Part three, enjoy!
Estantia's stories
Cinnamon Spice
Cinnamon Spice 2
Cinnamon Spice 4
The next day was dull compared to the previous one and that was the entire problem, no villains to chase, no emeralds to find, not even a board to practice on. Naturally this caused tempers to rise...
“Oh shut UP already Knuckles! You think I like waiting around for this tournament? Sheesh, I don’t even have a board to practice on!”
As if to emphasise this point the lights flickered and a hiss was heard before they returned back to normal with a distant sound of a door slamming before the small fox entered the room, tails whipping in several directions as he grabbed a coke in the silence, slammed the fridge door shut and paced back, to be followed by another bang before Knuckles retaliated.
“You don’t have a duty to get back to! How long do you think I can leave the Master emerald unaccompanied? It could be stolen next!”
“Don’t be daft you overgrown mouse!” Sonic’s spikes were slowly rising in anger, “the only ones who would do that are in the city getting ready for the tournament while we sit around doing nothing!”
“You’re calling ME an overgrown mouse? Look in the mirror hedge-pig!” Knuckles’ gloves strained as he balled his fists and took a step towards the speedster,
“Bring it on,”
“You don’t stand a chance!”
“Will you BOTH shut up?” The black and red hedgehog sitting at the table looked up and glared at them, a hint of red tinging his normally dark eyes, “How is anyone supposed to stay calm with you two going on?”
“Why do you think YOU can tell us to shut up?” The other hedgehog’s attention returned to his newspaper, though it didn’t entirely seem like he was reading.
“Ultimate being, simple as. Now shut up and sit down.”
Suddenly there was a jerk as the newspaper went flying, as Shadow’s chair did a moment later as he shot upright, “You little testosterone-f
illed jerk, that was dumb, you realise?”
Sonic’s eyes met his with as much restless anger as his own, “Take that back.”
“I never said anything that wasn’t true.”
“Apart from the fact I’ve whipped you so many times.”
“You’re just trying to pick a fight aren’t you?”
“What if I am?” The blue eyes were mulish as Shadow tapped his fingers on his leg.
“You could have said that before.”
“Just shut up and fight.”
“Spar, not fight, spar. Yes you can join in Knux...” The echidna grinned before Sonic pushed him away, “Just you and me.”
“No, you were arguing with Knux earlier, cut the aggro.”
“Don’t tell me what to do.”
“Just did.”
Both hedgehogs blurred as the door outside banged open, hedgehogs exiting at top speed before rolling across the grass, Knuckles not far behind them. A punch sending Sonic flying.
“Cool it.” The blue hedgehog scowled and returned to the open sparring match of black, red and blue.
Eventually Shadow pinned his counterpart against a tree after losing Knuckles in the woods, hissing his words as his arm stayed across Sonic’s throat, “Listen to me you idiot, are you listening?”
He got no reply but a glare, Sonic knew when he was caught, “You need to calm down, just because you’re annoyed doesn’t mean you can go round creating aggro for everyone else! You’ve got to learn to stay cool,”
“I never thought I’d hear that from you of all people.” The black and red spikes stiffened at that,
“I grew a head, maybe it might work if you did the same and put the testosterone aside for a bit,” Shadow let Sonic slide so his feet were on the ground, “You’ve never acted like an unruly teenager before, now is NOT a good time to start.”
Shadow stepped away and the other hedgehog stayed still, staring unseeingly at the floor in shame, pride still refusing to break. Shadow waited for his counterpart to say something.
“Shadow?”
“Uh huh?” There was a silence,
“Thanks.”
Shadow nodded, “Back to normal now?”
“Think so.”
“Good,” Shadow sat down and indicated Sonic sit, “we don’t need idiots around, what’s up?”
“What?” Sonic looked at the other figure as he himself slid down into a sitting position.
“You don’t go crazy for no reason whatsoever, even I don’t.”
“Seriously? Doesn’t look like it at times...”
“That was at your idiocy, which was founded by...?”
“No idea,” mumbled the other figure. Shadow looked at him with raised eyebrows and Sonic continued, “Ok, so maybe I do have a slight idea...” he paused, “having nothing to do always annoys me, I’m active, I need to be doing something.”
Shadow considered his next words carefully, “You know you’re a terrible liar right?”
“Yup.”
“Cinnamon?” came the questioning tone and Sonic’s head shot upright in shock,
“What? What’s she got to do with me being annoyed?”
“At a guess? A lot.” Sonic was about to speak but instead shut his mouth and thought, a rare occurrence. Shadow waited, absently picking a blade of grass and twirling it between his fingers.
“You’re saying I’m in a bad mood because of her?” Sonic asked, clueless, "But she didn't do anything!"
Shadow sighed and shook his head, “Never mind... Let’s get back.”
“No, seriously, what were you going on about? Shadow! SHADOW! Oi! Get back here and explain!”
----
The hedgehogs arrived back to find the back door open and a lack of explosions from Tails’ workroom. They shrugged and walked in to find silence once more. Now that was strange...
Shadow frowned and walked towards the fox's area, where he saw a red figure leaning against the door frame. Knuckles turned his head and silently jerked his head towards the door, returning to watching the scene inside.
The other two walked up behind him and saw two figures kneeling to examine something in absolute silence, light and dark orange in fierce concentration, the girl occasionally indicating something with one finger and briefly pointing to other areas of the inside of her board. All three tails were mostly still but waving slightly, once or twice the light orange ones curled round something and took it to his hand and then into Cinnamon’s. As the woman showed him the inside of the board Tails’ pencil skidded frantically over the paper, sketching detailed technical drawings.
The spectators watched in respectful silence and awe as the board recreated itself under the young fox’s hands, the atmosphere charged with another level of understanding as the minds worked in the fluent way only totally those who are totally absorbed in their work can. The others watched, fascinated, each linking it to those moments of perfect harmony in their own work.
Then the two pairs of hands suddenly and carefully reassembled the board and it was done. The darker orange figure lifted the board and spun it round her hand to catch the dim light and let it rest in her grip, eyes intently on the board before her eyes focussed properly on the people around her and the moment was lost. “Oh... hi...” she said, still slightly dazed.
“Hi,” Sonic’s reply was prompt, “you should have told us you were here.”
“You were out... and Tails caught me instead so...” the creature shrugged, not finishing the sentence. The five let the pause lie until Knuckles spoke, “What happened to you guys earlier, one minute you were there the next gone, and what was with the aggro?”
“Later Knux, we need to show Cinnamon around.”
“Not really, I mean this place isn’t that big...”
“Something to eat then.”
“Sorry, not hungry right now.” The woman managed to hide her smile with the others as Sonic suggested just about everything in the book, each being calmly opposed each time. Eventually he said, exasperated, “You must have come here to do something!”
“Yup,” now she couldn’t prevent the grin spreading across her face as she didn’t say anything further.
“What?” Sonic stared as she tapped her fingers on her leg, as if thoughtful. Eventually she spoke, slowly and deliberately, but with a glint of mischief in her eye.
“You know Sonic? You are so easy to wind up...”
She fled amidst gales of laughter, Sonic hot on her tail before she slammed the board down and kicked off, pushing off the wall in a jump to send her flying out the open door and round the house, easily jumping the various tunnels out of the area to lose sight of Sonic, who wasn’t exactly trying too hard to catch her.
When he caught up she was leaning casually against the house with the others, or it would have been casually leaning against the house if she hadn’t been clutching her board for balance and using the house for support as she doubled over in fits of laughter.
Cinnamon Spice
Cinnamon Spice 2
Cinnamon Spice 4
Stumble!