S. Chensu: -_-
Luff: What's wrong?
S. Chensu: Despite the fact that lots of exciting things happened last episode, only one person reviewed! Anyway, thank you RichaCo for reviewing and I hope the rest of you get your act together!
Luff: Don't be so stressed, it's just a story. Even if you didn't review, I hope you liked that last chapter.
S. Chensu: This is probably the last episode of 'introduction' so to speak before the real action begins so from the next episode onwards, things get a lot more complicated.
Luff: In other words, enjoy the simplicities of girl problems while you still can.
S. Chensu: We don't own any of this (as per usual). The only things we own are the story and the characters Sammie, Emily, Dan, Sarah, Hannah, Peter and of course Marie.
Luff: Talking of her, this episode is mainly about her and Tails.
S. Chensu: Let's go!
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Episode thirteen: A result in events
It was a busy Saturday morning in the shopping centre of Bickley and Rouge, Sammie plus Emily were going from place to place, in the quest of their makeovers. At the moment, they were struggling with their bags while Rouge and Sammie argued amongst themselves.
"Come on Sammie, you can't be serious! You need new shoes, you can't wear the ones you've got with that skirt!" Rouge said with exasperation.
"And what makes you think I care? I don't want a boyfriend, if I did I would dress up quite happily." Sammie snapped.
"It's not just about that, it's about giving yourself some confidence."
"I have confidence because I know that I can kick anyone's ass." She pointed out.
"I'm not sure about that, after all, you haven't tested your skills against Knuckles yet."
"Knuckles? Pah, I'd have no problems with him. He would just be embarrassed at being within five foot of the female species!" Sammie retorted.
"What do you mean?"
"Knuckles is afraid you'll react very badly if he went near a girl after what happened with Gillian."
"How do you know that?" Rouge demanded.
"It's obvious from the way he acts. But maybe he's just wary around all strangers. We'll pick him up on the way home if he isn't doing anything." Emily suggested.
It was at this point that Sammie saw a shoe shop up the road. No wanting Rouge to notice this, she tried to get her attention. It was in vain though as she saw it at the same time.
"Oh look, another shoe shop! Come on Sammie, you /will/ buy some new shoes." Rouge said with determination.
"But I don't want to!" Sammie whined. She was eventually dragged into the shop but only after being promised that she did not have to buy anything if they were really bad. Sammie knew however that Rouge would do her best to convince her otherwise. Emily was just relieved that she could now finally sit down and rest while she watched Rouge and Sammie have yet another argument with great amusement.
"Rouge, can't we do this another day? This is getting really boring now." Sammie sighed as Rouge ignored her and continued to pass shoes to her.
"What about one of these?" Rouge asked.
"I can see that you are going to ignore me until I try these on..." she muttered as she sat down.
She tried them on one by one and soon the shoes were in two piles, the 'definitely not' one and the 'maybe' one. The 'definitely not' one was somewhat larger than the other and Rouge sighed in frustration.
"Sammie, you can't keep doing this you know."
"Why not? The pair of shoes I have at the moment are perfectly fine; I don't need a new pair! It's not like I'm going to get more respect or popularity because of it or anything."
"Sammie, we've been over this a hundred times! Why are you trying to make things difficult?" Rouge demanded.
"Because I can and because I will. I'm not about to give in, so why do you think I will?"
"Because I'm not going to give in either!" She snapped.
"Fine them! I'm fed up with this, I'm going home." Sammie stood up abruptly and grabbing her bags, stormed out of the shop.
"I don't think she'll be buying any shoes today." Emily commented.
"She is such a little madam! Is she always like that?" Rouge inquired, watching after her.
"She has a temper, you just have to be careful you don't rub her up the wrong way." Emily began to put the shoes away and Rouge helped her. Once they had finished, they left the shop. "Come on, let's go and get Knuckles. I'm sure Sammie will calm down after she's taken out her anger on him."
"I don't think I want my boyfriend being permanently injured by her..."
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They got back to the apartments and found Knuckles looking very bored. He agreed to go with them and they eventually got to Emily and Sammie's house. It was an average semi detached with the normal number of rooms and a small garden at the front. There was a driveway but no car and Rouge commented on this.
"My mum and dad are out today. They won't be back until late." Emily replied, unlocking the door. Dumping her bags in the living room, Emily stood at the bottom of the stairs and looked up. "Sammie, are you up there?" She shouted. When she got no response, she shrugged her shoulders. "Must be out the back then..." She walked through the kitchen and Knuckles and Rouge followed her.
Most of the back garden seemed to have disappeared and had been replaced with a large shed.
"What's in there?" Rouge asked.
"This is Sammie's training ground." Emily said, listening carefully. "And it sounds like she's in there." She opened the door and stepped in, leaving Rouge and Knuckles to stare in amazement at the room. It had been totally dedicated to martial arts with posters all around the walls. The floor was made up of polished floorboards and Sammie was now moving around a punch bag, which hung from the ceiling. She was dressed in blue tracksuit bottoms and multicoloured strappy top.
When she saw them, she stopped what she was doing and wiped her face with a towel.
"Hi Sammie, feeling better?" Emily asked with a smile.
"Yeah, you know, taking my anger out on the punch bag. I just-" She stopped suddenly when she saw Rouge standing beside Emily and quickly changed the direction of the conversation. "I was...just finishing." She said instead.
"That's strange, you looked like you had just got into the swing of things." Rouge said coldly, glaring at her.
"Well the punch bag is swinging but I don't know about me." Sammie said, shrugging her shoulders. Meanwhile, Knuckles was looking around the room in fascination.
"Do you go in here every day?" He asked.
"If I don't have a lesson in the afternoon." She saw the look on his face. "You like it?"
"I haven't done any martial arts for ages..." He looked wistfully at the punching bag, causing Sammie to smile.
"You can have a go on the punch bag if you want."
"Hey why don't you two have a fight? I'd love to see Sammie try some stuff out." Rouge suggested.
"Yeah, that sounds like a great idea! Knuckles gets some practise and Sammie gets to finally compete with someone with a similar skill level to her." Emily added.
"I don't know...I don't want to attack a girl." Knuckles said nervously.
"You didn't have a problem with attacking me not so long ago." Rouge pointed out. "Anyway, I'm sure Sammie can handle it."
"Of course I can! There's no reason for you to immediately assume you can beat me." She ran a few steps away from them before doing a flip. "Will you fight me?" She turned around and faced him.
"Um...I suppose so." He glanced downwards and saw a circle had been set into the floor. He moved so he was facing Sammie in the middle of the circle and stood in a fighting pose.
"You think you can beat me?"
"I err-"
"Come on sonny boy, if you think you're good enough." She coaxed him towards her with her finger, a small smile on her face (Note from S. Chensu: Ooh, just like in the Matrix).
He moved to punch her but she jumped into the air, aiming at his face with her foot. Too quick for her, he grabbed her leg, twisting it so she was put off balance. She countered by using his shoulder as a lift off point using her other foot and landed behind him. This caused Knuckles to fall to his knees and he blinked, confused. No one had ever caused him this much trouble before, except for Sonic. But this was different, they knew that Knuckles was the martial arts expert and here he was, being beaten by a girl.
He pushed himself back onto his feet, bending backwards to avoid a hand heading straight for his head. Leaning on one arm, he knocked Sammie over with a leg, totally surprising her. He jumped up and placed a foot lightly on her stomach.
"I am good enough." He said, staring down at her and she laughed.
"That's your problem Knuckles, you're think the fight finishes when the enemy is down on the ground." She threw her weight backwards, kicking Knuckles in the groin. He yelled in pain, falling over on his side. He continued to grimace as Sammie looked down at him. "The fight finishes when the enemy can't get back off the ground." He rolled over so he was lying on his back.
"You cheated, you only did that because you knew it would hurt. You haven't won at all." He said, gasping for breath.
"But isn't that how you work Knuckles? Do whatever you have to do to survive? I didn't think of you as the sort of person who lived by morals and rules." She offered him a hand and taking it, she pulled him up. "Thank you for the fight Knuckles."
"I'm glad I could give you such delight." He said and looked over to where Emily and Rouge had sat themselves down on a bench.
Emily and Rouge stared in surprise at the two of them, both of them impressed and slightly scared by Sammie.
"Good fight. You both did very well and only one slightly twisted ankle and a groin injury. I tell you Knuckles, you're one of the lucky ones." Emily said, looking thoughtful. "I remember one guy who couldn't sit down for a week after he'd picked a fight with her." Rouge visibly blanched at this.
"Definitely one of the lucky ones..." She said slightly faintly.
"It wasn't my fault though, he did provoke me." Sammie pointed out.
"Oh well, I enjoyed it. Maybe you two should get together again some time soon. Perhaps we could get the others to come and see it, charge them money..." Emily suggested, a grin on her face.
"Maybe later but for now, I need a drink..." Sammie said and the four of them went to the kitchen to get drinks and food.
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Monday arrived and Tails walked to school, wondering what would happen after the events on Friday. The bruise was better than before and now it just looked worse than it felt. He walked through the school gates and was met by Dan and Sarah.
"Hi Tails." Dan said awkwardly.
"Look, we're really sorry for Friday. If we'd known the truth then we'd have never done it." Sarah added quietly.
"Of course you wouldn't have done it, unless you go around punching people normally." Tails snapped.
"Yes, it does seem like a stupid thing to say doesn't it?" Sarah said and she smiled.
"I hope we can be friends again Tails." Dan said and Tails frowned.
"I don't know you two. So far I've only made one discovery about this place and that is the people in it are ready to hurt someone because of something they've heard." There was an awkward silence so Tails just shrugged his shoulders and left them standing there.
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A week passed and things had settled back down into normality. Everyone was getting on all right at school, although things were still a bit stiff with Tails. The conversation he had had with Dan and Sarah hadn't really been continued and he still wasn't sure whether he could trust them or not. He had become quite good friends with Hannah and Peter though, he enjoyed being with them. Marie was...
Well, it was hard for Tails to be able to decide how he felt about her. It changed from day to day. Most of the time she was just Marie, no one special or worth making a note of. They didn't really talk, not because they wouldn't but there wasn't much they could talk to each other about. Tails realised he didn't know anything about her and he was still not sure whether he wanted to find out anything either. Other times though...he wondered what it would be like if they did talk, if they could become friends, forgetting what had happened between them. She was pretty but Tails thought that was just being shallow, you couldn't like someone just because of how they looked. It could play a part but no more.
As Tails walked into school on Monday, he wondered if this week would be different from the last. Less silence, more laughter. The latter he hoped and as he saw Marie walking up to him, he decided that there was no reason why it shouldn't be the latter.
"Hey Tails, have a nice weekend?" She asked when she had reached him.
"Yeah, it was all right I suppose..." The weekend was actually quite boring. Sonic, Knuckles and Rouge had coursework so they didn't go out and Tails just couldn't be bothered to do anything. Anyway, he had had a lot of thinking to do. "What about you?"
"I did some research over the weekend on my family tree. Can you remember when you wondered if we were related?" Yes, he could remember, back in the days when there were no silences.
"Yeah, I remember."
"Well I looked at my family tree and it turns out that we are! Mind you, the connection does go back at least ten generations but it's definitely there. Don't you think that's cool?" She looked excited but to be honest, it didn't fill him with the same emotion. He felt like saying 'so what' but realised that wouldn't be a good idea so he smiled instead.
"That's cool!" It wasn't really though. If he was on there, then so were his parents and he didn't like thinking about them.
"Maybe you can tell your parents about it when you get back to Japan." The story that Rouge had made up was agreed on by all and so it was the one that Tails kept to. He had never mentioned his family though.
"I probably won't, I haven't seen or heard from them since they abandoned me when I was a baby." The smile on Marie's face disappeared and she bit her lip, not sure of what to say.
Just then, they heard the bell go and Marie walked towards the classroom, glad of the interruption in the silence that had descended over the two of them.
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It was now Wednesday and Marie was having a history lesson, which was boring as usual. She didn't know why anyone would want to study a bunch of prehistoric cavemen who couldn't even string a sentence together. So instead she thought about Tails and occasionally looked at him. This was made difficult because she sat next to him and she could only see him out of the corner of her eyes, which made them hurt. So in the end, she settled to just thinking about him.
Although it had been a shock when she had first heard him say it, Marie now wondered how she didn't realise it before. She didn't know anyone who had been abandoned by their parents but he seemed to have this coolness, this barrier about him. He didn't trust anyone apart from Sonic and the others but that was because he had known them for years. At first Marie thought it was because of what had happened and that was still true. But now she knew about Tails, it opened up a new horizon of her understanding of him. Not that she did really but it gave her the background, why he was distrustful of strangers.
She had hoped that the family tree thing would have allowed them to start talking again but it had only made things worse. Now he kept giving her looks, as though expecting her to confirm his thoughts. His thoughts of what, she wasn't sure but it was like he was expecting a judgement. She didn't care about what had happened to him in the past, it didn't change him as a person for her. She wasn't put off by it; it had merely make her think about him more.
She wanted to be friends with him but every time she was near him, she got the look. She didn't know how to get past it so she could talk to him. Not some act he put on, but /him/. She had considered talking to Sonic but after walking home a few times with him, she knew he wasn't going to be good at that sort of thing. And he just didn't seem that close to the others, even though he knew them fairly well. Dan and Sarah wouldn't understand but maybe Peter and Hannah would...
She tracked them down at lunchtime and found them sitting on a bench together, talking about something or other. It didn't matter anyway, because they stopped as soon as she came over.
"Hey guys, can we talk?" Marie said as she sat down next to Hannah.
"I assume this has something to do with Tails?" Hannah said.
"You're right as usual. What am I going to do? I've completely messed things up and now he won't do anything apart from glare at me."
"He's waiting for you to tell him that you're going to abandon him too, or show him at least." Peter said, shrugging his shoulders.
"How do you know about that?"
"He told us after we asked him why he kept looking at you like that. He wouldn't say what had happened, only that it had. He's confused Marie, I think you should make your feelings clear to him." Hannah suggested.
"I don't know what to make of him. He keeps swinging from one emotion to another...the only way I feel at the moment is confused."
She stopped when she saw Tails walking towards them. He paused, seeing her but then continued and this filled her with hope. She smiled at him and he frowned slightly, not sure how to take this.
"Hi Tails, you sitting or standing?" Peter asked friendlily and this seemed to snap him out his puzzlement.
"I'll stand thanks." He said, looking at Marie as he said this. She sighed silently, his words confirming he was still angry with her.
"Well I suppose I'll be going then." She made to stand up but was stopped by a hand on her arm.
"It's not like you have anywhere important to go." Hannah whispered.
"I just-" She stopped and shook her head. "Never mind." They sat in awkward silence for a few minutes, Peter and Tails fully aware of what was going on.
"Not long 'til the weekend now eh?"
"Yeah, not that I'll be doing anything anyway. Sonic, Rouge and Knuckles have loads of coursework to do at the moment and it's really boring." Tails commented.
"It's the same for all of us. My brother keeps snapping at me every time I look happy or go out because he knows he can't." Hannah added.
"Gillian seems to spend most of her time round Sammie and Emily's doing her coursework so luckily I haven't had to deal with her too much." Marie said.
"It's all right for some..." Peter muttered. "Hey, maybe we could do something at the weekend. Go to the cinema or something."
"That sounds good. We could go see that new comedy with Oliver Flower in it."
"You only want to see it because it's got him in it!" Peter protested.
"And your point is?"
"I don't want to spend two hours with you drooling over him. Let's go see The Surrounding Substance: Refill instead."
"That's full of blood and violence though." Hannah pointed out.
"Exactly. A film isn't a film if it doesn't have some violence in it." Peter said.
"We'll never get into it, it's a fifteen." Tails said. "We're only nine after all."
"What are we going to see then?" Hannah asked.
"Lets just go see the Buccaneers of Hawaii." Peter said resignedly.
"I knew you would say that." Hannah said as she shared a grin with Marie.
"Oliver Flower, here we come!" Marie said, swooning. Tails rolled his eyes and shook his head.
"Pathetic." He muttered, loudly enough for her to hear.
"Oh so I'm pathetic am I? You're the one that's being all pathetic, assuming that I'm not going to talk to you again because of what happened in the past! Why do you have to make things so complicated?" She stood up and walked away, ignoring Hannah and Peter's shouts.
When school ended Marie walked out quickly, not wanting any of the others to catch up with her. She paused momentarily though when she heard Tails shout her name.
"Marie! Wait up!" He caught up with her and stood for a moment to catch his breath. Once he was able to speak normally again, he looked at her sadly. "Can we talk?"
"As long as it's not here." Marie said shortly and Tails merely nodded his head before walking over to where Shadow was.
"Shadow I'm going to be home late ok?" Shadow raised an eyebrow and held out a hand.
"Do you want me to take your bag for you?"
"Yes...please. Shadow, don't tell the others what I'm doing please." Shadow glanced to where Marie was and nodded.
"Of course not. Just try not to be too long, and good luck." He started to walk away before Tails could ask what he meant by 'good luck'.
He turned back to find Marie and was surprised to find her standing only a couple of feet away. She didn't say anything and merely started to walk out of the school. He followed her, wondering where they were going to go.
He found out twenty silent minutes later when they entered the park. Marie was now walking at a more leisurely pace, whereas before she had been practically storming down the road, refusing to look either left or right. She eventually stopped at a bench overlooking the lake and Tails realised that this was the bench that he and Rouge had sat on, when he was talking about her only a couple of weeks ago.
She sat down on the bench and Tails hesitated before sitting on it too, wondering why Marie had chosen this place to talk.
"Marie, I'm really sorry about the last few days." He said eventually, breaking the silence.
"I think things have been going wrong for a few weeks now, haven't they? We should be friends but..."
"We're not." Tails finished for her. "I don't think I expected things to be like this. I didn't think I would find someone like me, someone who had suffered because of what they looked like."
"Yeah me too." She nodded in agreement and gazed into his eyes. "Can we be friends Tails?" She asked quietly.
"Of course we can...if you can forgive me." She smiled and hugged him tightly, causing Tails to blush slightly.
"I forgive you." She whispered and she kissed him on the cheek.
Tails flinched in surprise and she gasped, staring at him in shock. She let go of him quickly and looked down.
"I'm sorry Tails, I don't know what came over me..." She whispered but he took her hand in his and shook his head.
"It doesn't matter, I...I liked it." He mumbled, drawing her into a tight hug. They sat like this for a while, finding comfort in each other's arms. Marie eventually sat up and squeezed Tails' hand.
"What does this mean Tails? Are we...?"
"Don't worry about what we are. We'll find out what we are one day." Tails promised her and they stood up, walking hand in hand back to the entrance of the park. Marie gave him another small kiss before walking back to her house.
Tails walked home in a daze, not quite sure of what had happened. All he knew was that he and Marie had something that maybe other friends didn't have. Maybe it was the fact that they had been through so much. Maybe...
~But it's no use thinking like this.~ Tails thought. ~I will find out what it is, but it's too soon. Maybe one day...~
He knocked on the door and was immediately bombarded by questions when Eggman opened it.
"Where have you been? Shadow comes home with your bag and won't say where you've gone or anything! You had better have a good excuse!" Tails hadn't seen Eggman this angry for some time and it made him slightly fearful. However, he was saved by Rouge who had also come into the hall.
"Aw, don't be like that with him! I'm sure he's got a good enough reason. It has been funny seeing Shadow sitting on the sofa legs crossed and eyes closed, refusing to even open his mouth." Tails wondered what she meant as he walked down the hall until he saw Sonic and Knuckles standing in front Shadow who looked like he was meditating. Just then, they saw Tails and Sonic rushed over to where he was.
"Tails, don't ever do that again! You had me really worried." He scolded as Tails sat down on the sofa next to Shadow.
"Shadow, you can open your eyes now." Tails joked and he turned to look at Tails. "Thanks for not telling them." "That's ok. You should probably tell them now though." He suggested and he nodded his head, waiting for the others to sit down.
"So then, where were you?" Eggman asked.
"Well, I..." Tails wasn't sure how to word it and seeing this, Rouge cupped his face with her hands and stared into his eyes.
"I think we have a case of lover boy." She concluded after a few moments.
"Noooooooo! Tails, I thought you said you were never going to get a girlfriend! We were going to be single forever and now you've done this to me." Sonic wailed and Tails sighed.
"Marie isn't my girlfriend. We've just come to an understanding, that's all." He corrected and Eggman nodded knowingly.
"Oh so that's why you were gone. Are you talking now?"
"Yeah, we're talking."
"Snogging more like!" Sonic earned a punch on the arm for that from Rouge.
"Well I think it's sweet. I'm glad you've finally made up with each other." She said. "Men have no understanding of emotions."
"I don't need to though! Neither did Tails..." Sonic said sadly and Tails laughed.
"Don't worry Sonic, I'm not going to start writing poetry or anything like that. I don't even know what Marie and me are yet; we're just taking it in our own pace."
"But why wouldn't you let Shadow tell us what you were doing?" Knuckles asked.
"I wanted to tell you what happened myself, instead of Shadow saying and you making assumptions which might have been wrong. It wasn't for any other reason than that."
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As Tails lay in his bed that night, he wondered what Hannah and Peter would say about it. ~They probably wouldn't be surprised...~ Tails thought and he laughed silently. ~They seem to know what's going to happen before it does anyway. I'm glad Rouge supported me back there; I don't know what things are going to be like between Sonic and me now...~
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Luff: Ah, nice and short!
S. Chensu: Which should mean that you have enough time to review it!
Luff: Will you stop going on about that? You'll scare them all of if you're not careful!
S. Chensu: I suppose so.
Luff: Anyway, as it's half term, we're going on holiday for a couple of days so that should hopefully be a good time for us to get at least episode 14 done, and hopefully 15 too.
S. Chensu: Yes, we have /still/ not written them but I promise they will be up at the right times.
Luff: See, now you've just put lots of pressure on us!
S. Chensu: Maybe that's what we need to get them done.
Luff: Humph, maybe... Anyway, please review and until next week, enjoy life!
S. Chensu: And half term if you're currently on one like we are!
Luff: What's wrong?
S. Chensu: Despite the fact that lots of exciting things happened last episode, only one person reviewed! Anyway, thank you RichaCo for reviewing and I hope the rest of you get your act together!
Luff: Don't be so stressed, it's just a story. Even if you didn't review, I hope you liked that last chapter.
S. Chensu: This is probably the last episode of 'introduction' so to speak before the real action begins so from the next episode onwards, things get a lot more complicated.
Luff: In other words, enjoy the simplicities of girl problems while you still can.
S. Chensu: We don't own any of this (as per usual). The only things we own are the story and the characters Sammie, Emily, Dan, Sarah, Hannah, Peter and of course Marie.
Luff: Talking of her, this episode is mainly about her and Tails.
S. Chensu: Let's go!
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Episode thirteen: A result in events
It was a busy Saturday morning in the shopping centre of Bickley and Rouge, Sammie plus Emily were going from place to place, in the quest of their makeovers. At the moment, they were struggling with their bags while Rouge and Sammie argued amongst themselves.
"Come on Sammie, you can't be serious! You need new shoes, you can't wear the ones you've got with that skirt!" Rouge said with exasperation.
"And what makes you think I care? I don't want a boyfriend, if I did I would dress up quite happily." Sammie snapped.
"It's not just about that, it's about giving yourself some confidence."
"I have confidence because I know that I can kick anyone's ass." She pointed out.
"I'm not sure about that, after all, you haven't tested your skills against Knuckles yet."
"Knuckles? Pah, I'd have no problems with him. He would just be embarrassed at being within five foot of the female species!" Sammie retorted.
"What do you mean?"
"Knuckles is afraid you'll react very badly if he went near a girl after what happened with Gillian."
"How do you know that?" Rouge demanded.
"It's obvious from the way he acts. But maybe he's just wary around all strangers. We'll pick him up on the way home if he isn't doing anything." Emily suggested.
It was at this point that Sammie saw a shoe shop up the road. No wanting Rouge to notice this, she tried to get her attention. It was in vain though as she saw it at the same time.
"Oh look, another shoe shop! Come on Sammie, you /will/ buy some new shoes." Rouge said with determination.
"But I don't want to!" Sammie whined. She was eventually dragged into the shop but only after being promised that she did not have to buy anything if they were really bad. Sammie knew however that Rouge would do her best to convince her otherwise. Emily was just relieved that she could now finally sit down and rest while she watched Rouge and Sammie have yet another argument with great amusement.
"Rouge, can't we do this another day? This is getting really boring now." Sammie sighed as Rouge ignored her and continued to pass shoes to her.
"What about one of these?" Rouge asked.
"I can see that you are going to ignore me until I try these on..." she muttered as she sat down.
She tried them on one by one and soon the shoes were in two piles, the 'definitely not' one and the 'maybe' one. The 'definitely not' one was somewhat larger than the other and Rouge sighed in frustration.
"Sammie, you can't keep doing this you know."
"Why not? The pair of shoes I have at the moment are perfectly fine; I don't need a new pair! It's not like I'm going to get more respect or popularity because of it or anything."
"Sammie, we've been over this a hundred times! Why are you trying to make things difficult?" Rouge demanded.
"Because I can and because I will. I'm not about to give in, so why do you think I will?"
"Because I'm not going to give in either!" She snapped.
"Fine them! I'm fed up with this, I'm going home." Sammie stood up abruptly and grabbing her bags, stormed out of the shop.
"I don't think she'll be buying any shoes today." Emily commented.
"She is such a little madam! Is she always like that?" Rouge inquired, watching after her.
"She has a temper, you just have to be careful you don't rub her up the wrong way." Emily began to put the shoes away and Rouge helped her. Once they had finished, they left the shop. "Come on, let's go and get Knuckles. I'm sure Sammie will calm down after she's taken out her anger on him."
"I don't think I want my boyfriend being permanently injured by her..."
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They got back to the apartments and found Knuckles looking very bored. He agreed to go with them and they eventually got to Emily and Sammie's house. It was an average semi detached with the normal number of rooms and a small garden at the front. There was a driveway but no car and Rouge commented on this.
"My mum and dad are out today. They won't be back until late." Emily replied, unlocking the door. Dumping her bags in the living room, Emily stood at the bottom of the stairs and looked up. "Sammie, are you up there?" She shouted. When she got no response, she shrugged her shoulders. "Must be out the back then..." She walked through the kitchen and Knuckles and Rouge followed her.
Most of the back garden seemed to have disappeared and had been replaced with a large shed.
"What's in there?" Rouge asked.
"This is Sammie's training ground." Emily said, listening carefully. "And it sounds like she's in there." She opened the door and stepped in, leaving Rouge and Knuckles to stare in amazement at the room. It had been totally dedicated to martial arts with posters all around the walls. The floor was made up of polished floorboards and Sammie was now moving around a punch bag, which hung from the ceiling. She was dressed in blue tracksuit bottoms and multicoloured strappy top.
When she saw them, she stopped what she was doing and wiped her face with a towel.
"Hi Sammie, feeling better?" Emily asked with a smile.
"Yeah, you know, taking my anger out on the punch bag. I just-" She stopped suddenly when she saw Rouge standing beside Emily and quickly changed the direction of the conversation. "I was...just finishing." She said instead.
"That's strange, you looked like you had just got into the swing of things." Rouge said coldly, glaring at her.
"Well the punch bag is swinging but I don't know about me." Sammie said, shrugging her shoulders. Meanwhile, Knuckles was looking around the room in fascination.
"Do you go in here every day?" He asked.
"If I don't have a lesson in the afternoon." She saw the look on his face. "You like it?"
"I haven't done any martial arts for ages..." He looked wistfully at the punching bag, causing Sammie to smile.
"You can have a go on the punch bag if you want."
"Hey why don't you two have a fight? I'd love to see Sammie try some stuff out." Rouge suggested.
"Yeah, that sounds like a great idea! Knuckles gets some practise and Sammie gets to finally compete with someone with a similar skill level to her." Emily added.
"I don't know...I don't want to attack a girl." Knuckles said nervously.
"You didn't have a problem with attacking me not so long ago." Rouge pointed out. "Anyway, I'm sure Sammie can handle it."
"Of course I can! There's no reason for you to immediately assume you can beat me." She ran a few steps away from them before doing a flip. "Will you fight me?" She turned around and faced him.
"Um...I suppose so." He glanced downwards and saw a circle had been set into the floor. He moved so he was facing Sammie in the middle of the circle and stood in a fighting pose.
"You think you can beat me?"
"I err-"
"Come on sonny boy, if you think you're good enough." She coaxed him towards her with her finger, a small smile on her face (Note from S. Chensu: Ooh, just like in the Matrix).
He moved to punch her but she jumped into the air, aiming at his face with her foot. Too quick for her, he grabbed her leg, twisting it so she was put off balance. She countered by using his shoulder as a lift off point using her other foot and landed behind him. This caused Knuckles to fall to his knees and he blinked, confused. No one had ever caused him this much trouble before, except for Sonic. But this was different, they knew that Knuckles was the martial arts expert and here he was, being beaten by a girl.
He pushed himself back onto his feet, bending backwards to avoid a hand heading straight for his head. Leaning on one arm, he knocked Sammie over with a leg, totally surprising her. He jumped up and placed a foot lightly on her stomach.
"I am good enough." He said, staring down at her and she laughed.
"That's your problem Knuckles, you're think the fight finishes when the enemy is down on the ground." She threw her weight backwards, kicking Knuckles in the groin. He yelled in pain, falling over on his side. He continued to grimace as Sammie looked down at him. "The fight finishes when the enemy can't get back off the ground." He rolled over so he was lying on his back.
"You cheated, you only did that because you knew it would hurt. You haven't won at all." He said, gasping for breath.
"But isn't that how you work Knuckles? Do whatever you have to do to survive? I didn't think of you as the sort of person who lived by morals and rules." She offered him a hand and taking it, she pulled him up. "Thank you for the fight Knuckles."
"I'm glad I could give you such delight." He said and looked over to where Emily and Rouge had sat themselves down on a bench.
Emily and Rouge stared in surprise at the two of them, both of them impressed and slightly scared by Sammie.
"Good fight. You both did very well and only one slightly twisted ankle and a groin injury. I tell you Knuckles, you're one of the lucky ones." Emily said, looking thoughtful. "I remember one guy who couldn't sit down for a week after he'd picked a fight with her." Rouge visibly blanched at this.
"Definitely one of the lucky ones..." She said slightly faintly.
"It wasn't my fault though, he did provoke me." Sammie pointed out.
"Oh well, I enjoyed it. Maybe you two should get together again some time soon. Perhaps we could get the others to come and see it, charge them money..." Emily suggested, a grin on her face.
"Maybe later but for now, I need a drink..." Sammie said and the four of them went to the kitchen to get drinks and food.
************************
Monday arrived and Tails walked to school, wondering what would happen after the events on Friday. The bruise was better than before and now it just looked worse than it felt. He walked through the school gates and was met by Dan and Sarah.
"Hi Tails." Dan said awkwardly.
"Look, we're really sorry for Friday. If we'd known the truth then we'd have never done it." Sarah added quietly.
"Of course you wouldn't have done it, unless you go around punching people normally." Tails snapped.
"Yes, it does seem like a stupid thing to say doesn't it?" Sarah said and she smiled.
"I hope we can be friends again Tails." Dan said and Tails frowned.
"I don't know you two. So far I've only made one discovery about this place and that is the people in it are ready to hurt someone because of something they've heard." There was an awkward silence so Tails just shrugged his shoulders and left them standing there.
************************
A week passed and things had settled back down into normality. Everyone was getting on all right at school, although things were still a bit stiff with Tails. The conversation he had had with Dan and Sarah hadn't really been continued and he still wasn't sure whether he could trust them or not. He had become quite good friends with Hannah and Peter though, he enjoyed being with them. Marie was...
Well, it was hard for Tails to be able to decide how he felt about her. It changed from day to day. Most of the time she was just Marie, no one special or worth making a note of. They didn't really talk, not because they wouldn't but there wasn't much they could talk to each other about. Tails realised he didn't know anything about her and he was still not sure whether he wanted to find out anything either. Other times though...he wondered what it would be like if they did talk, if they could become friends, forgetting what had happened between them. She was pretty but Tails thought that was just being shallow, you couldn't like someone just because of how they looked. It could play a part but no more.
As Tails walked into school on Monday, he wondered if this week would be different from the last. Less silence, more laughter. The latter he hoped and as he saw Marie walking up to him, he decided that there was no reason why it shouldn't be the latter.
"Hey Tails, have a nice weekend?" She asked when she had reached him.
"Yeah, it was all right I suppose..." The weekend was actually quite boring. Sonic, Knuckles and Rouge had coursework so they didn't go out and Tails just couldn't be bothered to do anything. Anyway, he had had a lot of thinking to do. "What about you?"
"I did some research over the weekend on my family tree. Can you remember when you wondered if we were related?" Yes, he could remember, back in the days when there were no silences.
"Yeah, I remember."
"Well I looked at my family tree and it turns out that we are! Mind you, the connection does go back at least ten generations but it's definitely there. Don't you think that's cool?" She looked excited but to be honest, it didn't fill him with the same emotion. He felt like saying 'so what' but realised that wouldn't be a good idea so he smiled instead.
"That's cool!" It wasn't really though. If he was on there, then so were his parents and he didn't like thinking about them.
"Maybe you can tell your parents about it when you get back to Japan." The story that Rouge had made up was agreed on by all and so it was the one that Tails kept to. He had never mentioned his family though.
"I probably won't, I haven't seen or heard from them since they abandoned me when I was a baby." The smile on Marie's face disappeared and she bit her lip, not sure of what to say.
Just then, they heard the bell go and Marie walked towards the classroom, glad of the interruption in the silence that had descended over the two of them.
************************
It was now Wednesday and Marie was having a history lesson, which was boring as usual. She didn't know why anyone would want to study a bunch of prehistoric cavemen who couldn't even string a sentence together. So instead she thought about Tails and occasionally looked at him. This was made difficult because she sat next to him and she could only see him out of the corner of her eyes, which made them hurt. So in the end, she settled to just thinking about him.
Although it had been a shock when she had first heard him say it, Marie now wondered how she didn't realise it before. She didn't know anyone who had been abandoned by their parents but he seemed to have this coolness, this barrier about him. He didn't trust anyone apart from Sonic and the others but that was because he had known them for years. At first Marie thought it was because of what had happened and that was still true. But now she knew about Tails, it opened up a new horizon of her understanding of him. Not that she did really but it gave her the background, why he was distrustful of strangers.
She had hoped that the family tree thing would have allowed them to start talking again but it had only made things worse. Now he kept giving her looks, as though expecting her to confirm his thoughts. His thoughts of what, she wasn't sure but it was like he was expecting a judgement. She didn't care about what had happened to him in the past, it didn't change him as a person for her. She wasn't put off by it; it had merely make her think about him more.
She wanted to be friends with him but every time she was near him, she got the look. She didn't know how to get past it so she could talk to him. Not some act he put on, but /him/. She had considered talking to Sonic but after walking home a few times with him, she knew he wasn't going to be good at that sort of thing. And he just didn't seem that close to the others, even though he knew them fairly well. Dan and Sarah wouldn't understand but maybe Peter and Hannah would...
She tracked them down at lunchtime and found them sitting on a bench together, talking about something or other. It didn't matter anyway, because they stopped as soon as she came over.
"Hey guys, can we talk?" Marie said as she sat down next to Hannah.
"I assume this has something to do with Tails?" Hannah said.
"You're right as usual. What am I going to do? I've completely messed things up and now he won't do anything apart from glare at me."
"He's waiting for you to tell him that you're going to abandon him too, or show him at least." Peter said, shrugging his shoulders.
"How do you know about that?"
"He told us after we asked him why he kept looking at you like that. He wouldn't say what had happened, only that it had. He's confused Marie, I think you should make your feelings clear to him." Hannah suggested.
"I don't know what to make of him. He keeps swinging from one emotion to another...the only way I feel at the moment is confused."
She stopped when she saw Tails walking towards them. He paused, seeing her but then continued and this filled her with hope. She smiled at him and he frowned slightly, not sure how to take this.
"Hi Tails, you sitting or standing?" Peter asked friendlily and this seemed to snap him out his puzzlement.
"I'll stand thanks." He said, looking at Marie as he said this. She sighed silently, his words confirming he was still angry with her.
"Well I suppose I'll be going then." She made to stand up but was stopped by a hand on her arm.
"It's not like you have anywhere important to go." Hannah whispered.
"I just-" She stopped and shook her head. "Never mind." They sat in awkward silence for a few minutes, Peter and Tails fully aware of what was going on.
"Not long 'til the weekend now eh?"
"Yeah, not that I'll be doing anything anyway. Sonic, Rouge and Knuckles have loads of coursework to do at the moment and it's really boring." Tails commented.
"It's the same for all of us. My brother keeps snapping at me every time I look happy or go out because he knows he can't." Hannah added.
"Gillian seems to spend most of her time round Sammie and Emily's doing her coursework so luckily I haven't had to deal with her too much." Marie said.
"It's all right for some..." Peter muttered. "Hey, maybe we could do something at the weekend. Go to the cinema or something."
"That sounds good. We could go see that new comedy with Oliver Flower in it."
"You only want to see it because it's got him in it!" Peter protested.
"And your point is?"
"I don't want to spend two hours with you drooling over him. Let's go see The Surrounding Substance: Refill instead."
"That's full of blood and violence though." Hannah pointed out.
"Exactly. A film isn't a film if it doesn't have some violence in it." Peter said.
"We'll never get into it, it's a fifteen." Tails said. "We're only nine after all."
"What are we going to see then?" Hannah asked.
"Lets just go see the Buccaneers of Hawaii." Peter said resignedly.
"I knew you would say that." Hannah said as she shared a grin with Marie.
"Oliver Flower, here we come!" Marie said, swooning. Tails rolled his eyes and shook his head.
"Pathetic." He muttered, loudly enough for her to hear.
"Oh so I'm pathetic am I? You're the one that's being all pathetic, assuming that I'm not going to talk to you again because of what happened in the past! Why do you have to make things so complicated?" She stood up and walked away, ignoring Hannah and Peter's shouts.
When school ended Marie walked out quickly, not wanting any of the others to catch up with her. She paused momentarily though when she heard Tails shout her name.
"Marie! Wait up!" He caught up with her and stood for a moment to catch his breath. Once he was able to speak normally again, he looked at her sadly. "Can we talk?"
"As long as it's not here." Marie said shortly and Tails merely nodded his head before walking over to where Shadow was.
"Shadow I'm going to be home late ok?" Shadow raised an eyebrow and held out a hand.
"Do you want me to take your bag for you?"
"Yes...please. Shadow, don't tell the others what I'm doing please." Shadow glanced to where Marie was and nodded.
"Of course not. Just try not to be too long, and good luck." He started to walk away before Tails could ask what he meant by 'good luck'.
He turned back to find Marie and was surprised to find her standing only a couple of feet away. She didn't say anything and merely started to walk out of the school. He followed her, wondering where they were going to go.
He found out twenty silent minutes later when they entered the park. Marie was now walking at a more leisurely pace, whereas before she had been practically storming down the road, refusing to look either left or right. She eventually stopped at a bench overlooking the lake and Tails realised that this was the bench that he and Rouge had sat on, when he was talking about her only a couple of weeks ago.
She sat down on the bench and Tails hesitated before sitting on it too, wondering why Marie had chosen this place to talk.
"Marie, I'm really sorry about the last few days." He said eventually, breaking the silence.
"I think things have been going wrong for a few weeks now, haven't they? We should be friends but..."
"We're not." Tails finished for her. "I don't think I expected things to be like this. I didn't think I would find someone like me, someone who had suffered because of what they looked like."
"Yeah me too." She nodded in agreement and gazed into his eyes. "Can we be friends Tails?" She asked quietly.
"Of course we can...if you can forgive me." She smiled and hugged him tightly, causing Tails to blush slightly.
"I forgive you." She whispered and she kissed him on the cheek.
Tails flinched in surprise and she gasped, staring at him in shock. She let go of him quickly and looked down.
"I'm sorry Tails, I don't know what came over me..." She whispered but he took her hand in his and shook his head.
"It doesn't matter, I...I liked it." He mumbled, drawing her into a tight hug. They sat like this for a while, finding comfort in each other's arms. Marie eventually sat up and squeezed Tails' hand.
"What does this mean Tails? Are we...?"
"Don't worry about what we are. We'll find out what we are one day." Tails promised her and they stood up, walking hand in hand back to the entrance of the park. Marie gave him another small kiss before walking back to her house.
Tails walked home in a daze, not quite sure of what had happened. All he knew was that he and Marie had something that maybe other friends didn't have. Maybe it was the fact that they had been through so much. Maybe...
~But it's no use thinking like this.~ Tails thought. ~I will find out what it is, but it's too soon. Maybe one day...~
He knocked on the door and was immediately bombarded by questions when Eggman opened it.
"Where have you been? Shadow comes home with your bag and won't say where you've gone or anything! You had better have a good excuse!" Tails hadn't seen Eggman this angry for some time and it made him slightly fearful. However, he was saved by Rouge who had also come into the hall.
"Aw, don't be like that with him! I'm sure he's got a good enough reason. It has been funny seeing Shadow sitting on the sofa legs crossed and eyes closed, refusing to even open his mouth." Tails wondered what she meant as he walked down the hall until he saw Sonic and Knuckles standing in front Shadow who looked like he was meditating. Just then, they saw Tails and Sonic rushed over to where he was.
"Tails, don't ever do that again! You had me really worried." He scolded as Tails sat down on the sofa next to Shadow.
"Shadow, you can open your eyes now." Tails joked and he turned to look at Tails. "Thanks for not telling them." "That's ok. You should probably tell them now though." He suggested and he nodded his head, waiting for the others to sit down.
"So then, where were you?" Eggman asked.
"Well, I..." Tails wasn't sure how to word it and seeing this, Rouge cupped his face with her hands and stared into his eyes.
"I think we have a case of lover boy." She concluded after a few moments.
"Noooooooo! Tails, I thought you said you were never going to get a girlfriend! We were going to be single forever and now you've done this to me." Sonic wailed and Tails sighed.
"Marie isn't my girlfriend. We've just come to an understanding, that's all." He corrected and Eggman nodded knowingly.
"Oh so that's why you were gone. Are you talking now?"
"Yeah, we're talking."
"Snogging more like!" Sonic earned a punch on the arm for that from Rouge.
"Well I think it's sweet. I'm glad you've finally made up with each other." She said. "Men have no understanding of emotions."
"I don't need to though! Neither did Tails..." Sonic said sadly and Tails laughed.
"Don't worry Sonic, I'm not going to start writing poetry or anything like that. I don't even know what Marie and me are yet; we're just taking it in our own pace."
"But why wouldn't you let Shadow tell us what you were doing?" Knuckles asked.
"I wanted to tell you what happened myself, instead of Shadow saying and you making assumptions which might have been wrong. It wasn't for any other reason than that."
************************
As Tails lay in his bed that night, he wondered what Hannah and Peter would say about it. ~They probably wouldn't be surprised...~ Tails thought and he laughed silently. ~They seem to know what's going to happen before it does anyway. I'm glad Rouge supported me back there; I don't know what things are going to be like between Sonic and me now...~
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Luff: Ah, nice and short!
S. Chensu: Which should mean that you have enough time to review it!
Luff: Will you stop going on about that? You'll scare them all of if you're not careful!
S. Chensu: I suppose so.
Luff: Anyway, as it's half term, we're going on holiday for a couple of days so that should hopefully be a good time for us to get at least episode 14 done, and hopefully 15 too.
S. Chensu: Yes, we have /still/ not written them but I promise they will be up at the right times.
Luff: See, now you've just put lots of pressure on us!
S. Chensu: Maybe that's what we need to get them done.
Luff: Humph, maybe... Anyway, please review and until next week, enjoy life!
S. Chensu: And half term if you're currently on one like we are!