Cousins of Chaos, A SA: Ch. 1

Chapter 1: "Getting a Life"

       "Hey Sonic! I'm goin' to go take the Tornado for a spin. You wanna come?" said Tails, an orange fox in red and white shoes as he polished the side of his small blue and white plane. Sonic, the blue hedgehog with red and white running shoes, opened one eye tiredly and looked at him. He had his feet comfortably propped up on a box of Tail's tools while his back rested against the outside of Tails's garage.
"Nah, I think I'll just stay here and take it easy." He replied lazily as he laid his head back again, closing his eyes. Tails shook his head,
"You know Sonic, you need to get a life. All you ever do is sleep at my house, eat my food, and go running---"
"Lemme guess, on your lawn." Sonic said and then yawned. Tails sighed. After a few moments Sonic spoke again. "I fight." There was a hint of defensiveness in his tone.
"Yeah, like what, once a month? You can't count on Eggman any more." Tails scoffed and moved with his rag small windshield of the plane.
"It's not my fault Eggman's a lazy bum these days." Sonic shrugged. Tails sighed and was silent for a few moments.
"So, when's the last time you saw Knuckles?" Tails asked suddenly.
"Last week." Sonic replied simply.
"What about Cream, Cheese and Vanilla?"
"A few weeks ago."
"Umm, well what about everyone at the Chaotix Agency, like Vector, Esp—"
"Monday." Sonic interrupted.
"Ok, well... I got it. When was the last time you saw Amy?" Tails smirked. He knew he'd gotten Sonic on this one. Meanwhile, Sonic felt a pang of fear at the mention of the love-crazed, psychotic, pink hedgehog.
"Thank god its been over four years…" said Sonic. Tails dropped his rag.
"Four years!" he exclaimed. Sonic opened his eyes to look at Tails.
"Yeah, somethin' like that." Sonic said dully, still not into the conversation. Tails noticed his calm attitude and shrugged, picking back up his polishing.
"I thought she was one of your closest friends; I'm surprised you haven't talked to her in so long… I had no idea…" Tails trailed off. Sonic scoffed.
"Well, would you really want to be around someone who chases you everywhere and watches your every move, waiting for the next time they can declare their love for you? I swear she self-appointed herself my girlfriend everyday!" said Sonic. Tails just shrugged, but didn't say anything.
Feeling that his point had been made, Sonic closed he eyes again. Absent-mindedly however, he wondered if the whole girlfriend thing was still in effect… and chuckled quietly at the idea. A few minutes passed in silence.
Finally Tails broke it. "You really, truly have no life." He said as he bent down to pick up his rag.
"Hey, I do too have a life." Sonic snapped.
"Oh yeah. Prove it. You're nineteen and your only real friend is me, an eleven year old."
"You just dissed yourself there Tails, and I consider you more of a little brother." Sonic mumbled.
"Whatever Sonic. If you really wanna prove it, go visit Amy today and we'll see if you have any social life left at all." Tails said. Sonic's eyes shot open in horror.
"What?! No no no no no no." Sonic exclaimed uneasily. Tails watched him in amusement.
"Geez Sonic, by this time the whole city of Mobius has probably forgotten all about you." Sonic ignored the last comment; he was still thinking in horror of what Amy would do if she saw him now after all that time.
"You want me to go see Amy." Sonic clarified, his voice shaky.
"Yep. And… and I bet you one hundred rings that you'll agree that you have no life after you visit her." Sonic grinned, if this was how it was going to be….
"Fine. Your on." 'One visit wouldn't kill me…' he thought.
"Ok!" Tails grinned back. "Let's see… rules. It has to be a three hour—" Sonic groaned loudly "Fine! Two hours! A two hour visit, and you have to actually talk. No moping around." Sonic nodded.
"Sounds good lil' buddy. And, you better have those rings with you at the end of the day. They'll be goin' to me!" Sonic teased as Tails hopped into his plane and started the engines up. The propellers started to spin faster and faster. Sonic stood up and got out of the way of the plane as it started to roll out of the garage and out onto the runway.
"We'll see about that!" Tails yelled over the noise of the plane. "Have fun Sonic!" Tails grinned and waved as the plane started to roll down the runway, gaining speed for takeoff. Sonic didn't stay to watch though; he was already gone, streaking through the countryside towards Cream and Vanilla's home, because one thing was for sure; Sonic had no idea where Amy lived.

         Sonic sped past the many trees and houses that made up the backcountry of Mobius. The area looked mostly the same as it had four years ago, there still weren't many people that lived on the outskirts of town as Sonic, Tails and most of the rest of the freedom fighters did. The city center however had swelled immensely and many new living complexes could be seen being built as the population had grown and created new and big businesses. Eggman wasn't such a threat to the city now; he was uncharacteristically laying low and often didn't stir up trouble. This was mostly due to Sonic and the rest of the freedom fighters keeping him in a public silence, for as the years had gone by, Sonic and the rest had naturally matured and become stronger and smarter while Eggman just kept getting older and running out of ideas. Sonic sped past an old Mobian church. The city had thrived without the constant threat of Dr. Eggman waiting to destroy it at every waking moment. Sonic appreciated this because even if it meant less fun at kicking Eggman's butt, it meant that the media didn't always have their camera's focused on him and he, along with the rest of the freedom fighter slowly became part of an old Mobius, framed in history.

Sonic's mind now turned to Amy. Out of curiosity he wondered what she would look like, talk like, and act like. He didn't see what Tails had been so surprised about to hear that Sonic hadn't seen his stalker in over three years. It's not like he and Amy had ever been that close. They fought alongside each other, but off the battle field Sonic had never developed a relationship with Amy in any way. Personally he had considered her annoying. Sonic absent-mindedly considered going to visit some of the old freedom fighters after this, like Sally and Rotor. Pretty soon Sonic came upon a familiar road. He'd been down it many times as a child; Sonic thought back to the days of his childhood when he'd first met Vanilla, Tails, and even Amy and chuckled quietly to himself. They'd all been so naïve then. Sonic had now made it to Cream's house. He stopped at the start of the path leading to their door. Sonic hoped they were up by now. It was the weekend, but was still only about Sonic hoped they were up by now. It was the weekend, but was still only about eight thirty in the morning. Sonic walked down the path stopping a few feet in front of the door. Sonic took a deep breath, put on a smile and knocked. There were a few moments as Sonic heard faint footsteps on the floor inside and then the door opened.

     There was Vanilla, a tall, sweet looking rabbit, dressed and presentable in her usual lavender accented dress, though she was chewing something. She quickly swallowed when she saw who it was and her face broke into a huge smile.
"Sonic the Hedgehog! Dear! How nice of you to stop by!" Vanilla exclaimed.
"Hey Vanilla!" Sonic waved. "This a good time?" he asked politely.
"Yes, it's perfect! We were just finishing breakfast, Cream and I." She smiled. "Here, dear why don't you come in. There's some pancakes still hot." Vanilla said and stepped away from the doorway to allow Sonic to come in. His stomach rumbled but he ignored it. He couldn't stay for long.
"Thanks! But I already ate…" Sonic lied, and then gave Vanilla an apologetic smile.
"All right then dear. So what was it you needed?" Vanilla asked as she shut the door behind him.
"Well, I was wondering if I could speak to Cream. I just needed to ask her a few questions…" said Sonic. Vanilla nodded.
"Yes, yes, she's in the kitchen." Cream's voice came from the kitchen as if on cue.
"Who is it Mother?" she called. To answer her question Sonic walked in. "Mr. Sonic!" Cream exclaimed as her face lit up in surprise. Sonic smiled.
"Hey Cream, where's Cheese?" Suddenly the blue and yellow Chao popped out from underneath the table.
"Chao Chao!" he said excitedly and buzzed over to Sonic and squeezed his head affectionately. Sonic reached up and rubbed the Chao's head.
"Here Mr. Sonic, have a seat!" Cream gestured to the empty chair across the table. Sonic once again got an apologetic look.
"Sorry Cream, I can't stay long…" Sonic was going to ask her about Amy when he caught a whiff of the steaming plate of pancakes at the center of the table. His mouth started to water. Cream saw him looking at the food longingly.
"Come on! I insist!" she beckoned. Sonic's stomach rumbled again. He hadn't eaten breakfast today; he was just going to skip, but these pancakes smelt so good…
"Oh all right." Sonic said giving in. He sat down in the empty seat and grabbed a clean plate. Cream smiled.
"Help yourself!" she said and Sonic grinned. There was one thing that Sonic held second of chili dogs and that was a good batch of Vanilla's pancakes. Sonic took a fork to about three pancakes leaving his plate empty by the end of five minutes.
"They good?" Cream asked eagerly. Sonic looked up and grinned.
"Good, great, whichever." Cream giggled.
"Good, because I made them myself today."
"Well good job!" Sonic complemented. "I wouldn't have even been able to tell the difference between your mom's and yours." Cream smile grew and she reached for a clean glass to pour Sonic a glass of orange juice, handing it to him.
"Thanks." Sonic said and took a long drink. Cream hadn't changed much over the few years. She'd grown a little taller and filled in a little, but aside from that she was mostly the same; her personality was still pretty young and naïve. However, Sonic noticed, her voice had dropped in pitch ever so slightly. Sonic hoped she was still friends with Amy.  
"So what did you need Mr. Sonic?" Cream asked sweetly. "I'm sure you didn't stop by just to say hello?"
"Well, why wouldn't I want to stop by just to say hello?" Sonic said and chuckled when Cream smiled. "Actually I was going to ask you something. I was wondering if you were still friends with Amy."
"Yes Mr. Sonic. Of course. Amy and I have always been good friends. Why?" Cream suddenly looked concerned. Sonic saw her expression and worry and waved his hands in front of him.
"No, no. Nothing's happened to her. I just wanted to know if you knew where she was living these days." Creams features changed immediately to a look of suspicion. After all those years of trying to pick out hints from Sonic that just maybe he would like Amy back, Cream had to wonder just out of habit for what reason Sonic wanted to know where she lived.
"Why do you want to know?" Cream asked.
"Well, I was talking with Tails and he's convinced that I have no life since the last time I talked to Amy was over three years ago—"
"Three Years!!!" Cream exclaimed, clasping her hands over her mouth in surprise. Her reaction was almost identical to Tails's, something Sonic found amusing. Sonic looked at her, waiting to continue.
"Oh, Sorry Mr. Sonic." Cream said and returned her face to normal.
"No biggie, so anyways, Tails thinks that because that is the case, I need to go visit Amy. But… since I haven't seen her in so long, I've kind of forgotten where she lives…" Cream waved her finger, playfully scolding"…and you know I've only been there once in my life… you can't expect me to remember…" Sonic said uneasily and rubbed the back of his head.
"Mr. Sonic… for being quick on your feet you sure forget things fast." Sonic just smiled apologetically. "Anyways, Amy lives not far from here, only a few miles east. So, just take the road in that direction for a little bit until you come to a crossroads. From there you have to take a right; it should lead you closer to the city. After about a mile and a half you should see a house on your left. That's Amy's!"
"Ok, sounds good Cream! Thanks, and thanks also for the breakfast. It was delicious!"
"Thank you Mr. Sonic. It's so nice of you to stop by!" then Cream laughed. "And you'll be lucky not to be hit on the head by her hammer when you see her!" she added. Sonic laughed uneasily and headed for the door. He sure hoped that Cream was wrong.
"Thanks again, see ya later!" Sonic called, loud enough for Vanilla to hear.
"Anytime dear!" Vanilla called back. Sonic rushed out the door, already jumpy from sitting so long. He was gone down the road as soon as the door had clicked into its frame.