Across the Rift (SNT X Rookie/Gizmo)

Chapter 3: Familiar Faces?

SNT, Vanilla, and Cream were at the park. SNT was talking to Vanilla while Cream and Cheese were playing on the swings. "I'm going to go to his place next Friday to have a sleepover!" "That's nice." Vanilla was watching Cream. "His brother's friend is also going to join us. It'll be nice to get to know more people from that dimension." "Hey mom! Look at how high I'm pushing Cheese on the swing!" Cheese was barley swinging at all. "You're doing great Cream!" "Don't push the swing too hard you wouldn't want to hurt Cheese by accident!" SNT said with no worry at all. SNT noticed someone familiar. She doesn't remember ever meeting them, at least in her dimension. He was flying up the slides before sliding down it. She brushed off the feeling of knowing the bee. "Have you ever been to a sleepover Vanilla?" "I've been to some back in high school." "How are they?" "The sleepovers were nice. I lost contact with most of those friends except for one." Vanilla frowned. SNT looked up at the bright blue sky. She decided to lay down on the grass and close her eyes.
Cream was now playing on the slides with Cheese. "Chao Chao Chao!" Cheese was in the slide but didn't slide down. "What's wrong Cheese?" "Chao Chao!" Someone flew to Cream and Cheese. "What's wrong?" "Cheese says their too scared to slide down." "What! There's nothing to be afraid of!" He went down the slide to show this before flying back up. "See?" "You see that Cheese. This nice boy showed you that it's safe to go down." Cheese went down the slide before flying back up as well. "Chao Chao Chao!" "Thank you for showing Cheese that the slide is safe. What's your name?" "My name's Charmy!" He said revealing himself. "I'm taking a break from my job. So I get to hang out here!" "You have a job?" Cream asked.
Vanilla was watching Cream before a chameleon walks up to her. "Seems like he's gotten along with your kid very well." "Oh Hello! You must be his dad." SNT opened her eyes. "I've heard that voice before." "Oh I'm not his dad!" Espio awkwardly said. "My name's Espio. I'm on break right now and he begged me and my friend to take him here. Speaking of, where is he?" SNT sat up and looked towards Vanilla. She saw Espio and recognized him immediately. "I'm Vanilla. This is SNT." Vanilla motioned her hand towards SNT. Espio looked at SNT. "Nice to meet you." SNT looked stunned. "H-hi! Nice to meet you!" SNT awkwardly waved at him.
Vector ran towards Espio. "I told both of you to wait up for me!" He started to catch his breath. "You know how Charmy gets when we let him pick where we have our break." Vanilla look at Vector and spoke. "Vector?" Vector's eyes widen. "Vanilla! I haven't seen you since high school! How have you been!" "You two know each other?" Espio asked Vector. "Yeah! We used to hang out all the time! We still send letters to each other!" Vanilla nodded her head in agreement. "I never knew you sent letters to someone." SNT said. She was partially paying attention. "Your always out with your friends. You can ask Cream about it." Seeing this as an opportunity to collect her thoughts she decided to. "I'm gonna go do that." SNT walked towards Cream. SNT was surprised and slightly scared about the implications of the Chaotix existing in her dimension. "Did they always exist or did Rookie's dimension cause them to! I should ask Tails! Maybe the watch wasn't fully ready!"
Cream and Charmy were talking when SNT approached them. "Hello! What's wrong? It looks like you've seen a ghost!" Charmy said to SNT. "Yeah what's wrong SNT?" "Oh nothing! Who's your new friend?" SNT tried to appear as if she didn't already know who he is. "This is Charmy. He works as a detective!" "Yeah. Me, Espio and Vector who are over there, solve crimes! If there's a mystery you need solved, we can solve it!" "How interesting." SNT said. "Charmy!" Espio called out. "We're going to get lunch now!" Charmy turned to Espio's direction and shouted. "Okay!" He turned back to Cream and Cheese. "I have to go now." "Aww, okay. Bye Charmy!" Cream and Cheese waved as he flew towards Vector and Espio.
SNT looked at Cream. "We should go home as well." Cream frowned. "Okay." SNT, Cream, and Cheese all went towards Vanilla. "Mom can I hang out with Charmy tomorrow?" "I'll send a letter to ask Vector if we can. They all started walking home.
While they were walking home Cream remembered something. "Wait I've met them before!" "You have!" SNT said. "Yeah! It was when I was adventuring with Team Passion one time! We fought a big robot at the end."  "You never mentioned them to me when you told me about your adventure." Vanilla said. "I didn't pay attention to who they were. I thought they just wanted to help." SNT became relieved knowing the Chaotix existed before she went to the other dimension. When they arrived home, Cheese was tired from playing so Cream put them to bed. Vanilla started to write a letter to Vector to inform him of the playdate. SNT realized she can just call them. She went to the computer and found the number. She didn't want to call them yet so she decided to inform Vanilla first. "Vanilla we can call them. The agency has a phone number." Vanilla continued writing her letter. "We shouldn't call that number. That's for if we need their services. I'm writing this to schedule a playdate and ask for Vector's personal number so we don't have to send letters anymore." Vanilla finished the letter and went to mail it. She came back and went to make some lunch for everyone.
The letter was sent and a response came back two days later. The response schedule a time and Vector's phone number. When the day came Vanilla and SNT started to set things up for the playdate. "It's going to be interesting to meet them again for the first time." SNT said. "Again? But this is the first time?" Cream wondered. "I met them while I was dealing with stuff in the other dimension." SNT cleared up the confusion. The door bell rang. "I'll get it!" Cream walked over to the door and opened it. "Hey Cream!" Said Charmy. "Hi!" Cream waved back. The Choatix entered the house and Vanilla welcomed them. "It's nice seeing you again." "You too Vanilla." Vector responded looking a bit nervous. SNT poured some tea into a bunch of teacups, one for each person and a tiny cup for Cheese.
SNT, Vanilla and The Chaotix all sat in the kitchen to talk while Cream, Cheese, and Charmy were playing in the living room. "This feels like old times again, right Vanilla." Vanilla chuckled a bit. "It's nice to be able to hang out with you." Vector laughed a bit awkwardly. "Y-you to." "I spoke to Knuckles yesterday. And he talked about you." Espio said to SNT. "Knuckles talked about you joining with them to defeat Eggman." "Oh he did! When I first met Sonic I was already opposed to Eggman. So I naturally fit in. That's also how I met Cream and was taken in by them." SNT drinks her tea. "Vector was a big troublemaker back then. He always got in trouble and I always had to stop the principal from expelling him." Vector blushed in embarrassment. "Heh. No wonder Charmy's a troublemaker. He's just following in your footsteps." Espio teased. "What was that!" Charmy shouted from a distance. "Nothing Charmy!" Vector shouted back. Vector refilled his tea cup. "I should really keep watch on Cream. Wouldn't want her to be like you Vector." SNT added, chuckling. "Cmon guys! That was in the past!"
The group continued talking, though it seemed while Vector was telling stories from the past he was leaving some stuff out. Vanilla smiled and softly laughed a bit whenever he skipped over certain details. Espio eventually caught on. "Vector is there something your not telling us?" SNT and Espio looked at Vector. "What are you talking about?" Vector tried to play it off. "Your stories don't seem to line up exactly. There's a detail you're leaving out on purpose. I think I can piece together what's missing." "Ah geez you caught me!" Vector blushed. "I can tell them if you're not comfortable telling them." Vanilla offered. "No, I'll tell them." Vector took a breathe in. "Me and Vanilla were close, but not as friends." Vector said looking away from everyone. "I knew it!" Charmy shouted. "What the- Charmy! How long were you here!" "Long enough to figure out your secrets." Cream and Cheese looked at Charmy. "So what were Mr. Vector and my mom. They seem like friends to me." "Chao Chao." "Cheese thinks differently." Vector tried to move the conversation to somewhere else. "So kid what do you do exactly?.. I mean how's the adventuring with Cream?" He asked SNT. Espio ushered Charmy and Cream back to the living room to play. "It's nice. Stopping Eggman and keeping the world safe from his reign does get annoying with how often he tries to. At least I have my friends to help me." Espio came back into the room. "Hey, uhh.." he didn't know SNT's name. "SNT." Vanilla said. "SNT! I need your help taking care of Charmy. We can't exactly leave him without supervision."
SNT and Espio went to Cream and Charmy. "It's best if we let those two properly catch up. Vector would probably feel more comfortable being just with her." "Yeah Vector is really bad at flirting." Charmy snickered. "I didn't mean it like that." Cream wasn't paying attention as she was playing with Cheese. She noticed SNT and Espio. "Hi SNT! Hi Espio!" "Hi Cream! What are you doing?" SNT asked. "I'm building with the little brick toys." "Chao." S just smiled. "I don't need supervision Espio. I won't do anything." Charmy said to him. "You being unsupervised off duty is a bad idea." Espio responded. SNT started to build with Cream and Cheese. Charmy joined and Espio watched. "Cmon Espio! Join us!" Charmy said. Espio shrugged his shoulders. "Alright. But I am a perfectionist so we're going to have to get rid of the thing you built." "Ack! Nevermind!" Espio laughed. "I'm kidding Charmy." "Good! Because this little balcony stays!"