A/N: One thing I forgot to mention in the last chapter: I want to give a shout-out to Sarcastic Black Cat for being the first person to fave and follow this fic. I'm not into fanfiction for the fame, but it's nice to know that somebody recognizes all the hard work I put into this fic.
The next day, at Mobius Royal University, Emerald City, Amy, Sticks and the other female members of the Mobian Olympic team were gathered for a round of handball against the Shamarian Olympic team. The Mobian team's uniform was – as with other sports – a white jersey with red shorts that had blue stripes, while Shamar's uniform was a green jersey with white shorts that had red/black stripes. Once again, both countries' national anthems were played, and a coin toss was used to decide who would go first, Shamar getting to choose since they were the "away" team. They chose "tails", and that was what they got, so Aaliyah Bousaid made the initial throw-off from the middle of the court, throwing it to Nada Tawfiq to start the game.
Being that a player with the ball was only allowed to possess it for three seconds or three steps at most, the game was quite frantic. Hana al-Ghazzawi attempted to score a goal against Mobius, but her shot went a couple inches wide of the net, and Blaze – the goalie for Mobius – passed it to Marine, who then passed it to Amy. Being within a good range of Shamar's goal, Amy took a shot at it, and it went past Shamarian goalie Danya Zaman, thereby scoring a point for Mobius. However, this would not go unpunished by Shamar, and a minute later, Aminah al-Hashim scored a goal for Shamar. Thus, the game proved to be a real tit-for-tat competition, and by the time the first half was over, Mobius was just barely ahead at 13-11. During halftime, everyone convened around Amy, having become confident in her due to her grand slam in the softball game against Chun-Nan.
"Listen, Amy, I'm confident that we'll win this game, but Shamar is playing really hard today, honey," said Rouge.
"Rouge's assessment is correct," said Blaze. "I have had one too many close calls with them. Have you got a strategy in mind?"
"I understand where both of you are coming from," said Amy. "Even so, I'm proud of the way all of you are playing, and I want you all to keep working hard! It doesn't matter how high a margin we're up by; all that matters is that we're ahead by the time this game is over! Now let's get out there and kick some butt!"
"Yeah, what Amy said!" said Sticks.
"Right!" The other members of the Mobian team put their fists together and threw them in the air.
Like soccer, both teams exchanged goals in the second half. The second half was no less frantic than the first. In fact, it was perhaps even more so, with a few interceptions from both sides. At one point, it appeared that Shamar would win, leading Mobius 18-15, but Mobius elected not to surrender, and partly thanks to some impressive goals – including one where Rouge passed to Wave the Swallow, who caught it mid-dive and scored a goal within the goalie area, which was normally forbidden unless a player's feet weren't touching – Mobius won 27-21. Amy was quite pleased not only with her team, but also with herself, knowing that she wasn't just an object to be pursued by Sonic, but a strong little girl in her own right.
That same day, at the North Lake Rod & Gun Club, located in the Garson Heights neighborhood of the North Lake borough, the first day of the men's 25m rapid fire pistol competition was going on. This venue was not only popular with recreational firearms enthusiasts, but it was also the same venue where the Emerald City Police Department held their firearms practice. Shadow was taking part in this competition using his trusty Smith & Wesson Model 29. Ordinarily, competitors would be required to compete with .22 LR pistols, but Shadow managed to "convince" the competition officials to let him use his almighty .44 Magnum.
Being that the cylinders on Smith & Wesson revolvers usually rotated counterclockwise from the shooter's point of view, but mainly because competitors were restricted to five shots, Shadow left the hammer on an empty chamber. As per competition rules, he raised his arm to a 45-degree angle from a resting position. A red light changed to green, and with unparalleled speed, he brought his gun to aiming position and fired at the first target, hitting the bullseye dead-center and earning 10 points. He managed to hit the next four targets within the eight-second time limit, also getting dead-center, for a total of 50 points.
After loading five more bullets into his revolver, Shadow got ready for another eight-second series. Once again, he blitzkrieged this series for another 50 points. Next up, he had to do a six-second series, and he managed to blow away this one without issue, but on the second of these, he hesitated slightly because he thought he saw Sonic's face pop up on one of the targets. Nevertheless, he managed to get through with another perfect score, and by the time the course was over, he had scored a full 600 points in total.
Later in the day, Amy was in a dorm that she shared with Sticks when she heard knocking on her door Looking into the bottom peephole, she only saw the legs of whoever was there, but using a stepstool, she was able to look through the upper peephole and see Peach, so Amy let her in.
"Hey, good afternoon, Peach! What brings you here today?"
"I wanted to know if you wanted to go out to dinner with me!"
Amy put her hands on her cheeks. "Hey, what a coincidence; I was gonna ask you to hang out, too! As a matter of fact, I know this great pizzeria that Sonic told me about!"
"Ooh, I've always loved a good pizza, so I'll definitely go with you!"
"Great!"
Amy and Peach headed down to Joey's Pizza, located in the Grable Park neighborhood of the South Terrace borough. In operation before the Great War, and having experienced a boom in business from first responders and volunteers who worked to save Emerald City from Roseinian bombing campaigns, it was practically an institution in the city. The interior was rather modest, with Formica covering various surfaces such as the tabletops, seats and countertop, but it was the pictures of famous and not-so-famous Mobians hanging on the walls that really set Joey's apart, these pictures including sports figures such as Bobby Jimmerson and Steve Falkner, plus scenes from everyday life such as Emerald City firefighters giving little children a tour of their apparatus or a teenage girl helping an elderly woman cross the street. Amy led Peach to the counter, which was manned by a black bear.
"Welcome to Joey's Pizza," said the cashier. "What can I get for you two?"
"I'll have a grilled chicken sandwich with bacon, plus a small order of fries, please," said Amy.
The cashier punched in Amy's order. "OK, and for you?"
"I'll have a small pepperoni pizza, please," said Peach.
The cashier punched in Peach's order. "OK. Any drinks for you two?"
"Lemonade for me, please," said Amy.
"I'll have a Pepsi, please," said Peach.
The cashier rang up everything, and Amy paid for the order using her Bank of Mobius-issued Mastercard, and after she put in a tip on the receipt, the cashier gave them a number placard with #64 on it. Amy then led Peach to a table off to the side.
"Amy, that was really sweet of you to pay for us both!"
Amy smiled. "Hey, you're one of our guests! We treat all our guests well here in Mobius!"
"You know, when I first heard of you folks, I thought Mobians were rude and uncultured, but as time's gone by, I'm happy to learn that a lot of you are so well-mannered!"
"What can I say? Mobius is pretty big, so people tend to have different ideas about us at first, but I'm glad whenever people see the good in us!"
"And that's why the Olympics is one of my favorite times of the year!"
"I know, right? But enough about that, how have you been since I last saw you, Peach?"
"Oh, I've been splendid! Bowser's actually been well-behaved recently, which is good because getting kidnapped by him is really tiring nowadays."
"That reminds me: how does he manage to kidnap you so often, and why?"
Peach shook her head. "I'm not entirely sure why, but he's very crafty. How he manages to avoid my best soldiers is beyond me."
Amy nodded. "Yeah, Dr. Robotnik's no slouch in the brains department, either."
"See, that's what I've always admired about Dr. Robotnik: even though Sonic always foils his plans, at least he's original with his ideas!"
Amy giggled. "Wow, I never imagined that you of all people would actually admire Sonic's greatest nemesis, although Robotnik does have his redeeming qualities."
"Sounds like you're one of those people who can see the good in anyone!"
"Well…pretty much. I mean, there are some people who can seem irredeemable at first, but deep down inside, they really just need somebody who can see the good deep within their hearts!"
Peach stroked her chin. "Now that you mention it, Bowser has joined Mario, Luigi and I for some adventures, so I see where you're coming from.
Just then, a waitress – a light gray fox – came over with a platter with their food and drinks on it. She set everything down, the drinks coming in a two-part system that included a glass with ice and a 20-ounce bottle containing the actual beverage.
"Thank you!" said Amy and Peach.
After the waitress left, Amy and Peach dug into their food. Peach let out an "mmmm" after a few bites of her pizza.
"You and Sonic were right; this pizza is really good!" said Peach.
"That's one of the things I like about Sonic: he's so trustworthy!" Amy took another bite of her sandwich.
"You two look so cute together! Why don't you go out more often?"
Amy put down her sandwich and frowned. "Because Sonic's always running away from me and my love for some reason!"
"If he's so trustworthy, then why does he run away from you?" Peach took another bite of her pizza.
Amy shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe he wants somebody else. At this point, I'm starting to give up on being surprised by his lack of interest in me."
"But if he wants somebody else, then why doesn't he tell you?"
"You know, that is a good point. If he did want to go out with somebody else, I'm sure he'd be honest with me about it. As far as I know, Sonic's no liar."
Unbeknownst to Amy and Peach, Shadow – who'd been ordering some takeout for him and Rouge – happened to overhear this part of the conversation.
(So maybe Sonic's interested in me after all. I should ask him out…but what if my thoughts are wrong?)
Criticism is gold. Negativity and nitpicking are pyrite.