"You can’t make that shot!"
"Just watch me!"
"Fine then, do it!"
Mina rolled her eyes. Really, she didn’t understand why Sonic and Ash had to fight so much. And too often, it was over stupid things. Like right now, they had just decided to have a game of pool, and it had already escalated turned into some sort of twisted tournament for supremacy. It was just too much sometimes.
"So, are you gonna do it, or what?" Ash asked, getting impatient.
"Yeah, yeah, I’m lining it up," Sonic the Hedgehog muttered, bent over a cue.
"I’m waaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiting!" the mongoose said as loud and annoyingly as possible.
"Then wait no more." Sonic made the shot. A second later, one red ball and the eight ball sunk into the pockets, much to Ash’s annoyance.
"Fine, you win," Ash groaned.
"Like I said I would."
"You couldn’t be sure!"
"Oh, believe me, I was."
"You know, the only reason y-"
"ASH! I just realised it’s time to go!" Mina interrupted.
"What, but I thought we-"
"Remember, we had to go and remix that song!"
"Which song?"
"Never mind, I’ll just tell you on the way!" Mina was doing her best to keep things from escalating into a full scale brawl, but it wasn’t easy with these to. She grabbed Ash’s hand and pulled him along behind her as she headed for the door.
Once they were outside, Ash got curious again. "What were you talking about back there? I mean, we don’t have any songs to remix!"
"No, I just don’t want you and Sonic getting into a fist fight in an arcade over a game of pool."
"Mina," Ash sighed. "I’m sorry. He just pushes my buttons and gets on my nerves. If only he weren’t so arrogant and hoighty toighty all the time, maybe I could get along with him."
"Well, you don’t exactly act like a model citizen when you’re around him either," Mina stopped and looked at her boyfriend. "Look, it’s alright if you don’t like him, you’re entitled to your own opinion. But please, please, don’t make him annoyed at both of us. He’s my friend."
"Alright, alright," Ash nodded, resigned. "I’ll try to get along better with him, but only for you!"
"Thanks," Mina said, hugging him tight. "That means a lot to me."
Ash smirked. "It better," he said jokingly.
They walked along the main streets of Station Square and looking around at everything. The two talked and laughed as they went about their way. While Ash could be a hot head at times when Sonic was around, he really was a great guy, and Mina was glad that he had taken an interest in her and her music. No matter how jealous he got of anyone, Mina loved him, and really did appreciate him.
"Oh, by the way, have you checked out any of the bands that are goint to be playing in Knothole recently?" Ash asked.
"I haven’t, actually," she responded. Along with arguing with Sonic, constantly checking out Mina’s ‘competition’ was one of his favourite hobbies.
"Well, I think it’s going to be tough to keep up. That weird band, what was it, uh… The Chaotix? They’re apparently going to be playing in a couple of weeks."
"Oh, you mean that one with Charmy, Vector and Espio in it?"
"Yeah," Ash snorted dismissively. "They haven’t even been much of a band since Mighty stopped performing with them."
"Hey, they’re my friends; don’t talk about them like that."
"Okay," Ash held his hands up defensively, then looked over at her. "You’d better stop making friends. At this rate, I won’t be aloud to dislike anyone by next week."
Mina laughed. "I’ll work on that. So, anyone else?"
Ash thought about it for a moment. "Yes actually, a girl named, uh, what was it, Carol? Clarissa? Kris?"
Mina stopped. "Claris?"
"Yeah, that was it." Ash looked confused. "How’d you guess?"
"Are you kidding?" Mina stared at him. "She’s amazing! I mean, wow, she’s got to be one of the best singers there are right now!"
"Next to you, of course!"
"I don’t know, Ash, she’s good. Probably better than me."
"Mina, you can’t say things like that, you’re a star."
"Fine," Mina sighed. "Maybe better than me."
"That’s more like it, thought I doubt it’s possible, or true."
"You’re such a flirt," she pushed him playfully.
"I have to be, to keep me in your esteemed company," he smirked, bringing her hand to his lips.
"Oh, shut up!"
"Anything milady requests!"
"Are you going to keep this up all day?"
"As long as you wish it, your highness."
"Stop it! Save it for when you try to get Princess Sally!" she laughed.
"I would, but I’ve heard that she can’t sing, and then what use would I be for her?"
"The official disliker of the subjects?"
"Now there’s a job I could get into!"
The two mongooses walked off down the street, laughing all the way.
***
Later that day, after returning home, Mina sat down in a comfortable chair in the main room in her house. She looked down at a paper that had the beginnings of a new song on it, and shook her head. While normally it was the easiest thing in the world for her to write a song, but at the current moment, she was having trouble with it. She just couldn’t seem to find the inspiration.
Her mind wandered gradually away from song writing to thinking about the fun she and Ash had had earlier that day, and then to that time she’d done that duet with the Chaotix, and finally resting upon the development that Claris was going to be coming to Knothole to perform. She didn’t feel threatened by Claris; far from it. She respected her as an artist and as a fellow performer. The girl had actually been somewhat of a child prodigy as far as singing was concerned. But no one had heard of her until just about seven years ago, when she’d gone into a quite respected recording company’s head building, sang a couple of songs, and left with a recording contract. Within a couple of weeks, her first single had made it to the top of the charts, and she was, to say the least, an instant star.
Ever since that year, she and Mina had been pretty much the two top female singers on the planet. It surprised Mina that Ash had forgotten her name. She could still remember his little rant from when Claris had married famous basketball player Elliot Edwards, saying it was just a giant publicity stunt. But then again, Ash had never been good with names as a rule, even the names of Mina’s competition whom he loathed so much.
It was then that the phone rang. Grudgingly, Mina got up and took the call, annoyed at being disrupted from her contemplations. "Hello?"
"Hi, Mina?"
"Oh, hi Ash!" she said, her mood instantly lightening.
"Hey. You know how you said that you like that Claris girl?"
"Yes?"
"Well, uh, I figured we should check it out, seeing as she is your main competition, so, uh, I got a couple tickets to her show…"
"Really!?" Mina thought she would pass out. This was totally unlike Ash. "You are the best! I can’t believe you’d do this for me."
"Yeah, well, I’m going there for research, so I hope you manage to keep your head on straight enough for us to get some done."
On her end, Mina shook her head. It was so funny when he tried to keep his cool. "Yes, of course, whatever you say. But seriously, thank you so much for this. I owe you."
"Are you kidding? You don’t owe me a thing."
Again, she shook her head. He really was a great person when he wanted to be one. "Fine, I don’t, but I’ll make it up to you somehow." She thought for a moment, then her gaze wandered over to the paper with her new song on it. "How’s this? I promise my next song will make it to number one."
"Well, it’s good enough for me! So I’ll see you tomorrow?"
"You can count on it!"
"Good night, then."
"G’night!"
She hung up the phone, feeling giddy. This truly was amazing. Her gidiness died, however, when she looked back at the song. "Yeah, it’ll go to number one," she muttered to no one in particular, "If I can write it, that is."
She walked over to the table, and forced herself to write, but couldn’t find anything that worked. She kept trying until one in the morning, when she fell asleep with her face on the paper.
***
One week later, in the Knothole concert hall, the concert began. The place was packed, and there weren’t any tickets at the door to be sold. It seemed as if everyone was there. Everyone was extremely excited about the event, seeing as it was the first time Claris had sang in Knothole. When the girl walked out onto the stage, the fans started screaming, and she smiled, waving to them.
"Hello, Knothole!" she yelled into the microphone, and another yell went up.
"Man, it’s way louder down here than it is when you’re up on stage!" Ash had to yell for Mina to hear him.
"I know! This is crazy!" Though the two had been to many concerts, they’d never been in the audience, and the press and magnitude of the crowd was shocking to them.
They listened to her first set, and after the first song, Mina was yelling with the rest of the crowd, and Ash even clapped a bit, which was painfully rare for him to do for anyone other than Mina. Everything about the concert was amazing, and the audience was loving it.
Then the intermission came, and everyone went for drinks.
"You want anything?" Ash asked Mina, rubbing his ear. Though good, the concert was loud.
"Oh, just a water if you don’t mind! But I’m just going to try to find the washroom."
"Alright, I’ll meet you back here at the end of intermission."
They split up, Ash heading for the concessions stand, and Mina going down a hallway she assumed led to the washrooms. She walked down the hallway and turned a corner heading down along it. After about a minute of walking, she stopped. She could’ve sworn that she’d seen the washroom’s signs pointing down this hallway.
She kept walking, looking around. Mina was about to turn around, when she heard the humming. There was someone humming, it sounded like a girl. She stopped to listen for a moment, before realising that it was one of her songs that was being hummed! Her curiosity now aroused, Mina followed the sound to its source. It lead her to a door just a few meters down the hallway. After a moment of hesitation, she knocked on the door.
"Come in!" said the voice, then resumed humming.
She opened the door a crack, then pushed the door the rest of the way open. It was a dressing room, quite a nice one. It was carpeted, and it had a comfortable looking chair and a small table covered in different kinds and colours of makeup. There was a mirror on the wall just above the table, and a full length mirror on the wall opposite the table. The mirror over the table even had lightbulbs around it. The person in the chair seemed a bit distracted, drinking water and applying a small amount of makeup here and there.
"Oh, hello, I wasn’t expecting…" Claris Edwards stopped speaking, looking in the mirror at the mongoose in the door. She spun around in the chair to face her. "Mina? Are you Mina the Mongoose!?"
"Uh, yes," Mina said, "I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude, I’ll just…"
"No, please, don’t go," Claris said, smiling, "I’m a huge fan of yours."
"Oh, you are? Well… Wait? You’re one of my fans!?"
Claris smirked, somewhat embarrassed. "Well, yeah. You’ve always been a big inspiration for me."
"You’re serious?" Mina asked, stunned. "Because I’ve always thought of myself as one of your fans!"
"You’re kidding!" Claris laughed. "I guess we’re both still getting used to this super star thing."
Mina laughed, too. "Yeah, it’s not the easiest thing on Mobius."
They both laughed for a little while, then Claris finally asked, "Uh, so is there anything I can do for you?"
"Oh, yeah, sorry about this. I was just looking for the washroom, and got lost."
"Wait, wait," Claris said, patting her hands in the air as though in confusion. "Don’t you play here a lot?"
"Well, yes."
"And you got lost?"
"Yes, but I’m usually working back stage with Ash."
Claris looked at her curiously. "Really? I usually only use the public facilities wherever I play."
"Well, I don’t really being part of a crowd; it kind of freaks me out," Mina admitted.
"Seriously? I live for being in the crowd; it’s my favourite part of the show. I usually go down into the crowd for part of the second half of the concert."
Mina shuddered. "I can’t stand being the center of attention while I’m surrounded by people. It just makes me feel so… well, surrounded. I prefer being on stage so much more, so that I can see everyone and they can see me."
The human looked up at her from her sitting position. "That’s the worst part for me! It’s so hard when everyone’s there, just staring at you!"
"It didn’t look like you were scared up there tonight. It just looked like you were enjoying it."
"I know, it took me hours of practise before I could give my first concert. I’m lucky that Elliot’s so nice that he helped to teach me to control that fear."
They were silent for a moment, though it wasn’t an uncomfortable silence.
"Well," Mina began, "I should probably get going. My boyfriend’s probably waiting for me. I said that I’d be right back."
"Oh, yeah, your boyfriend’s your manager, er… Ash?"
Mina nodded, and smiled to herself. Apparently both Ash and Claris shared a lack of ability to remember names.
"Is it serious between you two?" Claris asked, "because I’ve heard rumors about you and Sonic."
"Who? Sonic the Hedgehog?" Mina continued after Claris nodded, "no, we’re just friends. Good friends, but we wouldn’t, well, you know, go on a date or anything. Besides, I’d have to get through Sally before I could get at him, and that’s something I’d rather not try."
"I guess that makes sense, and besides, most celebrity relationships don’t go well," Claris said, going back to her makeup for a moment.
"Well you and Elliot seem to be doing quite well, from what I’ve heard."
"Yeah, well," Claris smirked, "Elliot’s special. He and I went through a lot together."
"That’s great, that you managed to find someone like that."
"What about you? How are you and Ash doing?" Claris asked.
"Oh, us, uh…" Mina stopped to think about it. "I’m not sure. He’s great," she added quickly to Claris’s look, "but I don’t know. He’s, well, he listens to me, and I know he’d fight for me; it’s all I can do to stop him from fighting sometimes. But still, it’s difficult sometimes."
Claris watched Mina’s face carefully, then said to her, "So, what are you going to do?"
"I don’t know."
"Well, then think about it. Do you like him?"
"Yes…"
"Does he like you?"
"I think so…"
"Then what’s so difficult?"
"Well, he always wants to get into fights with people for the stupidest things, and he doesn’t get along with most of the people I like…"
"Do you mean he acts cruel or bad towards them, or do you mean that he seems to be competitive with them?"
"I’d say," Mina began slowly, "he’s being very competitive."
Claris spun around in her chair to face Mina, smiling at her. "Then I’d say that he wants to show off to you because he’s afraid he’s not interesting enough for you."
"What?" Mina asked, laughing. "Not good enough for me? He’s great to me, he’s nice!"
"Why don’t you tell him that?"
Mina didn’t quite know what to say to that. She’d always just assumed that the two of them were fine, and that they always just got along. Although, now that she thought about it, she had never really said that she loved him… "Oh. I’ve been an idiot."
"Acceptance is the first step," Claris said, smiling. "Now what are you going to do to make it up to him?"
***
You might as well go do it, Tim thought to himself, wondering once again why it was impossible for him to lie when it mattered. He had just spotted Ash across the concert hall from him, and knew he wouldn’t have another chance to talk to him alone about this subject. He already had everything he would say planned out, and it wasn’t technically lying. Omitting certain truths, yes, but not lying. Besides, if he told Ash that he was planning on letting Sonic and his siblings’ band play with them… he shuddered to think of Ash’s reaction.
Finally, he worked up his courage and walked over.
"Hey, Ash, hi!" he called to the mongoose.
"Oh, hey Mighty."
"I really wouldn’t expect you to be here!" Tim said, trying to strike up a conversation.
"Well normally I wouldn’t be here, but Mina wanted to come, and so I got us some tickets." He looked around to check no one else was listening, then leaned in closer, and whispered, "This Claris is actually pretty good!"
Didn’t see that coming, Tim thought, stunned. But he quickly regained his composure, and said, "Really? That’s nice of you to come here with her. Oh, speaking of Mina, the Chaotix and I were wondering if maybe, you know, if there was a special event, maybe she and us, and maybe a few other bands-" Sonic Underground, Sonic Underground, Sonic Underground, "-could do a concert together. It’s just that, well, you know, we don’t really get to do much stuff together anymore, since she became famous and the chaotix started moving around a lot."
Ash seemed to think for a moment. Please don’t ask who else, please! Tim repeated over and over in his head.
"You’d have to ask her, but I think it would be fine."
"REALLY!? That’s great! I’ll ask her if I get a chance! Well, the second half’s starting, I’d better get going!" And Tim sped off into the crowd, thanking his lucky stars.
"That was weird," Ash thought, watching Mighty go. He wondered what was taking Mina so long, when she turned up, as if on cue.
"Hey," she said.
"Hi," he said. "What took you so long?"
"Oh, it was nothing. Thanks for the water! Hey, the second half is starting, we should get in there!"
"Okay," Ash said. "Are you feeling alright?"
Mina stopped and turned back, looking him in the eye and smiling. "Never better."
***
When Mina got home that night, she was exhausted. The second half of the concert was even better than the first, and that was saying something. Ash and her had even danced during a few songs, and much to Mina’s surprise, he was actually quite a good dancer. Right now, all she wanted to do was fall asleep. But she knew she couldn’t do that.
Instead she walked over to the table where her song was, and sat down. She picked up a pen, and brought it down to the paper. This one’s for you, Ash, she thought, and then she wrote.