Well, I went ahead and made a video for my channel (my new REVIEW-focused) expanding on my musings about Sonic's movie BO performances if Paramount makes smarter choices last chapter like I said. You've thus (probably) already heard most of it, but now it's in a 50% more humorous rant format with some random game footage for background. I know ya'll definitely catch my wink-wink-nudge-nudge. So I snipped out said musings from notes of the previous chapter- if you want to know them, then you gotta watch the video.
Here's just a fun chapter with NO serious subject matter! I actually had 3 different chapter ideas I was juggling about for which was gonna be next. One's serious, so I put it a little further back to space out the dramatics. I actually began writing the OTHER lighthearted idea originally, but I was stumped on subjects for casual conversation, so I switched to this idea. If the chapter feels slightly rushed as a result, it was.
More thanks for the reviews. The MVP award goes out to Allen Vth for reviewing every chapter since the second. Not saying EVERY chapter needs one, but reviews are catnip to us authors. Feedback is always useful too. I like to think I'm a pretty funny guy.
Tails raised his nose upwards upon detecting a scent that suddenly freshened up his workshop. Then his ears perked to catch a subtle shuffling behind him. There was a moment of unease before he relaxed. "Hey Rouge," he called out before turning. The stealthy bat stood with a disappointed expression several feet behind him. "I guess the shoe is on the other foot now?"
"What?" she asked in confusion.
"It's a local saying. Like, a reversal of situations." It wasn't the most eloquent explanation, but it'd do. "This is payback for sneaking up on you a couple times before?"
"Yeah, I owe you a couple."
"Well, if it's any consolation, you might have succeeded if it weren't for your perfume. You managed to get pretty close before I noticed."
"You call this pretty close?" she asked. "Pretty close is a hand in your pockets... if you had any." He had no idea what to say to that, but probably nothing nice, so he said nothing. "My smell really was the tipoff?"
He knew what to say to that. "Yep."
The bat looked somewhat impressed, possibly contributing to her being silent for a few moments before asking, "Doing anything tonight?"
He looked at her curiously, suspecting she already knew the answer. "Nothing planned. Why do you ask?"
"Good. Because I was on my way to the gym. I just stopped by to see if you wanted to come along too."
"Uh, not particularly..." he answered with downcast eyes, a pang of guilt immediately shooting directly to his heart.
"Well, you should change that attitude. It's important to keep in shape. It'll do you some good."
"I think I get enough exercise just from adventuring with Sonic."
"I don't know about that... This suggests otherwise..." She approached and poked his stomach, causing him to jerk back in embarrassment.
"Hey!"
"A potbelly looks cuter on you then on Sonic, but I think you're old enough to start shedding some of that baby fat."
He flushed. "It's NOT baby fat! It's just..." He trailed off.
"A little extra weight?" There was no denying it. While he was by no means out of shape, he had never put forth any real effort towards a particularly healthy lifestyle either. So his gut had JUST a teeny bit of slack in it. It wasn't that noticeable underneath his coat of fur anyway- Rouge clearly just had a keen eye for physiques. "I think you two might need to cut back on the desserts, sweetie. Though I must admit, Amy's a good cook. So come with me and trim yourself up a bit. Even I have to work to keep my figure looking this good." She put her hands to her stomach to demonstrate.
"I'll pass," he answered weakly. Every fiber of his being fought against turning down a friend, but gyms really weren't his scene.
"Come on, it's not much fun when I go by myself."
He winced; she was either guilt-tripping him here, or she just really wanted some company. Either way, it was almost impossible for him to refuse now. "Maybe next time, okay?" he weaseled to avoid saying no without saying yes.
She sighed. "In that case... I'm gonna pull rank on you, Tails. Now come."
He blinked. "What?"
"As one GUN agent to another, I'm ordering you to come with me to the gym."
"We're the exact same rank," he pointed out.
"But you're still a rookie in training. And I'M training you. I have the senior-ship here."
"Seniority," he corrected.
"Whatever. That means you have to obey me."
Was that true? Could she actually get him into trouble for insubordination? The last thing he needed was to have a group sit-down with Captain Westwood for some peer mediation. "I don't think it applies outside of official GUN business."
"Consider it part of your training. I'm making you into a better agent." He racked his brain for something else to use. "Plus, I can beat you up."
He didn't want to argue that. Because then they might actually have a fight to settle the matter. And he wasn't confident it would end in his favor. "Okay," he relented.
"You don't have to sound so glum about it. Don't you like hanging out with me?"
Her tone was joking, but he still naturally was compelled to reaffirm her. "Of course!"
"So just think of it as us hanging out... at a gym." When put that way, it sounded perfectly reasonable. Truthfully, he didn't even know why he was so averse to the idea of hitting a gym. Maybe he was too self-conscious. Or he was just worried about possibly being embarrassed by a girl in a public setting. She did that enough already with all the pets and hugs she gave him. Can it be any worse than that? "Now let's go."
"Which gym do you use?" He didn't expect her integration with Earthly society had progressed as far as applying for memberships.
"The one at the GUN base." Yep, that sounded right. He figured Rouge likely preferred a more private location because her enjoyment of being eye-catching didn't extend to attracting a crowd of humans curiously rubbernecking a new anthropomorphic animal. Certainly he wasn't so fond of that personally, but at least everyone around here already knew him by now so it was ALMOST not a big deal to see him.
When they had arrived at the base and were walking its halls, she ducked into the women's locker room. He went ahead into the men's equivalent to use their facilities. He came back out first and waited. When she emerged, he couldn't help but gape at the sight of her in a new outfit. It was totally common exercising attire for women, only revealing a modest portion of midriff more compared to her usual suit... but Rouge had a certain effect. She just complemented it so perfectly, having even cut a hole in the pants just big enough for her tail to stick out and wag freely. His eyes were drawn towards it, happily swishing back and forth as if waving to draw attention. Snapping back to, he sped up to pull alongside her before she noticed. She said nothing, but he wasn't sure if he had succeeded.
The gym was sparsely occupied at this later time of day; apparently the majority of GUN personnel preferred to go home after their shift. The handful of agents present were all in the weight section. "Hey, look who it is," one announced, turning all heads to them.
"Hey boys," Rouge answered with a voice closer to the sultry tone he would have called her 'default' a while back. It came with such ease it was like she just flipped a switch depending on whom she was talking to... though sometimes she forgot to flip it. A glance and a wave sufficed for her end of the greeting, not even pausing on her way through the room.
"So, what do you use here?" Tails asked.
"These ones," she announced while turning to face a line of treadmills. "You know how they work, right?"
"Ah yes... Motor-driven conveyor belts that you walk or run on. Very complex stuff." The sarcasm earned only an amused look. They each stepped onto one and began walking to warm up. At least this gave him an excuse to just look straight forward and not at Rouge. "You know, somehow I just didn't expect you would be such a fan of running."
"Well, flying certainly is the best, but you can't always fly. Sometimes you may have to run. Gotta be fast in my line of work. Fly, run, swim, whatever it takes."
Was she talking about being a thief or a GUN agent? Probably both. He simply said, "I know Sonic would agree with most of that."
"Oh yeah, he really can't swim, can he?"
"Nope. Not at all."
"Huh. I thought hedgehogs were supposed to be good swimmers."
"They are. Just not Sonic, apparently. Believe me, I've tried convincing him to learn. He's rather aquaphobic."
"Does that mean he's actually scared of water?"
"Yeah. He won't even GET into any water unless I'm with him." They had both upgraded to what they might consider jogging by now. Of course, his jog was considerably faster than a human, so he had to hold back out of having no idea how much human treadmills were built to withstand. No using his namesakes on it- that would kinda defeat the purpose of a treadmill. "So how about you? Are you a good swimmer?"
"Yeah. I like to think so, at least. Though I never had to swim away from anyone before."
"Except for those soldiers in-"
"Hey," she interrupted, "secret missions aren't gonna stay secret if you talk about them, kiddo."
"Oops... sorry," he apologized sheepishly. The chiding was playful, but it was still an indiscretion GUN would frown on.
"I didn't do much myself though, that was all you. You're definitely a much better swimmer than me."
"That's only because of my tails though. They make a good propellor."
"My wings don't do me any favors underwater. They actually bog me down a little." There was a pause. "Still, swimming would make for some good exercise too. Would you want to do that another one of these days?"
There was that sly smile. He blushed. "Uh, perhaps..." he answered noncommittally, trying not to wonder about what she might wear for THAT. "Too bad they don't have a pool here."
"We're right by the ocean."
"But we swim so fast and far we might run into sharks."
"So what? We could totally kick their asses."
He chuckled. "I guess that's one way to go fishing... Just dive in and beat up the fish." There was an extended pause, so he started a new line of dialog. "So... how long have you been hitting the gym?"
"Not that long. It sure is nicer to exercise inside than outside."
"Is this when you normally work out?"
"Later, actually. I'm earlier today because I didn't know when you'd be available."
It was already well into the evening. "So when's later? LATE late?"
"Yeah, you know me. I'm more a creature of the night. But I'm guessing you're not so much, right?"
"No, not really." Conversation died out again. He knew that he wasn't very good at keeping it going, but Rouge seemed to be actually somewhat on the quiet side herself despite being far more sociable. Perhaps their breath was better spent on breathing right now anyway. Eventually they hit the recommended time and stepped off the treadmills. "Okay, what now?"
An answer came from one of the other agents who overheard the question. "You should come join us and do some lifting... if you can." The sentence was politely spoken despite containing an obvious dare. Oh boy...
"We might," the bat responded coyly. She almost certainly knew full well that they were both stronger than the average human. Tails didn't feel compelled to volunteer that information right now though. "Why? Is that a challenge?"
"We're just curious to see exactly what you two can do at your size." He now recognized the speaking agent as Conway.
"Well, let's find out... Gimmie something."
"Okay, but let's start out small just to be on the safe side." Conway pointed to a barbell which was already loaded with a few of the smaller weights. Again, he didn't exactly SOUND condescending, and it was even safe practice to work upwards... but there did seem to be SOMETHING odd in the voice.
Rouge walked over, squatted down to grab it, and stood back up with no visible resistance at all. "Easy." She looked to Tails. "How about you, little guy?"
He remembered now that THIS was the reason why he had never been keen on coming to a gym before. Every planet had its own form of the jock scene: macho types who wanted to establish their place in the hierarchy. While he wouldn't say this necessarily was a showing of the jock scene, he wouldn't entirely rule it out either. "Sure," he replied in the most casual voice he could pull off. It helped that he already knew that he would ace this one as easily as she did. He did, of course.
The barbell was loaded with heavier weights. He had no idea what the amounts were, but it looked like it could be twice as heavy. Rouge lifted it without looking to have anywhere near twice the difficulty. "Come on, don't underestimate us THAT much." Then she casually tossed it to him, who caught it easily but with a bit of surprise at the flagrant disregard for safety guidelines.
"Whoa! We shouldn't just be throwing these things around!"
The humans just watched in disbelief. "Man, how much can you guys lift then?" one asked.
The bat looked to the fox as if to ask if HE had any idea. He didn't. "We've never actually checked..."
The voices came faster and got harder to identify. "Is it a lot?" "Think they can lift as much as Brubaker?" Brubaker was easily the most ripped guy present. Several voices stated their predictions. One jumped out: "$20 says that Tails can lift as much as you." There was a silence. Conway had suggested the bet directly to Brubaker. Why it's got to be me and not Rouge? It's because I'm the smaller one, isn't it? Brubaker looked at Conway, then Tails, then Conway again, considering whether or not to pick up the gauntlet that had been thrown down. "You're on."
More weights were added. He had no idea what they were up to now, but it was clearly an impressively heavy load. This time Brubaker participated to demonstrate he could indeed lift the amount first. The human was visibly feeling the burn raising it up but clearly had done this before. The human put it down and stepped away. The bat stepped forward, casually grabbed it with only one arm... and did a curl with the barbell. There was a chorus of drawn-out OH's. Brubaker conceded defeat by sulking. He may not be the only guy to get embarrassed by a girl tonight... The bat safely placed it on the ground for the fox to lift next. There was nothing else to do but roll with it as long as possible. He replicated her easy curl to roughly equal cheering, then put it down as well.
All restraint went out the window. The barbell was then almost certainly loaded with as many of the heaviest weights available it could possibly hold. "You can go first this time," Rouge offered. He approached the barbell, about-faced, and wrapped his tails around it... then used them to lift the now-significant load. It definitely got the biggest response yet. "Showoff."
He smirked. "You're just jealous."
She picked it up with both arms easily. After getting a feel for the weight, she shifted to just one arm and casually twirled it like a baton before putting it back down. "Pay up, man," Conway said to Brubaker- his enthusiasm now explained. Much less happy, Brubaker asked, "You knew how strong he was the whole time, didn't you?" The winning agent just gave a knowing smile in answer.
"How did you know?" Tails asked curiously.
"I saw you manhandling one of the vending machines. So how much can you guys REALLY lift?"
He shrugged. "No idea." An exchange of looks went around the room...
Things escalated from there, but suffice it to say that he demonstrated he could indeed lift a vending machine clean off the floor before they all eventually ended up in the garage... where the animal pair were simultaneously lifting the front ends of adjacent GUN Humvees as high as they could while Agent Conway used his arms to mark the heights. Someone provided choice overheard chatter: "It's like a redneck lowrider contest."
"Rouge wins!" Conway declared as the cheering crescendoed.
They both lowered their vehicles back down. Rouge made a show of fist pumping. "Of course she'd win... she's taller than me," Tails complained. "The benefits of proportional limbs."
Unfortunately, this just gave the perfect excuse to keep things going a little longer. "Okay then, we can see who's stronger the old-fashioned way," Conway announced. The bat and fox looked to the human, who clarified, "You know, arm wrestling?" Oh no... But of course...
Naturally, Rouge was much more open to the idea. "Oh, let's go, Tails!" Crap... There was no backing out now without taking a hit. The only thing to do was take a seat across from her at one of the garage's workbenches and join hands. There was another round of betting. It sounded like he was not favored to win.
Conway once again did referee duty. "Ready? Go!"
Tails' arm immediately went down nearly to the table before he stopped it. "Whoa! I wasn't quite ready!" he nervously said. It wasn't entirely a lie. Rouge eased off, allowing him to push back to the neutral position before applying power to stop him from going any further.
"There, let's just take it from here, okay?"
"Okay." They both wrestled in earnest now. Their arms went back and forth over a span of just inches, with nearly all of it being on his side. As his burst of energy waned, his arm once again started to get pushed back down, though at a much slower rate. Despite the adrenaline he managed to summon, his arm never managed to do more than briefly hold in place. The match's end was a foregone conclusion. And here's where I get defeated by a girl... His hand finally touched the workbench.
"And Rouge wins!"
The bat threw her arms up in the air in triumph. The fox sulked in the most dignified way possible. The bat reached over and patted his head in consolation. "You put up a good fight, kid." At least ten other agents followed suit. Once that was over, she said, "Sorry boys, it's been fun, but we need to get going now."
"Why?" an unidentified voice asked. "What else are you two going to do tonight?"
"Now that is none of your business." He gave the bat a displeased look. She gave him a hand. "Now come on, let's go." While disapproving of her act, he let himself get led out of the garage, happy to at least have an excuse to leave finally.
Once they'd left the others safely behind he said, "Thanks, by the way."
"For what?"
"Not beating me TOO badly in front of everyone else."
She played dumb. "What are you talking about?"
"I know you were going easy on me... after you almost crushed me."
"You noticed, huh? Well, I'd just feel bad about beating someone much younger than me in a contest of strength. But I'm starting to wonder if you were lying when you said that you don't work out."
"I don't. Why?"
"You really are pretty strong for a kid your age. I DID have to try, you know." She lifted the arm she was holding and felt it over with her other hand.
"Hey!" he protested with a blush at being sized up in such a physical manner.
"You've got bigger muscles than I do."
Should I be proud of that? "Doesn't really mean anything when you're still stronger than me though."
"Well, that's the benefits of age, I guess," she said diplomatically. "But I think you've got Sonic beat."
He considered, visualizing the hedgehog's thin arms against his own. "You... might be right." Sonic definitely had a far more intense daily workout with all the running, but he couldn't recall seeing the hedgehog ever do any heavy lifting. "You know, we've never arm wrestled each other..." He'd never really thought of his own muscles as anything special. They were another feature largely concealed by his fur. Being much stronger than the average human was actually pretty common for animals as they could be quite disproportionally strong for their size. "Knuckles definitely has me beat on muscles though."
"Oh yeah, he definitely does." She seemed to wander off into her own thoughts. "But at this rate, you might be able to match him when you grow up." Was she being serious? Was that even possible? Was muscular ability largely dependent on species? Was Knuckles typical of echidnas? The internal questions were interrupted by an external one. "So where did you get muscles like that if you don't work out?"
He considered again, having never given it any thought before. "Well... I actually carry Sonic or Knuckles around... sometimes both." He'd also carried Amy and Cream before but didn't mention that out of a suspicion it would lead to teasing. "A lot of my plane components are pretty heavy, too. I guess that's pretty muscle intensive."
"You carry Sonic AND Knuckles at the same time while flying?"
"Yeah."
"Now that's a way to exercise I would definitely enjoy..." She looked at him, brandishing that sly smile again. "Carrying around cute guys," she clarified just in case the joke wasn't already obvious. He rolled his eyes. "You wanna be my first?"
Before he could give an answer (which would have been NO) she scooped him up into a bridal carry. As if I haven't been emasculated enough tonight... "Hey! What are you..." He went silent as she shot into the air, momentarily alarmed by the spontaneous (and involuntary) high altitude situation despite his own ability to fly.
"I'll give you a ride home tonight."
By now they were already several miles up in the air. "Um... I think the joke's more than run its course... It was very funny... Can you let me go now?"
"Why would I want to do that?" she asked innocently.
There was likely no correct answer to that question, but his best guess was, "Because I'd rather fly myself?"
"Why? You don't like being carried by a girl? Would you rather carry me instead?"
"I- no! That's not it!"
"Come on, I'll return the favor... We'll take turns giving each other rides... I'll take you, Sonic, and Knuckles together... And you can take me, Amy, and... who's that other girl?" As his brain short-circuited, he could only blankly stare into her enticing teal eyes. He understood all the words being spoken, but they sounded somehow different when delivered in the absurdly alluring voice she was using right now. Why is she talking like that? "Hey... You off in dreamland there, foxy? You like the sound of it?" In answer he tried to squirm out of her grasp but she tightened the hold, trapping him against herself. "Oh no you don't." He didn't dare to resist further. "Aw, if you're too shy, we can keep it to just you and me for now." Resigning himself to the ride home, he sighed. Why me?
DVD Commentary: There, it's basically just a fun chapter about Tails finding having Rouge as a friend is rough without any pesky depressing backstory details sneaking their way in. This ain't a Pantalion story. I guess you could interpret Tails as being a little insecure, but that's probably actually a totally normal amount of self-consciousness to have at a gym.
Yeah, Rouge is wearing her Riders outfit in this one. I don't get too detailed to be on the safe side because it's a slippery slope to furrydom. Although historically I always wanted the characters to be closer to humans in height because them being kid-sized irked me, but somewhere along the way I just accepted it and made jokes about it. Though now I wonder where Rouge gets clothes... But I guess there are options for... unusually sized (is that the PC term?) women? Am I thinking too hard again? I probably am.
The Sonic cast certainly is pretty strong. Apart from Knuckles, the flying characters have to be pretty strong to carry two other characters while flying themselves. I don't remember the numbers off the top of my head, but just going off Heroes, I think Tails does over three times his own weight, the even younger Cream can lift Big, who is heavier than the entire Sonic Team, and if Rouge is lifting Omega that's insane... though he does have hover jets of his own he might be using. Even Sonic has no problem running while carrying a rowboat over his head in Sonic X... I have no idea how strong they should ultimately be, but they'd probably be winners of a Mr. Universe contest... Nor do I know much about the gym scene, hence the overall vague details. I considered adding more of a 'montage' of our duo lifting progressively heavier objects around the base but couldn't really think of anything reasonably at hand.
And yes, they DO officially have to use the bathroom. There's a joke or two coming down the line so let's address it...