#waaaahh this was actually so fun thank you !!!!!

[willowser]

Stoooop now I have to ask what you think the other jobs are good matches for him?!?!

oh, fun, fun !!! though now that i'm thinking about it, they're all honestly very similar, just different Flavors (TM) LOL

my first and favorite one is you working as a lil' protégé of masaru !! and i like to hc that his job is still in fashion, but also in the hero world ?? so i put him as a designer of support items ! getting blue-prints of all the parts that are needed, making sure they're cohesive with the theme of a hero outfit while still being effective. and my favorite thing about this one is that you can write it as, like, someone that knows his family bc of it ? but you could also write it as strangers to lovers, or whatever. like i'd love to write a fic in which bakugou knows who you are because you've come to dinner parties and stuff at his parent's house, he's seen you in his dad's office — so like he knows OF you, and is maybe a little jealous of all the time you spend with his dad and how much masaru likes you LOL, but he doesn't know you personally, and then something would go from there.

my other favorite is, like i said, very similar, but it's being in actual hero costume design, and maybe working on his or something. a job that puts you working professionally with him, but not necessarily for him ?? but you two have to email and have meetings and you'll sketch what changes he wants to make. you're not actually making any of the support items, but you're working around the way they're designed so that it would still look good with his outfit. so it's almost like the sister-job to the previous one !! and i like this one because you can grow from a professional relationship to a romantic one, and you still sort of have that base connection with him.

and lastly, i will always have love for actual support item engineers. i think it works so well with bakugou bc i like to think he's someone that likes to know exactly how his equipment is made. he doesn't mind getting his hands dirty in order to get down to the wiring and what-have-you. if he had more time, he'd probably be in the lab with you, telling you how to do your job LOL and you could be chatting and shooting the shit while you're printing steel plates or something. you always leave the lab really late and maybe bakugou knows that so he comes to check and make sure you're LEAVING like you're SUPPOSED TO. and then maybe he buys you dinner bc he knows you worked through lunch 😌🩷✨️

like i said, all very much in the same vein !!! all three of these jobs would work in conjunction with each other LOL i think the creative aspect is really important bc i like to think it was such a huge part of bakugou's childhood, seeing his parents work. i just feel like fashion and aesthetics and design — that's natural for him to see, to watch someone study, to watch someone sketching designs or making blueprints on the computer, and so to have a partner that also works on those things would feel, idk, natural to him. i don't think ??? anything specific is mentioned about masaru's actual job in canon, but !! that's my lil spin on it !!!

i hope i made any of this make sense.....it makes sense in my head, but i might have butchered my explanation LOL but thank you for asking !!!! omg this was so fun to write about 😌😌😌🩷🩷🩷✨️✨️✨️✨️

[aversiteespabilas]

Ohh god, i can't just move on from that response im so back! I love info dumps, and boy do you deliver 😭🙏

Okay, the previous draft you had for the girls are fighting is so big brain, and honestly as a concept goes waaay too hard! But I see how it would look awkward in practice. You know, i really like that we can see Tetsu's face i think that was a good move, and it really does carry forward. I mean this is a moment that lowkey shaped the way Yusuke views Tetsuya and the Usagi at large (and arguably himself).

I kinda feel like your original idea still comes through though. I may be talking out of my ass, but hear me out: to Yusuke, Tetsuya exists as a living symbol of the Usagi. Having Tetsu literally stand above Yusuke places him in a weak submissive position, he's completely helpless and is being fully judged in what's probably one of his weakest moments. In Yusuke's mind, he IS being judged by the Usagi. We're literally watching Yusuke be turned away by THE symbol of the usagi. 

and by his brother…

It's almost biblical dude. And i think THATS why the outside framing hits. This is an incredibly intimate moment that feels…wrong to watch. The scene around us is practically Begging the audience to turn our gaze and spare Yusuke the embarrassment of being watched. but we still choose to push those bushes aside and take a peek…

i think you really nailed the vibe. and this is the OPENING CHAPTER??? this goes criminally hard, Rhin need to be LOCKED UP for this 😭

and…about the paws.

I feel youuuuuuu, the rabbits are so fluffy and soff i neeeeed to touchhhh. Im in the corner of a room rocking back and forth with my arms around my knees thinking about fluffy bunnies. 

I LOVELOVELOVE the rabbit shapesss, im gonna talk about it every time!!!! the paws, and their rabbit feet?? And their twitchy wittle wabbit noses 🥺🥺 their ears are probably sooo soft…just like…imagine how supple the skin under their ears are. I might explode.

two sexy furry-adjacent OCs getting dirty in the sheets? AWOOGA BARK BARK AWOOOOOO!!! and tetsu reaching for that cake?? honestly same, Toshi’s a baddie 😭🙏 but like…it's Genuinely a really pretty piece. i'm not educated enough on this stuff to really put what I'm thinking into words, but it really does look good, kudos!

IM LOVING H&H. I’m such a big fan of your stuff and i'm definitely on the H&H train 💗🙏 

anyways, as always thank you for sharing ur rabbits (and hares) i love the RRCU and i'm having so much fun watching you and Rhin play with the dolls!! There's so much to talk about, and i wish i had the brain power to do so 😭 but trust me, I'm seeing everything you guys put out and I'm having a ball!!

- 😎

WAAAAHH I love your take on that chapter and the illustration!! You're so right. At the time, Kyouhei (their dad) was still holding the Usagi-sama title, so in a sense they were both being held against the wall, but as future Family Head, Tetsuya had to make a decision to stand for the Usagi name. Regardless, Yusuke had always seen Tetsuya as a role model more than anybody else, and being rejected by their father didn't hurt nearly as much as being rejected by him. They're brothers, but they're twenty years apart and Yusuke spent much of his childhood at his house and under his care, so Tetsuya has practically been a father to Yusuke too, more so than Kyouhei was. You might have noticed we actually tend to refer to Tetsu as his brother-dad sometimes hgfgjh you'll be seeing more of that in the latest Sword Lifted chapters.

And also I agree with you! Chapter 1 goes criminally hard, it's so so poignant and still makes me absolutely insane, it actually hasn't changed significantly from how it was back in December 2023 when it was first written and most family lore was in progress/very vague. Fun fact, what is now Chapter 1 of a 45-chapter fic was actually a little one shot thing Rhin had meant as a gift for me, after a sudden collective episode of insanity and me drawing their Apoc Miyamoto (now Yusuke) with my own rabbits Yuki and Jojo.

Check out my genuine reaction:

There was plenty of screaming, plenty of "OHMYGOSH THEY'RE RELATEEEDDDD", plenty of gushing about each other's characters, plenty of lore-adjusting and giggles about there being two Jotaros, and before we knew it we had a whole plot staring at us in the face. At the time, Rhin had been meaning to write something about their version of Usagi in the Good timeline, where he was not Leo's partner but Kenichi and Mariko's. All of that converged into the RRCU as we know it today!

The reason we're each taking care of a different "timeline" is merely that Leo's established partner in each of our canon verses (Run O' The Mill Verse and Covetverse) was different, as well as other stuff going on with the Hamatos, so in Run O' The Mill Rabbit, Leo ends up as Yuki's partner, whereas in Covet (the Good one), Leo's partner is a human named Juan, and in Soft Apoc (Covet's Bad one) Resistance Leader Leo is dating an older, rugged Yusuke who goes by the name of Miyamoto. That means in the Covetverse, and by extension SL, Yuki's romantic partner is Cooper the dog instead. It's an adjustment that just needed to happen, BUT! Save for a couple of events, the canon lore of the Usagi family remains consistent and exactly the same. In fact, everything that's been written so far in H&H and everything we know about Yusuke's life before meeting Yuki at the bar, including the Girls Are Fighting scene, happens in exactly the same way. The timeline thing adds a big element of fun because Rhin and I can both build from the same lore but still surprise each other about how things happen and do it our own way, hehehe~

Man, now you got me infodumping about timelines and stuff- It's a bit confusing, I know! But there's really not that much of a difference when it comes to the rabbits, they're the same characters in just slightly different circumstances. H&H will only diverge from SL's canon in its very last chapter, and I'll add a little note about it when that happens. ANYWAY! That was all to say that SL's chapter 1 went criminally hard for a REASON! It was meant to be a standalone thing to narratively cement the connection between all our characters, and I hold it forever like the freaking treasure it is!

Moving on to paws/feet, I LOVE drawing them, and in fact I love it so much that I keep drawing my characters barefoot even when it would make a lot more sense for them to wear shoes dfjghjhh in fact Rhin often writes them wearing and taking off their shoes and in my art I always gracefully ignore the shoes, apologies for that! Other times I'll put sandals on them, or otherwise shoes that leave their toesies free, which is honestly hilarious but also HAVE YOU WATCHED ZOOTOPIA?? They know what I'm talking about. We deserve to see their cute giant feet and I'll stop now before I get pointed at-

Actually hold on, that "tetsu reaching for that cake" made me cackle jdfgjdjkg HE DOES LOVE SWEETS okay I stop now

Always and forever thank you for the interest you show and for these wonderful comments, it TRULY makes us bounce off the roofs every time! I often find myself posting stuff and wondering "what Sunny will think of this one", hehehe

Have a delightful day, friend!! <3

[actualbird]

Finally caught up and read the entire polycule piece! Loved it 😁 Especially...

- Vyn seeing how many ways he could make Giann squirm in the span of one conversation

- Giann pretty much having 'Dinkelberg' moments for Luke ever since they had their talk

- Artem being the one who finally starts to crack Giann's 'This is Fine' (TM) shell

- Ria definitely being the leader of the polycule

- Von Hagen Brother Supremacy (TM)

- Neil's turn for fun discussions 😈

Wondering though...in the polyverse the other important NPCs in relation to the NXX members (i.e. Celestine, Kiki, Baldr lawyers, Zangr), do they know? If they do, how and when did they find out? And if not, do they at least have a feeling?

waaaahh, hullo hullo!! thank u for reading "standard operating procedure (x4 speedrun)" and im glad you enjoyed it :DDD

writing vyn from a non-vyn POV is so fun because yea, i think it'd among his Most Common Attacks in a conversation, esp he actually considers the other person a friend.

SHIT. UR RIGHT ABOUT GIANN'S DINKELBERG MOMENTS AHFJASHJSHDF that fits so wELL

giann to artem: congratulations, btw artem: huh. for what giann: //offers him a shittily made paper badge that said "Got Giann To Ponder Emotional Vulnerability. Maybe. Still, That's Impressive" artem: did...you make this? giann: no, marius did, and hes making me give it to you >:/

mc is the best!!! shes gets the ball rolling, shes the glue tht keeps the team together, and shes also the PRETTIEST. sorry boys, but these r just facts

when neil finds out, he's half convinced hes still in a coma and is having a fever dream ajhsvkkjVKJHSVDK

as for ur q: first off, zaNGR??????? ok wait lemme circle back to him later

the close friends deffo know!!! celestine for artem, kiki for mc, aaron for luke, uhhhhh vyn's plants for vyn LMAO. vincent is also considered a close friend to marius, so he knows too. hell, vincent was told about the polycule sitch before any marius' immediate family

giann: wAIT WHAT

marius: what?

giann: you havent told dad????

marius: i dont waaNNAAAAAA, hes gonna be so embarassing, embarassing raised to the power of Four to take everybody into account

giann: ive got a feeling thats gonna blow up in your face eventually

marius: thats a problem for future!me

as for ppl not really close to the team, they arent told explicitly. like, it's none of ingrid rosworth's business, why she saw artem "stick up his ass, saving eye contact for marriage" wing being Very physically affectionate with like, several different people at several different instances. it's none of her business and none of anybody's businesses, but people are curious and make all sorts of theories

none of these theories circulate though. and neither of them ask. because have you met this grp of ppl?? theyve all got the capability to be incredibly scary and/or make ur life hell.

the citizens of stellis do not have a death wish KJAHVSKJFHAS

[osakaso5]

Ryunosuke Tsunashi Ordinary Days Rabbit Chat Part 5: Ryunosuke's Birthday Party

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Ryunosuke: Good evening! Tenn and Gaku got me a cake!

Tsumugi: Wow! That's a gorgeous birthday cake! Happy birthday, Tsunashi-san!

Tsumugi: Ah! This cake is from Mitsuki-san and Iori-san's family's shop!

Ryunosuke: Really!? They just told me that they got it from a place that's famous for their delicious cakes!

Tsumugi: I actually told Gaku-san about the shop when he asked me for recommendations!

Tsumugi: I knew your birthday was close, so I held back from giving you my birthday wishes in case they had a surprise planned for you...

Tsumugi: Again, happy birthday, Tsunashi-san!

Ryunosuke: Ah, really!? I feel bad that you had to hold back because of me...

Ryunosuke: But thank you! I'm really happy for your birthday wishes!

Tsumugi: U-um, would you mind if I made a bit of a rude request..?

Ryunosuke: What is it?

Tsumugi: Could you send me another picture of yourself?

Tsumugi: A-actually, nevermind!

Tsumugi: As someone who works closely with the copyrights of performers, that was inappropriate of me to ask!

Tsumugi: Please, forget I ever said anything!

Ryunosuke: Ah, but I already sent it...

Tsumugi: Waaaahh..! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!

Ryunosuke: Why did you want a picture of me?

Tsumugi: I'm sorry, I forgot to tell you that I was a TRIGGER fan!

Ryunosuke: Really!?

Tsumugi: I'm really sorry! I shouldn't have abused my power like this! I'll just give it one nice look and delete it! No, I should just delete it without looking!

Tsumugi: Alright, that's a lie! I'll probably take a look anyway! But I will delete it, as much as it breaks my heart to do so...

Ryunosuke: It's fine! I see, so you're our fan. I'm getting a little embarrassed (lol)

Ryunosuke: Who did you like the most?

Choices/outcomes:

1. You...

Ryunosuke: Huh!? Really!?

Ryunosuke: I'm so happy to hear that!

Ryunosuke: Since you're my fan, I should've acted a little cooler around you.

2. Gaku-san...

Ryunosuke: Gaku's a cool guy, after all! He'd be happy to hear that!

3. Kujo-san...

Ryunosuke: Oh, I see!

Ryunosuke: In that case, you probably should've met him outside of work.

Ryunosuke: Tenn can be strict on people who work with him, but he's really nice to fans.

Ryunosuke: Here, I'll send you one more picture.

Tsumugi: Ah..! Thank you so much! I'll make it my most valued possession!

Ryunosuke: That's a little much (lol)

Tsumugi: Your flushed cheeks are cute...

Ryunosuke: I've been drinking (lol) I'll send you a cooler picture once I've sobered up. I'm not very good at selfies.

Tsumugi: Thank you! Thank you so much!!! I hope you have a fun birthday party!

Ryunosuke: Would you like to come over, too?

Tsumugi: H-huh!? May I really!?

Ryunosuke: Of course!

Ryunosuke: Come before I pass out, so I can hear your birthday wishes directly. 

Translator’s notes..? 

next up, tenn’s rehearsal showtime rabbit chats! 

[octo-hyacinth]

HI HELLO UWU ITS ME AGAIN, the chronically ill anon(maybe I’ll just call myself Sleepy? That’s shorter lol). Just popping in to say thank you for answering the request, it was perfect🥺👉👈 and no worries on the length of time it takes to complete or answer requests, this is a thing that’s supposed to be fun, so there’s never any pressure on my end if I make a request! Your writing is well worth the wait. Much Love! -Sleepy🌙✨

WAAAAHH THANK YOU SLEEPY, YOURE SO KIND!! <3333 im so glad you thought it was perfect omg this actually made me so happy wow

[timmy-the-madfox]

Sorry everyone. I know it's been a while since I last posted. But I've got that SonAmy short story I was working on finished (finally! 😅).

I'm going to post the whole thing below, but before I do, please remember the following:

1) This story does contain moments of silliness.

2) I'm not naturally a writer so, fair warned, this story may be cheesy verging on cringe.

3) Although Tails, Knuckles and Sally Acorn are mentioned in the story, they do not actually star in it.

And with that out of the way, enjoy!

Awakening – A SonAmy short story by Madfox_Timmy:

It didn’t happen so very long ago, though it’s true this story did happen in the past.

In a small village, located a few miles to the south of the big city, there lived a cute young lady named Amelia Rose. She was a cheerful person, full of energy and always happy to help her friends. But the one thing she hungered for was adventure.

Amelia, or Amy as she was affectionately known had no shortage of admirers in her village, but she only really had eyes for the handsome youth whose heroic adventures were legendary the world over. That youth, known for his blue spines, cool trainers and his ability to run at insanely high speeds, went by the name Sonic.

The story begins on an ordinary day in the village. Amy sat at her dresser running a comb through her quiff while pondering what errands she needed to run that day. Setting the comb down on the dresser and placing her red hairband on her head, she thought back to a meeting she’d had with Sonic in the village the day before.

***

“Hey Ames!”

“Oh, Hi Sonic!” Amy waved, and walked quickly over, “How’s it going?”

“Pretty good. I just got delivery of my car from Planet Wisp.”

“You mean the car you won in that Team Racing event you entered with Tails and Knuckles? Cool!” Amy’s tail started to wag excitedly, as it always did when she got into conversations with Sonic, “I wish I could have been there with you guys. Team Racing sounds like great fun!”

Sonic chuckled and scratched an imaginary itch behind his right ear, “Tell ya what Ames, you’re too young now, but when you’re a little older, how about I teach you how to drive? Then maybe you could join our racing team one day.”

“F…For real?” Amy’s eyes went wide, and her tail started to wag furiously, “You’d do that for me?”

“Well…” Sonic’s chuckle turned a bit nervous, “…I can hardly say no to my biggest fan now, can I?”

“WAAAAHH!” Amy leapt at Sonic and pulled him into a hug, “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”

“Ames! Ames! Chill! Ok?” Sonic laughed.

At that point, anyone in the village square spectating would have seen a blue male hedgehog and a pink female hedgehog laughing together.

***

Smiling at the memory, Amy returned the comb to its place on the dresser and stood, straightening her red dress. With a sigh that not even the freshness of her happy memory could prevent her from expelling, Amy left her bedroom mentally creating a list of what she had to do that day.

‘Get some fresh fruit and vegetables in. Check in on Sonic to make sure he hasn’t got his big toe stuck in the bath tap (again!). Pick up old Mr. Lightfoot’s library books and return them. Oh, and I owe Cream’s mother 5 dollars, don’t I?’

Amy picked up her basket from her table, and checking the contents of her purse, left her home to pursue her errands.

A little while later, having repaid Cream’s mother, returned old Mr. Lightfoot’s library books and purchased some fruit, vegetables, bread, butter and, because she occasionally liked to treat herself, a nice piece of fish from Big the Cat’s village store, Amy was returning home with her basket of shopping, when she ran into Sonic.

“Hey Amy!”

“Oh, Hi Sonic!”

“Heading home with your shopping, huh?” Sonic took the basket from Amy, “Let me carry that for you.”

“Th… thanks!” Amy blushed slightly, but a massive smile found its way onto her face.

Walking into Amy’s house, Sonic set the basket down on the table and was looking at the contents with a slight degree of confusion, while Amy set her purse down on a small set of drawers. Without even turning to look at him, she started to talk, “The bread goes in the breadbin in the kitchen, the butter and the fish can go in the fridge for now, there’s a bowl on the table there for the fruit, I’ll handle the vegetables.”

In the time it took Amy to turn around and walk to the table, a blur of blue motion ceased, causing her curtains to gently sway, Sonic stood on the other side of the table grinning and the bowl in the centre was now full of fruit.

Amy mock pouted and stuck her tongue out, “Show off!”

“Lady Amelia, you wound me!” Sonic replied with a feigned wince, and within moments the pair of them were chuckling.

“You dork!” Amy smiled and carried the now much lighter basket into the kitchen. “Wanna stay for lunch?” As soon as the words had escaped her lips, Amy wanted to suck them back in, ‘Baby smooth Amelia!’ She thought to herself, but any embarrassment she felt was quickly quashed by Sonic’s hesitant response.

“I’d… love to Ames, but I can’t.” after a short pause, “I’ve been called to the city. Princess Sally has a mission for me. That’s what I was coming to tell you.”

Amy felt a pang of frustration, but quashed it as she finished storing her vegetables and turned to face him, “Jimbotnik’s causing mischief again?”

“She didn’t say, but… who else?”

“Well… guess it can’t be helped. You’ve got to answer the call.” Amy walked over to Sonic, “Be careful. Be safe.” She pulled him into a hug, “and come back to us in one piece.”

Sonic surprised her a little by planting a small kiss on her cheek, “You know I will.” And then he disappeared, the only sign of him being in Amy’s house at all being the slight movement of a drinking mug that had happened to be on the kitchen countertop.

Amy stared at the space Sonic had been standing in for a few seconds, then decided that it might be a nice idea to head to the park for lunch.

***

It was a pleasant midday in the park. The sun beat down on the waters of the lake, creating a pretty sparkle effect on the surface. A slight breeze came in from the East, making the temperature comfortably warm.

Over the lake’s waters themselves, the chao could be seen playing. On the west side of the park, some of the village’s young people were playing a game of football. Everywhere people could be seen walking about, just going about their day.

After purchasing a coffee and a sandwich from a food van parked at the edge of the lake, Amy took a seat on one of the benches under shady trees and watched the world go by.

She’d been thus engaged for an indeterminate time, when she was gently taken out of her reverie by the sound of a familiar voice.

“Hi Amy!”

“Oh, Hi Big!” Amy jumped up from the bench, “Closed the shop for the day, huh?”

“Yep!” The titan feline nodded, “Now me and Froggy are goin’ fishing.” Big held out his fishing rod and Amy, having done this many times before, held out her hand for the frog that was Big’s near constant companion to jump into.

“Ribbit.” Froggy said, moments after landing in Amy’s hand.

“Heh, heh! Hello to you too, Froggy.”

Amy reached up to allow Froggy to jump back onto Big’s shoulder, “Well, you two enjoy your fishing.”

“Thanks Amy.” Big walked casually by and made his way towards the lake.

Amy decided to take a walk around the park before heading back into the village. On the way out of the park, she met one of her closest friends, Cream the Rabbit, and her mother Vanilla.

“Hello Mrs. Rabbit.” Amy curtsied, and then to Cream, “Hi Cream!”

“Hi Amy!” The young rabbit girl beamed at Amy. “How are you today?”

“Pretty good, thank you Cream. I’ll be heading over to Sonic’s house in a little while. Princess Sally has got another mission for him, and I want to make sure he hasn’t left his Chaos Emeralds behind. You know what he’s like.”

Cream turned to Vanilla, “Mother, can we go with Amy to Mr. Sonic’s house?”

Vanilla smiled, “Okay, why not?”

“Yay!” Cream leapt into the air and her pet chao, Cheese, circled around the three of them making happy noises. But as Cream landed, her expression turned worried, “Mother, look out!”

Before Amy knew what she was doing, she’d positioned herself between Cream, Vanilla and the football heading their way. She caught the errant ball mere moments before the youngsters that had been playing with it caught up.

“You guys watch where you’re shooting, okay?”

“We’re sorry Miss Amy.” One of the kids replied.

“It’s alright. Nobody was hurt, but be more careful, ‘kay?” Amy smiled and performed an energetic example of a “Throw in”. As the kids chased after their ball, Amy turned back to her friends, “Okay, I’m going to head back to mine to pick up a couple of things. Meet me at Sonic’s house in half an hour?”

Cream nodded, “Okay! See you there.”

The three left the park and went to their respective homes.

***

About 30 minutes later, Amy, Cream and Vanilla met up in the village and began the short walk to Sonic’s house. As they approached, they could see the car that Sonic had won in the Planet Wisp GP parked outside. Sleek, curved lines with fins reminiscent of a hedgehog’s spines at the rear, coloured in a light blue that seemed to change shade depending on how the light hit the vehicle.

Their admiration was cut short though as a small, bug like robot travelling on a single wheel exited Sonic’s house, paused, seemingly looked straight through the three friends and proceeded to exit the village heading East.

“That was one of Mr. Jimbotnik’s robots!” Cream exclaimed.

“Yes.” Amy replied thoughtfully, “a Moto – Bug, if I’m not mistaken.” She looked in the direction of Sonic’s house and noticed that the front door stood ajar, “I don’t like this. I don’t like it at all. Let’s investigate.”

Cautiously with Amy leading, they walked up to the house and Amy slowly pushed open the door.

The scene that confronted them was as follows:

The room was littered with magazines, empty food packets, a frisbee. Balanced precariously but very accurately on one of the blades of a ceiling fan appeared to be a disposable soft drink cup.

“Oh no! That robot trashed Mr. Sonic’s home.”

“Actually Cream… this is what it’s usually like. Sonic may be handsome, heroic, charming and very, very clean, but he can’t look after a house for beans.” Amy replied. “I just hope that Moto – Bug didn’t find the Chaos Emeralds. Let’s find them.”

***

“There are five hiding places in this house.” Amy told her companions, “The secret compartment in the couch, the space behind that picture of Sonic and me on the wall, the space under the hollow floorboard, there’s a false book on the bookshelf with a secret compartment in it, and the space under the stairs. We’re looking for a wooden dovetail box with red velvet in the lid.”

“Okay Amy,” Cream replied, “let’s start looking.”

Five minutes later, Amy hit the unwanted jackpot by finding the box behind the picture of her and Sonic on the wall. Sighing (she had been hoping that Sonic would remember to take the box with him), she withdrew the box with a degree of reverence, carried it over to Sonic’s desk, itself littered with maps, notes and a custom postcard he’d had made with a photo of Amy and him taken when they’d had a short holiday to Emerald Coast, which Sonic hadn’t entirely ruined by scrawling the words “We woz ‘ere” in one corner, and opened the lid.

Seven emeralds, each a different colour of the rainbow, sparkled from within the confines of the box.

“Oooh! They’re so pretty!” Cream said in appreciation.

Amy sighed again and closed the lid. Taking the box to her chest, she had a bit of a flashback to the time Sonic had rescued her from Miracle Planet.

“I wish I could go adventuring with Sonic!” she suddenly burst out in frustration, bouncing up and down, “I wish! I wish! I wish!”

While she was thus engaged, the lid of the box accidently popped open, and the blue emerald was ejected from the box. “Oops!”

Cream caught the emerald from the air. There was a momentary blinding flash, and when Amy and Vanilla’s vision cleared, Cream appeared to stand before them at seven feet tall, with much longer fur and viciously sharp looking teeth and claws.

Amy laughed nervously, “Cream… are you OK?”

Before Cream could respond, Vanilla said, “Cream, place that emerald back into its box.” Not a command, not even a request. More of a statement than anything.

“Yes mother,” Cream replied in her normal voice.

With the utmost of care, Cream slid the blue emerald back into its compartment within the box and closed the lid. There was a further momentary blinding flash, and when this one cleared Cream appeared before Amy and Vanilla as her normal self.

“That was fun Amy, but please be more careful with Mr. Sonic’s treasure jewels.”

“You’re right, I’m sorry.”

The three friends started to laugh, but then the telephone rang.

***

“Sonic Hedgehog’s residence, Amy Rose speaking.”

“This is Commander Elmsworth, of His Majesty’s Secret Service. May I speak with Sonic Hedgehog please?”

“I’m afraid he isn’t here Commander… in point of fact, I thought he was with your people.”

“We lost contact with him about ten minutes ago ma’am. He was last seen headed back towards your location. We’re rather concerned.”

“Thank you for letting us know, Commander, I have some idea of where he may have gone, we’ll look into it.” Amy replaced the receiver in its cradle.

She inhaled deeply before speaking again, “OK, I’m going out to look for him.”

“Mother, can I go with Amy to look for Mr. Sonic?”

Vanilla looked doubtful.

“I promise to take good care of her, Mrs. Rabbit”

Cream’s mother finally smiled, “Well… OK then Cream, but you are to do anything Amy tells you to, is that understood?”

“Yay!” Cream leapt into her mother’s arms and hugged her tightly, “Thank you mother. I promise I’ll do everything Miss Amy says.”

“Alright then. You two go and look for Sonic, I’ll clean this place up a bit and arrange a hero’s diner for when you get back. Oh, and Amy?” Vanilla brought a backpack over to Amy, “I’d take the box of emeralds with you.”

***

“Where should we start looking Amy?” Cream asked as the two friends left Sonic’s house.

“I have an idea where he’s gone. But first, we’ll ask old Mr. Lightfoot if he saw anything. He’s usually working in his garden and sees all the people coming and going from the village, so that should be a good place to start.”

The two friends started for the Lightfoot residence, on the east side of the Village.

They arrived at the Lightfoot house in short order. True to Amy’s word, Mr. Lightfoot was at work tending his garden.

“Hello Mr. Lightfoot!” Amy called.

The old rabbit looked up from his work and smiled broadly. “Hello there, ladies.”

“How’s your back?” Amy asked.

“It’s doing OK, thank you Amy. You ladies look like you’re in a hurry, what can I do for you?”

“We’re looking for Mr. Sonic,” Cream replied, “have you seen him, Mr. Lightfoot?”

“I saw him a little while ago actually.” The old rabbit looked thoughtful, “he was in a tearing hurry, I can tell you that. He passed by here heading East, until he ran into young Ampleforth.”

There was something about the way the old rabbit said “Ampleforth” that seemed to add, “That damned fool.”

“I’m not sure why young Sonic was in such a hurry heading out this way though, nothing East of here but Jimbotnik’s scrapyard.” He took out a handkerchief and mopped his brow, “If I were you, ladies, I’d head over to young Ampleforth’s shack. It’s just a few minutes’ walk down here and ask him what he wanted to talk to Sonic about. A word of caution though. He’s taken to watching insects from his shack. Don’t let him suck you into that, you’ll be there all day.”

“Thanks Mr. Lightfoot! We’ll do that.” Amy smiled and both she and Cream gave a small bow.

“A pleasure to help, as always ladies.” The old rabbit smiled, “You take care out there now.”

Amy and Cream left him to his gardening tasks as they headed for the shack of Ampleforth.

***

A few minutes’ walk out of the village, Cream and Amy arrived at a small allotment area. Though… perhaps describing it as an allotment may be being overly generous. The Lightfoot Garden, for instance, was neat, tidy and a testament to the dedication of a keen gardener.

This allotment, however, was a stark contrast. Everything was overgrown. Weeds everywhere and strangely, a chocolate éclair perched on top of some crumbling marble that may, at some point in the past, have been a water feature.

From a dilapidated shed in the centre of the allotment a ragged figure of a beagle emerged.

“Hi Mr. Ample…” Cream began.

“Sssshhh!” Ampleforth cut her off, “Come inside here quickly!”

The three of them raced into the shed and gazed through a grimy window out at the crumbling marble that Amy and Cream had noticed moments before.

“See, you two!” Ampleforth exclaimed, “A super rare giant caterpillar, right there on my old fountain!”

A few moments of silence passed, then Cream spoke, “Urrm, Mr. Ampleforth? Why are we looking at a chocolate éclair?”

“Is that what it is?” Ampleforth turned away from the window, “Oh Teacakes!” He started towards the shed door, “I’ve been watching that for five days!”

Amy and Cream looked to each other for a moment, before shrugging and following Ampleforth out of the shed.

***

“We’re looking for Sonic,” Amy said as they emerged from the allotment shed, “We heard that he’d spoken to you a little while ago.”

“Oh, Nippy McQuickface? Yes, he passed by here about 45 minutes ago. Asked me if I knew what Jimbotnik was up to… which is odd, because the old nut was here yesterday.”

“Oh?” Amy replied with interest.

“Yes, he kept going on about a golden ring and fish.”

“Fish?”

“Yep fish. I don’t understand either. Anyway, your gentleman friend headed off to Jimbotnik’s hideout.”

“The Scrapyard?”

“That’s the one,” Ampleforth said and led them out to the lane. “See that place up on the hill in the distance?” He pointed Eastward, “That’s the scrapyard. You could probably walk there in an hour or so.”

“Thanks!” Amy replied.

“Thank you, Mr. Ampleforth,” Cream did a small curtsy.

“Ah no problem, ladies. Take care now.”

“Bye bye.”

Cream waved as she and Amy started the walk to Jimbotnik’s scrapyard.

***

About 40 minutes later…

“So… did Mr. Sonic really get his big toe stuck in the bath tap?” Cream asked as they passed through the scrapyard gates.

“Yep. Twice. To be honest, it’s sometimes hard to trust him with certain things.” Amy’s voice trailed off as she looked around the scrapyard.

At a casual glance, the place wouldn’t look that different to any other scrapyard. There were gutted shells of wrecked cars over here, there was a huge pile of appliances that didn’t even pretend to be in going order, there was even the odd piece of heavy machinery that Amy was fairly certain hadn’t been moved for a decade or more.

It was only when you looked closer that you could see that experiments had been conducted on the discarded items in the yard. The purposes of these experiments neither Amy or Cream could even begin to guess at, but one that really stood out was a collection of three washing machines welded together and fashioned onto the running gear of a car and what appeared to be the rear arm of a backhoe in the centre and the business end of a harvester attached to the front.

The mid-afternoon sun cast shadows from some of the piles of scrap, giving the slightly worrying illusion that some of the conjoined machinery was just waiting to pounce upon an unsuspecting passer-by.

“This place is kind of creepy Amy.”

“Yeah, I hear you Cream. Let’s head over to that workshop. Betcha money that’s where Sonic went.”

The workshop Amy referred to stood in the centre of the scrapyard. It stood as a single floor building with several garage style doors. In a pervious life one could image that the building had been used to work on vehicles.

The leftmost door stood open. Amy led slightly on their way in.

The workshop had, of course, been long abandoned. The largely empty space contained only a rusty car lift, empty shelves and a pile of waterlogged cardboard boxes in one corner of the room.

To the left of the car lift, a trapdoor stood open revealing a set of stairs leading below ground. Looking down, Amy and Cream could see that the stairs lead to an underground passage, into which electric light spilled from an unseen source.

“I guess we head downstairs?”

“Yes. Let me go in front Cream but stay close.”

Cautiously, Amy led the way below ground.

As they stepped off the bottom riser, they found themselves in a short corridor that led up to a metal door painted green, which stood ajar. The light they had seen at the top of the stairs came from the room beyond the door. On the floor sat a small cloth bag that Amy recognised.

Picking it up, she saw the back contained several gold rings. “Sonic,” she said quietly, “What am I going to do with you?”

“Is that… Mr. Sonic’s bag of rings?”

Amy simply nodded in reply.

Moving silently, they crept up to the door and Amy, signalling for Cream to wait, peeked through the opening.

What she saw was a mad-scientist’s lair. A large room lit by fluorescent tube lights, most of the floor space was taken up with tables that were heavily loaded up with scientific equipment. Test tubes in racks, Bunsen burners, electrical testing equipment, microscopes and multiple other things that she had no idea of their name, let alone their function.

Across the room was another door, this one closed… and there manacled to the wall, stood Sonic. Head bowed, with his eyes shut. He didn’t appear to be hurt, but Amy could see he wasn’t particularly happy.

For some reason she couldn’t explain at the time, she was greatly relieved to see the rise and fall of his chest.

Turning away from the door, Amy knelt to Cream’s height, “Sonic’s here. Looks like he’s OK, but I can’t see Jimbotnik anywhere.” Removing the backpack, Amy took out the box of Chaos Emeralds and handed it to Cream. “I’m going in, but I want you to wait here. Keep an eye on the door, when I give you the sign, bring the box over to me and Sonic. I don’t know when Jimbotnik is going to come back for Sonic, so stay low, OK? Use the tables to hide behind if you have to.”

“OK.” Cream smiled, “I’ll wait for your sign Amy. But please be careful.”

Amy grinned, and with only a slight squeak of hinges, pushed the door open just enough to allow her entry.

***

“Welp, this is embarrassing.” Sonic said to no one in particular.

It should have been a routine mission. Princess Sally had asked him to go to Jimbotnik’s scrap yard and discover what the scientist was doing to cause a massive decline in fish stocks in and around the dock are of the city.

There had been outlandish reports from the fishermen of their boats being attacked by schools of robotic fish. Fortunately, no boats or lives had been lost yet, but the fleet had suffered heavy damage. The Princess had called on Sonic because of his previous dealings with the scientist to investigate.

It should have been straightforward, but as Sonic had made his way down to the laboratory underneath the scrapyard, gas had leaked into the access corridor and knocked him out. When he woke up, he found himself shackled to the wall of Jimbotnik’s laboratory while the man himself paced up and down ranting about Herring.

“I could really use some help.” Sonic murmured.

“You rang?” A cheerful, energetic, and hauntingly familiar voice replied.

Sonic snapped his eyes open “Ames? What are you doing here?”

“SSSHHHHHH! Keep it down!”

“How’d you know I was here?”

“Cream and I asked around,” Amy replied, reaching for one of her hair pins, “Ampleforth told us you were headed out this way, so… we followed your trail.” Amy inserted the hairpin into the lock of the cuff around Sonic’s right wrist and began to attempt to pick the lock.

“I never knew you could do that, Ames.”

“Well now Sonic,” Amy winked at him, “A girl has to have some secrets now, doesn’t she?”

Amy had managed to release the locks on Sonic’s right wrist and ankle, but then footsteps could be heard from above. Amy dashed over to the centre table of the laboratory, signalling Cream with a slight movement of her own right hand as she went.

Arriving at the table, she saw Cream duck stealthily behand one of the tables at the back of the room, completely out of sight.

Good girl. She thought to herself and picked up a book, that appeared to be one of Jimbotnik’s scientific journals, and started to read aloud.

“Robo-herring:

Constructed from an aluminium / titanium composite, these fascinating specimens mimic the behaviours and habits of their natural counterparts perfectly. With reinforcing adjustments to their fins and teeth, they could be effectively weaponised.

They have been observed to foam shoals entirely of their own volition, and have even been seen to communicate…”

“…by way of the Fast Repetitive Tick.” A man’s voice finished the sentence for her. “Also known as the FRT. I never knew you studied flatology Amelia.” From the now open door on the far side of the laboratory, Jimbotnik stepped into the room.

A tall, svelte man, with perhaps the very beginnings of a slight paunch, Jimbotnik was dressed almost entirely in black, his outfit consisting of a long lab coat, a black t – shirt and trousers. His sleek black hair, showing signs of thinning, complemented his trademark moustache. “You never told me you’d invited a guest, Sonic. Had I known Miss Amelia was coming, I’d have laid on refreshments.”

“Jimbotnik.”

The scientist took a bow, “Your humble servant, Miss Amelia.”

“Humble? Hardly. My servant? Never. But you are here, so I suppose that’s something.”

“You’ve grown to be quite an opinionated young lady. I like that about you.” Jimbotnik walked towards the table Amy stood at. Amy quickly adjusted her position to ensure that the table remained between herself and Jimbotnik the whole time. As she did so, she could almost hear Sonic’s voice in her head.

“Ames, keep him talking. Buy Cream time.”

“You have been busy.” Amy said as sweetly as she could muster.

“Thank you. The work is hard, but it is fulfilling.”

“What’s this gadget?” Ask asked, picking up from the table a device that looked like a standard laser pointer. She pressed the only button she could see on the device and a tightly focussed beam of pink light shot from the end of the device and struck Jimbotnik in the centre of his forehead.

There was a slight squeak from Jimbotnik, a sound of frustration more than anything, and then he continued to pursue Amy around the table, but now he did so through the medium of song and dance. Though the dance was familiar to Amy, the words of the song gave it away. Jimbotnik’s expression revealing that the dancing and singing was completely involuntary.

“Let’s all do the Conga! The Conga’s getting longer! La la la la la, hoy! La la la la la…”

If ever a Conga isn’t getting any longer, it’s that one! Amy thought to herself, trying her hardest not to laugh. She let the device fall to the table on instinct. Jimbotnik, more through luck than anything else, managed to knock the button on the device with his elbow in passing, seeming to deactivate the effects it had over him.

“This device,” he said irritably, “was responsible for the Congathon two years ago. A little practical joke of mine… Well, I thought it was funny anyway.”

“Fascinating,” Amy pointed to a rectangular device with a dark screen and a couple of dials behind him, “What about that device over there?”

Jimbotnik raised his left eyebrow, “It’s a microwave oven. It cooks food. All of this is…”

He got no further. There was a blinding flash of light from behind Amy. Sonic howled mightily, and when the light faded away, Sonic stood next to Amy, though at the moment, he appeared to stand at a height comparable to Jimbotnik, his body covered in fur, his muscles rippling and his teeth and claws sharp.

The werehog stood, ready to defend Amy and Cream, who had appeared at Amy’s left.

“Nice work Cream!” Amy smiled broadly and gave Cream a thumbs up.

“Ah, ha ha ha!” Cream laughed, a slight blush on the go.

“Merde!” Jimbotnik exclaimed and ran for the door he’d entered the laboratory through.

“After him!” Sonic’s voice sounded deeper in his werehog form.

The three friends charged after Jimbotnik.

***

The door Jimbotnik had escaped through led to a set of stairs, leading up to a workshop not entirely dissimilar to the one Amy and Cream had passed through earlier, but this one had no South facing wall, opening out onto the Junkyard. The only thing in the workshop was a huge robot, standing at about 10 metres tall, styled crudely in Jimbotnik’s image.

The man himself was nowhere to be seen.

“Where’d he go?” Amy asked.

No sooner had the question escaped he lips then the eyes of the robot lit the space brightly. “Right here, Miss Amelia.”

Sonic moved to stand in front of Amy and Cream, ready to defend, poised to attack the robot. Amy sidestepped to Sonic’s right and drew level with him. They looked to each other and nodded as a moment passed between them.

As Sonic tensed to spring towards the robot, Amy acted on instinct. She curled into a ball and started to spin on the spot. As Sonic launched himself at the robot, so too did Amy.

Both hedgehogs struck the robot’s midsection, Sonic perhaps leading slightly, with explosive force. Metal tore, components popped and sizzled, steam rose, and the entire contraption collapsed to the floor of the workshop in countless pieces.

In the time it took Cream to see all this, Sonic and Amy returned to her side, ready to shield her if anything happened.

A pile of metal debris shifted and Jimbotnik pulled himself from the wreckage. Unsteadily, he got to his feet and eyed the three friends unkindly.

“Ignorant cretins! You will NOT stop me!” He started slowly towards them, his gait intended to intimidate, but Cream emerged from behind the two hedgehogs and fixed Jimbotnik with her cutest smile.

“Mr. Jimbotnik? You should really give up now.”

The scientist was stopped in his tracks as if he had run into an invisible wall. A few seconds of silence passed between them, and then, unable to withstand the sheer force of Cream’s cuteness attack, Jimbotnik took off from the floor of the workshop like a missile launched from a submarine.

WHOOSH!

The scientist thundered skywards, thumping a Jimbotnik shaped hole in the roof.

And that, dear reader, is why we never mess with the most powerful character in the Sonic franchise. Ever!

“Impressive moves Cream!” Sonic said as he walked to her side with Amy.

Cream turned to face her friends and laughed, “Oh, it’s nothing. Mom has done that before… I think three times? Oh, it’s getting late. We should head back to the village. Mom said she would cook dinner for us.”

At that point, Sonic’s stomach emitted a loud rumbling, reminding an indolent brain that it would appreciate some food sooner rather than later.

“Well ladies,” he took the box of Chaos Emeralds from Amy’s backpack, opened the lid and ran his hand along all the Emeralds contained therein. There was a flash of light, and when their vision cleared, Sonic appeared before them in a glowing yellow form that appeared to hover a few inches off the floor, “how about I fly you back?”

“Yay!” Cream exclaimed.

Before Amy could respond, Sonic took both her and Cream in his arms and in almost an instant they were flying over the Scrapyard back in the direction of the village.

“Super Sonic has taken off!”, Sonic announced jokingly, “This is one small step for a super hedgehog, one giant leap for a flea!”

“Dork!” Amy replied. Before all three of them started laughing.

***

“So Jimbotnik wanted to use a hardening agent on the teeth of his Robo – Herring to damage all the fishing boats in the city. Once he’d scuttled the fleet, he’d have the fish do their “Fast Repetitive Tick” thing to bring down aircraft with the correct resonant frequencies.

By these things, he planned to ruin the city’s economy. I know, I know,” Sonic shook his head, “He’s totally mad.”

They had arrived back at Vanilla’s house and were sitting down to a dinner of Dover Sole, Thumbelina Carrots, Haricot Verts and beautifully fluffy mashed potato.

“We asked at Mr. Lightfoot’s house first,” Cream explained, “Mr. Lightfoot directed us to Mr. Ampleforth, who was… looking at a chocolate éclair?” Cream tailed off in confusion.

Vanilla chuckled, “I had to visit him a couple of weeks ago. He wanted me to identify a butterfly chrysalis for him.” There was a moment of silence, “It turned out to be an old wine gum.”

Eating briefly paused as the four of them roared with laughter.

Amy picked up the tale, “Ampleforth pointed us to Jimbotnik’s scrapyard, so we headed out there, made our way into his lab, and found Sonic. I managed to free him from half of his restraints, but then Jimbotnik came down, so I had to distract him while Cream got the Chaos Emeralds to Sonic.”

“Yes,” Cream chuckled, “Amy made him dance a solo conga,” Amy flushed a beautiful pink at that, “and then I got the Emeralds to Mr. Sonic and he changed into Werehog and we chased Mr. Jimbotnik upstairs. He got into a huge robot, but Mr. Sonic and Miss Amy broke the robot.”

“Hey, don’t sell yourself short Cream,” Sonic smiled as Cream hadn’t spoken for several seconds, “You launching Jimbotnik into the air like that was awesome!”

“Ah, ha, ha!” Cream chuckled, slightly embarrassed.

“Ah!” Vanilla smiled broadly, “Has my daughter performed her first Cuteness Attack?”

Cream smiled, but then her expression became thoughtful, “Mother, will Mr. Jimbotnik be OK? I’d… feel bad if he got hurt.”

Vanilla smiled back, “Don’t worry sweetie, your uncle built a satellite that is in low planetary orbit. It’s designed to catch anyone launched from a Cuteness Attack and return them to the planet’s surface at a safe angle of descent. He’ll be fine. In fact, about how long ago did you perform the attack?”

Wordlessly, Cream looked to Amy.

“Errm… It must have been about 90 minutes ago now.” Amy replied.

Vanilla looked at her watch, “The satellite should pick him up right about… now.”

“Yay!” Cream seemed much happier now.

“Well,” Vanilla carried on, holding court, “it sounds like you all had quite a big day. I’d like to thank you Sonic, and you Amy for looking after Cream today and bringing her home safely.”

“No problem.” Sonic replied.

“Oh, and Sonic?” Vanilla locked eyes with Sonic, “You really should try harder to take care of your house. Please and thank you.”

Vanilla spoke the words perfectly pleasantly. She was even smiling sweetly as she did so. But in that moment, as she and Sonic looked at each other, there was a beat where Sonic could have sworn that he could see a demon standing behind her. Imagined though the image was, the sight froze the hedgehog’s blood. He also felt an urgent need to visit the bathroom.

“Y… Y… Ye… Yes Ma’am!”

Although Vanilla was smiling, and Amy and Cream were trying their best not to giggle, several seconds of silence passed and the diner was in danger of ending on a sour note. A few more seconds of silence passed as Sonic desperately searched for something to redeem the situation.

“So… Amy and Cream, you were both very supportive on this mission. How would the three of you like to come to the Palace with me and debrief Princess Sally? We might have to get a bit cosy, but I think we could all fit in my car.”

Enormous smiles appeared on both Amy and Cream’s faces, the later’s eyes lighting up with childlike wonder.

“Mother, please could we go to the palace?”

Vanilla smile broadened, “Why not? It would be lovely to see the princess again.”

“Yay!”

The three friends chatted excitedly as Vanilla left to bring desert (Ice Cream) to the table.

***

A few hours later…

“You know you made Cream’s month taking us to the Palace, right?”

Night had fallen and Amy and Sonic were enjoying a romantic stroll in the park under the low light of the moon. Acting initially out of concern that Amy might find the night a bit chilly, Sonic had used the Chaos Emeralds once more to change into his Werehog form.

When they met outside Amy’s house she had put a coat on, but when she saw Sonic standing there all strong and floofy, she snuggled up against his side and allowed him to put his arm around her. To Sonic, she seemed to be enjoying it.

Sonic chuckled, “She could barely keep from bouncing up and down.”

“I was kinda surprised that Princess Sally offered to make Cream her Personal Assistant when she grows up though.” Amy went on, “Do you think she’ll actually take Cream on to her staff, I mean, when Cream’s all grown up and graduated school and everything?”

“Oh yeah.” Sonic replied, “One thing I know about Sal, she always keeps her promises.”

They walked on for a few moments in silence, Amy snuggled against Sonic’s side, perfectly content, Sonic’s powerful left arm around her. Warm, and protecting.

In short order, the lake in the centre of the park came into view. The waters glistened in a combination of the moonlight and the streetlamps dotted regularly along the path that wound its way around the lake.

Nobody was in the park at this late hour, so the two hedgehogs alone were treated to the sight of the Chao playing and dancing with the fireflies over the surface of the water. The whole sight having something of a magical quality to it.

Slowly they walked arm in arm along the path.

“Y’know Ames, I’ve been thinking…” Sonic began.

“Are you sure that’s wise?” Amy quipped.

“Hardy, Har, Har. As I was saying, I’ve been thinking, and you were absolutely awesome today. You showed investigative skill, lockpicking, distraction techniques and you even pulled off a spin attack.” Sonic paused, as if uncertain how to word his next sentence. “How… would you… like to come on missions with me, Tails and Knuckles from now on?”

Amy broke from Sonic’s arm and leapt in front of him, halting their progress. Doing a passing impression of Cream’s eyes earlier when Sonic had invited them all to the Palace, she looked deep into the Werehog’s eyes.

“F… For real? You’ll take me on your adventures from now on?”

Sonic grinned a big, toothy Werehog grin and winked, “Yeah, you’ve earned it!”

By way of reply, Amy squealed with delight, leapt into Sonic’s arms and planted a full kiss onto his lips. This time, Sonic didn’t protest.

The kiss seemed to go on for several minutes, but in reality couldn’t have been any longer than 20 seconds. As the hedgehogs came up for air, Amy disentangled herself from Sonic and stepped back a couple of paces. Sonic, feeling cocky, smiled and asked, “So how did I do?”

Amy smiled a thoroughly unaffected and wicked smile. “So so.”

“Ames, Ames, Ames. I know it was a serious kiss.”

“So… so.” Amy repeated slowly, feeling playful.

As Sonic moved to take Amy in his arms again, she took another step backwards. They paused as a moment passed between them, then they both started to laugh.

Amy returned to Sonic’s side and he put his arm around her again as they walked a little further along the path.

“I enjoyed dinner at Vanilla’s this evening. Did you Sonic?” Amy asked after a few seconds of silence.

“Yeah, but… I guess I’m gonna have to start taking better care of my place from now on, huh?”

“Oh?”

“Well, if I don’t, I’m terrified Vanilla will launch ME into orbit.”

The two of them chuckled and came to a halt at the water’s edge. In fact, they’d stopped right next to the very bench Amy had sat at earlier that day to eat lunch. With Amy standing in front of Sonic, his arms protectively around her, they looked out over the shimmering water and watched the Chao and the fireflies dance.

For several minutes, nothing was said as they took in this most peaceful of scenes.

Eventually, Sonic tipped his head forwards, meaning to kiss Amy atop her head. But reflexively stopped as Amy looked upwards and excitedly exclaimed, “Look Sonic! A shooting star!”

Sonic didn’t look, but instead let out a low rumbling chuckle, “Make a wish, Ames” and planted the kiss on her head.

***

At about that time, a small flock of seabirds had landed on the surface of the waters leading towards the docks of the city. They intended to rest for the night before continuing on their way. So you can image their surprise when a man’s voice cried out “WHEEEEEE!” and the harried figure of Jimbotnik touched down on the water, and proceeded to skim the surface of the water on his glowing behind, a loud hiss and a small cloud of steam rising every time the scientist’s posterior made contact, towards the shoreline.

In fact, had the birds been capable of speech, they would not have said anything. That’s how surprised they were.

His speed decreasing with each skim of the water’s surface, Jimbotnik proceeded at a moderate pace towards the shoreline of the city’s docklands, eventually coming to a halt a few feet from where the ocean met the pebbly beach. Slowly, he sank until the water came to just above his navel.

To the casual observer, it would have seemed that a slightly manic, dishevelled man was sitting half submerged in the sea, enjoying his own personal jacuzzi by the amount of bubbling water surrounded him.

For several minutes, he simply sat there, giggling like a loon. But eventually, he began to speak.

“That was an excellent move, Miss Cream. I’ve got to hand it to you, I genuinely did not see that coming. But you are going to pay for it.”

He began to raise himself from his seated position, managing only a few inches before stopping, mouth open in an O shape, then returning to being seated.

“But first… a few more minutes to cool off.”

THE END?

[toukenra]

The saniwa buys an electric piano for her to play when she's not doing anything. How would her secretary: Kotegiri, Tomoegata, Kasen, Kashuu and Horikawa react to their saniwa and her rad piano skills? Like she can play almost any song and can impromptu compose songs.

Hi there everyone!

I apologize for going MIA! I apologize for not getting to your requests ASAP due to the lack of time due to midterms. Anyways, Here is your request! I hope you’ll enjoy them! 

(Underneath the cut due to being quite lengthy.)

-Mod Catharia.

KASHUU

• He caught you sitting in front of a table-like instrument you called a ‘piano’ reading a small pamphlet in your hands as he walked down the enegawa• He was about to call out to you and to show off his newly painted nails• The brunette stopped when you played a rather short melody using only one hand while glancing down at the small book• He stands there quietly, leaning on the door, enjoying the music you were making and even closed his eyes• Stop hovering at the door, Kashuu…”• He jolts and almost misses the doorway he has been leaning on when you call his name.• “What can I help you with?”• You chuckle and motion him to move closer as you turn back to play a bit more• “A-ah I just wanted to say hello, Aruji. But then I heard you playing…"• You feel the Uchigatana move closer, leaning over your shoulder as your hands fly through the keys• He admires the way your hands move and the beautiful music you were creating• He stays until you finish playing and gives an applause, you humour the handsome young man by getting up and giving him a curtsy.• He grabs a hold of your hand and squeezes it gently, looking quite impressed with you• “That was wonderful, Aruji! Not only are you pretty but you’re also talented! You’re 100 times cuter than usual!”• Kashuu is such a precious darling !!!(//ω//)• He ends up staying skipping his chores and you let him with you playing and teaching him some songs

tHE ITsY BItSY sPIDder WeNT Up thE waTEr SPouTdOwN cAMe ThE rAIn AnD WasHed ThE spIdER OuT

• You teach him the hand motions and he does it with no embarrassment whatsoever

• It’s honestly the cutest sh*t you have ever seen it SHOULD be illegal

• A few days later, you hear him forcing teaching a rather disgruntled Yamatonokami the songs he learned from you…Yamatonokami does it anyway… LOL! What a team player!!!

KOTEGIRI

• When he heard that you arrived he left his current task and went to receive you • “Welcome home, Aruji.” He greeted you with a smile• …It’s so rare you get to be greeted by a Megane…What did you did you do in your past life to  receive such reward!?• His eyes drift towards the rather large package that you were standing beside• “Aruji, what’s that beside you?”• “Oh! This? It’s a surprise!”• He gives you a look that said ’this better be something that is actually useful…’• Last time you brought home a pack of those colourful spinning contraptions used to keep people from fidgeting around and Mutsunokami, bless his pure and curious soul, thought they were a new type of  equipment•  …and flung them around like shurikens.•  …Let’s just say a few swords with lower mobility got a couple bruises from being unable to dodge quick enough• RIP Ishikimaru and Jirotachi• Poor Mutsu apologized quickly after learning that the toys were actually for the Tantous• You didn’t have the heart to reprimand him for borrowing the presents but instead patted his head• Anyway, Kotegiri realized you tended to buy things you didn’t really need.• What do you mean!? You don’t trust me!? How cruel, Kou-chii~!• You ask him to help you move the box to your study and set up whatever item you had purchased• Once you two finish setting everything up, he decides to go get some snacks from the kitchens• When he returns he hears this sweet melody drifting down the hallway from your study• He peeks in and sees your play, slightly mesmerized• The bespectacled man slowly and quietly walks in, placing the plate down at a near by table before continuing to listen in• Once you finish, you jolt when you hear clapping from behind• You’re greeted by Kou-chii who’s clapping enthusiastically with a smile on his face.• “That was wonderful, Aruji-sama! Won’t you teach me?”• Of course my precious boy~!!• Eventually Kotegiri regularly comes to your study to practice and occasionally plays for you when you’re working• One time you caught him making renditions of some pretty modern songs from Sam Smith to Boys2Men• You almost DIED in the hallway when you heard him playing “I’ll make love to you” and it totally caught you off-guard (#ﾟﾛﾟ#)• dOEs HE EveN KNOw WHAT H'Es SINgIng AbOUt!?!  ( /)u(\ )• You can’t even look him in the eye for a year week day during dinner time• “Hmm? What’s the matter, Aruji?”• NOTHING! I-IT’S NOTHING! THERE’S NOTHING WRONG ABOUT DEVELOPING A CRUSH ON A MEGANE WHO CAN SING AND TAKE GOOD CARE OF ME!

HORIKAWA

• He came across you wiping what looked to be a rectangular black table with buttons all over it in the common room • “Sorry, Aruji, but may I ask what you are doing right now?” He knocked on the door, not wishing to scare you• “Oh, Horikawa-san…I was just checking the wires for my piano.”• “Piano?”• You explain that it was an instrument used to make music and you missed playing it• You quickly move underneath the keyboard to quickly try and fix the cords while Hori waits there, making sure it wont fall on you• Because whenever they leave you, something happens…○ Like you getting pinned down by a stack of equipment in the training hall shortly after breakfast causing Hasebe to have a little meltdown○ Or accidentally opening the Toushirou’s closet door by accident and getting buried by a mountain of futons and Yagen had to pull you out before his younger brothers begun to lie down on top of it• You just can’t be left alone because sh*t happens…• The raven-haired Wakizashi waits patiently until you finish setting up• “Done!” You quickly sit on the bench and wipe down the keyboard again before inviting to sit beside you• “Are you sure, Aruji?”• He gave a rather unsure look that clearly says ‘Umm…That bench doesn’t look that stable, Aruji….please think about this again…’• “Oh come now, Hori!” You pat the rather small space beside you with a big smile. “Sit!”• He finally accepts and sits down beside you• You finally turned towards the piano and place your hands on the keys before starting to play a soft melody• Horikawa watches you play, looking quite impressed as the soft music traveled through the common room.• Once you finish the rather short song he gives you a smile.• “That was wonderful, Aruji. Did you compose it?”• “Yes. Although, I don’t have a name for it yet.”• Without even turning your head, you can feel, Hori’s gaze• He’s staring isn’t he…• You feel the young man beside you shift a little bit closer, shoulders touching WAAAAHH!! (/ω＼)• “Thank you for letting me hear it first hand, Master. I really enjoyed listening to you playing.”• (〃 ω 〃) HORI IS A SWEET BEAN~• “…Maybe next time we can invite Kane-san as well…??”• Oh Hori….You never change do you…(^ ∇ ^lll)

TOMOEGATA

• Tomoe caught you using that ‘magical’ black ball you claimed to help you make decisions after asking it a question and shaking it furiously • “Should I get back at Tsurumaru for pranking me this morning?”…Yes • “Should I even do my paperwork today?”… No • "Will I get a boyfriend this year”…Perhaps • "Should I purchase a piano”…Yes • "Is it too late to call in sick–”• "Good Morning, Aruji.”• You jolt and throw the Magic 8 ball into your drawer before greeting the spectacled man• “M-morning Tomoe! You’re here early!”• You didn’t even notice him standing in the doorway, holding today’s stack of paperwork  • “Of course, Aruji. It’s good to start early and get everything done early as well.”• He walks over, placing a small stack of papers on your desk Signalling that it was time for you to start work• You send him a pleading look but he avoids looking at your little pout• He’s not Hasebe, dear….Tomoe is resistant to most tricks… • One time you convinced him that it was a vacation day and ran off to play with the Tantous •  He also heard from Kotegiri that you tend to spend your allowance on things you don’t really need like fidget spinners or glow sticks• He kept a close eye on you until the work day finally ended and he announced that you were free to relax for the rest of the day• You excitedly run off to plan your revenge on Tsurumaru while thanking him for his hard work• …• The very next day, after successfully getting back at Tsurumaru by wrapping his doorway with Saran wrap• You were stopped by Tomoe who was carrying a rather large box• “Good Morni-”• “What did you order, Aruji.” Teal-haired warrior interrupted•   “Ehmm…A piano…?" (◕▿◕)???• You explain to him what it is and tug at his sleeve to help you set up so you can show him• A Within half an hour, the electric piano was up and you quickly take a seat• "How do you use it, Aruji?”• “I’ll show you. Have a seat.”• You start playing a rather fast but fun melody catching a few people’s attention as they passed by while Tome watches in fascination• As soon as you finish playing, you turn to Tomoe who watches you with a rather stoic expression• Wait, Did he not like it? ∑(ﾟ∇ﾟ|||)• Ah…I shouldn’t have forced him to listen  (´；ω；`)• “Um-”• “That was done wonderfully, Aruji.” The large man praised you quietly as he placed a hand on your own. •Awweee…Tomoe…You’re scary-looking but you’re so kind and caring (⸝⸝ᵕᴗᵕ⸝⸝)• “I like listening to you playing and it was a lovely piece.”• “D-do you really?” You give him a bright smile and squeeze his hand happily.• “Yes.”• That sweet little moment was broken when Hasebe threw the doors open• “What do you think you’re doing, Naginata!? And what did you buy this time, Aruji!?”

KASEN

• He was practicing his calligraphy when he heard you playing It sounded quite good and he could not help but wander towards where it was originating from• He peeks into your study and sees your playing a piece from Chopin • He opens the sliding door a little bit more to listen intently, curiosity getting the best of him• You abruptly stop when you hear the door sliding open and turn your head towards him making him jolt• “Good Morning, Kasen.”• "A-ah, apologies, Aruji. I did not mean to interrupt you." • "No, no. It’s alright. Come sit.” You give him a bright smile and invited him to sit down beside you. “I’m sorry did I disturb your work?”•“No, not at all…What is object called?”• “Ah, it’s called a piano.” You motion for him to try and press a key•He presses the said key and you accompany the key with a calming melody, silently encouraging him to press it repeatedly.• The Citadel’s poet watches with strong interest as you finally end the song.•“That was rather quite beautiful, Master…”•“…Who are you  and what did you do to Kasen?” You poke his shoulder jokingly. •“How rude, Master.” The Uchigatana laughed as he pinched your cheek gently. “Perhaps are you fishing for compliments?”• “Maybe~”• The two of you share a few chuckles as you sit side by side, comfortable• “You know music may help inspire you while writing poems.”• “…Is that an invitation?”• You just tsk and poke his shoulder again, urging him to go get his things so he can keep you company.“…Just go get your things, Kasen.”• You receive a pat on the head before the Uchigatana leaves to retrieve his writing tools.• Once he returns, he settles down close by and starts writing while you continue playing a few tunes• A few times you caught Kasen sitting in front of the piano, trying to learn how to play it• “It’s not as elegant as a Koto….it’s simply too bulky. And the keys are cannot be reached as easily and sitting on the bench is quite uncomfortable–”• …Don’t think I don’t see you imitating me when I’m not looking (•- _ -•)• But you knew he was interested since you found him taking one of your music books from your office in the pretense of borrowing a book about gardening.