(AN: You know, I feel like I took too long while also got this chapter out quick. Sorry about the delay, all this week I got hit with HUGE writer's block and literally I had to marathon the rest of this chapter last night. I'm just hoping it'll satisfy!

I've been making a lot of strides with writing, not just on here but on other platforms too, but I def do wanna continue bringing out quality chapters that'll satisfy my readers. Don't worry, I ain't going anywhere! I'm just gonna try and make sure I don't let Writer's Block kick my ass. Either way, enjoy!)


It was about a few days after the Away game, and Vector had just finished up some of the weekly class assignments on his laptop, waiting for the internet to load as Espio sat on the floor behind him, English notebook in hand as the time to practice English once again was coming up. Once Vector saw his response go through, he closed his laptop, got up from the chair, and let Espio sit down.

"Okay, Espio," began Vector. "So, fer today's lesson, we're gonna do somethin' different. Rather than teach yer new words, today we're gonna have yeh learn two things: phonics, and the oddities of English as a whole. We're gonna start with phonics, mainly cause while yeh still are pickin' up English well, yer still havin' this kinda… kinda stutter and an urge to mispronounce words. Like, take fer example the way yeh pronounce thank. Yer kinda wanting to add an S noise to it, like a snake slitherin'. So, let's practice this first."

Vector opened up the notebook to a page with written words and pointed at, 'you'.

"Okay, let's start off plain and simple: Say, 'you'."

"Y-Yu-You-" began Espio before being cut off.

"No no, yer gettin' warm, but yer kinda saying it like yuuu, it's more like… Kinda say it not too low but with gusto, like 'yu'. Dun stretch it, just, with some confidence, 'yu'. Got it?"

Espio repeated it back to himself, 'Yu-yo-yuu-you? Y-Youu?"

"Gettin' it? Let's try again, 'you'."

"Y-Yu."

"Close, but try to say the u part not so quite. One more time, 'yu'.

"Y-You."

"Hey hey! Good job!" Vector patted Espio's back as the chameleon smiled back at him. "But we ain't done yet! Okay, now let's look at the word, 'to'. Remember a few days ago when yeh told me ya had to use the bathroom and yeh said, 'I have to go to the bathroom'? Well, ya notably said 'to' a little weird. So…"

And this continued for the new hour, with Vector helping Espio with his pronunciation and phonics skill. While he was still trying to get used to 'mother', 'thank', and 'water', he was now pronouncing 'card', 'clothes', 'math', and 'horn', amongst many other words.

"Alright, so before I assign yeh the phonics stuff yeh gotta do, let's do this one more time," Vector said. He walked to the other side of the room, tail swishing as he suddenly turned around and pointed at Espio. "Who are yeh?!"

Espio got up from the chair quickly and bowed. "M-My na-ame is Es-Espio! A-And I have a horn on ma-my face!"

"The horn could use some work, but not to worry, that can be somethin' ya work on! Either way, good job! Now watch out, cause until yer next meetin' with Longclaw, I'm gonna say a sentence, and yeh gotta reply with what we practiced with. Understand?"

He watched Espio nod. He likely didn't know what he meant entirely, but judging by him saying the sentence on command, he was sure the transfer student would understand.

"Now, to end off our lesson, let's introduce ya to somethin'… weird 'bout the English language. So, as I'm sure ya know…" Vector grabbed his pen and wrote a '2' on Espio's notebook. "Ya started learnin' numbers in class, right? I say that because…"

Vector then proceeded to write 'to' and 'too'. "I want yeh to tell me: what's the same about these three?"

Espio looked at what was written on the paper, scratching his chin as a look of pure bewilderment was on his face.

"Let me show yeh," Vector put his finger on the '2'. "Two, to, and too."

Espio's face of bewilderment turned into full on confusion, looking up at the crocodile. "E-Eeeeh?!"

"Oh, yeh think this is confusin'?" Vector asked. "Wait till ya see this."

Vector proceeded to write down 'sun/son', 'eye/I', 'by/bye/buy', 'hi/high', and 'new/knew'. "What if I told ya that everythin' ya see written down here is ALL pronounced the same. See, sun… son. Didn't ya hear? That sounded the same, didn't it? Now remember, in Japanese… dontcha have like… different words together like uh… Hold on, this might help."

Grabbing his phone on his bed, Vector pulled up a translation app and typed 'sun' into the English to Japanese prompt and pressed translate. Instantly, he was given a result.

"Okay, so here's the difference between sun and son again. So, watch closely… gosh, I sure hope I'm gonna do this right."

Looking back and forth from the phone and the paper, Espio watched as Vector wrote another thing on the page.

"Does it go like this?" Vector asked himself. "Geez, how can ya remember just one detailed symbol like this? I dun even know if I'm doin' this right… Okay, just finishin' off with the huge beta symbol aaaaaaaaand… maybe?"

Vector stepped back as he watched Espio look at his notes. He then heard him say, 'Ah!', and then proceeded to say.

"Taiyou… Musuko…"

"Y-Yeah… basically, that's what the word means in English. However, notice how they're pronounced and see if ya notice something. Listen closely: sun."

"S-San?"

"Little too high there. Listen again, and pay attention closely. Sun. Listen to that 'uh' part. S-uuhn. Sun."

"Sa-Sauuhn…"

"Still goin' a little too high but I think yer getting' it. Regardless, listen to how this is pronounced," Vector pointed at 'son'. "Son."

"Eh?"

"Son."

"Sa-Sauuhn?..."

"Did ya notice somethin'? It's pronounced EXACTLY the same. This is a little somethin' we call in English…"

Vector proceeded to write…

"…homonyms! Words that sound exactly like one another! It's one of the English languages' many mysteries, and WHY we do this?... I dunno! But we do it! Now, it can be very easy to mess up, but I swear on all the gold chains, fancy headphones and all the pizza slices in the world that I'll try my best to make it easy fer ya to understand. I was gonna tell ya about idioms but by the look on yer face…"

Vector turned to face Espio, eyes widen and mouth slightly open.

"…yer probably gonna get even MORE confused," he chuckled. "Well, anyway. We dun got much to do tonight. I finished most of mah homework… and I think the guys are stayin' on campus tonight… Did ya wanna do somethin'? Or-"

Vector was interrupted when Espio pointed at his laptop. For the past few days since the Away game, Espio had been using his laptop to watch the anime DVD's Mark loaned him until it was time for bed. "Yeah, I bet yeh deserved a little anime to end off tonight. Alright alright, I'll let ya have it. Let me get it set up."

The crocodile walked over to his laptop as Espio waited patiently in the chair, logging in as Espio brought out one of the DVD's and placed it within the drive. Grabbing his headphones, he let Espio hold them (finding it surprising that he adapted to headphones very quickly) and placed them over his head as Espio started to watch his show.

"Man, never did I think he'd be like this," said Vector to himself. "Wait till he learns 'bout streamin'."

Getting into bed, Vector pulled up his social media feed and his group chat with Knuckles and Mighty.

"hey guys, you asleep yet?"

"Nah, Knux and I are in our dorms."

"and im right here texting in front of mighty instead of talking like normal people"

"no wonder old farts complain about the new generation."

"lol"

"lmao"

"hey vector, while we're here, the weather is calling for rain tomorrow. coach just emailed us and cancelled our class for tomorrow. wanna do some personal training at the rec center?"

"oh shit, really? I didn't know. Fuck uhhh, yeah sure. What time?"

"well I figured we could fuck around campus but maybe before lunch?"

"I don't mind, Ill just like… maybe I could leave early and make an excuse. I dunno, I'll have to see but I can make it. Mind if I bring Espio?"

"Now that I think about it, has Espio ever weightlifted?"

"not that im aware, but tell me im not wrong in thinking he wouldn't be too bad at it."

"you're just saying that cause you know he'd beat you in the number of reps he could do, knux lol."

"you mean to tell me, the dude with the bigger muscles than BOTH of you, cant outbench a slim guy like Espio?!"

"now that's just personal lmao besides, you don't know how strong he is."

"oh well now you HAVE to bring him. Im not taking no for an answer!"

"alright alright, I'll bring him. Besides, itll be his first time using exercise equipment. Bet he never had that in his village."

"I'm sure your coach will be so proud of him lol."

"he'll start walking around campus with bigger muscles than connery"

Vector chuckled to himself, imagining a roided looking Espio smashing the floors when he walked as Connery looked at him in fear.

"lmaoooooo"

"And Connery is buff as is, isn't he?"

"have you not seen him, mighty? Def one of the biggest guys on the team. Just look at his legs for gaia's sake."

"why would you look at his legs vec"

"oh what, so you haven't stared at his thighs? They're hard to ignore you dunce."

"no I haven't cause what reason do I have to stare at guys."

"you're surrounded by dicks daily, knux. It's inevitable."

"Okay, enough about you two thinking about your teammate's dicks lol."

"man that's vector saying that! Not me!"

"all I said was the thighs, knux. Yeh can be straight and appreciate a good pair of thighs."

"what if connery knew about this dude"

"id tell him to suck my dick and deal with it."

"see! There you go with the dick thing again!"

"yer the one making a big deal about it lmao."

"Yeah, Knux. I've touched my fair share of them wrestling."

"oh. Oh okay. Guess I needed to know that lol."

"It's just common, that's all."

"where were we even going with this lmao."

"you inviting Espio to come workout with us?"

"oh right! Yeah, I can bring him. Provided he doesn't wanna hog my computer."

"hog your computer?"

"Espio made friends with a geek in one of his classes. He introduced him to a bunch of anime and now espio's getting hardcore hooked since he never watched it before."

"oh gosh, isn't that friend of his from like… that group of people that plays video games and card games in the k building around lunch time?"

"uh… I think so? Ive only interacted with him a few times."

"Could you imagine how excited they must be to have someone from Northern Mobius be at their school?"

"more like we're losing him to the nerd side lol."

"So what, by us bringing him to the rec room is basically us declaring war on the nerds? Lol"

"uh, yes? Espio still sits with us! He's gonna lose jock points!"

"knux… can someone who's not even an athlete lose jock points?"

"fair enough"

"Well regardless, ask what he thinks about it tomorrow. I'm sure he won't mind. Besides, maybe he can workout too. I'm sure he's definitely done his fair share of workouts."


After a couple more hours of talking and browsing social media, the lights of the dorm were cut off as Vector slowly started to succumb to sleep. Despite this however, Espio sat still in the chair, waiting his anime silently as the crocodile went from bobbing his head up and down and trying to keep his eyes open, to silently napping, to full on snoring later on. Despite this, Espio still continued to watch.

It wasn't until around 2 am when Vector got up, squinting his eyes due to the light, and very lazily got up from his bed. With his body and tail sagging, he slowly strode to the desk, towering above Espio, singing coming from the headphones.

"Hashire Kousoku no Teikoku Kageki-Dan!

Unare Shougeki no Teikoku Kageki-Dan!"

"Espio?..." he said, yawning loudly as his jaws were wide open. "It's two in the mornin'… Yeh need to get some sleep…"

But it was for naught, as Espio didn't budge. Flashes of light and color shone on the dark room's walls as Vector simply stood over his roommate. With very little actions left, the crocodile grabbed one side of his headphones.

"Time fer sleepy time, Espio. I think ya had enough anime fer today," he said as Espio turned to face him. He made a whining noise.

"I know, yeh can spend the whole night watchin' it, but ya gotta go to bed," Vector pressed pause on the media player and ejected the disc. "Ya can watch tomorrow, I promise."

Espio frowned, but didn't fight back. Instead, he simply watched as Vector placed the DVD back into the case. The quarterback turned to face him.

"Didja brush yer teeth?"

No reply from the chameleon, who was likely disappointed that his session was interrupted.

"Eh, I figure ya wouldn't. Look, ya can skip it tonight I guess but… Ah, c'mere."

Vector picked up Espio with one arm, walking him over to the bunk bed and climbed the steps, placing Espio gently on the top bunk, finishing up by putting the covers over him.

"There ya go. I better not see or hear ya wake up in the middle of the night, okay? Night night, Espio."

Vector climbed down the stairs and threw himself onto the bed, unaware that Espio continued to stay wide awake, still thinking about the episode he was watching.


THE NEXT MORNING

"My nqme is Espio the Chameleon. I come from Goio. My mother is named Bride of the Constant Vigil. My sister is named Shami. Vector is my room mate and I love hjm."

Early in the morning, Espio sat at the desk finishing up his paragraph essay for ESOL later that week. As his pencil wrote the final period at the end of his paragraph, the chameleon picked up his worksheet to see if that was five sentences. After confirming it, he went back to see if he had written everything correct.

"No no… I wrote name wrong. It's like what Valdez-san said: it's similar to namae but without that A. The J in Gojo isn't curved… Urgh…" he murmured to himself, fixing up his edits. Maybe asking Valdez for help wasn't a bad idea. It was then that his eyes darted towards the last sentence.

"Vector is my room mate and I love him."

Espio stared at the sentence for a few seconds before he realized his mistake.

"Valdez and Professor Longclaw explained that love is the word you use when you describe something you REALLY like but Valdez showed me it meant 'ai' in my language… from how that sounds it sounds like I love Vector as a lover," he thought to himself. "And last I checked, Vector ISN'T my lover."

Erasing his lines, he fixed up 'roommate' and then proceeded to write, "and I like to be his friend."

It was then that Espio heard shuffling from behind him and turned to face it quickly. He saw Vector was now finally starting to wake, and the chameleon got up from his chair, walking to the side of his bed and peeking over at the large crocodile. It was then that Vector rolled over to the chameleon's side, slowly starting to open his eyes as Espio looked over at him.

"Y-Yoo, g-good morning! W-Wassup, bu-bro?"

There was a series of fast blinking at Vector got up, rubbing his eyes as the covers fell off his shirtless chest. "W-What… what in the hell did ya just say?" he asked.

Espio wasn't sure exactly what he said, he knew that's what the crocodile said to Knuckles and Mighty, and other members of his football team in the morning, but what it actually MEANT? Other than the good morning part, he wasn't sure! The chameleon smiled softly. "Y-You… s-sp-eeak.."

"I speak?..."

Confusion was clear on Vector's face.

"D-D'ya mean like, that's what I say?... Well, clever bastard, ain't ya? Yeh been hearing what I tell the boys at breakfast… Just… dun say that ever again, it feels WAAAAAY too out of character fer ya. Besides, yer up early. Did ya do what I said and didn't get up to watch anime?"

Espio nodded, not wanting to disobey the order Vector gave him.

"Good job. Glad ya could listen," Vector yawned. "Well, lemme just get up so we can go shower and head out to breakfast. We need to head out to English Literature soon."

Espio nodded as he walked towards the chair, sitting down as he waited for Vector to get ready.


After their morning shower and leaving with their bags, the two reptiles found themselves at K building in the dining hall, sitting down with Knuckles and Mighty since not everyone from the team was sitting with them that morning.

"Won't be long before either Rotor or Connery arrive," Knuckles said as he dug into bran cereal. "Personally, I'm betting on the next person to be… Rudy."

"Rudy?" asked Vector, taking a swig from his applesauce cup.

"Yeah, besides, you know that out of like… Connery, Monk, and Rudy, you probably like him the most, don't you?"

"I think most people would say that, just… not in public."

"Well, while we're waiting for someone from the team to arrive at this table inevitably, I got my own little show to watch."

"Your own show?" asked Mighty as Vector and the armadillo turned to where Knuckles was exactly looking at; a white bat girl walking past them. They all watched as Knuckles bit his lip, staring directly at her swaying hips as she walked past the table of athletes and Espio.

"Do you ever stop to think that maybe Rouge realizes that you're staring at her creepily?" asked Mighty. "Besides, she's just sitting down with some of her friends. What, you think she's gonna whaletail or something like that?"

"Ha! Probably does!" added Vector. "Probably unaware that it hasn't been a thing for the past 20 years!"

"I mean… you never know. She did it once you know," Knuckles said. "Black laced? Oof…"

"Do you know how creepy you sound?" asked the armadillo.

"Oh, and may we talk about YOU, Mr. Swallow-simp?!" Knuckles grabbed Mighty's head, turning it to face the group of three birds who harassed Espio earlier in the year. The purple swallow, Wave, was a girl that Mighty had a crush on and frankly, to Vector and Knuckles, it was clear as day. "In fact, look at her; eating and talking with her fellow bird crew. She's unaware you're looking at her! If you're gonna get on me, why don't you talk to her and… oh, I dunno, ask her out!"

"You wanna do the same with Rouge?"

"Not till you get off my dick."

"Yeh've been talkin' 'bout dicks a lot lately, huh, Knux? If yeh'd have me fooled, I wouldda thought yeh were bi at this point," said Vector.

"I thought you're the official bi dude here! Besides, you get both the cheerleaders AND the athletes!... actually, have you messed with someone on the team?"

"Isn't that begging for a media scandal?"

"I suppose so. But I mean… with the cheerleaders, it isn't too bad. Like… ooh, here comes a few of them walking by."

Vector turned around to see who he was talking about, and when he did, his breath hitched and his nerves tightened. There was three girls coming up this way; a two cats and a pink hedgehog. The two cat girls were a little unfamiliar to him, but the pink echidna was an individual he was trying to avoid since the days he first laid eyes on her a year ago. Someone he had FAR too much of a past with, and someone who had caused him so much trouble back in high school.

"Oh fucking CAN it Knux. Yer startin' to go a little too far," the crocodile's brow furrowed, unaware that Espio was looking up at him concerned. Just then, the three girls walked past the athletes.

"Heeeey Knuckles, heeey Vector!" they said, walking past them.

"Yo, ladies. Mornin…" Knuckles replied as he grabbed his drink, raising it towards the girls as they giggled uncontrollably. Just then, the Badniks' Cornerback, Axol, walked by the table.

"Ah, morning, Knuckles, and you too, Vector. I couldn't help but notice what was going on," the water buffalo said as he sat down. "You aren't flirting with women, aren't you?"

"Hey, they started it," the echidna replied. "What's better than teasing what they want?"

"You know better than to both play with a woman's emotions AND to date while you're still in training as an athlete."

"You know, the complaint corner is over there," Knuckles pointed to the table across the room, where a bunch of the computer science and art major geeks played card games. "Why don't you go join them?"

"No thanks, I rather not like to have my brain melted this early in the morning."

"Well, stuffypants here aside, don't knock it till you try it, dude. Besides, every time Julie-Su even as so much appears in your path, you kinda look like you just… just wanna die. Not even just her honestly, it's like… just the cheerleaders as a whole."

"Look," Vector stared at Knuckles dead straight. "Sure, some of them are nice gals and wanna do their best to boost morale for the team, and that's great, but others just want nothin' then to get in yer pants and then brag about how they get into yer pants. That just ain't how I do things, and besides, at least yeh all simp for someone who is like… nice. At least, Rouge is anyway, I dunno a thing 'bout that swallow girl. But me and Julie? It's like yer askin' me to die."

"What, do you have some kind of past with her?" Mighty asked as the crocodile turned away.

"I rather not talk about it."

"Come on, you can talk about it with us," Knuckles said. "Well, Axol here might be debatable, but like… US. And Espio too, he won't even understand you."

"Look, can ya just drop it?! I told ya I rather not talk about it."

"As much as I disapprove of this conversation, Vector is right. Stand down, Knuckles. If he doesn't want to recall, you shouldn't have to force him," Axol replied.

"Alright alright," Knuckles held up his hands. "Gosh, I'm sorry, dude. I won't try to push that on you."

"Good. My life is frankly happier just… forgettin' she exists…"

As Vector finished up his breakfast, he was just glad he didn't have to go into his past with the pink echidna. Maybe he could tell it to them someday, but even so long after senior year of high school, the pain of what happened on that fateful day still haunted his mind. Just then, a few more members of the team sat down at the table for breakfast, including Monk, Rudy, Rotor, and Brawny.

"By the by, boys," Knuckles said. "Vector, Mighty, Espio, and I are gonna be working out before lunch at the rec room. You guys wanna join us?"

"Sorry Knux," Rudy shrugged. "Wish we could, but I got class."

And as Vector found out, so did the others sitting down. The echidna sighed, realizing that he was stuck with just the three. "Well, better hope we have a good time,"

"I'm sure we will, Knuckles. Besides, its as you were talking about last night; it'll be Espio's first time using the equipment."

"Just make sure the poor boy doesn't crack his elbows on the bench press. Frankly, he looks far too scrawny to use some of the heavier equipment," Monk said.

"That sounds like something Connery would say. What, yer takin' a page outta his book?" Vector asked. "Espio will be fine. We just gotta teach him how to use this stuff."

"I'm not… just… heaven knows if he's ever worked out like us athletes."

"Well, ya dun gotta worry 'bout that. We'll see fer ourselves if he can handle it or not."

Vector still wasn't sure if he'd ever spill the truth about Espio being a ninja, frankly he doubted his friends would believe him. But he knew in his mind that the chameleon would be able to handle it. Sure enough, as he looked at his phone, he saw that it was almost time to head out.

"Alright, we gotta head out now," Vector said as he grabbed his plate and tapped Espio's shoulder. The chameleon still held onto the tangerine he was eating as he followed suit, likely knowing that it was time for class. The crocodile threw away his trash and held his bookbag over one shoulder as the two reptiles exited the dining hall and out of K building towards D building.


AFTER CLASS…

With lecture finished for the day and verifying with Valdez, Vector learned that the chameleon had a test that day but was free to leave once the test was over. As such, he found himself on the second floor of A building, sitting on a chair with his phone in hand as he waited for his roommate to finish with his test. On his phone sat the group chat he had with Knuckles and Mighty, the last message from him being to wait on the two.

"How long is he gonna take?" Vector said as he shifted in his chair, moving his tail out of the way. "I thought of Espio as a fast test taker… then again, I am pretty slow…"

As he watched a group of friends walk by him, Vector sat in the chair for the next ten minutes, passing the time by looking at the ceiling, browsing social media, and eventually getting so bored that he decided to snack on a bag of spicy honey flavored cheese doodles (even though he knew that before working out, it might not have been the BEST thing to eat, but he had been doing good with avoiding junk food the past few weeks so he excused himself just this once). Finally, as his boredom got to a point where he was playing with the crunched up ball that was his cheese doodle bag, the door to the Assessment Center opened as he watched Espio and Valdez walk simultaneously out of the room.

"There ya are!" Vector said as he walked up to his roommate. "Oh, hey there, Mr. Valdez. Is Espio free now?"

The blue chameleon nodded. "But of course, Vector. I'm sure you were excited waiting for him. Espio told me he couldn't wait to see the gym for himself. He didn't think he could do a lot of the exercise and ninja training he did back home, but with how different the outside world was, he wanted to see how you all worked out," he said.

"Heh, he's about to see guys ten times larger and buffer than him!"

"That is true, you see more slender muscular people in Gojo, not heavily muscled ones. Well, regardless, I don't wanna keep you two waiting. It's time for my lunch break, so I'm off to the staff lounge in the ST building. Make sure you two have lunch once you're done, okay?"

"Dun gotta tell me, Valdez! I always try to get mah workouts done in between classes or before lunch! Anyway, we're off now. Have a good lunch!"

The blue chameleon nodded as he headed down the stairs. Vector and Espio followed suite as the chameleon held his bag, following behind his roommate.

"Yeh had a good test?" Vector asked on their way to the I building. "Eh, what am I sayin'? I'm sure ya def passed it!"

He watched as the chameleon softly smiled at him, likely signifying that he did as there didn't seem to be a single ounce of frustration or confusion on his face.

"Well, regardless, before we have lunch, I figured we could get some trainin' in. Besides, I forgot to workout yesterday, so this should be the perfect time fer us."


After reaching the I building, Knuckles and Mighty were waiting by the treadmill corner. Espio and Vector walked up to the two as they noticed them.

"Vec!" Knuckles said. "Hey, you're here! And you brought Espio just like you said!"

"Alright, what do you think we should get started with?" Mighty asked. "Knuckles and I already got warmed up, so we're ready. Do you got an extra pair of clothes?"

"Uh…" Vector looked around. "Nah… dun got one. If I'm sweaty, well… fuck I guess!"

Knuckles rolled his eyes. "Alright, well when you're done warming up, the butterfly machines are free."

The crocodile quickly turned to face the echidna. "Shit, REALLY?! I have been wanting to use that all semester and it's been taken up by someone! D'ya know how hard it is to do butterflies with just dumbbells?!"

"Yeah, I feel I might need some more upper body strength myself especially now that wrestling began," Mighty added. "But uh… what about Espio? What should he do? Maybe Monk was right, he doesn't know how to use these."

"Well, let's just see what he likes. But first he should warm up too. The issue is…"

"You don't know how he warms up?"

"Exactly. Here uh… let's put our stuff away and then we'll join yeh. And make sure NO ONE gets that butterfly machine when I get back. Espio, c'mon."

The chameleon turned to face his roommate as he followed behind him, heading back down the hall they had taken back in August.


After returning from putting their bags away in what Vector called a 'locker', the chameleon was watching as Vector, Knuckles, and Mighty finished putting on gloves and seemed to stay still in certain poses, such as stretching their sides, grabbing their legs, doing squats, etc. He realized they must have been preparing for what Valdez was calling 'working out', and it reminding him of the ways he would prepare himself physically prior to his morning, afternoon, and evening training.

"If only I had my wakizashi with me…" Espio thought to himself. "Still, good thing I wore my hakama today."

Taking a deep breath, he remembered one of the most important and best ways to prepare before training. He raised his right leg behind him as he lowered his body, touching his left foot with his left hand and his right foot with his right hand, keeping still. It was a preparation that both his sensei and his mother told him was a good way to get blood flowing in the legs. Unbeknownst to him, he didn't see Vector, Knuckles, and Mighty staring at him.

"Whoa, what the heck is Espio doing?" Knuckles asked.

"I dunno," Vector replied. "But dang… look at how high he has that leg. He has good form."

"What is it with you and looking at legs?!"

"I mean… you can't deny, it IS good form," Mighty added. Just then, it had been about a minute and a half of holding in his breath as best as possible and keeping his form, and he slowly lowered his right leg to the ground before switching to the other leg. For another minute and a half, Espio kept this form as he continued to stare at the ground, barely breathing in at all. When his time was up, he could feel a sense of adrenaline rush. But before he was ready to begin, he did one more thing. Crossing his legs together and holding his hands together, index fingers touching one another, Espio lowered his knees to the ground as he kept his position. Once again, he could hear Vector and his friends gawking.

"H-How is he doin' that?!" Vector asked. "Shit… maybe I should ask Espio fer workout advice."

He kept the position and did so for five minutes. Frankly, he could have gone on longer, as back at the training dojo, his senseis made everyone in his class do this for thirty minutes. Five minutes was nothing, but he didn't want to waste Vector or his friends' time. Once he was done clearing his mind, the adrenaline rush Espio had only increased as he raised his knees and brought his legs together again. He turned to face the three, who had just finished warming up.

"Alright, finally!" Vector said as he quickly ran over to some kind of metal structure. "Quick, tell me how much weight is on here?"

Mighty crouched down and looked at two metal circles on the machine. "…looks like fifty on each side."

"Bah, that's nothin'! Increase that baby to 'bout 180!"

"Weren't you doing 150 last time you did butterflies?" Knuckles asked.

"And didn't I tell you I'm always lookin' to increase mah shit? I dun care! Let's get this started!"

"Okaaaay…"

The two friends grabbed more metal circles and placed them on the machine as Vector placed his hands on a handle. Immediately once they were done, Espio watched as the crocodile began to move the handles in front of him.

"Y-Yeah… oh man, that's more like it…!" he said as the chameleon watched as the metal circles rose off the ground with each pull Vector did. What an interesting mechanism…

"Say, what do you suppose we start with?" Mighty asked. "Saaayy… two sets of 60 reps?"

"Sure thing," Knuckles replied. "Let's see here…" Knuckles looked towards a corner with multiple racks of metal… whatever THOSE were… "Alright, let's go with 40. Should be good for each arm."

"Alright! Now uh… what should Espio do?"

Vector stopped for a brief second. "W-Why dun yeh guys show him how to lift weights?" he said before continuing.

"Good idea!" Mighty turned to the chameleon. "Alright, so you might be used to working out in however you did it back home, but this is how athletes like us work out!"

Knuckles grabbed a weight for Mighty. "Say, Espio? How much can you lift?"

Espio was confused by the question, turning his head.

"I don't think he understood you. Why not have him pick out a weight he can lift?"

"Guess you're right. Say, Espio, come on over here. See what's the best you can lift."

The chameleon walked over to the rack of metal devices, unsure of what to do. He ran his fingers through the cold metal as they each had numbers on them. Unaware of what they meant, Espio attempted to lift the one that said '30', but found it was far heavier than he expected.

"Whoa whoa!" Knuckles said as Espio almost dropped the 30 weight on his foot, grabbing it in time. "I don't think you did weightlifting back home. Here, let's start you off small."

The echidna grabbed one of the weights that said '8' on it and gave it to Espio. It still was heavy, but a lot more doable. Unsure of what to do, he watched as Knuckles and Mighty lifted it with their arm, bringing it up to their chests horizontally. Was THIS what you were supposed to do with it?

Standing still, Espio copied the actions of the two as he brought the weight to his chest. Continuously bringing it up and down was a little bit tedious, and it was starting to get heavier the more he did it, but judging from this action, perhaps this was to train your arms? Espio continued his action another twelve times before his arm was REALLY starting to tire out.

After the fourteenth time, his arm gave out. This was NOTHING like he had done in any of his training sessions, and he wasn't sure if he could do this. In fact, looking at what Vector, Knuckles, and Mighty were doing, they were having NO trouble at all with what they were doing despite the fact that what they were doing seemed larger than what he had.

"I think Espio is done," Mighty said after turning his head to face the chameleon.

"Espio, ya done?" Knuckles asked. "Now do the other arm! See? Like I'm doing!"

Espio watched as Knuckles grabbed the metal device with his other hand and began lifting. Were you supposed to do BOTH arms?! The chameleon was surprised more and more how different this world was, not just in its food, its culture, its methods of teaching, now its EXERCISE was different too?!

Grabbing the other metal device, he did what he was doing but with the other arm. The chameleon lifted as best as he could with his other arm, but like the right arm, he could only get to fourteen before tiring out.

"Hey, n-not bad… Espio!" Vector said as he held his position on the large device, his clenching chest visible from his low shirt collar. "Two sets of fourteen reps ain't too bad fer a newbie! Hey, I'm almost done here if ya wanna take this next. I'll go introduce Espio to something else once I'm get to… tooooooooo!..."

He let go of the handles. "…sssssssixty! Whew!" Vector flexed his arms. "That felt great! Alright, yeh two are free to take it now. "C'mon Espio, yeh can put the dumbbell down. Lemme show ya what else we got here."

Espio looked at the metal device, apparently called a 'dumbbell'?... What an odd name…

Putting it down, he followed the sweaty Vector from his friends and the other students who were working out. The crocodile showed him a bunch of the different things in the room, such as a device you sit on and move with your legs called a 'bicycle', a plastic rope you jump over called a 'jump rope', amongst many others. Even showing him a room with different kinds of activities that he said he was free to check out if he felt done with working out.

However, the thing that Espio was most interested in was a device you ran on called a 'treadmill'. Running was something not new to him, as it was a major part of his ninja training. Both sensei and his mother believed that the way to becoming a proper ninja is to keep up with one's cardio, building strength in the heart. So, when he saw multiple mobians running on the device, he wanted to try it himself.

"Ya wanna try the treadmill?" Vector asked as Espio grabbed his shirt and pointed at it. "Sure, okay! Lemme just set it up fer ya."

The two reptiles walked over to an empty treadmill as Vector got it started for him. "Now, ya MIGHT wanna take off yer shoes. Normally, shoes like what I got are what ya want. But like what yeh have on? No, there is NO way yeh can run properly in those."

Espio looked down at his geta and back at some of the people working out. While he could run in his geta, there was still always a chance to trip. So, after taking off his geta (Leaving him with nothing on), Espio got on the treadmill as the crocodile turned it on a low speed.

"Alright, now if ya wanna increase the speed, use this slider. See, watch how pushing it up-"

Vector pushed the slider up as Espio was taken off guard by how much the speed increased, keeping up with it.

"…increases it! Lemme know when yer done with it and if ya wanna try somethin' else! The guys and I are gonna be workin' out arms today."

The crocodile left, leaving Espio by himself to run on the device. It was a nice speed, if he just wanted a light jog to get an ingredient either Shami's nanny or mother wanted for dinner that night from the store. But this speed was nothing like what he was used to. If he recalled, Vector pointed out that a grey bit on the treadmill increased how fast this went and remembering how fast he would go for his training, Espio cranked up the speed to as fast as possible.

It was at that moment that Espio realized he messed up.

As soon as he cranked it up, the chameleon almost tripped and fell when he was caught off guard by the speed. Barely avoiding falling off the treadmill, Espio yelped loudly as he tried to keep up with the speed, running like he used to back in Gojo. Unaware to him, everyone was now looking at him as they heard the yelp and how fast the chameleon was running and making noise as his feet slapped the leather of the treadmill. It was then that the speed was lowered somewhat.

"Whoa there, you almost tripped and fell! Next time, try something a little LIGHTER, okay?"

Espio looked to see who had lowered the speed and who that voice was and looked to see a purple cat in front of him wearing a black tank top and yoga pants. However, it wasn't her clothes that was familiar, it was her face.

"Wait a minute… I recognize you… You're the transfer student from Northern Mobius that signed up with Mr. Valdez on the first day," she said. "Huh, and to see you here working out. Small world, huh?"

Espio smiled at the girl as he continued to run. "H-Hello.. ma-my ne-name is-is E-Espio…" he said in between breaths.

"Yeah, I remember now. I'm Blaze, RA of the I building and of East Hall. You remember me, right?"

Espio said nothing in response.

"Well, guess I'll take that as a yes. Still though, if this is your first time using this stuff, make sure to be extra careful, okay? Usually once a year I get someone falling off these things, and I rather you not be the first one this year. Remember, to turn this off, just lower this as much as possible."

Espio nodded, trying his best to not think about how hard his heart was beating or if he would sweat or not. As Blaze walked away, Espio continued running in the same posture and position he'd run in back in Gojo, running in a quick but effective rhythm. He continued doing this for the next hour, watching people get off and get on the treadmills around him. Frankly, he could have gone on longer and faster, but eventually he wanted to see what else the building had to offer. After doing what Blaze instructed and lowering the speed to the very bottom, Espio went from a quick run to a slow walk as the treadmill came to a stop. Taking a deep breath and sighing, Espio grabbed his geta and put them back on, seeing what else he could do.

As he watched more people work out on different devices, he looked to see Vector sitting on something, lifting a large metal bar with more of those metal circles on it as Knuckles stood above him and Mighty sat by his side, holding a stopwatch in his hand.

"Oh, that's right!" Espio said to himself. "Vector said there's another room that has exercises that doesn't involve these machines! Perhaps they have swords and dummies? Even kendo could be fine… Even…"

But as Espio entered the room Vector introduced, he saw no such thing. He simply heard soft music being played while some girls were on mats on the farthest corner of the room doing some kind of workout, some were punching some kind of bag, and to his left, he saw a group of mobians by a bunch of targets. Espio bounced seeing this, as shooting targets with his kunai and shurikens were a common way of training to attack from afar.

"Espio, hand to hand combat isn't always how you fight. You must take out your enemies from afar, in a way where you can take them out in the most vital parts of the body without ever being caught," his sensei explained, showing him the parts of the body to throw a kunai at from afar if he wanted to kill someone instantly. As such, he went to go see what this was about, even if he didn't bring his kunais with him.

But as he walked towards the group, he noticed two things: not only were they not using kunai or shuriken, but instead the same weapon he saw when he had to do kyudo and the same weapons participants in the yearly Genshu Yabusame games used. The second being that one of the girls in the group was from his Advanced English Literature class. He didn't quite remember her name though… What was it again? He knew that once he had a group assignment with her on a non-lecture day, but he couldn't remember for the LIFE of him what it was…

It was his staring that got him noticed by one of the members of the group, a large black quail.

"Hey, Bow, you got a bit of an audience!" he said as he stopped strumming the instrument he was playing. Everyone turned around as the rabbit girl from his class gasped.

"Oh, it's Espio!" she said, running up to the chameleon and holding out her hand. "You remember me, right? Thorn? From your English Literature class?"

"You have a class with him?!" the brown sparrow asked. "Man, that's lucky! I thought it was a bit lonely having us be the only transfer students from Mericia, so having someone like him be here, I could relate too… and watching us too nonetheless!"

"Now now…" another one in the group, a brown deer, said. "Let's not treat our new guest like he's a king, Bow. We don't want to embarrass him. Let's welcome him with open arms."

The last member of the group, a large brown rat, walked up to the chameleon. He still would NEVER get used to how large some of the people were at this school.

In that moment, the rat grabbed Espio's hand tightly and squeezed hard. He wasn't sure who had the hardest grasp, this man or Vector's coach.

"Hey, nice t' meetcha kid!" he said, smiling. "Hey, dun be shy! You can talk to us no problem! We always love gettin' more people involved with archery!"

"A-Ar…" Espio said confused, but he wasn't sure how to EVEN pronounce that, and quickly shut up. Instead, he stuck to what he knew best and bowed. "Aah… H-Hello… ma-my ne-name is E-Espio…"

"Espio, huh?" the brown sparrow said, walking up to him and still holding a yumi. He held out his hand and grinned. The bird in front of him reminded him so much of that bird that confused him on the first day and who later confused him and Mark, but only much friendlier. "Nice to always see another transfer student! And hey, we know a bit 'bout ya! Thorn here has told us about you. She said it was a bit of a shame you were silent, you were rather helpful with your group assignment."

Espio took the hand and smiled. Mother always told him to be respectful to others, and while normally being in front of all these people would make him nervous, them being friendly with warm smiles didn't seem to bother Espio as much. "I-It is gu-good tu-to mea-meet you too…" he said, struggling to remember what to say. "W-What a-are y-yu-you du-doing...?"

"Oh, we're preparing for our Archery season!" the black quail replied. "Well, it doesn't start until February, but this is the first year Mobius U is doing it. And where we're from, archery is VERY big. Right now, Munch is the only one doing sports. He's currently doing wrestling since he did it back in Mericia, but we spend a lot of time just hanging around here! We've spent our whole lives around Archery! In fact, I could even sing about it right now!"

The quail strummed his instrument as he began. "OOOHHH…!

The maiden of gold,

whose bow was cold,

her cord sharp,

and her eye-"

"Okay, I think you've had enough singing, Alan," Munch replied. "Next thing you know, you'll be getting complaints from people outside that the Rec Center has a bard singing Merician style folk."

"Maybe that's what they need," replied the quail named Alan. "Perhaps I could come up with a new song to help motivate their exercise. Ooh ooh, how about this. Ahem…"

"Ahhh…

The warriors of Adonis…

Gather strength, those bonasse!

Their muscles large,

And they continue to charge,

Into the world of change!"

Espio softly laughed at the song. He wasn't sure what the song was about, but Alan sung quite well, and while it was nothing like the songs he heard back in Gojo, it was interesting to see the different kind of music he was exposed to.

"That wasn't half bad, Alan," the deer replied. "Keep that up, and soon I'll join you as I lead the athletes in prayer."

"Sounds like a Solaris rock concert you guys are doing," Thorn replied. "Still, sounds appealing."

"Hey, Buck, Alan, you gonna discuss plans on performing for everyone or will you join me in Archery practice?" Bow replied.

"Well, why not teach Espio?" Alan replied. "I'm sure he's never done so, and besides, he's probably just sitting there lost."

"Heeeey, not a bad idea!"

"It's not too hard, Mr. Espio," the deer, Buck, replied. "Normally, I would join, but I much prefer to perform acts of Archery as little as possible. I simply am apart of this group to provide support."

"Buck here is studying so he can one day create a Church for the worship of Solaris, the sun god, and to be its Reverend," Munch said. "I say even if we're all not super religious, having someone like him is nice to be around. Especially since we both have our own mutual respect and boundaries."

Buck nodded. "Still though, may Solaris bless you, Mr. Espio. Even if you may have had gods you believe in back in Northern Mobius, Solaris still exists within our own sun, blessing us with warmth and sunlight. No matter if you believe or not, he understands and is happy with whatever path you take."

Espio simply nodded, not really sure how to respond or what he was talking about.

"Okay okay, enough faffing!" Bow said. "C'mon, while you're here with us, why don't we introduce you to using a bow!"

The sparrow shoved his bow into Espio's hand. "Have you used one before?"

Espio already got into position, as he had kyudo training back when his dojo visited the dojos of Kaku, which specialized in training kyudo. As a result, Espio got into position as the five friends got out of the way, watching Espio stare at the target in front of him and pulling his bowstring back wide. Remembering from when he had his training, the chameleon pulled back the string as the arrow hit near the center target. Everyone clapped for him when the arrow collided with the target.

"Hey, nice job!" Bow said. "It's like you're used to this! Your posture is a bit… DIFFERENT than what we're used to, but it seems to me you've definitely used a bow before!"

"I wonder if he used a bow where he's from?" Thorn asked. "That might explain it!"

"Perhaps that should be my next song!" Alan said. "The Bowman from the Northern Lands! Perfect title…"

"Still though, I'm sure he couldn't beat you, Bow. It's in your name after all," Munch replied.

Just then, someone poked their head into the room and called his name. Espio turned to see Vector poking his head into the room.

"Ah!" he said, turning to his new friends.

"Aw, you gotta go?" Bow asked.

"It appears so," Buck said. "Well, Espio. It was very nice blessing us with your presence."

"We usually like to hang around here on breaks, so if you're ever bored, come on over and visit us! We'd love to improve your archery skills!" Alan said. "Heck, learn a bit more English and you can help me write songs!"

"Espio is a transfer student, not a song writer!" Munch replied. "But still… seeing an archery match between him and Bow wouldn't be half bad. Heck, maybe we could all have competitions between one another!"

Just then, Mighty came into the room. "W-What the?! Oh, hey, it's you, Munch!" he said. "I didn't expect to see you here!"

"Ha ha, Mighty!" he said, armadillo and rat walking up to one another and hugging. "How wonderful to see ya outside of practice!"

"I'll say! I would have thought I'd see you working out!"

"Natural strength seems to come to me, so of course I'm with my friends. But of course, I don't deny that a good workout does help the body! And what about you?"

"Oh, we're done working out for the day. We haven't had lunch yet, and I figured we could get a good bite to eat and we're here to take Espio back."

"Why, of course! It seems his crocodile friend has beat you to it first though!"

Vector walked up to the large rat. "Heh, lookatcha! If ya didn't take positive with Mighty, I wouldda taken yeh fer someone on our football team!"

"Football is a little… erm, VIOLENT for me, but perhaps I just need to desensitize myself to it," Munch added. "Well, anyway. I do believe you should both have your lunch."

"Bye Espio!" Thorn said, waving. "Oh, and you too, Vector! See you in class in a two days!"

The crocodile held a hand to the rabbit girl as Espio watched as his new friends waved goodbye. He followed behind Mighty and Vector, and ws they left the extra room, Vector turned to face Espio as a sweaty Knuckles stood by.

"Jeez, soon yer gonna get more popular than me!" Vector grinned. "Well, we all had a good workout, so let's go eat! I'm starvin'!"

Espio nodded, as he was now starting to get hungry too. As they all walked to the locker room, Espio could hear snippets of a conversation.

"…know it's not in a month, but there's gonna be… Halloween…" Mighty said.

"…wonder if I could take Espio?..." Vector asked. "…never had it back in Gojo."

Knuckles snickered to himself. "Imagine him with candy…"

He wasn't quite sure what they were talking about, but he heard his name, and seeing how the three were enjoying themselves, he knew it meant something good would happen.


After a nice lunch, it wouldn't be too long before Espio's last class of the day came up. Of course, he still had some work that needed to be done, like his project in Art that was due tomorrow. He couldn't wait to show a replica of the interior of his dojo as he tried his best to use his memory of the inside, as Professor D' Coolette told them to not use a reference and to 'use the deep parts of your mind to paint your picture'.

So, after the two reptiles returned to the dorm, Espio passed the time by finishing with his painting, adding details to line art as tomorrow in class, they had less then half the class to color the piece using limited watercolor from a predetermined palette chosen by Professor D' Coolette.

As he finally finished up with details like shading and adding in new environments like mother's cherry tobacco pipe and a bowl of rice and two chopsticks next to it among others, Espio held the canvas in his hands and decided he would return it to the coyete so it would be in his class first thing in the morning.

He ran out of the room, Vector behind him confused about where he was going. He held the canvas under his arms and quickly headed off to the first floor and to Professor D' Coolette's class. As he entered he already saw someone inside: Jewel, the girl who sat next to him. The two noticed him as he walked in, as Professor D' Coolette had a smile on his face while Jewel's face started to scrunch up.

"Ah, it iz Espio!" he said. "'ow are you doing today?"

Espio held up his canvas.

"Ooh, la la! Tres bien, Espio! That looks quite detailed! And you used no references, correct?"

Espio nodded, as Valdez made it clear that he wouldn't be able to help him much.

"Okay, 'zen I shall take your drawing 'zo it'll be 'zere in 'ze morning."

The coyote was handed the canvas as Jewel soon left, Espio looking at her as the beetle shot him a nasty glare.

"'zank you fer 'anding in your project, Espio! I'll 'zee you tomorrow during class!"

Espio bowed and turned the other way, and just as he left the classroom, someone grabbed his haori. It was Jewel, who was smiling with her eyes closed.

"So… you think you can interrupt my important conversation with Professor D' Coolette, huh?" she said. "Waltzing in like that as if you own the place?"

She started to get closer to the chameleon, and despite her being much shorter than him, she was starting to become more intimidating. "You think you get preferential treatment just cause you're from another place, huh?"

She then proceeded to step on Espio's foot, digging her shoe in deeper as her face became more malicious. "Lemme tell you something, bud. You aren't gonna get any special privilege points from me. I worked far too hard to get to the position where I am, I'm definitely on the Dean's List, AND I volunteer here at the school. I'm not going to let you get off the hook just because you barely speak English and therefore get special privileges. If anything, you should be THANKFUL you're getting all that, because if it were up to me, I'd make sure you'd just be another wretch among the sea of losers at this college. So if I were you, I'd try to stop this goody two shoes act of playing dumb because you don't know English and winning sympathy points, because see I past it."

Espio hissed as Jewel continued to dig deeper. "And frankly, I work FAR too hard just for people to not notice my work in favor of yours. I am smart, educated, and know that I'll reach somewhere in my life, compared to you, needing handouts and coming out of the boonies all… uneducated like you are. So why don't you just crawl back-"

"Hey, HEY!"

Espio and Jewel's faces turned to the source of the voice: Vector, who noticed what was going on. Jewel quickly removed her foot off of Espio's as the crocodile ran towards them. "What the hell are ya doin', girly?! Messin' with Espio?!"

"Oh, not messing," Jewel smiled innocently. "Just reminding him about something tomorrow in class, RIGHT, Espio?!"

The chameleon said nothing.

"That's the answer I expected. Don't worry, your little friend is… okay."

With that, Jewel turned around and buzzed away as Vector turned back to his roommate.

"Ya alright?" he asked. "I followed ya cause I was wonderin' where the hell yeh were goin'… who the hell was that?"

Espio simply watched as Jewel walked away, shaking his head.

"Unimportant? Yeah, figured as such… C'mon, let's head back to the dorm…"

However, Espio continued to stare at Jewel as she grew smaller and smaller. Despite the new friends he gained today, what just happened was a reminder that not everyone was like Bow and his friends, Knuckles or Mighty, Mark, or ESPECIALLY like Vector…

But as he stared at his roommate… he was thankful that he was there to save him. Just another factor of Vector being there for him, despite how little English he could use to express his gratitude…

One of these days, he'd return the favor.

END OF CHAPTER 7