Chapter 5
Everyone stood and stared, as a young lady stood at the top of the long, elegant staircase. It was a brown chipmunk, her hair a somewhat dusty shade of red. Her eyes were blue, and she looked down with a smile, though it almost seemed to be a smirk. She was wearing a white evening gown, though it was covered in red beads, her shoes, though impossible to see, were white high heels. She briefly did a curtsy, then slowly stepped down the stairs. "I'm delighted that you all could come."

Sonic stared up at her. Sure, she was pretty, but in retrospect what girl wasn't? He never put much stock into appearance anyways. He calmly shrugged, as people around him started to clap. Amy looked on excitedly. She seemed to like the dress a lot, at least.

Sally stopped at the bottom step as the mayor came over to hug her. He smiled happily as he motioned Elias to come over. The young man sighed, but walked over, a clearly reluctant look across his face. A moment later, their father started to speak. "It was fifteen years ago today, that my beautiful wife Alicia, god rest her soul, gave birth to my two, wonderful children, Sally and Elias. And on this day, we celebrate their fifteenth birthday!" He turned to Sally. "My dear, I have a special surprise for you today." He extended his arm in the direction Sonic was standing. "This young man has agreed to share the first dance with you."

Sonic raised his eyebrows, taking a step back. "What! He's doesn't mean me, does he!" Sally calmly nodded, walking towards him. Sonic reluctantly bit his lower lip, taking another step back.

Acorn looked to Mina, nodding assuringly. The mongoose started up her band, and a slow song began to play. Sally stopped in front of Sonic, simply staring at him. She, too, seemed reluctant. "Ah..." She started.

"This music sure is slow." Sonic interjected. "I hate slow music. It does nothing for me."

Sally blinked, then nodded, looking away. "Er, yeah. Me too. But the singing is... it's pretty nice."

Sonic nodded in return. "Yeah..." He rubbed the back of his head. "Look, um...Slow dances with strangers sorta isn't my thing."

"Oh, oh alright." Sally responded, nodding reassuringly. "It's okay. Dancing in general isn't something I normally-..."

"Now now children!" Acorn said, pushing his daughter forward. "No need to be shy! A special day deserves a special dance!"

"Er, father," Sally started, "Neither of us really want to..."

"Nonsense!" The mayor said. "I won't take no for an answer!"

It was at that moment that Amy took er attention away from the singing Mina, looking around as most people do during concerts, which is what she considered this to be. She first eyed Tails talking to the two lab coat-bearing men, a third joining them. She then saw Cream and Cheese. Cream was watching the performance from afar, while Cheese was still enjoying the buffet. She then spotted Sonic, who, from that distance, seemed to be courting another woman. As expected, Amy was furious. She stomped through the crowd, pushing people aside. The closer she got, the more of a fake smile crossed her face; she new it was rude to yell at someone on their birthday. She calmly walked up to Sonic and gripped his shoulder. "Ah, Sonic! There you are!"

"Amy!" Sonic cried. Oh, thank goodness for small favors, he thought to himself. "What is it that you need?"

"I actually have this problem that only you can help me with." She said, briefly glaring at Sally. The chipmunk raised an eyebrow, as the song came to a stop.

"Oh dear," Sally started, trying to sound disappointed for her father's sake. "The first song is over." She smiled, shrugging lightly. "Oh well. I guess it's okay."

The mayor looked to daughter, frowning a little. "Oh, I'm sorry sweetheart. I know how important this was to you." He beamed, "Perhaps during the next song, the two of you could-..."

"No! No dad, that's quite alright." Sally said, waving to Sonic as she walked over to the buffet table. "Thank you, stranger!" She smiled one last time.

"Er, no problem!" Sonic said, turning to Amy. He sighed in relief as the pink hedgehog folded her arms. "Whoo. I'm glad you came when you did Amy. That was a horrible predicament."

"I'll say!" Amy exclaimed, her fake smile briefly turning into a frown. It was then the next song began to play.

"So, what was it you needed help with?" Sonic asked her?

"Well you see Sonic," she started, "I need a dance partner for this song!"

"What!" Sonic cried, turning around and running off. "Sorry Amy, but once in one night is enough!"

"Sonic! Wait!..." Amy huffed, stomping her foot on the ground. "Darnnit all!"

"So, what was all this talk about 'rolling in dough' in a few days, Vector?" Espio asked, leaning against a wall near the door as he shut his eyes.

"Shut it, ninja boy!" Vector exclaimed, glaring at him from his chair. "I heard dis city was full of trouble all the time. We just gotta wait."

"Hey! The blue guys' on the news again!" Charmy cried, looking at the miniature black and white TV on the desk. He landed to watch it.

Vector leaned forward to watch too, seeing a repeat of the incident from the day before. "Well 'dare we go! See? Crime is all over dis city! We just have to get off our duffs and find it." He stood up, folding his arms and nodding. Yep.

"Too bad it's too late at night!" Charmy exclaimed, flying about the room. "Night time night time! How I love the night time! Sunshine sunshine!..."

"I suppose we could go out tonight," Espio started. "It's not like any harm would be done..."

"Let's...wait another night."Vector interrupted. "Maybe someone will give us a call at da last minute. Tomorrow, first ting in the morning, we'll go out looking for crimes ta solve."

"Yaaay! Crime!" Charmy called out, still flying about the room.

Sonic made his way over to Tails, who was talking to Professor Boobowski and his colleagues. "The readings seem to be getting more and more intense with each passing day." The professor said. His colleagues nodded their heads.

"Hey Tails!" Sonic said, patting him on the shoulder. The little fox turned around with a smile.

"Hiya Sonic," he replied. "So, what were you and that girl talking about over there?"

"Huh? Oh that. It was nothing." Sonic lowered his eyelids. He really didn't notice what was going on at all, did he? He thought. "So um, what about you?"

"Oh, I've been talking to the professor and his friends! They're doing some interesting research on a weird energy reading right below the city. I'm really fascinated."

"I see..." Sonic said, rubbing the back of his head.

"In fact, they invited me to visit their lab tomorrow, and I was thinking maybe you'd like to come along. I mean, if you don't have any other plans. I know science isn't your thing, but..."

Sonic shrugged. "I guess I could..." Otherwise I'd probably just be stuck with Amy on my hide all day. He thought. "Besides, I still owe you dinner, remember."

Tails blinked, and pressed a fist against his palm. "Oh yeah, I completely forgot about that!"

"Me too." Sonic admitted. "Yesterday was pretty crazy."

Tails laughed. "I guess so!" Tails laughed.

Hours passed. The party was drawing to a close. Mina was done performing, and the autographs were being signed. Amy was up, and she excitedly handed the photo to the mongoose.

"So, who am I making this out to?" She asked, smiling sweetly.

"Amy Rose, please!" Amy grinned, trying her best not to hop around. "I have your album, and I was so happy to see you live today!"

"Why, thank you, I-..."

Ash, her manager, leaned down to where Mina was sitting and whispered into her ear. "Oh! That's right!" Mina replied, turning to Amy. "I'm sorry, but I have to go." She handed Amy the autographed photo. "It was nice to meet you!" She stood, and walked away with her manager. Amy smiled widely as she looked at the autograph.

On the other side of the room, at the buffet, was Cream and Cheese, Cheese resting inside an empty bowl, whimpering lightly. Cream smiled weakly. "Cheese, you ate too much, didn't you?" She giggled lightly, picking him up. "Well, it's about time to go anyways." She began walking away.

Meanwhiles, Tails waved to the two colleagues, as he began to walk out the door with Sonic. "See you later!" He cried. The duo nodded and waved in return.

"Excuse me..." Sally said, tapping Sonic's back. The blue hedgehog turned around to see her.

"Hey." He started, "What's up...Sally was it?"

She nodded. "Yes...Look. I'm sorry about earlier. My father is very demanding, and..."

"Oh it's no big deal!" He reassured her. "I've gotten into messes much worse than that before."

Sally nodded again, smiling weakly before she began to turn around. "Well, that's all I wanted to say." She quickly ran away, back into her home and up the stairs.

Sonic raised an eyebrow. "Erm, okay..."

"Sonic!" Tails shouted, causing the hedgehog to turn to him.

"Coming Tails!" Sonic said, running up to his little friend.

"So, what did she want?" Tails asked, nudging him a little.

"Eh, nothing really." He laughed, as he continued to run. This caused Tails to fly to keep up. "Come on, let's get back to the hotel!" He said. Tails nodded, following his friend.