For how Long will the Red Rose Grow

Beginning of an End

"Ha! Sonic ten, Silver zero!"

"I still don't understand how to play! C'mon, again!"

Sonic chuckled as much as he could, mostly at himself since he'd nearly thrown his joycons across the room in his excitement. He wasn't sure how he convinced Silver to play Super Smash Bros with him, but boy was he glad he did. He had gotten bored literally minutes after everyone had left on their valiant quest to hunt down the Chaos Emeralds for him.

They had tried a few various board, card, and video games, like Monopoly, Uno, and Minecraft, but had inevitably settled on Sonic's favorite beat-'em-up. Blaze opted to just sit and watch the boys play, chuckling around her mug of piping hot oolong tea. Sonic believed she kept it warm like Iroh from his and Tails's favorite show, Avatar, and he liked that theory so much he refused to let it go. He was sure Tails would agree.

When choosing characters to duke it out, Sonic almost always picked himself. Silver, however, had tried at least four different characters in hopes of finding someone to main and potentially beat the azure with. So far, Cloud, Marth, Banjo, and Pit had all failed Silver in his conquest to understand the controls. At least he wasn't giving up so easy.

As Sonic prepared round eleven, Silver chose Lucario to try out, his eyes focused on the screen and brow creased in determination. "If I win this," Silver began, "I wanna try out that Stardew Valley game." Sonic smiled as he thought about starting a new save with Silver in the comforting land of Pelican Town. He didn't even entertain the fact that if their Chaos Emerald plan failed, he was going to die. He liked the comfort in the idea.

"Sound good." Sonic grinned. "If you can beat me, that is."

"This is the one!" Silver proclaimed, locking in Lucario as his fighter as the round began. "This is the run!"

Sonic stuck his tongue out in determination as he and Silver went all out in virtual mortal combat. They both ended up losing a stock due to stage hazards, both being startled by Shadow's sudden teleportation in. Sonic paused the match after they returned, looking hopeful.

"You're back!" He exclaimed. "Did it go well?" He noticed Silver's ears perk up out of his peripheral vision.

"Well, it went." Knuckles replied, dusting himself off and picking metal nuts and copper wires from his crimson quills. The tone of his voice was laced with frustration and mental exhaustion.

Shadow rubbed his temples. "He's heavily monitoring the place. Double the guards, double the cameras, double the security measures. But, we were all at least successful and retrieved our quarry." He set down the yellow emerald on the coffee table where Sonic's other two sat. Knuckles and Rouge added the blue and cyan ones afterwards.

"Just waiting on Tails and Amy, then." Sonic replied as Shadow retrieved the purple emerald from his quills and set it down beside the green one. A smile spread on his lips as he stared at the six they had gathered. "Then I can kiss this stupid disease goodbye."

"You're playing Smash?" Knuckles asked suddenly, loudly, staring at the paused match on the television. "Without me?"

Sonic laughed, the sound weak. "Yeah. Kicking Silver's butt too." Silver made a distraught noise.

"After this match, add me in!" The echidna demanded, though Sonic knew it was probably just an offer. The echidna hopped over the back of the royal blue sofa and plopped on the cushion beside Sonic. The hedgehog laughed.

"Oh, absolutely!"

"Three players?" Silver squeaked. "Now I'm really screwed."

"Make it four." Shadow added, his voice deep and dangerous. A terrifying, competitive smirk creased his muzzle as he leaned over the back of the couch. Sonic could feel his body heat and smell his gentle lavender aroma, and it set his heart off. He was lucky to escape without a nasty fit of coughs.