hello hello hello
didn't think i'd end up finishing this one before the new year, but hey here we are
also just a slightly shorter chapter than usual. next chapter should be where the plot really picks up.
thanks to TwidereChan and guest for commenting
"Okay," Blaze said as she moved into position. Beside her, both Silver and Elise were also prepared, the three of them forming a starting line. "On your mark, get set, go!"
Elise was the first to react, which wasn't exactly surprising. The previous night's switch had granted her Shadow's abilities, making her the fastest of the three. But soon after her initial burst of speed, Blaze and Silver lifted into the air, hot on her tail.
It did not take long for Blaze to overtake Silver. Although a learning curve certainly existed, she got the hang of Rouge's wings after a few seconds. Silver, on the other hand, did not seem to grasp flying with the two fluffy, silver tails he had woken up with. He hovered behind Blaze and Elise uncertainly, altitude constantly changing. "Aw, no fair!" he cried as he desperately tried to keep pace with Blaze, "Elise has super speed!"
Blaze rolled her eyes and slowed down a little. "So? Tails can keep up with Sonic. You should be able to keep up with Elise. As is, I'm beating you."
"Fuck off," he whined, "My controls are way harder. You try flying with two tails!"
"Thanks, but I think I'll stick with the wings."
Elise quit her zipping and turned around, jogging backward to face the other two. "How's it going, slowpokes?" she asked, a devilish grin on her face.
Silver huffed as he attempted to control his frenzied movements. "You're having way too much fun with this."
"Yeah, I am! I'm usually the one being carried, but now I get to run!" She laughed. "This is way more fun!"
"Silver, you could fly before," Blaze said, "This should be a piece of cake."
"Yeah, with my powers! Not two appendages that I've never used before! This is a very different experience!"
Blaze shrugged. "I mean, it's different for me too, but I'm doing fine. Although, I will admit Rouge's fashion taste varies a lot from mine."
Silver looked down at his clothes. "I'm pretty comf-"
At that moment, Silver flew directly into a tree branch. Within seconds, Blaze swooped down and caught him before he hit the ground. "Thanks," he said sullenly.
"For someone who's used to flying, you're not great at avoiding tree branches."
"Shut up."
"Suddenly, I have a lot more sympathy for you yesterday," Sonic said, referring to the elegant white attire he now wore. "I feel stupid in this outfit."
Shadow gave the other boy a quick glance, a slight smirk on his face. He was in a relatively good mood, having woken up with Silver's abilities that morning. "Well, that checks out because you look stupid."
"Hey!" He punched him lightly on the shoulder. "I called you pretty yesterday and this is how you repay me?"
"I'm sorry," Shadow said very seriously, "You're very pretty."
A part of Sonic wondered how sincere this was. They hadn't discussed the night before. The morning had come, and it went right back to the usual jokes and jabs. But they were different. There was less of a bite behind them. It was as though they were just supposed to act like last night hadn't happened.
But Sonic couldn't stop thinking about it. How it had just been the two of them, talking earnestly. How Shadow had opened up and been vulnerable. How close they had been.
Instead, he just laughed and said, "Thank you. That made me feel a lot better."
Their moment was interrupted by a burst of speed as Tails appeared in front of them, wearing the clothes usually attributed to his older brother. "Holy shit!" He said, raking his hand through his windblown hair, "Sonic, is this how you feel all the time?"
"Uh, yes?"
"This is awesome! And it also explains a lot about you!"
"The fuck does that mean?" Sonic muttered.
At that moment, badniks erupted from the trees, surrounding them. "We've got company!" Shadow cried.
The three slid into defensive positions, preparing for the attack. That was, until, Sonic looked down and remembered the powers he had been shackled with. "Hey, uh, guys?" Sonic said, feeling just a little pathetic, "I'm not really sure how to use Elise's magic. You think you could make this quick?"
"Don't worry, Sonic," Tails said brightly, "We've got this!" With that, he sped off towards the robots, Shadow behind him.
Tails seemed to have no problem figuring out how to use Sonic's speed. Almost immediately, he learned out how to spin dash and used the ability to his advantage. Shadow, similarly, seemed to grasp the basics of Silver's technology and used it to make quick work of a few robots.
Sonic, on the other hand, was rather nervous as a few robots approached him. He knew Elise could use magic, but without her knowledge, he wouldn't be able to use it. Usually, bouncing on badniks would be enough to put them out of commission, but without his speed, he wasn't sure he could gain the momentum to destroy them.
He backed into a tree and an idea struck him. Moving as quickly as he could, he climbed the tree, narrowly escaping the badniks' fire. His hands grasped the lowest branch and he let go, destroying one of the robots with a loud crunch.
He didn't have time to bask in his victory as the other two badniks continued their attack. He spared a quick glance to the others as he ran back to the tree, only to see them busy with their own set of enemies. He could take care of himself. He gripped the same places as before as he climbed, the badniks' bolts just barely missing him.
He made it to the lowest branch and was positioning himself over the robot when a blaster bolt hit the base of the branch. The branch shook, but Sonic held tight. It wouldn't hold for long, though, he realized, as it splintered and cracked. He felt a rush on the ground below him, which he assumed was Tails taking out the remaining badniks. As he looked down to check, the branch gave way and he began to fall.
But instead of hitting the ground, as he expected, his fall was stopped by the arms of Shadow, who looked just as surprised to catch him. They stared at each other for a minute, until Shadow asked, "You alright, princess?"
And that felt just a little unfair because how was he supposed to respond to that? He couldn't just ignore how close they were. He couldn't just ignore the way Shadow panted slightly and stared intently at him, the way his hair brushed a bit over his eyes.
But somehow he managed to say, "I am now that you fuckin' caught me."
A half-second later, Tails sped in front of them, a large grin plastered on his face. Even once he stopped running, he continued moving. "Did you guys see that? Spin dashing is so much fun!" He finally stopped and noticed the position his friends were in. "Uh, guys?"
That was enough to break them out of their stupor. Shadow quickly set Sonic down, who took no time to brush himself off and act as nothing had happened. Ignoring his burning cheeks, Sonic cleared his throat and said, "Yep. We better get moving. Don't want any more robots showing up, right?"
With that, he continued in the direction they had been going, Shadow following after a moment of hesitation. "Right," Tails said slowly. He watched them for a few seconds before running to catch up.
As Knuckles took a step forward, he could feel the Chaos energy grow stronger. Blaze's power still felt foreign to him, but he knew Chaos when he felt it. "We're getting close," he said.
Rouge and Amy stopped and turned to him. "How much further, do you think?" the older asked.
Knuckles tried to attune with the energy, but it was unyielding. "At this speed? A day, maybe." He sighed. "It's not an exact science."
Rouge nodded in understanding, but Amy merely continued trudging on. "I really fucking hope Eggman keeps his end of the bargain. It feels like nothing's happened for the past few chapters- I mean, days."
The jungle around them shook with excitement as bots rolled out from its cover. In seconds, they had surrounded the trio. "Does this count as something?" Rouge asked as Amy's mallet materialized in her hands.
"I mean, not really," Amy said, unperturbed, "It's not like we're in danger of losing or something."
Knuckles glanced over at the younger girl, who had worn his boxing gloves since the morning. "Amy, you know what you're doing?"
"Yeah," she said, eyebrow raised, "I punch robot. Robot go boom. It's not that complicated."
"The sass is really appreciated," he shot back.
"Guys!" Rouge slammed her mallet down on a pair of approaching badniks. "Not the time!"
"Right," Knuckles said as Amy rushed to help Rouge. Knuckles started to move to join them but was stopped by the sight of Blaze's white gloves rather than his red boxing ones. He couldn't rely on his strength. Blaze's power was controlled by focus. He closed his eyes and sucked in a breath as he felt the heat rise from his fingertips. When he opened them, a fire was burning in his hands. With a wave of his arm, the fire shot out towards the badniks, warping into a tendril. Within seconds, the rest of the robots were destroyed.
The heat seemed to disappear from his hands as he ran over to his friends. "Did you guys see that? Fire came out of my hands!"
"Yeah," Amy said flatly.
"Gotta admit, Amy," Rouge said, brushing off her dress, "Your dress is growing on me. It's not really my style, but it really moves during fights."
"Thanks," Amy replied brightly.
Knuckles waved his arms a bit impatiently. "Guys? Fire," he said slowly, emphasizing each word carefully, "Out of my hands."
Rouge chuckled a bit. "Sorry, Red. Had that one on the first day." She shrugged as she walked away. "Doesn't really impress me anymore."
"Wasn't trying to impress you," he grumbled quietly.
(But a part of him wondered how true that was.)
Tails was restless. He had actually managed to fall asleep quite quickly, almost as soon as he had finished pitching a fire for the night. He hadn't thought he would ever be able to fall asleep, not with the amount of energy coursing through him. But he must have because when he blearily opened his eyes, he could hear parts of a conversation he hadn't been privy to.
He was facing away from them, the heat of the fire on his back. Their voices were hushed, clearly trying to keep him from hearing. But the lack of volume merely piqued his interest. Keeping as still as possible, he craned to listen to the whispers over the crackling fire.
"-Catching me earlier." He recognized the voice as his brother's. "-Really owe you one."
"Don't mention it." Shadow. "You'd have done the same for me."
"Still, thanks." Sonic sighed. "I wish I could've been of more help. I felt pretty useless."
"You shouldn't. You managed to take out that bot. I was more useless with Elise's powers, and I complained much more."
"I dunno. I complained an awful lot."
"It didn't bother me." There was a long pause. Too long, for Tails' liking. "I-" Shadow seemed to swallow his words. "-I should go get some more firewood." Tails could hear shifting, then the crunching of grass getting farther and farther away until it was silent, only the roar of the fire audible.
Tails was at a bit of a loss. Something was going on between Sonic and Shadow, that much was clear. He had seen them stealing glances at each other all day, but he had his suspicions even before they landed on the island.
Normally, when it came to something like this, Tails was very much in the camp of minding his own business. He didn't care much for crushes and dating and all that, so his friends' situations were of no interest to him.
But what really intrigued him this time was that it was Sonic. Sonic told Tails basically everything. He couldn't remember the last time Sonic had kept a secret from him. The fact that there hadn't been even the most insignificant mention on Sonic's part rubbed him the wrong way.
He became increasingly aware that he had a decision to make. He could just stay where he was, close his eyes, and go back to sleep. (He tried to ignore how alert he was, how his thoughts raced impossibly fast.)
Or he could turn around and interrogate his brother.
It took a surprisingly short amount of time for him to make a decision.
He sat up slowly, clunkily. He had to really sell that he hadn't been listening in to their conversation. He rubbed his eyes in such an exaggerated and performative manner that he was certain Sonic would notice. But his older brother wasn't even looking at him. His eyes bore deeply into the flames, clearly lost in thought.
Tails stared at him for a few seconds, waiting for him to take notice, but to no avail. It wasn't until Tails cleared his throat that Sonic looked up. He jumped a little, perplexed at the scene in front of him. "Tails? Wha- How long have you been awake?"
Tails shrugged. "A couple minutes."
Sonic nodded and muttered to himself, "Oh, okay. That's good."
"What're you doing up?"
"Thinking," he replied vaguely. His focus once again drifted over to the fire. "Go back to sleep, bud."
Tails could barely hold back his grin as he asked, "You thinkin' about Shadow?"
That question really got Sonic's attention. His head shot up, a panicked expression apparent on his face. He immediately began to sputter out, "What the fuck are you talking about? That-" He chuckled nervously. "-That's a weird fuckin' joke to make, Tails. What the fuck?" In a matter of seconds, his face had changed from its usual hue to a bright red.
"Man, I really hit the nail on the head," Tails said, chuckling.
"There's no fucking nail to hit!" Sonic seethed, "I wasn't thinking about Shadow!"
"What were you thinking about, then?"
"Grown-up stuff," Sonic said, crossing his arms rather childishly, "You wouldn't understand."
Tails tilted his head to the side in confusion. "You're not a grown-up."
"I am in the eyes of the law!" he cried indignantly, "I'm an emancipated minor, which legally makes me an adult. Checkmate, bitch," he said smugly.
"Well, maybe I'll get emancipated-" He let a little bit of a whine creep into his voice. "-And then I'll move out, and then you'll be so sad that you lied about your crush on Shadow!"
Sonic's voice had taken a frantic tone. "Nobody said anything about a crush on Shadow! Least of all, me!"
Tails shrugged. "I mean, it wasn't very hard to figure out. It's not rocket science." He thought for a second, then said, quieter, "Though I could probably do that if I tried." Sonic scoffed. "The point is, it was easy."
"There's nothing to figure out! And-" He stumbled over his words, stammering out, "-And it's way past your bedtime, young man!"
Tails eyed him, unimpressed. "We're on an island trying to save the world from Eggman and you're pulling the bedtime card on me?"
Sonic thought for a moment. "Yes."
"Fine," Tails said, laying down as if here were going to go back to sleep, "Lie to your baby brother. Sleep on that."
He closed his eyes and attempted to stop thinking for long enough to actually get some sleep. It was noiseless for a long time, and for a moment Tails wondered if Sonic had actually fallen asleep.
"You're an asshole, you know that?"
Tails smiled to himself. "I know."
as usual, i am a slut for comments
OH actually if you don't have something to say about the fic, tell me how excited you are for the sonic movie! the trailer fucking slapped!
