A/N: Oh my! You're actually here, reading chapter two! Please make yourself at home and enjoy.
DISCLAIMER: Needless to say, if I owned Sonic, I'd be really rich. So let's see. :Checks pockets to find a gum in one and a hole in the other: Nope, I still do not own them.
Sonic Stars by StarSparklez
Chapter two: Picture a flame?
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When Sonic entered Rouge's guest room, in her club, he was half-surprised to find her already hosting, though somewhat grudgingly, three acquaintances.
"Sorry Rouge, but unless he shows up now, I don't see any good reason for us to stay any longer," said Vector, standing from where he sat on the red sofa. Rouge stopped him, pushing him back on it. She sounded irritated.
"When I said 'Wait until Sonic arrives', I meant for it to sound like an order, Vector, not a suggestion. I paid you guys for this, it's not like you're choosing to do me a favor so stay still."
"But we're bored!" said Charmy dramatically.
Espio just sat silent, watching as Rouge glared holes into the little bee.
"Maybe, I should spray you with insecticide. I'm sure that'll help you calm down and be a little less hyper," she threatened icily.
Charmy gulped audibly, earning a visible but small smile from Espio. Before Sonic could decide whether or not he wanted to reveal his presence however, Espio spoke without looking up.
"I think our 'grounds' to stay has finally arrived."
All heads in the room turned in direction of the door where Sonic still stood.
"Well it's about time. Sonic, welcome. Have a seat." Said Rouge. Sonic noticed that although she sounded commanding, there was no more bite in her voice. He hesitated,
"Huh, thanks Rouge. I think I'd rather stay standing until you tell me what's going on."
Vector spoke neglecting Sonic's demand of explanations.
"What took you so long?" he asked annoyed.
Charmy would have probably made a whiny remark but the insecticide threat and Rouge's very scary glare were still fresh in his memory. So, of course, since the latter consented to staying as quiet as if non-existent, the next comment came from rouge.
"Yes, for the world fastest hedgehog, this sure is poor performance," then her typical teasing smile broke as she taunted him, "Had it been your little pink friend instead of me, I bet you'd have flown your way here."
An almost invisible dust of red appeared on Sonic's face as he retorted defensively, "Hey, come on! Leave Amy out of this. I came as soon as I heard from Tails. I didn't even think I'd be important."
"Do you really believe I would have had you and that bunch of creeps come here if it weren't important?" she pointed with a thumb towards Team Chaotix who didn't look too happy about her choice of terms.
Vector made a "Hey!" and opened his huge jaws to speak a protest but he refrained from doing so when in a flash, literally, two people materialized in the room.
A weight 'like a thousand chili dogs' dropped in Sonic's stomach, suddenly but gone in a split second, when he saw Amy appear, clinging tightly to Shadow like her life depended on it.
"Shadow!" Rouge exclaimed, "What did I tell you about teleporting in my place!"
Amy's eyes opened at hearing Rouge's voice and her head jerked up from where she had it hidden against Shadow to look around. When the bat saw that, her taunting smile reappeared and,
"Well, playing Dark Heroes are we now Shadow? You were quick finding yourself a damsel too."
"Quit it, Rouge," Shadow snapped, "I am no hero. She just, insisted to come along when she heard that blue hedgehog was going to be here."
The 'she' in question looked a little dazed, which perhaps explained why she still held onto Shadow's arm.
"And as for using the chaos control, " continued Shadow unrelenting, "I had to. The streets are swarmed with police on the way here. I even spotted a few G.U.N helicopters. Something is happening."
"What?" Rouge sounded surprised, "What are you saying? Everything looked so peaceful just earlier today, I don't—"
"Amy?" called Sonic reluctantly.
At the sound of her hero's voice Amy snapped back to reality like a napping child called out for dessert.
"Sonic!" she cried as she spotted him, releasing Shadow, she ran for him.
"Humph! Easy on the ribs Amy," wheeze Sonic as her she hugged the life out of him.
Something dawned on Rouge. Then, she gasped, slapping a hand to her own cheek,
"I remember now! I knew it must have been important. I found two missed calls from Headquarters earlier, but I was too preoccupied with—Wait here, guys. I'll call them back."
And she ran out of the room, while Sonic slowly, nicely peeled his number one fan off him.
"Amy, what's wrong with you?" he asked noticing the way her movement felt frail. Had she been in her usual super-fit-and-hyper shape, her hug would surely, normally have broken him at least one rib. He turned to Shadow with an accusing look,
"What did you do to her, faker?"
"I did nothing to harm her, you fake hedgehog—"
"It's the chaos…" said Amy weakly interrupting them both before their argument could get more serious.
"Oh, yeah." It dawned on Sonic what must have happened to her.
"The sensation from chaos control does take a while getting used to," Shadow refined, "Even Rouge was completely out of it the first time, when I teleported her from Prison Island."
"Yeah, I remember," said Sonic offhandedly, "one other reason why I like running better."
He was looking down at Amy who was getting loose in his arms. She obviously was about to faint. He made to sit her on the couch from which Vector had just stood. The Crocodile was now kindly ushering him to put her where he'd been sitting. While Espio, who'd also sat up to leave room to Amy, interrogated Shadow,
"When were you and Rouge on Prison Island?"
"Forget about that. It was a long time from now," the black hedgehog replied quickly, then, "Why don't you start on what Rouge has brought you here for?"
"Huh! That's right I almost forgot!" Charmy piped up for the first time since Rouge wasn't around to scold him, "Hey Sonic, we need you to describe that cat princess friend of yours. So Vector can draw her. You know, the one from the other world."
"Blaze? You need her portrait?" he turned to Vector next to him, "Why?"
"Your guess' as good as ours," answered Vector, "Rouge was very insistent that we make one for her so she got us here. Said she wasn't sure she could make a good one herself; didn't you notice her bandaged arm?"
"Yeah, but—"
"We wouldn't have bothered for such a trivial task had the pay for it not been so convincing," said Espio bitterly.
"Okay, but—" Sonic tried again.
"Now what, Espio? It's not like you to be complaining—" Vector who'd cut him off was now in his turn, cut off by Sonic,
"Why didn't you ask Cream for this? She sure could give you a much more detailed picture of her then I can now."
"Because I couldn't reach her."
Sonic turned around to face Rouge as she entered the room, cordless phone in hand.
"What do you mean, you couldn't reach her?" asked her Sonic cautiously.
"Well, when I called him earlier," she started, "Fox Boy sounded very protective of your little bunny friend.
"The first thing I asked of him was where I could find her. He pointedly refused to tell me, saying he did not trust me enough to risk endangering her. So I told him I thought it was cute he was so caring of his little girlfriend. Believe it or not, I could practically hear the poor boy's blush on the other line."
Vector allowed himself a chuckle at her 'little joke' (She most probably would have called it that). Shadow and Espio acted either deaf or totally indifferent (Were they competing at that or what?), while Charmy peeped,
"Hey! She's not his girlfriend, you know."
"Drop the act, Rouge," Sonic didn't sound amused, "I think Tails' had the smart reaction. What's all this about? Will you explain?"
When he saw Rouge's only answer was to raise her eyebrow skeptically, he turned to her comrade instead,
"Shadow, where is this going? You tell me, now."
Shadow looked away from the unconscious Amy he'd been regarding and said coolly,
"Relax, faker. The answer to all your questions is right behind you."
Sonic only turned when he heard Rouge speak behind him to someone,
"Oh, so you're awake now?"
Sonic's jaw dropped as he saw and recognized the cat girl who walked into the room, rubbing her eyes.
-
To be continued…
A/N:
YEY! A real cliffy! Yeah:dances the Macarena until readers shoot her down with various items, some of which she REALLY would have liked to dodge:
Okay, so sorry about this one-scene, laborious chapter. I promise if you give me nice feedback I'll try and do my best to have a better chapter for next time, 'kay?
Though you'll probably still find elements in it that will push you to shooting me down again. Make that way down under...
Thanks for reading so far. Until next chappie, take care wonderful people.
Oh, one last thing btw! I request a beta-reader for my sonic fic. If anyone is interested please, feel free to reach me through PM.