Green Recoil, act 1

[mach_n_roll]

Who: Sonic, Tails, other fur-bearing characters
What: Fishing and bro talk
Where: Sonic's world, West Island
When: Friday afternoon, after Eggman's sabotage and hospitalization

"C'mon, Tails. Let's get out of here for a while."

That was the first thing Sonic had said to the fox-boy that day. The school had made their massive collective attack on Eggman's carrier earlier that week. The consequences of that attack had left the two boys... quiet, and for good reason. It was actually a little shocking, to see Eggman injured the way he had been. Sonic and Tails' good intentions aside, that kind of stuff just didn't HAPPEN where they came from. Not really.

So, after a couple of days of tense contemplative silence before and after classes that neither of them were paying much attention to, Sonic couldn't take it anymore. His buddy had never done this before... They had to get out of there, into the open air and out of the dorms and hallways. Back to something they both enjoyed, and always wound up doing when they needed to really TALK.

"Let's go fishing."

He told Knuckles and Blaze on the way to their homeworld portal, in case they needed the hell out of the school themselves. They probably did, if Eggmans' hospitalization had affected them the way it had Sonic and Tails. He wasn't about to leave them out, if they wanted to join, but first order of business was getting Tails to relax again.

So, by late afternoon on Friday, he and Tails were already out in the jungle pools of the island, picking out a place devoid of poison ivy to set up.

Comments

[machomonotreme]

So far, Knuckles' attempts to go through the home world portal Sonic had told him about were unsuccessful. The Master Emerald wanted him in FDC for whatever reason and he hadn't been able to go through.

But what the heck. Giving it another try couldn't hurt, right? And seeing as everyone else was headed on through, it seemed silly to not at least give it a shot.

Strangely enough, it worked. Maybe it was because he was with the others. Maybe it was a result of what happened on the Egg Carrier. Maybe it was just because the Emerald figured he could use a break from the city. Whatever it was, it let him stroll on through onto the green grass of the Island. Not His Island, of course. But something close enough to make him feel rejuvenated.

He didn't have the same reaction to Eggman's condition as the other two seemed to. He kind of saw it as justice being served. His relationship with Eggman was a little different to the other two, for starters - he'd been used by Eggman a few times, had his home set on fire, his animal friends bombed by Eggman's Eggrobo, and had been electrocuted to within an inch of his life by the guy who he'd thought was an ally at the time.

His sympathy was limited, frankly.

Still, he cared about Sonic and Tails and if they needed some support, he'd be kind of a jerk not to give it to them. Tails was just a kid, after all. (No he's not, Knuckles. Not anymore.)

He wasn't going to fish, of course - hey, hadn't they just risked life and limb to save a bunch of critters!? But there was plenty of fruit around and that was fine by him.

[mach_n_roll]

"Hey, Knuckles! Glad ya can make it."

Sonic waves from his perch on a small hill on the bank of the pond. He politely avoids any sort of lampooning about Knuckles' vegetarian tendencies, just like he always does. That was the sort of thing that can hit nerves, and besides, there's nothing wrong with fruit. There were some good-looking mushrooms among the foliage as well, although no where near as big as the ones on Angel Island.

"Looks like you finally got a weekend at home, huh?"

[monotreme_101]

"Yo." the Echidna replied, waving back and walking over.

"It's weird. I tried going through the portal before, but it wouldn't work for me. This time? Seems to work just fine. The Master Emerald works in mysterious ways, I guess."

He rolled his head on his shoulders and took a good, deep breath.

"Mm - can't beat that air. Almost forgot what it smelled like to not have a city nearby. Wonder if there's any ruins around here..."

[vela_nova]

Blaze hadn't been to Sonic's home world in some time. Perhaps it was fitting, since she hadn't seen him in almost as long. She could stand to get away from the city for a while, especially after all that happened.

She'd be lying if she said Eggman didn't deserve all he'd gotten and worse. In her mind, he absolutely did. The greater good, and all that. Despite that, it wouldn't have been her nature to actually harm him like that herself. Not that she didn't have it in her, but she had a code, and all life was sacred. Even Eggman's.

The events had hit Sonic and Tails very hard. As their friend, she wanted to help. Even though she wasn't very well versed at fishing. Jon had offered to take her, but given the somewhat uncertain state of their friendship, that hadn't happened yet.

[mach_n_roll]

"There probably is! They're everywhere out on these islands." Sonic replies to Knuckles' musings. He beams when Blaze makes an appearance.

"HEY, Blaze! M' glad to see you came!" Then he stops, and glances to Knuckles, then Blaze, then Knuckles again.

"Uh... hey Blaze, why dont'cha come over here? Knuckles, I think we've got something we oughtta mention to ya."

For some reason, this felt a lot more awkward then he expected it to be...

[vela_nova]

Blaze's eyes widened. He was actually going to do this? Here, now? Well... Their friends DID deserve to find out, after all. She quietly stepped next to Sonic, and slowly, cautiously, reached her hand out to take his.

[monotreme_101]

"Oh? That sounds.... uh. Ominous, I guess." Knuckles replied, looking at the two with interest.

Then, he saw them holding hands and things started to click into place.

"Hmmm. Go on." he said, rolling a white gloved hand in a 'get on with it' gesture. He couldn't help smiling a little, though. He thought he'd figured it out, but he didn't want to take the fun of the announcement away from them.

[mach_n_roll]

"Nah, it's nothing bad." Sonic chimes in, his hand in Blaze's as she settles next to him.

"Blaze and I. Well, we're sorta going out now. Y'know, together. I wanted to mention it for weeks, but we've all been pretty busy lately."

[vela_nova]

As bad as Blaze was blushing at actually admitting this to someone else, there was a small hint of a smile on her face. Actually talking about it made it feel more... real. Not that it wasn't before. Just... more so.

"Yeah... The time just hasn't been right," she said. "Not with all that's happened..."

[monotreme_101]

"Huh, weeks? Geeze. Way to keep that on the down-low." the Echidna replied. "Though, it DOES kinda make some stuff make more sense."

They had seemed super chummy at the beach, for example.

"Congratulations, anyhow!" he said, walking over and punching Sonic in the shoulder. "Nice to see you found a girl who can keep up with ya, man. Plus, Blaze is smart and responsible so when you get outta line, she can take care of it."

Blaze was an emerald guardian, much the same way he was. He had some understanding of the mindset you needed for that job.

"Though, uh, if Amy ever shows up in Final Destination? I am SO not gonna be the guy to tell her."

[mach_n_roll]

Sonic doesn't flinch when Knuckles punches his shoulder, but he clandestinely rubs it after Knuckles turns away, a sheepish grin on his face.

"Yup. Turns out the girl that could keep up with me was right here the whole time!" he replies, slipping a hand in Blaze's again. "Crazy, huh? As for Amy, uh, ssshe'll find out. Sooner or later."

Translation: he doesn't want to be the one to tell her either. She'd probably end him with that hammer of hers or worse yet... start crying. He isn't sure he can take that.

[vela_nova]

Oh... right... AMY. That was a conversation she REALLY wasn't looking forward to. "...I don't want to be the one to tell her," she said plainly. Speaking her mind was Blaze's forte, after all.

[monotreme_101]

"OK, so that's us three out. Guess that means we nominated Tails by default, huh?"

[twotailedgenius]

To be fair, Tails had only been quiet because he already knew what was going on with Sonic and Blaze. But when he realized he was so out of it that he'd completely missed out on calling 'not it' for telling Amy, he turned his head to the others.

"Wh-what, me!? N-no, I'm not telling Amy either! Besides, she'll go after Sonic either way. May as well let Sonic handle it all, right?" Because the Amy he remembered might be less... Sonic-centric, but if an Amy appeared that didn't know the school.... he wasn't messing with that. Sorry, Sonic, even Tails is not messing with Amy. "If anyone else tells her, she might get mad at Sonic for not being the one to tell her."

... Though admittedly if Sonic insisted, he'd probably do it anyway.

[machomonotreme]

"Nice to know you're still with us, guy." Knuckles replied with a laugh.

[mach_n_roll]

"Ahahahah... hah... uh."

Sonic laughs along with Knuckles... until he mentions that Amy will gun for him no matter what. He clears his throat and fidgets with his fishing reel.

"Don't worry, guys. I'll try to let her down as easy as I can." It felt weird saying this. It implied directly that Amy was interested in him, and THAT made him feel really uncomfortable. Why else would he not talk about it for so long?

"I'm sure she'll be okay with it! E-eventually."

[vela_nova]

"...I'll help, if you need me," Blaze offered. "It's my problem too, after all."

She raised her hands. "Why don't we go start fishing?" she asked, trying to quickly change the subject from her love life.

[twotailedgenius]

Tails nods at Blaze's suggestion. "Yeah, let's do that."

[monotreme_101]

"Heh. I'll leave it up to you guys. You know I'm not the kinda guy to shrink from a challenge.... but that girl and her hammer are a whole other level."

Not touching that with a ten foot pole taped to the end of a twenty foot pole while Super.

"You guys fish, I'm gonna eat fruit and hang out." he said, walking over to the water's edge and taking a seat. "Maybe get in a little nap - it's nice to be back to nature like this. Weird how much you get to missing it, livin' in the school."

[mach_n_roll]

He feels a little relieved when Blaze offers to help, although he doesn't want to put her against Amy. Still, it was nice to hear.

"Sure, Knuckles. Here, lemme bait that line for ya Blaze."

If she didn't have her own pole, she does now. You guessed it: it's purple. He hands her the line and gets to work on his own.

"So how bad is everyone's homework this time around?"

[vela_nova]

She should've known. She came without a pole, and of course Sonic would have gotten her one without even thinking twice about it. This was the second time he'd done something like this for her. She smiled at how thoughtful he was, taking the pole and watching him bait it so she could do it herself next time.

"Reasonable, thankfully," Blaze answered, inspecting the pole carefully. "I have mine under control. Hopefully the same is true for the rest of you."

[monotreme_101]

"Mine's brutal." Knuckles replied, dropping down into a patch of grass and starting to peel a banana. "Autoshop especially. Cars are cool and all, but why do they have to have so many parts? There's gotta be a simpler way to get them movin' than engine blocks and spark plugs and pistons and.... other stuff."

He probably could have named more pieces of a car's engine if he really, really tried. But you get the idea.

[twotailedgenius]

"Mine's not too bad." Not much schoolwork was difficult for Tails, and if they posed too much of a challenge, he tended to figure things out. At least, anything that relied on book smarts.

"I could help you out with your autoshop homework, Knuckles. It's not too complicated to figure out." Then again, Tails builds vehicles, so he's used to it.

Meanwhile, he got his line ready and cast it along with the others.

[mach_n_roll]

"...I'm with you, Knuckles. Autoshop is complicated, man. And don't get me started on history and physics. Maybe we can work on it together sometime?"

PLZ, TAILS. HELP YOUR SPINY BRETHEREN OUT.

[vela_nova]

"Perhaps we can all get together for a study session or two," Blaze chimed in to suggest.

Not because she wouldn't mind having some auto shop help too.

Not at all.

[monotreme_101]

"I don't take history or physics, but an autoshop study huddle sounds like a good plan." Knuckles replied.

"If you guys want, I can train you for your fighting classes."

[twotailedgenius]

"I'd be fine with helping you guys, if necessary." With any of those things. Just... please to not be treating Tails as a free study guide, guys.