Whee, Sticky Wicket made it to 13 reviews. - Okay, here's your chapter! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own none of the Sega/Sonic Team characters, but any other characters not seen in the games/anime belong to moi.
In Chapter Three:
At that moment Zella came over to deliver their dishes. Both had gotten salads, because Amy needed to "watch what she ate" before the tournament and Rouge wanted to "work on her figure". They chatted amiably while crunching on croûtons and grazing on other greens. By one-thirty, when they had finished their dessert and split the bill, it was time for Amy to head to practice.
-----Sticky Wicket, Chapter Four-----
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.
As quietly as she could, Amy plodded up the stairs to her shared apartment. By some strange stroke of luck (or un-luck) the elevator had shut down, stopping halfway between the bottom two floors. So, for today at least, Amy would have to use the stairs.
Or, rather, tonight.
It was Friday. Usually it was a celebration day for Amy and Rouge, the end of another tiring week and a day to look forward to sleeping in and relaxing on Saturday. But not this Friday.
After four rough days of training for hours with Rhaja (Amy was informed of the tournament on a Monday) the pink hedgehog was exhausted and spent. Her schedule went mostly along the lines of sleep, wake up early for a jog around the city park, eat a healthy breakfast of cereal and sometimes eggs, take a quick shower and then eating a green-based lunch before hurrying off to practice. When she was through, she would trudge home, falling asleep as she got ready for bed.
Amy shifted the weight of her backpack so it was more comfortable for climbing stairs. Next time she got an apartment, she told herself, it would be on the second floor. Not the sixth.
The equipment rattled as her thudding footsteps made her weary frame shudder, her croquet ball and mallet clinking softly against spare wickets.
After what seemed like climbing for hours (even though it had, in truth, been no more than five minutes) Amy reached the landing for the sixth floor. The fire escape door clunked with a metallic thud as it closed behind her.
Sighing, Amy reached the door. For some reason she paused before she went in, hand hovering over the well-used knob in a moment of silence. The pink hedgehog shook her head, snapping out of her reverie. The door opened smoothly, shedding the dim light of the hallway onto the gray-blue floor. Amy opened the door wider to let more light in, the lights of the room were off and Amy couldn't see.
Careful to not make a sound, she took the backpack off of her back and set it on the floor next to the door. Then, she slipped off her grass and dirt-spotted pink sneakers and set them next to the bag. Finally able to stand again, Amy felt for the light switch on the wall and closed the door behind her. There was a momentary blackness that devoured the room, but the light snapped on quickly and brought the room to life.
"SURPRISE!" A chorus of voices shouted. Amy stared wide-eyed as her friends popped out from behind the couch, the chairs, from under the table - anywhere that they could fit they had.
"Wh-what's this?" Amy stuttered, teetering in her sock-donned feet from the surprise.
"We got together and decided we should do something for you," Tails explained, leaning on the table he had been under.
"Yeah," Knuckles smiled, "You've been working really hard lately, and we thought it would be a good idea if-"
"We?" Rouge raised her eyebrows, "It was originally my idea. But, Amy, we wanted to show you that we'll be there supporting you through this, and that we're still proud for you whether or not you do well in this tournament." The bat came over and put a hand on Amy's shoulder, grinning in a pleased way at the hedgehog's astonished expression. The shorter girl finally gathered her wits and bent her head down, her long pink quills covering her eyes.
"Huh?" Tails' eyes widened as something made a soft pthah sound as it collided with the carpet. Glistening tears fell from Amy's bowed head, sparkling in the lights before they hit the floor.
"A-Are you okay?" Sonic came to stand by Rouge, his expression that of worry for the pink hedgehog.
Amy sniffed and lifted her head, her pink bangs slightly damp and sticking to the sides of her face. She gave a shaky smile through her tears and managed to choke them down for long enough to say, "Thank you so much," before turning to cry into Rouge's shoulder. The bat looked stunned, but smiled gently and patted her on the back.
When most of the tears had gone, Amy once again faced her friends. She wiped her nose and rubbed at the trails the tears had left on her cheeks.
"Thank you all so much," she said, her breath coming shakily from her sobbing before, "This really means a lot to me."
"Don't worry about it," Sonic's gaze softened, smiling at the emotional teen and placing a hand on her shoulder, "Come on, we have ice cream. You should celebrate!" Amy nodded and let Sonic guide her into the kitchen.
The ceiling fan had been draped with decorations, a canopy of thin paper streamers spreading out to all the corners of the room. A colorful tablecloth with a pattern of balloons was draped across the table. In the center was a sphere-shaped red balloon weighed down by a large square ice cream cake. Around the edges was a design of pink and red roses and green leaves, and a picture of icing depicted a mallet and croquet ball with a wicket. Across the top in blue frosting was written, " Good Luck Amy!" And then the signatures of all her friends, in icing too, of course. Directly under the blue writing was a dark red signature, neat and skilled as if practiced. Two orange ones, side by side, were written vertically - one was in bubble letters and the other was in print. In the center and off to one side was a red signature, but it was blurred and scrawled so terribly it was mostly a pink blotch. There was also a dark blue signature, and a crimson one to the other side. At the bottom were two signatures that were quite alike - one in black, one in blue. Both were written in cursive and readable, but at first glance they looked like scribbles.
"It's chocolate," Tails piped up, removing Amy from her thoughts and reading the cake.
"It's wonderful," Amy smiled, rereading the cake once again.
"Not everyone could be here," Rouge explained, "But they were able to sign the cake."
"C'mon, let's eat!" Knuckles grabbed one of the paper plates from the stack and also the cake knife that had been placed next to the cake.
"Hold on, I want to take a picture first!" Amy darted out of the kitchen to her room, returning in moments with a camera in her hands. After snapping several shots of the cake and her friends, Rouge cut it and doled out the pieces.
After she had received a piece, Amy sat down on one of the chairs and chewed thoughtfully. The cake was indeed chocolate, although the frosting on top was white. It had a layer of chocolate ice cream under the icing, then a layer of crunchy chocolate cookie crumbs and under that another layer of chocolate.
"This is great," Amy managed to say through a large mouthful.
"Zella made it for us while you were busy, and today we all managed to get over there and sign it at different times," Knuckles explained.
"Yeah, it looks like everyone's signature was there," Amy smiled. When she finished Rouge took her plate and put it in the sink. For the next hour they sat around the table asking questions and talking about the next day anxiously.
Finally at nine o'clock Rouge looked at the clock on the kitchen wall.
"Well, you guys better get going. Amy, you need to get to bed. It's going to be a busy day tomorrow," the white bat lectured.
Amy stifled a yawn, "Fine by me. Good night!" she called as her friends walked through the door, "I'll see you tomorrow!"
Calling phrases of good luck and good night, the party left, leaving the two friends alone in their apartment again. With a sigh Rouge began cleaning up the mess, setting dishes in the sink and throwing away napkins and plastic knives and forks. She brushed a stray piece of her snow-colored hair out of her eyes.
"You should get going to bed," she said, not looking up from her task, "Hurry up, you need your rest!" A slight tone of annoyance hinted her voice, in a more motherly way, like when a parent continuously reminds their child to go to bed, who reluctantly, after the seventh time, does so.
With a nod the weary pink hedgehog followed the bat's instructions, busying herself with getting ready for bed, but not rushing to challenge the clock. Seemingly lethargic, she dragged herself about in a sluggish manner, finally flopping into bed.
Several minutes went by, and Amy hadn't moved from the spot she landed. Sighing, she rolled over, crawling up a bit to rest her head on her pillow.
She cracked an eye open, looking at the red digits on her alarm clock.
It read 9: 28.
Amy groaned audibly and flipped over onto her stomach, her arms around her pillow and her head on top of it. She closed her eyes again, breathing deeply.
A minute later she sat up, frowned at the pillow, shook it a few times, and flopped onto it again.
This was going to be a long night.
----------
The sudden sound of the loud, frequent beeps of her alarm clock woke Amy from her dreamless sleep. She sat up and smacked it as fast as her body would let her. It silenced, and once again the quiet was restored.
With a sigh the pink hedgehog ran her fingers through her slightly-tangled quills. Looking at the clock, Amy realized it was still quite early, she had plenty of time.
But then it hit her.
Today is the day!
A wave of excitement passed over her, but the feeling was soon replaced by a flutter of butterflies in her stomach. She smiled a bit, feeling more energetic. With a muffled thump her feet hit the floor, and Amy bounced off the bed and walked out of her room.
As she practically skipped down the hallway, the delectable scent of cooking food wafted through the air. Turning the corner to the kitchen, Amy found Rouge at the stove, tending to the frying pan, and Rhaja, tipping her chair backwards with her hands behind her head, resting. At the sound of Amy's entrance her trainer looked up and politely sat up straight.
"Oh, good morning Rhaja!" Amy said with a smile and a wave.
"Good morning," Rhaja motioned for Amy to take the seat across from her, which she did, "Did you sleep well?"
Amy yawned a bit, "Yeah, I was fine. Took me a while to get to sleep, I was kinda nervous," she explained.
"Was?" Rhaja eyed her with a smile.
Amy laughed, "Okay, I'm still nervous!"
Rouge chuckled, bringing over a plate of eggs ("You need protein!" Rhaja had always told her.) and toast for the two hedgehogs. Rhaja brushed a stray dark blue quill out of her eyes and served herself a healthy helping. Pulling up a chair, Rouge joined them at the table.
"There's no need to be nervous," the bat said calmly, "You'll do fine."
"Today is the preliminaries," Rhaja explained, "The elimination rounds are tomorrow. The judges and officials are just going to watch today's games and put all the players into classes. Then, tomorrow each class will have a number of rounds that will eliminate all but the top six in each class."
"Ohh," Amy said thoughtfully, tapping her fork against her chin, "So then the last day is the finals to determine the champions of each category."
"Exactly," Rhaja pushed out her chair and got up, placing her plate in the sink, "Almost done, Amy? We need to get working, we have to be at the stadium in two hours."
'Two hours?" Amy asked, confused, "But that's not for a while."
Rhaja smiled, "We're running." Seeing the expression on the pink hedgehog's face, she laughed, "Besides, we need to get there early to sign you in!"
"Okay," Amy put her dish in the sink and went to change. Minutes later she emerged from her room, with neat clothes and brushed quills. She put on and hastily tied her sneakers, putting on her backpack and meeting her instructor by the door.
Rhaja checked her watch, "Good, we have a lot of time. But doesn't mean we're going any slower."
Amy nodded, "Got it."
Rhaja nodded and in a split second she was off, dashing down the hallway at a fast jog. Amy sprinted to catch up with her, her shoes clunking down the hall as she raced to keep up.
The blue hedgehog ahead oh her skidded to a stop before the stairwell, waiting for a brief moment before pushing open the door. Amy braced herself and rammed into the door, keeping it from closing and opening it more at the same time. Rhaja was already on the first landing down, halfway between the 5th and 6th floors.
Like lightning, Amy's feet lightly bounced down the stairs, her heart racing. She leaned forward when she got to the landing, gathering speed as she jumped down the stairs two at a time.
Landing, she saw Rhaja smiling at her from a few feet away. "Good so far," she said with a smile, "But let's get going!" Her instructor dashed again, jumping onto the railing in the middle to skid down it quickly like a skateboarder. Amy ran down the stairs, only a step behind the dark blue hedgehog.
The two trained hedgehogs raced their way down the remaining stairs, their hair (though Rhaja's was considerably longer) blowing out behind them in their rush. Finally they burst out the doors to the city streets, where Rhaja lead the way at a jogging pace.
They went at a steady pace, comfortably but still pressed for time. Soon enough they had passed Zella's Cafe, where the red fox had waved them good morning from the kitchen's window.
After half an hour of a jog across the city, the stadium loomed ahead. It was actually three stadiums; one larger one and two smaller ones on the side. Usually they were used for major sports, such as football and soccer, but the tournament committee had rented the complex for the weekend.
The highest dome stood out like a mountain in the city's heart, the two smaller ones flanking it on either side. Made of supporting steel beams and glass windows, the largest dome was extravagantly built.
As they neared the massive arena, Rhaja slowed down to a walk. The sky was clear and cloudless, with the sun warming their shoulders. A great day to play croquet, in Amy's opinion.
"Wow..." Amy grinned, looking at the stadium with awe, "That's where I'll be playing?"
"Maybe," Rhaja said with a shrug, "We'll have to go to registration to find out. They have the schedule for today's matches."
"Okay!" Amy followed Rhaja into the lobby of the biggest stadium, where tables had been set up and staff had started the registration. The pink hedgehog was surprised to see how many people had came. The lines were somewhat long, with players and their parents or friends or instructors. Rhaja motioned for Amy to join her in the line, so she stood by her instructor's side as they waited. After quite a few minutes, Amy sighed, bored.
"Hey," said Rhaja calmly. Amy looked up, "See that guy over there?" She pointed to an echidna, white in color, with orange horizontal stripes across his dreadlocks. He was wearing a pair of baggy cargo pants, hardly what you would wear to a croquet tournament, but a mallet was in his hands and an orange ball sticking out of one pocket. His eyes were an emerald green to rival Amy's, and he had a multitude of chains and a spiky bracelet on.
"The one that looks like he should be in a punk rock band?" Amy said with a smile.
"Yeah. That's Kumar, a friend of mine. Great croquet player. And an awesome guitarist, too," Rhaja smirked, "And see the rabbit over there? She was a fellow coach of mine, we went to the same school, but she was a year older than me. And that cat? She's a champ! Makes good pizza too, I hear..." The minutes flew by as Rhaja pointed out old friends, colleagues and stars to Amy. The line got shorter as they neared the front of the line, not really paying attention, to immersed in looking for faces of students and champions.
As Rhaja was telling Amy about a croquet tournament that had been several years back, the pink hedgehog noticed that there was only one person in front of them. She tapped Rhaja on the shoulder, who immediately turned around with a questioning look.
"Oh!" she smiled, "Almost there, eh?"
Amy nodded, falling into step behind Rhaja as the blue hedgehog walked forward to the desk.
"Name?" the green hedgehog behind the desk asked the two, tapping the pen in her hand against her cheek.
"Rhajano Takashi," Rhaja said with confidence (as one should have with one's name). The woman looked at Amy, expecting her to name herself as well.
"Oh!" Amy said, slightly surprised, "I'm Amy Rose."
Checking through a list, the green hedgehog checked off their names.
"I'll need identification," she told them, putting the list aside and taking out a form, one for each of them.
The blue hedgehog fished into her pocket and pulled out her license, which the green hedgehog verified after a few seconds of copying down information. Amy had to give her the bus pass she used when she visited her friends on the other end of town, not having any other identification.
"You're all set!" the woman handed each of them a plastic card, "These are your ID badges, all your information is stored on them," she explained, "Over there is where you have to get your pictures taken, which they will scan onto the surface along with everything else."
Rhaja rolled her eyes, "I never liked that."
"Well, Miss Takashi," the green hedgehog said with a smile, "As a trained professional you should know that it's standard security policies."
"Yeah, yeah, I've heard it before," Rhaja said with a wave of her hand. "Come on, Amy, let's get this over with."
"Miss Rose," the green hedgehog said before Rhaja could drag her off, "Here is your ticket and number," she handed Amy a small plastic chip with the number '493' engraved on it, "That's so you'll know when your first match is."
"Thank you!" Amy called over her shoulder, an impatient instructor dragging her over to the line to take pictures.
"I thought you said you had everything all set," Amy said with a small smile.
Rhaja made a face, "I did," she said, waving her hand, "Besides, you heard the lady. We always have to do this stuff. I just got all the papers signed and stuff. We still have to take the pictures," Rhaja looked at the person in front of them, who had just gotten in place for their picture to be taken
"If you say so," Amy said with a shrug. Soon enough they were next, with Rhaja first (because Amy had said that she was 'nervous' about it and wanted Rhaja to go first, which reluctantly she did). The dark blue hedgehog just stood there, emotionless.
"Rha-jaaa," Amy groaned, "At least look ALIVE!"
"Fine, fine," the instructor grumbled, and smirked at the camera, just to be silly. To her surprise the camera clicked and flashed, sending sparks into her vision.
"Ah! Wait! I-"
"Sorry, Miss Takashi," the echidna taking the pictures said, "But we have a long line we have to keep moving. Next!"
Rhaja groaned as she was handed her ID back, with, in color, her picture in the top corner. Amy giggled, coming up to her with her own ID that had just been finished.
"Nice picture," she said with a laugh. Rhaja tried not to smile, but didn't succeed.
"C'mon...your division doesn't start for a while, let's go watch a match," Rhaja grinned, grabbing Amy's arm and walking toward the entrance to the stadium.
-----
Heh...sorry for the really really REALLY long wait for this chapter. Things have really gotten busy for me, and I ended up doing about 5 paragraphs a week.....Well, this chapter is very long!
See if you can match up the signatures with who they are!
I've decided that I'll start working on the next chapter right away, but I'll only post it after....18...maybe 20 reviews. Just to give me some time to work on it. Again, sorry for the wait, see you next chapter!
-YTN