"Thunder, wind and lighting…" the band's lead singer sang into the microphone, his voice booming out of the speakers on the stage. The crowd cheered around the stage in the Station Square mall. Those that weren't cheering were in line for autographs and pictures with their four favorite heroes.
"Gotta hand it to ya, Ames," Sonic chuckled. "Didn't think you'd be able to pull this off on such short notice."
"Well, the real selling point was that you would be here, you know," Amy replied.
"The amount of sheer hype a countdown on a random website link you had us all post to our socials is honestly a little intimidating," Knuckles muttered.
"It's called marketing, Knuckles," Tails said with a smirk. "It's bound to drum up hype."
It had been two weeks since the photo shoot, and what a two weeks it had been. All the preparations for the fashion line launch and the event had to be done incredibly fast and on very short notice. Well, the event at least, that was a last minute decision, the website and line launch have been thoroughly planned out. The launch event at Station Square Mall, however… with how hectic the past few months had been, Amy completely forgot about reaching out to the mall for permission to hold the event. They almost couldn't get a band to perform, but thankfully Sonic knew a guy who happened to be in one. The stress from putting on everything surely must have been affecting Amy, but if it did then she didn't show it. She was as cheerful as ever, interacting with fans, giving autographs and talking about a variety of topics.
Tails smiled at the sight. "She works so hard," he thought. "Even then, she's able to smile brightly and be so bubbly for others. She must be dead tired, but even still she puts others before herself." He let out a small, happy sigh. He looked to his other friends. Knuckles was flexing his muscles for some ladies. "Figures," he thought. "Of course he'd be showing after just getting back on his work-out routine." He looked over at Sonic. The line for him was so much longer than anyone else, as to be expected. It seemed like every other minute he was striking a new pose, frequently jumping in the air to strike the one from an iconic photograph taken during the news coverage of Perfect Chaos' attack.
Suddenly, Tails' attention was brought to a familiar voice standing in front of him. "MY MAN, MILES!" the voice boomed.
Tails blinked in surprise. Before him stood a hyena in a bomber-style flight jacket over a white polo, black khakis and some black loafers. His eyes sparkled with enthusiasm as he looked on at Tails, admiring his every detail. The pieces in the kitsune's brain game together.
"Eric?" he asked as the hyena stepped from closer. "Like, from Station Square Air Traffic Control?"
"The one and only!" Eric replied, letting out a hard laugh.
"A hyena," Tails thought, "no wonder he always laughs so much."
He turned his attention back to Eric. "What brings you here?"
"What else! When I learned you were gonna be here, I just had to be here to meet you in person!" He looked away slightly. "And uh… you know, maybe get an autograph or selfie or something, hehe…"
Tails smiled. "Well, that's what the line is for. I'd be happy to!"
The hyena fist pumped the air. "Alright! Now we're talking!"
Before they could take a picture or anything, their attention was drawn in the direction of a woman yelling, "OH MY GOSH!" It was none other than the Jackal, Jackie, in a red dress similar to the one Amy used to wear, jumping with joy in front of her idol. "I'm like, suuuuuuuper excited to see you, the real Amy Rose!" she squealed. "I'm like, totally going to buy the whole outfit set when it goes on sale!"
"Jackie?" Eric said with joy. "I didn't know she'd be here!"
Tails gave him a puzzled look. "You know her?"
"Know her? That's my fiancé!" Eric beamed. "Come to think of it, I think she mentioned bumping into you once or twice… but you were hanging out with Amy both times, so mentioning you was kind of an afterthought."
Jackie turned her attention to the hyena in the corner of her eye. "OH MY GOSH! It's my, like, future husband!"
Amy blinked. "Huh?" she asked no one in particular. She turned her head to look over at Tails and the hyena as they walked over to them.
"Jackie!" Eric yelled joyfully.
"Eric, darling!" Jackie squealed.
The two embraced and gave each other kisses.
Tails leaned over to Amy. "Turns out my super fan from Station Square Air Traffic Control and your super fan waitress are not only a couple," he whispered to her, "but engaged."
"Wow," Amy whispered back. "What are the odds?"
"Oh my GOSH!" the jackal yelped. "We should, like, totally get a picture of the four of us together!"
"Hey, not a bad idea babe!" the hyena added. He turned to the kitsune and hedgehog. "As long as that's ok with you guys, of course."
"I don't see a problem with it if you don't," Tails said.
"Not at all!" Amy said cheerfully. "This event is for our fans, after all."
"Yaaahoooo!" Eric yelled, jumping for joy.
"Everyone like, get together!" Jackie said as she pulled out her phone. "Say, like, cheese or something!"
The four of them squished together, smiling brightly. After a few photo snaps, they broke apart and Jackie and Eric looked over their photos. "Woah, these are great!" the hyena exclaimed.
"Totally!" the jackal agreed. "I should, like, become a photographer or something!"
The two of them giggled together, all giddy.
"You know, this is… actually pretty happy to see," Tails admitted.
"You're telling me," Amy agreed. "It's nice to make others smile, even super fans. I do wonder what made them like us so much though…"
The kitsune shrugged. "Beats me," he muttered.
"Oh my GOSH!" Jackie exclaimed. "I like, almost forgot to get your autograph!"
Amy smiled. "Oh, no worries! Is there a photo for me to sign, or-" Her smile faded away as she watched Jackie pull a vinyl record jacket out of her bag.
"I have this first edition vinyl single for 'My Sweet Passion' with me!" the jackal said cheerfully. "I listen to it like, all the time! Could you please sign the jacket?"
Tails snorted, struggling to hold back laughter. Amy shot him a dirty look, which only made it harder for him to keep in the laughter.
"Well Amy?" The kitsune chuckled. "Aren't you gonna sign the record jacket?"
The pink hedgehog forced a smile. "Why, of course I will!" she said, gritting her teeth through a mask of cheerful optimism.
"Yayyyy!" the jackal squealed. "Oh my GOSH! I like, toooooootally forgot I brought something for the real Miles Prower to sign from Eric's collection!"
As the jackal dug back into her bag, Eric's face went pale. "Ah- uh- um- er-" he muttered, clearly panicking a little. "Honey, you really didn't have to-"
"Found it!" the jackal yelled as she pulled out a small photo booklet.
The booklet was black with white text that read "For Your Inspiration" at the top and "A Collection by Miles Prower" at the bottom. The kitsune's eyes shrunk and his heart sank, knowing all too well what the book was. "I ordered for all those to be shredded," he whispered. "How did one get out in the wild?"
"Ooo, let me look at that!" Amy said as she snatched the booklet from Jackie. Flipping through the pages, each one was better than the last. Full black and white, stylized and edited pictures of Tails from his bad boy heartbroken days were on full display, making various emo and sad boy faces and poses. His MCR t-shirt was clearly visible in several pictures. Now it was the hedgehog's turn to hold back laughter. She turned to her kitsune friend. "You gonna sign it, Tails?" she teased.
The kitsune gritted his teeth and grinned. "Oh, why of course!" He said with mock joy. "Let's sign them together shall we?" They each grabbed their own respective cursed item from their past and signed their names on it, shooting each other dirty looks as soon as they finished before handing them back to their owners. Jackie looked overjoyed, while Eric had a look of shame and embarrassment on his face.
"I uh…" the hyena muttered. "I got it for two bucks at a Goodwill."
"I see," Tails replied.
After a moment of silence, the hyena wrapped his arm around his fiancé and said, "Well, it was nice meeting you two! Especially you, Miles, after only hearing you speak for so long."
"Wait!" Jackie said quickly, digging through her bag. "What about the invitations?"
Tails and Amy looked at each other, then back at the two of them. "Invitations?" they asked in unison. The jackal pulled out two cards and handed one to each of them. They opened them up and read them.
"You are invited to Jackie and Eric's wedding at the grand Blue Ridge Zone Cathedral!" the card read. "Please be sure to dress formally and R.S.V.P. so we know how much food to order. We hope to see you there!"
The two looked up at the couple, nervously. "Y-you don't gotta come if you can't make it-" Eric said quickly.
"But it would be like, so totally awesome if you did!" Jackie added.
The hedgehog and kitsune looked at each other for a moment, then back to the couple. "I've never been to a wedding before," Tails muttered, "so… maybe this could be fun."
"Yeah…" Amy replied. "I've always wanted to attend a wedding, but I've never been invited to one." She smiled. "Sure, I'll go."
"Same here," the kitsune said as he flashed a grin.
"YAAAAYYYY!" Jackie squealed. "Ooooo, I'm so happy I could burst! Oh my, I'm so brimming with joy I might just…" She began to wobble a little. "I might just… perform… a stereotypical… over excited woman… action… uuuhhhhhnnnn…" The jackal fell backwards into her lover's arms, completely passed out.
Eric smiled awkwardly at the duo. "Well, uh," he muttered. "I'll see you at the wedding! And thanks again, Miles." He paused, before correcting, "Tails."
Any and Tails waved goodbye to the hyena as he dragged his passed out lover away. "Guess we're going to a wedding next week," Tails said with a shrug.
"I'll have to pick out a dress," Amy muttered. She gave him a look over. "And a suit."
The kitsune crossed his arms. "You telling me I don't know how to dress fancy?" Upon seeing the look she gave him, he quickly followed up with, "Don't answer that."
She let out a light giggle. "You're silly, Tails. Come on, we got more fans to meet! We'll discuss this later."
"You got it!" He said, shooting her a wink and some finger guns playfully.
Author's Note: The end draws ever closer. Thank you so, so much for all the support on this story. I never thought anyone would care about my silly little fanfictions before I started writing this. Thank you, and remember to leave a review.
