SONIC X FINAL CAST PARTY
Chapter Five
"A Growing Mystery"
"On…the lam?" Tails repeated.
"I am sorry!" Cosmo said. "I learned your language from watching television!"
"Oh," Tails said. "Sorry. I just never heard anybody say that except on tv."
"Oh dear, then I am using--what is the word?--archaic slang?" Cosmo asked. She bowed. "Please forgive me, but I am very worried! The police believe Daddy and his friends are dangerous! They might…shoot first, and ask questions later!"
Tails didn't mention that she was still quoting old tv shows. He patted her on the hand. "It's okay," he said. "I'm sure your dad will be just fine." He hoped he wasn't lying to her.
"I-I can't stay here any longer!" Cosmo said. "I have to be with Mother and my sisters!" She went to get her purse. Tails sighed. Then he scolded himself. "Cosmo's dad might get killed today, and you're worried about asking her out on a date?! What's the matter with you?"
"Cosmo," Tails said as she started to leave, "I'm so sorry! I hope everything works out okay for your dad." He didn't know what else to say.
"Good -bye, Miles," Cosmo said, calling him by his real name. That made her good-bye sound far more permanent. She didn't expect to see him again. "I was very happy to--to work with you. Good luck, my dear … friend." She started towards the front door.
Tails was just about to offer to take her wherever she needed to go, when she got another call. She took out her phone, looked at it, then gasped. She ran outside, and ducked under a bush. Confused, he watched her, but didn't try to get close enough to hear what she was saying. He saw her eyes bulge, and her jaw drop open. She stared at the phone like it had just bitten her. Then she put it back to her mouth, and started talking fast. "Man, I wish I could read lips!" Tails said to himself. Of course, if she was speaking Seedrian, it wouldn't make any difference. Tails could say hello and good-bye in that language, and that was pretty much it.
When he saw her put her phone away, he backed off. He didn't want her to think he was spying on her, especially since he sort of was. He was surprised when she came back to him and said, "I…think I'll stay here, if it's all right. I mean, until my mother or one of my sisters picks me up."
"Sure," Tails said, wondering what had changed her mind. "Can I get you something to eat?"
"No thanks," she said. "I…just would like to sit down somewhere."
Tails followed her inside. She looked around at the room. Amy and Sonic, along with Cream and Charmy, were dancing to the old Adam West Batman theme song: "Na na na na na na na na Batman!" Shadow,Silver, and Espio were playing poker. Blaze was brushing her hair. Big was eating. There was no sign of Bokkun. Knuckles and Rouge were still on the floor, singing horribly off key.
"How dry I am! How dry I am! Nobody knows…how dry I am!"
Knuckles looked at Rouge. "You're flat!" he said.
"You need glasshesh!" Rouge said. They both roared with laughter.
Cosmo moaned. "I can't even hear myself think in here!" She hurried out of the room, bumping into Vector, who was carrying a large bag of potato chips. "Excuse me!" she said.
Worried, Tails followed her into the library. She sat down at the desk and laid her head against the old cedar. "Why me?" she moaned.
Tails didn't want to disturb her, but he didn't want to leave her alone, either, so he sat down in a chair in front of the bookcase. There were only a few books in there, and they looked like movie props. He wondered if Cosmo's father had used any of them in his pictures. "Necronomicon" one of them read. Wasn't that the name of the book in that movie he'd seen?
"No wonder they had me play a strange loner from a dead race!" Cosmo suddenly sobbed. "Why does my life have to be so crazy?"
"Don't just sit there, stupid!" Tails' brain scolded him. "Go over there and say something to her!"
Tails got up and walked over to Cosmo. "Um…" he said. She looked up at him. Her eyes were full of tears. "Uh…" To his shock, she suddenly threw her arms around him.
"Oh, what am I going to do?! My whole life is falling apart! Daddy's friends are going to get him in so much trouble!"
Tails still didn't have a clue what to say to her. So he just put his arms around her.
"Hey, Tails, I…Whoops!" Ugh! Stupid Sonic! He turned and left the room, but the spell was broken. Cosmo realized what she was doing, and pulled away from Tails with a gasp.
"I-I'm sorry!" she said, not looking at him. "I don't know what I'm doing! We have to be out of the trailer park in four months! Galaxina is working at McDonald's! Mom's teaching Seedrian at the YMCA! And now Daddy's in this hou…mess he's in!" She gasped again, as if she'd said something she shouldn't have. She got up. "Excuse, me!" she said. "I-I have to go!"
Tails thought she was leaving the house, but, instead, she started down the long hallway. Tails hid behind the door so she wouldn't see him watching her. She opened each door, then closed it. At last, she opened one, looked inside, then went in. After a couple of minutes, she closed the door behind her. Tails waited a couple of minutes more before he went to the door. He placed his ear against the door and listened. He didn't hear anything, so he slowly, carefully, opened the door. There was a dim light that came from downstairs. Where had she kept a flashlight on that cute Seedrian outfit of hers? What on Earth was she doing down there? It didn't make sense. He started down the steps when the light suddenly went off.
Tails froze. He couldn't really fly. He was dying to find out what Cosmo was doing, but going down a flight of stairs in total darkness was suicide. He very carefully returned to the top of the steps. He moved one foot just a couple of inches in front of him, then the other. If he'd gotten turned around in the dark, he didn't want to take a tumble over the edge. He could see the headlines: "TAILS THE FOX, KILLED IN FALL IN OLD MONSTER MOVIE MANSION!"
Once he felt the door, he sighed with relief. He opened the door, stepped back into the hall, and closed it behind him. He started back to the living room. Hopefully, Shadow or Silver or somebody had a flashlight.
In the kitchen, he ran into Sonic. "Hey, dude," Sonic said. "Sorry if I broke up something." He was eating a chili dog. Another idea the franchise had picked up on from real life.
"Do you have a flashlight?" Tails asked.
Sonic grinned. "You two gonna rendezvous in the basement?"
Tails sputtered as he felt his face grow warm. "Do you or don't you?!" he demanded.
"Whoa, chill!" Sonic said. "Ask Shadow. He's got all kindsa junk in that old van of his."
Tails returned to the living room. Shadow was glaring at his cards like he wished he could throw a real chaos spear at them. Silver was looking confused like he usually did. Possibly, that was what had gotten him the video game job. Espio was pokerfaced. Apparently, he was skunking both of them. But none of that mattered to Tails.
"Excuse me," he said. "Do any of you have a flashlight?"
"Going down in the basement with Cosmo?" Shadow suggested. It was hardly a surprise that they'd used him to be a sort of evil Sonic. He was more serious, and sort of resembled him. Actually, Sonic and Shadow were distantly related. In fact, they could both trace their family trees back to a nineteenth century swamp woman who had been accused of being a witch. A fascinating plot point that, so far, Sega had chosen to ignore. They seemed more interested in getting ideas from classic anime, like the Metarex saga had been based on Space Cruiser Yamato. Cosmo had gotten the job partly because the world's only hope in that classic series had been called the Cosmo Cleanser.
"Could you just please give it to me?" Tails demanded, trying not to scream.
"I don't have it on me," Shadow said. "I'll go out to my van after a couple more hands. Give me two cards." He threw two down, took two from Espio. "D'oh!"
"Full house!" Espio said, putting his cards down. "Read 'em and weep!"
"I think he's hustling us," Silver said to Shadow.
"Just now figured that out, huh?" Shadow said as Espio started dealing cards again. "Come on, kid! I'll get you that flashlight. Look at my cards and I won't need a chaos spear to deal with you guys!"
They were nearly at the front door when all of the electricity went out.
"Hey! What's going here?" That was Amy Rose.
"Oh cool! Maybe we'll shee a ghosht!" That was Rouge.
"Get out!" came a strange, ghastly voice that seemed to echo everywhere. "Get out!"
To be continued!