Sonic Gem EP7: Host with the Most

Host with the Most is the seventh episode of season one of Sonic Gem.
== Plot ==
"DOGCOPTER 3! Coming soon to Blue-Ray and DVD."
Steven's eyes sparkled with excitement seeing Dogcopter's latest movie trailer, much to Connie's own enjoyment. Steven and Connie had found time in the day to relax over by Beach City's "Dewey Park" as it is called, hanging out by the main mayor statue while watching Connie's recommended videos. Nothing too big, but it helps to pass the time.
"Whoa," Steven muttered, "That ... looks ... amazing."
"I know!" Connie agreed, just as, if not more excited, "They promised to be more akin to the book series this time. I REALLY hope they do when I finally get it."
If only the rest of the internet shared that attitude, seeing that three other videos were less than enthused about the idea. Steven didn't bother going into them though, and just turned off the phone. Didn't need any negativity today. They continued their chat in their following walk, heading out of the park and through town.
"How come you didn't watch it in theaters?" Steven asked, curious mainly. Connie sighed.
"My mom wouldn't let me go to the theater. I've been trying my best to keep away from spoilers, but it's getting SO HARD," she explained. Steven was just left scratching his head about that. 
"It isn't that hard to go to the movies: it's just down the street I think," Steven pointed out.
"No, it's not about getting there, it's about me being alone. I gotta be at least 20 before my parents will think about letting me do that."
Connie groaned a little bit, eyes looking up to the sky. As for Steven, this new information got him to think on it. How out of date will that movie be when Connie will ACTUALLY be allowed to see it?! The thought gave Steven a rough feeling, but that same feeling got him quickly thinking of an answer for them both.
"Letting you go alone. ... What about going with friends? ... Meaning me, in case you're wondering?"
Connie perked up, turning to him. "You'll go there with me?"
"Well, yeah!" Steven replied with a smile, "You want to see the movie, I want to see the movie, it's out now, what's stopping us?"
"The lack of parents, and money Steven," Connie pointed out. That didn't damper the mood though, Steven with a victorious fist clenched in front of him.
"I can bring MY family," Steven compromised, "I'm sure they can spend a hour and a half away from saving the world for a movie."
Connie started to get more and more into the idea: her parents might not be available, but who said she couldn't rely on her friend's parental permission?
"Oh, that's true! And if that doesn't work, you can always invite your brother instead. You know, if he's still in town that is," Connie added. She may be familiar with it, but the mention of the brother suddenly made Steven's brain pause for thought.
"... huh?"
"Umm. Your brother Sonic?" Connie "reminded".
"Sonic - OH OH YEAH Sonic, of course! He's still around, I-I'll ask him! My brother surely can have the time!" Steven stammered, just BARELY getting himself out of that awkward situation. He may be in a cold sweat, but he felt that was good enough for Connie not to look further into it (maybe). Connie though still got a bit curious about Sonic, but given the movie opportunity, maybe she would meet Steven's brother then anyway so she didn't pressure him on it much to Steven's relief. He did NOT want that bomb dropped yet anyway.
"ANYWAYS, I'll see if they can do it, and we'll just pick you up at your place and we -"
"NO THANK YOU."
... Well this was new. Connie asked about Steven's place was one thing, but hearing Connie suddenly getting all defensive took Steven off guard. Connie suddenly was flustering a little bit, mouth clamped shut though not as obvious as Steven was earlier.
"Is Connie blushing?" Steven thought. Before he could say anything else, Connie quickly corrected herself.
"I-I mean, you don't have to do that. We can just meet at the park instead. It's open, we know where it is, and we don't need to bother our houses for five or so minutes. Might as well keep it easy."
Steven glanced back to Dewey Park back down the road, just able to see the main statue from where they were.
"Umm, okay. That works too."
By this point, the two were just reaching the corner of the road, standing briefly by the stop sign. Before any of em could say anything else, both he and Connie then heard a ringtone coming from Connie's pocket. It didn't take Connie long to find the word "mom" read out on her flipphone.
"Figures. Uhh, just a second Steven."
"Oh, ok, go ahead."
Connie got the phone open, and went on answering it. "Hi, mom. ... Hmm? ... Oh, I'm with Steven right now. ... That kid I told you about, remember? Mr. Universe? ... Huh? Oh, I'm at the park with him right - ... O-Ok, mom, I'm coming back. See you soon."
Steven slumped as Connie hung up the call. "Oh man. Going home already? We just started hanging out an hour or something ago."
"Sorry, I gotta go get ready for Tennis practice today," she said, "I can't believe I forgot that - I gotta go, bye!"
"O-Okay, yeah, I-I'llll text you!" Steven replied. Connie (on the green light) went off on her way across the street as Steven went back towards the park. In a weird way though, Steven felt some relief in the call - no way either of em could keep that conversation going without Steven spilling anything. Still ...
"Text you? She doesn't have an iPhone, genius! So stupid," Steven thought, a mental slap to the face for his oversight. Not that it would matter anyway - he had more important matters to work out. He could only hope the Gems were available for this ...
.......
"What do you mean "no"?" Steven gasped.
"I mean, we don't have time to watch a movie, Steven," Pearl restated, "We got our mission to do, you know that, and this is a pretty big one."
So much for that. So much hope for when he got home and finding all the Gems there with Mobian company, but what luck would they ALL refuse to come along with him? They all looked pretty packed too, Pearl for one actually having a backpack with her, so that told Steven they'd be gone for a bit. AGAIN.
"PLEEEEASE? It's only for a hour and a half, you can spare that time can't you?" Steven pleaded, praying even.
"No, Steven," Garnet made clear, "This mission requires all three of us, and this time I'm NOT making an exception. So don't try your puppy dog face again."
"Dang it," Steven thought. She would call him out on that trick.
"What's the big deal anyway? You're like, what, 13? Just take Connie yourself and go catch that flick," Sonic said. Steven just sighed and sat down on the couch.
"If I were 10 years older, I can. Connie said her parents won't let her do anything until she's 20. ... that's SOOOOO LOOOONNNG."
"Well, then just take Tails, Sonic, or Amy with you. I mean, it's not like THEY have anything important going on right now," Pearl suggested. The Mobians didn't respond to that beyond a annoyed glance, but it wasn't entirely wrong. Either way though, Steven just slid down the chair until he was basically laying on his back. Just imagining the weirded out and/or shocked face of Connie seeing his Mobian friends just wasn't sitting well for him.
"She doesn't know them yet, she'll freak out! I think. Maybe. ....... I'm not ready yet."
"What's wrong with us, again? No offense Steven, but if a entire town can get used to seeing us, I'm sure one girl won't be a problem," Tails figured.
"That, and given everything else we've seen, we're not the "weirdest" things on Earth," added Sonic.
"I ... don't know. She looked so spooked while we talked and ... ok, maybe we'll just figure this out another time. When are you guys free -" Steven said, picking up his iPhone to start his text ... only to suddenly stop himself. "AUGH, she doesn't have a phone!"
"She handled your first meeting well, Steven, she'll handle this," Garnet suggested. Steven didn't feel that much better though: even if she was, how would that fix them being able to see the movie? Still, the Gems couldn't stay, so they began getting back to the Warp Pad.
"Where're you ladies going this time anyway?" Sonic asked.
"We got a mission in the great north. A lot of activity's been over there, and we need to sort it out," Garnet explained. Amethyst, seeing an opportunity, slipped by them both and jumped onto the Warp Pad.
"And I'm gonna get more monsters before y'all," Amethyst mocked, tongue out. Pearl took it personally.
"GAH, no you're not!" Pearl yelped, racing on the Warp Pad just as it went off. Garnet'll have to move quick herself to catch up to them.
"Talk to her about it, it'll work out," Garnet said, just before going through the Warp Pad herself. Steven's mind felt conflicted as he laid there on the couch. He didn't want to keep them a secret forever, but this wasn't as easy as any standard revelation. Steven's mind went back a bit, back to his fight with that sonic-looking robot, and remembered how worried Connie was in that whole mess. Steven took a moment to cover his eyes in mixed emotions, groan escaping his lips. During this, Amy did a silent gesture towards both Tails and Sonic, bringing them just outside of the house so Steven could have some space. They didn't actually start talking until they were down to the beach front just in case.
"Alright, am I the only one thinking this can't go on forever?" Amy began.
"No, you're not," Tails sighed, "But give Steven some slack: we may be used to be seen in town, but that might not be the same for everyone."
"That doesn't mean we just stay in town," Amy retorted. "I mean, Sonic's literally been all over the country and NOBODY's freaking out about that! Sonic, how far did you run yesterday?"
Sonic crossed his arms in thought. "Hmm ... Well, given we're on the east coast, I'd say about the west coast? I only stopped to fetch me a local chili dog. Gotta say - could use some more spice over there."
Amy stepped forward again, now more determined with her hands on her hips.
"And did ANYBODY freak out seeing you doing that? NO! So what's stopping it here?" Amy protested.
"Okay, first of all: we don't have a CLUE how they reacted over there to Sonic. And second: that's on the otherside of the country we're talking about, that's not exactly the same as being over here."
"What do you mean "not the same"? People still saw Sonic, AND US, and I don't see anyone worrying over it," Amy said. Her tone though quickly changed into a slightly saddened one as she added "And HOW can Steven and Connie's relationship go any further if they're too scared to see eachother?"
Sonic and Tails suddenly stopped mid-thought.
"Wait ... Are you just trying to hook them up, Amy?" Tails asked, dumbfounded.
The pink Mobian Hedgehog flustered red. "W-What?! NO! I'm just a girl who's trying to help build a friendship! What's wrong with that?" Amy snapped in offense to it. It was enough to make Tails back up.
"N-Nothing, nothing! Ugh, Sonic, help me out here please?"
... Nothing. Tails and Amy looked back, but Sonic was just gone. In fact, all that was left was just Sonic's footprints in the sand, and a slight breeze in a dust cloud. The Mobians didn't need rocket science to know where Sonic went off to after all that babble.
"Sonic, get back here!" Tails shouted, flying off after the Hedgehog.
"One time, can't you wait? Wait for us, Sonic!" Amy added, before running off after him herself.
.......
With the Gems on their mission, and the Mobians off on their way though, the house was left wide open. Vulnerable. Just the time for one figure to take opportunity. This figure kept well out of sight and sound, but as soon as he was sure that they all were far enough out of sight, it was then he began to move in towards the Beach House.
Just a short minute was all it needed to take for him to rest his vehicle down, walk over, and gave a good knock at the front door. As he expected and calculated, Steven heard it loud and clear and didn't take very long before he answered.
"Umm ... hello?" Steven asked.
Steven saw before him a fairly tall, and round man. Just one look already told Steven that he wasn't from anywhere in town: a round torso supported by thin straight legs, with a bald head and an impressive mustache on the top. The colors of red and black dominated his main outfit, and His eyes, covered by his dark-tinted glasses, looked directly down at the young boy.
"Excuse me? Is this the Universe residence, by chance?"
~~~~~~
Meanwhile, Connie herself was still trying to make up for lost time in her own travel to get back home. It was pretty lucky for her though that her split from Steven was near the edge of town, because her home apparently was further off than expected. For Connie, this meant having to actually pay for a transit bus. Connie had her seat for a while, watching the world go by as she waited for her next stop as other passengers around her did their own thing. Lucky she had her own mind to keep her occupied.
Speaking of which, her mind was still stuck back to Steven's offer to pick her up. More notably, how freaked out she was back there. Not really the best showing.
"I hope that didn't look THAT obvious," Connie thought, "... I mean, should I tell him? He is magical, maybe he will take it easy. ... Then again, he's always denied whenever I ask to see his place."
Connie tried to wrap her brain around the idea, eyes staring off into space with a hand to her chin and a single question. "How do I approach this? ..."
Seemed even that simple bit of thought was enough to pass the time, because before Connie knew it, she felt the bus grind to a halt by a familiar bus stop. The second she saw that, she hopped right off of the seat, and went right off the bus. She can work this out once she gets home.
As for her home, this bus stop got her just down the street of a suburban neighborhood, many of the houses terraced, two-stories up and linked together. Think of an apartment complex but with triangle rooftops rather than flat ones. For Connie, this was home. She strolled along the sidewalk right towards the correct house, a bit brisk in her walk but not as rushed, before she headed on to the front door and right inside her humble abode.
All while under watch from one blue Hedgehog.
"Alright, time for the intro," Sonic decided, hopping down from the rooftop he'd been standing on (after making sure no one was around of course). Creepy? Maybe. But worth it if it meant making things easier for Connie and Steven. Sonic cleared his throat.
"Alright, Sonic. Play it cool, act like it's just a typical ol Tuesday and they'll warm up to ya in no time," Sonic told himself, cracking his fingers as he strolled over towards the front door. Sonic stopped right at the door, and readied for a good ol knock. Before he could do so though, a little thought crossed his mind the second before his knuckle met the doorframe.
He wanted to play it cool ... now how to look cool?
"Hmmmm ... cool?" he said, getting into a gun finger pose.
Eh, not feeling it.
"Cool," he repeated, this time on one knee with a peace sign, like a typical rapper.
... Still not feeling it.
"Hmm .... coooool?" he got into a more causal pose, leg kicked up as if he was leaning against the wall, again with a finger gun gesture and a wink. Soon after, he got himself a bigger grin.
"Aww yeah, that'll do it. Ok, ready -"
*chao-chao*
The sound may have been muffled, but that squeaky voice was just loud enough for Sonic to pick up. It's as if any other thought immediately stop so he could try and better pinpoint the noise, only to hear another muffled voice in there. He couldn't make out what, but one sounded like Connie in a way, one from an older woman of a sort, and the other ... strangely familiar.
"That voice ... NO. WAY."
Sonic's curiosity was starting to get the better of him. The Hedgehog looked around a bit, and soon he found the front window. Again, creepy, and unfortunately nothing like that crossed his mind as he took a look inside.
The interior of Connie's home didn't look that different really, the front window looking right into the living room: two green flowery couches, some picture frames along the wall, small wall shelf, with a set of stairs leading to the second floor right next to the kitchen doorframe. Sonic though was trying to point out the people in there: he could see Connie again, this time with a fairly older woman as figured and now with her tennis outfit - head visor included. Again, the conversation was muffled, but neither noticed him and this time he had a better idea of what they're saying.
"Alright, got everything for the tennis match: spare rackets, water, tennis balls," Connie said. The older woman checked the supplies, and eventually nodded.
"Very good. Now, if we leave in the next five minutes, we might just make it there," Connie's mother noted, checking the clock. Whether she meant it or not, Connie felt a bit guilty for that remark, something her mother noticed rather quickly.
"Don't worry, Connie, we'll get there," she promised. Connie took a breath and just nodded her head. 
"Okay mom, okay. Is she ready too?" Connie simply said. 
"She's getting there." Before their conversation could go any further, Sonic could hear a notable *thud* coming from up the stairs. It was just enough to get Connie's mother to go up to see what was up. Sonic couldn't really make out any exact words from there, though Connie did check her flipphone for a quick moment while her mom was away. All Sonic saw was her looking disappointed before she put that away.
"Must've gotten Steven's message," Sonic thought.
After that was done though, the mother then came back down, but she wasn't alone this time.
What Sonic saw made his jaw drop.
A Mobian. A young, small, Rabbit Mobian. She didn't look no older than around five or six, with big floppy ears behind her going down her neck with cream-colored fur and orange spots on the tips of her ears, around her brown eyes, and one spot on her forehead. This bunny rabbit also had her own Tennis outfit: orange shorts and shirt with a gold star on it, and even her own head visor.
She wasn't alone either: accompanying her not far away was a small blue creature. Not really any specific animal or mobian for that matter, with a teardrop-shaped head, a pair of small wings, stubby little hands and feet, and a bow tie as well.
"I'm ready Miss. Maheswaran," the rabbit said, cheerful and sweet.
"Chao, Chao," added her flying friend. Sonic was too stunned to note how casual they were with these two, as Connie's mother kneeled down to the rabbit.
"Wow look at you, Cream! So, you ready for your first Tennis game?" Connie asked, giving her one of the tennis rackets. Cream held it up a bit to get a better handling with such a curious expression, before smiling.
"Yes Miss. Connie, I'm ready to play. What about you, Cheese?"
"Chao!" Cheese replied excitedly. In their excitement though, Cream and Cheese began heading right off towards the door, but before they could go, the mother suddenly got in the way.
"Wait a minute. Cream? Aren't you forgetting something?" she questioned, as if they already knew. Cream and Cheese did need a second, but then they realized what it was when Connie then nudged Cream and gave her another extra something: a big yellow cap, and a spare set of small clothes.
"Oops. Sorry. Here you go, Cheese. Thank you, Miss. Connie," Cream said. 
"You're welcome. And, you can just call me Connie, you know, it's okay," Connie replied, still flattered all the same. It took the rabbit a bit of effort rolling up her ears, but soon she got them both hidden underneath the cap as Cheese got his own little outfit sorted up (all too big for him). It still made Cream and Cheese look a bit odd for Humans, but it was the best they could manage for now. After all, it meant they could go outside and play without any problems.
"How do we look?" she asked.
"Like my little siblings," Connie replied, giving Cheese a pat on the head. Sonic meanwhile had a bit to think about here.
"Little ... siblings ...?"
"Chao!"
Sonic bolted the second Cheese waved to him, fast enough so everyone else didn't see him thank the stars. The family soon went out after that, Sonic keeping his position now on top of the roof, well out of sight this time as he watched them get in the car. Cheese did try to find Sonic again, but he did eventually just get in the car with the others after a short minute. It at least gave Sonic time to think about the situation.
"Hmm. ... So Steven AND Connie have the exact same problem. Huh. This'll be easier than I thought."
Sonic regathered himself and hopped back down from the roof, just as the family were off on their way and out of sight. The Hedgehog got a few more stretches in, ready for yet another run after them, but just before he could make a single step, something else began to catch his hearing.
"SONIC!"
"WAH!" No matter Sonic's speed, Amy's tackles could never be avoided. The Hedgehog this time kept himself from just falling to the ground, but Amy and Tails still caught up with him all the same by now.
"What the heck, you left us behind!" Amy said.
"Amy, Tails. Nice of you to catch up. How'd you find me here?" Sonic asked.
"Come on, Sonic, no matter where you go, I'll always find out where you are," Amy said. Sonic felt a shiver run through his quills before he tried getting Amy off of him.
"I'm more concerned about how you knew where Connie lived in the first place," Tails remarked. Sonic finally got Amy to let go by that point, brushing himself off a little before answering.
"Eh, I didn't: I just found her on my run and followed her back here," Sonic explained.
"That's not much better," Tails remarked.
Sonic raised his hands in defense, "Ok, ok, I get it - anyway, you guys won't guess what I found over here! Or rather, WHO I found."
"Who you found?" Tails pondered for a bit. "Wait ... you don't mean -"
"CREAM? You mean the Rabbit Cream? She's here?!" Amy cut in, almost pushing Tails aside just to get her answer in.
"Yep, AND better yet she's hanging out with Connie at her house," Sonic said, thumb aimed at said house next to them. "Which means she's got the same issue Steven has to a tee. Cream's even got this "human disguise" on her too."
Interesting information. Amy and Tails glanced to eachother, imagining the rabbit looking like a human for a brief second but they shook that idea off. That wasn't too important right now, anyway.
"Well did she say how that even happened?" Tails asked.
"Never got a chance to talk to any of em, buddy. I uhh ... never actually introduced myself yet."
Tails just stared blankly at him, glancing to the front window and then back to him. "... You spied on them, didn't you?"
"How about we talk about Connie and Steven instead of me for a second?" Sonic insisted frantically. Tails made a mental note to talk about it later.
"Did you at least figure out where they were going?" Amy asked.
"Kind of: they were talking about some game called Tennis, and were running late for it. That's all I got before they took off," Sonic explained, pointing down the road. The trio of Mobians looked down said road with that info in mind, though Sonic still looked more than ready to just run off to try and find em again. Before he could make a bolt for it though, Tails grabbed hold of his arm, strong enough to keep the speed demon still.
"Wait a minute! Can we at least TALK about how to handle this before just rushing in?" Tails stated.
"What's there to talk about? Connie knows what Mobians are, she's living with one of them, she won't be freaked out seeing us. Let's just go meet her for Steven and everything will be fine," Sonic retorted. The two-tailed Fox relaxed a bit, and he brought a hand to his head in thought. With all the details just dumped down onto him, it did make things somewhat easier but that didn't mean just waltzing up to them was all that good either.
"Fine. Maybe it won't be as bad as I thought, but if we're going to go and talk to them, can we get Steven over here first? Steven's the one with this problem, we can at least get him in on it," Tails said.
"Yeah, probably a good idea," Amy admitted.
"Hmm, oh alright. I'll go fetch him, you guys go find where Connie and Cream went off to and we'll meet up later," Sonic instructed.
Amy and Tails nodded, and with that decision figured out Sonic revved himself up, and sped right off back towards home. All Amy and Tails need to do now is find out where the nearest Tennis court is.
~~~~~~
Back at the Beach House, however, Steven and his "guest" were basically comfortable at this point, despite the man's imposing intro. With Steven being the host to this stranger, he tried his best to be at least somewhat formal, or at the least not weird him out. He even took the time to fetch him a drink as the stranger kept himself comfy on Steven's couch.
"So, you know Sonic too, Dr. Eggman?" Steven inquired as he sat down next to him. Doctor Eggman took a moment to sip his cup of water. He grimaced a little on the dull taste before answering him.
"Sonic and I go back a ways," he explained, "We've been separated ever since I woke up on this planet weeks ago. I've heard he was living around here, but looks like I just missed him. ... Again.
"He usually does that," Steven shrugged, "I don't think he'll like you being here though."
"Yes. You did mention they kept calling me an "evil madman". Where do they get off calling me THAT for?"
"They said you blasted them here in the first place, and something about animals put inside robots," Steven said, though admittedly spooked by Eggman's anger. The doctor meanwhile was steaming on that insult.
"BY ACCIDENT! Do I look like the type of scientist who'd blast random Mobians for fun? No! In fact, I had an entire line of robots set up and ready to go for testing when they decide to crash the party. Just because THEY don't know what I'm doing doesn't make me Evil. GEESH!"
The Doctor huffed as he set his cup down, turning away from the boy. "And as for those robots: yes, I admit they do have animals inside of them as a source of their function, But they were all VOLUNTEERING! They WANTED to try out my robotic machines, and I only made them like that to help them! Just think of how revolutionary it would be for everyone to have their own robot suit to play around in?"
Steven's imagination took over. Steven Universe: boy of the future with a flying robot suit with a gold star engraved at its center. A real superhero of a robot boy! His eyes sparkled at the possibilities, which in turn made Eggman grin.
"Interested, are we?"
"Ooooooo, can you make me one of those? PLEASE?! That sounds so cool!" Steven asked. Eggman pondered a little bit, scratching his chin.
"It has been a long time since I've actually had a HUMAN model made ..." his mouth curled into a smirk. "But that's not a bad idea. It couldn't hurt to make a Steven-sized robot suit."
"Yesssss," Steven beamed. Despite the pleasure though, Eggman's smirk went back into a frown as he sighed "sadly".
"But there's still the matter of dealing with this problem right now."
"Of getting back home?"
Eggman began to pace a bit "My power source: the energy I need to restart my machine. They're a group of Emeralds I've found, and NOW I can't find them anywhere. If ONLY someone knew where at least ONE OF THEM was, it would be so good to know! ..."
There was a bit of a pause after that, Eggman giving Steven a moment to think about the question. ... That moment went longer ... and longer ...
"Anybody at all ...?"
"O-Oh, you're asking me! Ok, let's see."
NOW did Steven start to think, Eggman a little bugged but not saying anything. At least it started. Slowly, Steven's eyes began to move over towards the back door, something Eggman also quickly began to note. That same door Steven kept seeing the Crystal Gems go back and forth through, the same one that always had a fancy glow to it whenever they did so, and the same one gemstones would be brought into.
Steven got up and went over to the back door, Eggman following behind as he examined it.
"The Gems are always bringing back jewels and stuff. Maybe your Emerald got mixed up and put in there," Steven said. Eggman didn't answer right away, a bit preoccupied with his mental studying of the door. He didn't see any door knobs, locks, slides or anything. Nothing but a door-shaped structure with gemstones placed to shape a star.
"And I'm sure you've seen your Gems go through this way."
"Well yeah, all the time," Steven summed up. Eggman glanced back and forth between the door and Steven.
"Including you ...?"
Steven stayed quiet, thinking deeply as he looked to one particular gemstone on said door.
"... Can I? ..."
Only one way to find out. Steven pulled up his shirt, revealing his own gemstone as he went right up towards the door. If that emerald was in there, it'll be a good deed for both him and Eggman if he could pull this off.
"Door!" Steven shouted, pushing his belly into the door. "OPEN! DOOR!"
... nothing.
"Oh, why don't you work when I want you to?" Steven groaned, poking his gemstone. Eggman just raised an eyebrow, but he still got his thinking cap to work.
"Would you care to explain exactly HOW they manage to get in?" Eggman questioned intently.
Steven shrugged. "I dunno: they just walk up to the door, it glows for a second, and they just walk right in. They make it look so easy ..."
"... It might be that easy."
"Huh?"
Eggman actually kneeled down, looking closely at the gemstone Steven had. The reflection he saw was accompanied by a slight glitter from the jewel. After some closer examination, Eggman just took a step back, and tapped his foot on the floor.
"Stand here, Steven."
"Oh. Umm ... ok." An odd request, but Steven did as told and stood in that same spot. When there, Eggman adjusted Steven so he was facing directly at the door.
"From the way your describing, the method of activating the door sounds more psychological rather than physical. Try, for a moment, to focus on where you want to go through behind that door. If my calculations are right, your thoughts alone should be enough to activate it."
Steven felt so dumbfounded, and yet that somehow made so much sense to him. Could that work? Steven looked down to his gemstone again, and then back to the door. Steven never thought any mind power was needed - the Gems didn't had to think much at all to get in that door. With Eggman's instruction, Steven just looked to the door and concentrated. HARD. 
Seconds ticked by. Sweat started to form. Strain began to take hold on him.
He looked like he was having a brain freeze.
Eggman stood by in keen observation, his eyes fixated on Steven's attempt. All this might be just a theory, but Eggman was surprisingly assured in it. Then again, he wasn't a man to doubt his own intelligence, and he wasn't gonna start now especially with the boy's Gemstone ever so slowly starting to shimmer ...
*vroom* Just like that, with a glow still emitting from Steven's gemstone, the same exact gemstone marked on the back door began to emit its own shimmer of light. Pink light began to appear, sliding along the door in a single beam before, to Steven's shock, the door slid right open for him. To where exactly, it wasn't as clear, but that didn't matter yet.
"I-It worked! I OPENED THE DOOR!!" Steven triumphantly beamed, fist in the air and then, in a bit of a quick move, Eggman found Steven hugging him. "THANK YOU, THANK YOU! I can't believe it actually worked!"
Eggman smirked, messing with his mustache a little bit. "Heh, well I don't have 300 IQ for nothing. Now, let's go and see what your Gems have in store, shall we?"
"Right this way," Steven said, leading the way inside, as the smug doctor casually followed Steven through the door.
What Eggman and Steven ended up walking into wasn't exactly a room any normal person would be expecting, even Steven given how little he'd been through that door at all. As for this room they opened up, well it was hard to just call it "a room" since there was a lot that made it feel more like the interior of a living body: thick, reddish, vine-like tendrils branching up from the walls leading up to an unspecified ceiling like roots from a very large tree, even a lava pool at the center of the room to give off a heated glow. The only thing making it room-like was the flat floor, and that was all.
Steven felt his nerves tested a little bit, a shiver going through his back seeing this surreal sight, but Eggman wasn't caring too much about the architecture (not now). No, his eyes were set higher up off of the ground, to something floating precariously in the air.
Gemstones. Lots, and lots of them, easily over fifty and that was just those they could see. Each one of them were bubbled and suspended high above the floor almost as if they were some strange decorations.
"That's quite a collection you got here," Eggman remarked, strolling into the room at the varying types of stones above him, and checking one of the bubbled stones up close. ...
"Yeah ... it is," Steven replied. The boy just stared for a moment or so, awestruck that so many were up there. He knew they did a lot of work when it came to collecting these things, but he never would've expected the hundreds that seemingly were floating in here. He was so caught up in fact, it took Eggman exclaiming to snap him out of it.
"AHA! There you are!"
The one Eggman was pointing to was a bit high up, but Steven and Eggman were sure enough seeing a Diamond-like gemstone encased in one of the bubbles. Even with the pink hue, they could tell the strong blue coloration this gemstone had.
"That's yours?"
"One of them, but absolutely! I'd know that shape and color anywhere in the universe!" Eggman said, almost giddy seeing the gem. He tried to grab it, but it was just up a little too high for him to actually grab hold of it. Even if he could grab it, it floated away with each miss he made.
"Here, let me help," Steven offered. Without saying anything, Eggman grabbed hold of Steven and held him up high. A bit quick, but it definitely helped as Eggman tried again. This time though, with a few hops of missing beforehand, Steven reached just high enough to grab hold of the bubble. His grip was firm, making sure it didn't slip out of his hands. One poke of the finger, and pop went the bubble.
"There you go, Eggman," Steven said, offering the man the stone. Caught up in the moment, Eggman grabbed the gemstone, but he did drop Steven to the floor as he did so. His eyes locked onto the strong blue gem in his hands.
"At last!! Oh, I missed you, my precious," Eggman said, even kissing it he was so happy, and holding it close to his cheek. Steven picked himself off of the floor, shaking off the fall.
"You're welcome," he muttered. Only here that Eggman snapped out of his glee, and cleared his throat.
"Er, yes, sorry about that Steven. Got a little carried away," Eggman said bashfully. Steven picked himself up, seeing the gemstone in Eggman's hands.
"I guess that means a lot to you, huh?"
"Oh, MORE than you'll ever know, kid. In fact, it's time for me to head off on my way," Eggman decided, heading right for the door. Steven quickly tried keeping up with the man as he briskly walked out of the room, the door swiftly closing behind them as soon as they left - a little too soon as it almost closed ON Steven.
"Where're you going? Didn't you want to see Sonic, or something?" Steven asked.
"You can put a good word to him for me, but right now I can have a better time finding the rest of my Emeralds," Eggman said, not even stopping his walk as he went out of the Beach House and towards his vehicle. He just hopped right into it, starting to activate it with emerald in hand.
"Oh, and Steven, let me know if your friends find any more of those emeralds, okay?" Eggman inquired. Before Steven could even reply, he shielded his eyes from the exhaust coming from Eggman's getaway, but it didn't last too long and Eggman was soon off and out of sight, gone to who knows where. As for Steven, he was just left standing there, contemplating if this was even a good decision to make or not.
"Maybe they'll meet up later ..."
Steven, not sure where else to go, just started off back inside the house. He was glad that, at the least, Eggman got his trinket back at the end of the day and that was what's important right? The kid settled down on the couch, honestly with nothing to do with both Gem and Mobian off doing who knows what. Part of him was still aching over the movie cancellation, and now it was only more notable as he laid there.
He thought back a bit, remembering Sonic's earlier stories of his triumphs over Eggman's robots, freeing the animals and so on. It was exciting at the time, but now with Eggman's side of the story ...
Steven's thoughts were cut a bit short when he heard the door open again, this time with the Hedgehog in question standing there.
"Hey, Steven, you're still here. Got a minute?"
Steven sat up. "Oh, yeah, what's up?"
Sonic strolled in, usual smirk on his face as he looked to Steven.
"Well, Amy, Tails and I have been talking and -" and he said this with a thumbs up, "- we got a little something set up for ya to do."
"You do?"
"Sure. Come on, I'll show ya," Sonic insisted, keeping the door open and gesturing him to follow him. Steven did get off the couch, but he was still left confused. Conflicted somewhat. The Hedgehog glanced back to him on his way out.
"Something on your mind?" Sonic asked. Once Steven noticed that, he snapped himself out of it.
"Uhh, nothing, I'll ask you later," Steven insisted. Eggman's been and gone, he could afford to wait until Sonic was done with him. With this decided, Sonic turned his back to him.
"In that case, hop on and we'll go. It'll be quicker getting there," Sonic invited. Steven didn't waste anytime, and hopped right onto Sonic's back. Sonic stumbled a little, but he just managed to keep himself steady for this piggyback ride. With that handled, Sonic revved up his feet, and soon he and Steven were off down the beach.
Next stop: Connie Maheswaran.
~~~~~~
"Here it comes! aaaaand SERVE!"
Throwing the ball good and high, Connie gave one good swing to start their game. Cream had to keep herself from stumbling as she raced around the court, but she did at least get one hit or two during their little game, though by the third swing, Connie managed to get her point with the ball just being missed by the rabbit. This kind of pattern was what happened a couple of times now during their Tennis practice, the Tennis court itself not really busy, lucky for them.
"How're you holding up, Cream? You need a break?" Connie asked. The rabbit Mobian, after wiping some sweat from her head, got her racket up and ready again before fetching the ball.
"No, I can keep going. This is a lot of fun," Cream said. "Can I serve this time please?"
Connie thought for a short sec, racket resting over her shoulder.
"I've been serving since we got here, so you can give it a try. Just remember, after you throw the ball in the air, count to three, and then strike!" Connie reminded, demonstrating that same swing as she'd been doing for some extra aid. Cream nodded eagerly, the rabbit ready to give it a try. It was almost exciting enough for her to accidentally knock off her hat as she raced back into position on the court.
Cream got her focus in, tossed the ball into the air -
*bonk* "OW!"
... And it landed right on top of her head. Not a good showing. Cream fell back on her tail, rubbing the bump on her head as Cheese and Connie managed to get to her.
"Chao?"
"I-I'm okay," Cream said. "It's a lot harder than it looks."
Connie helped Cream back up to her feet with a gentle hand.
"Believe me, you're not the only one who did that. You wanna try that again or do you want me to start the next round?" Connie offered. Cream was about to speak, but then Cheese began speaking again in his own "chao" voice. After a few of those, Cream actually gave her racket to Cheese and looked to Connie.
"Cheese says he wants to try," Cream said. Connie only needed one look at Cheese and the admittedly oversized racket. The little guy could barely even hold it above his head.
"I think he might be a little too young to play, Cream," Connie insisted. Cream already got an injury with her own ability, who's to say Cheese won't get hurt when he couldn't even hold the racket? Even with that though, Cheese looked more than determined to at least give it a try, keeping the racket raised as well as the scamp could do.
"Pleeease, Miss. Connie?" Cream asked, hands together and practically begging. Connie could feel her heart be tested with those eyes. Eventually, her willpower proved too weak.
"Just one round," she decided. Cheese beamed, though fell over when the racket pulled him to the side.
Soon it was all set up. Rather than Connie handling this, however, she instead just stood to the side with Cream and Cheese standing across one another. Neither were experienced, so Connie had them just on one side of the tennis net. Cheese had the honor of serving the ball.
"Ready, Cheese," Cream said, her racket at the ready.
"Chao, chao!" Cheese replied. The little tyke, remembering what Connie told Cream, threw the ball high up into the air. Holding the racket though kept making him stumble slightly as the ball began to come down to earth. It's now or never: Cheese took the racket and got it over his head before the ball hit, bouncing off the racket and right towards Cream. For her though, unlike Connie's standard starts, the ball was just shot upwards, so planning the next hit proved pretty easy.
With a yelp, Cream got the ball struck back to Cheese, and it didn't take long after that for them both to actually figure things out. It was slow and small from a natural game of Tennis, but them bouncing the ball back and forth was just as fun for the two as it turned out: Cheese keeping the racket on the head and Cream only doing shallow hits to make it easy for both of them.
"There you go, you're getting it," Connie said.
As their little game was going on though, the trio there actually weren't as alone as they would've thought. Just out of sight of them, the group was being watched by a few more of the Mobians in town, Tails to be more specific. It was honestly pure luck that they actually found them at all, let alone Sonic and Steven finding Amy and Tails, but it was all worked out. ... Well, almost.
"You guys sure about this?"
"As we'll ever be. It's going to have to happen sooner or later," Tails replied.
"Go on, we'll be right with you," added Sonic.
Cream and Cheese kept going for a bit, but at around the tenth pass to one another, Cheese began to stumble again just as the ball landed down onto the racket. The sudden fall launched the ball much quicker than Cream expected, making her duck as the ball flew by her.
The tennis ball bounced once, then twice, and only stopped once it gently bumped someone else's foot.
"Steven!" Connie exclaimed.
Last person she expected to pop up during her Tennis practice. Steven still felt a bit awkward being out here, fiddling with his fingers as he walked over towards them. Cheese waved hello to the boy, Cream also doing so as she came over to them. Given that she had a mobian literally right there, Connie didn't have a clue how to properly react to this either.
"What're you doing here?" Connie asked. The first obvious question, and Steven wasn't sure how to answer.
"Hey, Connie. I, uhh, I was just passing by as all. Umm ... who're they?" Steven inquired.
"Hello, Mr. Steven! It's nice to meet you," Cream said, even giving a sweet little bow to Steven. Formal, but it was Cream's main way of being polite to folks. Cheese just simply waved hello to him, since he would probably just fall over if he tried that. Connie tried to recollect herself, keeping a normal tone.
"O-Oh, right. Steven these're my siblings, my little sister Cream, and my baby brother Cheese," Connie introduced. Looking to Steven's face, Connie breathed a sigh of relief when she saw he wasn't so weirded out by these two with their disguises.
"Nice to meet you," Steven said, his tone nice but also hesitant in a way. "Wait. You never mentioned them before ... did you?"
Connie felt a shiver run through her. "O-Oh, well it never came up."
Even with her trying not to lose her composure, Steven was already pre-occupied with his own thoughts to notice anything odd with that statement. He glanced back over to Sonic, Amy, and Tails who were still just out of sight and waiting for him to set it all up. He had to get on with it, like they said.
"Ok. ... So umm ... Connie. Actually, t-there's something I wanna show you," Steven stammered out, rubbing the back of his head. Connie glanced over to Cream and Cheese first before addressing Steven.
"Show me? Steven?" Connie repeated. Steven just nodded his head, starting to back up a little bit.
"Uhh, yep I do. But uhh ... just, promise me you won't ... you know ... freak out over it?"
"Well, okay. I think I can handle it," Connie assured, a bit suspicious.
...
*thud*
"Chao?"
The thump was small, but Cheese still jumped a little after this object bumped his foot. The little guy looked down, and found this small round object next to him, looking like a ball. This "ball" was lime green in color, about the size of an apple, and with a strange line or ring around it. It wrapped in such a way that it almost looked like an eye staring back at him.
Steven noticed it soon after Cheese picked up the weird-looking ball, this new distraction making him stop altogether. Connie meanwhile soon saw his eyes glance off behind her, and she wasted little time looking back and trying to find what was there. As for Cheese, he didn't know what to do with it: it didn't feel light like a real ball, and far too smooth like it was made of glass or something.
"What do you have there, Cheese?" Cream asked. Cheese showed Cream the ball-like thing, the sun glistening off of its surface as he did so. Steven and Connie went over by the little guy, getting a good look at the orb themselves.
"Where'd you get that?" Steven asked, curious.
"Huh? I don't know, we never brought it here," Connie replied. "Is this yours, Steven?"
Steven was about to say no, but the more he kept looking at the thing, the more it looked ... well, familiar. Eerily so.
Then it began to shine.
"AHH!" Connie yelped, immediately dropping the object. Cream, Cheese, and Connie rushed away from the light, but Steven ended up splitting up from the group, and falling backwards in his stumble. The light from the object began to form and take shaper in a all too familiar shape. Slowly, the light lengthened into segments, fur flowing from the front and its tail edged into jaws at the back. The object itself floated up further and further into the air, still connected to the mass of expanding and evolving light.
As soon as it started, the blinding light disappeared in a second, revealing to them all the reformed creature. A true colossus of a beast, large enough to take up half of the entire tennis court, and that wasn't even it fully extended. Its whole body was segmented like an insect, crystalline green armor running along its back down to its double-bladed tail. For the head, it had a large flowing mane, accompanied by a set of jagged jaws that look like a cross between a vulture's beak, and the mandibles of a beetle. As for the object? It found a perfectly comfortable spot in the singular iris of its one eye, which itself sat in the center of the beast's large jaws.
After fully coming to, the beast began looking around at the group. Connie, Cream, and Cheese were completely new to it, but for Steven ...
"Uh oh."
The beast roared a shrilling screech, the beast's acidic saliva spewing out of its mouth. Steven could only bolt away as this giant animal slammed its beak into the ground, destroying a good chunk of the court! Screaming, Steven raced to try and get away, only to get knocked over with another dangerously close bite nearly grazed his back.
"Steven, come on!" Connie got Steven up to his feet, pulling him along to get them out of there, but this giant Centipede didn't give them a chance. Seeing them running, it barreled forward like a living train, wrapping itself around all of them to keep them from escaping.
"What is that?" Cream yelped, clutching onto Cheese who was equally as scared.
"I-I don't know! Steven?" Connie could only back up until her back touched one of the segments of the beast, but when she saw Steven, he had a look of fear, but the look wasn't the same as Cream. More that look of an old enemy returning than a new threat showing up.
"B-But ... didn't we beat you up already? H-How'd you get back?!" Steven gulped.
The beast loomed closer and closer, acid dripping from its jaws around Steven's feet. Steven tried not to act too scared of it, but he didn't know what the heck to do against the beast. In the end he could only think of one thing.
"GO AWAY!!!!"
*BAM!*
Moments before the beast could deliver the next bite, it found itself getting clocked to the side of the head, sending it tumbling back from the sheer force. The entire beast rolled aside, giving them all freedom to rush further away. They did stop at a safer distance though as Sonic the Hedgehog landed nearby, ready for a fight.
"SONIC!" Steven and Cream beamed.
"Sonic?" Connie thought.
"Hope you don't mind us popping up before the cue, Steven," Sonic quipped.
"Oh no, I'm all good," Steven insisted.
Their conversation was interrupted by the screeching from the large centipede, Sonic bolting aside before the jaws could clamp down onto him. Still in pain from the kick, its attention was strictly focused on Sonic, the blue Hedgehog racing around it like it was nothing. Amy and Tails meanwhile managed to make their way to the others
"Over here, guys," Tails said, flying for speed and holding onto Cream's hand and not even bothering with introductions as they helped them get off the Tennis Court. As they were doing this, Sonic kept the monster busy with some good spin dashes and a few well-aimed kicks. He only stopped beating the monster up once he realized they were all gone and out of sight, to which Sonic high-tailed it out of there to join the others not too far away.
"Everyone okay over here?" Sonic asked.
"Y-Yeah. Fine," said Connie ... staring a little bit. Not how he wanted it, but introductions are in order now more than ever. Steven, wishing this all could've gone different like in his head, cleared his throat.
"Connie? This is Sonic, Amy, and Tails. Guys, Connie. Connie, uhh ... guys," Steven introduced, red-faced. Connie didn't answer, wide-eyed on all three of them and taking a sec to adjust her glasses. Cream on the other hand was quicker to speak, happy as ever.
"Mr. Sonic! It's so good to see you. Thank you for saving us," she said, rushing over and hugging Sonic. In the rush though, she forgot to hold onto her hat, and next thing they knew there were Cream's ears out for all to see. Cheese did the same, just as happy to see him. Sonic just smiled.
"Anytime, Cream, anytime."
As for Steven and Connie, they both needed to take a minute, an awkward vibe filling the air as they were just staring at eachother. Connie seeing Sonic was one thing, but Steven seeing Cream?
"Your ... "brother"? Steven?"
Steven buckled. "I ... may have lied about that. I-I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't know if you'll freak out if you saw them or not, so I ... kinda kept them a secret."
Steven felt like a complete idiot now saying it all out loud, but he ended up taken aback when he saw Connie embarrassed too.
"That's kinda funny actually. I thought you'd freak out if you saw Cream and Cheese, so, I guess we can call it even?" Connie admitted, her face red a little bit. Steven looked back to Cream and Cheese, only then finally making the connection. Despite everything ... the two shared a laugh.
"Wow, who'd of thought we'd have the same issue, huh?" Connie admitted.
"Yeah. At least we don't have to be so awkward anymore," Steven agreed, still chuckling a little bit. He did stop for a short sec to ask "So, how did you find Cream, anyway?"
"Oh! You see -"
*hisssss*
"Uhh, guys, can we put a pin in this for a second?" Sonic asked.
The Centipede found them.
Everyone quickly scattered, just avoiding the beast's acidic blast which itself carved a hole into the dirt like it was nothing. Connie and Steven were pulled aside fast, both finding themselves flying in the air.
"Thanks a close shave. Thanks for that, Tails -" Steven's thanks was swiftly interrupted when he looked up to see not Tails, but Cream! Rather than a helicopter tail keeping her afloat, Cream was actually keeping them in the air with those big ears, flapping them as if they were wings. How it was even possible, he wasn't even bothering to figure out (he can ask Pearl later). Tails, holding Connie, flew alongside them.
"Sorry, Miss. Connie, I didn't mean to jump like that."
"No, no, you're fine! You're doing great!" Connie replied. Tails pulled her higher up to avoid the Centipede's jaws. They flew pretty high, but the Centipede beast was surprisingly good at keep up with them in the sky, snapping its mandibles at them every time they got a little too close to it when not trying to blast them out of the sky with its acid spit. Sonic tried some frontal attacking again, dashing back and forth and striking its face a good five times to keep it away from the others. Each hit was strong, but this bug wasn't getting any major damage no matter where Sonic struck. In one of the attempts, the bug swung its head around, and finally clamped its jaws on one of Sonic's feet!
The acid was NOT pleasant at all. The Hedgehog scrambled to get his foot out, the acid eating away at his shoe as the Centipede swung Sonic around like a ragdoll.
"HANDS OFF MY SONIC!"
While not her strongest hit, Amy did manage to clock the beast good with her hammer. The hit was just strong enough to make the beast release Sonic, the Hedgehog plopping to the ground as the beast screeched. Lucky for Sonic, the acid didn't actually get to his foot, but the front of his shoe was easily wrecked. Amy quickly got to him and helped him up to his feet.
"Hey, watch it! these're hand-me-down shoes!" Sonic snapped. All response he got was a roaring monster, acid splattering all around them.
"Steven, you said you fought that before, didn't you?" Connie asked.
"Wait, did I? I didn't know I was thinking out loud."
"Well you did, so what did you guys do before to defeat that thing? Whatever you did, we could use that help right about now."
Sonic and Amy were forced back to the group soon after Connie finished. Steven had to focus here: he couldn't just let his friends get eaten by this monster. As it turned to face them, Steven tried to think fast.
"Getting an idea, Steven?" Tails asked.
"Yeah, yeah. We need a few extension cords, and a recently broken ice cream machine! Is there a Cookie Cat dispenser around?"
Even the beast stared blankly at him for a second.
"I'm being serious!"
"We don't HAVE ANY OF THAT, STEVEN!" Tails exclaimed.
The beast roared once more just above them, forcing them all to rush away before it could chomp down on any of them. It was a narrow escape, but with the moment to look around, Connie then spotted the undamaged tennis net nearby. Her eyes darted back and forth between that, and the giant beast before them before it all suddenly clicked.
Better luck too that Sonic was next to her. Before the Hedgehog could rush to the monster, Connie grabbed hold of him by the shoulder.
"Sonic wait, I need your help."
"Already working on it, Connie."
"No, not that! Here, we need to grab that net," Connie said, pointing over to the Tennis net nearby. Sonic just needed that same glance between that and the monster before heading over.
"Oh, I get it now. I got this!"
Connie took the moment to race over to the others, trying to get them to move out of the monster's way as Sonic wasted no time getting the net out of the ground. Just a few cuts was all the hedgehog needed. With the long net in hand, Sonic began racing towards the beast, the Centipede shrieking and trying to attack with the blue pest racing all around it in the usual blurring speed. Each time it tried to bite him, it only managed to get the air, and the Tennis net wrapped around it more and more with each movement quickly getting entangled in the net.
It only took Sonic a few seconds to tie it together, but pretty soon they all saw the beast completely wrapped in a ball of netting, incapable of moving an inch. All the beast could do was screech its head off.
"And just like that, we got one monster-sized rubber band ball," Sonic remarked with the usual smugness on his face.
"Great job, Sonic!" Steven beamed.
"Great job, but now what do we do? We can't just leave it on the tennis court like ... this," Connie pointed out. They all took a moment to check the creature, it still screeching and wailing like a banshee, still trying to bust free. One screech blasted a bit more acid at them, making Sonic jump back again. It was painfully clear just letting it go was only gonna cause problems.
"Steven? You said you fought this thing before, meaning you actually won. What did you guys do with it?" asked Tails.
"Oh, Garnet turned it into a rock, put it in a bubble, and sent it away to somewhere," Steven replied, though where exactly he wasn't so sure. Still, that proved good enough for them, and Amy brought out her hammer. Seeing that only made the beast even more ballistic, but incapable of doing much beyond screeching.
"May I?"
"Oh sure, ladies first," Sonic replied.
One swing.
Just one, VERY POWERFUL PIKO swing, was enough to silence the beast. The force of it was enough to shake the ground, and with that, the centipede poofed right then and there, the sudden appearance of the clouds giving way to that same small stone sitting on the ground. Amy, spinning hammer in hand, just picked it up and tossed it to Sonic.
"Serves that thing right for hurting my Sonic," Amy huffed.
They all took a second to check the rest of the tennis court. With all the ditches formed, the net torn up, and acid spots everywhere else. It was amazing that the foundation didn't disappear completely thanks to that beast.
"It's safe to say no one's using this court," muttered Sonic.
"Oh no, oh no, what am I gonna do?" Connie stammered, "What am I gonna tell mom? She'll ground me for life if she hears about this!"
Connie's hands gripped her head, as if trying to squeeze out an idea, troubled to the point that she actually fell to her knees. Cream and Cheese went over to comfort the girl, the others checking over the damage again. Tails took a sec to pick up one of the remaining meshes of the Tennis net.
"... Maybe you won't have to."
~~~~~~
*knock**knock**knock*
Although still a little rattled after everything, Connie kept herself calm and collected best she could as she waited at the front door to her home. Cream and Cheese (disguises back on) stood right beside her with their tennis equipment in hand. Connie all the while took one final breath to calm herself down, just as the door opened up with her mother standing there.
Her reaction was just as expected.
"Connie? Y-You're home," she noted.
"Yep," she sighed, "I'm here."
"But, wait, you were at Tennis practice, what're you doing here? More importantly, why'd you walk home instead of calling me?"
Two questions already complicating things. Connie felt a shiver, but she got herself together, rubbing the back of her head.
"Umm, you see," she explained, "the Tennis Court had to go under construction today. The main area? It just happened at the last minute, I swear, a-and I tried calling you but it wouldn't go through or something, so ..."
Connie could feel her heart tighten the more lying came out of her mouth, thinking at any moment her mom was gonna call her out on it. Just as she feared though, her mother just looked perplexed, and ... a bit suspicious almost. It was enough to give Connie stage fright levels of worry. Cream and Cheese wished they could help, but what could they say that would change this story?
As for the mother, she checked around the area for anything else, but didn't seem like she had anything to hide nearby.
"That still doesn't sound like a reason for you to walk home. Let me just see," she remarked, getting out her own phone. Connie felt her nerves tense up, eyes wide in freak out mode as her mom went on to dial some numbers. All Connie could do was cross her fingers behind her back and hope for the best.
"Yes, hello? This is Mrs. Maheswaran, I dropped off my daughter at your Tennis field earlier today, and she's telling me - ... wha? Wait, wait, slow down. What is it? ... Excuse me? But how, it looked just fine this morning! ... Uhuh ... hmm ..." she glanced over to Connie for a second. ".... and you just found it out? ... Ok. When will it be available again? ... Alright. Thanks for letting me know. Alright, bye."
She turned back to Connie, who by this point while trying to look normal, was practically panicking inside, all indications of it from a sweatdrop on her forehead. The mother just breathed a sigh of relief as she went to her daughter.
"It sounds like they won't be open again for a few weeks due to ... unspecified circumstances. So, until then, you can practice your Tennis just by the park down the road. That sound good?"
"VERY," Connie sighed. SO MUCH WEIGHT lifted off her back with that agreement. Her mother smiled.
"Good. After you bring that in, we'll check the connections. Must've not updated my phone again," the mother concluded, walking inside. As the trio were handling the equipment, Cream gave Connie a thumbs up, which Connie gladly returned. They pulled it off. Plus, now that they were home, Cream and Cheese can take off their disguises, and Cream flew the equipment back up to Connie's room.
Now alone, and now free, Connie got out her phone, seeing another message written out on it. It was a simple statement: :Let me know how it works out, please. Steven:
Her response ...?
:Thank you guys SO MUCH.:
Category:Sonic Gem