Visit From The Future

by Iced-Out-Snowman

If you could prevent something in the future would you, good or bad? What you do if the one who warned and told you were your own childern? How do you deal with them and your own personal problems and their's too? [KnuxRouge][SonAmy][ShadOC][EspioxJulieSu

16. Heart of a Ninja

Visit From The Future

Disclaimer: I don't own the Sonic Crew, but these other you've never heard of before are mine.

Feels like forever has passed for me, and be warned, this is long…

Yeah, sorry I don't update quickly, my mind doesn't like to co-operate with my hands all the time. You won't believe how many times I've redone this whole chapter. Not to mention that my attention is so easily taken off course; why do you think I've repeated English class every year? 9A, 9B, 10B, 11A, I'm PRAYING that I don't screw up this year. I passed 12A with a high D, sweet! (Hey, you should see my pass grades…but I'm aiming high now, I won't take anything below a B)

Ironic isn't it? That I suck in English and still enjoy doing this, and now; I dedicate this to all those that have been waiting on this; God bless you and your patience, and God knows I barely have any; ask my little nieces too. And before these words end, I truly thank you for sticking it to the end; c'mon it's just around the corner.

Read and enjoy all of you guys/girls, and Sasha, I've got a nice thick and heavy scene for you ok, it's for any of you Julie-Su/Espio supporters or fans at this point as well. My great leave of absence and this is owed to you. Oh yeah, I finally got one up one you Sasha; I have "S" rank in Sonic 360 on all normal missions and bosses for all characters and I got the Nights of Kronos achievement, what now! And I still kick ass on Gears of War, bring it girl; come see me. Sorry I can't speak to you lately, I haven't been on Xbox live much.

---

Chapter 16 — How much can you fight till you break?

Shadow sat on the edge of Cindy's blue and purple bed. The purple sheets covered the soft and comfortable blue mattress with blue cover sheets as Shadow sat on top of it all. He leaned forward and had his arms crossed casually on his lap. He frowned as he glared at the object on floor. There was a flaming hate in his eyes as his stare tried to crack the shell and kill the unborn inside.

"6000 dollars," He gritted his teeth, "Stupid…thing…" His voice was low, as to not draw attention to himself from his son. The egg is to be given either by him; anytime or when Shadow II leaves. "Complete waste of money…"

Though, Cindy should've known better than to give the last option to Shadow. He continued to glare at it, hoping his money would return, good luck man.

---

Angel Island; Knuckles' home: Knuckles, Tikal, Rouge;

"Since when the hell am I the enemy?" Knuckles growled in his defense.

Tikal crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes, "Knuckles you know Chaos is the worse person to baby sit someone, especially your own son!"

"Yeah, why do you think he has the job?" Knuckles replied sarcastically. "The dumass needs to learn his lesson!"

"So you're having the Lord of Destruction teach it to him?" She yelled out Chaos' monster name, Lord of Destruction. "Are you out of your mind?"

"Hmmm," Rouge hummed deeply. She sat on Knuckles' white couch with her legs and arms crossed. Knikatu's actions and Knuckles' way of dealing with it was the hot topic of the hour. "Is he hurt?" Her tone was calm and cool.

"No, but Chaos nearly drowned him!" She said trying to make her point.

"Tikal," Knuckles spoke softly now, most his frustration had vented out, but his tone was hard still, "Do you have any idea what he did?"

"Yes, but you should be able to forgive him; he's your only son!" She was trying to keep herself from smacking him. His only family, the only he would ever get and he treats his son so badly; she wondered why?

"Hell no," He crossed his arms, "Not damn chance; just so he can brush it off? Thinking just cause Tikal and 'mommy' have his back that I'm gonna let him do what he wants? You said to be more like a father and take this seriously; now that I actually try I'm all wrong?"

"No, she's not saying that you idiot," Rouge sighed, "She's saying that your methods are the problem; not your goal. I do have to admit; leaving him to Chaos is a little extreme."

"Maybe there is an alternative," Tikal pleaded for the child.

"Like what?" Knuckles raised an eyebrow.

"Could you have him work? Or just ban him from certain things?"

"Ban? That doesn't ever work; it just tests patience," Knuckles scoffed, "Work? On what, with what?"

"Rouge do you have any ideas?" Tikal looked down at the bat who seemed to be staring blankly at the ground. "Rouge?" She tapped her after a few seconds of silence.

"Huh?" The white bat looked up, "Oh sorry, just lost my place for sec; uh alternatives? (Sigh) no…"

"There has to be something!" Tikal groaned, "Knuckles can't you just be easier on him or something?"

"How about a second chance?" Rouge's eyes aimed at Knuckles'.

The echidna's face twisted into a deep frown. His teeth gritted, "Fine," He growled, "But if he f—ks up again; its going against you two." He glared at them.

---

(Later)

---

Tails' Home; the basement;

"Stupid people," He grumbled as he fixed the only Chaos Emerald they had into a slot of the device. It had four triangle tip points, they were colored silver, and right now they extended out on a thin black rod. That rod was connected to a generator device; the center had a moderate sized area; it could fit all seven Chaos Emeralds. Tails closed the top of the slot that held the jewel.

"Not leaving me damn thing…" He complained to himself, his stomach roaring with hunger, "Soon as this thing's done, Amy's getting a call from Dee-Doll." He smiled evilly.

Tails turned his head when the steps became louder behind him. The chameleon walked with much more ease now. Tails wonder how he walked without a limp but then remembered a couple things Espio told him once. He learned ninjitsu, but never specified from a school or what or whom. And he also worked with S.W.A.T. for about two years, which explained a lot.

"Ay," He grumbled, "Where's my blade? And on top of that, my nightstick?" He walked around, looking for the items.

Tails raised an eyebrow, "Why the blade, and why the nightstick?"

"The blade; it's for an exercise I'm going to do. The nightstick? Well…Mac and Sonic are really starting to piss me off. Cracks about me and Julie having a mixed kid are really getting annoying." He turned over some light boxes, "I'm sure Sonic will remember what I'm capable of with a nightstick, and when Mac comes back, he is gonna learn the meaning of the word 'beating'" He said with pure anger.

"Chill Espio," Tails walked closer to him, "You don't gotta to beat 'em. Look the blade is in the same trunk you left here, over by the computer, see it?" He pointed over to a home computer on next to him, "Do your exercises and chill man; you know who the doctor's bill is going to?"

"Shadow? He's the one who called."

Tails crossed his arms and frowned, "I wish…he ditched and left the bill here; look, I don't want another doctor visit, got it?"

Espio groaned, "Okay so I won't break any bones, happy?"

"Espio…" The fox dragged on.

The purple chameleon sighed, "Fine…" His eyebrow raised suddenly as he realized something. "Wait, why you taking the bill?"

"Cause your broke, but if you don't want me to, its $576 for everything." He held up a piece of paper in between his fingers. Tails raised an eyebrow, he knew his answer but he still wondered if Espio would have enough of a conscious to be good for once.

Yeah, when hell freezes over;

"Yeah…what were we talking about?" He looked away, "Just give me the blade and let's forget everything that happened here." A devious smirk formed on his face;

"Whatever," Tails sighed and went for the blade inside its black holster, "Cheap chameleon," He grabbed it and tossed it back without looking. Espio quickly caught it, he slowly slid the two foot blade out slightly, "If you really wanna get back at them, use Crystal or Amy on Mac, for Sonic; I have an idea, but I need help."

Espio gave him a very interested look, "I'm listening…"

"We need Dee-Doll,"

"I like where this is going," The purple chameleon walked closer to the fox, an evil smirk curving to his lips. He rubbed his hands together as Tails went on. "You have my full-attention."

"Guess there a first time for everything," Tails rolled his eyes along with his comment.

Upstairs;

The house had been really quiet lately. Mac was gone and Sonic had no one to laugh with and so he stopped his usual jokes. Cream had to take Cheese out for a little was outside for a walk with Amy, both talking about some important girl-to-girl matters. Amy need one-on-one time with someone who would actually listen, Julei-Su was in too much pain to even try; she kept forcing herself to walk around; Espio was not going to prove himself stronger than her, ever.

The echidna bit her lip, the pain was still annoying. It was sore and felt like pins and needles when she arched or moved that area, the lower back and hips. It was hell to walk, the bugging pain that didn't have you crying about it but it couldn't be ignored. She leaned on the stair's rail, grunting slightly. "Oh my god," She groaned, "Sonic?" Julie-Su closed her eyes tightly.

"Mmmm?" The blue hedgehog's eyes were closed, He had been trying to sleep; the big meal had left him sleepy. The full stomach had given him something to smile about and now was the time for a nap. The I-tis effect, as defined on The Boondocks.

"Do you have any heat patches?" She groaned at the sore pain.

"Upstairs bathroom; the mirror can't miss it. Now please…leave me alone and let me sleep." He yawned and grumbled something about people being annoying.

"Heh!" She scoffed, "I should kick your ass, all those cracks you made about me and Espio. You're lucky I'm injured otherwise you'd have more than that leg wound!" She growled.

"Yeah, yeah," He grumbled, "Want me to call your boyfriend to help you up the steps?" He chuckled slightly.

"I don't need help!" She frowned and forced her body to move. A few seconds passed by, "And he is not my boyfriend!" She blushed just now realizing it.

"Nope, too late; the five second comeback rule passed." He smirked, "So, what took you so long to realize it?"

"Oh just shut up!" She fumed, "I don't anyone's help!" She paused and adjusted her body to more comforting position as she clung to guardrails of the stairway. Her arms tensed and she pulled herself up the steps.

Slowly she moved her legs up and down. Each step was hell, why did the walking limbs have to be connected to the back? The pain was so stinging and so consent that she even dragged her self up three steps. But after long, dreading, evilly painful five minutes, she noticed she was at the upstairs bathroom door.

Her breathing was over the top, like a fat kid who just ran up six flights of steps. She never realized how hard it was to drag her own body upwards.

---

Angel Island: Knuckles, Mac, Knikatu

The red echidna sighed and put an arm around the two boys' shoulders and leaned on them. He looked at Knikatu as he spoke;

"Alright," He grumbled, "Your mom just gave me hell and Tikal won't leave me alone, so they won and I have to 'Spend quality time' with you and Crystal'." He mocked them and frowned as he made air quotes and then suddenly smiled. "So, I've decided to do a quick pick up and go activity; Mac as much as I hate to say it, you can come too." He frowned again and looked at him annoyingly.

"Sweet! Wait, where we going? What are we gonna do?" He raised an eyebrow and looked at the father of the girl he loved, the father who could and probably would kill him. Why was he being invited?

"We're paint balling." Knuckles smiled, he would do what Tikal and Rouge want and yet bring pain to his son and Mac at the same time. Especially Mac, that's what counted the most.

"Wait just the four of us?" Mac questioned; it was too small of a group for a game.

"Hell no," Knuckles answer quickly. He leaned back and stood up straight, "I wouldn't paintball with you two idiots no matter how bored I was, Shadow and his kid are coming and anyone else who's tagging along."

"Wait…we don't have anything to wear, and I sure as hell ain't going in bare skinned." Knikatu added on.

Knuckles smirked and held up a purple card, "Yeah…for the remainder of our trip to the store and the field I am temporally and quote, unquote, legally Rouge's husband…just don't tell her, she was kind of…"blinking" when I took it." He chuckled, "I wonder what her spending limit is, and well I've always wanted a pair of those newer high-tech gloves Sonic showed me."

"Dad…you know mom is gonna kill you if she finds out," The young echidna warned carefully.

"Hey, hey, hey, if your sister plays along then I expect you to do the same," He looked at the numbers on the card, "Besides, she said to spend time with you guys, and this is only a tool to help me do that objective."

"Whatever!" Mac said stretched his legs, "I need two shirts, shorts, sweatpants and a hoodie, let's go!" The boy is going to pass out from heat exhuastion before the game even starts.

"Wait we ain't buying you anything," Knikatu quickly responded, "Dad are we?"

"Ehh," Knuckles shrugged, "Not my card, I don't care, it's for the kids," He winked, "Yeah let's go, Crystal c'mon! We're going shopping!" The girl came running out of the forest so fast she would've given Sonic a run for his money.

"Really?" She squealed, "Where we going?" There was bright shine of happiness in her aqua colored eyes.

Knuckles looked at her strangely, "Chill…we're just gonna go get some stuff for the paintball game, you still coming right?"

"Yeah I guess…" She said now half interested, "When are we going to do some real shopping?"

"When you get a job and a paycheck," Knuckles smirked.

Crystal pouted, "That's not funny!"

---

Elsewhere; With Shadow;

Shadow pulled the little silver bar on the side and loaded one round into it. Guns were always a favorite in his book. Though Cindy and Amy's habit of safety never let him have around during this time, paintball guns were different for him. He looked down the shiny red top, the gun looked like a Socom (Can't figure out how to spell, and spell check won't find it) but the red shiny color gave away the fact that it wasn't real. The call from Knuckles made his day so much better, nothing like an evening paintball game. The darkening skies, the cold temperature, the vague moonlight that gave little visibility and best cover, it was all exciting to him in a way.

The big plus was, he could finally get his son back for the stupid things he'd done.

"Ay idiot!" He yelled aloud to no one, "You ready yet?"

"No!" The boy responded from the living room, "I don't have any layers on me!"

"C'mon put these on," Shadow went for a closet; he pulled out a dark blue sweater and a white shirt on the ground toward him. He pulled out a thick pair of blue jeans and put them on top of the chair nearby him in the room.

His son walked in and stared at him questionably, "Dad?" Shadow II picked up the clothes and stared at them strangely, "What are your clothes doing at mom's house? And you two aren't even together yet?"

"Shut up and c'mon, dress on the way there," Shadow fought a vague blush and walked out the door.

"Hey wait!" Shadow II skipped as he made his way to the door, hopping as he put on the jeans. "Damn dad, it's not like you're gonna be able to hit Sonic, you know he's not coming right?"

Half hour later; The Battle Field;

Knuckles wore a plain black shirt with a red hoodie on top and a pair of shorts underneath black sweatpants with black shoes. Knikatu stood wearing blue and white clothing, similar to his dad, except he had more shirts and two shorts underneath. Crystal wore a thick baby blue jacket made of rain-resistant material, her long short that ended at her boots were now black color and seemed to be layer on top of clothing underneath. She had on black boots; they weren't very stylish due to the event they will be used for.

Mac had on a woodland camouflage hoodie and two black shirts underneath it. He had outdoor sport black shoes with two layers of sweat pants that were camouflage color as well.

Upon noticing, Shadow raised an eyebrow at them all. The clothes all had the "new" look and shine.

"For the supposed Ultimate Life Form and the son of it, you guys are frickin' slow," Knuckles comment as he put up his hood. As he and everyone else breathed the air was seen a light smoke due to the dropping temperature. Crystal shivered in boots and held the paintball gun in-between her thighs as she chattered her teeth.

"Dad," She cried, "It's getting really cold, do we have to do this?"

The red guardian sighed and put his black paintball mask, "Look we'll only do a few games to get your mother off my back," He tried to get a feel of the temperature, "It's not even that cold!" She whimpered a little, "Okay, a few games that's it,"

"Promise?" The girl looked at him disappointingly; she didn't like this weather and this game much.

"Have I ever lied to you?" She opened her mouth, "Don't answer that,"

"Well, if you two will stop holding us up, what are we waiting on?" Shadow was eager to start, though his tone didn't show it.

Knuckles looked around, "Him," He pointed at a teenage human kid walking over, he a hoodie and light jeans, he walked over quickly. Shadow notice the echidna had fingered gloves, and they were new as well, having gloves with fingers gave him a strange look.

"Okay," He asked hiding a cold shiver, "You guys ordered the private game right?" Knuckles nodded, "Okay, we've set you up with three arenas, outdoor for two and one indoor. It's up to you whether you go free for all or teams—"

"—Teams!" Crystal shouted as she cut in, "I get my dad," She took her father's arm and hooked hers with his.

"I got Shadow!" Knikatu zipped over to older hedgehog's side;

"God damn it…" Shadow II groaned, "Why do I get the idiot?" He looked at Crystal who clung to her dad, "Crystal why don't you have your boyfriend defend you in these games?" A growl from Knuckles let him know that the term boyfriend was not to be used.

"No, I want my dad, he's better than Mac!"

"You know what?" Mac said quietly, "I'ma laugh my ass off when you're all on the ground in pain by me, c'mon Shadow, let's win this thing!"

"Okay first game is in here," The kid pointed to the left to a large and shady forest field with an up hill area with rock cover. "Walk in there and when I sound the horn, start, remember one hit and hold up your hands and gun, one hit your out for the game. Should you get hit and not know if the paint ball broke, call for a paint check, if the paint ball did not break, then you can continue. Paint splashed or sprayed on from a hit to a tree or rock does not count as a hit. Now, should you manage to sneak around and are able to sneak attack someone, warn them, have them surrender, trust me, it's easier on them, but hey, it's not my game, I'm only recommending. Any questions?"

Shadow raised his hand getting his attention, "What are the rules on contact, physical, I mean."

"There is no fighting, fighting will lead to exclusion from all the games," Shadow quickly pulled out and held a hundred in his face. The kid took the bill quickly, "There is medium contact allowed due to a new circumstance, such as trucking, or a moderate push," Shadow smirked as he put on his mask.

"Let's go," Shadow said evilly and looked at his son as he walked by him.

"Okay pick up the guns on the table near the entrance, they're all full auto, full tank on each, take one and get into a good position with your partner, I'll sound a horn when its game time and when its over," He said as he followed them, "Last team or team member standing wins this round."

As they walked by the huge netting fence placed to keep stray paintballs from flying anywhere, Crystal clung to her father's side as they entered the open.

"Dad, I don't like paintball a lot…it hurts," She hid behind a large rock formation as the kid started a countdown.

"Don't worry, I bet no one is going to even aim for you." Knuckles crouched down and hid behind a rock, he looked around as adjusted his mask.

Shadow and Knikatu went straight to the uphill area and took cover in the shade of the trees. As the sun slowly dropped, the darkening shade would be perfect cover.

"Alright," Shadow said as he squatted down, "Seems serious but we're gonna do this squad style, full hand tap on the shoulder during movement and signal and words when in cover, one at a time pop up shots alright?" Shadow peaked around a rock the leaned against the tree he was hiding behind. The kid was waiting for Mac and Shadow II to give their signal.

"Shadow," Knikatu said disturbed, "Why do I get the feeling that you're enjoying this a lot more than you're supposed to?" Knikatu duct to the leaf covered ground when he heard the horn sound blare off and four plops hit the tree and spray glowing green paint everywhere nearby;

"Damn, let me guess Mac?"

Shadow nodded and popped up and fire about seven shots quickly and ducked down to the left, aiming at Mac or Shadow II.

"I say we move before my dad gets on us," Knikatu moved to a squatted position and backed away like that, he dodged the shots thanks to the constant tree cover, "Mac that the best you got? I'm a freaking white shot! You suck!" He chuckled as he sprinted up and hopped a rock and ducked.

"Dude, you suck, don't waste ammo!" Shadow II yanked on Mac's clothing and slammed him on his butt. "Let's get Knuckles and Crystal, by now who knows where they've gone," He peaked carefully over a fallen log to his side, he then looked to his left and saw a small carter area, "Shoot at Knikatu and my dad, I'm going over there, now!"

Mac shrugged and obeyed he popped up and covered his partner and ducted down when the black hedgehog hit the dirt.

Shadow II held his gun over the barrel that lay on its side. It provided more cover at the edge of the man made crater. He held the trigger and fired where he thought the others might be.

"Ow! Mac!" Someone shrieked, "Paint check!" It was Crystal rubbing her arm. The human kid jogged over to her and checked her body, "You better hope I don't catch you!" She shouted as the kid tapped her and gave her the ok to keep going.

Shadow saw his son pop up during the Crystal's big scene, he aimed and held the trigger. A smirked crested on the evil father's face as every hit landed on his ankle up to left rib area. Shadow II's knee bent as the high speed paintballs hit and broke spreading pink paint all over his back side. He hopped on one leg as he held his leg back so the heel touched his back side.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow!" He yelped as he stumbled forward, six more shots hits his head as he fell flat on the dirty and leafy ground, "Alright man!" He yelled, the hedgehog groaned in pain and leaned on one side, unfortunately facing his shooter. He lifted up his gun and shouted, "Paint check!" Shadow shot three more shots at his chest, making him grunt loudly;

"Never mind!"

"That's for making spend 6 grand on your stupid chao," Shadow whispered as he moved on. He kept low and crouched down as he avoided Knuckles' fire. He gasped and suddenly relaxed when he felt a hand touch his shoulder, "You had me for sec Knikatu,"

"Yeah whatever, Mac's moving up behind us, watch it okay?" Knikatu looked back and moved on quickly; he looked through cracks in-between trees, looking for his father. He saw his sister's blue coat and fired twice, both landing on the head.

"I'm telling mom Knikatu!" She yelled and held up her hands. Pouting the echidna-bat hybrid girl walked out fuming as she held her gun up.

The white echidna smirked evilly. He always wanted to do something like that. Victory was short lived though, he felt three powerful spike blows to his rib and felt something strike his head twice and burn the area the hit the cloth to the head where the helmet did not cover.

"Ha! And I wasn't even aiming for you! What now?" Mac laughed hysterically. The blue boy yelped and suddenly ducted for cover behind a tree when Shadow shot at him. "C'mon Shadow, you gotta do better than that, c'mon!" Mac stuck his head out and bolted to another tree as a shot flew in front of him and just missed as he passed it. "Ultimate Life Form my ass!"

Shadow growled and gritted his teeth, "You son of a—" Without looking Shadow pulled out his red paintball gun and pulled the chamber bolt. He fired without looking behind himself and shot Knuckles, who had been trying to sneak up by the rocks behind and landed a hit to his mask.

"What…just happened?" Knuckles wiped the yellow paint off of his mask. For a few seconds he stood dumbfounded before another shot to his mask shooed him away. He sighed and turned around and headed out of the arena.

Shadow gritted his teeth and crouched and walked slowly with the hand-paintball gun upright in one hand. He looked around menacingly, "C'mon big boy, what happened to the two balls you suddenly grew?" His eyes scanned the area, looking for any movement.

Mac laughed nervously, "Aww jeez…mom always told me not to tick off Shadow…she said he's almost as bad as Knuckles over Crystal…well its now or never!" Mac spun off the tree he had his back to, he aimed his gun felt several burning spots all over.

"Ow, ow, alright! Jeez, okay! Damn it," Mac groaned as he held his stomach area. He slowly dropped to one a knee "Oh…man…that stings like hell." Shadow shot him one more time making the boy curse.

"Okay that's game!" The ref shouted, "Shadow's team wins!"

Shadow simply stood up and held his hand up. He smirked beneath his mask and bowed once, his silent bragging making Mac madder with every second he glared at him. The two slowly made their way to the exit of the netted arena.

"I say no more automatics," Shadow II groaned as he rubbed the back of his leg, "I need another ten minutes before I can walk normally."

"Aww man!" Crystal yelped, "My hair!" She had been trying to adjust her dreadlocks into a more comfortable position inside her coat/sweater and notice that the paint had reached her dreads, "Dad can I go home before this dries?"

Her father sighed, "Can't you wait? I paid—"

"—mom—" Knikatu coughed sarcastically.

"—your mom, paid for three games, it's not going to stick, don't worry." The tone in his voice was laced with annoyance as he rolled his eyes with Knikatu's comment.

"Please?" She bit and quivered her lower lip and made a sad face with her biggest eyes.

"Can't you wait?" Knuckles closed his eyes and looked away as she inched closer to him. When she leaned on him and faked a whimper Knuckles groaned and pushed her away, "Fine, one more game and we're outta here, it's getting late anyway…and I can't feel my fingers."

"Sir, you do know we have a strict no refund policy," The kid muttered quietly, he kept eyeing the spiked hands.

"I don't care," Knuckles chuckled, "It's their mothers money anyway heh-heh," The kid raised an eyebrow as Knuckles grinned evilly.

"C'mon Crystal can't you just ignore it and let us do the whole 3 games?" Shadow II suggested.

"Yeah c'mon, you can be with me for the rest of the games!" Mac's voice was muffled due to the mask.

"No!" She shouted, "You two idiots may not care about how you look but I do!" She crossed her arms and huffed, "Thing is, I have to keep my gorgeous beauty intact,"

Knikatu rolled his eyes and covered his mouth on one side as he mumbled to his dad, "I told you we should've left her at home."

"Once again, it's your mom's fault, not mine," His father growled in his own defense.

"One game and then we go home; I'm starting to freeze out here!" Crystal finally agreed with the suggestion. She kept fiddling with her painted dreadlock.

"Fine one game," Mac groaned, "But I'm not with Shadow!" His now former partner frowned.

"Man I did more work than you did," Shadow II rolled his eyes.

"You were knocked out two minutes into the game." Mac snapped back.

"Least I wasn't hiding like a full-on wuss."

"Umm, hate to break it to you guys," The kid chuckled slightly, "The next area is indoors, warmer," He smirked and looked at Crystal, "And its closer quarters, no teams, sorry." He shrugged as he heard Crystal huff.

"No! No!" Crystal shouted, "I don't want solo!"

'Hmmm…close quarters…' Shadow smirked again and looked at his teal and black son. 'You know, I like this type of "bonding".'

"C'mon lets go, my fingers are freezing," Knuckles mumbled amongst the constant bickering between kids.

---

Tails' Home, upstairs;

Julie-Su closed her eyelids tightly, breathing deeply. Her body leaned forward to ease her pain. She held the warm heat patch in her hands. It was too painful to arch back and place it on, and turning her back to the mirror as an aid was nearly impossible, it was a huge pain. It was a mission in itself to put this damn thing on, but it would soothe the needle-like pain in her back and let her work out a little bit. To hell with that doctor's orders, she was not going to drag herself around all day or sit down and let Sonic and Mac make cracks about her situation with Espio.

'I don't like him…' The echidna though to herself constantly, 'C'mon just get this stupid thing on Jules! C'mon you don't want to seem like you're weak in front of him—' She flushed at her own choice of words in her thoughts as they confused her even more, 'I mean weak in front of anybody! Especially him—arrgh! Why can't I get this right?'

She looked at the mirror. They were the biggest turn off to most of the men she knew. Her metallic parts, her arm most of all, whenever she talked to a guy or someone came up to her they would flirt or complement after a couple of awkward moments with different people but she start following their eyes and they'd take one glance at her arms and then start ending their conversation. Always, it always left her pissed, she knew her arm wasn't the best thing to look at and maybe her dreads weren't as perfectly fashioned as so called "perfect model" echidnas but damn. How many guys could actually start hitting on her and then walk away just because of her upbringing and her past. Then again, metal upgrades aren't something you can get rid of easily, especially when it's integrated into your nerve system and made as of part of you. There was a way to remove it but that cost more than six years of her salary; gross estimates of course…damn pricy specialists.

Julie-Su continued her slug fest. All of her movements were slow, and she could barely keep up her head. Staring at the mirror right now was just putting her down emotionally, with that plus her mind state in addition to her constant weight concern had her bummed. Wearing the jump suit that was tight on all of her curves made her feel like a blob, something barely fitting into this black suit. She heard a knock at the door, "What?" She snapped. After a pause she let out a sigh, "Who is it?"

The door creaked as it was opened slightly, "It's me," She gasped and zipped up the back of her suit so her backside wasn't exposed at all. But such a quick movement made her groan painfully, "Hey, you…" He chose his words carefully, "Sonic told me that you needed help, but I guess not, so I take it you're alright?"

She scoff sarcastically, "Stupid hedgehog…" She grumbled lowly, but he could hear, "I came up to get a heat patch for my back and to get away because even after Mac left he was driving me insane!" She carefully rested against the sink countertop.

Espio could sense the thick frustration in her voice, "Still making cracks huh?"

"Without a filter too now that Mac left,"

There was a short pause, "You alright?"

Julie-Su stared at her feet. Her head lifted at she looked up at the crack between the door and the wall. It was curious to her why he was concerned with her wellbeing, even more her emotion and mental wellbeing. "E-Espio?" Nice, a stutter, she was nervous already.

"Mmm?" He hummed gruffly.

"C-Can, you…uh…can you do me a favor?" She fiddled with heat patch in her hands, "But I-I need you to come in,"

Without a word he opened the door more and walked in, gently closing the door behind him. She noticed that he still dragged his leg a little; he walked to the bathroom closet wall and leaned against it.

"Espio," Julie looked down at herself and looked over her body. She looked up at him and looked away slightly, "Do I seem fat? O-Or thick?" She flushed slightly.

Espio's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. Was she kidding? "Are you joking? What is this, a trick question or something?"

"No!" Julie-Su's flush remained on her face, "I really want to know what you think! You're the most upfront and honest person I know!"

The chameleon still had second thoughts. Julie looked at her feet as his eyebrow rose questionably, "Do you really want to know my honest opinion?" She nodded, "I think you are letting Sonic drive you insane," The echidna coughed, "You're fine, you have a beautiful body, that of a goddess," He smirked as a full-on blushed turned her face red. "How's that for my honest opinion? That all you needed?"

"Uh…" She looked away and rubbed her neck nervously, "No…" Even though she had on glove she tried to feel the blazing heat of her cheeks. Her voice was muffled by her hand, "Could you help me put this on my back?" She held out the patch.

"Wow, today's full of surprises," Espio scratched his head gently, "Never thought you'd ask me for help, so where this you trying to put this on that so hard for you?"

"My back, where else?" Julie-Su mumbled.

"Ouch…" Espio wink with one eye and held a pained face, he could only imagine her pain, "Now I get it," He walked over to her and held his hand out.

Julie-Su handed him the closed package, she flushed a little more as she turned around. Espio got little closer to her, her only inches away from her. Julie-Su looked up in the mirror and blushed a little more as he stare a little hard at her backside then looked away nervously, the expression was easily readable. She brought her hands carefully to the back of her head and moved most of her dreads onto her shoulder, making the zipper on her suit more visible. She giggled once nervously, "Its okay, I can't unzip it anyway," Espio's cheeks were blazing red as he reached to grab the zipper.

He was about to break into a sweat. Never in his entire life had he ever been in this position, well he had been around the block once or twice but never with a woman he truly liked. Sonic's influences led him into the lovely world of 'paid services' but he had never had one-on-one experience with a girl. So this was like jumping the cliff for him, he kind of wanted to talk and break the ice, maybe apologize and leave on good terms, with maybe an implied desire to date. Espio wanted to baby walk this one so that there wasn't much room to screw up.

Espio could feel his face burning and his forehead get that feeling of sweat, 'I wanted to talk and now look at me,' He slowly pulled down the zipper and spotted the back white strap of her bra, 'I'm already undressing her…well not—whatever it meet qualifications! I can see her bra and part of her underwear for God sakes!' He felt like pervert within his mind, thinking so lustfully of her within the place which she could never hear, thankfully. Espio could feel that hard desire trying to flare up and come out, but he was fighting it, with everything he had.

Espio felt a drip of sweat build up, his muzzle cooled as he took a silent but deep breath. He places his hands near her body; using his thumbs he carefully touched her lower back area, "Here?" Julie-Su twitched a little, "You think you really want to have this pack put on? I mean it's a gel patch," A groan confirmed that she didn't know that, "Gel and fur do not mix, at least from what I know,"

Julie continued to fight her blush the thought of Espio staring at her revealing backside was still in her head, "Gel? You're kidding right?" She looked up and saw the mirror reflection shake its head, "Jeez…" The echidna covered her face with her hand and muffled out her words, "What now? This pain is killing me!"

"Well the doctor did say it was a moderately muscle stress pain," Julie-Su muffled out a question asking for simplification, "It's a stressed muscle or in other words muscle pain."

She rolled her eyes, "Your point Esp?" He didn't catch her quick name for him.

"I dunno," Espio scratched his head, "Maybe a massage will do the trick. At least I think it would." They looked at each other through the mirror, "Only problem is I don't know anyone who knows how to do that."

Julie-Su looked him straight in the eyes through the mirror, "Could you?" The chameleon coughed and shook his head nervously, "Please, I'm just asking you to try; this pain is killing me every time I move! Just try?" Espio had a heavy blush, "I promise no one is ever going to find out,"

'Damn, this is not what I planned but then again I shouldn't be surprised, she's in pain and my suggestion put me in this position. Oh c'mon, it's not that big of a deal right? I can resist all and any urges, after all, I'm not a ninja because I call myself that. And as a ninja, I can resist any provoking urges…right?' Espio gulped silently as he stared into the echidna's pleading face. "I-I guess," Espio felt heat inside him flare, "But I'm no professional,"

"Worth a try," She said quietly, "Anything right now to get rid of or help lessen this annoying pain," She took a deep breath and exhaled softly, "This is so embarrassing!" She whispered to herself.

"Heh, that's what you think, I'm the one staring down you ready to grab you all over,' Espio slowly moved his hands gently placed them on her hips, cupping the delicate and lovely frame of the echidna. He broke a sweat, and then two, then three but stopped as if his body had an overheating system, his body felt like warm burning fire as he touched her. Espio thumbs began trying to massage her lower back, starting first with her side areas then working deeper towards the middle. Her muscles were tight and hard, she seemed very tense, "Damn, I think she's more stressed out than I am," Endless seconds turned into a silent infinity of a few minutes as his thumbs worked some relief on her.

Julie-Su fought every urge to moan. His touch was so smooth and gentle; she couldn't imagine a better feeling. The fact that it was coming from Espio wasn't even in her mind. At the bottom of her legs; her toes curled and her fist tightened and felt her body tensed in the most relaxing way possible. Minutes passed as hour in her head, the time that was short stretched into incredible lengths of time from what they really were, just because they felt that great. Instead of moans she tried breathing as deeply and as many times as she could, the massage was intense to her, it just felt like she was in heaven right now. She moved her legs to take her mind off of the great feeling, stepping the feet on one another constantly.

Espio stopped, "J-Julie, you alright?" She finally exhaled deeply; she gasped and flushed heavily as she came back to reality.

"Huh?" She tried to deny her recent act up even though she knew how she acted just now. But she didn't notice one thing until it was too late, way too late. "What?" She turned her head looked at him.

"W-Well you're completely b-backed up on m-me…" Espio stuttered slightly as he tried to keep his arms from going anywhere. The echidna's blissful relaxation had blindly led her into arching back against his chest. Her back was to his chest and her hips leveling with his, curves fitting on top other curves, giving him more temptation to fight. They were front to back and only the elbow to his fingers weren't touching anything, his elbow to shoulder nervously pressing against her sides. With her head turned as it was their faces were mere centimeters apart.

"Oh my," Julie-Su's blush came with double vengeance, turning her deep red, "Espio…" Her lips quivered as she felt herself push towards his face. She closed his eyes as soon as she felt something. That's all it took, one second of their lips touching and she knew it. Her mouth let soft moans escape when their lip locking allowed an opening for air. She felt two arms come completely around her sides and she welcomed it, his body warmth. His secure hold was so new and such a great feeling, one she never felt before. Even with her back arched back slightly and her head in the position it was she felt nothing of pain, instead her body tightened as she felt something even better than her back massage. She was holding it all in, every piece of strength within her was fighting. He was rubbing her soft spot.

(No, I don't mean that one you nasty morons)

Espio hand had worked its way up. His five fingers had each rubbed into a space between the roots of her dread locks, and now she was ready to let loose. It was forcing her mood up; she let out an erotic moan as she broke the kiss and turned around. She panted twice the speed of his breath; she cupped his arm and had her other hand on the sink counter top. Her tongue was in mid-air of her mouth

"Who are you?" With complete she slid her body up onto the counter of the sink. She had her arms gentle linked with his arms, her fingers carefully holding onto his arms. Her soft violet toned eyes met with his hard yellow orbs, she felt her body grow hotter as her inched closer, closing the small gap that had been made during her movement.

Espio only inched closer; he leaned forwards and made their lips connect. The hypnotic locking had her breathing heavily and him as well, "Someone…who's…in…love…with…you…" He said between his deep breaths and her growing moans. She pulled him closer after he spoke, her arm pressing them as close as physically possible. Her legs had kept them part slightly but she spread them and allowed him closer as she embraced him tightly. His hands and fingers started acting on instinct and desire; they slowly grabbed the unzipped parts of her jump suit and he pulled them towards himself, loosening their tighter hold around her shoulders and chest.

She moaned softly and whimpered slightly, "Not here," She broke the kiss and shrugged off his arms. Her actions set off a deep stare between the both of them, they studied each other. They eyes were a gateway into one another's true inner feelings, she could see it in his eyes and feel it in his touch; he was serious. Espio gasped softly when she grabbed him tightly and put the side of her head on his chest, her grip on his body was strong. He heard a sniffle, and looked down more to his left.

"Julie?" His right arm reached out of her grip and moved a dreadlock that was covering her eyes, "You okay?" There were a couple of tears with their streams flowing down her face, "What's wrong?"

She sniffled again and hugged him tighter, "Nothing…" He could feel her body tense, "Its j-just you're the first person to say that genuinely to me, if at all it had ever been said," He sighed a little, relieved and happy she wasn't mad or saddened. Espio let his fingers stroke through her lovely dreads, his left hand reached from around the side and made it to her back then slowly grabbed the zipper and lifted it up.

When it was all the way up he blushed as she looked up at him with a certain look in her eyes, "Sorry…I kind of lost myself…I couldn't help it," He mumbled as his left hand caressed her thigh now made her loosen her arm grip and fall down to his waist line and hugged there instead. Her back straightened as she sat up and nuzzled his with muzzle.

"All I said was not here," She giggled as his eyes widened and his face froze and a warm blush burned his cheeks.

Downstairs;

"I don't think paintball is such a good idea in this weather," Amy said to the only other person in the room with her, Sonic.

Still restricted to the couch, Sonic was on the verge of losing his mind. Someone had to carry or support him to anywhere in the house. And usually that person was Amy, unfortunately for him. She tended to him, waited on hand and foot, not that it was completely bad but it did get annoying. Sonic could walk baby steps with his leg cast on but Amy would not have it. The end result was pictures taken of him being carried and tended, and even fed some cases, all saved in Espio's secret shoe box…still at large.

Sonic had his eyes closed. He breathe deeply and then yawned, "Ah leave the kid alone Ames. He not gonna die from a little cold air," Carefully he shifted onto his side and let his mind faded into a sleep stage.

Amy looked around, "Hey Sonic?" The blue hedgehog groaned annoyingly;

"Yeah?"

"You seen Julie or Espio? I know Cream is downstairs with Tails and Katie went on a run—"

"She asked if we had any heat patches for her back pain so I told they were upstairs, been about thirty minutes, I'm guessing she's asleep. Espio, I have no clue, he's probably outside or on the roof or someplace like the closet where he do his little meditation-thingamajig. Now if you don't mind." Sonic licked his lips and yawned as he tried to sleep.

"Still, I'm going to go check on her, the doctor said she shouldn't be walking around let alone climb these steps, Sonic couldn't you have at least helped her or had somebody help her?"

"Mmm-rrmm, no, no, two sugar cookies mommy," Sonic grumbled and snored quietly. Amy only sighed and rolled her eyes. She stood up and mad her way to the steps and at decently quick pace she made it up the steps.

"Julie?" She said in a normal toned voice, "You okay?" Amy stood still and looked around. She walked into the room to her right; she looked around and found nothing. There were three room's upstairs, two on the right; one at the end of the hall and on next to it on the side. The third was alone at the other end; it was Sonic's; the master bed room with the master bathroom that had two entrances, one from the hallway, next to the bedroom door itself and the other door from inside the bedroom.

The room Amy had just check was the one Julie and Espio had been fighting for all night. She checked the one next to it, the one where Katie had a front row seat to the hell the two unleashed on each other. Amy giggled to herself as she remembered stirring to the ruckus but woke and found the two tied up in ropes cursing at one another and Espio trying to do "The Worm" to get to the kitchen to nearest knife. She smiled at that funny thought and went on to the bathroom.

Amy pushed the door open, it wasn't closed all the way, "Hey Jules? Julie—" She gasped flushed heavily.

The echidna didn't seem to be in pain, the back injury from before that had been plaguing her and had her complaining was as if it never existed. Julie-Su actually seemed happier than she had ever been in her whole life. She closed her eyes in complete bliss, moaning in his mouth as she locked lips with him. Her tongue inside his mouth playing with his as he tried to do the same to her, he had her giggling like never before. And she was welcoming him, her arms around his necks and her legs at his sides they could come as close as possible. Espio had his hand on her hips, stroking her curves from her waist down, and by curves I mean every single one you can imagine expect for the ones that are too close. He was stroking her butt when Amy entered and even then he only noticed her when the hedgehog herself gasped. The two parted and blushed from the embarrassment of finding out who was at the door.

"—oh my," Amy flushed in her cheeks and backed away, "I'm sorry, I-I uh…I'll be downstairs—" She slammed the door closed and cupped her mouth and nose with both hands and flushed even as she started remembering more details as she went into another room.

---

Paintball Building; with our players;

Shadow the second walked down a school like hall, he kept turning around to make sure no sneak attacks came up. Out of habit he pulled back on the loading switch and didn't pull it back because it was already back enough due to the fact that it was already loaded. He could hear his own breathing; layers of thick clothes in addition to his fur had him sweating. Six consecutive clanks made him jump and run around the upcoming corner. He saw a on his left window opening and hopped it; he observed the heavily cluttered room. Boxes of all kinds and sizes were everywhere, stacked or fallen or it was random but there were three long tubes. Each of the three had a specific advantage and handicap. The first one was big enough for one to stand in or run through and move semi-freely, but was broken into a lot of solo pieces that let anyone on the catwalk above get a clean shot. The middle one was solid but see through, the net like material let all see you but it lead to the other end safely, except you had to crouch. The smallest one was solid and it couldn't be seen through, it had had left turn that lead somewhere else or the straight path the lead out to an exit but the only problem; you had to go prone and you can't turn around.

Shadow II crouched in a darker corner and tried to think of a way to get on the catwalk above. He kept on alert when heard mumbling and heard metal touch metal. It was probably Shadow or Crystal walking on the catwalk; he aimed up above himself and waited for someone to come out.

"Man," It was Crystal, "I hate this game…" She walked above Shadow II on the catwalk. The echidna-bat seemed to mad and uninterested in the game right now, Shadow II adjusted his mask and put one foot on the left walk. Still in the corner kicked off and up with his foot and repeated till he made to the guardrail of the catwalk ten feet above ground.

Crystal gasped when she felt the guardrails shake. She turned around to see who it was; she aimed her gun but did not fire. The echidna simply wanted the game to end; she didn't want to feel the hurt of it. Shadow II saw her aim at him but also noticed her shaking, in a way he didn't care that she didn't want to play but he didn't want to just shoot her when she was scared. From his position Shadow II also noticed another catwalk parallel to his own. It was by then he saw a blue figure aiming around the corner of that catwalk. Shadow II hit the floor and slid on his back to the closest end of the catwalk exits. A barrage of paint balls slammed into the catwalk floor. The aim was terrible; they hit the rails and gave the floor a new paintjob but missed him completely. He was on the second floor again, paint splash all over his mask as at least twelve shots hit the floor and walls. The boy rolled over and ran in the other direction; he saw a block and hid behind it. He shot randomly over his head before running again.

"No running!" He heard that and then felt himself slam into a wall. Shadow II groaned as he inhaled air again and made sense of what happened. He saw his father aiming with one arm at him. Shadow smirked beneath his mask and fired, the child grunted and whimpered.

"F—k you dad…" The boy squeaked, he fell to his knees holding the sore spot in-between his legs. He moaned in a deepening voice as his energy and vision came back to him.

"Yeah whatever, c'mon boy, time to go home anyway." Shadow chuckled and picked up his groaning son and started dragging him out of the building.

Outside Knuckles had his hood off and rubbed his head violently, "You're both grounded for this," Knuckles rubbed the sore spot in the back of his head.

"Hey you can't ground me," Mac responded, "I'm not even your son!"

"Shut up Mac," Crystal groaned as she sat down, "Dad can we go now?"

"Yeah, yeah, just wait up for Shadow, he and his kid were the last ones in, I want to see who won." Knuckles flinched when he touched a small spilt cut. "Man, you two idiots cut my skin, I'm gonna kill both of you!" He growled as the stinging pain doubled.

"Yeah, yeah, I love you too Knux," Mac smirked and pulled off all his paint ball gear. He shook his head and breathed deeply, the young hedgehog tossed the gloves on the floor and kicked off the boots he had on. Knikatu followed his lead, but kept his shoes on, he didn't change those. Crystal already had her hood and gear off but would not stop fiddling with her painted dreadlock.

"Yeah how about I have my foot show you how deep my love goes up—" Knuckles growled. Mac only frowned and changed his shoes, with the ones he had tossed to the side earlier just before the first game.

"—Dad," Crystal turned around and looked out into the empty parking lot, "I think you might want to hide…" She looked around their surroundings.

"Huh?" Knuckles looked at her strangely, "What're you talking about—"

"—Knuckles!" Someone screamed from above, "1200 dollars? Are you insane?" The white bat roared as her feet slammed onto the ground. She gritted her teeth, the fangs fiercely letting growls through.

"That's why…" Crystal gave nervous look to her father, knowing what her mother was yelling about.

'Aww jeez, I thought I'd have at least a little bit more time. Damn, Rouge has a really good credit card company if they just checked my signatures and informed her.' Knuckles calmly turned around and smiled slightly, 'Damn, and they didn't pick up a flag with the 1200 dollar charges? Damn what the hell is her usual spending?'

"What's up Rouge?"

She turned deep red as her blood boiled, "What's up? My credit card bill! That's what's up; you spent 1200 dollars in two hours?" She gritted her teeth even more, "When I said spend more time with the kids I didn't mean steal my card and spend my money like it grows on trees either!" The white bat growled and fumed.

Knuckles looked her with the same smile, he shrugged, "Hey wanna come with us? We were gonna go home and change then go somewhere and get dinner."

Rouge growled again, "Why you! You think that you can just push it over like that?" She glared at him and let out another irritated growl.

"Do you wanna come or not?" Knuckles asked again calmly. The echidna brushed off the burning glares Rouge gave him, he noticed in the distance Shadow was walking over slowly. Within a little Knuckles noticed what was slowing him down, "We were just waiting on Shadow, who…is dragging his kid—"

"—don't even ask…" Shadow II groaned angrily as he approached, correction: was dragged to them.

"Damn, that company is quick…Rouge who's your credit card? 1200, man…wait what the hell is your usual spending limit?" Shadow already knew her reason for being here.

"I was thinking the same thing," Knuckles said in a surprised tone.

"Oh, so you knew about this too?" Rouge snapped, "Oh just great, I can't even trust the person I thought was my best friend!" She yelled at him.

"I'm your best friend?" Shadow raised and eyebrow, "First of all, if I actually cared, I'd be touched, and second of all I'm not your lover's keeper—" Shadow hopped a step back and avoided her quick kick to the sensitive area.

"He is not my lover!" Rouge flushed.

"Yet," Shadow smirked as he made her turn even redder, "Consider yourself lucky that we're not in populated streets." Shadow pulled his son up to his feet and shook him once, "Walk it off you idiot." The child grunted and growled once, "Watch it boy,"

"Well, see ya later Shadow and er…um…little Shadow," Knuckles turned around and waved off as he walked away. He turned around and kept walking backwards, "Hey Knikatu let's go before the place closes, and beside I wanna get Mac back to his place before his mom starts nagging me!" Knikatu nodded and started following.

"Crystal you coming or you wanna go with mom?"

"Whoa, whoa!" Rouge forced herself into the group's conversation, "Nobody here is off the hook, you're all going home," Rouge found no movement with her parental orders, she growled at all the staring eyes, "Now!" She rushed over in a speed walk over to Knikatu and slipped her fingers in-between his dreadlocks and grabbed his ear.

"Ow, ow, mom cut it out!" The boy whimpered, it was of the more sensitive spots of his body.

"Don't even think about attempting it," Knuckles growled when he saw Rouge give him a "Your next" type look. "So I take it you're gonna drag them home? Then what?"

"Oh no," Rouge said angrily, "In the past, your solo thing might have had its way, but today is a different story," Knuckles raised an eyebrow, "Today your coming with me, we need to have a serious talk about your attitude on this situation."

'Damn, not even together and she already has him on check, serious check…' Shadow shook his head in pity for the very first time. He couldn't help it, the thing was, it was Rouge…that's enough said.

"We're all going home, now!" Rouge yanked down on Knikatu's ear, who had the intent to escape, "And that includes you!" Rouge snapped at Knuckles, the sudden yell made him jerk for a second. Crystal sighed and gathered left over stuff from Knikatu and grumbled something. Rouge barked something else but Shadow couldn't hear it, she was already far away. Knuckles covered his ears as she kept yelling at all of them.

"Yo!" Mac looked around confused, "What about me? What, am I supposed to walk home by myself?" Mac looked to Shadow for answer, "You ain't gonna help me get home?"

"Tell someone who cares…" Shadow turned and went his way, Shadow II slowly following.

Tails' Home;

"No way…you-s screwing with my head?" He gasped.

"No!" Amy whined for the sixth time, "Why is that so unbelievable? We should be happy for both of them!"

"Wait, wait, wait; hold up a sec right here," He stammered with his natural slang and slur lacing words together, "He kissed her?"

"And cuddled with her," Vector blinked several times and rubbed his eyes, "I'm not lying!"

With a wheezing breath he coughed twice, "Espio…and Jules? Is that even possible? Both that and add on that you are insane!" The crocodile tried to clean anything in his ear area that could have been blocking certain important words. His pinky pulled out from the inner cave that was his ear and showed up clean on his white glove.

"He was groping her butt, I'm not insane! I know what I saw." Amy groaned, why was it so unbelievable?

"No, I wanna see this myself. Cause in dis world, you only knows a couple of things for sure," Vector continued, "And I'll give up three hundred dollars if you proves to me that Espio, One: has emotions besides sarcasm n' anger n' Two: he is actually man enough to admit affection…to anybody!"

"Ames," Sonic had been wide awake at the talk of money, "Take that croc upstairs and show him the love birds!" He pointed at the floor above him.

Amy gasped, "What? No! I'm not going to interrupt their moment again—"

"Amy if you say no to the easiest bet in the world I will lose all respect for you and do everything in my power to prevent Katie and Mac," Sonic grunted and flinched as he turned his body so his leg was not horizontal anymore. He made eye contact with her.

"What? You told Crystal that whatever happens, happens!" Amy used her only trick on him.

Sonic kept a straight face, "First of all, that was supposed to be kept to herself, and I repeat: second, Amy if you say no to the easiest bet in the world I will lose all respect for you and do everything in my power to prevent Katie and Mac,"

Amy growled and blushed slightly, "Oh fine!" She crossed her arms, "I just want you to know that you all disgust me for making a bet on their new relationship!"

"Amy, just go get my money," Vector huffed at Sonic's confidence, "Vect, you better pay me in hundreds," Sonic confirmed the bet by clasping his hand to Vectors and having their four fingers cup together.

Reluctantly Amy started up the stairs, Vector following her with a grin on his face;

"Sonic," Cream called him out as she walked up the steps, "I'll see you…" She trailed off as she looked around the room. The rabbit stepped into the room more, "Uh…where's my dad…"

"Oh he's upstairs losing 300 on a bet," Sonic chuckled, the way he was positioned he could not see Cream frown a little

"Oh come on," Sonic raised an eyebrow as she groaned, "I go downstairs to say bye to Tails for not even 2 minutes and my dad's already gambling!"

"Ah leave him alone Cream, he's a grown croc," Sonic smiled as he could imagine Vector's face when he had to give up a cold three hundred. "Even if he is stupid,"

Upstairs;

'I know my boy, he ain't never had a heart for anything. Sorry bud, I'ma about to make three hundred off yo ass, and no, you ain't getting a cut,' Vector chuckled to himself and rubbed his hands at the thought of the easiest bet ever.

Amy climbed the rest of the stairs and arrived at the second floor; she looked around and had an uneasy face. She approached the bathroom door; her hand rose up and rested gently on the door knob. She took a pacing set of breaths, and closed her eyes.

"C'mon, hurry up, I gotta take Cream home, Vanilla ain't to happy if I'm out too late; she'll start getting ideas about me!" Vector whispered to the back of her head.

"Yeah, knowing her you've had to cut down your drinking by like 95 percent!" Vector jumped at the sudden snap she gave him.

"Jeez, what's wrong with you?"

"This is so wrong that's all! We shouldn't be spying on them like this just because you two idiots made a bet!" She turned around and shouted her soft scream. A two second pause passed and she slapped him suddenly.

Vector rubbed his cheek, "Ow! What the hell was that for?"

"For not inviting me to your wedding!" Amy growled, "And for making me do this!"

"Damn that hurt! Just show me so we can get this over with!" Vector pushed her to open the door.

"Alright already!" Her voice was still soft, she took a deep breath and opened the door and covered her eyes and stepped out of the doorway. She heard Vector's foot steps and felt a little uneasy by the complete silence entering her ears.

"Um…I don't see nuttin'," Vector walked in the bathroom and scratched his head, "hmmm…how to put this…sweet!" Vector snickered and smiled with his tongue sticking out, "I love easy money!" Vector heard a giggle and it killed his smirk and little victory dance quickly. "Who was that?"

"It came from the guest room," Amy poked her head out into the hall, "It sounds like Jules," They both heard a muffle talking, followed by a soft grunt.

"C'mon, I gotta go collect my money," Vector rubbed his hands together and grinned evilly.

"Not yet, I'll prove you that I'm not seeing things!" Amy rushed to the guest room door down the hall, dragging Vector behind. She stopped at the door and waited for more sounds to confirm a presence in the room, "See? Look!" Amy shouted just before she opened the door. Vector stepped into the room and stared at the center.

"Vector? What are you doing here?" Espio gasped and accidentally let his grip go and let Julie-Su fall causing her to yelp.

"First of all…" Vector began, he scratched his head, "What tha hell are ya'll doin', and second I thought you said she was injured." Vector looked at Amy, then his focus shifted to Espio up on the ceiling. The chameleon was some how standing on the ceiling. His arms hung down since he was just holding Julie-Su's arms.

"My bad," Espio apologized sympathetically, "You alright?"

"Yeah," Julie-Su slowly got to her knees and stood up, "They spooked me too, thank god I'm not feeling that much pain,"

"Wait—you two—in the bathroom—I saw you,"

"She says she saw ya'll kissing and getting' all touchy-touchy in the baff-room," Espio raised an eyebrow as Vector spoke, "But like I been tellin' her, she's loopy and look I'm right! What was ya'll doing anyway?"

"Vector you been drinking haven't you?" Espio crossed his arms when the croc responded with an aggressive head shake, "Whatever, well what she wanted to do was work out and asked me to help. She can't stress her back so we decided on pull-ups and that when you two barged in."

"And now I hear this about us making-out, what?" Julie-Su had a shocked and slightly disgusted look, though it did seem fake, "Where'd you get that from?"

"See Ames," Vector gave Amy a disappointed look, "And I thought Sonic was the crazy person in this house…"

"I am not crazy!" Amy yelled she growled and pointed at Julie-Su, "You were kissing him back and moaning like crazy in his mouth," She glared at Espio, "And you! You had your hands all over her butt, I saw you!"

Vector coughed, "CRAZY!"

Amy groaned loudly and made a whiny noised, "I know what I saw!"

"Whatever crazy," Vector scoffed as Amy growled again, "Yo Sonic!" Vector yelled as he turned around, "Time'z to pay up buddy!" Vector had a huge grin across his face, his sharp croc teeth shining with delight.

"Say what?" Sonic felt no pain as he spun around on the couch to face the bill collector, "What do you mean pay up?"

"As in you lost three hundred, you lost three zero, zero, gimme el denero de trez centos dollares," Sonic rolled his eyes at Vector's translation, "C'mon blue boy, cough it up,"

"Bull," Sonic spiked, "Amy! Come here!"

"Dad," Cream tapped her step-father's arm, "Are we leaving soon?"

"Yea, yea, yea, give me a sec, daddy's got some money to collect," Vector chuckled as he spoke on the side to her.

"Dad…mom said not to gamble anymore," Cream said flatly.

"Hey look, what your mother doesn't know, won't hurt her," Cream glared at him, "Uh…don't tell her I said that, besides it was the easiest bet known to man err croc," Cream's glare did not shift, "Rabbit too," She crossed her arms, Vector sighed, "Alright…alright, Sonic never mind," He jerked his thumb towards Cream when Sonic looked at him.

"Oh yeah, that's right! Vanilla said you can't gamble anymore," Sonic sniffed the air a little, "Well nice to know you don't drink like you used to,"

"Shut up," The croc growled back, "C'mon, let's go home before your mom thinks I'm at the liquor store again…"

Cream raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean again? Dad…" She followed him out to the door and waved good bye to Sonic.

"Let's just say, dad might have to sleep on the couch again tonight, it might help if we establish a story…" Vector's voice faded as he walked out with the short rabbit going out first. Sonic chuckled when Cream started giving Vector some more moral advice. That he could hear clearly.

Amy stomped down the steps and into the living room where Sonic was resting. Sonic noticed she was breathing heavily, and had a frown and her arms were crossed. She walked up to the closest wall and hit her back to it with a mean grunt. Her eyes look angry and she seemed hurt in a way. Sonic bit his lip, he wasn't sure if he should bring it up, "Ames, you alright?"

"No," She snapped at him, Sonic flinched back a little. Amy let out a breath; "Sorry, i-it's just I feel kind of like Shadow right now," Amy looked at her tense hands, her fingers slightly curled up. "I-I just want to choke the life out of him! H-He an-and that stupid echidna of his made me look like a fool in front of Vector; right now it does seem like I am insane!"

Sonic spoke with a flat voice, "Not that I care," He explained, "But what's got you so bugged? You ain't the one who lost out on three hundred,"

Amy groaned and rolled her eyes, "I don't care whether you got your money or not!" She balled her fingers into a fist, "It just makes me so mad t-that they can just play off the fact that they were making out upstairs! They probably don't care that I know, they're probably trying to hide it from Vector!"

"Hey, the fact we're gonna happen is something I'd liked to keep from Vector," Sonic let his chin rest on his up-facing palm. His speech sounded gritted, but there was no emotion to back up any anger or dislike, "I understand Espio, not sure about Julie but if you're a hard-ass like him, and got a rep like his for these types of things, Vector would drag your dignity across the floor till it looked like road kill."

Amy caught his earlier choice of words, "Oh so now you're not fighting it,"

"Fighting what?" Sonic raised an eyebrow.

"Us," Amy crossed her arms and smirked, "You're not fighting that fact like you used to," The smirked curved into a smile, "You ready to admit it?"

"Ha-ha," The sarcasm made her smile go down a little, "Very funny," Sonic lifted his chin and let his elbows and arms support his body that leaned on the shoulder of the couch. "You wish," Sonic turned around and moved his into a comfortable position, "The thing is; Knuckles and Shadow don't deny it anymore, so there's no fun in cracking on their to-be relationships. And well thing is, if Knuckles is accepting it, I have to beat him at that and start with mine; Shadow beat us both because I always had this feeling that he liked Cindy and I do think they were way involved before."

"Sonic you're nuts," Amy scoffed and stepped up closer to the couch armrest. She began to run a hand through his long quills carefully, as to not get poked by one of the many fine line spikes that made up his hairdo. "Cindy would never—"

"—eh I wouldn't put it past her," Sonic smirked as he felt the soothing touch from Amy's petting. Her touch was relaxing and so soothing that he could fall asleep to it in the middle of an earthquake right now without a problem. He closed his eyes and relaxed completely to her gentle contact.

As seconds turned into minutes Amy only smirked as the hero had been relaxing. She continued to keep him content, rubbing his head to keep her dream man happy. She lifted her leg and hopped onto the armrest and put her back to the wall and rubbed Sonic's head with her right arm. When Sonic felt the fingers shift in position he leaned to his left and closer to Amy so the magic fingers would go back to the sweet spot. He felt his own smile form and didn't mind, this felt great.

Angel Island: With Rouge and her victims;

"I said I'd pay you back anyway," Knuckles shrugged, his response didn't seem to change her behavior. At the bedside he stood up straight, face the side of the bed parallel to him. His face looked to the corner of the room, near a plain and simple dresser but his eyes followed the disturbed bat pacing back and forth. Rouge did a speed walk back and forth in front of the bed, her face a twister of mixed emotions.

Rouge pressed a couple of fingers from her right hand to her forehead and her thumb to the side of her eyes, on the temple. Her eyes blinked for longer than usual as she walked around his large room. The bat was really frustrated; she kept groaned and sighing deeply.

"Why are you flipping out?" Knuckles asked calmly, "Relax…chill, you're starting to freak me out Rouge, and I've been around Amy on Valentine's Day,"

"T-That's just it!" Rouge said loudly, she turned and looked at him strangely, "I don't get you! One minute you are the hardest and most aggressive person with these kids and everyone else, then we all tell you to calm down and not to be so serious and now you're this calm and mellow guy!"

"Hey look, I'm doing this to get you and Tikal off my back," Knuckles responded quickly.

"That's the thing Knuckles!" Rouge finally broke her frustration with a shout, "You aren't doing this for any other reason! You only do something if me and Tikal bug you about it and you overreacted completely to Knikatu's situation!" Knuckles straight lips began to curve slightly downwards on one side, "Knuckles you have to take this seriously, I am trying to parent these kids because whether we're ready for it or not, we are and have to be their parent's even if we're not ready to take care of them! You can't act like this with them, you have to act more like a father, I'm can't do this by myself. I'm not a mother; I'm not ready to be one, but am trying to be like one like I actually give a damn!"

Knuckles put his back to the nearest wall and leaned back on it, letting his feet slide a couple inches forward so he leaned on it for support. The echidna didn't have an anger face, but his was frowning slightly, he crossed his arms slowly and looked to his right, away from her. "Rouge…what do you want me to say?" He continued with the same soft but serious voice, "I'm not cut out for this, everyone knows that, hell even Sonic is better than me at this…"

"Knuckles," Rouge walked closer to him, "None of us are," She sat down, he could tell she wasn't as anger or frustrated as before, "But we have to care for them, and that means for the time being we are parents, even if we're not ready." Knuckles turned his head back to her; Rouge's tone of voice had changed. Rouge stood up slowly, Knuckles didn't budge at all. "Do you…" She started, her hesitation made him curious and more attentive, he looked directly at her. She stared at the ground, "I mean…after all we've been through, on the island," She blushed slightly as a memory entered her mind, "Do you…truly…umm…honestly, do you think we've gotten closer?" She flushed when he raised his brow and opened his mouth slightly in surprise to her question. She could feel her cheeks blaze with embarrassment, she turned her head but enough to keep eye contact with him.

"Uhh," Knuckles nervously stuttered over his own simply words, "Well…what do I think?" Rouge nodded, and moved her left leg slowly, trying to avoid tripping. She could it was awkward for both of them; he leaned less and stood up more, but still had his back on the wall. Rouge kept eye contact and crossed her left leg over her right in order to move over more, there was only a small gap between them. Assuming she was okay, she moved normally, unfortunately due to Knuckles movement, "Oop!" She still tripped forward. Knuckles grunted as soon as she dropped, out of reaction he caught her as she dropped towards him. His arms caught at her sides and soon enough his muzzle was on fire as he felt someone else's body heat on his chest. She wasn't short by much, but due to the leaning position he was looking down at her, into the same eyes he fell for back at the shrine on day one.

Her light body rested completely on him, her small frame being supported slightly by his two arms at her sides. It was a reaction he had to her fall, to catch her just in case. His body was normal but his face was blazing with heated blood, he could see her vague blush but he knew she had to feeling more awkward or at least he hoped. Their faces were so close that were exchanging breaths, all he could was stare at her.

'She isn't saying anything. Should I go for it? I mean I know…I want to but…maybe this when it…oh who the hell am I kidding! I don't have a damn clue what to do!' Knuckles wanted to take the leap, but he was nervous, sure they had kissed before but they didn't have that feeling that everyone talks about. He jumped it.

He took the huge thousand foot dive into the ocean and went with his gut.

It was the first time she actually felt something, a true feeling. Her body tingled inside; she gasped and followed his lead, not believing what they were doing. His arms pulled up more, he breathed heavily as she did and arms hugged her closer. She moaned softly as her hand came up and smoothly made there way to his face. They cupped his cheeks and she turned her head, deepening the kiss. Knuckles at this point was fighting with everything he had, refuse to let his grope anything or even move from her hips for that matter. As they continue Knuckles had to straighten his back, causing a small change in the moment but not disturbing the syncing feelings these two had truly connected. In fighting Knuckles would probably dominate anyone, he'd wouldn't even fight on the account of breaking the jaw of the other, but here, right now; for the first time in his life he was being dominated. Rouge had pressed him closer to the wall and had him mesmerized with a hypnotic and erotic tongue lock.

Knuckles finally pushed her body away and pulled his head back. With a soft moan she took deep breath, her mouth open a little, wanting more. The echidna panted softly, his lips savoring the flavor she had left of lip gloss. He still had her arms around though, and still kept their bodies closer.

"Too much for me right now," He chuckled, making her blush heavily.

"Sorry," Rouge tried to cover her flushing check with her left hand, "I got caught up in the moment…and besides you're a great kisser." She said making him flinch and made a flush appear on his cheeks so deep that his fur and quills matched it. She leaned on him completely, a smile on her face, a smile like never before. "I have no regrets about this entire experience," Her ears drooped as they too rested on the guardian's warm chest.

Knuckles grinned and hugged her more, making her arms scrunch up her body and his more as the arms wrapped around her tightly. The hands locked at her lower back, Knuckles mind refusing the body's temptation to go lower…for now. "Same here," He couldn't but laugh softly.

"What's so funny?" Rouge asked with a very curious tone without looking up.

Knuckles smiled, "I think the kids are right," Rouge raised an eyebrow as she looked up, "We are a little on the crazy side, one minute it's about your money then my attitude, then it goes into us and now look at us," He looked down with a smirk.

"Well," She smiled and nuzzled him, "I don't care what they think about how we act," Rouge pecked his lips quickly, "It's their fault anyway," Her sarcastic tone made him chuckle.

Angel Island; Outside

"What!" Crystal shouted softly, "It is not!" She stood up on the small line of branch they had been sitting on. There was tree just outside the window, three of them, sitting on a tree.

"Shush," Tikal grabbed her arm and reached across to her hip and sat her down before she gave away their position. "Don't ruin the moment for them," Crystal glared and pouted as she crossed her legs and looked away. "Crystal you should be happy for your mom and dad, this good for them, I mean look; I've never seen that kind of smile on your dad and they look so happy!" Tikal squealed, she hugged the little girl next her tightly since the water lord on her left wasn't doing anything but making tiny figures of water warriors wage war on one another on the open space of branch next to him.

"Why am I up here again?" Chaos spoke as quiet as he could.

Tikal turned her head to glare at him, "Because I want you to leave Knikatu alone, you've done enough damage to the poor child already,"

"No I haven't,"

"Chaos," She let go of Crystal and crossed her arms, "If you even think about—"

"—hey," Crystal carefully moved herself and slowly stood up on the branch, "What are they doing?"

"Let me see!" Tikal said with an excited squeal. Her eyes squinted so she had a better view of what was happing, Knuckles held up Rouge completely in the way she was standing. He carried her over to the bed and gently fell on top of her, closing his eyes as he kissed her deeply, making her moan a little louder. Tikal tried to see pass the soft glare of the setting sun but it was hard. She could only make out sound and they were not sounding good, well not good to for her or Crystal. She continued to look harder, hoping what was running through her head wasn't happening. Through the glare she could see more now, Knuckles was kissing her neck, making her laugh and kick up her legs. Rouge wrapped her arms around his neck and moaned loudly, when her legs wrapped around his waist Tikal gasped and decided to move;

"Uh Crystal," Tikal grabbed the child arm and began to get off the tree branch, "Let go do something else!"

"Wait," Crystal glared at the window, "I wanna see what my mom laughing about, what're they doing, I wanna see!" Crystal leaned forward more, "Stupid window glare—whoa!" Tikal yanked her down off the branch and began jogging away before see saw a little too much, "Hey, Tikal!"

"You'll find out when you're older and married!" She groaned and ran back to the tree, "You too!" Somehow she grabbed Chaos' foot and dragged him down too.

"C'mon I wanna see!" Chaos grumbled as Tikal actually dragged him away, "I wanna see who was gonna win!"

With Katie; Mystic Forest

She put down one and set it another next to it. The hedgehog smiled at her quick work, she counted again to make sure this wasn't a dream because this was too easy. A purple one and a dark blue made up a total of four lovely glowing jewels. It only took an hour for to gather up one and the other three were easy, in total time it took about three hours.

"Got the purple, and the blue and the yellow and white ones are home," She couldn't help but smile, "I'm so close, all we need now is the other three!"

"This whole thing gone down, Eggman's dead, what the hell do we do now? The island's gone and we don't have away of contacting the other fleets and bases!" Someone yelled as if they wanted to be heard. Katie gasped and crouched, she heard a murmur of voice, one stood out.

"Already everybody just calm down," It was Night, "Eggman's death does nothing but change a few things, for the time being we have to lay low," She looked at the group there had to be at least twenty of them stand and sitting close to her, some armed and some not. "Unless any of you have a way of proving me wrong, the signal as been sent out that this event happened. We're going to make it out of here without any problems so long as everybody shuts up and keeps low, it's been two days and recon and help should be arriving at the rendezvous,"

"Well yeah, so who the hell is in command with Eggman gone?" One soldier stood up to draw attention to himself.

"Who the hell do you think dumass?" Another soldier with a female voice looked at him, "Either way what difference does it make, as long as someone's in command we'll be able to do this, I just want to make it out of here without getting caught by the military."

From a far Katie crouched behind a bush and heard every word they said as they continue to speak. She gasped silently, 'that's it, that where the main base is!'. She slowly crawled away, trying to keep any noise down. She jogged up to her newly found emeralds and picked them up, she started running away but two of the blue emerald fell and hit a rock making a loud clink.

"What was that?" Night's head snapped to the left.

"It was to the east, I sure of it," A soldier cocked his gun and aimed at the left. Night reach over her shoulder and drew her sword, the metal sheathing echoing all the way to Katie's ears. The ninja took off, hopping to a tree branch and then onto rock and landed into a sprint; two soldiers followed her, trying to keep up with the high speed running and jumping.

"Uh-oh…" Katie gasped as something hit the floor just as picked up the emerald. Her legs shook as a long sword stabbed the dirt, its owner landed behind it.

---

Alright, I'm done for the night, everyday of the past ten days I've been going to sleep around 6-7 a.m. and now I'm turning in early. I hope this at least satifisied you, if not; please let me know what I did wrong or what would've been better; becuase I still feel this didn't come out good enough but life won't wait forever. Thanks for reading and I'll see you at chapter seventeen.