I want to write more, but I feet the tone of the upcoming events are more serious than what I was going for in this story, so, I wanted to write a sequel to this one.
However, I'm having trouble separating the two stories. Without oodles of exposition at the beginning of the second story it won't stand alone, not without having read this one first. It's difficult to find a drop off point when I have so much going on though. I always write myself into a corner...this time, I wrote myself out the window. XD
I'll keep writing here for now, until the end of my ideas, rather than trying to write a second story. I can't be bothered. Writing is fun for me, it shouldn't be stressful. -_-'
I think that was one of the things that stopped me from writing for the last few years: I made it stressful on myself by trying to beat deadlines/follow guidelines I set for myself.
No more! I'm here to have fun and I'll do just that. :D
On with the show! Who knows when it'll end! XD
Fuck oblivion!
-Chapter 37: Throw Down-
The guys and Jules helped dig what they needed for Knuckles house to have plumbing. "I have an idea," Xaun said as they finished digging trenches for the pipes. "Expand the house."
"Uh," Knuckles thought about it.
"Hear me out," Xaun said. "What if we split the house down the middle? You keep the main structure of the building and only need to put supporting walls in on either side. We could lengthen the house, easily, fifteen feet in that direction." He pointed in the opposite direction of the shore.
"Why not build onto it as is?" Jules asked.
"I think we'd have a hard time connecting a second round roof at the centre," Xaun explained. "We'd have to tear chunks from the roof anyway, so we might as well do a clean split down the centre and add to the roof after the walls are up. If you want electricity in the whole building, it would be easier to build two new walls and branch off from there. I never learned how to wire Bamboo huts, it would be a fire hazard if I tried."
"Learned?" Jules never knew Xaun to be anything more than an alien hunter. "I haven't ever asked you, Xaun, what did you do after school? I thought you were going 'professional alien hunter', or something."
He shook his head. "Nah, that's a hobby of mine, for sure, but I can't make a living off it. I had to buckle down and pick up something lucrative if I wanted to keep living at home. My folks suggested a building trade of sorts, because I was always building shit like telescopes and radios anyway. I ended up taking an electrical trade and finished my apprenticeship with Jaeen. You remember him, right?"
"Yep," Jules nodded knowingly, "How's his face?"
"Thirteen piercings and ninety percent tattoos at this point. He recently got a septum piercing," Xaun said and pointed at the space of forehead between his eyes. "After the electrical stuff was out of the way, I moved on to carpentry. I finished that apprenticeship with the school last year. I'm eager to get my own project started."
"You talk like there was no work in town," Jules stated.
"Boring stuff, yeah, tons. I want more freedom to build 'outside the box'. A tropical paradise definitely isn't inside any box I've seen recently."
Knuckles nodded in agreement, "I like the idea. If you know what you're doing, I'm on board."
"How do we move half a house?" Sonic asked.
"We pick it up and slid it. Come here," Xaun said and they followed him into the open house. "We're going to have to actually cut the floor along here," he said and pointed to where he was talking about. "We also need to break the wall joints here and here, same on the other side, to separate the roof from that window up top," he pointed to the structure on the roof at the front. There was a small awning with a window facing forward that needed to be taken down temporarily. "From there, we literally lift the back end of the house and slide it over a new foundation that we pour out back. After that, we build an angled roof in the gap going across to close it off. If we do it high enough, you'll even have a bit of attic space." He looked out in the backyard. "We're going to have to take down those three trees, but hey, you can use the wood for building materials."
"I think Tails can rig us up a Sonic-powered belt saw. We should be able to get through them, no prob," Sonic said.
"The three of us can dig the remaining roots." Jules added in, "We need to be sure to get all the roots. I remember when Re'kar was expanding his house, they removed a tree. A couple years later they needed to pull up the entire room because the tree tried to grow back through their floor."
"You got it," Xaun said then turned to homeowner. "How much are you looking to spend?"
Knuckles thought, "I need to check how much I have," he said and logged into his account from his device. "Hmm...is this a lot?" He carefully said, "Seven thousand...eight hundred and...sixty-six dollars."
Everyone's eyes went wide. "How in the world do you have that much saved?" Sonic asked.
"It might have something to do with the fact I don't spend money on anything besides food. I might be reading it wrong, though." He presented the numbers to Sonic.
Sonic read the same figure. "You read it right. Nice."
"That's more than enough. Especially since I'm doing this for free," Xaun said with pride.
"How thoughtful," Jules said with a laugh and slight eye roll. "All you ask in return is food and to not have to pay rent."
"It's technically still free," he said with a chuckle. "Let's get to measuring and see where we stand."
They spent the next few hours planning the big move. A fourth tree was added to the list of trees they needed to take out. Tails showed up after Sonic called him about the Sonic-saw idea. After they effortlessly peeled through the first tree, Sonic's communicator went off. It was Amy. "Hey, Ames, what's up?"
"I've got a cancellation for the robot fights this afternoon. Do any of you guys want to step up?"
"I'm still not feeling the best," Sonic said and turned to the others, "Any of you want to kick some robot ass?"
Xaun was the first to speak up, "Why don't you fight, Jules? I haven't seen you throw down in a long time."
She blushed, "I couldn't."
"You give me one damn good reason why you can't," Xaun asked with a fist on his hip.
"You can fight?" Knuckles asked in a surprised tone.
"Yeah, she can," Xaun said with confidence.
"Not anymore." She sounded flustered and unconfident.
"Hey, Amy, put Jules down," Sonic volunteered her.
"Wait! I-uh," Jules was stumped for words.
"Got you down. Fights begin at four. It's a good idea to show up around three to get ready though. See you on TV," Amy said and disconnected.
"Can you fight?" Sonic asked to make sure.
"...I can give it my best shot."
"Do you not want to? You don't have to," Knuckles was supportive. He punched his two fists together, "Not everyone likes smashing things."
She chuckled, "I do enjoy smashing things. It's just frowned upon."
Xaun waved the notion away with a 'pfft', "Please. The last thing I need to see is you adhering to gender norms. What's next? You gonna start wearing pants?"
Jules blushed a deep red.
"What do you mean by gender norms?" Tails asked.
"Echidna women don't do much beyond housekeeping and raising kids. They do control any, and all, money that comes into the house, but usually don't work jobs of their own. Re'kar and Kai-Li are the exception," Xaun said.
"That's not fair," Knuckles said and turned to Jules, "You go ahead and kick as much ass as you want."
Julie-Su smiled wide, "Let's see what I got, then."
Later that day Julie-Su stepped into the ring with her first opponent. She got cat calls whistled from the crowd. She blushed and straightened out her metal knuckle spikes. "Ignore them," she calmed herself.
Knuckles yelled, "You got this, Jules!"
Julie-Su heard his cheer and it drown out her stress. She waved and smiled. Dr. Eggman's scorpion bot came out and readied itself for the fight. "Come at me scrapheap! You got nothin!" She taunted. The fight ended as quickly as it started. Jules fast moves dodged the two tail shots it managed to fire. She got between it's claws and landed a fist straight down. It's head was crushed. She had her fist raised in the air by the ref-bot while everyone cheered. "Who's next? Let's keep going!" She shouted. The next four opponents came out one after another and were summarily pummelled in similar fashion. Jules put a foot on the pile of robot carcasses as the ref raised her fist in the air once more.
Xaun stood there nodding while all the others watched on in quiet awe. "Told you she could fight."
Knuckles was slack jawed. "No joke," he said as he composed himself.
Jules bounced happily around, punching her fists together, as they cleared the ring for her next triumph.
"She knows how to work a crowd, too," Sonic said. The whistling had died off and chants of 'Julie! Su! Julie! Su!' filled the room instead.
Jules soaked it up and egged the audience on for more. "I can't hear you!" She raised a hand to her ear and they cheered louder.
The big robot Eggman had promised finally made an appearance. With six arms it showed off it's martial arts moves before the fight. "I wonder if she'll dodge all the attacks," Eggman's voice sounded from behind them.
Knuckles spoke over his shoulder, "Want to put money on it?"
Eggman pulled out his wallet, "What do you got, Nuffles?"
He held up two fingers, "Two hundred says she won't get hit once."
"Make it five," Eggman said. They shook on it and they put their money on the table. Fastidious beaver marked down the transaction.
"Remember, we have renovations to do. Don't gamble it all away," Tails said with worry.
"This isn't gambling. I'm just taking Eggman's money," Knuckles said cockily.
"We'll see about that. This robot is a state of the art-," Eggman's explanation continued as Jules made quick work of his invention.
Jules was cautious with her last fight. Since she'd been fighting and winning so easily, she assumed it was to throw her off and trick her with something complicated at the end. She'd called it. Jules kept her distance as she learned the robot's moveset. "You're faster than the others," she said as she bounced around the ring avoiding all the punches thrown by the half dozen arms. "You aren't going to get tired, so you're trying to tire me out, is it, huh?" She held on and weaved through the flying fists gracefully.
She had an idea to gain the upper hand. "Lots of arms means lots of weight, which means, compromised balance if you lose one." She sidestepped a hit. "And when you take a shot at me, you body needs to recoil and I move in for the kill," she said and snuck around the side and punched off one arm. The robot was unbalanced and staggered. "A little more footwork," she said and went around the back so it needed to turn. She doubled back and took out the other arm from the opposite side. A dozen quick strikes to the head and the mechanical beast was toppled.
"Therefor, he can't possibly-" The robot hit the ground in front of him. "Let me finish a thought, would you! Dammit!" Eggman tossed his hands in their air.
"Better luck next time," Knuckles said and collected his bucks from the beaver bookie. "Woo-hoo! Way to go, babe!" Knuckles yelled and waved his winnings at her. She approached him and leaned through the ring's ropes. After a quick kiss he said, "You should have said you were good at fighting! I'd have put more money down on you." With a hug he helped her jump to the ground.
"I wasn't sure of myself; I haven't fought in years. At least we know for next time," she said.
"And we've got to work on your image," Dixon said from behind them, "I'm thinking 'booty shorts'. Nothing says 'I kick booty' like booty shorts." He put an arm around her, "Walk with me, talk with me," he said and was stopped in his tracks by Sonic.
"Get lost Dixon," he said, "If anyone is going to represent her, it's going to be one of us."
He shrugged. "What do you know about marketing for wrestling? I started my career helping poor shmucks like her get noticed."
Knuckles picked him up by the scruff, "What did you call her?"
"I said 'shmuck'! Someone who's new and doesn't know the business!" He clarified his words.
"Let's hear him out," Jules said and helped lower Dixon to the floor.
"I got noticed as a celebrity before," Knuckles said, "I've got the looks, the charm and the strength to appeal to the people. I'd like to think I know what I'm doing."
"That's great and all, but here's the thing: She's got all that too. I can help her with the things she doesn't have, like representation. I have connections to character consultants, fashion consultants, health consultants! You name it, I have a consultant I can throw at you."
Knuckles pointed a finger at his face. "Alright. I guess we can trust you. One condition," he said.
"Name it."
"What's a 'consultant'?"
"My friends," Dixon put his arms around Knuckles and Jules, "Let's chew the fat and I'll give you the skinny." They brushed by Sonic, who looked snubbed as he grumbled.
"Jules, help, what's happening, are we going for dinner?" Knuckles whisper-yelled to her.
"He wants to talk to us about a deal regarding the fights. I think," she whisper-yelled back.
"We're going to make a mint!" Dixon said.
"Oh, good, I like mints," Knuckles said and set his mind at ease.
Yeah...can't stop, won't stop. :P