A/N: Happy National Video Games Day!
Festivity and competition collided at Sonic the Hedgehog's cabin, for him and some close friends had gathered to play video games, more specifically Tank Warlords V for the Xbox Series X. Also joining him were Miles "Tails" Prower, Rouge the Bat and Cosmo the Seedrian on one TV, and not too far away was a second TV and Xbox hooked up, on which Shadow the Hedgehog, Amy Rose, Cream the Rabbit and Big the Cat were playing. Aside from the video games, there were plenty of party foods to be had: BBQ pulled pork nachos, carrots with ranch dipping sauce, fried chicken wings, and of course, Sonic's famous chili dogs, plus various non-alcoholic beverages.
"Sonic, thanks for setting this up for us!" said Amy.
Sonic gave a thumbs up. "Ain't no thang, Ames! I'm always happy to get together with friends to play video games!"
Rouge put her hand on Sonic's shoulder. "Playing video games is nice, but I'm equally enthused by getting to hang out with the sexiest hedgie ever."
Sonic smiled. "Hey, any woman who's into video games is good in my book, especially someone as smokin' as you!"
Rouge giggled. "Oh, you!"
"Sonic, are you going to start the goddamn game or are you going to waste your time flirting with Rouge?" asked Shadow.
"Shaddy, please have some patience!" said Amy. "You know Sonic's only joking!"
"Besides, it's not polite to use foul language, Mr. Shadow," said Cream.
Shadow sighed. "Sorry, Amy and Cream."
Amy and Cream smiled. "Apology accepted!"
That aside, Sonic got a game set up. For this game, he picked a standard Team Deathmatch. Team Sonic chose to play as the Roseinians, while Team Shadow chose to play as the Mobians, and the tanks were between Class 7 and Class 9. Sonic chose a T-34-100, Tails chose an ISU-152K with a BL-8, Rouge chose a T-10 and Cosmo chose a T-55. As for Shadow, he chose a T30, Amy chose an M103, Cream chose an M41 Walker Bulldog and Big chose an M48 Patton. For the map, Sonic chose the Frozen Tundra.
After a brief countdown, the game started. Since they had lighter tanks, Sonic and Cosmo chose to scout ahead, while Rouge acted in the breakthrough role and Tails acted as support. In contrast to how players using tank destroyers were supposed to act, Shadow put himself forwards as a breakthrough tank, as did Amy. Since Cream had the fastest tank, she was the obvious scout, which meant that Big was relegated more to a "jack of all trades" role. Naturally, having a fast tank, Cream managed to locate Sonic and Cosmo, both of whom fired upon her. Sonic missed, but Cosmo hit Cream's track, thus breaking it.
"Oh no!" exclaimed Cream.
"Chao!" exclaimed Cheese.
Cream used a repair kit to patch up the track and get going again, but Sonic reloaded just in time to put a shot through her upper glacis – that is, the front of the upper hull near or with the driver's hatch – injuring her driver and causing the tank to go slower and be less maneuverable. Both him and Cosmo ducked into cover just as Shadow came upon them and fired a shot at Sonic, which just barely missed him, but shook him up nevertheless.
"Get back here, Sonic!"
As for Cream, due to her reduced speed, Rouge easily spotted her and blew her to pieces.
"Awww, I got blown up." Cream hung her head.
However, Shadow fired upon Rouge, though he hit the turret at an obtuse angle and it did no damage.
"WHAT!? I have a 155mm gun! There's no way that should've bounced!"
"Try aiming better, Shaddy. Turrets tend to have heavier armor at the front."
Shadow growled and headed into cover. However, he wasn't covered enough, for Tails targeted him and put a shot right through his turret, which not only took a fair amount of his health away, but also injured his gunner.
"Tails, I'll get you for that one!"
Tails smiled. "Come at me, Shadow!"
Meanwhile, Amy spotted Sonic and managed to hit his engine, damaging it.
"Nice shot, Ames, but it's gonna take more than that to put me outta action!"
And so, the game went on, with both sides attempting to score as many points as possible. It was a real bloodbath, but in the end, Team Sonic won 10-4.
"Great shootin', everyone!"
Sonic gave fist bumps to Tails and Cosmo, plus a hug to Rouge. As for Amy, she put her hand on Shadow's shoulder.
"Don't worry, Shaddy; we'll get them next round."
"Besides, I had fun!" said Cream.
"Chao!" said Cheese.
"I had fun too, but maybe I should get a better tank," said Big.
"It ain't what kinda tank ya got; it's how ya use it!" said Sonic.
"Very true!" said Tails.
"Hey, I'm hungry," said Cosmo. "Mind if we take a break for food?"
"Hey, I'm cool with it if everyone else is!" said Sonic.
"I am!" said Tails.
"Me too!" said Rouge.
"Same here!" said Amy.
"OK, I guess we can eat," said Shadow.
And so, Sonic and co. took a break for snacks.
"Wow, these pulled pork nachos are so good!" said Cosmo.
"You can thank me for those," said Tails. "Sonic had this neat recipe for his own homemade barbecue sauce, so I put that together to make my own pulled pork recipe, and TADA!"
Cosmo giggled. "You're quite the cook, Tails."
"Personally, I'm enjoying these fried chicken wings!" Amy took another bite. "Sonic, these are so good! How did you…?"
Amy was cut off when she saw Sonic and Rouge making out with each other.
"Really!? REALLY!?"
Shadow put his hand on Amy's cheek. "Are you jealous because they're making out and we're not? I can fix that, you know."
"Shaddy, it's bad enough that those two are eating each other instead of the food! Don't encourage anyone else!"
"So you're saying my dark, mysterious handsomeness doesn't encourage you?"
Tails raised his index finger. "Amy's right, Shadow. We came here for video games, not to have a fun makeout party. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna…"
Shadow frowned. "…If you're gonna try to pry those two apart, don't. I already tried a jackhammer once and it failed."
Tails gave a look of resignation. As much as he loved Sonic, he would never understand that guy sometimes. Still, he was grateful to hang out with him, Cosmo, Amy, Cream and Big.
Criticism is gold. Negativity and nitpicking are pyrite.