I'm starting to think Wattpad doesn't like me. Status unknown. Also, I've paired Sonic and Amy because it's Sega's canon and I don't argue with its decisions regarding its mascot.

And here it is - Chapter 6! The game is on! What will they do?

Things got chaotic really fast.

DJ raced up against Sonic, tapping her Forcecuff. The Forcecuff was a special bracelet which allowed her to access a lot of powers – Alter Egos, she termed them. Now, it seemed, she was channeling Blue – superspeed, which wasn't a bad idea against a speedster like Sonic. Sonic tried to rush her, only to get knocked aside by Amy's hammer. Invulnerability methods varied between avatars, and Sonic's method worked like a force field, knocking aside lethal blows. Apparently, this didn't work when it was another avatar.

"Sorry, babe!" Amy shouted.

Vinny Lee ran up against Amy. I didn't figure that would go well, even with his prowess. Imira ran up to Knuckles. Leave it to her to go for the most obvious threat. Rouge, much to my surprise, seemed to be assessing an opening, scanning for weakness in the two guards. I wasn't intent on giving her the satisfaction. Neither, it seemed, was Shadow.

I'd been meaning to ask Shadow about what he'd said in the homeroom. Why was he so interested in my singing voice? What did it have to offer him? Had he heard me sing through his smoke? Did he know Rouge wasn't attacking immediately?

However, if you've been in a tough situation, you know how hard it is to start a conversation at that time.

I glanced up at Rouge and then yanked off my belt. This belt was special to me, as I often used it for a weapon. Not exactly effective against an avatar, but better than nothing.

How did I come by it; you ask? I'd bought the belt myself, out of my allowance, when I was seven. It was a little long, more sized for an adult, but I hadn't been intent on wearing it at the time. I practiced in the alleys with it, whipping the buckle against the trash cans. I might've knocked several over.

Thing is, no one was really concerned about it when I started practicing with it. That's the way it goes when you're a kid – you whip a belt buckle against a trash can, you could have knocked it over and they'd still think it was soo cute. But later, when I was nine, I got wedgied by a bully.

Yes, it was a typical thing. I've lost count of how many people wanted to pick on me in school. Honestly, being the shrimp that I was – along with often being the only Jewish student in the school – I was an easy target.

But this time, the guy tried to sneak up on me, and I panicked. I whipped him with the belt – hard enough to leave him with a bloody nose, at least. I wound up getting the belt confiscated for a week, but I was proud. This time, I had a real weapon. Of course, after that incident, I never used it at school, but out in the streets there were plenty of muggers. I knew this, and I was glad to have something I could defend myself with.

When I was twelve, I came across a piece of leather. Not the sort of thing most people would have used, but I noticed the curve and length of the piece. Perfect for a slingshot. I cut two slots into it with my Swiss Army knife (from my Boy Scout days, in between finding the belt and this point) and then wound it through my belt. Now it could go two ways – either as a slingshot or as a whip.

But where was I?

Right, yes. A really dangerous game.

I glanced over at Shadow. "You understand the rules, right?"

Shadow frowned. "No maiming. Got that. It's only a game, Caruso."

Caruso? Where the heck had that come from?

Which was right when Rouge made her move. She dove for the flag – and would have had it, too, if Shadow hadn't gotten his head back around to notice.

"No way!" he shouted, throwing up a cloud of smoke and zipping into it. A second later, I heard Rouge yelp and get thrown out. When the smoke cleared, Shadow was still holding the flag.

At first I didn't understand why Shadow didn't just smoke it to another part of our terrain. But then I realized two things: 1) Sonic had just said it wasn't allowed, and 2) Shadow probably didn't have the sort of practice to dissolve it with any guarantee that the flag would be any degree of intact when he put it back together, much like in the soon-to-be music room.

Once Rouge recovered herself, she laughed at him. "Smoke me, idiot?" she taunted him. "Nice and fancy, but not enough substance. Or force."

"Shadow!" I shouted, when I realized what her plan was.

Unfortunately, all I did was startle him. Rouge stretched out her hands, and I could feel the force of gravity getting stronger, weighing me down. Shadow collapsed, muttering angrily. I could only imagine how strong her field's effect was on him. Great. Now how was I supposed to fight her off?

I ran through my even more limited options. I couldn't use my belt on her, obviously, but now it was even more laughable if I couldn't even lift it in the gravitational field she'd created. But my mouth would still be functioning, right?

"Um, Rouge," I said. "I'd use a lighter hand with a rookie."

I'd meant it as a joke, of course. I didn't expect Rouge to respond back. But I figured if I held her attention long enough, the others might get to the flag before she did.

I glanced back to see how the others were doing. Not well, it turned out. DJ had just gotten past Sonic, but Vinny Lee had sneaked up and attacked her with his claws. The girl was lucky he'd slipped the safety guards on for training. Imira had overcome Knuckles and was racing in.

I caught Rouge slipping a pair of knives out of her trench coat. (Where had she gotten those?) I immediately understood her plan – weigh Shadow down, then take me down to take the flag for herself.

"Um…" I thought of what to say. "No maiming?"

"Oops," Rouge replied. "Didn't think of that."

She let the knives fly.

My anger saved me. I jumped clear of the gravity field, as the knives hit where I'd been standing.

I spotted DJ near the blue flag. Huge surprise, since she was channeling Blue, but I caught her dispelling the Alter Ego as she reached it. I knew it wore out her Forcecuff to channel such power for a long period of time, but she chose a bad time to power off. Tails caught her and moved in.

And I got angry.

I'd had a rough enough day. Shadow had been stalking me all afternoon. Rouge had just overpowered him. And now I was faced with the possibility of losing to a double spawner. I couldn't take it.

I yelled and grabbed a rock, hurling it in Tails' direction.

He stopped it with his telekinesis, but I could tell he'd been startled by the turn of events. I went straight at him.

No, it wasn't my brightest move. Ditching Shadow to go after the fox was not normally on my list. But I'd been provoked.

DJ glanced over and gasped in shock. This gave Amy the opportunity to swoop in and grab the blue flag.

It was all over then. Sonic, upon sensing the turn of events, announced, "Team DJ wins!"

"You let us win," DJ muttered. Then turning to me, "Calm down, Amos. It's all over."

Her voice sounded shaky, enough to tip me off that I was so close to losing it completely. I swear, my temper flares were probably the only thing that really scared her. I remembered the exercises Solomon used to do when I lost it: Breathe and relax, cool your head, everything's fine, nobody's dead. I calmed down.

"You okay, Caruso?" Shadow asked.

"Fine," I responded. "And enough with the Caruso."

"What was that for?" Vinny Lee asked. "Does he like your singing?"

I nodded. "A little too much. Enough to stalk me over it."

"Really?" Imira asked.

I wasn't in the mood for questions. I glanced over at the sun's angle. "Oy. I gotta be back or Papa'll kill me. He hates it when I'm out too long on Shabbat."

"Well, go," DJ said. "We have to go too, anyway."

So I left, with quite a few questions. Why was Shadow so interested in my voice? Why had he bothered to drop the name of Caruso on me during capture-the-flag? What did he want for me to do? And why was this my life?

Well, that was interesting. Stay tuned for more, coming on up!