Characters Thus Far:

Miles 'Tails' Prower - On the road to Veridian City

Marvelous St. Vanderburgh - Called it.

Vanessa Sinclair/St. Vanderburgh - Karma hits you hard

Cream the Rabbit - Getting bolder by the day

Tails jolted upward with a violent jerk; slamming his forehead painfully into the open frame panel on the underside of the Tornado. With the sudden realization that he had somehow fallen asleep while working, he rubbed the quickly bruising injury on his head and hissed. "What…when did I…?"

He tried to make sense of the situation. Looking down through his slowly adapting peripherals, he saw multiple tools, screws, and other hardware scattered about. In his left hand, his fingers were still wrapped tightly around a wrench. Looking back up at the Tornado, he saw various parts of it were covered in a slimy green substance. Reaching up to touch it, he cringed when he picked a piece of the mysterious substance off of the belly of the plane and brought it close to his face. "Seaweed?" Tails realized what he had in his hand. As he looked back to the Tornado again and then down at the floor, he saw the landing gear's wheels, or at least where they had been before, slightly buckled. Next to it, skid marks from the tires trailed all the way to the hangar doors, and traces of large pools of water. Tails' memory had been becoming shorter and shorter, and now the simplest of things he's had a difficult time recollecting. But after piecing together the puzzle like some sort of telltale video game, he was overcome with a sudden headache; the price of remembering exactly what happened.

"Right…" The two tailed fox angrily ground his teeth together. He had all but forgotten the events that transpired a couple nights prior. In typical fashion of his life, he was once again tormented by a particularly volatile white fox to try and fix a certain piece of otherworldly technology. Vanessa had been lounging around in the cockpit of the Tornado while he bent over backwards to fix the machine she and her obnoxious yet somehow lovable sister had managed to trash. That same sister who curiously poked at everything around his workshop, even though he had told her numerous times not to do so. Eventually her curiosity would lead her to find a conspicuously placed lever next to the Hangar's control station; and then subsequently pull said lever. He remembered the hot and humid environment of the Hangar almost instantaneously shift and a cold wind strike him, sending chills all over his body.

Turning to look at the large steel doors on the other side of him that shot open, his eyes widened in horror, as he then shot a spiteful glare at the pink hedgehog on the other side of the room who simply stared back at him like a child who had just joyously disobeyed a parent's warning not to do something bad. He then saw the arresting device underneath the Tornado latch onto the landing gear; an act that briefly snapped Vanessa out of her brooding daydream with a surprised look on her face. She wouldn't have time enough to react before Tails was slightly pushed back by the force of the Tornado being catapulted out of the Hangar. Consequently, the runway was never raised, leading both the white fox and the aircraft to be immediately jettisoned off of the Cliffside and straight down to the ocean below, followed by a loud, surface-tension shattering crash. Tails' expression at the time was one of complete dread; like he had just watched the most precious thing in his life die right before his eyes. He palmed his face, dragging it down angrily before glaring at Marvel, who still stood there with a large, mischievous grin, and slowly inching her way towards the door before dashing out back into the house.

He had spent the last two days hauling his beloved plane out of its new watery home, and repairing what damage he could to it. And perhaps the only reason he could even have time to do that was because he wasn't being hounded by Vanessa. Part of that due to the fact that she had been immobilized after the incident; stuck bedridden upstairs with a severe cold. Tails thought it was divine retribution, though he wished it hadn't come at the expense of his plane. He must have been working late on the Tornado before dozing off, which he was sometimes known to do before.

Throwing himself back onto the cold, cement floor, he exhaled loudly and scratched his head. The past week had been nothing short of more trouble and anguish at the hands of the Sisters of Destruction. His only comforting memory being that of his meeting with Cream. Throughout all the recent calamity introduced into his life, seeing her again somehow brought peace to his mind. He thought about her for a few moments, a smile slowly creeping its way to the surface. He remembered the good times they had together when they were younger, and how great it was to catch up after so many years. And perhaps what made him happiest is finally getting that piece of closure he probably needed to hear from her. As he found himself getting caught up in daydreaming again, his ears were suddenly blasted by the sound of his doorbell buzzing.

Tails rolled over onto his side, looking at the digital clock on his wall. It was barely past 8:00 AM, and already someone was paying him a visit? Picking himself up off of the floor, he stretched his arms out and yawned loudly as he attempted to leave his workshop, before taking one step and immediately coming to a halt. He hunched over, his back stiff and sore, and his expression warped in a cacophony of agony and pain. He should really stop sleeping on the floor.

Slowly sauntering out of his workshop, He heard the doorbell yet again, for what had been like the seventh time since he took on senior citizen status. Looking over at the front door, he became confused, as he bore witness to a suspicious looking pink hedgehog; back to wearing her usual black and white maid outfit that he honestly forgot she had.

"Uh…" Tails began to say before he realized it was probably better not to even ask.

Marvel stood pressed against the door, peering out of the peephole with a very annoyed look on her face. When she finally noticed him, she jumped from the door and slammed both hands on his shoulder, forcing him back. "Don't do it!"

"What are you talking about?" Tails grew irritated. Marvel sank to her knees a little and stared up at him, her eyes welling up with tears that he pretty much could tell were fake.

"Don't go near that place! It is EVIL!"

"I'm going to ask you again, what are you talking about?"

"The devil herself has come to pay us a visit!" Marvel snapped back to her feet, reaching into her blouse and pulling out a small, star shaped object that was attached to a chain around her neck. "We must ward off this evil spirit and purify the house quickly, lest its perverse temptation overcomes you!"

"Ok, first of all, you're not warding off anything with that. Secondly, and I'm going to ask this again…what are you talking about?"

"Loverrrrrrrrr" Marvel ran in circles around him. "You have to trust me on this one. We can't open that door."

"Who's out there?" Tails found it almost pointless to ask her.

"Jehovah's Witnesses."

"You realize I don't know what that is, right?"

"Vacuum Cleaner salesman."

"Out here? Really?"

"…Back to my original statement. It's the Devil."

"That's it..." Tails brushed past the girl and headed for the door. However, he was brought to an abrupt stop when he felt her immensely strong arms latch around his ankles. "Marvel! Let go!"

"Pleeeheheheheheheheheeeeeease! Don't open the dooooooooooor!"

"Cut it out!"

"No!"

"Let go already!"

"NO!"

Tails gnashed his teeth, realizing there was no way out of his current predicament. Breaking free of Marvel's grip was like trying to (insert removing very expensive and complex tool from tight and space constricting screw or bolt joke here). However, the girl crying at his feet made one small miscalculation that he slapped himself upside the head for not realizing any sooner.

Marvel continued to bar the boy's forward momentum until she felt herself slowly lifting off of the ground. Opening her previously tightly shut eyes, she saw that he had simply propelled himself off the ground with his tails and hovered over to the door. "I have got to stop forgetting you can do that."

Tails, ignoring the pink hedgehog, reached out and grabbed the doorknob as the buzzer rang yet another time. As he pulled open the door, his mood instantly changed, and a surprised look washed over his face. The younger rabbit girl in front him, wearing a very nice orange sundress as well as the same surprised look, found herself somewhat startled. "Oh! Uh…hey…I didn't come at a bad time, did I?"

"C-Cream?" Tails found it hard to believe the girl was standing in front of him. "What on Mobius are you doing here?"

"Well…" The girl fidgeted a little, Tails now noticing her hands were behind her back and something large in their grip. "I know it's pretty early, but I was in the neighborhood and just thought I'd stop by. Actually, I made some cookies for a friend, but they weren't home. And, well…I remembered you liked them before, so…here I am, hehehe." She brought around the straw basket filled with baked goods. The scent assaulted his nostrils, and realizing extremely late that he never did eat dinner the night before, brought a loud rumble to his gut. That only made the younger girl giggle. "And apparently your stomach seems to agree."

"Yeah…I didn't get a chance to eat anything today."

"Oh? That's terrible!"

"And yet that's the tamer of my problems…"

"If you don't mind, maybe we could…you know, eat them together."

"Yeah…about that…" Tails rubbed his head.

"You don't mind do you?" Cream asked the boy in a very nervous tone. "Unless of course, you're busy. Then I could just come by another time! Unless you're busy then too, then…um…I mean…"

"Are you ok?" Tails asked her, seeing that the younger girl was fidgeting a lot.

"Yes! I'm perfectly fine!"

"Yeeeaaaahhhhh…"

"So…"

An awkward silence formed between the two teenagers. It was pretty obvious to him what the girl wanted. A nice early-morning conversation over some cookies, though he wasn't even sure he still had milk to enjoy them. He was happy to see her as well, being stuck around nothing but crazy girls for heavens knew how long. And he couldn't deny it was nice to see her again, only having been thinking about her just moments ago. But one thing he feared was what might happen should he actually engage in afternoon pleasantries with the vanilla rabbit. Not while one demon was still in the immediate area, and the other…

"Uh…" Cream found herself backing away slowly, as Tails realized his legs were now free from the death grip they had been victim to earlier. Marvel, her eyes now locked onto Cream, peered from over the top of the sofa in the living room. Tails barely opened his mouth before he heard her let out a loud hiss, and then a serious of threatening growls.

"Perhaps I shouldn't after all." Cream nervously laughed.

"I find if you just ignore her she'll go away on her own."

Peering into the house at Marvel, Cream raised one of her hands in a somewhat hesitant greeting. "Good morning, Marvelous. It's also nice to see you again. I see you're looking much better."

"Witch." Marvel quickly mumbled under her breath.

Tails just stood there confused, not sure what was going on between the two girls. However, a more pressing concern ran through his mind. Should he invite Cream in for breakfast? Especially when he knew letting her inside would be nothing short of, well, bringing a small rabbit into a den of rabid wolves. But he was starving, that couldn't be denied. And he would be damned if he let Marvel and Vanessa ruin another moment with one of his friends, especially this one.

"It's no problem, come on in."

Taking the basket of cookies from Cream and placing them on the table, Tails went over to his kitchen and poured a couple glasses of milk for the two of them. This act earned him two negative points in the heart of the pink hedgehog who shot him a jealous glare as he turned to walk back towards the table. To rectify his mistake, all the while muttering under his breath, he poured another glass. As he came back to the table, Cream, who had been so conspicuous as to have been staring at him the whole time, averted her gaze. "So, it's been a while, huh?" Cream said, trying not to look into the older boy's eyes. Tails plopped down into his chair tiredly, and took a quick sip of milk.

"About a week since that little incident at the Café'. We're sorry about that by the way. Aren't we Marvel?"

The pink hedgehog snatched her glass of milk and pressed it firmly against her mouth so as to not speak. She simply gave a barely audible growl and continued to stare at Cream.

"It's ok. I didn't get fired or anything, so that's a win." Cream laughed a little.

"Why would you get fired?" Tails looked confused.

"Huh!? Oh, uh…nothing. It's nothing." She almost blew the whistle on herself. She had to remember that Tails knew absolutely nothing about Marvel's little tummy ache that day. Should he happen to, however, her ingenious plan would be all but foiled. She glanced at the pink hedgehog next to him, who kept her glass pressed up to her mouth. She didn't look all that happy that she was there either. For a moment, the rabbit wondered if Marvel had actually figured it out.

"A-anyway, how have you been?"

"I could be better." Tails hung his head a little.

"You look pretty exhausted. Did you sleep well last night?"

"Sure. Well enough to see a chiropractor." Tails looked back towards his workshop.

"Oh…that's unfortunate."

"But on a more decent topic, have you gotten taller?" Tails said, noticing that the girl was not much shorter than him.

"Oh, it must be my new shoes." Cream stood up from her chair. She kicked one of her feet up behind her to give the boy a view of her beige, platform shoes. "I bought them yesterday, see?"

"Wow…"

"I know right?" Cream blushed. "I thought you might like them."

"They look really great on you…"

"Thanks…that means a lot coming from you." Cream giggled. Looking away from Tails and to the girl beside him, she clasped her hands together behind her back and leaned in towards her. "What do you think, Miss Marvel?"

Marvel's tongue traced the inside of her now empty glass of milk, before she slammed it back down on the table. "They're not bad…for last year's mockups."

"You weren't even here a year ago." Tails reminded her.

"And I assume you have a point, dear?"

Sighing, Tails turned his attention from the obnoxious hedgehog and back to Cream. "You used to be so shy, but looking at you now you're nothing like that little girl I used to know 5 years ago. I really shouldn't be surprised."

"I can say the same for you." Cream said, looking a little worried. Tails raised a brow.

"What about me?"

"Well, like I said before you just seem different. I don't mean that in a rude way or anything! I just mean…that you seem a lot like you're not happy. Or that you've got something really heavy on your mind."

Tails was surprised Cream could tell that much about him even after not being around him for half a decade. Was he really so much different now than he was then? Regardless, he was amazed that even she could have pinpointed that. Truth be told, there really was a lot on his mind at the moment. Though he hadn't really had time to inquire more on the subject, the words of Vanessa still ran rampant through his mind. Was he really a threat to himself? Could he become a threat to Marvel, or possibly to his friends? Perhaps the greatest fear was whether or not Marvel would find out who he really is. What would she do to him then? The more he thought about it, the more his head sank lower until his forehead was flush with the cold wooden surface of the table.

"I'm sorry…" Cream held her hands up apologetically. "Did I say something to upset you?"

"No, it's not your fault." Tails picked his head up again, and looked at the basket of cookies just in front of him. "Say, you mind if I have one?"

"Oh, please do! Sorry, I nearly forgot about them.

"Don't worry about it." Tails smiled. Cream reached over and pulled back the thin sheet of fabric that covered the basket of goodies. The instant she did, Tails and Marvel were blasted with the full force of the confectionery sweets. "Those smell…so good!" Tails couldn't help but feel a little bit of drool almost escape his hung open mouth. "What kind of cookies are these?"

"Cinnamon-pepper-spice cookies. It's a new recipe I'm trying out, so I hope they're good."

"You haven't tried them yourself yet?"

"No, I've been baking batch after batch and giving them to all of my friends. I even visited Mr. Sonic and Princess Sally. Though I think he may have been allergic to Cinnamon."

"How'd you figure that?"

"He started choking and demanding anything with moisture in it."

Cream's revelation of Sonic's fate forced Tails to gaze hesitantly back down at the basket of cookies. There was no way Sonic of all people would let a little cinnamon choke him out. That guy's 3-square meals a day consists of chilidogs glazed in ghost pepper sauce. Before he could even reach out to grab one for himself, his hand was swatted away by Marvel, who jumped up and snatched one for herself. "Marvel, what are you-umpf!"

"Shhhhhh." Marvel slapped her palm to his face and slowly dragged it down. Now staring at Cream again, she narrowed her eyes and frowned. "What do you think you're pulling here, sweetheart?"

"I beg your pardon?" Cream looked confused.

"Don't play coy with me, girly. I'm on to you."

"Uh…" Cream felt a little nervous. Did Marvel really figure out what happened back at the café? "I really don't know what you're talking about."

"You waltz up in here with a basket of cookies, acting all friendly and nice and showing of your new shoes! Why? Why now? What's your goal!?"

"Will you stop it with the nonsense?!" Tails slapped her hand away from his face. "Leave her alone!"

"So you're going to take her side?!" Marvel snapped at him. A second later, she leaned in and pressed her cheek against his, bringing up the cookie to his face. "Just look at this."

"I can see what it is. It's a cookie."

"Not just any cookie!" The pink hedgehog jumped up, standing straight up in her chair. She slammed one of her boots on the table, forcing Tails to grab his glass of milk to keep it from toppling over, and Cream to pull the basket back towards her to keep them from being stepped on. "This…this is a motive cookie."

"A what?"

"Look at the edges." Marvel grasped the cookie with both hands, spinning it around and gawking intently at it. "They're all circly and smooth. The top layer is a little flaky; not too soft, but not too rough either. Perfectly adapted to the palate of a seasoned connoisseur. My end verdict…these were made to be shown off, not to be shoved in your mouth!"

"Wow." Cream said in disbelief. "You can actually tell that much just by looking at it?"

"Honey, please." Marvel smirked. "You think this outfit is just for show?"

"Yes." Tails grew irritated.

"Admit it! You have a different motive behind these cookies! And for your presence here! I demand you spill the beans…" Marvel leaned in closer to the rabbit. "Or you start spilling blood."

"Alright! This is taking a bad turn!" Tails pulled the pink hedgehog down from the table and back into her seat. "Just what the heck are you trying to do, Marvel? You're being rude our guest!"

"Well…she's not wrong, actually." Cream shyly admitted.

"Huh?"

"Yeah, she nailed it. There actually was another reason I came here today, and as to why I made all these cookies."

"Really? There is?" Tails cocked his head to the side. Did Marvel actually call this one right?

"You see, the town's annual Sweet Nothings Bake-Off is next week. I was entering and thought I'd see what everyone's opinions were. And…well….I wanted to see what yours was too."

"That's all?" Tails found it quite relieving it wasn't something serious. "You could've just told us that from the beginning. There's nothing wrong with that."

"I know. I guess I was just a little scared."

"I'd be happy to try them, Cream."

"Really? Thanks, Tails. Here, please, go ahead and try one." Cream pushed the basket back towards the fox boy. Looking over at Marvel, who still seemed as though she doubted her true intentions, she smiled and moved the basket over in front of her as well. "And you too Marvel. Even though you already have one in your hand, you're welcome to more."

"Hmmm…" The pink hedgehog questioned whether or not she should. However, she picked up another cookie, bringing them both up to her mouth and paused. She looked over at Tails, who was also about to hungrily devour his, and they shared a brief glance before tossing their respective cookies into their mouths.

"So? What do you think?" Cream waited for their response. Tails happily chewed his cookie, enjoying the sweet cinnamon flavor, the soft and chewy center and…the very, very spicy aftertaste. His closed eyes shot open, and his cheeks puffed outward, spitting bits of cinnamon cookie dust through his pursed lips. He looked to Marvel, who seemed almost completely fine. That was until a moment later, she let out a loud cough, and what looked like a plume of cinnamon dust erupted from both her mouth and her nostrils. Cream noticed the reactions on their faces and cringed. "Is it too spicy?"

Tails tried to force himself to swallow the remains of the cookie in his mouth, but every attempt felt like trying to ingest powdered fire. Reaching for his glass of milk, he felt his only chance at survival was to wash down as much of it as he could before he suffocated. Luckily, his plan worked, and a moment later, he gasped loudly for air, before trying to regain his composure. "Nope." His voice was much hoarser than before. "Not spicy at all. It was actually pretty good."

"You really think so?" Cream looked a little relieved."

"If I may make one suggestion though…you may want to alter the volume of ingredients you use to make them."

"Oh? Did I add too much spice after all? Or maybe it was the sugar?"

"Because it's 95% cinnamon and 5% cookie…" Marvel said disinterestedly, coughing once again and letting out another spray of cinnamon.

"Oh…is that so…"

"Not that it's a bad thing!" Tails jumped in. "I mean, it's delicious! It's really good, Cream. And I also just happen to really like cinnamon."

"R-really?"

"Yeah! This is one of the best cookies I've ever had."

"Wow! Thanks Tails! That's so nice of you!" Cream clasped her hands together and smiling. "I'll make another batch just for you!"

"W-well, I'm trying to watch my sugar intake. I can't have too many cookies or just many sweets in general." He said, holding up another cookie. The first one was charity. The next just might be one of the biggest mistakes of his life. Partly why it remained in his hand with no intention of actually eating it.

"Oh. Well that's no good."

"Yeah! Hahahahaha…"

"I'll take that as a good sign. I'll have to work hard if I want to win the bake-off."

"Speaking of which, what do you get for winning?" Tails felt curious.

"Strangely, no one really knows this year. Though, I have heard that if you win, you get a really fancy title, and bragging rights for a year."

"That's cool…I guess."

"Have you ever thought about entering?"

"What, me?" Tails was surprised. "No, no, no. My place is in a workshop not a kitchen. I'd probably set something on fire."

"I'm sure you'd be really great at it, though. You were always a fast learner, and you always do your best."

"Well, I wouldn't say all that." Tails blushed a little.

"And what about you, Miss Marvel?" Cream asked the pink hedgehog with a noticeable change in her tone. Tails was too much a specimen of the male species, thus this subtle change in the girl's demeanor went completely unnoticed. However, staring back at her, Marvel narrowed her eyes and frowned.

"What about me?"

Cream reached down into a pocket on her dress and a second later pulled out what seemed to be some sort of promotional flyer. Laying it flat on the table, she pushed it towards the pink hedgehog, who stared at it for a moment before swiping it up in her hand. As she read over the details of the page, Tails and Cream watched as her eyes slowly widened, and her mouth hung open. On the page were images of various figures in battle armor, most of which brandished culinary weapons of some sort. And in big bold letters at the bottom read the words Can you Handle the Heat? Probably what struck Marvel the most was one of the figures wore a maid outfit. Looking back down at her own wardrobe, then back at the flyer, she started to piece together a very intriguing puzzle.

"This is a formal challenge to all bakers, chefs, housemaids and butlers alike. Do you have what it takes to conquer the battlefield of butter?" Marvel read aloud. She continued to mumble the rest of the two paragraph food-related insults on the page, before she came to the last sentence. "Will you accept this challenge, or forever be known as the bottom bracket of your profession?"

"That sounds harsh for a cooking contest." Tails said, looking at Cream. The rabbit simply shrugged.

"Yeah, I don't know where they're going with that this year."

"I see now..." Marvel said, crumpling the multicolored piece of paper in her hands. "I see what this is."

"That's never good." Tails prepared himself for the girl's usual antics.

"You know, I'll give you a lot of credit, lassie. You're a lot bolder than I thought."

"Um...what?" Cream looked confused.

"Your little plan to get rid of me before failed, so now that your underhanded tactics have backfired on you, you want to settle this the legitimate way. In the kitchen."

"What nonsense are you spouting now? Cream didn't do anything to you."

"Did she, love? Did she!?"

Cream felt a bead of sweat roll down her forehead. She definitely gave the pink hedgehog less credit than she should have. If it wasn't clear before, it definitely was now. Marvel had no doubt figured out what had happened to her at the café, though her basis for the reasoning was a bit off the mark. "I...don't know what you mean."

"You think you can take me out with sweets? You think mere cookies and pancakes are enough to best me!? You're sadly mistaken! The way to a person's heart is through their stomach; a fundamental fact we all know well. But you're gonna need more than those cinnamon-bombs you call cookies to kill me!"

"Wait, what?"

"You, who would stoop so low as to come into my house."

"My house." tails corrected her.

"And think you can take me on in my home court? You have no idea the world of hurt you just opened yourself up to, girlie."

"Marvel, I think you're taking this too-"

Tails was silenced when the girl palmed his face yet again, this time standing on the table and leaning in towards Cream. Reaching up, she elegantly removed her right, black laced finger-less glove and with one smooth motion, struck the cheek of the young rabbit in front of her. It probably would have been a lot more painful if the glove had volume to it, but Cream just sat there, completely confused as to what just happened. "Now I, Marvelous Tahra Dactyl Haurchefant St. Vanderburgh XIIX hereby accept your challenge, and issue one of my own!"

"No way in the world is that your real name!" Tails yelled at the girl.

"In one week's time, at this Concourse of Cooks, on the Altar of Apples, the Pillars of Pillsbury, the Smelting pot of Spoons, the-!"

"Get on with it!" Tails yelled again.

"I will not just beat you at your own little game. No...I will utterly destroy you. I will make you rue the day you were ever born! And when I win this so called title, I will spare no effort making sure the world sees you for what you really are..."

"And...that is...?" Cream backed away in her seat a little. Marvel, now practically on all fours on the table, crawled even closer to her until she stared her dead in the eyes.

"A Pâtissier."

Cream wasn't sure how to respond to Marvel's threats. She sure didn't expect things to turn out the way they did. Her true goal started out as a friendly-but-not-really-friendly-challenge to a bake-off. What she got instead sounded like it was more of an invitation to her own execution. Definitely not what she planned for. As Marvel continued to stare at her maliciously, her expression suddenly switched to that of a smile as she hopped back down into her seat and extended her hand. "So may the best girl win."

"oh...um...yeah. May the best girl win?" Cream said, accepting the other girl's handshake. The two of them continued to shake hands, Marvel beginning to snicker maniacally and Cream laughing mildly out of concern. However, a second later, her grip tightened and she began laughing louder. Marvel responded to this by also tightening her grip on the other girl, and was now almost cackling.

Tails sat in his seat lost to what was going on, but somehow found himself laughing as well, albeit very awkwardly. The three of them all laughing together, no one quite sure why save probably for Marvelous, their gaggle-fest would come to an abrupt end when Tails heard something strange happen upstairs. What sounded to him like someone sneezing their brains out was followed by all the lights in the house flickering on and off. Then came an all too familiar sound. You know, that sound you hear when someone uses Chaos Control, or something that's at least similar to it. Tails, Cream and Marvel, the two girls snapping their hands back, sat mortified at the sight of a half-naked female fox in a nightgown whose body landed strewn out over the surface of the table. The look of pain on the girl's face couldn't trump the look of utter embarrassment and horror on Tails'. Slowly opening her eyes and sitting upright, she dimly looked around the room, before her focus settled on the surface of the table under her. Lifting up her leg, she realized she had landed on something hard. Multiple somethings actually. Her mouth hung open for a moment, before she drew her head back violently and let out a series of loud sneezes. Tails and the others watched as her somewhat messy fur arced with electricity and she appeared as though she briefly phased in and out of existence. "Shit…I did it again…"

Not a single word emerged from the rabbit's mouth. It was hard to tell if she had just been scared witless, or if she were more surprised at the fact that a girl just teleported out of nowhere and crushed her homemade creations. Nevertheless, she attempted to make sense of the situation, as the boy on the opposite end of the table could only sit there and palm his face. "Um…hi…"

Vanessa, not even sure where she was at the moment, looked at the girl who had just been so unfortunate as to talk to her. Her deep-red eyes squinted, having yet to adjust to the sudden change in sunlight, and glowered maliciously into the brown eyes of the rabbit before her. "I know you?"

"N-no. I don't believe we've met before. I'm-"

"Yeah, don't care…" Vanessa winced, reaching under her leg and picking up a shattered piece of Cream's cinnamon cookies. She looked at it for a moment, before shoving it into her mouth, which she actually managed to miss three times before finally making it in. A second later, her expression twisted, and she spit the soggy, chewed remains back onto the table in front of a disgusted Cream.

"These cookies suck."

A moment later, Vanessa swept up the rest of the cookies, and the poor squashed basket, with her tail and swatted them across the room and all over the floor. Grabbing the table cloth, she draped it over herself and curled into a ball. Entirely disregarding of the rabbit girl's feelings at this point, she sniffled twice before going back to sleep. Absolutely no words could describe what was going through the rabbit's mind at that moment in time. Tails was obviously ashamed by the event that just transpired, and Marvelous seemed completely unfazed by it. Minutes passed, and no one made even the slightest sound or movement. Suddenly, Vanessa arched upward, letting out another loud sneeze, before both she, and the table she had so graciously made her new bed, phased out and disappeared completely. Tails watched as his empty glass, as well as Marvel and Cream's, plunged out of the air and shattered on the floor in front of them in the space where the table once stood. A second later, he heard the loud clatter of his bedroom window upstairs smashed to smithereens, and the three teenagers caught a glimpse of both Vanessa and his table falling to the ground below through the kitchen window.

Tails closed his eyes again, his hands quickly forming fists, and silently praying to whatever deity he found faith in at the moment that what he just saw wasn't really happening. Cream continued to stare out of the window, then slowly turned her attention to Marvel, and then to Tails. "I should probably go."

As he opened the door, Tails wasn't sure what to say to Cream about what had just happened. Not only were her cookies completely destroyed, but he was sure she must have been embarrassed by Vanessa. And as bad as it sounds, at least he wouldn't have to eat any more of them. For that, he was thankful to the white fox for her timely interference. "I'm really sorry about what happened."

"I…don't even know what happened." Cream's expression was blank. "Does this sort of thing, you know, happen to you all the time?"

"You have no idea."

"Never a dull moment." Cream forced a smile. "You're still the same."

"I don't remember my life being this hectic."

"There's probably a lot you don't remember."

"Yeah. I wouldn't doubt it."

"Thanks for everything, Tails. Really. I guess I'll see you next week at the event then?"

"Yeah, I'll be there to cheer you on. You can count on me."

"I always could." Cream said, somewhat shifting closer to him. Tails thought the younger girl was reaching in for a quick goodbye hug, and sort of moved in closer himself. However, they both played a game of stop and go, before Cream eventually backed away, looking a bit confused. "A little awkward?"

"A little." Tails chuckled. "I'll see you later."

"Yeah, later." Cream smiled, turning to walk away. He watched as the girl traveled down the stone road leading from his house and felt a smile creep up again. All's well that ends well, he guessed. Though he expected a much different reaction from her. Closing the door and turning around, Tails stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Marvel performing squats in the middle of the kitchen. "Should I even ask what you're doing?"

"Quite simple, love." Marvel said, dropping to her hands and executing one handed push-ups. When she had finished, she raised herself up and balanced on one hand, before somersaulting back to her feet and swinging her right arm around in circles. "I'm getting warmed up. I'm gonna show lass pritchy-pants just who's the alpha-hog around here."

"You're the only one who's a hedgehog."

"Potatoes, Pataa-toes." Marvel waved him off. "We've got some cooking to do!"

"We?"

"Oh yes, you're a part of this. Don't even think of weaseling your way out of it. Besides, who else is going to be my guinea pig? That someone, of course, being you."

Tails had done nothing to get caught up in whatever feud Marvel and Cream had started. Yet somehow, landed smack dab in the middle of it anyway. Rolling up her sleeves, the pink hedgehog clasped her hands together, completely ignoring the fact that Vanessa had just warped back into the house and crashed into a bookcase in the living room. Glancing over at Tails, a sinister smile spread across her face. "Now, my dearest…Let's. Get. Dangerous."