Chapter 15 – Dating Advice

"Fifty rings!"

"Seventy!"

"One hundred!"

Tails looked back and forth across the audience. He had to hand it to Sonic. The blue hedgehog had every right to be worried. Amy was proving very popular and hands kept shooting into the air, bidding on her over and over. Many seemed to be men hoping to win her favor, despite her well-known affinity for Sonic and talk circulating that the two were an item these days. But Tails knew Amy well. She wasn't one to be swayed by others who were richer, stronger, or more charming than Sonic. She loved her hedgehog dearly and no one could change that.

Still, Sonic had quietly asked Tails to attend the auction just in case while he went off with Tangle for a mission to help the Restoration. He sat near the front, watching Amy wave to the crowd. She was gracious and sweet, putting on an award-winning smile for the crowd. No wonder they were attracted to her.

"Two fifty!" someone said, pounding the table.

"Three fifty!" a person beside Tails yelled. Then the bidder turned to his friend. "Hey, I need about three fifty."

"Four hundred!"

Tails decided he had waited long enough. Before Jewel raised her gavel, he called, "Seven hundred!"

All eyes turned to him, jaws dropping at the absurd amount. He nodded to Amy and her smile became genuine and full of relief. Jewel banged her gavel and yelled, "Sold! One day with Miss Amy Rose for seven hundred rings!"

Amy hopped off the stage, ignoring people calling for her attention or trying to haggle with Jewel. "Sonic?" she asked Tails quietly.

"Sonic," he confirmed.

She gestured to the door and they exited the auction hall. "By the way, where do you get seven hundred rings?"

"My inventions sell very well," he said. "And I have a lot of patents."

"Well, I'll treat you to lunch then. You can tell me all about them."

They headed back to the cafeteria at the Restoration headquarters. Amy paid for their meal while Tails found a table for them. The place was pretty empty today, as the Restoration recently sent out many of their members out on several missions. Scouting, Eggtech retrieval, and meeting with contacts to trade resources.

One group in particular he could do without were four older and larger people at one table nearby. People he knew very well, unfortunately, who seemed to take immense joy in teasing and picking on him at every opportunity. Especially his namesakes. Always tugging on them as they passed and commenting how weird they were. They leered at Tails now, pointing, whispering, and snickering amongst themselves. He propped his hand against his head, blocking his view of them and trying to act casual.

"You okay?" Amy asked, setting down their trays.

"Yeah, fine." He looked at his tray. Vegetables, a drink, a cupcake, and a sandwich with the crusts cut off, which Amy had deposited on her own tray after cutting them off for him. "Thanks."

She jerked her head at the group of people he was trying to avoid. "Friends of yours?"

"Hardly." She dropped the subject, seeming to pick up on his feelings toward them. He bit into his sandwich, searching for a change of subject.

"So about those inventions and patents of yours," she asked. "That have something to do with the Eggtech you've been working on?"

He nodded and pulled out a datapad, sliding it across the table to her. "Yeah. I've been building some things for the Restoration based on Eggman's designs. Like vehicle sensors, shields, and non-lethal weapons. Turns out some other companies liked my inventions and have been buying them off me as well.

She flicked through several images of his work, looking rather impressed. "What about those patents?"

He reached over and tapped an icon on the datapad. A series of blueprints and schematics replaced the finished inventions. Each image was split in two, with an analysis of some Eggtech piece on the left and a design that improved upon it on the right, complete with scribbled notes pointing to different areas.

"I don't have time to build all of them," he said, wishing he did. The very idea of spending all day tinkering with machines and inventions pleased him to no end. "So I drew up some improvements, patented them, and now companies pay me to license those same designs. I've kept some of the rings to get more materials and gave the rest to the Restoration."

"A wonder Jewel still needs to do the auctions then."

"I think it's more the morale boost at this point," he said. "The Restoration has raised plenty. People just like the auctions."

"I don't see how you manage to do all this," she said, handing the datapad back to him. "Eggman's systems are overly complicated. I can just manage to read through the databases when we get access to his computers, but this is beyond me."

"It's not all that difficult once you learn a few things about how his machines work," he said, holding up the datapad and pointing to one design of a shield bubble. He zoomed in on the schematic. "For example, we all know Eggman's an egotist and designs a lot of machines to reflect himself."

"Of course."

"But that's not limited to the outside." He tapped a spot, highlighting an ovoid shaped core. "He even does this to the inside. The power source is shaped just like an egg, which causes the power to be distributed pretty unevenly. My design," he scrolled over to his schematic, "makes it more cylindrical, so it can reach out easier and activate the shield a bit faster. Increases the overall efficiency by fifteen percent."

She picked up her sandwich and ate. "Not bad."

"Thanks. Although, I have Belle to thank for that. She's been pointing out some of the flaws in Eggman's work."

When he looked up from the datapad, he realized Amy's eyes had narrowed and honed in on him. A sly, toothy grin wormed its way up her face. Oh, no, he thought. He'd done it. He'd activated Amy's romantic side.

"Belle, hm?" she asked, taking a very long sip of her drink. "Been working close with her, hm? All alone together in that lab, hm?"

"It's not like that." Even he couldn't convince himself of that lame rebuttal. After all, he liked Belle a lot. He searched for any other subject, grasping desperately at them. "So what about you and Sonic? You two had a date day, right? That's why he asked me to build that hologram."

"Yes," she said fondly, her eyes glazing over for a moment as she seemed to recall it. "It wasn't quite what I expected, but it was wonderful. Now, about Belle."

He groaned. She wasn't one to be deterred. "There's nothing to tell. We work together. She visits sometimes." Her gaze bored right through him. "Okay, often." She didn't blink. "Okay, okay! She comes by every day!"

"I figured. How did you manage that? No offense, but you're not the type of guy who brings girls home regularly."

He briefly explained Belle's terrible experience with the auction. How he rushed to her defense and they spent the rest of the day together. And every day since. She made a point to visit him often and honestly, it was the highlight of his day. He loved having her around. "She helps me with a lot of the designs and we spend hours going over them. She's really smart and cute. Sometimes, she's a little shy, but I think she's opening up to me. Honestly, I don't mind it. It kind of makes her more, um, you know?" He snapped his fingers, searching for the right description.

"Endearing?" Amy suggested and he pointed at the correct word. "Yeah, Sonic was the same. At least when it came to love. He was so adorable and would get all bashful." Tails didn't know if he would describe it exactly like that, but he didn't press her on it. "So? Has anything happened?"

"No, not really," he said. "Not that I don't want it to. It's just, I don't know where to start. Right now, I've been trying to be her friend and be there for her. Especially after what happened at the auction."

She finished her sandwich and dabbed her mouth with a napkin. "That's good. You know as well as I do that not everyone here gets along." As if to emphasize that point, one of the four people at the nearby table guffawed loudly at some joke. The others glanced at Tails, laughing along too. "Even still, all of us in the Restoration have to work together if we hope to do some good. So the fact you've been a friend to her when she had so few is a good start."

"I don't want to push her too quick though. I'm not even sure if she feels the same."

"Oh, she feels the same," Amy said.

"How do you know?"

"Woman's intuition. She sees you every day, stays by your side for hours, and is able to talk shop with you about your inventions." She swept a hand at the datapad. "I mean, look, you're a good friend and even I don't have the patience for all that. I pick up what I can for the Restoration's missions and that's about it."

He considered that and ate his cupcake slowly. "Well, she is one of Mr. Tinkerer's creations. It makes sense she would be into that. She even goes out to find the parts I'll need and brings them back quickly." Amy opened her mouth to reply and he quickly added, "However, that's because she happens to know where they are and can get them quickly. Except for last week. She got back late at night with this one rare piece because…because…"

"Because maybe she didn't actually know where it was and she was trying to find it for you?"

Suddenly, the cupcake in his throat was hard to swallow. Belle had told him that she got caught up running a few other errands, which wasn't like her. He had been so wrapped up in his work that he accepted the excuse without question. "I'm an idiot," he said, burying his face in his hands.

"A little. I'm sure she finds that endearing too."

"So what should I do?"

"Start simple," she said. "Next time she comes over, invite her out to lunch. Or go somewhere together, just the two of you. The park, a movie. Go dumpster diving for Eggtech if you both want."

Those weren't bad ideas. The only problem was the actual date part. "I don't know what to do though. I've never been good when it comes to talking to girls."

"You're able to talk to me."

"That's different."

"How so?" she said. There was an undercurrent to her tone that warned him to answer carefully.

"Because you're my friend. I've known you for years." She patted his hand, accepting the answer.

"Just be yourself." He looked at her with big, pathetic eyes, imploring her. "Fine, I can help you out."

The table of four people picked up their trays and walked by Tails and Amy to dispose of their leftovers. As they passed, Amy, stuck out her foot ever so slightly, tripping the raccoon leading the group. He dropped his tray and fell face first into it, trash smothering his muzzle.

He hopped to his feet, baring his teeth in anger, but Amy was up too. Her hammer had already appeared in her hands and she held it threateningly under the raccoon's chin. His friends stayed still, unsure whether to step in or stay back. Tails didn't dare swallow, afraid he might choke on the thick tension between them.

She glanced quickly at the others, ensuring she had their attention. Her voice was deadly calm and eyes unflinching as she said, "You know who I am?" The other three nodded. She pushed the end of her hammer up, tilting the raccoon's chin higher, and bobbed his head in agreement too.

Amy twisted the hammer so the flat of the mallet tucked itself under his chin. "This is pretty heavy. Makes it dangerous to robots. You ever seen me use this on them? Any of you?" One of them nodded again. "Good. Then you can tell your friends here what will happen if any of you ever, ever, mess with Tails or anyone else here. Because I'll know about it and you'll find out first-hand how dangerous this," she gripped the handle, "and I am. Got it?"

The raccoon nodded and slowly backed away with his friends. Once they were out of range of Amy's hammer, they quickly turned tail, throwing their trays wildly into the garbage, and pushing and shoving one another out the door.

Tails couldn't help grinning as her hammer disappeared and she walked back to him. "You call that working together with Restoration members?"

"Yeah. They'll work together with you from now on to do some good for their own health." She set the cupcake from her tray in front of him and ruffled his bangs.

He batted her hand away, but said, "Thanks." He appreciated it and it lifted a weight off his shoulders to know that he wouldn't have to deal with those nuisances anymore.

"Anytime. Now, where were we?"

He peeled the cupcake liner off the delicious treat and bit into it. "Talking to girls."

"Right." She sat across from him and raised a finger. "First, find something to compliment. Most girls put a lot of effort into their appearance. So try to slip one in there. Something about her outfit or her makeup."

He grabbed his datapad, opening it to a blank file, and began typing what was certain to be a long and lengthy lecture.