Emeraldtopia

Chapter 5

Tails and Cream headed to a new district in Emeraldtopia to talk to Sticks. They entered the rainforest district to find the jungle badger and ask her what she knew about Jet the Hawk's disappearance.

As they made their way through the district, it started to rain. Cream shivered a bit because she didn't have a jacket, and it didn't help that she didn't have an umbrella either.

"Here, I got it," said Tails.

He pulled out something from his pocket and pressed a button. An umbrella popped out and he held it above both of them.

"Wow, I've never seen an umbrella like that. Where'd you get it?" asked Cream.

"I didn't get it anywhere. I uh... I made it..." said Tails quietly.

"You... made it?" asked Cream.

"Yeah... an umbrella that can convert to pocket size. I made it myself..." said Tails. He looked away as he answered Cream's answer.

"Well, I find it cool. It's amazing how you made it yourself," Cream complemented him.

Tails didn't say anything. In fact, he didn't look at Cream, because he blushed after he heard her complement.

The two of them didn't say anything else as they walked up to the address. When they walked up to Sticks's house there was some cover from the rain, so Tails put away his umbrella as Cream walked up to the door and ran the doorbell.

"Sticks the Jungle Badger? Officer Cream, EPD. We just want to know what happened to Jet the Hawk," Cream called out.

The door slightly opened up, but only to a crack. Whoever was inside didn't come out.

"You should be asking... what happened to me," said the person.

The door opened up a bit more, but not a lot since the door was chained. Sticks opened the door a bit more, and Tails and Cream saw that she was holding an ice pack over her right eye, and that she had a claw mark down the right side of her face.

"Whoa..." Tails said nervously.

"Jet the Hawk... attacked you?" asked Cream quietly.

"Yes, but I swear! I don't know why! All he did was get down on all fours! He acted like an animal, a savage!" said Sticks.

"A... a savage?" asked Cream.

She remembered hearing stories on how Mobians back in the Stone Age acted that way, but that was thousands of years ago. It seemed unlikely that Mobians in the Modern Age could behave that way again.

"It true! He attacked me without a warning! He just kept on yelling about the Night Howlers, and after he attacked me and I pulled the limo over, he vanished into the night!" said Sticks.

"And... we're here to talk to you about the Night Howlers as well," said Tails. "So, if you just open the door, we'll tell you what we know, after you tell us what we know."

Sticks was quiet for a minute. She was frightened to come out, after the trauma she went through when she got attacked. But she sighed and said, "Okay. Just give me a second..."

She closed the door, and Tails and Cream heard her unchain the door.

"Clever fox," Cream whispered to Tails.

Tails smiled nervously and blushed.

Suddenly, they heard Sticks shout for a second, and the sound of a thud.

"Sticks?" said Cream.

She opened the door slowly.

"Are you... okay?" Cream asked.