Taismo: Six Years On: Ch7

Taismo – Six Years On – Chapter Seven – “Daft night antics”

Vector was having the best dream of his life. He had just walked into the Chaotix’s house to discover that the walls were gold plated. Some doors he had opened only to be engulfed in a sea of gold rings. Rock music was blaring at full volume from every room. And to top it all Vanilla the Rabbit was draped – in rather skimpy attire – over a diamond coated chair in Vector’s front room.

“Vector,” she said in a seductive voice normally only associated with Rouge. “I have something that I would like to tell you.”

The croc blushed and grinned sheepishly, showing off a row of gold teeth as he did. “Heh-heh. Well, Miss Vanilla, what might that be?”

“It is…”

But suddenly Vector’s dream was ended when his surroundings were swallowed by bright light.

“What might that be?” the Croc grumbled angrily as he was awoken from his slumber. As he opened his eyes he saw two small bright lights next to each other. They looked like an eerie pair of eyes and they were moving slowly towards him.

Vector shot up and shuffled quickly to the other side of his bed, nearly falling off in the process. “C-C-Could that b-be… a gh-ghost?”

However the croc’s fear was short-lived as he had an idea what might be happening. He frowned. “Espio! Make yourself visible and put those lights out. It’s not funny.”

“But I’m right here Vector” yawned the chameleon sleepily. Vector turned around and
noticed the Espio rubbing his eyes sleepily. The crocodile’s eyes widened.

“Th-then… m-maybe it is a ghost!” Vector spun around and noticed the ghost’s eyes were almost touching his face. “AAAGH!”

He screamed and shot out of the bedroom door, his arms flailing in the air. Immediately Espio got up and slammed the door shut, bolting it. He turned around and gave a thumbs up. “Nice work Charmy. We fooled him good!”

Charmy was hovering silently above Vector’s bed, holding a fishing rod from which two small torches dangled. “Heh-heh,” replied the bee. “Maybe that’ll teach Vector to snore loudly. We should be able to get some sleep now!”

---  

Cosmo was worried about Tails. They had made it home safely, but he had not been the same on the way home. And now, as she tried to sleep, he was having terrible nightmares.

“Aagh! Please, don’t eat me!”

It was crystal clear that his nightmare was linked with today’s events. Eating fox steak had had an obvious negative effect on him, as anyone would expect, yet Cosmo just hoped that it was not permanent.

“NNNGG! Get your hands off me! I’m not going in that cooking pot!” Tails started thrashing about.

Cosmo was not sure what to do. He had muttered and wriggled for a lot of the night, but his dreams had apparently increased in vigour during the last 30 seconds. She had to intervene.

Cosmo gripped his hands tightly. “Tails, wake up!”

“Don’t eat me!” Tails yelled loudly in her face as his eyes shot wide open.  

“Shh, Tails, you’ve had a nightmare,” whispered Cosmo as she wrapped her arms around his shaking body. She could feel his heart beating rapidly against her chest, and his breathing rate was just as fast.

“Cosmo…” Tails gripped her tightly as he allowed a couple of tears to roll down his cheeks and hit Cosmo’s shoulders. He looked around the room. His bedside table had the lamp turned on, there were pictures on the wall of friends and family and various inventions and ornaments sat on shelves around the room. A couple of metres after the end of the double bed were some cupboards, built into the wall and used predominantly as wardrobes. Everything was normal.

“Cosmo, what time is it?” asked Tails after a few silent moments.

“It’s just past three in the morning Tails,” replied Cosmo calmly.

Tails sighed. “I’m sorry, Cosmo. I haven’t kept you awake all night, have I?”

“Of course not, Tails. And you shouldn’t worry about me, you’ve obviously had some of the worst nightmares of your life” reassured Cosmo softly. She rubbed her hands soothingly up and down his back. She felt her hands dampen, and realised that he must be sweating. She now noticed the large sweat patches on the bed sheet below where Tails had slept and on his pillow too.

“Why don’t you go and freshen up in the bathroom?” she suggested. The fox nodded silently in reply, and Cosmo kissed him on the cheek as he got up.

“Thank you for being so caring, Cosmo,” muttered Tails gratefully as he left the room. About half a minute later Cosmo heard the shower turn on. She now noticed that some of Tails’ sweat had also rubbed of onto her plain white nightdress. She couldn’t sleep in that.

She quickly changed her clothes, and then figured that she might as well change the bed sheets. She removed the dirty bed sheets, placing them in a wicker basket at the end of their landing hallway. She then reached onto the top level of Tails’ wardrobe and pulled down some fresh bed clothes. By the time Tails had returned she had finished putting the new sheets on.

“Cosmo… you changed the bed sheets.” Tails was stunned.

“Of course I did, Tails. They were dirty,” replied the Seedrian as she climbed into the bed.

“But, at this hour of the morning…”

Cosmo giggled. “Well I didn’t want to spend the rest of the night sleeping in a sweat-stained bed.”

Tails blushed at this remark, but he walked round to the other side of the bed and slipped in between the bed and double-duvet. The new sheets felt fresh and soft on his fur. He was so grateful for Cosmo’s kind gesture that he wrapped his arms and namesakes around his girlfriend and pulled her close. The pair sat silently for a couple of minutes, enjoying each other’s company. Eventually Tails spoke.

“Cosmo, earlier you said to me that I must’ve been having some of the worst nightmares of my life. But I have to tell you that the worst nightmares I’ve had were more common before you returned to us. In fact, I still occasionally have them. They take me back to that night… the night I made the most difficult decision I have ever made, Cosmo… the night I had to sh-shoot you.”

Tails swallowed as he fought a lump in his throat. Just the memories of that moment were bringing tears to his.

Cosmo could see that he was distressed. His eyes looked distant, and were stained with pathos. She embraced him warmly. “But I’m here with you now Tails. And I promise that I’m not going anywhere.”

This seemed to restore some happiness in Tails’ expression, and he smiled as he turned his body to face Cosmo. The couple were nose to nose, their faces inches apart. “I know, Cosmo. And I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

Tails leant forward and tasted her lips. The pair were locked in a kiss that lasted a few seconds before Cosmo stopped it with giggles.

“You smell like lemons, Tails!” she exclaimed.

“Lemons?” The fox sniffed his fur in various places of his anatomy. She was right.

“You must have used my shampoo again, Tails,” laughed Cosmo.

“Whoops,” the fox blushed.

Cosmo continued to laugh. “And your fur is really fluffy.”

Tails blushed bashfully even more. This time he looked slightly annoyed. “I had to use the hair dryer. I couldn’t come to bed with wet fur. Dammit, I hate that thing!”

“If you say so,” teased Cosmo. She kissed him playfully on the nose. “Goodnight, Tails.”

“Goodnight, Cosmo.” Tails switched his bedside light off, allowing the pair to settle into a peaceful slumber.      

--

Rouge was lying in bed, staring at the ceiling. It was the early hours of the morning – about five O’clock – yet Rouge had struggled to sleep. The red echidna next to her was snoring and had been for the last few hours – that had certainly been no help. Furthermore he was being a duvet hog.

“SNOOORRRRREEEE!”

“Ugh!” Rouge buried her face in her pillow. When that didn’t work she tried to cover her large, white ears with it. After a further few unsuccessful seconds she threw her pillow to the floor in frustration. She leant as close as she could to Knuckles’ ear before yelling at the top of her voice:

“WILL YOU SHUT UP!”

“WAAGH!” Knuckles’ eyes shot open as he almost hit the ceiling in surprise. As he leapt up he inadvertently threw the entire duvet over Rouge, covering her body. He stumbled out of bed, clattering into his bedside table, which in turn catapulted the lampshade of his bedside lamp onto his head, covering his eyes.

“Who’s there? Stay away from the Master Emerald!” Knuckles quivered as he stumbled blindly around the room. He comically tripped over one of the legs of the double bed, sending him sprawling across the floor on his front.

Rouge pulled the duvet from over her head. Normally the sight of the red echidna flat on his front with a frilly green lampshade on his head would give her an excuse for a chuckle, but her lack of sleep had left her in a grumpy mood.

“Ugh, you’re an imbecile,” she muttered coldly.

Knuckles felt around him. This was his bedroom floor. Rouge had just spoken. And apparently his lampshade had become a hat. At least this meant that that the Master Emerald was safe, but he was still angry at Rouge for waking him up. He staggered to his feet and removed the lampshade from his head.

“Hey, that’s unfair,” he replied. “You woke me up for no reason.”

“No reason?” spluttered Rouge, her eyes wide. “You’ve been hogging that duvet since we went to bed and you’re bloody snoring has kept me from getting even a wink of sleep!”

Knuckles replaced the lampshade. “I can’t help it if I do things in my sleep,” he said firmly whilst holding his hands up defensively. “Besides I’ve got a tough day guarding the Master Emerald tomorrow.

Rouge felt the bed tilt as Knuckles sat back down on it. Tough day? Yeah, right. He could stand to lose a bit of weight from the lack of exercise he does. “Tough day my arse, Knuckles. While you’re snoring your heart out I’m struggling for sleep. And all you’ll do tomorrow is sleep in front of that sodding emerald anyway!”

Knuckles clenched his fists as he spun to face her. “Hey, badmouth me all you want, but nobody – NOBODY – says a word against the Master Emerald. You better watch that foul mouth of yours.”

Rouge gasped with hurt as he finished his sentence. When she spoke it sounded cold and vicious. “Well, this foul mouth would have less to say to you if you actually let me GET SOME SLEEP!”

As Rouge hollered the last part she swung her pillow at Knuckles. The echidna leapt off of the bed and out of the way. He took a fighting stance as he pointed a finger at Rouge. “If you don’t like the way I sleep, then go and sleep in another room.”

“Maybe I will!”

“Fine! See if I care!”

“Of course you won’t care, you think about nothing but yourself!”

“Hey! That’s no way to speak to the guardian of the Master Emerald!”

Rouge threw her arms in the air in exasperation. “Oh, how silly of me! You do think about one other thing – that F***ING EMERALD!”

Knuckles clenched his fists and remained silent. Rouge, unsure what to make of this, continued her rant.

“I bet you don’t ever even think about me!”

Knuckles blushed slightly. “Er, actually… I do think about you. Quite a bit.” He replied softly.

“Oh yeah? When? How?”

Knuckles blushed further, so that his muzzle was now indistinguishable from his fur. He simply stared dumbly, mouth slightly agape.

“How?” Rouge repeated.

Knuckles scratched the back of his head. “Er… you mean, like, what I think of you wearing, or… er…” he trailed off awkwardly.

Despite her anger, Rouge couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh, Knuckie. Always succumbing to his ‘desires’”. She made room for him on the bed. “Come back to bed.”

“Yes’ums” Knuckles clambered clumsily back into bed, still blushing. Rouge snuggled up to him.

“I love you really.”

Knuckles smiled. His anger had dissipated and he felt happier now. This was all he
wanted. “I love you too, Mast… er, Rouge!”

---

Sonic the Hedgehog awoke to a pleasurable backrub. He smiled, eyes still closed.

“Good morning, Amy,” he said happily.

“Good morning, Sonic,” she replied. “Thanks for last night.”

“Thank you” answered Sonic. “You organised it.”

“Mmm,” Amy smiled gratefully. After Amy had dropped Cosmo at the restaurant she had come home to Sonic. The couple had snuggled together and watched a movie, before getting off with each other. In addition, Amy had cooed a wonderful meal beforehand which Sonic had particularly enjoyed.

“But…” muttered Amy. “I wish we’d taken it a little further.”

Sonic’s eyes shot open. “How much further?”

“Well… y’know… the ‘highest level’ I guess,”.

Sonic turned to look at her through half closed eyes. “Amy, you know how I’d feel about that. What if you got pregnant? I’m not ready to be a father.”

“But Sonikku,” Amy clutched his arm. “That’s what a condom is for.”

“I’m not ready. Just look at Tails and Cosmo. We’re not doing this yet, end of.”

Amy pouted, but was cheered up slightly when Sonic kissed her on the cheek. Sonic got up to leave the room, and as he did the phone on his bedside table began to ring. Seeing as it was Tails he answered.

“Hey buddy!”

Sonic jumped out of his skin and held the phone at arm’s length as an angry loud voice began hollering down the phone.

“I-It’s for you, I think.” Sonic gingerly handed the phone to Amy before scampering out of the room.

Amy shrugged. “Hey Tails, what’s up?”

“AMY! Was it you who set us up at this bloody restaurant?!”

Amy’s mouth dropped open. Something must have gone horribly wrong. “Er… maybe?”

“What were you thinking?!”

“Was it not nice? It seemed nice when I looked at the advert.”

“Amy for crying out loud, it was the worst place I’ve ever been to! I had nightmare’s last night because they served me fox to eat. The waiters were rude! They spilt soup all over Cosmo, then kicked us out when they served us wine! Had you never been to this restaurant before?”

“Um…”

Tails sighed. “Don’t EVER do this again!”