Pool Party

It was early in the morning. Silver was in the bathroom, silently watching the water filling the bath tub. He closed the water tap. The ivory hedgehog started at the water for a couple of seconds, and he went in. Of course, he transformed as soon as he hit the water.

In his room, Sonic was attempting to clean his fish tank without getting wet. Not an easy task by any means, even with rubber gloves on. The water reached the top of his glove, getting inside. His eyes widened.

"No, no, no, no!" Sonic took of his glove and picked a towel near by, but he was to late.

"Sonic!" Lilly knocked at the door. "Dad said that you have to hurry if you want him to drive you to school!"

"It's ok, Lilly." Sonic's response was heard through the locked door. "I'll run." her brother finished with a sight. He stretched out to his cellphone to text his friends that he was going to be late for school.

Back at Sonic's house:

"This, is catastrophe of the highest order! the blue hedgehog said to his two friends. Hand Sanitizer is mainly water!"

Shadow was laying back on the bed. "If dolphins can swim for miles, that means so can we."

"We won't be able even to wash our hands ever again!"Sonic continued.

So did Shadow.

"We could swim all the way to West Side Island. Wouldn't that be great?"

"No it won't!" Sonic snapped. "We could get sick and end up in a hospital or something."

"I missed my swimming training today." Silver sighted. "For the first time in 6 years."

"See? See how bad this is? We have to tell someone. Our parents, a doctor..."

"And end up merhogs in a water tank with sanitized hands?" Shadow asked innocently.

"Shadow is right, Silver agreed, we can't risk telling anyone about this. Not even our parents."

Sonic raised a brow.

"Not even mom?"

"No. Silver answered. Not even mom."

The blue teen chuckled nervously.

"Heh. That's ridiculous. I tell mom everything."

"Not this." Silver interrupted. "We might be looked up even more than we were before."

"Why would we be looked up?" Sonic asked.

"Because we're different? Silver asked in return. Because we could already do things other persons can't do, and now we can do even more? Because their scared of us?"

"Fine. The blue teen pouted. I won't tell anyone... Except for Amy, Tails and Knuckles."

"No Sonic, no Amy, Tails or Knuckles." Shadow said seriously.

"Ok, ok. I won't tell anyone." Sonic smiled. "Besides, I'm good at keeping secrets."

"Everyone, come get your invitation to the party, in honor of the beautiful Bianca, for wining her special surfing price." Matt was crying out loud on the halls of the school.

Matt was a sorbet yellow fox with cyan eyes. He was very annoying and gossiping and he entered the category of people that Sonic didn't like too much.

"One for you, he handed an invitation to Silver. There you go and... Oh!" He made eye contact with Shadow. "Shadow! Yeah, I think I do have an invitation for you..."

"No thanks." Shadow huffed.

Sonic wasn't paying attention until Amy snuck on him with a hug.

"Hey Sonic!" She said smiling, retreating her grip. "So, are you going to Matt's party?"

"Of course!" Sonic answered, also smiling. Only... For Matt to ruin the moment.

"And remember everyone to take your best swimming suits, it's a pool party!" he announced.

Sonic's eyes widened.

"So, about the party, I was thinking..." Amy began.

"Umm, you know what? I changed my mind. I'm not going to the party anymore." Sonic quickly said and left Amy behind in a hurry.

"It's so uncool to miss one of Matt's parties. Sonic sighted. He will never invite us ever again."

"So?" Shadow asked in disgust. "That's a plus."

"You don't understand." Sonic informed him. "Maybe if I told my friends they could look after us."

"No. You did the right thing Sonic. We're not going." Shadow confirmed.

"No. I think we should go. Silver proposed. For Bianca, not for Matt. Surfing is like swimming. It takes a lot practice and hard work."

"You like her don't you?" Shadow smirked.

"Me? No way."

"Well you sound like an add for breakfast cereal." Shadow laughed.

"Well,if we could learn more about what is happening to us... Silver said thoughtfully, we might be able to control it enough to go to the party."

Shadow rolled his eyes.

"Hmph, what is to learn? We touch water and ten seconds later we grow fish tails."

"We have to develop some discipline, Silver clarified, self control. If we can control this, than we could go to the party!"

Sonic lightened.

"Great. I'll text the others."

"You know you have to swim to test this theory right." Shadow asked.

The blue hedgehog stopped. He looked at his phone. To late. He's already sent the text.

"I'm out."

At the beach, Sonic was standing on the sand, curled into a ball.

"Come on, Sonic. It's not even deep here!" Shadow said.

"No." Came a muffled answer.

"Please?" Silver pleaded.

He uncurled.

"No."

The other two just stared at him.

"No!"

Silver gave up.

"Fine. Have it your way. Let's go Shadow."

They slowly entered the water.

"It all starts with the mind, so concentrate." Silver closed his eyes. "No tail, no tail, no tail..."

Shadow joined him. Useless however, because ten seconds later, they were laying in the water, fully transformed. Sonic was simply looking at them. Until Knuckles showed up. Seeing him, the two now merhogs swam behind a nearby rock.

Knuckles had an old fishing habit, from far childhood, since his grandfather was alive, and he kept it. And he was heading straight to them. The crimson echidna spotted Sonic.

"Someone spoke, he said, this is my secret, special fishing spot. Someone must've labbed."

"Sorry Knux." Sonic apologized.

"It's ok. Hey, he remembered, we got your text, Amy was really glad you are going to the party."

"Oh... No that was an old text. I'm not going anymore. To much homework."

"Ok, I guess she will be very disappointed. Oh well I'll just join you for a swim then."

"No!" Shadow and Silver said at the same time.

"Why not?" Knuckles was confused.

"We're... Um... Practicing yoga." Silver answered.

Knuckles raised a brow.

"And, what is the problem with that?"

"Goodbye Knuckles!" Shadow finished.

"Fine." Knuckles huffed and left.

At Silver's house :

"We won't be invited anywhere cool, ever again." Sonic said. "And why? Because we've got fish tails."

They all entered the kitchen. Silver opened the fridge and pulled out a juice bottle. Sonic put himself water in a glass and put it down on the table.

"But I have a question. Why me? I didn't asked for this to happen!" he complained, using his power to drink water without even touching the glass.

Silver entered the game.

"You think you've got problems? My swimming carrier is over and I've been training to be a professional swimmer ever since I was 6 months old!"

"Well, Sonic continued, saved by that dream, cause we're merfreaks now."

Silver poured the juice in a glass and put an ice cream stick in it, freezing the juice with his powers.

"You guys are unbelievable." Shadow said. "Just look at you!" he said to Sonic. "You, you drink water from midair. And Silver, you just made an instant icecicle. Anyone else would love to be able to do that. You have these amazing powers, and all you do is winge, winge, winge! I don't even have a power. Do you hear me complaining? "

Sonic shrugged.

"No, Shadow angrily continued. Well I'm done here. I'm not hanging out with wingers."

So Shadow teleported away.

"I understand how he feels, Sonic admitted. Sometimes not even I want to hang around with me."

At Marble Café

"So what do you guys think of Shadow?"

Sonic was hanging out with Amy, Tails and Knuckles. The two tailed kit answered.

"You know these stone fish that kinda look like a rock, but they're fish and they can shoot enough poison to kill an entire football team in half a second? He kinda reminds me of one of those."

At that moment, Bianca entered the café. Everyone gathered around to greet her.

"Thank you, thank you! Relax!" she said smiling.

Bianca was a orange and gold rabbit, with back swept ears and brown eyes. And she had a curly hair bang on her forehead. Ussualy wearing light clothes, a white top and a pair of short jeans, assorted with white sandals. She was really sweet and really talented.

"Congratulations on that surfing price Bianca!" Sonic cheered her.

"Thanks, it was nothing."

"What's your ranking now?"

"Control yourself." Rouge, that was also around there said with gritted teeth.

"Hey Rouge! Knuckles called from his seat. You look dry. That must feel different!"

Rouge approached him, slowly, angered. She leaned over him and whispered.

"Listen here echidna, I have no idea what happened to that fire hydrant, but if you ever bring it up again, I'll rip that knucklehead of yours off your shoulders." she straightened her back and turned around to leave.

Knuckles stood up and grasped her arm. Sonic calmed him down.

"Knux, it's ok. Let go."

"Yeah. Is that gonna change her? No." Bianca approved and left.

They sat down with a sight.

"You know what? Sonic said. Bianca is really a nice girl. I think we should go to the party to show some support for her."

Amy suddenly stood up from the table.

"Sonic, I don't get you. You're acting really weird. One minute you're going to the party and then your not, and now you're going again."

She seemed easily hurt and disappointed. She looked at him once more, and she left without finishing her drink.

At Silver's house

Silver was sitting at the table, eating milk and cereal. Not that he was hungry, he was just nervous so he needed something to distract him from this hole merhog thing.

Mr. and mrs. Gilbert, Silver's parents, came in the house after work. Mr. Gilbert was a white hedgehog with amber yellow eyes and leaf shaped front spikes, just like his son. Mrs. Gilbert however was a lavander hedgehog with blue eyes and up pointing spikes. She saw her son.

"Silver dear, are you shure you want to miss training again?"

"Yes mom, I'll be fine."

"But you swam when you had the flu, when you fractured your wrist you swam with one arm, what happened now?"

"If he is so bad then maybe he should go see a doctor." Mr Gilbert proposed.

"I don't need a doctor!" Silver protested.

He climbed up stairs while Mrs Gilbert approached Silver.

"Look dear, she started, you spent an awful lot of time in bedroom lately and locked up in the bathroom, is there anything we need to talk about?"

"It's nothing..."

"Hey, it's ok to be moody, you're at an age where you go through a lot of changes..."

"Exactly mom. Silver interrupted. A big one. "

And he left, leaving his mother confused.

"Hey, Matt! I was just calling to let you know that I will definitely be at your party... Probably. What will I wear? Mmmm... Something appropriate."

Sonic hung up and picked up a bucket full of water. He was dressed in a polyester swimming suit, rubber gloves and his quills were stuffed under a bathing cap. He looked absolutely ridiculous. Sonic looked at the small clock near the bathtub he was in and when the red needle was at 11...

"Go!" he spilled the water over him. Then immediately jump out of the bath tub, grabbed a towel and started drying himself.

"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one..." the red needle reached 12, and Sonic fell on the ground with a groan, already transformed.

At Marble Café

Shadow was reading a book at one of the side tables. He really seemed to focus on it because he got pretty annoyed when Tails showed up.

"Hey, can I sit?" the yellow kitsune asked.

Shadow rolled his eyes.

"I certainly hope so, just not with me."

Regards the warning, Tails sat at the other side of the table.

"Look... I know we have our differences... But I want to know what's wrong with Sonic."

A bar keeper brought him a drink.

"Thanks." Tails said.

The ebony hedgehog closed his book.

"What makes you think that something is wrong with him?"

"Well he said he's going to the party like a hundred times and every time he changed his mind."

"Maybe..." Shadow was now doing everything he could to get rid of Tails. "He doesn't want to be your friend anymore. Did you thought of that?"

Tails lowered his eyes.

"Yeah, that did actually cross my mind... But" he smiled "I thought 'no', he's hanging with you guys so the standards must be pretty low."

Now Shadow was really pissed off.

"Goodbye Tails."

"Could you tell me what's wrong or not?"

"Not."

"Please?" Tails argued. "I know there is!"

"Look, I'm not even speaking to him at the moment." He clenched his fist. "I'm just...trying to be alone right now." Tails' drink started to boil and bubble. They both looked at it surprised.

"What the..." Tails grabbed the glass but he quickly put it back down. "Ouch! It's hot!"

The black hedgehog stared back.

"Is this someone's idea of a joke?" the kitsune continued intrigued.

Once he realized what's going on, Shadow looked at his hand. He smiled. He has found his power.

Later, at the beach

Shadow was walking on the sand, glad that he has found his power, and wanting to use it again.

He walked by a small water puddle, crouched and stretched his hand over it. The water instantly started to boil and satisfied, he looked around to make shure nobody was around and clenched his fist and made the water vaporize into thin air.

"I'm glad you called." Silver smiled when he met with Shadow at the bridge. "I'm sorry I was talking about that negative stuff earlier, I'm not normally like that."

"Hey, Silver, It's cool." Shadow smiled slightly. "I need to show you something."

At the beach

Knuckles was walking to his fishing spot, really tense. He has been really stressed with homework lately, and he needed some repause. Only to hear:

"So I'm legitimately curious. What did you wanted to show me?"

Silver...

"Hey it's you guys." Knuckles stated while the two turned around and lowered their heads, trying to hide them. "Are practicing yoga again?"

"Goodbye Knuckles!" Shadow said.

"Yes, but are you doing that?" Knuckles argued.

"Go, Knuckles!" Silver said too.

"No, I'm here to fish. I'm having with drawers, I need the relaxation. If anyone is going it's you guys. " Knuckles said.

"Don't push it echidna!" Shadow warned.

"Yeah, shouldn't you be hanging out with Sonic?" Silver asked.

"No!" came the answer. "I'm totally over it. I agree with Amy. I don't know what's wrong with him, he just can't make up his mind." his phone beeped and he pulled it out. "See what I mean?" Knuckles said annoyed. "It's Sonic. He's going to the party, AGAIN! I give up."

Shadow and Silver looked shocked at each other.

"Knuckles you've got to do us a favor!" the ivory hedgehog said. "Make sure Sonic doesn't go to the party on his own. And call the others too!"

"Nah, I'm here to fish." Knuckles rejected the proposition.

"Knuckles, he could be in big trouble! Call him back! " Shadow ordered.

"Hah! I'm not some lackey!" Knuckles said while dialing Sonic. "Don't you even think that if you tell me what to do and I'll jump. And his phone is off."

"He could be in big trouble!" Shadow insisted. "Your friends aren't you?"

"Well yeah..."

"So?" the ebony one pushed it.

With a sight, the Knuckles gave up and left.

At Matt's house

Matt opened the door to see Sonic on the door step. He was dressed in woolen coat and a red scarf. He had a tissue box in his hand.

"Um, it's a pool party, remember?" Matt asked a bit confused.

"Yeah, I remembered." Sonic smiled. "It's just that I have this terrible cold. So I won't be swimming. At all. So where's Bianca?"

"I'm sure she will be here any minute. Are you really keeping that on?"

"Oh yeah. You can't be too careful with a cold." Sonic pulled out a tissue, and let out a fake sneeze, covering his mouth.

"Ew, gross." Matt said in disgust. "It's not a good idea that your here. You should go home. See, sick people make me feel... Sick."

"No, Sonic defended. I'm fine! Literally it's nothing. I can still party!"

Matt shrugged.

"Whatever. Just, go outside and... Don't touch anything..."

"Ok!"

"And don't try any drinks..."

"All right!"

"And at last, stay away from everyone!"

"You got it!" Sonic affirmed and stepped inside.

"Loser." Matt mumbled.

Outside, by the pool, Sonic looked cautiously at the water. Just one drop and he will be a goner. He inhaled and tried to put on a smile. The smile dropped however when he heard a familiar voice.

"Well, look who decided to show up." Rouge said. "Just when we wanted a bit of fun."

"No... Get back!" Sonic pleaded when the albino bat approached him.

"Why would I? Rouge asked. You got a good laugh and I got soaked last week. It's your turn."

"I've got a cold! Sonic backed off. I can't go in the water." He thought of it a bit. "It's a flu actually. And it's catchy."

"Come on." She smiled seductively. "Swim time! Your going in!"

"It could even be pneumonia!" The blue hedgehog warned.

"It's no matter, Sonic. So-nic. So-nic."

It was really creepy. Everyone around her joined in and Sonic got surrounded by teenagers that were scandaling his name on a low tone. The only way he could go was in the water.

Matt was talking to one of his friends, when Amy, Tails and Knuckles entered the yard in a hurry.

"Hey!" He stopped them. "I didn't thought you'd come."

"Nah, just cruising by and thought we'd drop in." Tails said.

"What with the fishing gear Knuckles?"

"I never leave without it." Came a sceptical answer.

"By the way, have you seen Sonic?" Amy asked worried.

"He's by the pool spreading desease." Matt revealed the blue hedgehog's location with a sliver of discust.

Back to Sonic, things were looking pretty grim. Rouge and Nikki were watching how Sonic got grabbed by a few boys, being swinged and screaming for them to stop.

"At the count of three boys?" Rouge proposed. "One, two..."

"Let him go!" Knuckles yelled.

"If you insist." she made a sign with her hand and Sonic was thrown in the pool.

"Do you even have a brain?" Tails asked furiously.

"Well knucklehead told us to let him go... We let him go!" they all laughed. "Let's go get a drink guys." Rouge proposed and they went inside.

"I'm really sorry about that." Amy said crouching to Sonic that grabbed the edge of the pool.

"Guys, there's something you should know." Sonic mouthed, looking at his wrist clock desperately.

"No, Sonic, it's ok. You don't have to say anything." Tails tried to calm him down.

"No. I really do." the water around Sonic started to boil. " You know how I've been acting strange lately? Just, try not to freak out!"

Under water, his feet transformed into a blue fish tail, and his clothes vanished. He looked at it, and then back at his friends. They were all shocked. Amy had her mouth covered, and Tails and Knuckles backed off, eyes wide.

"Guys, you have to help me. Don't leave me! I need your help." Sonic said while stretching his arm to them.

They all nodded negatively.

"Please..."

Finally, Amy grabbed his hand softly. Sonic let out a sight of relief and smiled.

Right then, Silver and Shadow entered the yard in a hurry. They spotted the group. Sonic, Amy, Tails and Knuckles looked back at them.

"Where is everybody?" Shadow asked.

"Umm, their inside!" Knuckles answered.

The two ran at the the house to see Rouge, Matt and others inside. Silver used his powers to freeze the door latch and they headed back to the pool, where the trio was struggling to get Sonic out of water.

"Could you guys give us a hand. He weights a ton! Any extra help is welcome." Tails told them.

"We can't." The ivory hedgehog commented.

"Why not?" Amy asked.

"If we get wet then we'll grow tails too. Is that what you want?" Shadow clarified.

Amy was dumbfounded.

"Both of you?" She looked at Sonic. "All of you?" he nodded . "Seriously?" She sighted. "Ok boys, at the count of three. One, two, three!"

While they were trying to get Sonic out of water, Rouge walked to the door and tried to open it. It won't budge.

"Who's locked the door?" she asked confused.

"It's not locked." Matt answered. But he also failed to open it.

Back at the pool, the others had finally reached their goal. Now, the blue hedgehog was looking at his tail, frustrated.

"What am I supposed to do now?" he asked frowning.

"Get back you three." Shadow said and crouched next to Sonic's tail. He then stretched his hand over him. Everyone looked at him confused. Slowly, he clenched his fist and steam started coming out of the tail.

"Ow, that stings!" Sonic complained.

Shadow totally ignored the exclamation and continued to do his job. Soon, the tail was gone, and instead there were a pair of legs.

"There you go. Steam dried." the ebony hedgehog said.

"You found your power!" Sonic stated happily.

"What is going on, guys?" Knuckles asked even more confused then before.

"We'll talk about that later. First, let's get out of here." Silver interrupted and they all ran after him.

Aside Shadow. He stopped at the small wooden gate and looked at the pool. A cheeky thought hit his head. He stretched out his hand in the direction of the pool and clenched his fist. The water started to boil and create clouds of steam until it vanished completely.

"I never liked pool parties anyways." Shadow smirked and left.

Still, the heat also melted the ice on the door latch. Matt managed to open the door, and they ran out.

"What is going on?" Matt squeaked.

"You should really check on your heating system." Rouge said.

On their way to the beach, they ran into Bianca. She had suncream on her face and her surfing board with.

"Hey Bianca!" Tails greeted her.

"Oh. Hey guys!" she smiled.

"Why aren't you at the party?" Silver asked.

"What party?" Bianca looked confused.

"The party that Matt is putting up for you?" Sonic clarified.

"Matt?" Bianca tried to remember. "He's the yellow one right? Well, parties aren't really my thing. See ya!" She smiled and waved.

"Nice board." Silver said.

"Nice smile!" Sonic said.

"Shut up." Shadow ended.

At the beach

"It probably goes without saying, but if any of you tells anyone, we end you." Shadow warned.

They were sitting on rocks close to Knuckles' fishing spot to discuss what's going on.

"We're not that stupid!" Tails defended. "If someone finds out you'll end up a science experiment!"

"I quit the swimming team today." Silver announced.

"Oh Silver... We know how much that means to you." Amy said sympathetically.

"Still, what can I do?" Silver sighted.

"This hole thing is just out of control. It's just... Too big." the blue hedgehog complained.

"Wait. So let me get this straight." Knuckles interrupted. He pointed out to Silver. "You freeze things..." and then Sonic. "You explode things and you boil things." At last he pointed to Shadow. "And you all grow fish tails." The hedgehogs nodded. "It's just too bizarre!"

"Bizarre? Yup." Silver agreed. "Still, sometimes it's good." he looked at Shadow. "But sometimes it's not so good."

"It's... I... I don't have a word for it!" Sonic admitted.

"I do." Shadow smirked. "Three of them. Totally Ultimately Awesome."

Everyone smiled at Shadows answer and the ebony hedgehog just looked at the sea, with a vague smile on his face.

Done! Finally. By the way, somewhere in this chapter there is a Sonic game easter egg wich I'm curious how many of you will manage to find it. Good luck with your search and take care!