SONIC X FINAL CAST PARTY
Chapter Six
"Solving The Mystery"
"What's going on?" Amy yelled. "Who's trying to wreck our party?"
"I am the ghost who walks the halls of this old house!" the voice said. Everyone looked at each other.
"Whoever's playing around is going to get a punch in the nose!" Shadow said.
"Shilly," Rouge said. "You drink punch, you don't shtick it up your noshe!" She and Knuckles roared with laughter.
"Man, are those two plastered!" Sonic said. "Remind me not to invite Knucklehead to anymore parties!"
"I've got a couple of shuriken from the show," Espio said.
"I've got a pico-pico hammer in my car," Amy said.
"I've got a baseball bat in my trunk," Shadow said.
"I got a rock!" Knuckles said.
"I shat in a pumpkin patch all night, and all I shaw wash a beagle!" Rouge yelled. They started laughing again.
"Let's ignore dumb and dumber, and find out who's behind this!" Shadow said.
Tails had a bad feeling he knew who was behind this. But…they'd have to be crazy to think they could scare everybody with ghost tricks. He wished they'd waited until after he'd gotten his flashlight to start acting up. Now he didn't know what to do.
"Where do you think that voice is coming from?" Sonic asked, looking around.
"Thataway!" Rouge said, crossing her arms and pointing in opposite directions.
Tails' decision was quickly taken from him. "That sounds like that idiot, Bokkun!" Charmy said. "I'm gonna knock his block off!"
"You blockhead!" Rouge yelled. She got up, staggered across the room, and threw up in Sonic's water cooler.
"Hey!" Sonic yelled. "You're buying me a replacement!" He gasped. "Hey! I had two chili dogs in there!"
"Oh, here they are!" Rouge said, bringing them to him.
"Eww!" Sonic said. "You keep 'em!"
"One for you, and one for me," Rouge said, returning to Knuckles. They pigged out, then ran out of the house, presumably to be sick.
"Beware the ghostly ghouls of this crumbling edifice!" came the voice.
"Bokkun must have a thesaurus," Amy said.
"I'm gonna kill that dweeb!" Charmy said. "I think his voice is coming from upstairs!" He started running towards the staircase. Charmy couldn't actually fly.
Cream smacked her forehead. "If Bokkun's going to do something to impress me, he could at least do it right!" she said. She started up the steps. "I'd better stop Charmy from killing him!"
Tails sighed with relief. If Bokkun was upstairs playing ghost, then Cosmo, who had gone down into the cellar, would be safe. At least for now. But if Tails was right about why she had gone down there, then she was an accessory to a crime. And by not saying anything, so was he! "It must be love!" he said to himself. "I'm risking jail time for her!"
"Beware the thing that creeps in the night!" the strange voice went on. "For it shall…AHHH!"
"I got you, you little faker!" came Charmy's voice over head. "I'm gonna kick your…"
"Charmy!" came Cream's voice. "Look out! You're gonna drop him down the stairs!"
There was a banging sound. Everyone except Knuckles and Rouge rushed up the stairs. Charmy was beating the stuffing out of Bokkun. Cream was picking herself up off the floor.
"He pushed me!" Cream yelled. "You stupid bee! Hai-yah!" She kicked Charmy, knocking him across the room. Cream bent over Bokkun.
"Are you okay?" Cream asked.
"Dude," Sonic said to Charmy. "Totally uncool to hit girls!"
"It was an accident!" Charmy said. "Wow, can that girl kick!"
"I forgot where I'm parked!" Bokkun said, dazed.
"You're eight," Cream said. "You don't drive." She helped him to his feet. "You sure don't fight, either! The Bokkun Kick doesn't really work, does it?"
"Well, it made him madder," Bokkun said. "So it must have done something!" He felt his mouth. "I think he knocked a tooth loose. Oh, no, wait, just my gum. Never mind!"
"Wow, you're as big a weirdo in real life as you were on the show!" Cream said. "Do you think you can get down the stairs without falling?"
"I think so," Bokkun said, as Cream helped him down.
"You blew it, kid," Shadow said to Charmy.
"Yeah, girls don't like bullies," Amy said. "Especially ones that hit them!"
"But it was an accident!" Charmy insisted. "Somebody grabbed my arm, and I pushed them out of the way. I didn't know it was her!"
"You're lucky I don't really have a bad temper like I did in that show!" Amy said. "But I do have a pico-pico hammer in my car! Want me to show you how it works?"
Charmy backed away from her. "Y-you wouldn't!"
Tails went downstairs. He didn't want to watch if they were going to beat Charmy up. The bee wasn't a bad guy. He just didn't think before he acted.
Cream was holding a wet napkin against Bokkun's eye. "No more rowdiness, I mean it, idiot!" she said. "Or next time I'll be the one that beats you up!"
Well, it looked like Cream had picked Bokkun. Tails would have been very surprised if he hadn't been so worried. Tails returned to the kitchen. As he opened the door, he nearly ran into Cosmo.
"Oh!" she cried. She looked very guilty. "T-Tails! Um…hi! I was just looking for the…bathroom!"
"I need to talk to you, Cosmo," Tails said quietly.
"I'm very hungry right now," Cosmo said, trying to get past him. "Couldn't we talk later?"
"No, we need to talk right now," Tails insisted. He lowered his voice. "And you just changed your story."
Cosmo turned and ran for the back door. Tails followed her. She ran out of the house and towards a bush. She leaped over it. She was a good gymnast, and her leaping ability in the show had been based on her screen test. Tails had to go around the bush. The flying had been a part of the show. Too bad the extra tail was real. It had made it very difficult for him to make friends. On the other hand, it had made him stand out enough to get the sidekick job in the first place.
Cosmo finally ran down a dark alley.
Tails stopped. "Cosmo! Come back! It can be dangerous going in there!" He sighed and started down the alley. If they ran into a gang, they were toast!
Tails raced through the alley. Best to get out as soon as possible.
Fortunately, he didn't run into anyone in the alley. Unfortunately, he didn't see Cosmo anywhere when he came out. He stopped and leaned against a tree to catch his breath. Then the lights went on in the house he was standing in front of. "You brats get off my property! I'm getting my gun!" an old man yelled. Tails ran down the street. At the corner, he looked around again for Cosmo, then headed sadly back to the house.
The party was still going on like he'd never left it. Well, most of them ignored him anyway. Knuckles liked to make comments about Tails' only power being the ability to fly by the seat of his pants.
Inside, Tails found Knuckles and Rouge sleeping it off. Sonic and Amy were off in a corner whispering. Cream was still chewing out Bokkun for fighting. He didn't see anyone else. The party was already breaking up.
Then he noticed the flashlight by the microwave. There was a note near it.
"Miles,
"Here's the flashlight you wanted. Leave it at the studio for me tomorrow. I'm heading home to work on my next video.
"Shadow."
Tails was surprised. Shadow wasn't much like the character he played, but he usually ignored him. Tails took the light and headed for the cellar door. He noticed footprints. Cosmo's footprints. They hadn't been there before, so she must have come back. Tails opened the cellar door and clicked on the light. It was a powerful flashlight, the beam brighter than he would have liked, since he was trying to sneak down without being noticed. But he couldn't stop now.
Tails started down the steps. His shoes seemed to echo loudly. So much for the element of surprise. If he was right, then he was in real danger here. But Cosmo needed help, and he wasn't about to just leave her. He just hoped she wouldn't hate him.
Near the bottom of the steps, Tails saw a light under a doorway. He stepped down onto the cellar floor, then turned off the light. He moved as quietly as he could to the door and listened.
"You're sure no one saw you?" a familiar voice demanded.
"No, no one." That was Cosmo. She sounded scared.
"I don't want you coming down here again until I call for you," the other speaker said. "I mean it, Cosmo! You're going to get us both in trouble!"
"I'm sorry!" Cosmo cried. "I didn't mean to! It's not my fault Tails noticed me when…" He heard her gasp and stop. But it was too late.
"You said no one saw you!" the other voice said angrily. "What's the matter with you?! I give you one job to do, and you can't even do it right!"
"I'm sorry, Daddy!" Cosmo sobbed. So Tails was right. Lucas was hiding there. Causing her trouble in real life, just like Dark Oak had in the show.
Tails would never know what he would have done next because that decision was suddenly taken away from him. A big hand grabbed his shoulder. Tails froze.
"What do we have here?" Tails heard. "I think you'd better go in, kid!"
His captor opened the door. Inside, Cosmo sat on a chair, crying. Lucas was pacing the floor. When the door opened, he turned towards Tails and growled.
"Zelkova!" Lucas yelled. "What's he doing here?!?"
"He was outside the door listening," Yellow Zelkova said. He was wearing a grunge outfit, and looked even scarier than he had in the show.
"Oh, Tails!" Cosmo sobbed. "Why did you follow me? Now you're involved in all of this!"
"I'm not leaving you alone now!" Tails said bravely, even though his heart was pounding. "Let me go, you big bully!"
"I'm sorry, princess," Lucas said to his daughter. "But we have a problem now."
To be concluded