SONIC X FINAL CAST PARTY

Chapter Two

"

Tails cringed as he stepped on Cosmo's foot. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" he said. "I'm such a klutz!"

"That's okay," Cosmo said, "I've just missed doing the same thing twice." She sighed. "Look at Amy and Rouge! Now those two know how to dance!"

"I don't think either of them are dancing to the same music we're hearing," Tails said. "Stupid!" he told himself. "Don't talk about other people. Say something to her!"

"Tails?" Cosmo said, "Are you all right?"
"Huh? Why?" Was his nervousness that obvious?

"A fast song just came on, but you're still slow dancing," Cosmo explained.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" Tails said, blushing. "I am such a geek for real! Didn't take much acting for me to play a dweeb!"

At least while fast dancing, neither of them looked clumsy. And now that he wasn't holding her, his brain was starting to work again. "Okay, let's see. She has beautiful eyes. Say something about her eyes.

"You have beautiful eyes," he said. There! He said it. Now the ball was in her court.

Unfortunately, the door crashed open just then, and Silver and Blaze came in. Everyone started muttering. Only Amy and Sonic kept dancing.

"I'm sorry," Cosmo said. "Did you say something?"

"N-nothing!" Tails said. Man! It was like he was being kept from her in the real world as much as he had been in the show! Somebody up there didn't like him.

"It's cancelled!" Silver said suddenly.

"What?" Knuckles said. "Somebody cut the music!"

"Sonic X wasn't picked up," Blaze yelled over the music. "And we had deals to…" she realized she was shouting, and lowered her voice. "…and we had deals to come in during the next season!"

"But…but they left too many things hanging!" Tails said. "Cosmo's plant! Was it her coming back?" He felt her take his hand.

"And it looked like Eggman killed Chris," Sonic said. "And Nazo! We never did get to him!"

"And they're cutting the last scene that showed I survived," Shadow said, coming in. "So it looks like I died!" He turned to Cosmo. "And you don't even want to know what they're doing to your big death scene!" Shadow was an intern in the editing room. He wasn't really interested in acting. He wanted to direct.

"What did they do?" Cosmo and Tails asked at the same time.

"Apparently reincarnation upset somebody somewhere," Shadow said, sounding disgusted as he sat down at a table. "They're saying that your death scattered your seeds across the galaxy, and your clan will come back through them."

Cosmo blushed. "How could I have seeds to scatter?!?" She pulled away from Tails.

"The show's cancelled, they've moved on," Shadow said, opening a beer Rouge had sneaked into the studio in a huge, gaudy pink and blue purse. "So they just don't care about continuity or common sense or anything. I swear, if I had another job to fall back on, I'd drop out of this whole franchise!"

Cosmo was pacing the floor. "My dad's going to come down here and make a scene!" she was saying. "He'll hit somebody, and probably go to jail!"

"Calm down, Cosmo," Amy said. "I learned a long time ago that they're going to do whatever they want to do, and you can't change their minds. As for your dad, he's not going to find out any time soon, so you might as well relax for tonight."

"Relax?" Cosmo said. "I feel like the sword of Damocles is hanging over my head!"

"You know Rocky Horror?" Rouge asked.

"What?" Cosmo said. "That's from a story my father loves to tell. It's about a poor man who's jealous that the king has everything he could ever want. The king lets him play being king for a day, and he sees a sword hanging over his head on a slim cord. He asks the king to move it, but the king says his throne depends on it always hanging over his head. He knows it will fall someday and kill him, but as long as it doesn't, he's still the king."

"Huh," Rouge said, "So Rocky Horror's educational. How 'bout that?"

"Wait a minute," Sonic said. "They cancelled my show, and didn't bother to tell me?"

"I told you, they don't care," Shadow said. "They're doing some Pokemon remake about dinosaurs or something now."

"What?" Sonic said. "That sounds so lame!"

"Cosmo, are you okay?" Tails asked. He helped her to a table. She sat down, then banged her head on the table. "Cosmo!"

"If my dad gets mad enough, he might move us!" she said. "I've moved around my entire life! I've never had a real home. I live in a trailer park! I'm finally making friends, going to school…" She started crying.

"Hey," Tails said. He patted her on the arm. "I don't want you to go, Cosmo! You're…you're a…good friend." Come on! He yelled in his head. That's what your character said in the show! Does something have to happen in real life to separate you forever before you say anything?

"Come on, everybody!" Sonic said. "Let's get this party started again! Somebody put the music back on! No slow songs!"

Bokkun rushed to ask Cream to dance with him. Unfortunately, Charmy had had the same idea. They ran right into each other.

"Hey!" Charmy said. "Watch it! I was just going to ask Cream to dance with me!"

"You watch it!" Bokkun said. "I'm going to ask Cream to dance with me!"

"I saw her first!" Charmy said. "You're out of a job! I'll probably be in the next game!"

"Not with those front teeth, you won't!" Bokkun said, punching Charmy. This was a mistake. Charmy started chasing him around the room, stinging him.

"Ow!" Bokkun cried. "Yeow!" He started sobbing. "I want my mommy!"

"Sonic!" Amy cried, pushing her boyfriend. "Stop this!"

But he didn't need to. Cream suddenly yelled, "KNOCK IT OFF, BOTH OF YOU!!!" When she wanted to, she could be incredibly loud.

"My mother won't let me date, so you're both wasting your time," Cream said. "And I don't want some rowdy boy who hits people, anyway, so you can both just get lost!"

Bokkun and Charmy both left the room, and didn't come back. Cream smacked her forehead. "Great," she said. "I just dumped two guys on the same day!" She put on her coat, then started after them.

"Cream?" Amy said. "Which one are you going after?"

In the doorway, Cream turned and said, "I don't even know yet!" Then she was gone.

"Go get 'em, girl!" Rouge yelled. She turned to Knuckles. "That's a determined woman if I ever saw one. Those two poor shnooks don't have a chance."

"Which one do you think she'll go after?" Knuckles asked his girlfriend, finishing his beer.

"Whoever she goes after, she's already got him," Rouge said. "Now let's get out of here. I think I'm getting some mascara in my eye."

Tails cursed himself. Cream knew what she wanted, and went after it. Why couldn't he be more like that? Cosmo was right, when her dad found out about the show, he'd probably move the whole family again. Tails might never get another chance. He had to risk her laughing at him, or, worse, giving him a look of embarrassed pity.

"Cosmo," he said, "I…I really, really enjoyed working with you."

"Yeah," Cosmo said, "like I said at the end, we had fun, huh? And you'll never forget me?"

"Never," Tails promised. "Cosmo, I-I…I wish I could keep working with you. You're a great actress, and…and…would you like to…go someplace? I mean, if you don't want to, I…I…"

"Are you…asking me out?" Cosmo asked. "For real?"

"I…" Tails turned away. "I'm sorry. I guess I shouldn't have…"

"I was going to walk around the studio one last time before I leave it for good," she said. "You know this place better than I do. Then maybe…um…" She blushed again. "You could walk me home?"

"I'd love to!" Tails said. They left soon afterwards. As he led her around the studio, and they said good-bye to the crew, Tails thought, "So far, so good! Now just don't blow it!"

Then Cosmo's phone went off. "Excuse me," she said. She took her phone out of her purse. "Yes? Galaxina? What's…oh no! Oh! Of course I will!"

"What happened?" Tails asked. Cosmo was shaking.

"Daddy got drunk and hit a cop!" Cosmo sobbed. "Thank goodness Galaxina took our baby brother home first! I'm sorry, Tails! I have to go! My dad's in jail!"

Will Lucas take Cosmo and leave town forever when he gets out of prison? Maybe we'll find out next time!