Gonna break up the 'Folx' chapters some. But the idea still stands. Y'all'll see. :D


-Chapter 52: Pet Peeve-


Cream ran into the kitchen sobbing. She hugged her stepmom. "What's wrong, sweetheart?" Bonnie asked.

With large tears in her eyes she held up her light blue, oval, electronic keychain. "I put it on my notebook on the dresser, then after sis and her friend left, I went looking for it and I found it in a glass of water." She cried into Bonnie's dress. "Why is she so mean to me?"

The woman tried to offer reason. "Are you sure it didn't fall in by accident?"

She nodded. "It was on the windowsill across the room."

Bonnie huffed. "It'll be coming out of her allowance to replace it."

Cream shook her head. "I've had this for years. They don't make Chaomagotchi anymore." She hugged the water damaged bobble.

"Hang on." Bonnie dialed Vector who was working late. "Do you have a minute?"

"I can give you forty-five seconds. What's crackin'?"

"Could you get a hold of your friend, Tails? He's savvy with electronics, isn't he? Cream's electronic got some water in it."

"I'll send him your way. If not tonight, tomorrow for sure. I'll let you know either way."

"Wonderful. Thank you." While they waited for a response, Bonnie made some hot chocolate with tiny marshmallows to lighten the mood.

There was a knock at the door. Bonnie let Tails in. "What seems to be the problem?" he asked.

Cream calmly showed him the virtual pet.

"I remember these! I think I still have a couple lying around somewhere."

She rubbed her elbow held tightly at her side. "I don't want to sound ungrateful...but is there any way to fix this one?" Cream poked her fingers together. "It was a gift from someone who isn't here anymore."

Tails gave her a reassuring smile. "If any of the circuits are fried, I can use the ones I have leftover to reprogram it. If you want, you can come to my workshop while I repair it."

Cream looked at her fresh cup of coco. Bonnie picked it up and transferred it to a travel mug over the sink. "Here's one for you too, Tails," she said and handed them their drinks.

Tails brightly smiled. "Thank you, Bonnie."

"I need to get my bag before we go." Cream quickly went to the bedroom, grabbed her dress and shoved it into her duffle.

They went to the workshop.

Tails made quick work of the device. He popped it open, removed the plastic or rubber bits and dried it in his oven. When finished, he hooked it up to his laptop. Tails fast typing fingers gained access to the data stored on the small computer chip. With such focus, he forgot to talk to his guest. "Sorry about the silence. I work alone so often, I sometimes forget to conversate."

Cream smiled. "That's fine. I concentrate better when it's quiet too. Is it okay if I look around your shop while you work?"

He nodded. "Be sure not to touch any buttons. I can't remember if I put the dimensional rifter on the top shelf or not."

"Oki-Doki." There were many strange devices on his shelf. Things that look like batteries, bombs, battery-powered bombs, weird tools and a line of retro video games were a few of the things that caught her eye. Standing in the corner was a large square framed device with a panel on the side. There was a long thick cord wrapped up and draped over the top of the device.

"It looks like all of the information is still intact on the Chaomagotchi. All we need to do is dry out the whole thing and put it back together." He looked to his drying unit and set it to the lowest setting and placed the whole device inside.

"That's wonderful news. Thank you so much. I know it's dumb, but I really like that little toy a lot."

Tails held up a hand. "You don't need to justify anything. I care about all my creations in ways that other people don't get either. Besides, you said that it was special because it was a gift." He noticed her tearing up a bit. "What's wrong?"

Cream tried to keep it together, but she couldn't help get emotional. "It's my sister. She keeps trying to get rid of it. She tried to throw it in the bushes once. Luckily I found it."

Tails raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"She said 'You're sixteen, it's childish, you need to grow the 'fff' up." She censored herself.

He shook his head. "Who does she think designed this toy?" Tails pointed to the drying, shelless electronic. "It wasn't a child. Adults make toys like this. Adults who play with toys like these, understand how valuable they can be to children and go on to create the toys for the next generation. Come on? Does she really think a toy like this was conceived by a professional who hated toys and never played with them as an adult? Hardly. It's alright if you want to play with this thing until you're old and gray; provided it'll last that long." Cream ran up to him and hugged him tightly. "Woah," he said and blushed, giving her a hug in return.

"That means so much to hear. Thank you," she said and let go to wipe her face dry.

Tails handed her a box of tissues from the table. His communicator beeped and he quickly responded to Jules. "I have an idea." He flew to the top shelf and rummaged. "...yep, here they are." In his hand were two more Chaomagotchi, black and purple in colour. "I know these batteries are dead by now." He hovered lower and reached into another box for store bought watch batteries.

He gave Cream a screwdriver and they both replaced the power supply on the virtual pets. Each sprung to life. "They work!" Cream bounced as she watched a tiny Chao logo wiggle around on the screen.

"Let your sister pick one and you can keep the other." He handed her the one he had.

Cream took it and looked at him. "Could I give one to her friend Staci, instead?"

He nodded, "Even better. I notice something about folks who don't like things like these; usually the lack of empathy happens because they never owned one of their own. Some families don't believe in electronic toys and others plain old can't afford them. Maybe if your sister saw first hand how much fun you had with it, she may come around. No guarantees, but it's worth a shot. If not, you have two new little buddies to play with."

Cream gasped in horror as she suddenly remembered something dire. "I forgot Mina's interview!"

"Don't worry," Tails said shook his head. "I was recording it." He checked his watch. "Come on, we only missed a few minutes," he said and led them out of the workshop. As Tails locked up, he heard a strange noise in the distance. He ignored it.

They joined up with Sticks and Jules just as a commercial break came on. "Allow me to introduce you to two more Team Sonic members. Long time member and local conspiracy enthusiast, Sticks the badger."

"Pleasure," Sticks said with a two fingered salute from her comfy lounged position on the couch.

"Potential future robo-fighting champ and newest member in the group, Julie-Su the echidna," he said.

She waved and nodded, "Jules, for short, if you like."

"Wow, you're both on Team Sonic? That's so cool. My dad talks about you all the time."

"We're all on the team, sister," Sticks said and pointed to Tails.

Cream's tail bushed out as she spund around. "That's right, you said 'two more'!" She got a nod. "That's even cooler! I've met half the team now!" She bounced up and down and rattled her new pixel friends around. "Oops," she said and calmed down and held them silent. "Hey, you didn't give yourself an introduction," she said and looked at Tails.

Sticks piped up, "Tech whiz, mechanical genius and normally the smartest member on the team, Tails the two tailed fox."

He laughed, "Thanks, Sticks."

"Anytime, bro," she said with a grin.

They all sat around and watched Mina's interview. Tails had gotten a text message from Jules earlier asking where he was. He responded, requesting they not spoil the surprise of Mina showing up after her interview. Cream needed some cheering up and he was sure meeting Mina would make her hit the roof with excitement.

Something occurred to Tails. He quickly hopped online to check if his roof insurance was up to date.


My sister wasn't a gamer like me growing up. I grew up in the 90's, so the SNES was my bag. When she was old enough, makeup and shopping was hers. My little brother(21) got my 'game hand me downs' growing up. She had no interest and even kind of 'poo pooed' games in general.

Within the last four years, I got rid of an old 3ds and had a spare copy of Animal Crossing: New Leaf floating around...so I gave it to her free of charge and told her not to knock it till she tried it.

We now live over 5 hours apart, but she(20), me(32) and my daughter(13) all play AC:NL together. Games are for everyone! XD

Sometimes, you just need to drop the bias and see for yourself if you like something.

Peace out. :D