This is by far the stupidest thing I've ever written, but I had a good laugh while doing it and that's all that matters.
Lost and Forgotten Memories: Yeah, hopefully I'm back to finish this. Good to see you're still around on here!
Hope you all enjoy and, as a caution, don't drive while under any influence. If you do, I take no responsibility for it ;) Have a good day everyone!
8: Don't Try This at Home, Kids (Seriously, Don't)
Sonic whirled around, his face determined, "Amy, you're not involved with this. You should head home." He chuckled softly, "Don't want you getting hurt, or anything."
"Actually..." Amy bit her lip, "I think I am involved... He said they took Silver because of me."
Sonic scratched his head, "Ah... 'pink friend'..." He laughed, "I thought he meant Knuckles."
Amy frowned.
"Anyway!" Sonic whipped out his cell and began tapping madly at the keypad. Amy watched over his shoulder as messages began popping up almost as soon as Sonic sent his first one. She smiled a little, noticing that they appeared to be color coded. After a few minutes, Sonic shoved his phone back into his jacket pocket. "'Kay, let's go." He grabbed Amy's hand and took off running.
Just like before, the speed was so great that it almost felt like teleportation. Amy's dress and quills ruffled and the campus blurred as Sonic pulled her down the road. For a brief moment, he glanced back over his shoulder and time seemed to slow just a bit—Amy felt her heart thumping in her chest at his reassuring smile. Suddenly, they were in front of the SLK dorm. Sonic let go of her hand and Amy missed the warmth. He gestured at the car.
"Just wait here. The others are on their way. I'm gonna grab the keys." He turned and jogged up the front steps, disappearing into the mansion. Amy, left alone with her thoughts, started to fret about poor Silver. She chewed a nail thoughtfully. In a way, it felt like her fault. If she had just listened to Rouge... and minded her own business... maybe Scourge would never have noticed her. Silver wouldn't have been kidnapped for whatever sick ransom the twisted rival frat had thought up. Amy's heart palpitated with guilt.
"So what's the deal? Silver got nabbed by those jerks at DED?" Amy looked up to see Knuckles jogging over, dreads bouncing. He stopped in front of her, panting, "Those guys are always up to no good."
Amy lowered her head in shame, "It's all my fault."
Knuckles raised an eyebrow, "Oh?"
Amy nodded, "It's because I told Scourge I wasn't interested in his party, or whatever he was inviting me to."
Knuckles scoffed, waving his hand, "Pah! That's not your fault! The guy's a friggin' creep."
Amy looked up at him with watery eyes, "You... you really think so?"
Knuckles ruffled her quills, "Duh!" The front door opened and closed; Sonic came bounding down the front stairs towards the car just as Shadow and Blaze walked up to the driveway. Sonic eyed them and frowned.
"Where's Espio?"
"We ran into him shortly after you texted," Shadow said. "He couldn't make it. Has work with that teacher of his." Blaze nodded in vague agreement. Sonic pursed his lips, squinting.
"Eh. He's not really any good in a fight, anyway."
"Fight?" Amy blurted. The group turned to her with matching expressions of confusion.
"Surely you didn't think it'd be as easy as just asking for Silver back?" Blaze asked levelly. Shadow chortled.
Amy thought—what had she expected? She suddenly felt sick. Were they going to brawl somewhere in the city? Should she really be involved with that?
Sonic stepped close to her and gently brushed his hand over her shoulder, "Ames? You wanna sit this out? We totally have it covered."
Amy swallowed thickly before setting her jaw, "N-no." She looked up, meeting each person's gaze with a resolute expression of her own, "Scourge is only doing this because of me. I want to take some responsibility for that. Plus," she fiddled with a loose thread on her sweater sleeve, "Silver doesn't deserve this. He's only ever been nice to me." When she lifted her head again, she was a tad embarrassed seeing how the others were looking at her with such warm expressions.
"Aw, Ames," Sonic teased, "you're growing into such a loyal, little college freshman!"
Amy blushed feverishly, "N-n-no, it's nothing..."
"Anyway," Shadow growled, "let's go get our albino idiot back."
With two less people in the car, Chaos Control was a lot roomier. Amy sat in the back driver's side, with Blaze next to her and Knuckles on the other side. Sonic drove while Shadow flicked through a map app on his cell phone.
"You can try Lombard... There's kind of an alley there behind the dim sum place... With all those fire escape railings..."
"Focus, Shadow!" Sonic snapped, changing lanes as fast as he could. Shadow's mouth grew taut.
"Okaaayy..." the black hedgehog drawled, raising his eyebrows. "You know what, just head over to the industrial district, behind that storage lot. I have a feeling."
"'I have a feeling!'" Sonic grumbled in a mocking tone. Shadow exhaled loudly. Amy looked over at Blaze, who was sinking down into the collar of her sweatshirt and hiding her face with a hand. She was groaning under her breath. Eventually, Sonic managed to navigate them to the location Shadow had suggested. Chills broke out over Amy's skin as they descended a particularly sloping street, into the depths of the city's bowels. Even the sky seemed to grow grayer as they went deeper into the industrial area.
"Here's good," Shadow said. He pointed at a corner obscured by broken chain link fencing and ivy, "That's the place I was talking about. Let's go." Sonic put the car in park and they all bumbled out, shaking any limbs that had fallen asleep. Sonic gestured for everyone to be quiet and they began their cautious trek through the shadows of the tall brick buildings that surrounded them on every side. Knuckles, being the tallest, herded up the back, keeping his eye out for any potential ambushes coming from above.
Amy grit her teeth, drinking in the surroundings with a wary eye. The ground was littered with old plastic cups, cigarette butts and decay from the ivy that was crawling over everything. She sank into herself, hoping that—where ever they found him—Silver would be all right and there would be no need for a serious fight. Idly, she wondered if she could actually take anyone in a fight.
"Look! Over there!" Sonic suddenly swatted Shadow's arm, causing the black hedgehog to growl softly. Amy followed Sonic's pointing hand to the end of the alley, where a dirty, frazzled white lump was resting against the wall under an overhang. "Silver!" Sonic shouted at the lump, "Buddy!"
The lump shifted to reveal ridiculous-shaped quills—it was, indeed, the albino hedgehog. He was completely tied up in dirty rope and covered in bruises. As they got closer, they realized his jacket was torn as well. His ears twitched at Sonic's shout and he sat up, opening bloodshot eyes. When he noticed them, he started struggling at the ropes, flailing like a fish out of water.
"He's got a gag on," Shadow murmured. He crouched down to rip the duct tape off. Silver cringed away, bobbling side to side as he violently shook his head. He nearly fell over from the motion before Shadow got a hold of his shoulder and steadied him.
"What's his deal?" Knuckles huffed.
"Mmf mh mmb!" Silver made a wild motion with his head over his shoulder.
"What?" Sonic asked, scratching behind an ear.
"MMF. MH. MMB!" Silver emphasized each sound by kicking the heels of his boots against the pavement.
"I've had enough of this." Shadow pulled the duct tape away in one swift motion. Silver shrieked. Knuckles laughed boisterously.
"There's a bomb!" Silver gasped out.
"What?"
A whumpf! sounded from behind Silver, knocking him forward against his knees. A thick cloud of smoke bloomed from his back, where a rickety package of old cardboard, ziploc bags and duct tape had blown out in one corner. The cloud enveloped the group of friends slowly and they all coughed.
"What is that smell?" Amy held the collar of her dress over her nose, grimacing at the sour, pungent odor that filled the alley.
Silver coughed and gasped, having experienced the brunt of the explosion, "It's weed...We're all gonna... get... friggin' high..." Shadow rubbed his eyes to clear the smoke out of them and examined the tape in his hand. There was a small cord running off it and he followed it with his free hand. It was attached to some sort of switch which, in turn, rounded back up to the package tied to Silver's back. A piece of paper was tucked into the rope. He pulled it out and smoothed it against his thigh. All that was written on it, in ugly green marker, was a single word.
Gotcha.
"Hey," they all turned to Knuckles, who was staring at the sky, pondering. "Do you think birds know they're flying, or is it like... like walking? Walking with your arms? In the sky?"
"Dude," Sonic spoke, so much calmer than he normally would. "Dude what if... there's like a... a me... but he's a bird?"
Shadow leaned back on his heels, "I can't... I can't believe this is happening..." He busied himself with untying Silver. When he was finished, the albino moved to his feet shakily, giggling. He stumbled over to Blaze, who seemed mostly unperturbed by the foul fumes. He tossed a lazy arm over her shoulder and grinned widely.
"Hey... hey Blaze," he shook her a little. She grimaced. He laughed, "Blaze it." She stiffened as Silver absolutely lost control, cackling madly. Sonic and Knuckles followed suit after, joining in the cacophony of mirth.
Amy felt... strange. It felt like there were champagne bubbles tingling all over her skin and one really big one right beneath her, keeping her floating just a little bit over the ground. She stared at her hands, wondering why they seemed so far away... and too close all at once. Silver's terrible joke played over and over in her ears. She looked up—at no one in particular—and whispered, "'Blaze it'? What does that mean?" She looked down at Shadow, who had gone very still and was staring at the ground. The others were still laughing. "Shadow? Shadow, what does 'blaze it' mean?" Shadow's ears twitched. His head lifted slowly and he turned to look at Blaze, who was unamused. Suddenly, a chilling smile curled over his lips.
"'Blaze it'?" He scoffed. The scoff turned into a chuckling exclamation, "'Blaze it'?" Suddenly he started laughing louder than the rest of them, "BLAZE IT!" His laughing seemed to shake the leaves of the ivy on the building beside them. Amy's brows knit together in confusion. He didn't really explain anything—he just said the same thing over and over. Amy pushed her lower lip out, pouting.
Blaze shoved Silver off her, sending him barreling into Knuckles, who happily caught him as they continued laughing about his silly joke. The purple feline narrowed her eyes at the others, especially Shadow, before gesturing back to alley entrance. "I think... I think we should head back to the car."
"Oh yeah," Amy nodded emphatically, "I have homework to do today." She giggled, "Ha! Homework... it's math homework." She tripped and skidded over her own feet as she followed the SLK members back up the alley in their sloppy formation. Knuckles had an arm over both Sonic and Silver's shoulders as they laughed and started singing a very discordant rendition of "I Gotta Feeling". Shadow bumbled up to Blaze, wrapping his arms around her shoulders from behind and just mumbling 'blaze it' over and over between giggles. Blaze was struggling under his weight and she growled when he nearly lost his balance and used her for something to hold himself up.
When they made it back to the car, Knuckles had just started singing the theme song to Pirates of the Caribbean. Blaze opened the door and guided Shadow into the back seat, then pointed at the trio of intoxicated boys who were left, "Okay... you guys have to figure something out between you... Amy's sitting up front with me. I'm driving."
Sonic's head snapped up, "You're driving? Nah, man... It's... It's my turn." His face crumpled and he whined, "You guys never let me drive on my turn..." Blaze stalked over to him and yanked the keys out of his hand.
"Give me that." She walked behind the boys and started shuffling them into the back seat. After making sure Silver was comfortable resting across all their laps, Blaze smiled at Amy and extended her arm towards the passenger side. "For you, since you're probably the most uh... distressed... out of all of us."
Amy tittered happily, "Oh my... Oh my, being treated so nicely... by a princess! Blaze!" She threw her arms around the cat, much to Blaze's chagrin. "Blaze you're like... like the best friend... ever! Oh my goodness!" Blaze settled Amy into the seat and buckled her in, nodding as Amy continued to praise her. After closing the passenger door, Blaze sat in the driver's seat and stared at the steering wheel. Her head began to droop.
"Ugh, Blazeyyyyy..." Sonic whined, his head lolling about, "Blazey, you're not even driving..."
"I know," Blaze snapped. "I'm just trying to decide if I should call Espio... or not..."
"No!" Knuckles leaned forward, almost causing Silver to fall between the seats. "That guy's such a drag... No, let's go to Lenny's!"
Blaze groaned, "No... We always go there... We just went there..." she frowned before throwing her hands up, "We just went there sometime!"
"Uh, duh!" Knuckles jeered, "That's 'cause it's great."
"I don't want to."
"It's karaoke night!"
"Ooh! Karaoke!" Amy perked up, "I've always wanted to go to a karaoke bar!"
Blaze grimaced, "Why? …Anyway, you can't. You're underage."
"Wait!" Sonic's head snapped up again, "Gordon's working bouncer tonight! Gordon doesn't care who goes in as long as they don't drink!"
"Yeah," Shadow piped up, uncharacteristically enthusiastic, "Gordon doesn't give a—"
"OKAY!" Blaze interrupted. "I guess I am on my way to Lenny's then." She started the car and began the long process of finding their way out of the industrial district. Amy had a feeling it was going to take a long time.
"Wow," a massive doberman standing in front of the Lenny's bar entrance observed the very—very—high group of young adults giggling and peering up at him. "You kids been getting into some kind of trouble?"
"You could say that," Blaze blinked slowly. "Rival dorm shen... shnannan... shenani—"
"Yeah, don't hurt yourself." The doberman noticed Amy and flicked his head at her, "So who's the new girl? Pledge?"
Blaze shrugged, "Sort of. She promises not to drink though."
He raised his eyebrows, "Ohh... I see." A blinding smile bloomed on his face and he shifted his weight to smolder at Blaze, "So. What do I get out of it? You free tomorrow?"
"Okay," Shadow shoved the others aside, standing in front of Blaze almost protectively, "I," he pointed at the door, "have to use the bathroom. Now. Immediately. I will totally urinate all over these plants over here... So are you going to let us in or not?" The doberman straightened up, hands raised defensively.
"Okay, okay. I can take a hint. You ladies and gentlemen have a pleasant evening in probably the least bar-y bar in all of Station Square."
"Will do," Blaze smirked, and they filed in.
Amy, who was feeling slightly less bubbly and more just relaxed and pleasant, took in her surroundings with curious eyes. Being only twenty, it was her first time in anything closely resembling a bar. There weren't many patrons, although that was probably due to what the bouncer had noted before.
The lighting—which was a somehow-enjoyable mix of pink, white and blue—was very dim, doing little to illuminate the long, shiny bar on one side of the room. The rest of the space was taken up by black booths and dark, wooden tables. Towards the front was a semi-circular stage occupying a large screen and flanked by two intimidating, monolithic speakers. There was a small stand in the half circle, which held a group of microphones, an album (which Amy assumed held the song listings), and a remote for inputting the song codes.
They chose a table right in front of the stage, each of them plopping down and stretching out in the old chairs. A squirrel waitress sauntered over, smiling at each of them, "What can I get you?" Blaze's head rolled back and she lifted her hands to signal a number.
"Six ice waters."
The waitress looked a little confused, "Will that be all?"
"For now."
After the waitress left, Silver stretched and jumped up. He looked around at his friends with a wild grin, "So? Are we gonna sing or what?"
"You take the first round, Silvs," Sonic said. "I'm still... trying to get my bearings... Feel like I'm still in the car."
The white hedgehog nodded before stepping up onto the stage and flipping through the song book. His expression shifted as he studied the different titles. Suddenly, he smiled brightly and glanced up, meeting Amy's eyes with a mischievous twinkle. She tilted her head. He smiled wider, biting the tip of his tongue to keep from laughing too much. Swapping the book for the remote, he tapped in a code and swiped one of the microphones from the stand before turning around as the lights in the room dimmed even further. A single spotlight illuminated him.
Pop strings played and the screen shifted to a pink background. A bubbly drum beat kicked in and Amy noticed the lyrics sliding across the screen. She covered her mouth, trying to choke back laughter. Silver threw his head to the side, keeping the mic close to his lips as he began his exaggerated performance.
"I threw a wish in the well! Don't ask me I'll never tell! I looked at you as it fell, and now you're in my way!" Silver sashayed back and forth across the small stage, gesticulating wildly at an invisible audience. He caught Amy's eye and winked before falling to his knees in a flourish, singing the catchy pop tune as if it were his own work. The others at the table perked up at the familiar song and were riant and raucous in a matter of moments. Knuckles cheered, pumping his fists into the air while Sonic and Shadow were shouting backing vocals completely off-key. Silver thrashed as the chorus came in, "Hey, I just met you... and this is crazy... but here's my number! So call me, maybe!"
After the guys and Amy had taken turns (Blaze declined, shaking her head and sipping her water delicately), Silver beckoned Sonic and Knuckles to form a secretive huddle on-stage. Amy grew nervous when they kept peeking at her, smiling ear to ear and making devious motions with their hands. Finally, they broke apart and each picked up a microphone. Sonic pressed the code on the remote and then stood on one side, while Silver stood on the other and Knuckles stood in the middle.
Amy waited with bated breath.
Causing both Shadow and Blaze to jolt, extremely loud sixties pop music blared over the speakers. The trio on stage swayed their hips in time with the beat, each raising an arm and turning around as the opening lines formed on-screen.
"Ohhhh! Sugar pie, honey bunch... You know that I love you!"
Blaze buried her face in her hands, muttering, "Oh they are not!" Shadow's cheeks flushed—from the high or the embarrassment, Amy couldn't tell. The performing boys continued their retro dance, faces glowing.
"I can't help myself! I love you and nobody else..." Knuckles backed up to let Silver and Sonic kneel in front him, lifting their hands to the ceiling with their soulful back up vocals. They began trading off the lead, each acting out the lyrics through very sloppy interpretive motions. When it got to be Sonic's turn, he threw himself on the table—which had been pulled close earlier for Shadow to rest a foot on for his rendition of "Holy Diver"—in front of Amy, causing the younger girl to turn beet red. The music reached a tense climax and he crawled towards her on hands and knees.
"When I call your name, girl, it starts to flame." He flopped onto his back, closing his eyes and pressing his free hand to his chest, "Burning in my heart, tearing it all apart." He kicked his feet into the air before rolling over again to move so close to Amy's face that she thought her heart might stop. He smirked, "No matter how I try, my love I cannot hide. 'Cause..." He jumped back onstage to finish out the song with Knuckles and Silver. They all drew their arms across their body, swaying with over-dramatic feeling.
"Sugar pie, honey bunch, you know that I love you! I can't help myself. No, I can't help myself..." They all ended with a wink. Shadow burst out laughing at the cutesy expression on Knuckles' overly-masculine body. Silver beamed. Sonic looked sidelong at Amy, winking at her when their eyes met. Her heart and stomach fluttered and twisted in her core. The high was finally wearing off. Amy began to piece together the events of the afternoon with a growing horror. Worried, she checked her phone for the time.
It was after midnight.
Almost as though it was on queue, her phone rang.
It was Rouge.