Okay, so sorry if my updates slow a little bit. I'm really trying to plan this one in advance and cool the chapters for a day so I can edit out mistakes easier.
Nab-Nab450: Sorry that was confusing. Basically, Amy is really into romance (much like her canon self) and she doesn't spend a lot of time analyzing things before she just decides something. From her first conversation with Blaze, she applied typical 'girl' thinking because it makes sense, and then when she 'realized' Shadow was using Blaze, it's just an extension of that thought. It's a bit naive, but that's how I picture Amy in my mind: rash, romantic, and wired.
Lost and Forgotten Memories: It makes me so happy to hear you getting excited! I'm not sure if it's accurate, but I always picture you as really calm and collected, so hearing you feel anticipation makes me feel like I'm doing the right thing! What are they really like? Well... hehehe, we'll find out.
adar13: Hello new reviewer and welcome! Since I've never seen you review my work before, I'll thank you for taking time to click on one of my stories. I hope you enjoy!
Re-Harakhty: That's a wonderful compliment, thank you my dear!
blaze the lol cat: Wow, that's excellent news. I try to work really hard to keep my grammar and spelling up to snuff, good to see it's paying off. And yep, On Mobius was me. I'm glad you liked it, as it's my most popular story so far. Thank you for reviewing!
DahserMan1025: Glad to hear, I was afraid I'd lost your interest. Hope you enjoy!
So, don't feel too jarred. That's all. Have a lovely day!
4: The Infamous Residents Are...?
No one answered.
In fact, the doors seemed so thick and ancient that Amy's knock was completely absorbed, leaving behind a disquieting, vacant feeling. Amy frowned and studied the surrounding area for any sign of a doorbell. There! A single black button in a circular gold box against the wall. She pressed it firmly. A loud, low gong-like noised rattled the front windows, causing the pink hedgehog to question her motive. What was she doing here again? This place gives me the creeps!
She remembered: she was coming to apologize for freaking out at them in a public place. Amy scrunched up her face in misery, knotting a fistful of quills in her hand. Why was she so quick to act? She never thought anything through... Green eyes reappraised the mansion. Why was no one answering? Their blue car was here... and it was Sunday. And that gong certainly couldn't be missed. Her red boot squeaked as Amy tapped her foot impatiently.
Well maybe I won't apologize, if they're not going to answer!
Huffing through her nose, the freshman turned to leave. As she moved to take the first step down at the stairs, a brisk gust of wind nearly knocked her sideways. She cried out—her small voice carried away on the zephyr—and flailed her arms in a windmilling motion to steady herself. The wind smelled of fate again; Amy looked back at the mansion's door, her face fixed in a determined frown. Straightening her red shirt over the waistband of her jeans, the pink hedgehog marched back to the door and gave the handle a try.
It opened.
The only sound trailing through the cavernous front hall was some sort of rock music station. Amy narrowed her eyes... Pantera? Was that the name? Throwing caution to the fate-smelling wind, she entered the house and shut the door behind her. The layout was constructed a little differently than Gamma Nu Omega, with the stairs facing in towards the house and disappearing upwards over the entryway. The hall ran to the back—ending in a gargantuan kitchen—with smaller paths branching off to the side. Amy listened closely. There were voices coming from the last room on the right: the largest doorway. Ignoring the nagging feeling in her stomach telling her to turn and run, she kept walking until she turned the corner—and was met with a deafening uproar of shouts. Her eyes went wide as Espio was suddenly launched across her vision, sending him crashing into a gigantic, retro television. He bounced off it and fell to the floor. The pink hedgehog noticed there was a circular crack on one quarter of the screen (as well as strange holes in the wall behind), which displayed an old fighting game.
Without moving, Espio groaned quietly, "This is why I spend so much time in my room, guys." Peeling her attention away from the boy on the floor, Amy turned to take in the rest of the room. Sonic and Shadow sat side-by-side on a saggy, green couch, each leaning this way and that with their tongues out, frantically tapping at their chunky controllers. Knuckles stood at the back of the room, arm just returning to his side from having thrown the chameleon. He growled at Silver, who was sitting on the floor by Sonic's feet.
"Silver! Stop using your tele-whatever to cheat me out of money!"
Silver frowned, "It's telekinesis, and that's not how it works, bro. You're just betting wrong." Knuckles roared incoherently before turning to the sweat-shirted person perching on the couch arm next to Shadow. He yanked their hood down, revealing a half-lidded Blaze. Amy gaped, still unnoticed in the opening of the room. The hooded member was Blaze? A girl living in a boy's dorm!
Knuckles hissed, "It must be you, then! Shadow always wins Street Fighter tourneys when I bet against him!"
"Hey!" Sonic snapped, green eyes still focused on the cracked screen, "It's not my fault I always lose rock-paper-scissors for the crap side!" Having been wrenched from the comfort of her hood, Blaze's eyes flared open and she turned to glare at Knuckles. For a moment, Amy thought she saw flames in the cat's eyes. Blaze back-handed the echidna upside the head.
"You idiot! Everyone knows Sonic always loses everything except his track races. It's your fault for betting on him after five years!" She turned back to watch Shadow pull off a particularly complex grab. Her mouth twisted into a smile, much more devious than the polite expressions she'd shown Amy in Advanced Literature. The feline crossed her arms over her chest, "One more grab like that and he's down." Shadow grunted in response. After the noisy display, Espio looked up from where he still sprawled on the floor. He noticed the intruder in the doorway and casually lifted his fingers in greeting.
"Oh. Hey, Amy." The game was paused and five pairs of eyes joined Espio's in staring at the additional company. Amy jolted, looking around the large room, fear in her eyes. Her fingers toyed with the hem of her cardigan and beads of sweat formed on her hairline. After a crushing silence, Sonic smiled brightly.
"Ames! How ya doin'?"
The pink hedgehog spluttered. Silver snickered behind a hand. Shadow quietly appraised her while Blaze simply gave devil fingers. Knuckles waved. When Amy failed to respond, Sonic raised an eyebrow.
"You okay, there, Amy...?"
The freshman's face was a contorted mess of emotions. Guilt, embarrassment, surprise... Why were they saying "hello" to her like nothing had happened? Weren't they going to yell at her and tell her to get out?
"Aren't you mad at me?" She blurted. The group turned to one another, offering shrugs and curious looks. Finally, they turned back to their underclassman and smiled. (Well, most of them. Shadow just looked complacent.) Silver rubbed the back of his head.
"About the Lenny's incident? Not really," his gaze turned soft. "We all know what it's like to be a freshman. Everything can be really scary when you're new. Plus," a goofy grin formed on his lips, "we're really too old to care if people like us or not." The others nodded. Amy felt her lower lip begin to tremble.
"But... I was so rude..." How could they possibly forgive her?
Shadow barked a grim laugh, "If you think what you said was rude, you clearly haven't heard what other people say to us. Now stop being so... weepy? Distressed? Blaze, help me out."
The feline heaved a sigh, "Dysphoric?" Shadow nodded.
"That's the one."
Amy pressed a hand to her cheek, finally gathering her composure, "I'm really sorry... Everyone I met said you all were troublemakers... and I assumed the worst."
Sonic grinned suddenly, "Well, you know what they say about assuming, right?" Shadow and Blaze both grumbled.
Espio squeezed his eyes shut, "Not this again."
Sonic and Silver jumped into the air, flailing their arms as they shouted in unison, "IT MAKES AN 'ASS' OUT OF 'U' AND 'ME'!" Knuckles laughed boisterously while Shadow rolled his eyes. The warm atmosphere began to creep into Amy's chest, dispelling her inhibitions towards the frat. As the boys all fell into noisy chatter, Blaze slipped away from the couch arm, gesturing at Amy to follow her. They left the room and entered the kitchen, which was remodeled to have a counter running down the center with stools on either side. Blaze waved a hand at the stools and approached a very large fridge on the other side. Amy sat down, questions tearing through her mind like cars on an interstate. Blaze's tail swished back and forth.
"Care for anything to drink? Looks like we have..." the lavender cat wrinkled her nose, "an alarming surplus of Mountain Dew."
"Um... water is fine," Amy said. Blaze closed the fridge and moved to rifle through a cabinet. She pulled down two glasses and began to fill them from the fridge's dispenser. Amy chewed a thumb, trying not to explode. After an eternity, Blaze turned around and slid one of the glasses across the marble counter before drinking from her own. Amy rolled the glass between her hands before lifting her eyes to the enigma standing before her.
"Um... Blaze?"
Blaze swallowed and gazed at the hedgehog evenly, "Yeah?"
"You... live here?" Amy slapped herself inwardly. Way to be awkward. However, Blaze only shrugged, her cold eyes warming up just a bit.
"I do. Don't beat yourself up for being curious, either. I used to get asked that a lot."
Amy's face reddened slightly, "I... I think I misunderstood you."
The feline leaned on the counter, her face emotionless, "How so?" Before Amy could respond, Sonic whined from the living room.
"Blaaaazyyyyy, bring me a soda!"
The lavender cat rolled her eyes,"Excuse me one moment." Blaze opened the fridge and took out one of the many cans of Mountain Dew. Amy watched as she sauntered over to the doorway of the den and—leaning back for one defining moment, soda can nestled in her hand like ammunition in a catapult—pegged Sonic right in the face. His head snapped backward from the force, the soda rebounding off his face to land in his lap. Shadow and Silver jumped up and high-fived as a deep voice erupted from the TV.
"Player Two wins."
Shadow cracked his fingers smugly while Silver made a strange finger-rubbing gesture at Knuckles. The burly echidna groaned, reached into his shoe, and handed the albino a roll of bills. Silver smiled devilishly and tucked the money into his jacket pocket.
"Pleasure doing business with ya, Knux."
Sonic finally lifted his head again, holding one side of his face, "What happened... Did I lose?" He looked at the soda in his lap and the flashing screen displaying the word "WINNER". He looked back to the door, "Blaze!" The feline chuckled darkly, turning to go back into the kitchen. A chorus of disgusted yells followed her—Sonic had opened the shaken can.
"Where were we?" Blaze sat on a stool across from Amy, who was still attempting to process the strange sequence of events. She sipped her water stiffly, eyebrows knit together in confusion. Blaze waited patiently, resting her chin on one hand and smiling politely. Amy finally finished her water and set the glass down. She inhaled and exhaled before making stable eye contact with the feline.
"Um... I thought you had a crush on Shadow..."
There was a snort from the kitchen entry; Amy turned on the stool to see Espio, straightening his sweater. He walked into the kitchen, snagged an apple from a glass bowl, and bit into it. Amy raised an eyebrow.
"Is that a weird thought to have...?" She asked in a tentative voice. Blaze and Espio exchanged glances. Espio swallowed.
"No," the chameleon licked his lips, "It's just surprising that you said that to her face." He took another bite and Amy turned back to the lavender feline, a lump of worry in her throat. She was just saying the wrong things left and right! However, Blaze seemed unperturbed and simply refilled her water glass before speaking.
"A lot of people think that, but I stopped beating them up a long time ago."
Espio spoke through a mouthful of fruit, "Blaze and Shadow are just weird. They have this strange, platonic thing going on, but if anyone tries to ask Blaze out, Shadow..." He trailed off as Blaze's gold eyes turned hard. Blinking slowly, the cat turned back to Amy.
"We're just friends."
Amy nodded vaguely before realizing Espio had vanished. She blinked, pointing to where he had been standing, "Um...?"
"He's a ninja," Blaze said simply.
Sonic and the others came trooping in, filling the air with white noise as they chatted. He slung an arm over Amy's shoulders. The pink hedgehog felt her heart fall into her stomach and she tried not to blurt out something embarrassing. Sonic took a swig from his near-empty soda can.
"So... Howsabouts we blow this popsicle stand for the day?"
Blaze groaned, rubbing her temples, "When will you learn that the slang you use is not at all 'cool'?" Sonic blew a raspberry at her and looked Amy in the eye.
"Well, Ames? Wanna get acquainted with Chaos Control?"
Amy nearly bit off her tongue in her hurried response, "What's Chaos Control?"
Shadow leaned on the counter next to Blaze, a hint of smirk on his languid face, "It's the car." Silver came around the other side of the Amy, smiling wide and toying with his gloves.
"It may be small, but it gets us places! And you can sit by me!" He smiled before Sonic pulled away from Amy to flick the telekinetic's ear.
"She'll sit wherever she wants, pot-head."
Knuckles burst out of the pantry, jingling a key-ring from his fingers. He smiled broadly, "My turn to drive?"
Amy had never felt so claustrophobic in her life. Her knees were pressed under her chin and her elbows were buried in the sides of her companions. Blaze had opted to take one side to protect the younger hedgehog from Sonic, and Espio had taken the other, arguing that he was the only other person who shared a class with her and therefore knew her better. Shadow had demanded to ride shotgun, but due to Blaze sitting in the back instead of with him, had been forced to retain Sonic on his lap. Where the center console had been long before the car was purchased by this strange group of people, there was an empty space—a space which occupied Silver, who for some reason kept accidentally bumping into Amy's knees with the back of his head. She was glad she had worn pants today.
"I can't believe you're only twenty!" Sonic gasped for the third time in ten minutes. As Knuckles hit the brakes for a red light, Shadow's grasp on the blue hedgehog "slipped", allowing the loudmouth to crack his head on the windshield.
"Sorry." Shadow did not sound genuine, and Sonic cast him a wary glance while rubbing his bruised head. Amy sighed.
"I guess I should have said something before you guys offered to take me out for a welcome party..." As the car sped forward once more, Silver bumped his head off Amy's knees. He looked up at her with innocent yellow eyes.
"I think it's good that you're twenty, Amy. It means I'm not the baby anymore!"
"How old are you?" Amy growled, attempting to stuff her irritation at the unwanted physical contact. The albino hedgehog smiled.
"I just turned twenty one in December!"
Blaze, who was staring out the window absently, muttered from behind a hand, "It was an unfortunate event." Amy wasn't sure if she wanted to ask or not. Shadow solved her problem by speaking himself.
"I still say we just buy stuff from that one gas station."
"That would be encouraging underage drinking," Espio murmured. Shadow frowned.
"So?"
Sonic shook his head, "You're hopeless, Shads."
"What'd you say, Faker? I feel like I'm losing my grip again." Shadow's gaze slid to the echidna at the steering wheel, "Any red lights on the horizon?"
Sonic gripped the handle above the window, "Fine, fine. Forget I said anything."
Knuckles glanced in the rear-view mirror, "We'll just find something Amy can do with us." He put the blinker on and suddenly Blaze sat up very straight, her tail fluffing up.
"No. No-no-no..." She leaned forward to grip the driver's seat. "Knuckles, I know what you're thinking. It's one of the dumbest ideas you've had in a long time..." At the sound of Blaze's distress, Shadow ceased his torment of Sonic and looked out the windshield. Amy tried to angle her head so she could see out the front. Silver's over-sized quills blocked her line of sight, however, and she slumped back into position, disappointed. Shadow's face became drawn and he glared at Knuckles.
"In what way is this a good idea?"
Knuckles' expression grew concerned, "I like it here... I think Amy would too." Said pink hedgehog yelped in frustration.
"Where are we?!"
The car stopped in a parking spot and Knuckles gestured out the right-side window, "See for yourself."Amy leaned over Espio and looked out. Her mouth fell open in awe. They were parked in front of a massive neon sign, emblazoned with the words "Twinkle Park". A ticket window poked out in front of intricately-carved gates ten feet away. Past the brick wall that towered overhead, the tops of a Ferris wheel and a curling roller-coaster could be seen. Espio awkwardly pushed Amy back into her spot, away from his lap.
Blaze frowned, "If you think I'm going to spend all of my money on a crowded, noisy child's park, you are wrong."
"It's not just a child's park, Blaze," Sonic offered, pointing to a small sign below the ticket window. "It says 'Cute couples get in free'!"
"Child couples," Blaze spat. Shadow opened the car door and dumped his blue irritant onto the pavement.
"I say we vote," the black hedgehog muttered. "All in favor of this idiotic attempt at entertainment, say 'aye'." Knuckles, Sonic, Silver, and Espio chorused 'aye'. Amy bounced up and down in her seat.
"Yes! Yes, I want to go!"
Sonic smiled haughtily, jabbing Shadow in the arm, "See? Ames wants to go. You gonna deny a face like that?" He gestured back at her. Shadow turned around to study Amy's face. Unfortunately, she had blushed due to the use of Sonic's nickname and the way the blue hedgehog's smile curled up ever-so-perfectly. Seeing her dreamy expression, Shadow shrugged.
"Yeah, I could deny a face like that."
"Well, too bad!" Knuckles suddenly kicked open the door and got out, pulling the seat forward so the back-seaters could crawl out. He offered a hand to Blaze, who hissed quietly but took it. Silver followed Shadow out the passenger's side and Amy clambered out behind Blaze. Finally, Espio emerged to join the rest, stretching and yawning into the warm spring day. Knuckles turned to slap Silver on the back.
"Since I lost my money to you this morning," the red echidna stated firmly, "it would be very generous of you to pay for the entry." His violet eyes narrowed and the not-so-subtle crack of his namesakes insinuated that Silver would be paying whether he wanted to or not. The albino sighed.
"Somehow I never get to keep the money I win..." he dragged his feet to the ticket booth, where a disparaging-faced mouse began to print entrance passes. After poking and prodding at Shadow in an attempt to get a rise out of him and receiving a punch to the stomach, Sonic painfully shuffled over to Amy and draped an arm over her shoulders. She hunched under the weight, distracted by a faint smell of shampoo lingering around the older boy's quills. He smiled at her and winked one of his beryl-colored eyes.
"Start thinking about what rides you want to go on. Hope you like 'em fast."
Oh yes, Amy found her heart murmuring, I like them fast. A small voice at the back of her mind pointed out that the phrase was heavy with allusion, but Amy only smiled. As she passed through the gates of Twinkle Park, her stomach seemed to rise and fall like ocean waves. Sonic kept his arm over her, and the pink hedgehog wondered if it really was so dangerous to harbor a little crush so soon.
Yes, I know I said this wouldn't be a romance. It won't, I promise. But there will be a hint of natural emotion, as it wouldn't seem right to leave out those types of feelings. Just, this time, I won't be focusing on the romance, but rather the surroundings of it. Um... well, you'll see. It'll be good.