Beep!

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  Bee-!

  — Woofa’s Apartment (Downtown District) —

  The brown dog wakes up from the alarm, groaning in tiredness. She slowly sits up on her bed, rubbing her groggy eyes and stretching from the tired weekdays. She’s glad today is Friday, hoping that whatever nonsensical tasks as a receptionist and taking care of a multitude of customers will finally be put to rest once she gets out of work. She does a long yawn, expressing her tired attitude yet again, before finally having the will to get out of bed.

  Understanding that she has visitors in her house, she quietly does her tasks, brushing her teeth and taking a shower to start the day with hygiene. After finishing her usual routine, she quietly tiptoes her way to the living room, seeing the entire team sleeping. Some on the couch, while some on the floor. It didn’t matter where they were sleeping; all that mattered was a comfortable sleep.

  With a deep sigh of relief, she turns to the kitchen, and despite the dim lights on, she spots someone recognizable.

  Awake and eating breakfast.

  “Morning,” Solid says tiredly, scooping in bits of cereal and consuming them.

  “Are you seriously going to be awake at this time…?” She says, before going to the kitchen to brew some coffee, in preparation for work.

  “Yeah.” He continues eating his cereal until the bowl is empty, thus finishing his breakfast. “You gonna do something about it?”

  Though being the tired dog, she throws all her worry away, seemingly not caring for his way of living at this point. “Nope. Just gonna see my orange furball doing whatever he does for the best.” She says, stirring the coffee before eventually sitting down next to him.

  “... So… you’re joining the team.” He doesn’t get out of the chair, but rather wants to continue their conversation together. “Have I seen you fight before?”

  She glances at him, letting out a small and quiet giggle. “I wanted to join because I’m tired of working. We’re forced to be workaholics… doing things that we weren’t meant to be doing. Once you had the dignity to go on a little adventure without me, I felt a little jealous, and I wanted to experience the same adventure as you’re doing. You can’t leave out your best friend.” She gives a wink to him.

  Somewhat amused, the orange hedgehog lets out a slight, yet contained scoff, trying to keep himself quiet from his team. He quietly makes his way to the sink to put the bowl away. “You’re gonna die if you fight with us.”

  “Come on…” She quietly says, barely audible to him but not audible to the others. “... Aren’t you supposed to be humble? You know I can be as strong for my first impression. Don’t forget about it.” She says while teasingly pointing at him.

  “... Fine…” He walks up to the kitchen island, leaning against it as his best friend continues sipping her coffee. “We can go out right now to show me your fighting skills.” He says before pushing himself off the island. “But first… let me brush my teeth.” He leaves and locks the bathroom door, leaving her alone in the kitchen to finish her coffee.

  “... That blue furball changed you… didn’t he…?” She thinks to herself, noticing a slight, yet not an overbearing change to her best friend’s personality.

  When the two eventually get themselves prepared, with Woofa wearing her usual work clothes, she watches the rest of the team sleep. A peaceful state in her apartment meant for the hardworking heroes who’ve dedicated themselves to saving their own dimension. They’ve saved their dimension from eternal crisis, and now they’re in this dimension, helping them for the same reasons. Except for Tricky, but an argument can be made that he experienced more hardships from working in the same building that she’s gonna go to herself soon. With one last glance, she closes the door and leaves her apartment.

  “So… where is my orange furball taking me now?” She rushes to him, where they both walk beside each other in the hallway. Not only that, but she eagerly glances at him, showing off a smile while her hands are behind her back.

  “Somewhere.” He lets out a smile, teasing her to remain curious, yet hopeful for where he might bring her.

  “... You’re gonna take me to your home. Aren’t you-?”

  “Yeah.”

  — Solid’s Home (Downtown District) —

  At the same rooftop, Solid opens the door from the stairwell and arrives at his home, where they both know. “Alright then.” He extends his arms out and prepares to stand in the middle of the area, letting his best friend get ready. “You ready to show off your moves?”

  Once Woofa puts her work bag down, she gives a few hops, giving her some early momentum. “Just like basketball… You can’t defend!” She instantly rushes over and dials a punch to his stomach, crashing him to the edge of the rooftop.

  “DAMN… it…” He slowly gets up, trying to recover from the immediate blast. “... Y-... You’re pretty…”

  "P-Pretty? Aww…" She smiles with a hint of blush, going over to the orange hedgehog. "You're too nice." She jokingly says this while inspecting his injury to determine if it's minor or severe. "However… are you alright?"

  To her relief, he says. “... good…” Leaving her unsure if he’s finishing his sentence or if it’s an indicator that her punch wasn’t that devastating. “I’m… good…” He quickly kneels, unsure how he feels from that. To him, it eerily reminds him of the time when Sonic was testing out his strength, just for him to get blasted through the wall. He’s lucky that he kept the rings, because they did protect him from further damage. Although this resulted in some of the rings being scattered throughout the rooftop, some were coincidentally collected by the two best friends.

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  “What are these things…?” The brown dog tries reaching out for the rings, but when in contact, the rings mysteriously disappear, creating the iconic sound. “W-Where did it go!?”

  “Those are… rings. They’re from our interdimensional friends, and they’re important to them. They’re used to inflict damage, meaning that even if I try to land a punch on you…” He tries reaching his arm out to her, mocking it to be a weak punch, but fails because he’s still recovering from her punch. “Well… they’re like your… extra lives… if you’re not too reckless…”

  With her being acknowledged by his words, she quickly runs to collect all of the scattered rings she could find before running back to her recovering best friend, handing him a few rings. “Now I have a reason to be a part of this team. It’s that work that is preventing me from helping you guys further along.”

  Solid nods from her words, accepting what she said was true. He, along with the assistance of his best friend, lifts him to make him stand once more. “Thank you… brown dog…”

  “Shut up with that name…” She giggles while responding, knowing how often they tease each other. “I’ll punch you again to keep yourself quiet.”

  “Try me.” He says with bits of competitiveness in his voice, but she already can tell that he’s probably seen enough of her skills, despite just a punch to the stomach.

  In the end, they both laugh it off, finding it amusing that he would make such a comment while in his current state. “Yeah… I think I’m literally… the weakest teammate skill-wise…” He sits down on the edge of the rooftop, looking down at the streets yet again.

  “Don’t say that…” Woofa’s ears droop from his humble opinion, almost taking his words seriously. “You know how much I care for you. I’m not gonna make you think that we’re immortalized gods, being looked up to by some peasant.” She sits down beside him, also looking down at the streets while glancing at her best friend.

  “Just can’t help being humble… You know how I’ve been ever since we met. I always say you’re better at doing your homework and stuff when you try your hardest.” He says, now getting into his soft spot, while his injury is steadily but surely, noticeably recovering.

  She tries her best to contain her laughter, but she fails to suppress a smile at her past actions. “I wasn’t the best, Solid. There were times, without your notice, I had ditched school… even college. You’ve repeatedly texted me every time I did. When you knew that I wasn’t on campus, you always assumed that I was sick, and I went along with the game. Always replying, “Yes… Thank you for looking out for me…” That always got the best laughs out of me…”

  The orange hedgehog instantly looks at her, shaking his head with a combination of disappointment and amusement. “I could’ve just punched you right now… from all the hard work I did.” He somewhat regrets helping her, having that feeling of assisting her into the same company with a similar life… now imagining what life could have been if he had never helped her out. “Mmh-mmh-mmmh… You’d be left distraught.” However, even if he took all the time back to himself, wanting to redo what he should’ve done, he’s glad that he has a friend who has been loyal and caring to him.

  A friend where he doesn’t have to worry about leaving…

  A best friend… where they’ll always be best friends…

  Forever.

  “But… I’m your best friend, no matter what. Since middle school, when we coincidentally had the same classes and sat next to each other, to now, where we’re sitting beside each other.” He takes a moment to process how far their relationship has come, from being classmates to lifelong best friends. “No wonder we’re constantly teased for being in a relationship.”

  The best friends take a moment for another laugh, remembering the embarrassing moments they had to go through, especially in high school. “Those times… They’re always mocking us… Your brother… Our friends… Even our coworkers are doing it too! Oh my god… I hope that damn porcupine doesn’t tell our interdimensional friends about our relationship… I have a feeling that Sonic and Amy would tease us the most.”

  “Sigh… Typical Woofa… always thinking too much about others…”

  “You know you’re never escaping me.” She brings one arm and wraps it behind his neck, bringing him closer. “I’ll think of you whenever my mind drifts to you.”

  “Man… when do I ever escape from you?” He jokingly says in an exaggerated tiredness, almost emphasizing the need to escape from her.

  …

  “Right now.” She immediately lets go, the attitude shifting from pure happiness to exhaustion that Solid had previously exaggerated. “Too bad work sucks the fun out of the way. Not everything was meant for the two of us.” She quickly stands up on the rooftop, slowly walking to her workbag that she left on the ground.

  With it nearly approaching 8 A.M., Solid instantly appears right in front of her to pick her workbag up, slowly handing it to her. “Might as well just walk over there, just like what best friends would do. Right?”

  Giggles… “… Right…”

  — Downtown District —

  In the streets of Haven City, the hedgehog and the dog walk together, enjoying the morning rush hour thrill that they’ve already experienced for the past 7 years. Even with the honks and the constant bitterness by the commuters, it doesn’t stop them from feeling amused.

  “Am I glad that I don’t drive to work?” She says, trying to hold her laughter, but fails to anyway.

  “I’d like to see you try. You probably leashed out from the combination of those drivers and the customers you have to deal with. Sigh. Can’t blame you, though.” He says while both of them gaze at the traffic, reminding themselves of how lucky they are to live without a car.

  “You know what sucks?”

  “What?”

  “Your brother. Why did you have to move out?” She smirks, teasingly asking him while nudging his shoulder. “Now he’s forced to commute by car or train, which takes wayyyyy too long.” She takes a sip of her coffee, trying to remain awake.

  He rolls his eyes, partially in amusement, but a bit resentful. “Hated that district. I don’t care if we’re both raised there. If it led to my mother’s death… I can’t help but have such a sentiment.” The attitude shifts to a bit of seriousness, with Woofa still wondering how her best friend would deal with the loss of his mother. She tries to apologize for saying such words that may have accidentally triggered his sensitive content, but he cuts her off with a change of attitude. “... At least I don’t have to carry him for a piggyback every time.” A weak laugh isn’t the normal laugh that she knows of, but it’s better than nothing.

  “... Stop scaring me…” She enjoys watching him being happy and cheerful, reminding him of their childhood days, as opposed to the now mature and somewhat depressed hedgehog. Whenever she sees him lost in thought, she can’t help but want to find the reset button in the hedgehog’s heart, needing something to bring him back to his former days of innocence. But when she watches how Sonic does his role, she realizes that he’s doing a better job at expressing Solid more compared to how she deals with him. It’s mostly because most of their discussions relate to their past and work. The blue blur speaks more about the present and the future, almost reminding him that the past trauma is the past, and something to move on from. “No disrespect to the blue furball… I wish I could do better… but whatever works… I enjoy seeing hints of his pre-trauma self being shown.”

  The two continue to walk through the streets, laughing and enjoying the show of their life. The sound of the honking and the public noise substantially disappears, and they feel alone in their safe circle.

  Just being best friends.

  To the best friends… this is one of their moments, where they’re never going to forget…

  Being best friends forever.

  — Haven City Finances (Downtown District) —

  At the Haven City Finances building, Solid ears droop from being separated once again, watching her enter to start her day. “Have a nice day… Woofa.” She knows that he’s saying goodbye, even if she doesn’t hear him say it.

  Though… even if her shift starts in a few minutes, she goes up to her best friend and hugs him tightly. In return, he slowly hugs her back, returning the favor that the two best friends were meant to do.

  “... We’re still the same height, y’know.”

  “Shut up.” Solid slowly lets go, meeting her eyes. “Did you know that Sonic is the same height as both of us?”

  “Really?” Woofa is intrigued; she never realized both hedgehogs were the same height all along. “I thought he was shorter than you.”

  “You’re saying that because my quills are oddly unique.” He shows off parts of his quills extending above him, eerily similar to Silver, even though they don’t know about his existence.

  She immediately reaches her hands above his head and compresses his quills gently, still feeling soft while looking at his quills from his backside, which is a mess. “Still… I don’t understand why you have strands of blue, black, red, and white fur on specific parts of your quills. Were you born like this?”

  “Technically, yeah… I knew nothing about my backstory. My mom assumed that I was an orphan who had these unique quills. And for my name… it is written on my old gloves that no longer fit my current hands.” He takes a look at his current gloves, still reminiscent of the former gloves he used to wear since he was adopted. “I don’t know. Maybe my parents just called me “Solid” for fun.”

  Their best friend's interaction was cut short due to the amount of time she had left before her shift started. “Damn it… one more minute.” She groans yet again, wanting not to work at all, but forces herself to anyway. “Well… have a great day, my orange furball!” She enters through the automatic doors, glancing at him one more time before the doors close.

  In return, he lets out a promising smile, still keeping his promise of their best friend status… forever. He looks up at the morning sky, enjoying the mood of the city life before walking along the streets alone, before he goes on his phone.

  …

  “Enemy Information: Solid the Hedgehog.”

  “Species: Hedgehog.”

  “Fur Color: Orange.”

  “Eye Color: Red, Gold, Green”

  “Age: 25 years.”

  The machine displays general information about his biography, seemingly giving the doctor simple details about him, without mentioning his fighting skills.

  Eggman watches the screen, eyeing Solid, as he gives him the known enemy look without his notice. The orange hedgehog is now Sonic’s teammate, aiming to stop his plans with the Master Emerald…

  He continues glaring at him before marking a singular word…

  “... Solid…”