reaching the door, opening it and exiting to see the faces of his friends.
"Hey, guys," he smiled. "Ready to go?"
"We were waiting on you," Sonic smiled. "Come on, we've got a big test today."
"And you might need a change of clothes," Knuckles said as they began walking.
"I don't think that'll matter," said Sonic. "Judging by how the test might go, I think we'll be wearing our new uniforms."
"Yeah," Tails said. "I mean, we wore those training ones back at the academy, so it makes sense."
"You even wore yours when you did your studying," Shadow noted as they reached the elevator.
"You've got to be prepared for any situation. You never know when you'll need a bulletproof vest," the yellow fox shrugged.
"What if the killer uses a knife instead?" Knuckles asked.
"Or just aims for your head?" Shadow added.
"And you wind up dead?" Sonic said.
The red echidna chuckled. "See? I told you we should have become a rap group!"
"Yeah," Sonic said. "Shame we don't really listen to it."
"I do," Shadow spoke. "I mean, I listen to it more than you guys, but still."
"Fair enough."
Sonic then pressed the button and waited for the elevator, which soon dinged in response. The four got onto it, taking it down to the ground floor before leaving, making their way to the front door with a few friendly nods, waves, or both to Mina.
"Good luck!" she called to them as they left.
"Thanks!" they replied in unison. They then briefly looked at each other, processing the situation's weirdness in their heads. They then shrugged it off and left the doors to see Avery and Rotor opening the doors of a G.H.P.D. car, almost stepping into it.
"Hey there, boss!" Sonic called to the bear.
"Former boss," Avery reminded, unable to hide the smile in his tone. "So, are you guys ready for your test?"
"As long as there's no urine sampling involved, I think we're good," Knuckles replied.
"We already got your blood," said Rotor. "It's way better than urine for tests."
"I'm kind of disgusted by the fact that you know that," Avery said.
"I spend almost all of my day around dead bodies. I've got to find a way to occupy myself," he said.
"Wait, I remember reading that paper," said Tails. "So, the testing battle between blood and urine was discovered purely on a whim?"
"Pretty much," Rotor nodded. "Used my own as a first run, then asked some of the higher-ups to help me confirm it. What started as a stupid little experiment is actually used by most doctors today in medicine."
"A guy who works in a police morgue inspiring a new wave of body testing because he felt like it..." Sonic grinned. "What a world we live in."
"As impressive as it is, we're burning daylight," Avery said.
"Why the rush, boss?" Sonic said.
"I just have a busy day today," Avery answered. "In regards to where you guys are allowed to operate."
"What happened?" said Tails. "I thought that we were allowed to run an operation pretty much anywhere."
The bear nodded. "True. But some departments have reviewed your actions as reckless and risky, claiming that you put others in danger." He then held his hands up in defence. "Their words. Not mine."
"We can still run in Green Hill and Star Light, right?" Shadow asked.
"Yes," Avery. "And there are others, like Aqua Lake and Scrap Metal City, which are fine with it. One that I'm having issue with is Marble Stone. And Sky High has also had a thing or two to say about you, neither of which were very good."
"What about Westopolis?" asked Sonic.
"You could run a parade through that city and nobody would care," said Rotor. "There is neither law nor order up there; just a bunch of psychos, rapists, whores, and junkies. Sometimes all four at the same time."
The blue hedgehog had a sheepish look on his face. "I mean, I wasn't actually going to go there. Was just a suggestion."
"Good," Knuckles said. "Because I ain't going to Westopolis even if my life depended on it."
"Yeah... I'm all for justice and putting bad guys away, but I wouldn't touch that place with a ten foot pole being held by someone who's ten feet in front of me," said Tails.
"All right, I get it," Sonic said, sighing and turning to Shadow. "Do you have any other comments to add on?"
"Just that it's a really fucking stupid idea, and you're stupid for suggesting it," came Shadow's blunt reply, a little smile on his lips as he said it.
"Boy, am I glad that I'm friends with you guys," Sonic said, sarcasm practically frothing from his mouth. "Come on, let's get to the testing."
"You boys lead the way, and we'll follow," Avery said, getting into his car. Rotor soon followed suit with his commander.
"Sure thing," Knuckles replied, getting into the car. The other three soon fell behind, with Shadow taking the shotgun seat.
Within moments, Knuckles had started the car, soon pulling out of the parking lot and driving in reverse to the main road. He managed to make a U-turn to get his car facing the right way, and waited for Avery to do the same.
Soon after, both vehicles were on their way to the new headquarters of the freelancers. There wasn't any talking between the two cars as they drove, settling on something nice and relaxing before finally reaching the base.
"All right, here we are," said Sonic. "Our new home sweet home."
Rotor whistled as he exited the police car. "Wow. G.H.P.D. really outdid themselves."
"Wait until you see the inside," said Avery. "But don't expect a house tour or anything. We're here to run the tests then get back to our base."
"Understood," Rotor said, turning to Sonic. "You lead the way."
"So, it really is just you two," said Sonic, opening the front door to let the others in.
"Yeah," Avery replied. "As we've said, everyone else is pretty much swamped."
"There is one other thing, though," said Rotor.
"And what would that be?" Tails asked, growing a bit suspicious.
"We need to borrow one of your laptops from the communications room and record a live feed of you guys for those that sit in the meeting room," said Avery as everyone else filed into the building.
"How did you know about..." Tails began, but then paused. "Oh, yeah. You guys built this place."
"Well, we oversaw the majority of the process," said Rotor with a small chuckle. "The real workers just followed our instructions."
"With that in mind," Knuckles began, "you probably could have just borrowed one without asking. We would have been fine with it."
"I know, but it's always nice to ask," Avery smiled. "Now, shall we?"
Sonic nodded and went to the comm room to get a laptop. Checking that it was fully charged, he typed in the password to open it up before handing it over to Rotor, who searched for and eventually found the laptop's camera.
"All right, Rotor will finish setting this up," Avery said. "You four get to the training room part of the gym and get your new uniforms on."
Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow nodded and quickly headed for the gym. They wasted little time in reaching their new uniforms, taking them down from their hooks before looking at each other and realising something.
"We should probably get changed separately," said Sonic.
"Yeah, that makes sense," Knuckles replied. "Up to our rooms?"
"Nah, let's just do it here," the blue hedgehog replied. "But in separate parts of the gym where we can't see each other's junk. That'd be preferable."
"We're all wearing underwear," Shadow pointed out.
"Doesn't mean I want to get almost naked with you, dude," Sonic said.
"All right, fine," said Shadow. "Picky, picky..."
With that, they split off into separate sections of the gym. Tails decided to get changed near the smaller weights as there was some shade cast over the area, meaning that he would be much more secluded. Shadow got changed near the running machines, Sonic near the guns and armour itself, and Knuckles down by the rowing machines.
The four all met back up in the middle, with Knuckles speaking first. "So, how come it wasn't this awkward when we first got into our suits?"
"Because we took them into our rooms upstairs to change," Tails pointed out. "Luckily, we had the time do that. With what's happening now, we had to make do with our current surroundings."
"Good point," the red echidna replied as the door knocked. "I'll get it." He went over to the door and opened it, seeing Avery and Rotor. He stepped aside to let the two in. "You two good to go?" he asked them.
"Yep," Rotor affirmed. "Yourselves?"
"Well, it's too late to go back on it by this point," Tails chuckled.
"All right, we're going to try you out one by one," said Avery. "First, let's get to the main obstacle course area of the room."
"Should I activate it first?" Rotor asked.
"Oh, I almost forgot," smiled Avery. "Go right ahead."
The purple walrus nodded and set his laptop on a nearby table. He began tying something into it that the others, sans Avery, couldn't make out. After a while, a loud clicking sound was heard, and the others all began to look around.
"You might want to move over here," Avery said. "It'll get you out of the way."
The others nodded and went over to him as they felt the floor began to shift. The obstacle course that they were on soon cleared out; nets, jumping bars, and all the other usual apparatus were simply moved to the side as the floor opened up.
"What the fuck..." Sonic muttered.
"This isn't even the best part," Rotor chuckled.
Before the blue hedgehog could respond, something appeared through the floor. Instead of their usual course, there was a more advanced looking version, similar to that of their training courses at the academy. There were some holographic images on display, and Sonic reached over to touch a metal bar, expecting his hand to phase through it, only to be slightly shocked when his hand touched solid metal.
"Hard light technology, right?" asked Tails.
"Indeed it is," Rotor nodded. "Physical constructs made from holographic material. This'll suit you buys much better for what we have in store for your tests."
"Well, there is a lot of it," Knuckles pointed out. "Do we all go at once, or what?"
"Actually, I'd like to start with Shadow," said Avery.
"Sir?" the black and red hedgehog asked.
"You'll be fine," Rotor said. "Oh, I should change the course for him. Give me a moment." He typed more into the keyboard and suddenly, the images changed from an advanced obstacle course to something different; it start with a pair of armed gunmen on either side, followed by a group of metallic balls with spinning blades going around in a circle, finally topped off by what looked like some form of large, metallic shark.
"The first two I get," said Shadow, "but what's with the shark?"
"I could change it to something else, if you'd like," said Rotor. "Perhaps an ill-tempered mutated sea-bass with a laser-beam attached to its head?"
"No, a shark is fine," Shadow said. "Hologram or not, it's bad enough without the lasers."
The others enjoyed a chuckle at that, and Avery spoke. "All right, the drill is simple. You just have to teleport past each obstacle, and you're all done. I'm going to count down from three, and when I say go, you go. Got it?"
"Got it."
"All right. Three... two... one... go!"
Shadow looked quickly at the gunmen and moved forward in front of them, risking getting shot to try and pass. He managed to back away before they fired, then looked back and forth between them and took a deep breath.
'It's okay, Shadow,' he thought to himself. 'You can do this. It's just like yesterday. You had a bad guy shooting at you, and it just happened. This is no different...'
He then took another breath and looked past the gunmen to just before the next trap, and closed his eyes in concentration. Before he knew it, he had suddenly transported himself from the starting point to past the gunmen, stopping and turning around to see them firing at each other.
"All right!" called Sonic. "Nice one, dude!"
"Next one's easy!" Tails added. "Those balls are on a circle! You might not even need to teleport!"
Rotor chuckled at this and typed into the laptop again, causing the metal spheres to go from their circular formation to an X-shape. That shape then began spinning around at a fast pace, causing the smile from Sonic and Tails' faces to drop.
"Okay! Never mind what we just said!" Sonic spoke. "Just do what you did last time!"
Shadow nodded in reply, still looking at the trap ahead of him. Instead of moving too quickly, he waited and watched as he tried to look for an opening. Given the speed of the blades, it was not going to be easy to make it through. But he just needed one good shot...
"There..." he muttered to himself. By will alone, he managed to control his power and focus it on that one point that he spotted through the gap, teleporting through it and making it to the other side.
"Way to go!" Knuckles said. "One last one!"
"Ah, we forgot to add something," Avery said. "Rotor, if you would."
The purple walrus grinned and typed again into the laptop. Instead of one metal shark, there were now six, three on each side. Both dove back and forth over the platform before Shadow, splashing into holographic water on either side. Some of those splashes caused the water to land on the platform itself, such were the technological advancements of this training program.
"We should probably stop talking after each time he passes something," Tails said to the other two.
"Good point," Sonic said.
Shadow looked over at his friends. "It's cool, guys. I've got this. It's just like at the academy."
The blue hedgehog smiled. "If you say so."
The black and red hedgehog then turned back to the test before him, seeing the sharks diving back and forth. They weren't in the air, but passing over the ground of the platform itself, making it almost a tightrope. Add the possibility of slipping on the water, and Shadow knew that he was going to have a tough time of it.
Still, he managed to remain calm and reserved, much like he was earlier. He tried to look for a pattern in the sharks, much like he did for the balls. There wasn't even any respite to walk past them when they weren't diving, since they weren't going at the same time for each side, but one after the other. And they were moving really fast.
Shadow tried to focus his gaze past the sharks, looking at the finish line, which was even complete with a holographic red banner to run through. He chuckled as he noticed this, and soon went back to being stoic as ever, looking at the banner.
He looked back and forth as the sharks dived in their pattern, moving quickly and not even giving a nanosecond of free time to just walk past them. Shadow had to get the end in sight and get it quick before moving, and he knew that. So, he got his line of sight on the target, and with a smirk, he made his move.
He suddenly reached the end of the line, reaching just before the banner. He stopped to turn and look back at the traps he'd just beat before turning back around, shrugging, and stepping forward, putting a hand on the banner which caused the holographic display to vanish.
He stood proudly to the sound of applause and smiled as he turned around before falling to one knee. The three friends applauding him suddenly became more worried and came over to help him up.
"You okay there, buddy?" Tails asked him.
"I'll be fine..." Shadow replied. "That can really... take the wind... out of you..." He kept panting tiredly. "Be careful on... your turns..."
Avery then walked over. "Shadow, I'm impressed. You used your power well, and you managed to pick your spots before teleporting."
"Thank you... sir..."
"You're welcome," the bear smiled. "But just as as friendly reminder: be careful. I know that you paced yourself reasonably well, but you can't use too much power too quickly. But don't worry. It'll recover over time, and you'll get used to it."
"Will that be the same for the rest of us?" Tails asked.
"Maybe so," Avery shrugged. "That reminds me, you're up next."
Shadow walked back over to the others as Tails took his place, turning to Rotor. "Are you going to keep the course the same?"
"No," the walrus replied. "I've got some ideas..." He then trailed off as he typed into the laptop. "Let's try... this."
Suddenly, all of the holograms from before were now completely gone, disappearing into thin air. This time, three new traps appeared; the first one looked like a simple platform raised high, but the spikes popping in and out of its top and bottom were a different story. The fact that there were two more platforms didn't help. The next trap looked like a pool of lava, with balls of the molten rock shooting high up into the air. The third and final trap looked like a windmill of sorts, with little electrical sparks flying around the blades of the windmill.
"Well, this should be fun," Tails said. "At least I can just skip past the platforms."
"Actually, you have to fly up and jump past each one," said Rotor. "I forgot about this part." He then typed into the laptop and the bit of floor under the platforms suddenly became adorned with spikes.
"Well, no running start for me, I guess," the yellow fox said drily.
"All right, time for a countdown," said Avery. "Three... two... one... go!"
Tails jumped high into the air and tried to get his tails to work, but nothing happened. "Come on, dammit..." he said under his breath.
"What's wrong?" asked Avery.
"When we first saw him fly, he was being attacked from behind," Knuckles said. "It was literally fight or flight."
"Well, we don't have that option," said Avery. "I can't point a gun at him and threaten to shoot. Mostly because I left my gun back at the department."
"And there's no point going over to ours," said Shadow. "Wait..."
"What?" Sonic asked.
The black and red hedgehog grinned as he looked over at Tails. "Just think of Cosmo!"
"Aw, come on!" Tails replied. "That's not even remotely funny!"
"It wasn't meant to be!" Shadow said. "Just try to think of her!"
Tails shook his head and let out an exasperated sigh before shrugging and trying it anyway. As soon as an image of her came into his mind, he couldn't wipe the smile from his face. He thought about that morning with her, making her breakfast and a drink in bed. Suddenly, he felt himself rising from the ground.
"It's working?" he asked himself lowly. He then turned around to see his tails spinning. "It's working!"
"Keep it up, dude!" Sonic said. "You've got this!"
Tails chuckled happily and soon made it to the three platforms in question. He managed to control himself and flew down to above the first platform. One of his ears flicked as he heard Rotor typing again, and this time, the platforms began moving from side to side.
"Here goes nothing..." Tails said, slowly listing forward. The platform in front of him moved somewhat erratically, with the spikes popping in and out completely out of sync with the movement. Tails took a breath and moved around, knowing that the spikes under and on top of the platform would lead to only one way to move: straight forward.
So, he looked over the platforms, still staying in flight. They didn't really have a pattern, and he was still stuck before the first on. So, he simply shrugged and closed his eyes before propelling himself forward, trying not to focus on the platforms, but on the end. Well, the next trap at least.
He used his ears to listen to the sounds of the platforms, but the main reason that he was thinking about Cosmo was both to keep himself in flight and to keep himself focused. If he could focus on something else, then he wouldn't have a problem.
He was broken from this by Knuckles' voice calling out. "Slow down, dude!"
Tails shook his head and opened his eyes, looking directly forward and coming into very close contact with a flaming ball, almost grazing past his nose. Tails sheepishly looked down and went back to the ground, knowing that it was safe now that he was past the spikes.
"Good work so far, but you're not done yet," said Rotor.
"I know," Tails nodded, soon willing himself to begin flying again, the thoughts of Cosmo only helping to accelerate the process.
The yellow fox was soon back in the air, but not as high up off of the ground as he was for the first trap. He wanted to keep at a mid-level of flight to make it easier to get past the jumping balls of fire.
Instead of closing his eyes to pass the trap, he kept them open this time, but was still very much focused on reaching the end of it. Whilst there weren't many fireballs launching up, the pool was large, and given the huge scope of their gym, it wasn't hard to see why it would be a problem.
So, he just did what he did last time, only without closing his eyes. He began moving forward, judging the pattern of the fireballs. He only sped himself up when he had to, his tails not even slowing down for a little bit as he kept moving. Soon, he reached the end, and just barely felt the sting of the last ball graze his tail before landing at the final trap.
"Goodness gracious..." Knuckles quipped to himself, earning a light smack on the shoulder from Sonic.
"You just can't help yourself sometimes, can you?" the blue hedgehog said, unable to hide his own grin. He then turned his attention back to Tails. "All right, one more to go! You've got this!"
Tails gulped as he saw the windmill in question. The door at the bottom of it was sealed shut, and he couldn't fly around it or he would be forced to restart. So, he looked ahead and saw a small window which he had to fly through. The only problem was the fact that said window was high up on the windmill and was dangerously close to the biggest point of the blades.
"Well, that's just great," Tails said, electing to reach ground level again.
"Take your time, dude," said Sonic. "Just slow down, rest, and think this through. Like Shadow did."
"Right," Tails nodded, speaking under his breath. "Just take it slow, pick my chances, and don't get reckless."
He then took a sharp inhale of breath and floated upwards, not wanting to expend too much energy. He soon reached his destination, and focused his line of sight on the small window in the windmill.
He remained flying in place as the blades of the windmill spun around, and his mind went off on a tangent of its own, trying to judge the trajectory of the blades, the entry point, the timing... he didn't want to leave any room for error.
After a few more revolutions of the windmill blades, he finally took a gulp of breath and waited for the perfect time. As soon as he had it in sight, he knew that he had to make a break for it. So, he did. Just past one of the blades, he managed to find some breathing room between that and the next one, and so he dashed forward. With the wide gap that was left for him, he managed to get to the window without any problems.
"Where's the finish line?" asked Tails.
"You're at it right now!" Rotor called. "Just stay hovering, and I'll shut down the holograms!"
"Thanks for the warning!" the yellow fox smiled.
The purple walrus gave a thumbs up before shutting down the course for Tails, and the fox slowly descended down to the floor before going over to his friends, who rewarded him with pats on the back and words of praise.
"Good job there, dude!" Knuckles said.
"Yeah, that last trap looked pretty tough," Sonic added.
"All right, you're next, Knuckles," said Avery. "You ready?"
"Sure am," Knuckles grinned. "Fire it up. I can handle it."
"Yeah, you are pretty good at punching stuff without thinking," Sonic said.
"Thanks, dude," the red echidna replied, going over to the training course.
"This one will be much simpler since you have the easiest power to work around," said Rotor as he typed into the laptop. "Whilst Sonic did make a joke there, he does have a point. Let's hope that you can prove it."
"I wasn't joking," Sonic said. "He honestly really is good at punching without thinking."
"I'm thinking about who I'd like to punch right now," Knuckles grinned.
"Maybe later," Sonic smirked. "For now, focus on the task at hand."
The red echidna nodded and stepped up to the platform. "All right, let's do this."
"This will be simple enough for you," said Rotor, his fingers clacking on the laptop's keys. "All right... and there you go."
The first obstacle was a simple brick wall, about twice Knuckles' height. The echidna shrugged and stepped towards it. "Well, I guess I won't know what else there is until I knock this one down, right?"
He then reared his fist back and took a few moments before swinging forward, hitting the brick wall hard. The moment his fist made contact, he pulled it away, shaking it off and wincing slightly in pain.
"You okay, buddy?" Tails called.
Knuckles nodded. "Yeah. It didn't hurt as much as I thought it would." He then turned back to the brick wall to see that it a few bricks missing from the middle of it, but when he looked through the small hole in the middle of them, he saw nothing. "Um..."
"Problem?" Rotor asked.
"You could say that," Knuckles said. "Where are the rest of the things that I need to punch?"
"For your test, we decided to not go too overboard," said Rotor. "You'll only have one thing after the brick wall, but we don't want you to overdo it."
"How come?"
"Well, strength enhancing implants can often take a lot out of a user, perhaps even more so than with your friends," said Avery.
"Knuckles is easily the fittest out of all of us," Sonic pointed out. "The dude doesn't have to worry about getting too tired."
The red echidna nodded. "Yeah. Come on, doc. Give me more stuff to break."
"All right, calm down, Limp Bizkit," Rotor chuckled. "First, I want to reset the wall. I want you to hit it harder this time."
"I think that I can manage that," Knuckles grinned.
In a second, the wall was fully repaired, and Knuckles took a deep breath. Much like he did last time, he reared his fist back, even winding it up a little bit. He then let out a sharp exhale and thrust his closed hand forward, this time punching through the wall and not stopping. He then pulled his fist back out through the hole he'd created, and was about to speak when all of the bricks crumbled down, some breaking in the process.
"How hard did you hit that wall?" Rotor asked as he went about setting up another obstacle for Knuckles.
"I'd say about maybe a quarter of my strength?" Knuckles said, shrugging. "I don't really know. You said to hit it harder, not to hit it as hard as I can. If I did that, those bricks wouldn't be broken; they'd be dust."
"What about the first time?" asked Avery.
"Maybe an tenth of my strength?" Knuckles replied. "Like I told you, I don't know how strong I really am. I can punch good, but that's it."
"Hmm... I think I might have something for you," Rotor grinned as his fingers clacked on the keyboard.
Soon, the wall before Knuckles disappeared, and the echidna walked forward to see a bunch of large black metal rings. But that was at the end of the course before the finish line, and before he could speak, something else appeared in front of Knuckles.
A large frame suddenly sprung into view, surrounding a large wall, also made out of metal. Knuckles walked up and tested it with a few knocks, getting some loud rungs of sound in reply.
"All right, it's the real deal," the red echidna said with a shrug. "What's it made of?"
"This is straight up titanium," said Rotor.
"Huh," Knuckles grinned. "You guys don't mess around." He then cracked his fingers. "All right, let's do this."
He stood back a bit, rearing his left foot behind him to keep himself balanced. He then reared his left fist back and thrust it forward as hard as he could, and as soon as he made contact with the metal door, an explosively loud bang sound was heard.
Knuckles looked from his shoulder down to his fist to see that he had dented the door, almost getting all the way through. He pulled his hand back and shook it off before turning to Rotor. "Fix it back up."
"You sure?" the purple walrus asked.
"Yeah. I want to do this with one shot."
Rotor shrugged. "All right. If you insist." He went about fixing the wall, repairing the dent that Knuckles made. "There you go. I'll keep repairing it until you get it right, if you want."
"Eh, if you feel the need to," Knuckles said, his attention focused again on the door.
He pulled his fist back and, much like last time, landed a heavy punch. It merely resulted in another dent. Before Rotor could fix it, Knuckles moved his right fist and punched the door, again denting it. He then repeated the process, switching his hands as he struck the door.
"So much for me fixing it," Rotor grinned.
"Actually, this could be a good thing," Avery said. "This could be a good test of his hand speed with the implant."
"Oh yeah... you're right," Rotor said. "So, don't fix the door?"
"Don't fix the door."
"Got it."
Back with Knuckles, he was continuing to hit the door, switching hand after hand. He was beginning to pant a bit as he kept going, but he soon felt a difference in his punches. Still panting, he managed a smile and kept swinging for the fences.
Soon, he felt the back of the door, feeling his fist beginning to smash through it. He didn't waste any time; he stopped, stood back again, reared his fist, and thrust it forward with a yell. The next thing he knew, his fist was through the door, having punched through the metal effortlessly after weakening it with the rapid punches from earlier.
"How thick was that door?" Sonic asked.
"4 inches," said Rotor. "I figured that it was a good balance for him."
"Good thinking," said Knuckles, looking ahead. "All right, one more thing. So, what's the deal with these rings?"
"All you need to do is lift them to the finish line, and you're done," Rotor said.
Knuckles nodded, breathing and wiping his hands together as he walked over to the rings. They were painted black, but since they were holograms, the paint wasn't going to rub off on him. The weight, however, was going to feel very real. He looked down at the six metal rings and decided to pick three up in each hand. He let out a large exhale of breath as he held them, staying in place before putting them back down.
"How much do those rings weigh?" Sonic asked Rotor.
"150 lbs each," said Rotor.
"Multiplied by six, that's 900 lbs..." Tails said.
"You hear that, Knuckles?" Sonic called to his friend.
"Not really!" Knuckles replied. "You guys are kind of far away and I can't hear you very well!"
"They come up to a total of 900 lbs!" Tails called out.
"900?" the red echidna mumbled. "Damn..."
"You've got this, dude!" Tails said.
Knuckles simply nodded before cracking his fists together and creaking his neck. He then rubbed his hands together again and knelt down to wrap both his hands around three metal rings each. With a deep breath, he stood up with them. Not wanting to waste any time, he carried them to the finish line, impressing the small crowd by lifting the rings up higher as he reached the end.
He dropped the rings and shook his arms off before raising them in victory. "I did it!"
"Not bad," said Sonic as Knuckles walked back over to them. "That last part was tough, though."
Rotor nodded. "It was. Also... I lied."
"Excuse me?" Knuckles asked.
"Those weights? Yeah, they weren't 900 lbs. They were 1800 in total." The purple walrus shrugged. "Exactly double."
"So, why make up a fake number?" Knuckles asked.
"A placebo effect," Rotor smiled. "If I made you think you could carry 900 lbs, then there's a good chance that that's all that you were thinking about. Since it was twice that amount, I'm glad that it paid off."
"Me too," the red echidna smiled. He then turned to his blue hedgehog friend. "You're next up, dude."
"He's last, actually," Shadow said.
Sonic nodded, turning to Rotor and Avery. "I'm ready."
Rotor smiled, typing into the keyboard once more as Sonic approached the obstacle course. He typed onto the laptop for the final time, coming up with three brand new obstacles for the hedgehog; a long jump, a small hurdle run, and finally, a simple 50 metre dash at the end.
"This course is a lot longer than all of ours," Tails pointed out.
"Well, Sonic's main basis is speed, so I gave him a course the befits what his implant should allow him to do," Rotor shrugged. "Just like I did with the rest of you."
"Makes sense to me," Knuckles said, turning to Sonic. "All right, the stage is yours, dude!"
Sonic flashed a thumbs up and reached the first obstacle. True to a long jump, it had the sandpit and everything, and Sonic smiled at the effort of it all. He stood back about a foot from the pit before crouching down, bending his knees. He then leaped forward, landing right at the end of the pit.
"Just as I thought," Rotor smiled. "Not only is it a speed increase, but his agility and jumping has been boosted as well."
"That's pretty cool," Tails smiled. "How long was that jump?"
"15 feet," said Rotor. "Not bad."
Sonic chuckled to himself before focusing on the next thing, those being the hurdles. There was five rows of three in a row, and he set his sights the middle one. He took a step back before letting out a small breath. He then rushed forward at a dead sprint, jumping over the first hurdle with ease. Two more steps, next hurdle. This repeated for the last three, and he managed to not only clear them, but didn't knock any over.
"All right! Nice going!" said Rotor.
"That's how it's done, Sonic!" Knuckles added on.
Avery smiled and turned to whisper to Rotor. "How long is that final dash?" he asked.
"I couldn't fit much on, so it's only 25 metres," Rotor answered. "Why?"
"How about you change the course up? Make it 100 metres," Avery said. "You know what to do."
Sonic was about to set himself down for the last obstacle, but then noticed the course changing under his feet; the lines of the dash suddenly extended to behind him, reaching all the way back to the beginning of the course.
Confused, he turned to Avery and Rotor. "What the hell is all of this?"
"We're changing your course up," said the commander. "For this, you'll have to get back to the start of the course. Questions?"
Sonic shook his head. "No." He then walked back to the start of the course, noticing that the long jump and hurdles had now disappeared. He soon made it back to the beginning, turning to face the end and setting himself on all fours.
Tails noticed Sonic readying up, and so he decided to call it out like they were at the Olympics. "On your marks..." Sonic propped himself to the tips of his fingers and toes, "get set..." Sonic looked forward at the finished line, "go!"
The blue hedgehog instantly stood and sprinted for the finish line, rushing as fast as he could. His feet hit the platform hard as he sprinted forward, and he soon approached the end, making it there a lot quicker than he thought he would. Still, he didn't complain, focusing on the finish.
In another second, he'd made it, breaking through the tape at the end and raising his arms as he made it. "Yes! I did it!"
The others watched in stunned silence before applauding for their friend. "That's the way to do it!" said Knuckles.
"Good one!" Tails added.
Sonic smiled and walked over to his friends, getting embraced in a huddle with them. "That... that was over a lot quicker than I thought that it would be."
"Yeah," Shadow said. "You were at the start at one second, then the next you were at the end."
"Come on, there's no need to exaggerate," Sonic smiled.
"Actually," Rotor said, "he's not exaggerating. It only took you two seconds to make it from one end to the other. Well, 2.37, but who's counting?"
"You're shitting me," Sonic said, raising an eyebrow.
"I most certainly am not," Rotor replied. "I had the timer set up on the laptop." He showed Sonic on the screen, along with a video of his run. "The numbers and the video evidence don't lie."
The blue hedgehog looked close, seeing that he was at the start one moment before suddenly turning into a blue blur and appearing at the end in a flash. His eyes widened as he chuckled. "I never thought that, of all that was going to happen today, that would be what shocked me the most."
Avery smiled. "Well, you all did a great job. But we will have to analyse it back at the base."
"Yes, we will," Rotor said. "We meaning just me."
"I have a police department to run," Avery smiled. "You stick to the smart stuff, I stick to the leadership."
"Good point," Rotor chuckled.
Sonic smiled. "All this training has made me kinda thirsty. Let's get some drinks from the-"
He was cut off as an alarm sounded off over the gym's intercom, with a robotic voice speaking. "Will Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow please report to the kitchen?"
Knuckles looked at Rotor. "Prerecorded messages?"
"Just in case you're not close to a phone," said the purple walrus with a shrug.
"Let's get to it," Sonic said. They left the gym, soon making it to the kitchen. As the main four sat down, Rotor and Avery quickly returned the laptop they got from the communications room, coming back in time as Sonic pressed the answer button.
"You've reached the freelancers," Sonic said. "Who is it?"
"I'm a cop for Aqua Lake City!" said a panicked male voice. "We need backup! Stat!"
"What's your name?" Avery asked.
"Agent Brookes!"
"Well, Brookes, don't worry. My name is Avery. I'm the head of Green Hill Police Department. Now, calmly tell me what the situation is."
"There's been a huge explosion in the centre of the city!" Brookes replied, before another loud boom sounded off behind him. "Make that two! We need extra hands to rescue people!"
"We're on our way," Sonic said. "Just hang tight, all right?"
"Get here as soon as you can!" Brookes replied, hanging up.
Sonic let out a breath, turning to the others. "All right, let's go gear up."
"You got it," Knuckles replied.
The others went back down to the gym, but Sonic stopped and turned to Avery and Rotor. "Thank you for stopping by."
"No problem," Avery said. "We've got to get back to G.H.P.D. anyway. Good luck in your mission."
"Thank you," the blue hedgehog smiled.
"Oh, and we'll prep a boat for you," Rotor added on. "You don't really have one in your garage, so we'll let you use one of ours."
"That's a huge help," Sonic nodded. He then turned back around to head to the gym, waving goodbye. "See you later!"
Rotor and Avery waved back, turning to leave. As they exited, Rotor called in a G.H.P.D. boat for Sonic and the others, as well as someone to drive it just in case. He then turned to Avery. "It's all sorted, sir."
"All right. Let's get back to base."
And that'll just about do it. I'm so, so sorry that it took me so damn long to put this out. But I did it! Hopefully I'll have more consistency with this, but as always, I don't guarantee anything. I'll see you guys on the next one. Take care, and stay tuned.