"Are you sure this is going to work?" Shadow asked Sonic as the two of them set up another speaker.
"I don't see why it wouldn't work." Sonic shook his head. "If the humans see us working on this together, and they see me enjoying you two sing, then they'll have to believe that I'm supportive of you guys. And, if that's all it really takes, then they'll stop judging you too."
"Well, I guess it's worth a shot." Shadow shrugged. "I mean, what could it hurt?"
"Exactly." Sonic clapped the dust off his hands. "Alright. That's all the speakers up. Drake! How's the sound looking?"
"Yo! Sound is off the chain, Sonic!" Drake called back, holding a pair of headphones to his ears as he tested the sound board. "Once those babies are hooked up to this they'll be pumping beats so clean, nobody will be able to resist the urge to stop and listen."
"Great, 'cause that's what we want." Sonic nodded before looking at his sister, who was testing the microphone she held in her hand. "Star, come over here."
Star looked up to him before setting the microphone back on its stand and rushing over to him. "What's up? The speakers set up?"
"They are." Sonic nodded, looking between the two hedgehogs. "Are you two ready? Do you have a song you'll be singing? Did you work with Drake on a beat?"
"Don't worry, brother, I'm professional." Star smirked. "I had an entire song written down as we were waiting for Drake to get here."
"Yes, and I already went over it with her." Shadow nodded. "And before you ask, yes, Drake went over different melodies with us to see what fits best and we have one picked out. We know what we're doing."
"I know you do." Sonic nodded. "I'm just making sure."
"And we appreciate it." Star assured him. "If you're right about this plan of yours, then Shadow and I will finally be able to walk around like a normal couple instead of being looked at and talked about like zoo animals."
"That's… accurate." Shadow agreed.
"Trust me guys, I have high doubts that this isn't going to work. Besides, I kinda have other motives to this plan."
"Oh?" Both hedgehogs questioned him.
Sonic blushed a bit, smiling nervously as he rubbed the back of his head. "Well… I know you guys were singing my lullaby to me when Star used her Song Blast, but because of the ringing in my ears I couldn't really hear you guys. I could feel the vibrations of your vocalizing, but I don't exactly know what you sound like together, so I'm kinda curious."
"Aww." The couple playfully teased him, making him blush more.
"Yeah, yeah. I know, it's all funny and cute. Whatever. Now go. We're about to start, so you gotta get into your positions on stage. Quickly."
Star and Shadow nodded and quickly ran back onto the stage, grabbing their microphones and waiting for their cues. Sonic rushed over to Drake and plugged the speakers into the sound board before telling him to hit it before rushing back to the front of the stage, standing with his friends as they waited for the couple to start singing. Some curious humans stopped to see what was going on, some confused to see Sonic looking up at Star and Shadow with hints of excitement, but nobody said anything about.
Suddenly, a nice smooth beat started to pump through the speakers around the stage, and Shadow stepped up with the microphone in his hand.
"I thought I found a love but she was just a fling. And then I met a girl and felt a different thing. It's like your hit in the ring like you're pulled by a string. Can't breathe like you're choking on a chicken wing. It was a thing called a zing. And I wanted to sing. And listen to the ballads of a man named Sting. Baby looks in your eye. And it's suddenly spring. Like when Nala looked at Simba in the Lion King." There was a funky scratching sound in the beat before Shadow suddenly started singing the chorus. "Zinging in the air and I don't have a care. I'm winging from the zing that we share."
Then Star stepped up, singing the second part of the chorus. "Zinging in the rain. Now I'm feeling no pain."
"It's a real time for celebrating cause you're my zing."
When Star and Shadow realized that nobody was really paying attention, and those that were only scoffed at them, they frowned. There was no way that anybody was going to believe that it was ok for them to be together. Despite that Sonic was on the ground watching them and dancing to the music as they performed, the humans were all too judgemental and held on too tightly to the past. There was only one way they knew that they weren't going to be looked at like zoo animals anymore.
"Sonic." Shadow looked down at the male blue hedgehog, causing him to stop dancing and look back up at him. "You're gonna have to come up here and sing with us."
"What?" Sonic's eyes widened, stepping back a bit. "No, no, no. I sang one time and that was for my sister only. Singing for a crowd, I don't think I could do it. I'm not as talented as Star."
"Are you nuts?!" Amy's eyes widened, smacking his arm a bit. "You're incredibly talented."
"It's no different than when you sang in front of us." Knuckles added.
"Yes it is." Sonic frowned at him. "It's totally different. You guys are my friends. These are a bunch of strangers."
"Strangers who you protect, hun." Rouge reminded him.
"Come on, little brother, it's not that bad." Star encouraged. "And besides, if you don't sing with us, everybody's gonna believe that you're still against us just like they are, even if you are enjoying our song. And that you're dancing just because your friends are dancing. If they see you singing with us it'll prove that you truly have no problem with us, then maybe they'll finally stop harassing us and throwing things at us."
"They've been harassing you? AND throwing things at you? Is that really what's been going on?" Sonic was shocked. He couldn't believe that the very same people he protected would be so cruel to his sister just because of who she loved. He could feel that overprotective urge in him again, but this time, he was sure the couple above him wouldn't mind.
"Yes, Faker. So get up here and show them that you don't care if we're together. Show them that you support us, so they shouldn't care either, and they should support us too."
"Oh, I'll show them alright. Gimme that microphone." Sonic growled, stepping onto the stage and grabbing the microphone that Shadow offered him before he suddenly started to rap. "So listen all you zingers from here to Beijing. You better grab a box of strings and get ready to cling cause if love was money, you'd better be yelling 'cha - ching' cause next to a zing, cupid's arrow's-"
"a little bee sting." When Sonic had started to rap, the humans that were around stopped to watch him in shock, surprised that he could actually spit some pretty decent bars. But they were even more shocked when Shadow joined in with him. Was Sonic not fighting with his rival anymore? Did they at some point become friends?
Sonic paid no attention to the gawking stares of the crowd, having too much fun on stage with Star and Shadow as he continued to spit. "It was a zing and a zang and a zingididy. And there was only one lady in the zing for me. Cause when you zing."
"When you zing!"
"You better know one little thing. The only thing you're gonnna sling-"
"is a wedding ring!"
Now the crowd was actually starting to get bigger as word started spreading around that Sonic was actually singing with the couple that had been the talk of the town lately. It was almost hard for them all to believe it, but when they saw the male blue hedgehog on stage with said couple, and actually enjoying it, it was more hard to deny it.
"Zinging in the air." Star and Shadow started the chorus, about to sing it again until Sonic suddenly jumped in and sang it instead. Clearly, he was having too much fun with this.
"Now I don't have a care. I'm winging from the zing that we share. Zinging in the rain. Now I'm feeling no pain."
The couple laughed a bit before finishing the chorus together. "It's a real time for celebrating cause you're my zing."
And suddenly, the whole group of Mobians were on stage, singing and dancing with each other, pumping up themselves while pumping up the audience, who were finally starting to cheer and dance along. If Sonic and his friends could accept Star and Shadow as a couple, then surely they could as well.
"To the zing y'all. Ba - da - bing y'all. Gonna knock you right outta that ring y'all. Better ring y'all. Happening y'all. Pay attention to the Fastest Thing, y'all! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!"
"Zinging in the air and I don't have a care. I'm winging from the zing that we share."
"Zinging in the rain. Now I'm feeling no pain."
"It's a real time for celebrating cause you're my zing."
And then, Star and Shadow finished the song with a kiss, their hearts fluttering in happiness, their souls practically binding together as they knew, they had finally found their soulmate, their duet, and it was with each other. And nothing was going to ever break them apart.