Chapter One

The City was busy. The city was always busy, but now especially. Station Square was hosting its fifth annual Extreme Gear tournament, so crowds of people had been coming in for the even for the past week or so. Today was the last day before the event officially began and the streets were overcrowded with pushy, rambunctious fans and participants. And people who just thought it would be cool to come out and see what all the fuss was about.

In other words, it was an extremely easy place to lose an energetic and easily distracted two-tailed fox cub. For one particular hedgehog, this was proving more of a problem then he would have originally expected to be possible.

"Tails! Get back here right now!" He snapped, making a grab for one of the overzealous kit's two tails as he took a running leap right into the back of a bright magenta hedgehog.

She turned around and looked down at the tangle of fox limbs on the ground, and then up at the blue hedgehog who'd just shoved his way through the crowd to reach them.

"I'm sorry-" he began to apologize, but she cut him off with a casual wave of her hand. He noticed both were filled with shopping bags.

"Hey, it's no problem, alright?" She grinned "I've got a kid here with me too. I know what they're like when they get excited." She winked at him and nodded over to a street vendor being crowded by an excited young - and equally pink - hedgehog. A young rabbit stood beside her, looking mildly embarrased.

"And for the record, I'm talking about the hedgehog." She nodded solemnly. "Cream's just an angel."

"Oh, yeah. Hey," Sonic began, taking in the fact that all three of them seemed to have their fair share of baggage. Clearly tourists. Or just shopaholics. Or possibly - probably - both. "Are you guys here for the Tournament?"

"Oh yeah," she said brightly, and Tails perked up. The little fox had just managed to make it to his feet and untangle his tails from under himself before sulking over to Sonic, but as soon as anyone mentioned the Tournament, they instantly caught the fox's attention.

"Hey, come on, let's talk out of the way of the crowd a bit." She added, grabbing Sonic's hand without waiting for conformation - he in turn latching onto Tails' wrist at the last second, and dragged him off to the side a bit so they could talk without being bumped into every five seconds by the mixed crowd of human and Mobian.

"So anyway, like I was saying. We're here for the Tournament - though, I think most of the people in the city right now are."

Sonic agreed. "We're here for the Tournament too. We decided to spend the whole summer in Station Square. Tails has been wanting to come for the past few years, so I decided to save up and take him as a sort of early/late birthday gift."

"Ah. I'm gonna be competing. They're my team." She added, nodding back to the hedgehog and rabbit girls, who were making their way back over through the crowd now. Tails' eyes went wide.

"You mean you guys all got 'Streme Gear?" He asked excitedly.

The hedgehog girl grinned. "Oh yeah, sure. You can stop by our hotel sometime and check it out if you'd like, bud." She crouched down as she added the last part, speaking directly to Tails.

If at all possible the kits eyes went even wider. "Really? You mean it?"

"I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it." She grinned at him, before straightening up and turning back to Sonic. "We're staying at the Rockstar Inn. Do ya know where that is?"

"Sure, we're staying not too far away from there, just a few blocks I think."

"Okay, cool. We're in room number four-sixteen. You can remember that, or should I write down?"

"I'll remember it fine." Sonic smirked.

"Cool." The hedgehog girl tossed her head back, brushing her long hair fromin front of her face. "I think a lot of other teams are staying there too, so maybe you'll get to meet some of them as well, if you're lucky. I could introduce you to the few I've already met."

"Sounds good."

"I'm Sonia, by the way." She held out her hand for Sonic, which he took in his own and

"Sonic."

"Who was that you were talking to?" Amy asked curiously, trying to get a good look at the blue hedgehog before he was swallowed up completely by the crowd.

"Just some guy. He had a little kid with him. They're here for the Tournament."

"Who isn't?" Amy rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, well. Said his name was Sonic. He might stop by the hotel sometime." Sonia said, wondering if her companion would mind.

"Tomorrow?"

"Not sure."

"Oh." Amy frowned. "Just wondering. 'Cause, you know, I think we're leaving fairly early. We need to get to the stadium a few hours before the first races start. To sign in and everything."

"Yeah, yeah. I know. I just gave him our room number, that's all. No idea when he'll stop by."

Cream was listening to her older friends' conversation with mild curiosity. She was standing to the side while they chatted, with a box of chocolates in her hand. She would pop one into her mouth every now and then, and stare off into the crowd thoughtfully.

"Oh... I'm so nervous..." she muttered to herself quietly. "I hope I'll do alright... I don't want to disappoint Miss Amy and Miss Sonia..." she continued to worry quietly to herself, going mostly unnoticed by absolutely everyone. She was very good at not being noticed.

"Was he cute?" Amy asked, with a mischievous grin.

"What? Oh, I don't know." Sonia rolled her eyes.

"He was, wasn't he?" Amy's grin grew even wider. "Oh, you just went and invited a cute boy to our hotel room! Good job, Sonia." She congratulated her friend.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." The hedgehog tossed her hair back again, before reaching for Cream's hand. "Come on Cream, we're headed back to the hotel now."

They set all their bags down on the floor when they walked back into their hotel room. It was still mid-afternoon. Sonia pulled a cell-phone out from the pocket of her purple track pants once everyone's stuff was in a pile in the middle of the floor. Amy had sat down on the couch with the TV on, and Cream had gone to take a shower.

"Manic?" She asked into the phone. She walked off into the bedroom to continue her conversation. Amy looked up as Sonia reentered the room a few minutes later and muted the TV.

"He answer?"

"Yeah."

"Where is he?"

Sonia shrugged. "He says he and Rouge are 'checking out the city'. We spent hours out shopping this morning though, and I think they got up later then us. Besides, it's still midday, so I'm not that worried."

Amy nodded. "Yeah yeah."

"I just told him to check back every coupla hours or so. He's a bit annoyed, but whatever. He still said okay."

"When're they gonna come back?"

"I told him to make sure they're back by eight tonight. Until then, I don't really care."

Amy nodded. "Okay, cool. So, are we gonna go out again, or what?"

Sonia shrugged. "Maybe when Cream's ready. We've had a bit of a long morning already anyway, so I'm fine with anything."

Cream came back out a few minutes more after that, to find the two pink hedgehogs sitting on the couch and watching a movie on the hotel television. She decided to let them finish it before they did anything else, as she was tired from the morning shopping anyway, and wandered into the kitchen to make some tea.

After putting the kettle on, she grabbed one of the books she'd bought that day (Sonia and Amy had mostly gone for clothing and jewelery. She, on the other hand, had opted mostly for books, one dress, and a few trinkets. She also picked up a new bowtie she planned on giving to Cheese as a present when she got back home) and pulled a stool up over to the counter. It was a good 'nother hour before the girls were all ready to go back out again.

They caught a bright red double bus right at the corner, in front of the hotel. Sonia noticed a few of the people they passed on the lower level had Extreme Gear with them, and a few duffel bags. A red squirrel and a rabbit with a purple leotard and metallic limbs. Probably more new arrivals to the city. She made a note to try and see where they got off. She considered stopping to talk to them, but Cream was already running up to the second level, and holding her hand, Sonia followed.

With a slow wheezing, grinding noise, a small door labelled 'Utility Closet' slowly appeared in the hotel hallway where there previously was none. A very drunk echidna, the only person around to see it happen, glanced down at the bottle in his hand, before grinning and walking off - most likely back to the bar.

A few moments after that, a green and black hedgehog and a blue, two-tailed fox stepped cautiously out. Ashura and 8-BiT. They both wore chunky green, metal collars, and the hedgehog wore a bright orange sash reading 'The Hallmonitor'. The fox turned and closed the door behind himself.

"Where are we?" He wondered aloud.

"One way to find out, sook." Ashura grinned back, sauntering off down the hallway. The fox picked up his pace to walk alongside, glancing over his shoulder at the closet.

A few moments later found them standing at the front desk of a hotel, with a fairly crowded lobby. The receptionist, a tawny tabby cat, looked up from her book and leveled her gaze at them across the counter. She looked extremely bored.

"Sorry, but we're booked full. If you're looking for a free room, you'll hafta go somewhere else. I doubt you're going to have much luck this close to the Tournament, though."

"Tournament?" Ashura asked, leaning across the counter. "What sort of tournament?" He asked, curiously.

The cat raised her eyebrows and gave him a look that made it quite clear she thought he was wasting her time. Finally, when she realized that he was completely serious, and still waiting for an answer, she sighed and pointed to a sign on the front door, and went back to reading her book.

Ashura and Bluetails wandered over and looked at the sign curiously. It appeared to be some sort of poster advertizing an Extreme Gear tournament. Hedgehog and fox grinned.

"Sounds fun."

"It does."

"Think we should stay?"

"I think we should stay. D' you think we should stay?"

"Aye. Come on sook, let's have us a look around the place."

Following a quick nod, the two hurried outside and were quickly swept up by the flow of the crowd. "Oy, make sure you remember the way back to the hotel!" The hedgehog called.

"Yeah yeah, hurry up!" The fox called back, slipping easily through the crowd and running on ahead, grinning.

Sticking his thumbs under his sash and tugging on it self consciously, the hedgehog hurried up and fell back into step beside the fox.

"So, I was thinking, we go find out where this tournament is?"

"Already did." The fox answered, trying his best to hide his smirk.

"You did? Oy, when was that, then?" Ashura asked, indignant.

"When we were lookin' at the poster. It had an address, y'know."

"...Oh."

A few minutes later found them standing in front of a huge stadium. Ashura whistled as he stared up at the huge entrance doors, and the even huger walls surrounding them.

"...It's pretty huge." He said after a moment's deliberation. "So... wanna check it out?"

"But it's closed."

"Yeah. So... wanna check it out?"

"Sure thing." He replied cooly. The two exchanged a grin before quickly setting to work letting themselves inside the stadium, to take a better look around.

On the opposite side of the stadium, a few hours later a certain squirrel/armadillo duo were doing the exact same thing. That is, letting themselves into the stadium a day early. They were going about doing it, however, in a very different manner.

That manner being, of course, to simply open the doors and walk in.

"...Er, Mighty, are ya sure we... shoulda, um, done that?" the small yellow fuzzthing asked.

"Eh? We? Done what? I didn't see you breaking down any doors."

The squirrel flattened his ears against his head. "Um, yeah, sorry." he shook his head suddenly. "But hey! H-hey! That's not what I was saying! What if we get in trouble for it? Or what if we get c-caught?" He was jittering so hard the armadillo actually had to reach over and grab his shoulders to keep him from falling over. It served to steady him only slightly.

"...Ray."

"Yes?" He squeaked, straightening his blue vest self-consciously.

"...Look at me."

He slowly turned and did so.

"Calm down. Seriously. Kiddo. We're not gonna get caught. Even if we do, what's the worse that could happen?"

"...We could get kicked out of the Tournament."

Surprisingly, the armadillo didn't seem phased. "Why, do you plan on telling them we were entered in it?"

"W...what?"

"Yeah. Sorry, but, they don't actually need to know that we're entered in it."

"...Oh."

"Yeah. So. Moving on?"

The squirrel nodded timidly. "Um, yeah, okay. Sorry." He coughed quietly, feeling very foolish. He couldn't help it though! They were breaking into a stadium in the middle of the night! How could that, in any way, be considered a good idea? Even though he'd settled down marginally, his eyes were still darting around the stadium, and he gripped the armadillo's hand in his own with all the strength he could muster. Evidently though, it wasn't that much. And the way his fur stood on end made his look like a giant yellow pom-pom.

In Mighty's opinion, it was extremely amusing to watch. A tad worrisome though. He really would have to work on that, eventually. He had no idea what made the squirrel so bloody timid.

So, when the squirrel suddenly let out a startled scream and clambered up his back in the space of three seconds, he wasn't all that surprised. He was surprised, however, at the almost-as-high-pitched yelp that came from the startled hedgehog who'd walked directly into him.

When Mighty turned around, the neon green hedgehog who'd screamed was straightening out a sash around himself and trying to hold a straight face. He was also pointing accusingly at the small blue fox by his side.

"It has him screaming." He said solemnly, while the fox fixed Mighty with a deadpan stare. They exchanged a knowing glance between the two.

Then the hedgehog peered over the armadillo's shoulder at the tiny ball of flying squirrel that had previously tumbled down into his arms. "Uh... right. Hello." He gave a tiny wave.

A small gloved hand emerged from the ball of yellow fur and gave a weak wave back. "Hello."

As it turned out, Mighty and Ray were staying in the same hotel at Ashura and Bluetails (Bluetails had apparently actually taken the time to remember where they parked the Closet).

They had hung out at the stadium a while longer after walking into each other. Ashura and Bluetails had already gone, gotten some lunch, and come back about an hour later. In all that time, they had pretty much finished exploring the entire stadium and a lot of the surrounding area. So, with that experience under their proverbial belts, they ended up showing Mighty and Ray around all the interesting parts and leaving out the rest.

They had all walked back to the hotel together later that night, and by that time it was already pretty late. So instead of going back to their hotel room and resting up the night before the Tournament began, as they obviously should have, they opted out for the more entertaining option.

That being, of course, to head straight to the hotel arcade. And Ashura had to admit, he was impressed when he saw it. The place was huge. And filled corner to corner with huge game machines, dance pads, motorcycle and car seats, virtual reality helmets, laser guns, and a whole line of car seats wall to wall, where apparently up to twelve people could race each other at once. He gave an impressed whistle.

"Whooa. Nice arcade." He peered at one of the game machines. They all appeared to have some sort of swipe screen on them. "Howsat work, then?" He wondered aloud.

"Hotel credits." Mighty responded absently, walking up beside him. "Bloody expensive, though. I can't afford too many credits on my card."

"Card, oy?"

"Yeah, yeah." Mighty nodded. He held up his key card for Ashura to see. "Y'know the key cards they give you at the front desk when you check in? You can go up and pay extra money for them to load it with credits. You can use them wherever you want in the hotel. The pool, the arcade, the cafeteria, whatever."

"...Ah." Ashura grinned. "So, you just swipe a card and it lets you play?"

"If you have credits, yeah. That's the idea." The armadillo shrugged.

The hedgehog was slowly grinning. He passed a slip of paper to the small blue fox. "Here, kids. Knock yourselves out."

Ray looked up at the hedgehog, eyes wide as saucers, and 8-BiT was grinning.

"Really?" The squirrel asked, out of breath. Mighty couldn't afford that many credits on his own card, and like he said, the games were expensive. He wasn't allowed in the arcade often, and could only play a few games when he came.

The armadillo shrugged, grinning. "Your call, dude." He told Ashura, looking a tad amused.

The hedgehog nodded solemnly. "Oh yeah. Sure. I don't think I'll be running out of credits any time soon." He said slyly, catching 8-BiT's wide grin out of the corner of his eye.

With a shrug and a nod from their guardians, the two kids were off, running into the sea of loud music and flashing lights.

Mighty shook his head doubtfully. "Letting two kids run wild in an arcade, spending at their own discretion? Dude, you must be totally loaded."

"Not really."

"Well. I'm gonna go crash." He said, finally. "Ray! Make sure you're back by midnight!" He shouted back, not waiting or caring for the squirrel to give any sort of affirmation that he'd heard, or planned to listen.

"Oh. I might as well too then." Ashura frowned, looking slightly disappointed. Then he grinned again. "Sook! Come back whenever you get bored or something!" He called over his shoulder, before stepping outside with Mighty.

They walked through the lobby together, until they came to the elevators. Mighty went up, and Ashura waved him off before turning back down the hallway he'd come from earlier that afternoon, and finding his way back to the Closet.

There, he looked around until he found a decent sized fire extinguisher, just for the hell of it, and then found a decent sized couch, and fell asleep on it with the fire extinguisher under his arm.