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Description
Like this picture? Check out the sequel! desfinity.deviantart.com/art/C… .
Or maybe this one.
OR MAYBE THIS ONE!

Synopsis:

Tails and Cosmo go out for a stroll/date/etc. Charmy shows up from out of nowhere and openly challenges Tails for Cosmo's affections, civility and logic as far from his mind as Pluto from the Sun. Tails doesn't get the chance to impress his lady and loses miserably...though Cosmo doesn't seem to mind.

The expanded story is below. Word of warning: it's fairly long. I've also taken liberties with the Cosmo story in that she never died here and one or two minor details.

Miscellaneous Notes:

- The pencils alone took me about 24 hours (through multiple sessions of course). Then the computer touch-ups and coloring...don't even get me started on that!

- I used more references for this picture than anything else I've ever drawn in my life! I'd like to thank VGMuseum.com for perspectives on Tails' foot, ~Shinsengumi9439's picture "Wanna Play?" ([link]) for perspective on Tails' butt, and, most of all, TeamArtail.com for screenshots of "Sonic X" that covered almost every second of my progress.

- Only the second time I've ever drawn Charmy and the first time I've ever drawn him with other characters in the scene. This picture either looks good for my limited experience...or is excused for being crappy because of it.

- First time I've ever drawn Cosmo without having her crying or getting eaten by something. She's actually happy for a change. Huh, that's what people look like when they're not grieving and on a plate? Weird.

- I reworked Cosmo’s design a bit, giving her a shorter, less baggy dress and sleeves that were too long. Since all the Seedrians dress alike, I’m guessing their clothes are standard issue, not a choice. The tailor must have botched Cosmo’s green jacket. However, either being too shy to bring up the mistake or enjoying the sleeves for some reason, she kept them.

Expanded Story:

It is said that the world is a stage and the people in it are players carrying out their roles. Their roles vary from story to story and what may be uplifting for one tale may be devastating to another. If that is the case, then the following can be considered a narrative of triumph, an account of salvation or dirge of defeat based on the player asked.

The story begins on a set known as Tails’ Workshop, home to the curious couple of a two-tailed fox named Miles Prower, better known as Tails, and a rose named Cosmo, no family name inherent in her culture. Tails is known throughout the world as a hero for aiding the exploits of its solemn protector, Sonic the Hedgehog, and using his genius to save and improve the lives around him. Cosmo comes from beyond the stars, from a world wiped out before she ever drew breath. Making a home on Earth, she carries on her society’s customs of nonviolence, education and equality of all ages, creeds and genders. These two found a magnetic attraction towards the other given their similar morals and demeanors. Being of uncanny mental maturity, they live together, free of supervision, outside the city of Station Square making wonders, mechanical and otherwise, for their neighbors to prosper from.

"Miles?" Cosmo called out from the workshop’s kitchen (she felt nicknames were impersonal for addressing loved ones). "Are you ready to go?"

Today was a day the couple had set aside weeks in advance to trek through the nearby jungle for a picnic. While Cosmo had been looking forward to the excursion ever since it was conceived, Tails removed it from his mind, burying himself in his labors. By the time Cosmo finished preparing their food and was ready to leave, Tails was working on machine, waist-deep in engine sludge and tinkering with gaskets that most mechanics wouldn’t even know to examine, let alone charge customers for.

"Go where?" the fox asked. It wasn’t until after he spoke that he realized his fatal error.

"Miles Prower!" Cosmo demanded, marching into his work area with one hand clutching the picnic basket, the other balled up into a fist so tight, air itself could not seep into it. "You very well know 'where!' I did all the work on the food and all I asked was that you just be clean and ready to go!"

"Aren't filth and dirt part of nature? If anything, I'm more prepared to go than you considering-" Tails tried to save himself by overanalyzing the situation.

"Not when the filth is machine oil!" Cosmo fired back, well-versed in fact manipulation herself. "Get cleaned up or...or...Doooh!" She hated confrontations and raising her voice so the best she could do was exhale awkwardly and stomp out of the room.

After exactly thirty minutes, Tails had removed all the sludge from his fur, had his clothes on (what few he wore) and the duo was on its way.

"How could he forget about today!?" Cosmo screamed inside her head, the picnic basket cracking in her iron grip. "He's the brightest mind I know yet he can't keep a date? No, it's that this one wasn't important enough! If Sonic or the President called, we'd be there in less than an hour. But when I need him, it gets thrown to the side!"

"Why does she have to act like this?" Tails sulked to himself, not daring to let Cosmo see him roll his eyes. "She knows how much I hate these nature hikes! I could be finishing the crane Station Square needs but instead, I'm walking around in the blinding son to sit on dirt and watch bugs eat me! How could someone as smart as her waste her time on ridiculous chores like this?"

"I shouldn't be so angry with him though." Cosmo thought upon further inspection. "He's done so much for me taking me into his home...everything that's gotten me here today! I love him for all the good things he does for others and how he never accepts payment but why doesn't he ever do for us?"

"What am I saying?" Tails asked himself as his resolve wavered at the same time. "She's the nicest, most generous person I know and she's helped me so much. I'd still be too scared to talk to anyone but Sonic if it wasn't for her. Still, how can she not see how important my work is?"

Fighting genocidal warlords from other galaxies and psychopathic power-mongers’ robotic armies affected the children in more ways than even their analytic powers could construe. The unrelenting life-and-death scenarios they faced highlighted each other’s loyalty under duress and their compassion for people, namely each other. The plans they formulated to topple their foes allowed them to admire one another’s intellect. The camaraderie and spontaneity of war took what would have been friendship and exploded it into a supernova of love. Unfortunately, after the battles were won, the monotony of peacetime exposed them to a normalcy they had never gone through. Left to their own devices, the two were as opposite as day and night or, more accurately, nature and industry. Their dissimilar interests and opposing schedules took effect overnight and, lacking any common wisdom, they couldn’t discern what caused their sudden love-loss. Clueless and conflicted, they stood idly by and watched their love wither away.

Tails and Cosmo eventually came to a small hill in the jungle’s clearing. They silently agreed to settle down and Cosmo laid out the blanket. The world itself seemed deflated by the lovers’ spat as the breeze that had been blowing by that hill earlier stopped as if on a cue when the couple started reaching into the basket one at a time, averting eye-contact.

After what felt like an eternity but was only three minutes, Tails’ ears picked up a faint droning. Having nothing better to do, he looked to the sky in search of the disturbance but only found the blinding glare of the Sun. Raising his tofu sandwich to shield his eyes, he saw a black dot. (Tails, calling many animals primal foxes would eat ‘friends,’ never liked meat and Cosmo, being a plant, equated vegetarianism with barbarism. The two agreed to eat that which wasn’t meat or vegetable…even if neither had the stomach for it.)

“Is it…getting bigger?” the fox thought aloud as the dot grew in diameter and the droning louder. “No, it’s just moving. ...Right into us!”

Tails pushed Cosmo to the side as what must have been a falling plane crushed him. Fortunately, the ‘plane’ was only a bee Tails’ and Cosmo’s height. The bee was sitting down and leaning forward on his hands, gawking at the startled rose.

“Now that’s what I call a flower!” the bee exclaimed before making a series of howls and hitting himself on the head, apparently indicating an attraction to Cosmo. “You sure you haven’t bloomed yet? ‘Cause I doubt you can get any prettier than you are now!”

“Uh…Thank you, Charmy.” Cosmo replied. Ordinarily, she valued character over appearance and opposed chauvinistic remarks and oafishness. Somehow though, this example spoke to her love of raw emotion and natural freeness.

“Woah! How d’you know my name!?” the bee shrieked, leaning away from Cosmo in shock.

“…I’m Cosmo? We met when the Metarex attacked Earth? You helped Sonic, his friends and I defeat them…?”

“…Oh yeah!” Charmy replied in a volume too loud even for ‘outdoor voices’ and promptly leaned back towards Cosmo. “How ya been?”

“Mmmf errrr mumphuh merrrrr!” a strange mumbling sounded from nowhere.

“Aah! You’re sitting on Miles!” Cosmo replied upon seeing that Charmy was sitting on the pulverized inventor’s face. Charmy raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Tails? The fox with two tails? …Just look under you!”

Charmy’s full name is, shockingly, Charmy Bee. To understand him was to understand Chaos itself. Not the God of Destruction, He had a precise mission and means of executing it, but rather the force that controls what Fate misses that’s baffled history’s brightest minds. He is one third of a detective agency but unlike his co-workers, uses no deductions or knowledge of crime. Instead, his boundless curiosity and lack of respect for others, or the evidence cycle, uncovers factoids most wouldn’t notice. When he isn’t needed, his tantrums are…unappreciated by his partners so he is released into the unsuspecting world.

“What are you doing here?” Tails demanded after catching his breath when Charmy moved over to release him.

“The pretty girl, duh!” Charmy answered, pointing directly at Cosmo, almost poking her eye.

“Thank you for the compliment, but I’m afraid you’re too late.” Cosmo commented, feeling a strange fluttering in her heart.

“How?” Charmy asked, turning to Cosmo and almost smacking Tails’ face with his wings. “You’re still here! It’s not like I ya left!”

“Not like that!” Tails moaned. “We’re seeing each other!”

“Well, duh!” Charmy shot back. “I see ya. She sees ya. …Heck, she sees me seeing you!”

“We’re spoken for!” the agitated fox reworded.

“Whose speakin’ for ya? Woah! Are you like puppets or something!?” the oblivious bee asked.

“We’re dating each other!” roared the fox, reaching his patience’s end.

Charmy examined the lovers for a few seconds. “…No you’re not.”

“He’s not bluffing Charmy.” Cosmo stated, filling in for Tails’ nerves. “We are dating one another. We don’t mean to be coarse with you but we’re having a bad day.”

Cosmo eagerly followed Tails’ and Charmy’s ‘battle of wits.’ She couldn’t help but repress a chuckle every time Charmy contributed. She wasn’t sure if he had a good sense of humor or a terrible grasp on reality. Whatever the case, she hadn’t laughed for quite some time before that day.

“It’s probably for the best if you give us some space today.” Tails suggested, calming down after a very long sigh. “Come see us another time. We just gotta cool off…and recover from you crashing into my head. It’s nothing personal, we just don’t wanna blame you for something you’re not involved in.”

Taking this all in, Charmy stood up and walked to the edge of the hill’s crest. He folded his arms behind him and stared at the sky to think. He raised his hand to silence Tails and Cosmo every time they tried to say something for about one minute before finally concluding,

“You’re having troubles in the sack.”

“Huh?” Tails and Cosmo asked in unison, neither one of them familiar with the terminology.

“I don’t know,” Charmy answered, turning to them. “It’s something Vector said when he thought this one lady attacked her husband and it turned out he was right. He says it means a boyfriend and girlfriend aren’t getting along and they should break up instead of keeping the neighbors up with their stupid arguments…You two should break up.”

“What!?” fox and rose demanded.

“When I was flying down to Pretty Cosmo, you two weren’t looking at each other. And the whole time Tails was yelling at me, you didn’t say anything to each other. And you still aren’t looking at each other!” Charmy reasoned, his co-workers seemingly rubbing off on him.

“That’s crazy!” Tails rebuked, standing up. “We’re just having a bad day! We’ve been through a lot together and…I really think you should leave now, Charmy.”

“Hey, I got an idea!” Charmy shouted, completely ignoring Tails. “I shall do battle with Lord Prower and the victor wins the right to be Fair Lady Cosmo’s companion, lover and knight.”

Where Charmy came up with those words is a mystery for another day. More pertinent was his audacity. Fun as he had been, Cosmo was appalled by violence, especially when it treated her like an object to be won. She stood up and grabbed the basket.

“That’s enough Charmy. We’re leaving now.”

“Fine!” Tails shouted. “If you really wanna fight, then I’ll do it!”

“What!?” Cosmo’s jaw dropped.

“We’ve tried reasoning with him, Cosmo.” Tails explained. “If he really wants to waste his time on this then I won’t stop him!”

“Miles!” Cosmo yelled. “This is ridiculous! Let’s just-”

“Awesome!” Charmy interrupted. “Watch me Pretty Cosmo! This is all for you!”

Tails’ limbs twitched from adrenaline flow as he marched up to Charmy, who only grinned in return. Ordinarily, Tails was a pacifist but that day, his tensions were running high from his argument with Cosmo and his inability to understand what their problem was. Combined with Charmy’s entrance, his density and his brazenness to imply he wasn’t right for Cosmo, even he was pushed to his limits.

Cosmo would go to the ends of the Earth for Tails but couldn’t understand or condone what he was doing. She wanted nothing to do with the fight and was shaken to her core to see Tails giving in to it. He looked nothing like the fox she fell in love with.

As for Charmy, whatever was going through his head was too random to be considered thought. Nevertheless, it certainly wasn’t tension or anxiety.

The fox blew small tsunamis through his nostrils, gnashed his predatory fangs and stood every hair on his back and tails on end. Frightening as he may have appeared, however, he showed no signs of knowing how to start a fight. Fortunately, Charmy was willing to start things for him.

“Boo!” the bee yelled, causing Tails to blink and step back out of surprise.

As he regained his composure, Tails saw Charmy guffawing at his own antics. While, Cosmo saw it as a harmless gesture and was relieved the opening attack wasn’t as violent as she feared it would be, Tails’ blood boiled at the way his adversary treated everything like a joke and showed no honor. Tails curled his fingers into the first fist he ever made and swung it forward. Charmy easily ducked and Tails wound up spinning 180 degrees from the momentum of his misfired attack.

“Too slow!” Charmy taunted as he wrapped his arms around Tails’ and locked his hands together behind his head, much to the awe of Cosmo and Tails himself.

The fox struggled to get free but only succeeded in showing how much weaker he was than his opponent. The bee didn’t even notice the escape attempts and leisurely pushed Tails’ head forward and pulled his arms back in a move known the world over as the Full Nelson.

“Gah! L-let go of me!” Tails growled through his teeth as he started to feel the pressure.

“Is that it?” Charmy asked. “Man, this is way too easy! Time to kick it up a nawtch!”

With that, Charmy amplified his attack by leaning back. Paralyzed by pain and literally powerless to save himself, Tails was lifted off the ground. Clearly lacking any fighting prowess, all the fox could do was clench his fists, grind his teeth and tighten every muscle in his body as his legs and arms dangled, tears involuntarily formed in his eyes and the pain ate at his neck like locusts to a cornfield.

“Thank the stars.” Cosmo sighed, walking over to Charmy’s side. “I was afraid you two were going to seriously hurt each other. Still, can you please put Miles down? He’s not much of a fighter so this hurts him more than you think.”

“But I only stretch him little!” Charmy replied in a poor Russian accent, keeping his eyes on his motionless foe or, rather, playmate.

With a small giggle, Cosmo tried to put an end to this. “I know, and you win. Howev-”

She stopped dead in her tracks, not so much as a breath leaving her mouth. She felt a light grazing on her cheek. Shifting her eyes to the afflicted area, her suspicions were confirmed. Charmy, whilst holding Tails up, effortlessly gave her a kiss. Her face fully flushed, her knees buckled beneath her and her eyes widened and glistened in the Sun. She knew her feminist self-respect dictated she be disgusted by this display of chauvinism and she knew her bottomless concern for Tails urged her to help him in his time of need. However, she knew something else, something far more moving to her at the moment.

Her frustrations with Tails, the way she went through the motions with their romance and the confusing fixation she had on Charmy all made sense to her now. Tails was as mechanical as the wonders he made, preferring a lightbulb to Sunlight and shunning the world to keep to his work. She, on the other hand, treated every day like a poem, each beautiful and unique in its own way. As for Charmy, he was guided only by his whimsical thirst for adventure. There was no rationality in his actions, just bold-faced joy and freedom. She realized that her life with Tails had been lacking something as of late: passion. She was stifled under Tails rigid lifestyle but felt uplifted by Charmy’s simplicity. She lost herself in his small, but overwhelmingly powerful, gesture of love and basked in it.

On the opposite side of the life-loving, bee was Tails. The pain, something he was unaccustomed to, consumed his every thought. The humiliation of losing to someone younger than himself, the disgrace of losing a fight that he morally should be winning, even the fact that he currently wasn’t touching the ground never reached him. He couldn’t move, couldn’t speak or resist, just hope that his attacker would let him go soon, unaware that he had metaphorically swept his lover off her feet. All he knew was that at this rate, the agony would overwhelm him and he would lose consciousness in less than thirty seconds.

Right where he wanted to be, Charmy only had one coherent thought, “And, the curtain falls…”

Description
Like this picture? Check out the sequel! desfinity.deviantart.com/art/C… .
Or maybe this one.
OR MAYBE THIS ONE!

Synopsis:

Tails and Cosmo go out for a stroll/date/etc. Charmy shows up from out of nowhere and openly challenges Tails for Cosmo's affections, civility and logic as far from his mind as Pluto from the Sun. Tails doesn't get the chance to impress his lady and loses miserably...though Cosmo doesn't seem to mind.

The expanded story is below. Word of warning: it's fairly long. I've also taken liberties with the Cosmo story in that she never died here and one or two minor details.

Miscellaneous Notes:

- The pencils alone took me about 24 hours (through multiple sessions of course). Then the computer touch-ups and coloring...don't even get me started on that!

- I used more references for this picture than anything else I've ever drawn in my life! I'd like to thank VGMuseum.com for perspectives on Tails' foot, ~Shinsengumi9439's picture "Wanna Play?" ([link]) for perspective on Tails' butt, and, most of all, TeamArtail.com for screenshots of "Sonic X" that covered almost every second of my progress.

- Only the second time I've ever drawn Charmy and the first time I've ever drawn him with other characters in the scene. This picture either looks good for my limited experience...or is excused for being crappy because of it.

- First time I've ever drawn Cosmo without having her crying or getting eaten by something. She's actually happy for a change. Huh, that's what people look like when they're not grieving and on a plate? Weird.

- I reworked Cosmo’s design a bit, giving her a shorter, less baggy dress and sleeves that were too long. Since all the Seedrians dress alike, I’m guessing their clothes are standard issue, not a choice. The tailor must have botched Cosmo’s green jacket. However, either being too shy to bring up the mistake or enjoying the sleeves for some reason, she kept them.

Expanded Story:

It is said that the world is a stage and the people in it are players carrying out their roles. Their roles vary from story to story and what may be uplifting for one tale may be devastating to another. If that is the case, then the following can be considered a narrative of triumph, an account of salvation or dirge of defeat based on the player asked.

The story begins on a set known as Tails’ Workshop, home to the curious couple of a two-tailed fox named Miles Prower, better known as Tails, and a rose named Cosmo, no family name inherent in her culture. Tails is known throughout the world as a hero for aiding the exploits of its solemn protector, Sonic the Hedgehog, and using his genius to save and improve the lives around him. Cosmo comes from beyond the stars, from a world wiped out before she ever drew breath. Making a home on Earth, she carries on her society’s customs of nonviolence, education and equality of all ages, creeds and genders. These two found a magnetic attraction towards the other given their similar morals and demeanors. Being of uncanny mental maturity, they live together, free of supervision, outside the city of Station Square making wonders, mechanical and otherwise, for their neighbors to prosper from.

"Miles?" Cosmo called out from the workshop’s kitchen (she felt nicknames were impersonal for addressing loved ones). "Are you ready to go?"

Today was a day the couple had set aside weeks in advance to trek through the nearby jungle for a picnic. While Cosmo had been looking forward to the excursion ever since it was conceived, Tails removed it from his mind, burying himself in his labors. By the time Cosmo finished preparing their food and was ready to leave, Tails was working on machine, waist-deep in engine sludge and tinkering with gaskets that most mechanics wouldn’t even know to examine, let alone charge customers for.

"Go where?" the fox asked. It wasn’t until after he spoke that he realized his fatal error.

"Miles Prower!" Cosmo demanded, marching into his work area with one hand clutching the picnic basket, the other balled up into a fist so tight, air itself could not seep into it. "You very well know 'where!' I did all the work on the food and all I asked was that you just be clean and ready to go!"

"Aren't filth and dirt part of nature? If anything, I'm more prepared to go than you considering-" Tails tried to save himself by overanalyzing the situation.

"Not when the filth is machine oil!" Cosmo fired back, well-versed in fact manipulation herself. "Get cleaned up or...or...Doooh!" She hated confrontations and raising her voice so the best she could do was exhale awkwardly and stomp out of the room.

After exactly thirty minutes, Tails had removed all the sludge from his fur, had his clothes on (what few he wore) and the duo was on its way.

"How could he forget about today!?" Cosmo screamed inside her head, the picnic basket cracking in her iron grip. "He's the brightest mind I know yet he can't keep a date? No, it's that this one wasn't important enough! If Sonic or the President called, we'd be there in less than an hour. But when I need him, it gets thrown to the side!"

"Why does she have to act like this?" Tails sulked to himself, not daring to let Cosmo see him roll his eyes. "She knows how much I hate these nature hikes! I could be finishing the crane Station Square needs but instead, I'm walking around in the blinding son to sit on dirt and watch bugs eat me! How could someone as smart as her waste her time on ridiculous chores like this?"

"I shouldn't be so angry with him though." Cosmo thought upon further inspection. "He's done so much for me taking me into his home...everything that's gotten me here today! I love him for all the good things he does for others and how he never accepts payment but why doesn't he ever do for us?"

"What am I saying?" Tails asked himself as his resolve wavered at the same time. "She's the nicest, most generous person I know and she's helped me so much. I'd still be too scared to talk to anyone but Sonic if it wasn't for her. Still, how can she not see how important my work is?"

Fighting genocidal warlords from other galaxies and psychopathic power-mongers’ robotic armies affected the children in more ways than even their analytic powers could construe. The unrelenting life-and-death scenarios they faced highlighted each other’s loyalty under duress and their compassion for people, namely each other. The plans they formulated to topple their foes allowed them to admire one another’s intellect. The camaraderie and spontaneity of war took what would have been friendship and exploded it into a supernova of love. Unfortunately, after the battles were won, the monotony of peacetime exposed them to a normalcy they had never gone through. Left to their own devices, the two were as opposite as day and night or, more accurately, nature and industry. Their dissimilar interests and opposing schedules took effect overnight and, lacking any common wisdom, they couldn’t discern what caused their sudden love-loss. Clueless and conflicted, they stood idly by and watched their love wither away.

Tails and Cosmo eventually came to a small hill in the jungle’s clearing. They silently agreed to settle down and Cosmo laid out the blanket. The world itself seemed deflated by the lovers’ spat as the breeze that had been blowing by that hill earlier stopped as if on a cue when the couple started reaching into the basket one at a time, averting eye-contact.

After what felt like an eternity but was only three minutes, Tails’ ears picked up a faint droning. Having nothing better to do, he looked to the sky in search of the disturbance but only found the blinding glare of the Sun. Raising his tofu sandwich to shield his eyes, he saw a black dot. (Tails, calling many animals primal foxes would eat ‘friends,’ never liked meat and Cosmo, being a plant, equated vegetarianism with barbarism. The two agreed to eat that which wasn’t meat or vegetable…even if neither had the stomach for it.)

“Is it…getting bigger?” the fox thought aloud as the dot grew in diameter and the droning louder. “No, it’s just moving. ...Right into us!”

Tails pushed Cosmo to the side as what must have been a falling plane crushed him. Fortunately, the ‘plane’ was only a bee Tails’ and Cosmo’s height. The bee was sitting down and leaning forward on his hands, gawking at the startled rose.

“Now that’s what I call a flower!” the bee exclaimed before making a series of howls and hitting himself on the head, apparently indicating an attraction to Cosmo. “You sure you haven’t bloomed yet? ‘Cause I doubt you can get any prettier than you are now!”

“Uh…Thank you, Charmy.” Cosmo replied. Ordinarily, she valued character over appearance and opposed chauvinistic remarks and oafishness. Somehow though, this example spoke to her love of raw emotion and natural freeness.

“Woah! How d’you know my name!?” the bee shrieked, leaning away from Cosmo in shock.

“…I’m Cosmo? We met when the Metarex attacked Earth? You helped Sonic, his friends and I defeat them…?”

“…Oh yeah!” Charmy replied in a volume too loud even for ‘outdoor voices’ and promptly leaned back towards Cosmo. “How ya been?”

“Mmmf errrr mumphuh merrrrr!” a strange mumbling sounded from nowhere.

“Aah! You’re sitting on Miles!” Cosmo replied upon seeing that Charmy was sitting on the pulverized inventor’s face. Charmy raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Tails? The fox with two tails? …Just look under you!”

Charmy’s full name is, shockingly, Charmy Bee. To understand him was to understand Chaos itself. Not the God of Destruction, He had a precise mission and means of executing it, but rather the force that controls what Fate misses that’s baffled history’s brightest minds. He is one third of a detective agency but unlike his co-workers, uses no deductions or knowledge of crime. Instead, his boundless curiosity and lack of respect for others, or the evidence cycle, uncovers factoids most wouldn’t notice. When he isn’t needed, his tantrums are…unappreciated by his partners so he is released into the unsuspecting world.

“What are you doing here?” Tails demanded after catching his breath when Charmy moved over to release him.

“The pretty girl, duh!” Charmy answered, pointing directly at Cosmo, almost poking her eye.

“Thank you for the compliment, but I’m afraid you’re too late.” Cosmo commented, feeling a strange fluttering in her heart.

“How?” Charmy asked, turning to Cosmo and almost smacking Tails’ face with his wings. “You’re still here! It’s not like I ya left!”

“Not like that!” Tails moaned. “We’re seeing each other!”

“Well, duh!” Charmy shot back. “I see ya. She sees ya. …Heck, she sees me seeing you!”

“We’re spoken for!” the agitated fox reworded.

“Whose speakin’ for ya? Woah! Are you like puppets or something!?” the oblivious bee asked.

“We’re dating each other!” roared the fox, reaching his patience’s end.

Charmy examined the lovers for a few seconds. “…No you’re not.”

“He’s not bluffing Charmy.” Cosmo stated, filling in for Tails’ nerves. “We are dating one another. We don’t mean to be coarse with you but we’re having a bad day.”

Cosmo eagerly followed Tails’ and Charmy’s ‘battle of wits.’ She couldn’t help but repress a chuckle every time Charmy contributed. She wasn’t sure if he had a good sense of humor or a terrible grasp on reality. Whatever the case, she hadn’t laughed for quite some time before that day.

“It’s probably for the best if you give us some space today.” Tails suggested, calming down after a very long sigh. “Come see us another time. We just gotta cool off…and recover from you crashing into my head. It’s nothing personal, we just don’t wanna blame you for something you’re not involved in.”

Taking this all in, Charmy stood up and walked to the edge of the hill’s crest. He folded his arms behind him and stared at the sky to think. He raised his hand to silence Tails and Cosmo every time they tried to say something for about one minute before finally concluding,

“You’re having troubles in the sack.”

“Huh?” Tails and Cosmo asked in unison, neither one of them familiar with the terminology.

“I don’t know,” Charmy answered, turning to them. “It’s something Vector said when he thought this one lady attacked her husband and it turned out he was right. He says it means a boyfriend and girlfriend aren’t getting along and they should break up instead of keeping the neighbors up with their stupid arguments…You two should break up.”

“What!?” fox and rose demanded.

“When I was flying down to Pretty Cosmo, you two weren’t looking at each other. And the whole time Tails was yelling at me, you didn’t say anything to each other. And you still aren’t looking at each other!” Charmy reasoned, his co-workers seemingly rubbing off on him.

“That’s crazy!” Tails rebuked, standing up. “We’re just having a bad day! We’ve been through a lot together and…I really think you should leave now, Charmy.”

“Hey, I got an idea!” Charmy shouted, completely ignoring Tails. “I shall do battle with Lord Prower and the victor wins the right to be Fair Lady Cosmo’s companion, lover and knight.”

Where Charmy came up with those words is a mystery for another day. More pertinent was his audacity. Fun as he had been, Cosmo was appalled by violence, especially when it treated her like an object to be won. She stood up and grabbed the basket.

“That’s enough Charmy. We’re leaving now.”

“Fine!” Tails shouted. “If you really wanna fight, then I’ll do it!”

“What!?” Cosmo’s jaw dropped.

“We’ve tried reasoning with him, Cosmo.” Tails explained. “If he really wants to waste his time on this then I won’t stop him!”

“Miles!” Cosmo yelled. “This is ridiculous! Let’s just-”

“Awesome!” Charmy interrupted. “Watch me Pretty Cosmo! This is all for you!”

Tails’ limbs twitched from adrenaline flow as he marched up to Charmy, who only grinned in return. Ordinarily, Tails was a pacifist but that day, his tensions were running high from his argument with Cosmo and his inability to understand what their problem was. Combined with Charmy’s entrance, his density and his brazenness to imply he wasn’t right for Cosmo, even he was pushed to his limits.

Cosmo would go to the ends of the Earth for Tails but couldn’t understand or condone what he was doing. She wanted nothing to do with the fight and was shaken to her core to see Tails giving in to it. He looked nothing like the fox she fell in love with.

As for Charmy, whatever was going through his head was too random to be considered thought. Nevertheless, it certainly wasn’t tension or anxiety.

The fox blew small tsunamis through his nostrils, gnashed his predatory fangs and stood every hair on his back and tails on end. Frightening as he may have appeared, however, he showed no signs of knowing how to start a fight. Fortunately, Charmy was willing to start things for him.

“Boo!” the bee yelled, causing Tails to blink and step back out of surprise.

As he regained his composure, Tails saw Charmy guffawing at his own antics. While, Cosmo saw it as a harmless gesture and was relieved the opening attack wasn’t as violent as she feared it would be, Tails’ blood boiled at the way his adversary treated everything like a joke and showed no honor. Tails curled his fingers into the first fist he ever made and swung it forward. Charmy easily ducked and Tails wound up spinning 180 degrees from the momentum of his misfired attack.

“Too slow!” Charmy taunted as he wrapped his arms around Tails’ and locked his hands together behind his head, much to the awe of Cosmo and Tails himself.

The fox struggled to get free but only succeeded in showing how much weaker he was than his opponent. The bee didn’t even notice the escape attempts and leisurely pushed Tails’ head forward and pulled his arms back in a move known the world over as the Full Nelson.

“Gah! L-let go of me!” Tails growled through his teeth as he started to feel the pressure.

“Is that it?” Charmy asked. “Man, this is way too easy! Time to kick it up a nawtch!”

With that, Charmy amplified his attack by leaning back. Paralyzed by pain and literally powerless to save himself, Tails was lifted off the ground. Clearly lacking any fighting prowess, all the fox could do was clench his fists, grind his teeth and tighten every muscle in his body as his legs and arms dangled, tears involuntarily formed in his eyes and the pain ate at his neck like locusts to a cornfield.

“Thank the stars.” Cosmo sighed, walking over to Charmy’s side. “I was afraid you two were going to seriously hurt each other. Still, can you please put Miles down? He’s not much of a fighter so this hurts him more than you think.”

“But I only stretch him little!” Charmy replied in a poor Russian accent, keeping his eyes on his motionless foe or, rather, playmate.

With a small giggle, Cosmo tried to put an end to this. “I know, and you win. Howev-”

She stopped dead in her tracks, not so much as a breath leaving her mouth. She felt a light grazing on her cheek. Shifting her eyes to the afflicted area, her suspicions were confirmed. Charmy, whilst holding Tails up, effortlessly gave her a kiss. Her face fully flushed, her knees buckled beneath her and her eyes widened and glistened in the Sun. She knew her feminist self-respect dictated she be disgusted by this display of chauvinism and she knew her bottomless concern for Tails urged her to help him in his time of need. However, she knew something else, something far more moving to her at the moment.

Her frustrations with Tails, the way she went through the motions with their romance and the confusing fixation she had on Charmy all made sense to her now. Tails was as mechanical as the wonders he made, preferring a lightbulb to Sunlight and shunning the world to keep to his work. She, on the other hand, treated every day like a poem, each beautiful and unique in its own way. As for Charmy, he was guided only by his whimsical thirst for adventure. There was no rationality in his actions, just bold-faced joy and freedom. She realized that her life with Tails had been lacking something as of late: passion. She was stifled under Tails rigid lifestyle but felt uplifted by Charmy’s simplicity. She lost herself in his small, but overwhelmingly powerful, gesture of love and basked in it.

On the opposite side of the life-loving, bee was Tails. The pain, something he was unaccustomed to, consumed his every thought. The humiliation of losing to someone younger than himself, the disgrace of losing a fight that he morally should be winning, even the fact that he currently wasn’t touching the ground never reached him. He couldn’t move, couldn’t speak or resist, just hope that his attacker would let him go soon, unaware that he had metaphorically swept his lover off her feet. All he knew was that at this rate, the agony would overwhelm him and he would lose consciousness in less than thirty seconds.

Right where he wanted to be, Charmy only had one coherent thought, “And, the curtain falls…”