Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Sonic the Hedgehog characters.
The team came back charged up and fully geared to take down the Tigers. Shade was a little distracted because he couldn't help but wonder about if he and the guys won the Battle of the Bands or not, but with a lot of "encouragement" from Knuckles Shade managed to run another touchdown that Bolt scored. Once the Tigers had the ball in their possession they were immediately sacked or pushed back by the defense causing them to miss out in scoring. Shade had the ball in his hands again and when it was snapped to him he quickly started to search for an opening. However, before he could throw the ball down field he was sacked.
"Shade get your head in the game!" Shadow yelled from the sidelines and Shade shook off the tackle. Shade quickly buckled down and threw the ball to Ebony. Ebony hopped up and caught the ball before ducking under a guy who tried to tackle her. She ran down the field, dodging guys left and right before sliding her way into the end zone.
"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Shadow told the team as they ran back to the sideline. The defense team quickly took to the field, ready to not let the other team score again. The ball was thrown to a leopard and Conner was hot on his heels trying to stop him. However, he slipped out of Conner's grasp and scored. Conner angrily punched the ground while the leopard smirked over to him. Offense got on the field again and Shade stood in the middle of the huddle telling them what play they were going to run. They broke and got into formation and the ball was snapped to Shade. He was looking for Bolt, but suddenly three linemen ambushed him. A loud bone snap could be heard from the sideline and Shadow winced when he heard it. Bolt and Ebony where there, shoving the players off of him and saw that Shade hadn't lost possession of the ball despite being knocked down.
"Dude! Your arm is completely fucked!" Lazarus exclaimed as he and Ebony stared at his arm that was definitely bending in a way that it shouldn't be. Shadow was there in an instant with the referees behind him. He ripped off Shade's inhibitor bracelet so Shade's accelerated healing could kick in. While Shade had accelerated healing would let him heal faster than the average person, it wouldn't be fast enough for him to finish the game. The medics came and carried Shade off the field to cast his arm and the crowd cheered and clapped for him. Suzy watched as they wheeled him off the field on a gurney and she looked at him worried. Shade caught her eye and smiled at her reassuringly making her feel a little bit better. But that didn't stop her from running to get Ivy. Shadow sighed as he scrubbed his hands over his face. He turned to Ebony and put his hand on her shoulder.
"Ebony you have to play as quarterback" Shadow told her and Ebony stared at him in shock.
"What? Dad, I can't play quarterback!" Ebony exclaimed as she ripped her helmet off her head.
"Ebony, I know you can do this. You are the best person to play this position right now. You have the skills, now put them to work." He told her placing his hands on her shoulders. Shade was chilling on the gurney while the medics went to gather the plaster and gauze. Suzy and Ivy snuck over to him and he smiled when he saw them.
"Oh my God, are you okay?" Suzy asked holding his face in her hands. Shade chuckled and brushed her off with his good arm.
"Suzy, I'm fine, there was no need to bring Ivy here to heal me." Shade told her and smiled over to Ivy who waved at him happily.
"Why? You wouldn't have to get a cast if you let her." Suzy frowned.
"Because I want to have a cast for you to sign." He grinned making Suzy blush and awe. Ivy snorted before leaving to see if her boyfriend had woken up.
Ebony took a deep breath before slipping on the quarterback sleeve with the plays on it. She ran onto the field where her team surrounded her. She explained their first play and they all nodded before lining up on the field. When the other team saw that they put Ebony as the quarterback they all laughed and scoffed. She glared at them, but smirked because they weren't prepared for what was about to hit them.
She was snapped the ball and was quickly looking for her opening, but the defense had all her teammates covered. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a player from the Tigers charging at her. She spun around making him run passed her and eat dirt. She jumped over him and started running. She was quickly tackled, but managed to make the first down and the audience cheered. During the next play, it went more smoothly and she passed the ball to Bolt who scored almost immediately. The crowd went wild and Ebony turned around and flipped off the other team who all grumbled.
The game continued with Tornadoes leading, but by the middle of the fourth quarter, it became a tie game. Ebony had the ball in her hands as she tried to find someone to pass to. She gave up and ran down the field. She spotted Bolt, but he was quickly brought down. She ran past all their defenses and decided to make the touchdown herself. Except for one problem. There was a massive lion between her and the end zone.
She cursed, but kept on running because the clock was ticking and this was her last opportunity to score. She saw and opening between the lion's legs and she dove right through them. The lion fell backwards onto her making Amy and Shadow wince. However, she managed to get the ball and her hands in the end zone, scoring the final touchdown of the game, guaranteeing their win. The crowd exploded with cheers and applause and once the Tiger slunk off the field, the students stormed the field. Ebony hopped right back onto her feet and ripped off her helmet, but she was quickly pulled up and onto her teammates' shoulders.
"Now that's what I call a game!" Julian shouted as Ebony rode on his and Brice's shoulders. The students surrounded the team while Shadow and Knuckles went to shake hands with the Tigers' coach. A chant of "Tornadoes" started while Shadow and Knuckles laughed and watched their team celebrate with their school. Shade joined in on the madness with his newly casted arm and celebrated with his team. Ebony was pushed onto Bolt and Lazarus' shoulders before they knocked her back into someone's arms. She looked up to see Andrew smiled down at her.
"Congratulations quarterback." He grinned and Ebony laughed. He put her back down on the ground and she wrapped her arms around him hugging him tightly.
"I'll go change and I'll meet you back here." She told him and moved to walk away, but Andrew kept hold of her hand. She looked back at him confused and saw a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Are you up to something?" She asked and he smiled.
"Maybe." Andrew shrugged and she groaned.
"Not this again." She muttered and he chuckled.
"Well…not exactly." He sighed as people started to leave the field. She raised an eyebrow and he smiled nervously. "So, I met you at the Masquerade Ball and you immediately captured me with those fiery eyes of yours, but that wasn't the first time I met you." He told her and she looked at him confused.
"What?" She asked and he just smiled.
"You remember that one day it was storming like crazy and you had to walk home?" He asked and she slowly nodded. "I saw you fall and cut your knee open so I picked you up and ran you home." Ebony gasped as she stared up at him.
"That was you?" She asked and he nodded.
"Yeah and that was the moment I think you really captured my heart." Andrew grinned. "Ebony, you're one of the sweetest, funniest, and most badass people I know. I know we've only been on a couple of dates but," He sighed having blanked on his giant speech and deciding to just ask her. "Will you be my girlfriend?" He asked looking down at her. Ebony smiled brightly as she stared up at Andrew. She nodded and he quickly wrapped his arms around. She pushed him and he stared at her confused.
"I'm all sweaty." She muttered, crinkly her nose and he laughed.
"I don't care." He said sweeping her up into his arms and kissing her. Ebony wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. Shadow, who was still on the field with Knuckles, saw them and sighed heavily.
"Not her too!" He exclaimed and Knuckles put a hand on his shoulder.
"Now you know how I feel." Knuckles told him and Shadow glared at him.
"You only have one daughter." Shadow said.
"Still, she's my baby girl." Knuckles said and Shadow sighed heavily and followed Knuckles out of the stadium. Ruby peeked out from behind a wall to see if there was anyone around the parking lot still. While she acknowledged that the whole school saw her already, she wasn't about to be caught again in this dress. She saw that the parking lot was mostly empty, people having left for after parties and other Homecoming-related shenanigans, and quickly started to make her way to her parents' car.
"Ruby!" Shawn called out and Ruby froze. She quickly turned around to see her boyfriend running up to her and she stood uncomfortably.
"Hey Shawn," She said nervously he smiled over at her.
"You look really beautiful." Shawn told her and she blushed. "But I think I prefer the skater." He grinned as he pulled her board out of his backpack surprising her. He had met up with Tyler to get her board from him and was waiting her to give it to her.
"Thank you." She smiled throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him.
"Knuckles! Look! Aren't they adorable?" Rouge asked as she and Luna both cooed at their children. Reese and Knuckles both looked at each other grimaced.
"We rather not see our kids making out with each other." Knuckles said as Rouge smacked him behind the head.
"Amen to that." Shadow muttered as he walked towards his car with Amy laughing beside him.
"We're heading over to your house, remember? The kids are having a party at ours." Reese called out and Shadow waved him off dismissively. Bolt arrived to the Romaro house to see that the party was already in full effect. He had Flash and Ivy with him, but they quickly ditched him and he went to look for Chrissy. He saw Chrissy standing with Lauren and was absolutely floored when he saw his jersey on her.
"Hello beautiful." Bolt grinned wrapped his arms around Chrissy. She laughed and turned around to face him. She gave him a small kiss and he smiled brightly. "I like what you're wearing." He told her tugging lightly on the hem of the jersey.
"You should, it's yours." She said and he snorted. Lauren decided she had enough of the lovebirds and walked away. She walked outside and stated to look for someone to talk to. She saw a lot of the party goers on the dock or around the lake. She lived pretty close to that house where the other party happened so she lived on a lake but unlike the other house they didn't have pool. She was people watching when an annoying nasally voice interrupted her.
"Ew, what are you doing here?" Allie asked and Lauren looked at her to she if was really serious. When she didn't say anything else, Lauren shook her head.
"It's my house idiot." Lauren told her and Allie flipped her hair over her shoulder.
"Whatever. You're still ugly bitch." She sneered and Lauren smirked.
"You really must be stupid to have me confused with you." She smirked. Allie screeched and she tackled Lauren into the water. Since they were on the edge of the dock they hit the deep end. Lauren pulled Allie off her by her dreads and resurfaced. She was quickly brought back down by Allie and she felt something hit her head and she was knocked unconscious. Allie quickly resurfaced gasping for air as Hydro pushed his way through people who had witnessed everything.
"What the hell did you do with Lauren?" He asked infuriated with Allie.
"How am I supposed to know?" She pouting over her wet clothes. Hydro dove into the water looking for Lauren under the water. He found her near the bottom unconscious. He quickly swam to her and pulled her up to the surface. He swam back to surface as Shawn pushed himself through the crowd.
"What happened?" He said kneeling down beside Lauren. Hydro ignored him and started to perform CPR. She soon started coughing up water and she sat up. Hydro sighed in relief along with Shawn as the partygoers went back to dancing and talking.
"Are you okay?" Hydro asked softly. Shawn suddenly felt awkward being there so he quickly left. Lauren used her powers to remove the water from her clothes and hair before standing up.
"Yeah, I'm fine." She told him smiling softly. Hydro's mood seemed to change then and his previous look of concern morphed into a look of anger.
"Be more careful next time!" He shouted out her before storming off. Lauren watched after him confused. She had never seen Hydro so mad before and she wasn't even sure what she had done. She shook her head and decided to go inside and change since her clothes were pretty much ruined.
"Lauren!" She turned to see Ginger coming towards. "What happened to you?" She asked.
"I got into a little fight with Allie and got pushed in the lake." She explained waving her hand dismissively.
"You always manage to get in some sort of drama." Ginger muttered rolling her eyes. Lauren shrugged her shoulders and went back into the house to her room to change.
AJ was sitting on one of the couches moping as usual when he thought about Amber—which was all the time. Suddenly a girl tripped and he quickly caught her before she could hit the ground. She was an icy blue hedgehog with beautiful long quills. She was wearing dark blue skinny jeans with rips at the knees and brown combat boots. She had a teal, dark blue, and yellow plaid shirt that was over a white V-neck and the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. AJ looked at her face and noticed she had dark blue eyes, but they started to turn a light pink like her cheeks.
"I'm so sorry." She quickly said as she straightened herself up.
"Now worries. I'm AJ the Hedgehog by the way." AJ introduced himself. He watched as her eyes eventually faded back to blue and she shook his hand.
"I'm Alana Delgado." She smiled her eyes turning yellow and AJ looked at her strangely.
"Why does your eyes keep changing color?" AJ asked as they turned a pale pink.
"Oh! Um…they change with my emotions. I'm an empath so I can read and manipulate emotions, but my eyes change color with the emotions I feel." She explained her eyes shifting from pink to a royal purple before changing back to her normal eye color, but there was still a slight tinge of pink on the edges of her pupils.
"And I'm guessing you're embarrassed now." AJ said as she laughed nervously her eyes turning a brighter pink.
"Just a tad." She said as AJ laughed a little. It's been a while since he had a genuine laugh. "Weren't you in one of the bands at Homecoming?" She asked as AJ rubbed the back of his head.
"Yeah." He said shyly as her eyes turned an orange-yellow.
"Look who's embarrassed now." She laughed and AJ soon joined in on the laughter. Onyx and Topaz walked into the room and saw this.
"Damn." Onyx said as Topaz looked at them and then smirked.
"Maybe this isn't a bad thing." She said as Onyx raised an eyebrow. "Just watch." She said as she pulled him by the hand. She saw Amber talking to Trent. "Amber I think AJ has a girlfriend." She said as Amber whipped her head around.
"What?" She asked as Topaz pulled her back to where Alana and AJ were standing. Amber saw that AJ was smiling for the first time in a while and looked like he was enjoying himself. "Why should I care?" She muttered walking away. Topaz could hear the hurt in her voice and knew this was affecting her. A plan started to conjure in her mind as she saw her sister walk away. Forget the old plan, this may just be the thing to get them back together. Julian pushed his way into the kitchen where most of the people seemed to be conjugating. He stood on a chair and let out a loud whistle getting everybody's attention.
"Since no one decided to stick around after the game to hear who won the Battle of the Bands, I'm going to announce them now!" Julian shouted as people cheered. The bands that performed all pushed their way into the kitchen to listen to the winners. "The winners are…The Dark Matrix!" Julian said as the guys cheered with the crowd.
"Ha!" Shade shouted in Lauren's face and she rolled her eyes.
"There's still talent show." She told him and Shade smirked.
"And we'll win that too." He laughed. Bolt pulled Chrissy back into his arms and planted a big kiss on her lips.
"We won!" Bolt exclaimed and she laughed. AJ sighed heavily and Alana placed her hand on his shoulder softly.
"For what's it worth I thought you were better." Alana said to AJ who smiled.
"It's worth a lot." He said making her smile.