Chapter 3: New Start
It started to rain late that night when Cream was pulled into an alley and five bandana wearing gang members held her up against a wall, each wielding switchblades. The rabbit screamed for help as loud as she could but the leader put his hand over her mouth.
"Shut up! Ain't no one gonna save you tonight, baby! Don't fight me.." The leader calmly said.
Cheese jumped out of Cream's back pack and bit the leaders' hand, making him jump back and grunt in pain. Cream had enough space to run but she was grabbed by her ears by another gang member. The leader grabbed Cheese and held him still.
"What the hell? Argh, Damnit!"
The leader of the gang grabbed Cream's back pack off her and handed it to one of his members. He then grabbed Cream by the throat and pushed her against a wall.
"Come on, Ty. We've got her bag, you don't need to do this." Another gang member said, putting his hand on the leaders' shoulder.
"Shut up and stay in line." the leader pushed him back.
"Man, I ain't gonna be apart of this horse shit.."
The leader let go of Cream and then grabbed this gang member by his sweater.
"You're gonna stay here and watch…if you know what's good for you, Marcus!"
Just before this argument could go any further, a mysterious figure popped up above the gang and crashed down on one gang member. "Marcus" took off, leaving the rest of his gang to fight this guy. Cream quickly grabbed her back pack and Cheese, then ran away but before she left the area, she decided to get a look at who this guy was. She saw a Fox wearing a black coat and a maroon coloured beanie with light orange fur fighting the gang, avoiding knife slashes from every direction.
"Is that..? no, don't tell me it is.." Cream said to herself, hiding behind a wall and looking in the alley.
As soon as Tails was punched in the head and his beanie flew off, Cream confirmed it was indeed the fox from Station Square. This infuriated Cream as she assumed he followed her all the way from her old home to Two Gates. She watched as Tails tried to fight off the gang but there were too many, and they were armed.
The leader grabbed Tails and rammed him into a wall, stunning him. The three gang members piled on top of the fox and started to beat him down. The leader put his knife up for the final cut but he was thrown away from the brawl.
Cream looked over to see the gang members being sent flying around the alley. Just then Espio appeared standing over Tails.
"Espio?!" Cream shouted as she ran over.
The Chameleon extended his hand to help him up but the fox pushed him away and stood up by himself, staring into his eyes angrily.
"And you, what the hell are you doing here? I thought I told you I never wanted to see you again!" Cream yelled in Tails' face.
He paid her no attention and watched as Espio picked up his beanie from the wet ground so he could hand it to the fox. Tails ripped it from Espio's hands and kept eye contact with the Chameleon.
"Hello? I'm talking to you, Miles Prower!" Cream yelled again.
Tails said nothing, all he did was make a fist and glared at Espio, ready to fight. The Chameleon pulled out a shuriken and threw it, missing Tails' face by inches and hitting the leader of the gang behind the fox. Espio then stumbled back, leaning against a wall soaked in the blood of a gang member. Tails sniffed around for a few seconds and looked at Espio.
"Are you drunk?" The Fox asked.
"Possibly." Espio responded.
"Tails!" Cream screamed, getting the fox's attention.
"Yes?" Tails said with a grin, wiping dirt off his beanie.
"Why did you bother following me?"
"Followed you? I left home a few months back and I've been working. It just so happens I wound up here." Tails answered, then looked at Espio. "Your turn, how'd you wind up here?"
Police sirens rang out and got closer to the group.
"Hold that thought, I don't really care. See ya."
Tails put his beanie back on and went to leave but he was stopped by Cream.
"Wait up.." The Rabbit looked at him and Espio. "Thank you for the save… I know a place you two could go for shelter, if you want."
Tails met the Rabbit's gaze and Espio gulped down another drink of his alcohol.
"I could pass out anywhere right about now." The Chameleon responded.
"I guess I could, as well." Tails said.
The three hurried down the dark alleyways and the cops arrived a second later to the bloody mess and bodies. They arrested the gang members and surrounded the entire block, looking for any others.
Cream took the guys to an old, burnt up abandoned shoe making factory. She climbed down into a small window that led to the bottom floor and Tails and Espio followed her. Tails used the light from his iPod to guide the group, and they found a few old chairs to sit on.
Tails looked at Cream. "Nice place."
"Shut up."
The fox laughed, then took off his jacket, revealing a large cut and blood on his forearm.
"Tails, you're bleeding!" Cream yelled.
"Huh? Oh... They must've got me when I wasn't looking."
"Are you okay?" The Rabbit pulled out some tissues from her back pack and put them on his arm.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Tails glanced over at Espio. "You didn't answer my question, Lego Ninjago."
Espio looked up at The Fox.
"What made you stop by in this city?"
"I don't exactly remember, but I do know it ended with me in a bar somewhere downtown and since then, been sipping these things." Espio responded.
"Very inspiring tale, wise monk. Or did you graduate to that level yet?" Tails asked sarcastically.
"Tails, stop. He saved both our asses back there." Cream said.
"Doesn't mean I have to let go of what he did before." The Fox responded.
"Hey, I stopped out of pity for you, fox." Espio said.
"Oh don't give me that shit.." Tails retorted.
"SHUT UP!" Cream shouted, making Tails and Espio get quiet. "Why can't you two just drop it? Jesus.."
"She's right, fox." Espio said.
"Yeah, whatever." Tails responded.
Cream and Cheese took walk through the old factory to find a spot away from Tails and Espio. It was getting late so they decided to get some rest. Tails put his headphones in and fell asleep on a table. Espio opened up another bottle and kept drinking until he couldn't stay awake, however he only slept an hour. He watched over the two and spent the night thinking to himself.
After a few hours, the sun started to come up and Espio went outside to practice some fighting moves and techniques. Cream woke up around 7 am and joined him outside. She talked to Espio and sat on a small patch of grass. Tails woke up and saw the two talking, so he tried to ignore them. The Fox then remembered he left his bike at the edge of town and his gym bag next to it so he took off to retrieve them.
"Where are you going?" Cream called out to him.
"Don't worry about it." Tails answered bitterly.
"Are you ditching us?"
"...I'll come back later…"
Tails flew off into the sky and looked for the area he left his stuff at, near a tree in a ghetto part of town. He spotted what looked like his bag and he landed a few feet from it. Tails cursed when he saw his bike was gone but his bag was still here. He opened it and found the jade Chaos emerald was still inside.
"Wow, you would think I'd take better care of this thing..." Tails said, picking up his back pack and putting it on. He checked the time on his iPod. 8:04 am.
Tails made his way back to the factory while Cream and Espio continued to talk. Espio told her his side of what happened between him and Tails while Cream told him what happened with her and the fox. Then, Tails himself flew over a razor wire fence to met with the duo.
"Tails, can we talk.. all of us?" Cream asked.
Tails nodded his head and the three entered the factory again. They sat in their chairs and waited to see who'd start the conversation.
"So, what has everybody been up to, lately?" Tails finally asked, tired of the awkward silence.
"Nothing special, just looking for a place to settle down. Having a few beers here and there, the typical night life.." Espio answered.
"Well, I managed to find this guy-" Tails said as he opened his bag.
He pulled out the jade Chaos emerald. Cream and Espio looked at him with blank expressions on their faces.
"You could only find one?" Cream asked.
"What? Is that a bad thing?"
The Rabbit pulled out the crimson and sapphire emeralds from her back pack. Espio took a sip from his bottle and fished out three more emeralds from a small bag.
"You know what… whatever, that's cool." Tails said, putting his emerald away.
"Wait," Cream said. "If we have 6 emeralds, that means we only need one more and-"
"And we could get some new powers from them." Espio finished her statement.
'I've never held all 7 at one time."
"So you're suggesting we stick together and find the last one?" Tails asked. "Am I getting this right?"
"Yeah, why not? We could find that last one and maybe stop creeps like the guys from last night." Cream answered.
"I don't know about that. I got offered work and I kinda need the money." The Fox pointed out. "Also, I just don't like him."
"The feeling is mutual, ya little shit." Espio retorted.
"Look, I know you two have your problems, so do I, but this could be our new start. Can we just put our problems behind us and stick together? What if Eggman or any other bad guy goes around and starts their shit, again?" Cream asked.
"…I guess that's fair." Espio answered.
Cream and Espio look at Tails for his answer.
"Alright, fine. You sold me, I'm in." The Fox said.
Cream smiled and Espio extended his hand for Tails to shake. The fox looked at this and then decided to shake his hand. The three got ready to leave and look around for the last emerald.
"So, how did you get those emeralds?" Tails asked Cream.
"How else? I swiped one off Shadow and Cheese found this in a cave." The Rabbit responded.
The Fox grinned. "So you're officially one of the bad kids, now."
Cream couldn't help but chuckle as she agreed. "I guess so, Miles..."
"Hehe... you still like me, just give it time."
She said nothing, but the smile on her face told Tails everything. Cream ended their exchange with a friendly punch to his chest, leaving him wanting more.