They're Not Dating
"They're not."
"They are."
"They're not!"
"They are!" Tails said emphatically, slapping his palms on the table. He turned to Knuckles, who was too engrossed in a burger to join in the debate. The most infuriating aspect of the entire argument was that Sticks wore the oft-used expression Tails had whenever she rambled off about aliens, robots, or whatever her indescribable logic demanded she fear that particular day.
"You with your penchant for conspiracy theories can't see that Sonic and Amy are dating? Really?" he asked.
Sticks snatched one of Knuckles' fries while he chowed on his burger and pointed it at Tails. "My 'theories' are based on fact." He bit down hard on his cheeks, refraining from rambling off about that, lest he divert from the main topic. "And it seems to me like you don't have any. They've been hanging out together. So what? When I hang out with you, are we dating?"
"No, that's not it. It's not just because they were hanging out. You two weren't there. You didn't see how they acted." He set his and Sticks' empty plates to the side so he had a clear space and gestured with his hands, drawing an invisible map. "Okay, picture it like this."
For the past few weeks, the weather had been a mixture of sporadic torrential downpours and cool evening breezes. Perfect for anyone who had long tired of the hot summer days and miserable for anyone who had built a new solar-powered drone and desperately wanted to test it out. Every day, Tails glumly watched the weather report and his window, hoping for a small break, enough that he could get some good test data.
As luck would have it, it wasn't until last week that the weather report promised clear skies one day before evening showers. More than enough time for Tails. He spent all morning packing up the drone, his laptop, and a receiver so the drone could return the video and data.
Unfortunately, his luck didn't hold out for long. The Tornado flashed warning lights for one of the wings as he started the pre-flight checks. Checking the time, he debated tinkering with the Tornado and trying to figure out the problem. But that would waste the valuable day.
In the end, he left the Tornado in its hanger and set out on foot. For a true test, he needed to be out in the middle of nowhere and set-up in a spot with plenty of sunlight. What better spot than the mountains? Besides, it might be good to stretch his legs and namesakes for a change.
The trek through the jungle to the mountains wasn't that long. Every so often, he stopped to check the drone and its battery. The solar charge could last for up to six hours past sunset and it was already a third of the way there. By the time he reached the mountain, he figured it should be fully charged.
At the base of the mountain, he spotted a perfect outcropping on the side that jutted out and gave a full view of the jungle and the town. Powering up his tails, he flew up to the slab of rock, quickly unpacked the drone, checked its battery, and opened up his laptop.
"Booting up system," he muttered to himself, glancing at the drone. A high-pitched vwhee responded as the system display on the machine's back powered on, displaying battery levels, an outline of the drone's body and status, and a small camera display in the corner.
Tails' fingers danced across the keyboard. "Running checks. Testing propellers."
The small horizontal propellers on its L-shaped ends spun slowly, then swirled faster, picking up speed and making the little drone shudder. Despite their rapid spinning, they were relatively silent, like a low-powered ceiling fan.
"And liftoff." Tails pressed a key and the drone hopped into the air, kicking up puffs of dust beneath it. On his laptop, the drone's camera relayed its view to the screen.
Gently, he directed it higher and higher into the sky, keeping one eye on the video feed and accounting for any change in the wind. So far, the drone held steady.
Once it was high enough, he rotated the drone to the left and right, making notes about his observations. "Video seems clear. Let's take it for a test drive."
He flew the drone over the jungle, dipping low and climbing high among the trees, stopping to observe critters on branches, and zooming in to distant locations here and there. During one such zoom in town, he spotted two familiar figures in a restaurant window.
Sonic and Amy.
Not unusual in itself and he was about to move on. Yet he paused. There was something wrong about the scene. He studied the camera feed, trying to figure it out, and then it suddenly hit him.
The restaurant wasn't one of their usual stops. No, this was a little more upscale than a typical burger joint. Besides that, Sonic and Amy were sitting close. Too close, in fact. They were pouring over some documents on the table, Amy pointing out parts here and there, and Sonic nodding along to her explanation. Both plates of their food were relatively untouched and they were all smiles, hardly taking their eyes off each other.
Tails wanted to move the drone closer, but as soon as he did, the feed trembled. Static lines appeared on the screen and the drone started to fall. "No, no, no, no!" It must be out of range! He typed return commands furiously, urging the drone to come to him.
However, it continued to fall and the screen went dark.
"By the time I made it back to town, they were long gone. Salvaging the drone was a lost cause. The rain later in the day did a number on it."
"So let me get this straight, you spent the whole afternoon spying on your friends?" Knuckles asked, finished with his burger. "And she's supposed to be the paranoid one." He smacked Sticks' hand away from his fries.
"I wasn't spying!" he protested. "Merely…observing." That didn't sound any better and he knew it. "You can't tell me you haven't noticed anything."
"Yes, I can," Sticks said. "You know Sonic. He isn't like that. And if they were dating, Amy wouldn't stop talking about it. Besides, if they were dating, then anytime they were together without us, they would act romantic, right?"
Tails nodded. "That stands to reason."
"I can tell you that's not the case," she said. "Like a couple of weeks ago at karaoke."
If there was one thing that Sticks knew about imposter robots, it was that they were meticulously designed. Face, skin, mannerisms all appeared the same as a real flesh and blood person that fooled most people. Not her though. Because she knew all about their weak spots.
One obvious area was the vocal cords. While the speaker box that simulated speech functioned under normal circumstances, when placed next to a microphone, it caused shrill feedback, easily outing the imposter.
Naturally, most robots avoided any situation where they would need to speak into a microphone. Which is why the village-sponsored karaoke night was perfect to sniff out these diabolical machines. Sticks occupied a table at the far back of the open-air space where she had a clear view of the whole floor. Nobody bothered her either. All eyes were on the stage with the karaoke machine, where a tv screen at the front displayed the lyrics of the chosen song to any singers. The perfect plan.
Only about half the village turned out. She made mental notes who attended and resolved to look into the rest later.
The evening passed by uneventful enough. Once or twice, someone took the microphone and a few seconds of ear-splitting squeals echoed throughout, putting Sticks into complete pounce-and-attack mode. After the individual started singing though, the feedback faded and she let them continue.
Most everyone had a turn or two, then spent the rest of their time dancing to the next person's singing or nursing their drinks. The only thing Sticks wished is that some better singers had shown up. Many of the people there were lousy and she tied her hair over her ears after a while, not caring if she heard any more feedback or not.
Off to the side, there were two people who hadn't yet approached the stage. One was tugging on her companion's arm, seemingly begging him to join her. He was reluctant to go and kept waving her off. Sticks zeroed in on them. From this far away and with the darkening sky, they were mere silhouettes. Could one of them be her suspected robot? Perhaps both?
Eventually, the guy relented and dragged his feet behind the other as they took their turn on stage. Much to Sticks' surprise, a giddy Amy stepped into the spotlight, followed by a grimacing Sonic. They each picked up a microphone and Sonic tapped his, opening his mouth and causing a shrill whine.
"Ah-ha!" Sticks was ready, already standing on her seat.
Then the noise quickly died down as Amy selected a duet for the pair of them. She actually wasn't too bad and Sticks freed her ears from their muffled shackles to listen. In fact, she sounded pretty lovely.
Sonic was rougher when it reached his part. It didn't derail the song though. In a strange way, it complimented Amy's voice as they joined together in harmony, singing some romantic lyrics. They were frequently looking into each other's eyes, following the other's part and moving around each other in a kind of dance.
Sonic perked up as the song went on and they appeared to have fun with it. Their energy was infectious enough to encourage some more people out on the dance floor, filling it with various couples here and there.
So the pair of them could be written off as real. For now. Once the song wrapped up, Sticks scanned the crowd for anyone else avoiding the stage. Those robots were here somewhere and she was determined to find them.
Tails and Knuckles stared at Sticks for several long seconds before they both yelled their questions simultaneously.
"And? What happened next?" Tails asked.
"Is that why I keep waking up with a microphone next to my head?" Knuckles demanded.
She answered each in turn. "I don't know. And you," she pointed two fingers at her eyes, then back at Knuckles. "I'm watching you."
"I mean, did they leave? Did they sing anymore?" Tails continued before Knuckles raised any further arguments.
"I didn't see them sing anymore. They could've stayed or left. I was too busy searching for the robots."
"And you don't see anything romantic in what they did?"
She shrugged and reached for another fry, earning another slap across the hand from Knuckles. "What? I mean they went to a karaoke night, sang a love song duet, where they were dancing and looking at each other a lot-Oh, yeah. I kind of see what you mean now."
"Thank you!" He was finally making some progress. "It's weird, right? They have to be dating."
"I don't know," Knuckles said, finishing off the last of his fries. Sticks whimpered as he pushed the empty plate aside and she lifted it up as though any would be hidden or stuck underneath it. "Eating out and singing together is a little odd, I'll grant you that. But you would need something much more solid."
"So you haven't seen anything yourself?"
Knuckles stroked his chin for a moment and his eyes suddenly widened. "Oh, well, I did see them kiss."
Tails' jaw dropped and he grabbed the echidna's shoulders. "What? When?"
"Couple of days ago."
It was a blisteringly hot day in the jungle, to the point that not even the birds and small critters wanted to come out. Knuckles was feeling much the same, as sweat clung to his fur, creating a slimy sensation. However, he couldn't let that delay his training. If there was an attack any day, he needed to be ready to fight.
That didn't mean he needed to suffer in the humid jungle to maintain his routine. What he wanted to find was a nice clearing, somewhere with space to move and perhaps some nearby boulders and fallen trees.
He traipsed through the jungle for a couple of hours, taking a few minutes now and then to splash his face in the nearby river and cool off. During one extra long moment where he outright dunked his head into the babbling water, he spied a clearing on the other side, past some trees.
Excitedly, he followed the twisting riverbank to a narrow and shallow crossing, rushed across, then re-traced his steps. When he reached the clearing, he couldn't believe his luck. Not only was it large and open to the clear blue skies, there was a cool breeze that flowed through it regularly. In addition a few small, rotted trees were already fallen over. Nearby were some decent sized boulders as well.
He quickly went about setting up a good training area, arranging the boulders on one side of the clearing, lashing the trees together and placing them on top of two smaller rocks, and setting the last pair of rocks about shoulder width apart.
Rubbing his hands together in satisfaction, he deemed this a good beginning for now, as he was eager to start. He grabbed the top of the shoulder width rocks, kicked his feet off the ground, and perched himself upside down, the rocks digging into his palms. Taking a deep breath, he eased down, then back up, repeating the exercise several times, resting, and then going again.
The blood flowing through his arms spurring him onward to the next workout. He lifted the trees with ease, using them as a makeshift weight bench and performing a few sets. By the time he finished with those, he was ready for the final part. Wrapping his arms around one of the boulders, he hefted it off the ground, spun on his foot, and threw it across the clearing.
"Whoo-" He lifted his fists high, watching the boulder roll toward the edge. Then past the trees. "Hoo?" It tumbled through the undergrowth and started to disappear.
Knuckles chased after it, easily getting ahead of the tumbling boulder and stopping it before it fell into the river. "Guess I should be more careful," he muttered. It was only then that he noticed he had worked up quite a sweat and was about to refresh himself in the river again when he spotted a boat ahead on a curve.
Two figures sat in the small boat together, side by side. Pink and blue. He crouched and through the trees, he could barely make out Sonic and Amy's faces. He couldn't believe that Amy managed to bring him out on the water.
Neither did Sonic, it seemed. His head swiveled around nonstop, checking and re-checking the boat and water level. Probably worried about leaks, Knuckles assumed.
Amy picked up on it and held his hand. However, Knuckles lost sight of them as they drifted around the corner. Curiosity got the better of him and he dug the rock into the dirt, backing away from it slowly with raised hands to ensure it stayed, then raced down the riverbank.
He only managed to catch a glimpse of the boat as it entered faster waters. But from his vantage point on a small mound jutting over the river, Sonic and Amy's heads were together. Not just their heads, but their mouths.
Knuckles blinked and then they were gone.
He considered chasing after them until he heard a splash! Spinning back around, his boulder had rolled the rest of the way into the river. "No! No!" The couple forgotten, he rushed back to his bobbing boulder, lest it be swept away too.
"You didn't think to mention that until now?" Tails asked with a pout.
"Slipped my mind," he said. "Spent the whole day trying to fish that boulder out of the river and I forgot about it." He drummed his fingers on the table and stared off in the distance. "Never did get it back."
"Okay, so let's say they're dating," Sticks said. "What do we do about it then?"
That, Tails wasn't sure of. He had only thought as far ahead as confirming his suspicions, which he figured taking longer than it did. He supposed if anything, he'd like to at least hear it from his friends' own mouths, get it out in the open. That way, they wouldn't need to be coy about it and sneak around.
But was it really his business? Maybe it'd be better for him to wait until Sonic and Amy were ready to come out with it.
"Hey!" Sticks hopped up on the table, knocking over their plates and waved her arms excitedly over her head. "Hey!"
Turning to where she was yelling, he saw Sonic and Amy both carrying their own food to a nearby table. The bewildered pair stopped at the yelling and headed over to their friends instead.
"Hey, guys. Didn't expect to see you here," Sonic said, sitting beside Tails.
The young kitsune noticed he and Amy were rather close, their elbows nearly touching. He wanted so desperately to just ask him and be done with it.
Instead, it was Sticks who asked for for him. "You two!" she jabbed a finger in both of the hedgehogs' faces and narrowed her eyes. "Are you dating?"
Amy choked on her burger and started beating her chest with her fist. Sonic inhaled a fry and gagged, clutching at his throat. Both Tails and Knuckles pounded on their backs, hoping it helped. The burger went down and the fry came back up, landing in Tails' drink.
"Sorry," Sonic apologized.
Making a face, Tails gently pushed the cup far away from him. "Eh, I was done with it anyway."
"Dating?" Amy said with a rasp, reaching for her drink. "What makes you think that?"
Sticks wasn't deterred. "Stop stalling. We all know you are. We've seen you."
Amy took a long sip of her drink, recovering her voice. "Seen what exactly?"
Sticks nodded at Knuckles and Tails. The latter reluctantly answered first. "I saw you two having lunch recently. It looked like it was a date at a fancy restaurant."
"I watched you two at karaoke." Sticks crawled on the table now, her wide smile like a predator about to finish its prey. "I saw how you two were during that song."
Sonic faced Knuckles and tilted his head. "And what do you have?"
He shrugged. "Saw you guys kiss."
A few moments passed as the pair of them absorbed the information. Amy was the first to react, holding her hands open on the table. "Okay, as much as that would be nice," she started while Sonic kept his gaze elsewhere, "it's not true. That lunch you saw, Tails, was just that. I got a couple of vouchers to that restaurant and Sonic was supposed to meet me anyway to go over some old scrolls I found at a recent excavation. They mentioned some site and I thought Sonic may have been in the same area before where it was supposed to be located."
Thinking back on it, they were pretty into studying the documents. Tails supposed that it may have been a simple lunch and nothing more. "What about karaoke?"
"I don't know what Sticks saw," Sonic said. "All I know is Amy begged me to go on stage with her and I did."
"After making a big deal about it," she muttered, elbowing him. He returned it with one of his own and stuck out his tongue.
"Anyway, I let Amy choose the song. I don't remember what she picked, but I didn't know it. So I was trying to follow her lead the whole time."
"It's true. I was having to guide him through it."
"And the dancing?" Sticks asked.
"It's karaoke. Of course you're gonna dance a little," Sonic said.
That explained everything so far. But Tails wasn't fully convinced yet. "What about the kiss?"
"Oh, I remember the kiss alright." Amy glanced at Knuckles. "I remember you too, crashing through the jungle like a stampede of wild animals. Unfortunately, there was no kiss. I was trying to walk him through some breathing exercises to help with his water problem."
Tails sat back. That was it? All of those events were simply misconceptions? That didn't seem possible. "So, you two aren't dating?"
Sonic shook his head. "Sorry, bud, but no."
"Hm, you have to admit though, it is pretty suspicious," Sticks said, rubbing her chin.
"Honestly, I didn't even think about it," Amy said. Sonic appeared to have the same cluelessness as her. "I suppose those could've been dates. But believe me, they weren't."
With that, the matter dropped, leaving Tails feeling quite unfulfilled. All this time, he thought he had been right on target. He couldn't help being disappointed by the answer.
His other friends didn't seem bothered at all. "Glad we got that cleared up," Knuckles said, dumping his plate in the trash. "I'm off to go train some more."
Sticks followed him. "And I need to set more robot traps." She seemed to pointedly direct that at Knuckles.
"I'm not a robot!" As they bickered, they left the trio behind, making Tails the third wheel of an awkward situation.
"Well, I have some, uh, you know, a, um, yeah," he jerked a thumb over his shoulder, unable to come up with any good excuse off the top of his head. He stood up and shuffled off, disposing his trash along the way. He needed to distract himself for a while.
"Man, that was crazy," Sonic said, kicking his feet up on one of the empty chairs now that they were alone. "They got dating from all that."
"Yeah." Amy's tone was low and she nibbled on her fries. A morose air clung to her once Tails disappeared and she picked at her food.
Sonic noticed the change in her demeanor immediately. He hated seeing her like this. Even more when he knew he was partly the cause of it, however indirectly. What he hadn't thought to volunteer to his friends was that he had enjoyed himself at karaoke. Or that Amy's breathing exercises helped immensely during the boat ride, not because of the techniques themselves, but more from her calm, tender voice walking him through it. He liked moments like that.
Picking at his scarf and pulling it up over his mouth, checking it intently, he asked, "Do you want to get something to eat?"
She stopped mid-chew and swept her arm across the table. "Um, we're eating now."
"I know. I meant later. Or some night this week, you and me could go eat somewhere. Or just head out in the jungle." The more he went on, the more his cheeks heated up and he lifted the scarf higher.
Amy caught on and a large grin overtook her face, driving the gloomy cloud far, far away. "I'd love to."