Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ The Milkshake Challenge!!! ❯ Minute Man ( Chapter 8 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

A/N: Some guys may be offended, but this story is purely for fun. It's not to lash out at anyone. But if you do get offended, don't blame me ;_;

THE MILKSHAKE CHALLENGE!! MINUTE MAN!

Back inside Tails' workshop, with less than 8 hours left before the ice cream parlor closed, Rouge had become very pressed for time. Tapping her foot and glancing at her watch, she waited for Knuckles to get back from the bathroom. “What is up with choosing just before the start of a new event to goto the bathroom?” she groused.

“Sorry Miss Rouge” Tails spoke up, feeling guilty that he had started the trend.

She sighed and faintly smiled. “It's not your fault. But I suppose it's only fair. If anyone else has to goto the bathroom, feel free to and hurry up.”

Hearing this, Sonic cheered and zipped off. Amy groaned and shook her head. “I don't understand why you just don't stop this crazy game already!” she complained to Rouge, who chuckled.

“You just can't wait to go on that date, can you? And what makes you think Sonic is going to lose, hmm?” Rouge grinned.

Amy's face warmed up as a soft crimson blush streaked across it. Bashfully, she placed her hands to her face and giggled girlishly. “Because…Sonic is my one and only… AND I'LL BASH THAT TRUTH INTO HIM UNTIL HE HAS NO CHOICE BUT TO ACCEPT IT!!! HAHAHAHA!!” she enthusiastically cackled, her eyes ablaze with crazed confidence.

Then just as quickly as it arrived, it vanished and was replaced by her usual cute demeanor. “Oh! That reminds me!” she chirped, and ran off towards the direction of the bathrooms.

Tails, Shadow and Rouge both watched her go. Rouge shuddered. “Why do I have that nagging feeling…”

“…That something is going to happen…?” Shadow finished, wondering the same.

“Huh?” Tails curiously wondered, glancing between the two of them. “Something like what?”

Before Rouge or Shadow had the chance to answer, a loud yell from Sonic was heard.

“Amy!!! What are you doing in here?!! …No! I don't want any!…I don't care how good you think it tastes, get out of here right now!!!”

“You don't get a chance like this everyday Sonic, now take it, NOW!” she cried.

“No!”

“…I'll…I'll leave you alone for the rest of this event, if you do it!”

There was a pause. Maybe Sonic was thinking about it?

“What the hell are they arguing about?” Shadow inquired, making a face.

Rouge shrugged and shook her head. “Don't ask me! But whatever it is, it sure sounds scandalous…!”

Tails blinked, trying to understand what was going on amongst the confusion. “What's wrong with Amy having something on her she wants Sonic to eat?”

Silences fell over them as both Shadow and Rouge glared at the fox.

Tails jumped and shied away. “...Wh-what? What did I do??”

Narrowing his eyes at him, Shadow half-smiled. “I wonder about you…”

“So do I…” Rouge agreed. “First the innocence was cute, now it's highly questionable of being real or not.”

Shadow nodded with a sly grin, continuing to eye Tails suspiciously. “I agree… I don't think it was all accidental at all…”

Rouge sighed. “Well I guess we'll find out sooner or later. Anyway, Tails, go get Sonic and Amy out of the bathrooms and Knuckles too.”

Nervously, Tails nodded then ran off to do what he was told.

Watching him go, Rouge heaved a sigh of relief and sat down on the edge of the stage.

“Finally, they're gone…!” she smiled, stretching.

Smirking, Shadow stepped over to her and sat down next to her. “Yeah…I thought we'd never get any time to ourselves…”

“Yeah…” Rouge agreed, then she realized what he actually said and did a double take. “Wh-what!?”

“...You heard me…” Shadowed smirked, inching closer to her.

Her heart beat so fast in her chest, she couldn't think straight. “Uh um... Wait a minute, you're not trying to bribe me just so you can win this contest are you, Shadow?”

Shadow blinked at her response, not expecting it, and chuckled. “I don't give three bits of a damn about this contest to be honest, Rouge…”

“Huh? Wh-what?? Then why—“

“…I think... the answer is pretty obvious…” he smiled, placing his hand on hers.

Suddenly at a loss for words, Rouge bashfully eyed him with her mouth hung in a gape.

Chuckling, Shadow slipped a finger under her chin and shut her mouth for her as Tails came back into the room with Knuckles not that far behind him.

Shadow turned to face them and when he did, Rouge unconsciously did the same.

Trying to come back to her senses, Rouge inhaled and exhaled deeply then put her focus on the two of them.

“Well…what's going on?” she asked, placing her hands on her hips.

Whistling happily for some unknown reason, Tails pointed to Knuckles with his thumb and answered: “Oh nothing much. He wasn't doing anything weird, just shining his helmet.”

Shadow and Rouge's eyes both went wide and their attention darted directly to Knuckles, who jumped from their intense gazes. “Hey!! It's not what you think!!” he defended, reaching behind him and actually pulling out a shiny gold helmet. “I really was shining a helmet for this next event!” he exclaimed intently, fidgeting uncomfortably in their gazes. "Since it's not a strength event I may need to watch myself!"

"....."

"H-hey this IS Tails' workshop after all! What else would you expect to find in here??"

"......"

"I-I'm serious!! I just found this!"

Their eyes narrowed, Shadow and Rouge exchanged wary disbelief towards the other, then returned their attention to Knuckles.

“We don't believe you…” Shadow and Rouge spoke in unison, causing Knuckles to take a step back.

Glancing around, he shrugged then pointed to Tails. “A-actually this is his helmet anyway! I found it while on my way out of the bathroom…!”

Hearing this, Tails stepped upto Knuckles with a nervous smile, recognizing the helmet. He had forgotten that he left it in there after working on a previous creation.

"Thanks Knuckles, but I can shine my own helmet!” the little fox confirmed. Gleefully, he took the item from Knuckles and hummed on his way near the stage in the workshop.

Silence.

“Uhhh..” Knuckles raised a confused brow. “Um—don't think I want to comment on that one…”

“.... .... ....Anyway…” Shadow interrupted.

And Rouge picked up where he left off. “…Why did you have to shine it in the bathroom of all places? ….UNLESS you were doing something else?” Rouge challenged with a glaring smirk.

Watching her make such an advance towards Knuckles, Shadow looked to her discreetly, but didn't say a word.

His story being denied, Knuckles sucked his teeth. “I just TOLD YOU that I found it on my way OUT of the bathroom! But fine! Believe whatever you want!” Then he glared at Shadow and grinned. “I'll see you in the loser's bracket!”

Shadow scoffed. “Whatever…”

The two males eyed each other with mutual menacing glares as Knuckles returned to his seat.

Watching the two, Rouge smirked a little and tried to hold back a laugh.

“What's so funny?” Shadow asked, turning to face her.

But Rouge denied to answer. “Heehee nevermind. Anyway, Tails!!” she called to the young fox, “ go find out what's going on with Sonic and Amy! And tell them to hurry up, we haven't got all day!”

Nodding, Tails left his helmet on the stage and ran off to contact his friends.

The moment he approached the bathroom door, he raised a fist to knock but stopped when his friends' voices drifted through the door.

“I can't believe I'm going through with this...” Sonic's voice echoed through the door.

“Yeah well, there's no harm in sharing! I just wanted you to have it.” Amy's voice responded.

There was a pause and the sound of shifting body movement on the other side of the door. “I never liked the taste.”

“What?? You're weird! Everyone I know likes it! Except for Shadow. Who knows WHAT he likes.”

“What's she mumbling about?” Shadow's low voice hovered over Tails' shoulder.

“I don't know…” was Rouge's reply. Turning around, Tails nearly jumped from seeing both Shadow and Rouge pressed lightly against either sides of the bathroom door.

“Hey you guys are eavsdropp--!”

“Can it… So were you!” Rouge scolded, covering Tails' mouth with her hand.

“ And if you don't keep quiet, Shadow and I will tell them that this was YOUR idea!”

Shadow nodded with a grin, playing along, but Tails thought he was being serious and gulped. Slowly, he nodded.

“Good.” Rouge smirked “Now…back to invading their privacy…!” she chirped.

After a few more sounds of shifting feet shuffling on the floor, both Shadow and Rouge suddenly froze in their places at the sounds of slurping coming from the other side of the door.

“Is that what I think it is?!” Rouge declared in a hushed whisper.

“It can't be…!” Shadow replied in the same tone.

“Muhe Hemmy hub—“ Tails mumbled, his words coming out extremely muffled from Rouge's hand clasping tighter over it. Peering down at him, she moved her hand just enough to make out what he was saying.

“What?”

Tails exhaled, then took a deep breath, being able to breathe freely again. With bright eyes, he looked up at Rouge. “I said, maybe Amy has some candy or something she wanted to give to Sonic but he doesn't like it?"

Rouge raised an eyebrow as Shadow chuckled. “What kind of candy? Heh heh. Perhaps Sonic doesn't like receiving `Blow Pops'…hey!” he grunted, turning to Rouge who was cracking her knuckles playfully. “Watch what you say around here! I don't want to have to pinch you again!”

“Pinch…?” Shadow repeated with an interested and surprised expression. “Is that what that was??” he wondered, glancing behind him. Then his features relaxed to a suave composure and he raised an eyebrow. “…I'm keeping my eyes on you, Rouge…”

Rouge smiled and winked at him. “After that pass you just made to me a few minutes ago, what won't you do?”

Shadow smirked. “I'd rather not say….”

Rouge's eyes perked up in curiosity. “What won't you do Shadow??”

The moment Shadow opened his mouth to speak, an outrageously loud sound came from behind the bathroom door.

“Sonic!” Tails called, recognizing the voice, but Rouge quickly covered his mouth again and strained her ears to listen.

On the other side of the bathroom door---

Standing inside the bathroom with a curt half-frown across his face, Sonic peered down at the small flavored ring-pop Amy had offered to him. “Augggh yuck…!!!” he sputtered.

“Yuck?! Aww come on, Sonic it's not so bad! But alright you had your turn! Now let me get lick of it too!”

Grimacing, Sonic handed the ring back to her, of which she gladly snatched from him. “Ew Amy…That's practically kissing…”

“Duh! That's why I want to do it! You wouldn't kiss me any other way, now would you?”

“Uhh…I think you've missed the point Amy…”

“It doesn't matter! With this, we're practically engaged!”

Sonic shivered at the word. “…Uggghh... Please don't say that Amy…”

Ignoring his plea, Amy gleefully stuffed the candy into her mouth and sucked on it vigorously.

Sonic felt a sudden sickness rise in the pit of his stomach from the sounds and sight of Amy devouring the flavor of that ring pop with vacuum-like suction.

“Amy please stop that…! If you're going to...do that, don't do that around me!”

“Then close your eyes Sonic!” she retaliated, taking the ring pop out of her mouth for only a few seconds.

Defeated, Sonic gave up and proceeded to just leave the room without her.

But the second he passed her, she grabbed him by one of the quills on his back and pulled him back to her. But she had pulled him so roughly, that Sonic lost his balance and fell to the floor. And oddly enough, Amy followed suit with a cry.

“Ahh!! SONIC!!”

“A-Amy!!”

Back in the main section of the workshop, Shadow, Rouge's, and now Knuckles', eyes widened from what they heard .

“Oh my—just what are they--?!” Rouge stammered, pressing her ear even harder against the door.

Casually Shadow shrugged. “Maybe they tripped over the other's feet and accidentally copulated when they fell…” he muttered sarcastically with a grin and was quickly smacked in the shoulder by Rouge.

“Rouge! What was—“

“SHHH!!” she shushed “Shadow!!”

"What??" he asked, badly attempting to pretend not to smile at his own joke. "Do you have a better explanation of what they could be doing?”

"U-um!! Well--!" Rouge stammered

"Hey shut it you two, I'm trying to listen!" Knuckles growled, pressing against the door even more to listen.

"What!" Rouge spoke up, turning to the brash echidna. Crossing her arms in disgust, she leaned against the door and curled her lips at him. "Who do you think you're talking to!?"

Seeing where this was going, Tails cautiously tried to calm them.

Shadow on the other hand, simply crossed his arms and watched them; keeping his eyes darkly on Knuckles.

"H-hey you guys come on!" Tails cried, waving his little arms to get their attention.

But of course, his small attempts made no effort as Rouge and Knuckles continued to argue.

"Not only are you a thief, but you're a nosy one too!"

"Oh you're one to talk!" Rouge shot back, resting her backside against the door and tauntingly leaning forward with her arms still crossed. "At least I don't go around here pilfering helmets to 'shine'!" she jeered with a smirk.

Knuckles' eyes flashed a new tint of red as he raised a fist. "What did you say??! Don't think that just because that Shadow is here that I won't hold back against you!"

Hearing this, a smirk smoothed over Rouge's lips as she glanced to Shadow.

Catching on to what she planned to do, he nodded to her and continued to watch them.

"Oh yeah?? Try to hit me then!" she teased.

"You guyyys!" Tails whined.

Back in the bathroom, Amy slowly sat up and rubbed her head. "Owww! Did you have to fall so hard Sonic!!"

In retaliation, and extreme embarrassment, Sonic said nothing and remained laying face first on the bathroom floor.

Becoming annoyed at him not answering her, Amy pouted and glared down at him. "Hey Sonic! Get up already! That floor's dirty!"

'I've already been violated' he thought, referring to Amy falling on him.

Pouting again, Amy 'humphed' and crossed her arms. "Fine, don't answer me then! Oh! Oh no!" she gasped, looking around frantically for the ring pop. "Where did it...oh! there is it!"

she joyfully exclaimed when she found it. Reaching out for it, a sudden crash from the other side of the door made her jump.

In a blur of blazing red, Knuckles fell face first, taking the door with him, as he fell on top of poor Sonic.

"What the--!" he wondered, trying to pry his knuckles out of the door. "What the heck did I just--"

"SONIC!!!" Amy screamed, dashing over and lifting the door, with Knuckles still attached to it, off of her beloved hedgehog.

“Oh Sonic are you alright??!”

“Ngho” was Sonic's muffled response.

Taking his `no' with great concern, Amy tossed the door aside and began to help peel Sonic off the floor.

“HEY!” Knuckles cried, falling backwards onto the floor, squirming to pull his knuckles out of the door.

Shadow merely chuckled at this while Rouge nearly busted a gut laughing hysterically.

“That's what you get!!” she mused, hugging her aching sides.

“Just you wait bat girl! Just wait `til I get my mitts free, I'll knock that stupid smile off your face!”

Of course, this comment caused Shadow to raise a brow as he peered down at Knuckles, but before he could comment, Amy stormed upto them.

“SHUT UP!” Amy yelled, suddenly kicking the door clean off knuckles' mitts.

Rouge, Tails, Knuckles and Shadow all watched the flailing door's ascent as it sailed through the air in a smooth arch and landed in a far corner of the workshop.

“Whooooooooa” Tails exclaimed as Knuckles did the same.

Blinking in awe, Rouge turned abruptly to the fuming pink female. “What the—“

“We've got an event to start! I want this game to be over with so Sonic and I can have our date!!”

Tails sighed while Shadow chuckled and crossed his arms.

“That again Amy?? Not to sound rude or anything, but why not just give it a rest?” Tails gestured with a shrug.

“BECAUSE I CHOOSE NOT TO!!!!” Amy roared, her eyes alit with flaming determination.

The others weren't too sure about it, but they could have sworn they felt the room shake after that…

“I would also like to get this game over with” Shadow stated plainly. Discreetly, he snuck a glance at Rouge as if to remind her of his previous comment to her earlier on the stage and she responded with a nod.

“You're right. Amy, make sure Sonic is alright We're gonna need all our contestants before this game is over!”

Knuckles scoffed and tossed a glare at Shadow.

“Loser!” he mouthed with a grin. But Shadow simply ignored him.

Seeing this, but knowing Shadow could handle himself, Rouge motioned for them all to follow her near the front of the stage.

"Ahem! Now that we've settled our `issues'..." Rouge announced, but trailed off as she glared at the discontented faces of Knuckles and Amy. Sonic simply slouched in his seat and shrugged.

"...for the time being anyway...let's hurry up and get this even over with! We've got less than 8 hours left now!"

"Hooray" Sonic drolled devoidly.

Ignoring his outburst, Rouge continued on.

“Alright, as you all know, Knuckles was the winner of the previous event, so he gets to choose the next one.”

“'Bout time I get some appreciation around here!” Knuckles cheered, jumping up from his seat and heading upto Rouge.

Rouge said nothing as she watched him eagerly bound over to her.

Half-frowning, she gestured to the glass bottle and mat on the edge of the stage.

Rouge watched silently as the bottle spun and landed on speed.

“Ooohhh, speed huh?” she mused with a smirk. “The boys ought to love this type of event!” she snickered, glancing to Sonic and Shadow.

“Speed?? Oh yeah! Now that's my kind of event!!” Sonic cheered.

Shadow said nothing at first. His eyes lingered entwined with Rouge briefly before he turned to the exuberant hedgehog.

“Don't get so excited. You'll lose.”

“What! Come on, give me more credit than that Shadow!”

“Hmph”

“Hey, pipe down over there!” Knuckles cut in. “I'm the one who chose the next event! And speaking of which...!” he trailed off, eagerly turning to Rouge.

“Pick a card...” she stated nonchalantly as she held up the paper items directly in front of his face.

Blinking, Knuckles raised a brow and glanced up at her.

“What's your--”

“Pick one!!”

“Fine!”

“Then, hurry up!”

Seeing the two starting to bicker again, Amy groaned and stood up. “Will the BOTH of you be quiet so we can finish this game!? Sheesh!”

Equally annoyed, Knuckles and Rouge glanced towards Amy then themselves.

In a huff, Knuckles swiped a random card and read it over.

“Minute Man...?” he murmured.

And the second he did, a deeply mischievous grin spread across Rouge's face.

“Ouch...what a title!” Sonic commented, making a face. And as soon as he said that, all eyes were on him.

Uncomfortable with them eying him, he jumped in his seat. “Wh-what the-- H-hey! Just because I'm fast, don't think I'm--!”

“And how would you know, Sonic?” Rouge tauntingly asked. “The only way you would know is from experience...”

Cringing, Sonic broke out in cold sweat and uncomfortably glanced around the room. “W-well I...”

“Do you have any experience, Sonic?” Rouge prodded.

Annoyed, Amy stomped in front of him. “I'll be the judge of that!”

Amused, Rouged chuckled and crossed her arms. “Actually, I will.”

Shadow's eyes lightly trailed over her as she said this and soon everyone else's eyes were on her.

“Mmmm for this event, all of you males will have to do your best at staying 'in the mood'. Whoever can speak their sweet nothings the best will receive more points. You will also have songs to work with chosen by me at random.”

Sonic shrugged, easing up from the attention being away from him. “So, what does this have to do with speed? It sounds just like the second event we had.”

“Yeah, sure, bring up another one of them I failed miserably at!” Knuckles complained.

“Hey it's not Sonic's fault you suck, Knuckles!” Amy retorted with her hands on her hips.

Shadow chuckled to himself at this and Knuckles gave Amy a smug look. “I know YOU'RE not talking about sucking...!”

“H-hey be quiet, Knuckles!!” Sonic shushed glancing nervously at Amy.

Rouge grinned and smoothed a lock of hair behind her.

“I'm glad you asked that, Sonic.” Then she glanced to Tails and motioned for him to come upto her.

Surprised, he pointed to his nose. “Who me?” Then he hopped out of his seat and scampered over to her. “Yes, Miss Rouge? What is it?”

Smirking, Rouge leaned down and whispered mischievously in Tails' ear.

When she pulled back, he looked up at her happily and nodded. “Ok, I'll be right back!”

Watching him go, the group exchanged their concerns.

Sonic sighed. “I can tell I'm not gonna like this!”

“Great! Then you'll lose for me, right Sonic?” Amy asked hopefully.

“I didn't say that!”

“Oh great...” Knuckles grumbled, looking at the smug bat.. “What are you upto now?”

“Well that depends, do you accept this event?”

“Do I...” Knuckles glanced around the room and checked Shadow and Sonic's expressions.

Shadow's features remained calm and nonchalant while Sonic grinned and pointed to his wrist where a watch would be if he had one. “8 hours left!” he mouthed.

“...” With a sigh, Knuckles returned his eyes to Rouge and crossed his arms. “Yeah sure.”

“Great!” she chirped.

Shadow raised an eyebrow. Rouge seemed to be a little too happy about this next event...

Moments later, Tails came bounding out from a backroom in his workshop pushing a cart with a microwave on top of it.

“What in the--” Knuckles trailed off staring at the microwave.

Equally intrigued, Sonic, Shadow and Amy glanced at the device, then noticed several individually wrapped bags of popcorn next to it.

Sonic and Amy exchanged glanced and it was clear they didn't get why Rouge wanted a microwave for a speed event.

But the whole thing hit Shadow and with a smirk, he shut his eyes and covered his face with his hand.

'I can't believe she's doing this...'

“Thank you, Fox Boy” Rouge said with a wink.

Blushing lightly, Tails nodded then went back to his seat.

“Now that we have everything we need, let's get started!” Rouge enthusiastically cheered.

“Everything you need?” Amy inquired. “Just what is the popcorn for?”

Rouge chuckled. “Allow me to explain. As I already mentioned, for this event you will each have to speak sweet nothings. Since I'm the host, they will be directed towards me, but if you have a particular significant other in mind, you may think of them instead. I'll just be scoring your performance.” she continued, with emphasis on the word 'performance'.

Amy shrugged. “Okay, so? That doesn't explain what the snacks are for.”

“The popcorn will be the timer in this event. You boys will have 5 whole minutes to talk you best to me as if I was the woman of your dreams. I want to see some real effort in this one!”

“Timer?” Sonic questioned, then his eyes widened in shock. “You've gotta be kidding!! That's dirty, Rouge!”

Rouge winked at him. “You know what they say about this kind of thing...! And for you dear Sonic...don't be disappointing. Remember, Amy's watching you!”

“That's right!” Amy stepped up. “But you better only last a MINUTE in this event, and ONLY in this event! There's going to be a date with our names on it! Got that??”

Sonic cringed and ran a hand through his quills while Shadow chuckled to himself.

Knuckles appeared ecstatic and enthusiastically punched the air. “No problem! It'll only take me 8 seconds or less!!”

Silence coated the room.

Sonic and Amy had to both do their best to withhold their laughter while Rouge and Shadow just shook their heads.

Tails casually looked over to Knuckles and whispered across the room. “I think that defeats the purpose, Knuckles!”

Hearing that, Amy's eyes darted to Tails and she narrowed them at him.

Feeling a hot glare on him, Tails looked to Amy and jumped in his chair. “Wh-what, Amy?? I'm sure the songs are longer than 8 seconds!!”

Annoyed, she just rolled her eyes at Tails and looked to Rouge. “So what are the consequences for this event?”

A devilish grin marked Rouge's lips. “I think the pressure to meet expectation is more than enough! So what'll it be, boys? Think you can go longer than the popcorn or will the popcorn outlast you?”

“Can we eat it afterwards?” Knuckles asked.

“I don't care.” Rouge replied, ripping the plastic wrap off and tossing a bag in the microwave. “So who's first?”

“I'll go.” Shadow remarked, standing from his seat.

Awed, Rouge watched him take his chair and bring it close to the stage.

They eyed the other wordlessly for a few seconds, then she turned to pick up her notebook and sat on the stage in front of him. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out an video ipod with tiny speakers attached to it. Picking a song, she turned the volume all the way up.

“Amy, could you start the timer, please?” she asked.

Casually, Amy strolled to the microwave, punched in 5 minutes and pressed the start button.

Shadow gathered his thoughts as the upbeat melody of Lava Reef Act 1 played.

“You listen to THAT?” he thought out loud and she playfully shushed him. “You're wasting time!”

Smirking, he gave her a look that reminded her of their conversation earlier, then settled into the proper mindset.

“When I look at you, I see the vastness of what is and what may be. I wanted to talk to you for quite some time, but I thought you wanted nothing to do with me. But one predicament led to another and soon you were swooning in my arms. We first shared eye contact, then kiss. Feeling your succulent lips against mine made me lose my mind. I had no idea what was to become of us next, but I knew what I wanted and I knew what you wanted.

“I undressed you first in my mind and then with my hands. Your skin was delicate and soft and sweet to the taste. I savored every delectable detail of you and shuddered when your fingers sculpted mine.

“The willing desire to be yours rose within me. Softly, my lips caressed your curves and I eagerly brought you closer to me.

“...Indulging in this moment and encasing ourselves within it, we became invokers of our desires and overtaken by seductive actions... Uh...” he paused and glanced at the microwave. 4 seconds were left on the countdown.

Silence filled the room from him stopping and Rouge and Amy secretly wished he'd continue. But when the microwave dinged, their hearts sank.

Rouge's mouth hung in a gape and she stopped the song from playing without realizing.

It took her a good 3 seconds to find her voice.

“..Sh...Shadow..th-that was...”

Blushing, he adverted his eyes from her and stood up. “E-excuse me...” he said softly and made his way towards the bathroom.

Sonic whistled while Amy and Tails clapped for Shadow.

Knuckles silently watched him go. He had to admit he was impressed. But he was going to do better!

Nonchalantly, he strolled upto the microwave, took out the bag of popcorn and shook it up. “So who's next?”

Rouge was still in shock and didn't hear him at first. She glanced to him without an answer and jotted down a score for Shadow.

Popping a handful of the snack into his mouth, Knuckles asked again. “Hey, did you hear me, bat girl? I asked who's--”

“You are!” she shouted, just to see his reaction.

Nearly choking on the popcorn, Knuckles coughed and spit it back into the bag.

“Ewww!” Amy exclaimed making a face. “Knuckles, that's disgusting!!”

“Well, at least we'll know which bag is his!” Sonic joked, slouching in his chair.

“Ewwwwww....”

Rouge raised an eyebrow, then dismissed his behavior as Knuckles being...Knuckles.

“Alright” she began, putting a new bag in the microwave and going through her list of songs. “Get ready....now!”

Knuckles cleared his throat as the melody of Sandopolis Act 2 started up.

“What the-- what's with the old music?”

“If you guys can do well to this kind of music, then you know you're good. Now stop wasting time!”

Knuckles snorted in retaliation but started saying what came to mind.

“You remind me of a ghost I saw once. In a dark temple with hardly any light, uh I saw you there. You were covered in a sheet, a dusky sheet. I went up to ask you if you had lost your mind being in such a place like this. Ghosts don't scare me, but I'm sure they scare you.”

“.... ....”

“I wanted to ask what you were doing there and you tole me you were dancing. Dancing for me. While this sounded crazy, I went along with it. Why turn down a pretty girl who's dancing for me? You weren't getting in my way, so I figured I could take a break.

“I punch you in the shoulder to say what's up and you kicked me back. I guess you were in a bad mood, but you usually are.

“Sometimes I think you're always having that time of the month or something, drives me crazy. Why can't you just say hello to me?

“But surprisingly, you grab me by the arm and pull me to really dark corner. I wonder what you're going to do to me

“Knowing you, you'd probably kick me again, but instead you kiss me. I have no idea where that came from, but I do the same.

“You move your arms around me slowly and I do too. Then you start moving your hands all over me. At first, I go along with it, but this is you and you can't be trusted! I figure you're going for my Master Emerald shards and my leg reacts on its own and connects my knee to your face to get you away from me.”

Rouge's expression hardened and she glanced at the microwave. 2 minutes left. “....”

Knuckles started to sweat at this and cleared his throat. “I-uh I mean...”

Groaning in irritation, Rouge stopped the music and the microwave.

“Finally it's over! Thank GOD!!” Amy shouted in relief.

Sonic chortled while Tails shook his head.

Around this time, Shadow came back into the room and sat down.

“I had a feeling he would go next... Heh, looks like I spared myself from listening to him.”

Rouge sighed and gave him a pleading look. “You have no idea.” she mouthed.

“So, how did I do?” Knuckles asked with a grin.

Rouge stared at him with an expressionless look on her face. Then she returned her attention to her notebook and gave him a numerical score. “Have a half-popped bag of popcorn, Knuckles.”

“Huh?”

“Think of it as a consolation prize.”

“A prize so early on, huh? Ha!” he laughed and tossed Shadow a threatening glare.

Shadow only rolled his eyes.

“So who's next?” Sonic asked, then he looked to Tails. “...I think you're too young for this whole game but, you seem like you're having fun.”

Tails nodded with a beaming smile. “I am!”

Amy narrowed her eyes at Tails and crossed her arms. “Sonic, why don't you go?”

He thought about it. “Ahh...yeah you're right! May as well get this over with!” he agreed still slouched in the chair.

“Then get yourself up and come...here.” Rouge commented with a smirk.

Sonic blushed but started to stand. “...Did you really have to say it like that? You're going to get me hurt!” he cried, glancing at a fuming Amy.

“Make it quick, Sonic.” Amy commanded in a menacing voice and Sonic cringed. “...Why do I always have to be such a nice guy? Oh well...!”

He took a seat in front of Rouge while she had gotten everything set up. Pressing a button on her ipod, the catchy tune of Mystic Mansion cued up.

Sonic immediately recognized the song and started dancing in the chair. “Aw yeah!! This is what I'm talking about!”

Rouge chuckled but gave him a look to get started.

“Let's see... Running across the girl of my dreams is...”

In a blurry pink dash, Amy zipped right in front of him. Her possessive green eyes glowered at him, making him stammer. “You had better be thinking about me...” she demanded, her voice 2 tones deeper than normal.

“I uh...” Nervous, he glanced to Rouge for some sympathy but she only pointed to the microwave.

Sighing, Sonic scratched his head, and held down his stomach's contents, as he focused on Amy and said his words to her.

“Th-the girl girl of my dreams is someone I...always....wanted to...come across. I...may not have much of any time to spend with her f-from being so busy, but if I did, I would love b-being with....with her...” He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment to block Amy out and calm down.

Then he reopened his eyes and tried his best to stay steady.

“...The girl of my dreams would be someone special. To show her how special she is to me, I'd give her anything she'd ask me to. If it was reasonable, of course. And I'd...even go on walks with her. ...Walks are so slow! But if she'd the best girl for me...I'd have to take things slow...”

“And how would you kiss me, Sonic?” Amy growled, earnestly awaiting a response.

Sonic started to sweat and his hands gripped the edges of the chair. “...I...I'd...close my eyes ...and imagine that something extremely painful wasn't staring back at me in the face and picture someplace peaceful like a flower field... A-And...”

“Oh, Sonic, you need to relax...” Amy assured, her voice freakishly soothing and tender. Happily, and with a blush streaking her cheeks, she went over to Sonic and sat lightly on his leg.

Sonic became deathly quiet and didn't move a muscle.

Amy moved closer pushing Sonic down and climbing on top of him.

"Sonic why don't you stop being scared and enjoy it." Amy whispered as she lowered her head and kissed him. Sonic stopped breathing and his cheeks grew redder than knuckles fur.

"Amy thats enough your scaring him." Rouge said from behind them. Sonic looked up and saw everybody looking at them smiling at them.

“....” Feeling nausea well up in him, the second he glanced at Amy, he disappeared.

He left so fast out of the room that only a dust cloud in his form was left behind.

With his support gone, Amy fell to the floor and rubbed her backside. “Owww, Sonic! That was too rough!”

No one said a word, but Knuckles burst out laughing.

Rouge sighed and stopped both devices and took the popcorn out.

“There goes another dud.” Then she looked at Amy. “I understand you desperately want Sonic to lose, but if you had just stayed out of this the outcome may have been different. I'd call him back out here, but I'd rather not disturb him ...puking his guts out...”

Amy glared at Rouge but stood up. She knew Rouge was right.

She's been interfering too much.

Grumbling, Rouge gave Sonic a number then pointed to Tails.

“Let's go, Fox-boy.”

“Coming!” he called and hopped into the seat in front of Rouge.

Without much care, Rouge tossed another bag in the microwave, set the timer and picked a song without paying attention.

J Holiday's Bed started up and she quickly turned it off. “Whoops...Wrong one! H-here you go, Fox-Boy.” she stammered, then recovered from her folly by playing Chrome Gadget instead. She figured it fit him.

Tails recognized the old song but didn't like it very much. But, he got into it nonetheless.

“If the girl of my dreams was here, I'd take her with me to a park someplace. We'd even hold hands. I think we'd have a good time. But before I took her back home, we'd have even more fun! Maybe we'd even go for a swim. Girls love getting wet, don't they?

Then we'd go get some ice cream! Girls love lots of cream too.

“Maybe if I treated her to a banana split, she'd give me some delicious pie! Mmm I love eating my pies hot and creamy! It's the best!

“After that, I'd take her back to her house and then go with her upto her room. We'd stay up alll night playing with each other until the sun came up.

“Even I'd get tired of playing video games THAT long. Whew! If she ever asked me to come again, I'd gladly take her--” he hiccuped “--up on her offer!”

Supposedly done, Tails' expression changed from inquisitive to innocently expectant. “So, how did I do, Miss Rouge?”

Before she could answer, he glanced at the microwave and realized the song was still playing.

“Oh no... I lost!” he pouted.

Rouge smiled faintly and jotted down his score. Turning off the music and stopping the microwave, she stood up.

“It's alright, Fox-Boy. This was a bit extreme for you. ...But I had to see if you really were innocent or pretending.”

He blinked. “Huh?”

Smiling warmly, she shook her head. “Oh forget it. Anyway, here are the scores: Shadow, you got a 5, Knuckles, you got a 3...” she glanced at him. “I should have given you worse than that for talking about kicking me, but it wasn't like you knew any better.”

Knuckles raised a suspicious eyebrow, but she continued on before he could protest. “Sonic...received a 4...” she trailed off, glancing at Amy, who turned up her nose at Rouge. “And Fox-Boy, you've got a ...uh... a 3.”

His eyes widened. “A 3? Oh no...!”

“Yeah, afraid so. You didn't hold out long enough, but you did put your best into something you hardly know anything about yet.”

“Oh...” Tails answered unsurely. “Is that a good thing?”

“Yes.”

“Oh okay!”

Nodding, Rouge glanced to Shadow.

Knowing what she wanted him for, he walked upto her and reached for the two remaining cards. Without reading them, he randomly picked one and looked at it.

Deleted scenes!

-Knuckles goes to pick a card.-

Ready to get started, but still curious to where she always pulled those cards from, Knuckles glanced at her top. Within seconds, his eyes dropped and nestled comfortably in her cleavage.

And Rouge took notice immediately. Irritated, but used to the unwanted attention, she placed a hand on her hip and dipped down to catch his eyes.

“Is there a problem?”

Realizing she was talking to him, Knuckles snapped out of it and laughed nervously. Then he slapped a mitt over his eye. “Uh, my contact! I think I lost my contact in there....just let me get it...!”

The moment he lifted his hand to her, a very loud and sickening crack was heard and even before Sonic or Shadow could react, Knuckles went sailing across the room.

“Hmph!” Rouge grunted, dusting off her hands. “That ought to have gotten through to him...! But somehow...I doubt it.”

-Sonic's turn at the event!-

Sonic froze while he watched Amy fiercely keep her eyes on him.

Shivering, he began to speak his words. “I...I'd like to take her...”

“Take me...”

“T-take...”

“...me... Say it Sonic! You WILL take ME!!” she yelled, pulling her hammer from out of nowhere and raising it high.

“Not again!” Sonic cried and dashed out of the workshop with Amy wildly swinging her hammer after him.

Rouge shook her head. “That girl has too many raging hormones. How long has she been 12??”

-Tails' turn at the event!-

“Whoops! Wrong song!” Rouge said with a hint of mistake in her voice.

“No, wait, keep it there, Miss Rouge, I like this song!”

Rouge raised an eyebrow and said nothing but let the song play.

As soon as he heard J Holiday's song start up, Tails began to jive with the melody and snap his fingers.

“Wanna put my fingers through your hair! Wrap me up in your legs!And love you till your eyes roll back! I'm tryin to put you to bed, bed, bed! I'ma put you to bed, bed, bed Then I'ma rock your body, turn you over. Love is war, I'm your soldier! Touching you like it's our first time!! I'ma put you to bed, bed, bed!! I'ma put you to bed, bed, bed!!!!”

Rouge couldn't help but laugh as everyone else in the room did the same.

“Maybe I should have thought of that...” Shadow muttered.