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"Shadow, do you feel like you're Sonic's biggest rival?" the caller, Pumpkin, asked.
"Who cares?" Shadow responded bluntly, earning a snigger from Sabrina.
"Ehhh, I'm not sure if I'd call Shadow my biggest rival," Sonic replied. Elise smirked at Sabrina, who simply rolled her eyes.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well, Knuckles can be pretty tough when he's not busy guarding his island."
Sabrina scoffed. "Knuckles? Who even is that?"
"Knuckles?" Shadow asked indignantly.
"Jet's a pain, too, and don't even get me started on how stubborn Metal Sonic is! Seriously, who is my true rival?"
"Alright, fine. Where do I rank on this list of yours?"
"Ehhh, probably right between Zavok and Dodonpa."
Elise hid her mouth behind her pillow, so that Sabrina wouldn't see her stifling her laugh. Sabrina seemed far more interested in reaching into the radio to throttle Sonic, anyway.
"... I hate you."
"Ah-hah! C'moooon, it's not that bad! Between Zavok and Dodonpa, I'm basically giving you a compliment!”
"I, really, hate you."
"Ohhh, you just dropped below Zavok."
Elise couldn't help but chuckle at Sonic's final quip, while Sabrina simply rolled her eyes, wondering what she saw in him.
The two were sat together in Elise's bedroom, listening to the show with rapt interest, but each for different reasons. Elise's reason was Sonic; Sonic had visited Soleanna during the last Festival of the Sun, and though it was her first time seeing him, Elise felt a strange sense of déjà vu when he ran by, kicking up a refreshing breeze. Her eyes met his in the crowd, and she felt like she wanted to know more about him. From that day, she followed his adventures closely on the news, drawn to him for reasons she couldn’t explain.
Sabrina, on the other hand, was there for Shadow. Though she would deny it to anyone else who asked, Elise knew that Sabrina had developed something of a crush on the more-mysterious hedgehog, ever since that time she and her father, Lord Regis, were placed under GUN's protection during an Eggman attack on the Rimlight Corporation. Shadow had been assigned to guard her personally, and had protected her from a robot attack. When she learned of Elise's infatuation for Sonic, she shared her own for Shadow, and the two often got together whenever there were new stories of the hedgehogs' heroic exploits.
That night, Sonic and Shadow had been invited to K-TBR 199.2, to talk about their latest victory against Eggman, and to answer questions from callers. Naturally, there were only so many spaces for the hour-long slot, so Elise wasn't upset that her call did not make it. Instead, she was happy that Sabrina's call went through, and she was currently on-hold. She was set to through after the next question, and Elise wondered what she was going to ask Shadow.
"Next question is from Mirzalollo," Shadow said, and there was a sudden increase in background noise as the next caller was put through.
"Hey Sonic! How's Elise?"
Elise's eyes widened, and she held her breath and hugged her pillow. Even though it wasn't a video broadcast, her eyes were focussed intently on the radio as she waited to hear Sonic's answer.
"Who's that now?"
Elise kept her breath held, no longer out of anticipation. She stared at the radio, hugging her pillow harder, trying not to let out any sounds for fear she might sound pathetic. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the show, the caller was only on the air long enough to ask their question, so there was no elaboration on who they were referring to, and Sonic's answer was all they would get.
Elise wasn't sure what she was expecting, really; the two of them weren't closely acquainted, really, but he was there during the Festival of the Sun. He had seen her perform the ceremony, surely that had to leave some impression, right? Or maybe that was just such a mundane thing for Sonic that he really didn't remember. "Right," Elise said, finally releasing her breath. "Of course he doesn't remember. He must meet so many people, I was just another face in the crowd."
She lowered her head. Suddenly, the show didn't seem as exciting as it did only a minute ago, and she was sort of hoping it would be over soon. "Don't let it get to you," Sabrina said. "Boys are just dumb like that."
Elise let out a laugh. "I'm okay, really. I'm just another one of his fans, no reason to think he'd know me specifically." She knew his response was natural, that her feeling this way made no sense, but she couldn’t help it. Something was making her feel that she had just been rejected, that there should have been more to his answer. Tears were welling in her eyes, and she felt like excusing herself before she made herself look stupid in front of her friend.
"Next question, from RichGurl21," Sonic said, and Sabrina's phone went through.
Elise inhaled, wiped her eyes clean, and put on her best smile for Sabrina. Now wasn't the time to feel bad for herself; it was Sabrina's moment, and she was going to be happy for her.
Sabrina held the phone to her head, took in a deep breath, and asked... well, shouted, "They meant Elise of Soleanna, you blue-brained dolt!" Nite the Owl – the show’s host – must have assumed that was the end of her 'question', or anticipated that things were about to get hostile, because her call ended there. "Does all your brainpower go to your feet or something?!"
"O-Oh!" Sonic answered on the radio. "You mean the Princess? Heh, sorry 'bout that. I don't know her personally, but I know of her, sure. I actually saw her during the Festival of the Sun some time ago. I guess the people there really love her, and I can see why; she's got one nice smile!"
Elise felt her face turning red, and she quickly covered it with her pillow, worried that Sonic would somehow see her blushing.
"That's all you have to say? 'Nice smile'?" Shadow asked. The girls could practically hear his grin.
"W-What? It's a compliment!"
"So it's not just Amy; you fall apart easy around girls in general."
"That is not true! I just say what's on my mind, that's all! Unlike some hedgehog I know, who keeps his feelings to himself."
"I prefer to communicate through actions, not words. It avoids awkward situations, like the one you're in right now."
"Aaaaanyway, thanks for clearing that up for us, RichGurl21! Onto the next question!"
As the conversation steered away to the next topic, Elise lowered her pillow and peered at Sabrina, who was doing her best to avoid eye contact and act like what she had just done was no big deal. "Thanks."
"For what?" Sabrina asked, still staring stone-faced at the radio.
"You gave up your question for me."
"Don't be so full of yourself," Sabrina said, tossing her pillow at Elise and nailing her head. "I felt bad for the person before, who didn't get their question answered. Besides, I couldn't think of anything to ask, anyway." Elise threw her pillow at Sabrina, who caught it. Despite her words, Sabrina was grinning. "So, he thinks you have a 'nice smile'."
The red-faced Elise threw Sabrina's pillow back at her, only for it to be deflected. "Stop!" she cried through her laughter.
Sabrina threw both pillows back at Elise. "Too bad you didn't get through! You could've asked him out live on the air!"
Elise huffed and stuck out her tongue, hogging the pillows to herself instead of throwing them back. "Or, maybe I'd return the favour, and ask Shadow what he thought of you."
Sabrina reached and pulled Elise into a bearhug. "I should think so! Otherwise, we wouldn't be friends anymore!"
Elise laughed as she struggled for freedom, and resorted to grabbing her nearby Super Sonic plushie to bop Sabrina over the head. Sabrina let go, and the two continued laughing for a bit before returning their focus to the radio.
The sinking feeling was now gone, and Elise listened to Sonic’s every word like they were music to her ears. Every quip, every joke, even every lame deflection of embarrassing questions, made her giggle. Even if nothing had really changed, and Elise was just a stranger to him, just the knowledge that Sonic remembered her, out of all the people he must have met in his travels, made her happy. And if he liked her smile, then that just meant she would have to keep on smiling as much as possible.