A/N: Hey, all, how's everyone? Good? Good. :) Here's a little one-shot dedicated especially to my dear friend, ShinyShiny9! If you've read Collapsing, I'm hoping this'll make up for it a bit. :S Thanks, all!
Though the holidays hadn't officially started, Central City's inner nooks and crannies were chock-full of frantic customers. People and unfortunately short Mobians alike were pushing through mobs in attempt to get some early shopping done on the weekend. Among these crowds was a trio consisting of a bat with similar intentions, a very disgruntled hedgehog, and an equally annoyed robot.
"Ow! Hey, watch where you're walking!" Rouge snapped after feeling a sharp pain in her foot that she assumed to be someone else's heel. Shadow inched away from a crying child with a look of disgust on his face.
"May I remind you whose idea this was?" he asked Rouge, continuing to shove through the crowd.
"Apparently it was everyone's idea to go shopping on the same day," Rouge said, her voice sharp, "One day off, and the whole world has the same ideas I do."
"Welcome to the world," Shadow muttered. "Omega, is everything all right?" he asked a very flustered robot that followed closely behind him.
"No," was the flat reply. "I would like you to imagine being of my size and stature and attempting to maneuver through such crowds."
"Must be rough," Shadow said, sympathy not quite making it into his voice.
"That was my point."
"All right, all right!" Rouge yelled over the noise of bustling people. "Here, this place looks pretty dead. Let's duck into here."
Team Dark scurried into a building where, as Rouge had observed, there had appeared to be no one there. Rouge and Shadow got through the double doors, and, as routine went, the two of them worked together to get Omega into the store. With a simultaneous "oof!", the whole team was in the store. Rouge pushed the door shut and wiped her brow.
"I swear it's getting harder every time, and the guy doesn't even eat anything," she whispered to Shadow. The hedgehog merely shrugged.
"So where did we wind up?" he asked, changing the subject.
Rouge sized the place up, scanning the shelves and the content of them. There were rows of small toys, delicate music boxes, notepads, and numerous other little trinkets.
"I'd say we're in a gift shop," she concluded, looking at a rack of "I love Central City" bumper stickers. "We may as well look around while we're avoiding the mess of psychos outside. Omega, careful with those!"
Rouge rushed off to stop the poor curious robot from tipping a display of small glass paperweights that had been neatly stacked up. Shadow chuckled and began browsing, slowly stepping up and down the aisles to see what he could find. He came across nothing too exciting; there was the usual display of Central City-themed merchandise, a few mugs scattered here and there, and the occasional snow globe. Overall, nothing seemed eye-catching enough for him to get. Not like he was the one doing the shopping, anyway.
"Shadow!" called Rouge from wherever she was, "Come here, quick!"
Secretly hoping for something that was actually thrilling, Shadow made his way around the corner to find Rouge giggling hysterically.
"Find a case of laughing gas, did you?" the hedgehog asked casually. Rouge's smile didn't come off, though. She held up a blue toy.
"Nooo, see for yourself!"
Rouge tossed the little toy to Shadow, who caught it effortlessly. It was a soft, plush version of Sonic the hedgehog, staring back into Shadow's red eyes with a grin stitched on his face.
"Well, well," the dark hedgehog said with a smirk, "They even got the faker's smug little face exactly right."
Rouge showed Omega the rack as he lumbered over.
"I see they have included many others," the robot observed, "the fox child, the angry echidna, and the small pink hedgehog have all been duplicated."
Rouge laughed especially hard when she saw the goofy smile on the little Knuckles' face. Tears came to her eyes as she held it close, he chest shaking with silent laughter.
"I'm getting this one," she announced, happy with her decision. As he was about to say something, Shadow felt a long metal finger tapping his shoulder lightly. Omega stood behind him, holding another plush toy.
"I thought you may be interested in this," the robot commented, handing Shadow the toy he was holding.
Shadow's eyes widened, and then squinted, and then filled with pure irritation. The toy's red eyes looked just as annoyed as the real one's. A little mouth was stitched on in the shape of a frown. When Rouge saw the plush toy he was holding, she began to laugh again.
"Having a staring contest with yourself, there?" she asked, doubled over. Shadow examined the details of the plush toy of himself, and then threw it back on the shelf.
"I do not look that grumpy," he remarked, crossing his thin arms like a defiant child. Rouge raised an eyebrow.
"Keep telling yourself that," she mumbled, receiving a hot glare from her teammate. As she looked higher up on the shelf, Rouge noticed a small stack of smaller Rouges. The bat flew up and plucked one from the top of the stack, looking it over. "Well! I've never been so impressed with an impersonator before!" she exclaimed. "Here, does it look a lot like me?"
Shadow looked at the toy as Rouge held it up next to her face. The hedgehog shrugged.
"Not much. They made it a bit too cute to be you."
"Oh-!"
Shadow felt a plush toy come down hard on his ear. Rouge replaced it forcefully and stomped her way to the end of the aisle, noticing that their giant metal companion had once again wandered off.
"Help me find Omega," she snapped, arms crossed, "hopefully he hasn't destroyed anything yet."
Shadow followed without another word. Almost immediately, the both of them saw Omega standing at the counter with a big bag.
"H-have a good day," the cashier said, trying his best not to snicker.
"Thank you for your assistance. I will thank you once more when I finally reach my goals."
The cashier's eyebrows wrinkled in confusion.
Rouge and Shadow eyed each other, both just as lost as the cashier.
"I'm choosing not to even ask," Shadow said, shaking his head. Rouge shrugged as they all walked out together.
Later that evening, Rouge was putting away her leftovers from dinner into the fridge, humming to herself. Shadow sat lazily on the couch with his feet up on the arm, eyes shut. If he wasn't hard at work, he figured he might as well be lounging and making the most of the last few hours of his day off.
"Shadow, have you seen Omega lately?" Rouge called from the kitchen, "He literally just walked in and then hid."
"If I haven't heard any explosions, I think he's fine. He'll come when it's time for us to go."
Rouge poked her head through the doorway, a scowl on her face.
"You're just looking for an excuse to sit there and do nothing," she accused. "I have dishes to put away. Unless you'd like to help with those, then go find him. Heaven only knows what he's up to."
Shadow, with a long groan, sat up straight and stretched his arms out after laying on them for too long. He smacked his lips and called for Omega.
"Omega, where are you?" he yelled, "You've been a bit quiet; is everything all right?"
As he wandered aimlessly up the stairs and into the hallway, the hedgehog found himself putting an ear to the guest bedroom door. He heard miscellaneous clanking sounds, which he immediately recognized to be the sounds that Omega made when he was purposely trying not to make any noise.
"Omega, I'm coming in," Shadow warned, "I hope you're not causing any trouble . . ."
With a click of the doorknob, the door swung open. Shadow blinked multiple times before processing the scene in front of his eyes. He curled his fingers and pressed his fist against his lips, his brow furrowing.
Omega stood in the middle of the room, somehow looking either mortified or pleased with himself. There in front of him were four neat rows of small stuffed Omega toys, each one facing the real one. Shadow scratched his top quill.
"This is a new one," he mumbled, half-amused, half-trying to figure out what was happening.
Rouge suddenly appeared next to the hedgehog after becoming curious herself, looked at the embarrassed-looking robot, and tried a little too hard to not laugh.
"Well, Omega, we're listening," she prompted. "Would you care to explain what's going on?"
Omega looked at his teammates and hesitated to answer.
"Now that I have found small replicas of myself, I can use their Ultimate power to destroy Eggman once and for all. I have begun to train them, and they shall know our power and learn the contempt against Eggman."
Rouge couldn't help herself. A snort escaped loudly from her nose, even though she tried to cover it up with her hand. Shadow, on the other hand, had been rendered speechless. His mouth was opening and closing, like a fish out of water. Rouge regathered her composure and cleared her throat.
"We'll leave you be for now, then," she said just as Shadow was just about to speak up. "C'mon, let's leave him to tend his boot camp for . . . himself," she said, pushing Shadow out of the way and closing the door. "No blowing things up, y'hear?"
Omega agreed and began a surprisingly well-thought-out speech towards his plush minions. Rouge shut the door and giggled again, shaking her head.
"You know, I've seen some strange things before," Shadow started, "but that just took the cake."
"You're telling me!" Rouge said, descending down the stairs, "Oh, man, that must have been what he wanted from the store."
"Figure that out on your own, did you?"
Rouge chuckled.
"He used up all of his rings to buy those, I'll bet."
Shadow flopped back on the couch, placing his hand over his eyes.
"Sooner or later, we'll have to tell him that small stuffed toys probably won't have much effect on Eggman," he said. Rouge put her hands on her hips and smirked.
"You can tell him."
A/N: "I do not look that grumpy." - Thought up by Shiny herself. If you don't know her, I'd suggest heading to her profile and checking out her amazing stories, 'cos she's got some pretty awesome stuff ranging from cute and fluffy to super epic! :)