A/N: Quick note before you read-Chapter 9 will take a little longer to complete, seeing that I am struggling with it. I apologize for the inconvenience, and I hope I can have it up soon.
Later that day, Agatha ran her brush through her black hair after showering. She fluffed it out, becoming frustrated with the black mass and the ways in which it would not cooperate. There was a knock at her door.
"Who is it?" she called, not quite allowing the visitor to enter yet. After all, after the Mobians had come, Agatha had learned that she'd now have more people knocking at the door besides her own brother. In short, she knew better than to scream at the person to go away.
"Just a friend!" a small, high-pitched voice responded. Agatha chuckled and hastily pinned her hair up so she'd look somewhat decent. Upon opening the door, the girl chuckled. Cream stood at the door with Cheese, rocking back and forth on her heels. She held up a tray of little shortbread cookies. "Miss Agatha, could we play with you for a little while?"
Agatha patted Cream's head.
"Of course, Cream. Come right in. Ahh . . ." Agatha took a second look at her room as Cream skipped inside. She pulled on the chain around her neck embarrassingly. "I'm . . . I'm sorry for the mess."
Cream set the cookie tray on Agatha's unmade bed. She jumped on the bed and sat down, swinging her legs as she sat.
"Oh, it's okay! I don't mind! Would you like a cookie?"
Agatha finished braiding her hair in a loose side-braid. She turned and sat on the bed next to Cream and Cheese.
"Sure! They look good!"
"Chao chao!" agreed Cheese as he wolfed down his third cookie in a shower of crumbs. Agatha and Cream ate the cookies quietly, each one chewing modestly and not spitting crumbs everywhere, as Cheese was.
"Silly chao!" Cream exclaimed affectionately. Cheese spun around happily.
"Chao-chao! Chao!"
Agatha finished her cookie.
"So, is everyone else outside?" she asked.
"Yes, they are. I think they're still playing games. I left because I was getting kinda bored."
Agatha nodded slightly. She went to the window and looked through it, seeing Sonic zipping around and Knuckles chasing after him, flailing his arms angrily. Sonic skidded to a halt, probably to say something witty, and then took off again.
Cream giggled as she watched the situation unfold.
"Oh, Sonic. He's so funny!" she squealed happily. Agatha chuckled as well.
"Yeah. You're all crazy."
There was another knock at the door. Cream skipped over to it and yelled through it.
"Who's there?"
"It's Amy!" came the voice from behind the door. Cream jumped to the doorknob and twisted it open with a squeak. Amy poked her head through and looked at Agatha.
" Hey, Agatha! I think your mom wants to see you."
"Okay, Amy. Thanks!"
"It's no problem," Amy said proudly. Agatha left the room after thanking Cream for the cookies. Once she had gone, Amy lowered her eyes to the ground.
"I dunno, Cream. Something's up today."
The rabbit scooped the crumbs up from Agatha's bed and brushed them on the tray of remaining cookies.
"What do you mean?" she asked, frowning.
"Haven't you noticed? Mrs. Charis isn't acting the way she normally does. Do you think there's something wrong?"
Cream looked anxiously out the window.
"I guess you're right . . ." she sighed, afraid of what might happen next. Cheese's bow tie drooped as he sadly said,
"Chao chao . . ."
Rouge confronted Knuckles at the back door when he had finished chasing Sonic around.
"I'm done with that spiky blue prankster!" he yelled, panting. Rouge wrinkled her nose.
"I'll say. You smell like you've run a marathon through a garbage dump," she retorted, fanning the air in front of her face. Knuckles sat down on the wooden porch.
"Hey, chasing Sonic around basically is running a marathon, you know. It's hard!"
"Excuses, excuses," Rouge replied. "Have you actually gotten to tell him the news yet? He ought to know."
Knuckles shook his head, staring at the step below him.
"Ahh, he's impossible to talk to," Knuckles said. Rouge stood in front of him and stuck her hands on her hips.
"Men," she muttered. "Well, if you want something done I guess ya gotta do it yourself." Rouge took off after Sonic with a flutter of her black wings.
"Hey! I tried!" protested Knuckles, "Get back here!"
As he watched Rouge fly away, Knuckles shook his head.
"Well, I guess I'll just go and shower now."
Sonic laid back on the front lawn and shut his eyes. He thought back to the argument in the morning with Shadow.
I'd expect nothing less from you, faker. Just like the lazy hedgehog you are . . .
The words of Shadow spun around his head, replaying over and over like a melody that's impossible to extract from one's mind.
Maybe I am just that lazy, he thought, I just can't stay focused. Shadow's right, I gotta get my act together.
As the blue hedgehog swam through his deep thoughts, Rouge stood by, watching to see if he was asleep. She began to fly over to him, and then bumped into a figure who was also flying towards Sonic.
"Hey!" cried the little voice. Rouge scrambled to her feet and crossed her arms, unamused.
"Watch where you're going, pipsqueak," she growled.
Tails rubbed his head and slowly got up.
"Sorry . . ." he mumbled. "Well, someone's cranky today."
"From what I hear, kid, everyone's got issues today. It'd be best if you stayed out of my way."
"Why? I have to tell Sonic something," Tails complained.
"Oh, your news can wait, believe me, kid."
Tails curled his fingers into fists at both sides of his waist.
"What could you have to tell Sonic that's so important?"
"Now, now, ladies, you'll all have your chance," came Sonic's voice. He stretched out his arms and stood up. "Tails, what did you want to tell me?" he asked. Tails gave Rouge a smirk. Rouge rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.
"Sonic, it's your day to do dishes," he answered importantly. Sonic shrugged.
"Eh, no problem. Thanks, buddy."
"You're welcome, Sonic!" Tails ran off and into the house. Sonic raised an eyebrow at the bat who was tapping her foot impatiently.
"So . . . why are you here? You never talk to me," he remarked smartly. Rouge opened her mouth to say something, and then Sonic held up a finger to halt her. "Wait, wait. If this is about this morning, then-"
"First of all, you don't interrupt a lady when she's speaking. Second, it doesn't really have to do with this morning. I barely even know what happened."
"Hmph! Sure it doesn't," he said in sarcastic response.
"Just listen, speedy. I'm not looking to fight, I swear. You gotta trust me on this one."
Sonic suspiciously pursed his lips.
"Fine. What is it, then?"
Rouge pulled out the wrinkled piece of paper and handed it to Sonic. Confused, the hedgehog opened the folded paper. Rouge pointed to the headline.
"See this? If you read this article . . ."
Sonic read the article and lowered the paper when he finished.
"That certainly makes things interesting, doesn't it?" he said, chuckling darkly. Rouge snatched the article back.
"Really? Is that all you can say about this, speedo? The situation seems pretty dire, you know. We gotta get this guy!"
"Sure, we do. But imagine what would happen if all the humans believed him. Then everyone would be after us, not just him. And besides, if we attack their leader, it wouldn't exactly make us all friends again."
Rouge went completely silent, speechless. For once, she agreed with the blue hedgehog. Of course, she wasn't going to admit it.
Sonic faced the house and gazed at it, lost in thought.
"And just when I thought things were going well," he mumbled.
There was another moment of silence. Sonic snapped out of his gaze and said,
"Well, thanks for the news. I appreciate it."
With a wink, he dashed into the house. Rouge blinked away the dust and coughed.
"Well, then . . ." she said to herself, stuffing the paper back into her boot, ". . . maybe Sonic is sharper than we thought."