Cease And Assist
Amy hummed to herself as she laid out a row of Tarot cards face-down on the desk before her. It had been some time since she had last consulted her deck, and she was hoping - as always - that their guidance would point her on a path that led her straight to Sonic.
Especially since she hadn't been having much luck in that regard lately…
Amy turned over one of the cards… and furrowed her brow in bewilderment. The card she was looking at appeared to have been scribbled on with a bright pink marker.
No. Not a marker.
Lipstick.
Amy turned another card over, then another and another, her eyes narrowing in anger, a furious scowl forming on her muzzle as she saw more and more pink scribbles, each card bearing a message of an undermining nature written in lipstick:
Tarot ain't real, pinky.
Superstitious much?
Get real, honey.
Try science.
Crystal ball not working?
Like my new lipstick?
"Argh! ROUGE!" Amy roared, knocking the majority of the Tarot cards from the desk and onto the floor with one sweeping motion of her arm. "I'll get her for this! And her little lipstick tube, too!"
"Alright, she's gotta be around here somewhere…" Amy mused quietly to herself, the pink hedgehog's gloved fingers curled into fists as she marched through the shopping mall in downtown Station Square. She had it all figured out: She'd find Rouge, act like she hadn't yet discovered the defaced Tarot deck and put on a friendly facade, greet the bat and invite her to lunch, buy her as many drinks as it took to get her headed to the restroom, and when Rouge flushed the toilet, Amy would be waiting outside the cubicle with her Piko Piko Hammer at the ready, and as soon as Rouge opened the door… WHAM! One flat bat.
"Amy?" a familiar voice called, prompting the pink hedgehog to look up from her musings, which had been punctuated by an audible snicker at the thought of knocking Rouge unconscious. The speaker was Tails, the yellow-furred fox standing there with a semi-transparent shopping bag containing a large cardboard box; no doubt the young inventor had been buying supplies of an electrical nature to use at his workshop.
"Tails!" Amy greeted brightly, smiling warmly at him. She liked the fox boy; he was certainly more polite and outwardly friendly than most of his and Amy's respective associates, like that jerk Knuckles who was as stubborn and hard-headed as they come, or Shadow, who wouldn't know polite and friendly if it came up and punctured itself on his edgy quills… "Long time, no see!"
"You saw me yesterday at the workshop when you dropped off your toaster for repairs," Tails reminded her, chuckling good-naturedly as he spoke.
"D'oh, it's a figure of speech, Tails, and you know it!" Amy snapped at him, causing the fox boy to flinch and recoil slightly. "Anyway, have you, uh, seen Rouge around?" Amy went on more casually, more nonchalantly, acting as though she hadn't just tried, proverbially speaking, to bite the poor kitsune's head off.
"R-Rouge?" Tails repeated somewhat nervously, glancing behind him as though he expected to see the bat in-question standing right there. Much like Amy herself, Tails was not exactly fond of Rouge, though not for the same reasons; the sly, mischievous bat would often playfully tease and flirt with Tails just to get a reaction out of him, just to mess with his head, and the fact that there was a noticeable age difference between Tails and Rouge certainly didn't make the matter any less awkward or uncomfortable for the fox boy… "W-Well, I haven't seen her…" he managed awkwardly, clearly hoping that the somewhat saucy bat woman wasn't around, even swallowing at the thought. "I don't really know if shopping malls are her kinda thing, if I'm being honest."
"Au contraire, Tails," a soft and familiar voice all but purred from somewhere behind Tails, and the fox boy nearly jumped clean out of his yellow fur, hastily turning around to see Rouge just a few feet away, a shopping bag in each hand. The bat woman set down her bags as she approached and before Tails had time to react, Rouge swooped in - almost literally at that - and planted a kiss on Tails' right cheek. The fox boy yelped, his whole body instantly going rigid and his fur bristling as though he had just received an electric shock, and then he groaned and slumped to the floor, where he lay, twitching, a bright pink, lip-shaped mark on his visage where Rouge had kissed him.
"Uyaiayehyuhyeh…" Tails babbled incoherently as he lay there, completely discombobulated.
"I actually quite enjoy a day out at the mall," Rouge said, looking down at Tails as she spoke. She gave a soft, knowing chuckle before turning her attention to Amy. "Well, look who it is! My favourite little pink damsel. How've you been, sweetie?" she asked in a playfully mocking tone.
"Who you callin' a damsel?" Amy demanded, glaring daggers at Rouge, who just chuckled and stepped over the still befuddled Tails, closing the distance between herself and the pink hedgehog.
"My, my. You're as fiery as ever," the bat summarised, batting her meticulously curled eyelashes at her peer. "Careful you don't burn poor Sonic to a crisp with all that… hot air."
"Grrrrrrr…!" Amy growled. Oh, how she would love to wipe that smug, determinedly seductive smile off of Rouge's face, and permanently at that.
"Temper, temper, pinky," Rouge taunted in that same suave tone that Amy despised, the bat stepping right up to Amy and putting a hand to her left cheek, gently stroking the hedgehog's cheekbone with her thumb. "You won't win anyone over with all that aggression, let alone Sonic."
"Rrrrrr…! YOU LEAVE MY SONIC OUT OF THIS!" Amy shouted as she batted Rouge's hand away, her outburst causing numerous passerby to stare at her, some of them looking concerned when they saw Tails twitching on the mall's polished floor.
"Somebody call?" Sonic asked, the Blue Blur seemingly appearing out of nowhere as he zipped up to the group at a speed befitting of his namesake. His green eyes then widened at the sight of Tails on the ground. "Tails!" he cried, hurrying to his best friend's side. "Come on, buddy, snap out of it!"
"Hehhehheh… I'm okay," Tails managed somewhat cluelessly as Sonic helped him sit up, the speedy hedgehog's gloved hand supporting the fox boy's upper back. Tails then shook his head vigorously, like a dog trying to clear its ears of water. "Sorry, Sonic," he then said, sounding more like his usual self. "I let Rouge get to me again."
"So I noticed," Sonic said, eyeing the lipstick mark on Tails' cheek. Realising what Sonic was staring at, Tails groaned in embarrassment and reached up with a gloved hand to wipe off the pink makeup, succeeding only in smearing it messily across his cheek and on the back of his glove, staining the latter.
"Aww, how cute. You two really are like brothers," Rouge said, smirking knowingly at them. "Anyway, I gotta get going. Shadow will be expecting me later and—"
"W-Wait a minute!" Amy spluttered, suddenly remembering her whole reason for coming to the mall in the first place. "Why, uh… Why don't you join me for lunch, Rouge?" she asked with masterfully feigned sweetness. "You too, Sonic," she went on, catching the Blue Blur's eye. "I know a place that does really good chow mien and…"
"I'd love to, but I should really be getting along. You know what Shadow's like," Rouge said politely yet dismissively. "He'd probably take off without me if I was even a second too late. Oh, well. You kids have fun. Speaking of which, I hear they've got a new ball pit over by the food court. You should go play there sometime, Amy. Ta-ta!" On that note, Rouge flapped her wings and took off, soon ascending to the upper level of the mall, shamelessly blowing kisses to the people on the nearby escalator as she went.
"But I…! You were meant to…! Ball pit?!" Amy positively shrieked, her entire face turning a literally glowing shade of crimson as she positively sizzled with red hot fury. The growling noises she was making as she stood there were actually causing passerby to give her a wide berth, a couple of them even murmuring about summoning mall security.
"Easy, Ames. She's gone now," Sonic said, having zipped up beside Amy, placing a hand on her shoulder to try and keep her from exploding into a rampage.
"That's the problem!" Amy barked at him, throwing her arms up in exasperation. "She was supposed to hang around so I could clobber her and her big, stupid, suggestive mouth the moment her back was turned! Oh, forget it!" she then exclaimed, grabbing Sonic by the arm and starting to drag him along, much to his surprise, bewilderment and protest. "Let's just go to the food court! I'm gonna need a chocolate-caramel shake the size of a building to deal with that insufferable bat's…! Ugh!" she growled, storming past Tails with Sonic in tow.
"Amy, what're you…?! Come on, ease up, will ya? Just because I like to run, doesn't mean I don't know how to walk by myself…!"
Tails let out his breath in a long, low whoosh once he was left alone. "They didn't even bother to invite me," he huffed, his hands on his hips. He then sighed. "Oh, never mind. I gotta get back to the workshop anyway." With that, he picked up his bag of supplies (which he had immediately dropped when Rouge had kissed him) and started for the building's exit.
"Mmm, mmm! Man, I tell ya: Nobody makes a chilli dog like the guys at…" Sonic was saying as they left the food court a short while later, the Blue Blur still smacking his lips (muzzle?) from the taste of his lunch, but Amy was hardly listening. She had indeed procured herself a chocolate-caramel milkshake and it had indeed calmed her down somewhat, but now, instead of being angry, she was just bitter. That Rouge always found a way to get under her skin, and she always got away with whatever troublemaking shenanigans she left Amy on the receiving end of. It drove Amy up the wall, and she wished that she could even out the score one time, just one time, but alas…
"Stupid bat," the pink hedgehog muttered to herself irritably. "'Oh, look at me! I'm so sexy! I'm such a sleuth! I'm the world's greatest treasure hunter!' World's biggest pain in the butt, more like."
"Oh, hey, get a load of that!" Sonic said suddenly, rousing Amy from her disgruntled murmuring. The pink hedgehog looked up to see that they were standing outside the mall's built-in auditorium, a sign propped up out front with an image of a yellow-furred, spot-covered, anthropomorphic cheetah girl depicted on it, said cheetah girl clad in a dark purple top hat, a purple and white suit, and stylish black boots studded with gold sequins. The words depicted on the sign next to the image read:
See the Great Whimsy Blissclaw,
Stage Magician and Mesmerist Extraordinaire!
Today Only at 12:30pm!
Ticket Cost: 25 Rings
"Twenty-five rings? Kinda pricy just to see some primped and preened cheetah put on a half-decent show," Amy mused aloud rather cynically, her hands on her hips as she read the sign over to herself once more, eyeing the so-called Whimsy Blissclaw with a hint of disapproval. "Whimsy Blissclaw… Bet that's not even her real name."
"I think I've heard of this act, actually," Sonic admitted, looking thoughtful. "Think I saw it advertised on a billboard in Spagonia when I went there with Tails and Knux for the annual chilli cook-off. I've still got just over fifty rings on me; what d'you say? Wanna check it out?"
"Don't you mean fifty rings in you?" Amy asked with a knowing smirk, giving Sonic a light, playful slap on the back, causing two gold rings to inexplicably fly out of his body.
"H-Hey, watch it! You're gonna make me drop the whole lot!" the blue hedgehog exclaimed as he hastily reached forward to snatch the flickering rings out of the air before they could bounce away and vanish into nothingness. "And I've already borrowed more than my fair share from Tails in the past month." He then saw the cheeky smirk on Amy's face and he quickly found himself grinning. "Well, good to see that you've got your smile back. I take it that means you're game?"
Amy reached over and wrapped her arm around Sonic's. "If it's with you, Sonic, I'm game for anything," she told him, staring with somewhat deluded affection into his eyes. Sonic, on his part, chuckled awkwardly, pocketing the rings with his free hand… even though he didn't have pockets… or pants.
"I may hold you to that, Ames," he told her as the two of them stepped up to the ticket booth near the auditorium's entrance, arms still interlocked. "I've actually been curious to see how you'd fare in a chill dog eating contest…"
"Oh, you and your chilli dogs," Amy exclaimed, her tone rather bubbly all of a sudden. Sonic had been right about her getting her smile back; just being with him put her in a better mood… until he inevitably said or did something to set her off again, which rarely - if ever - took long.
"Hey, look at that, we managed to get seats in the front row!" Sonic said as he and Amy took their seats in the auditorium, the two hedgehogs indeed having managed to procure a spot right up near the stage, the red curtains of which were still drawn.
"Did you have to buy popcorn? We just ate!" Amy said, glaring disapprovingly at the jumbo-sized bucket of popcorn Sonic had bought with the last of his spare change after securing two tickets for himself and Amy.
"Don't worry, I'll share it with you… if you ask nicely," Sonic said cheekily, grinning cockily at his fellow hedgehog.
"Sonic The Hedgehog, you are just—!" Amy started, only for whomever was sitting directly behind her to tell her none-too-graciously to shush; the show was about to start.
The lights in the auditorium dimmed, the stage lights then switching on one by one with a rhythmic series of distinct clicks, illuminating the stage as the curtains started to open.
"Ladies and gentlemen," a male voice announced from somewhere via microphone, "Thank you for joining us today in our fine mall's auditorium! Today's show is sponsored by Donpa Motors! If you can find a more energy efficient automobile, you're not in this galaxy, that's for sure! Now, please put your hands together for the one, the only… Whimsy Blissclaw!"
The crowd broke out into applause, some polite, some enthusiastic, some a little too enthusiastic, a few teenagers in the back rows whistling shrilly as the stage curtains opened fully to reveal a series of props including a large rectangular cabinet that was painted purple and patterned with gold stars and moons, a table with wheels that had a slightly smaller box that bore similar decor resting upon it, and another table - one without wheels - that had numerous items on display, including an overturned purple top hat, a deck of playing cards, a small piece of coiled red rope and various other bits and odds typically associated with stage magic. The crowd fell silent after a few seconds, thanks in no small part to the fact that there was nobody on stage.
Several moments went by with nothing happening up on stage, the people in the audience soon starting to murmur among themselves, and from his spot beside Amy, Sonic glanced around uncertainly, looking up and down the aisle for any sign of what was keeping the show from proceeding. "You don't think ol' Whimsy went and got stage fright, d'you?" he asked Amy quietly.
Amy never got the chance to answer, for there was suddenly a big puff of wispy grey smoke up on stage, causing the audience to gasp in startled surprise, and as the smoke cleared, the anthropomorphic cheetah who had been depicted on the sign out front stepped forward, the smoke having given the impression that the sharply dressed mammal had appeared on stage by magic.
"Sorry to keep you waiting!" Whimsy Blissclaw said brightly, smiling broadly as she gazed out at the audience with her orange eyes. A few members of the audience cheered, while others just looked relieved that they hadn't been ripped off in regards to their ticket purchases. "Had to get my suit back from the dry cleaner's," Whimsy went on, gesturing to the purple and white suit she wore. "Talk about being fashionably late, am I right?"
The audience laughed, more out of politeness than anything, but a few people genuinely found Whimsy's cheesy joke funny, including Sonic, who audibly chuckled, a big, goofy grin of amusement on his muzzle. "Oh, yeah! She's right!" he said aloud. Amy rolled her eyes. She knew that the so-called Whimsy hadn't actually appeared on stage by magic, nor had she been held up by the dry cleaners; this was all just part of the act, and that act was nothing more than smoke and mirrors - literally, in the case of the smoke.
"Yeah, it's a good thing I left my top hat here ahead of time," Whimsy said as she walked over to the table where the piece of headwear in-question awaited. The cheetah picked it up and placed it atop her head before exclaiming in surprise, putting on a wide-eyed expression. She lifted up her hat and the audience - sans Amy - reacted with awe at the sight of the non-anthropomorphic white rabbit that now sat atop the magician's head. "Leopold! How'd you get in there?" Whimsy asked with mock wonder, causing a few audience members to chuckle. She then feigned a stern expression and an accusatory tone as she reached up and took hold of the rabbit in her arms. "Wait. Were you hiding? …Were you the one who ate the carrot slices from my chicken salad sandwich earlier? Ooh, naughty, naughty, Leopold!" she mock-scolded.
"Oh, brother," Amy muttered, rolling her eyes again while the audience around her laughed, Sonic in particular utterly guffawing at Whimsy's hammy performance.
"Well, so long as you're sorry," Whimsy went on, gently stroking the fur of the rabbit. "You're just lucky I can't say no to your cute widdle face. Look at him!" she declared, holding up Leopold for the audience to see more clearly. "Isn't he just adorbs?"
"Awwwww!" the audience cooed in unison. Amy just groaned.
'I thought she was supposed to be a magician, not a wannabe stand-up comedian,' the pink hedgehog thought to herself. She sighed and rested her chin on her palm; this was going to drag on for a painfully long while, she just knew it.
"Okay, Leopold, you just sit over there," Whimsy said as she placed the white rabbit down on one side of the table where her hat had been resting prior, and then proceeded to perform a series of tricks that made Amy groan at each and every one; shuffling the deck of cards while 'magically' drawing the very specific card she was looking for from the top of the deck, joining two metal rings together through 'magic' and so on. Amy had no doubt that the majority of the audience were watching the rabbit rather than Whimsy herself, Leopold almost certainly acting as a form of misdirection so nobody would notice just how phoney Whimsy's act was. She had obviously memorised the position of the selected card, and those silver rings were designed to attach and detach in just such a way. Smoke and mirrors indeed. Heck, this act was so cheap as far as Amy was concerned, that she doubted this amateur magician could even afford a decent mirror.
"She's pretty good, isn't she?" Sonic said, nudging Amy in the side with his elbow, spilling several pieces of popcorn onto her lap in the process.
"Watch it! You're making a mess!" she scolded him. She brushed the popped corn kernels from her lap and let out another weary sigh. "How much longer is this thing gonna go on for…?"
"Alright, folks, we've reached my favourite part of the act," Whimsy said after a while, "But before we do anything… I'm gonna need the help of a volunteer."
Excited gasps rang out among the audience, and all at once, dozens of people were jumping up and down in their seats, yelling, "Pick me! Pick me!" Amy just shook her head in disgust. She was an anthropomorphic hedgehog, yet several of the humans in the audience were acting more like animals right now than she ever had, including the person sitting right behind her, the young man inadvertently bumping against the back of Amy's seat again and again as he tried to get Whimsy's attention.
"Hmm… Aha!" Whimsy exclaimed, and then things very suddenly went quiet for a brief moment as a lone spotlight shone down upon the audience member that the stage magician was pointing at.
Amy's pupils shrunk. "Oh, you can't be serious," she muttered.
As the crowd got worked up once more, Whimsy's energetic, bubbly tone somehow reached Amy's ears over the noise. "How 'bout this darling little pink hedgehog? Come on, sweetie, no need to be shy!"
"Yeah, go on, Amy - show 'em what you're made of!" Sonic said encouragingly, again elbowing her in the side, more popcorn spilling from his paper bucket.
"Oh, No. Absolutely NOOOOOOT!" Amy yowled as she was suddenly pulled from her seat by an unseen force and lifted into the air. She tried to grab onto the sides of the seat, but she was moving too fast, and within five seconds, she lightly touched down feet-first on the stage, looking equal parts bewildered and embarrassed; she really didn't want any part of this.
"Wow, she sure is light on her feet!" Whimsy joked as she walked over to shake Amy's hand, taking hold of the pink hedgehog's gloved palm without her consent while she was still trying to get her bearings after having apparently been levitated, failing to notice the hook detach from the back of the collar of her red dress top as she stood there, the almost invisible strand of thin yet strong and sturdy wire retracting upward, moving above the stage and out of sight without anyone seeing it. "Glad to have you, missy! Now, why don't you shout out your name to the audience? I'll bet it's as cute as you!"
Amy yanked her hand away, finally managing to compose herself. "Flattery will get you nowhere," she declared, folding her arms and turning away, closing her eyes momentarily as she stood there in an uppity huff, "And if you must know, the name's Rose. Amy Rose."
"Well, it's good to have you here on stage, Rosie, you rascal!" Whimsy said somewhat cheekily, winking playfully at Amy before turning and stepping towards the star-and-moon-patterned cabinet that awaited nearby. Amy felt her cheeks redden slightly; Rosie? No one had ever called her that. She'd never even considered a nickname like that… and she had no desire for it to stick.
"It's Rose, not Rosie. Miss Rose to you!" Amy snapped irritably, but Whimsy didn't seem to be paying attention, instead opening the cabinet's door before turning to face the pink hedgehog.
"Care to step inside, Rosie? Don't worry, you've got the easy job; all you have to do is stand there and keep being your cute self!" the cheetah said with that same overly bright and chipper tone, both it and her smile yet to waver despite Amy's attitude.
"Hmph! Don't patronise me," Amy responded rudely, steeping into the cabinet with her snout pointed upward in a decidedly stuck-up way. Whimsy gently closed the door behind her and Amy's irritation was soon replaced by a mild sense of unease; it was rather dark in here. She turned on the spot. There were thin traces of light filtering into the cabinet through the edges around the door, but other than that, she could barely see her hand in front of her face.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I shall now make our friend Rosie disappear into the unknown!" Whimsy was saying loudly to the audience. "Don't worry, though! I'm like, eighty-five percent sure I can bring her back!"
"Oh, you can't be serious; this old chestnut?" Amy muttered to herself. "Disappear… You mean out through the back opening of this stupid… cabinet?" Her bitter words ended with a hint of apprehension in her voice, for she had turned and put her hand against the back of the cabinet, only to find that it wouldn't budge. She hastily felt around; no lever, no handle, no mechanism that might open any sort of rear exit. She turned back to the cabinet's main door and nervously pressed against it, just to make sure that she'd be able to get out once the trick was over… or in case anything went wrong.
It wouldn't budge. Was it locked? Did stage magicians' cabinets typically have locks?
"H-Hey!" Amy called, rapping the back of her right hand against the thin wooden door. "Let me out!" Panic was starting to grip her. "Something's wrong with this cabinet!"
"Uh-oh, folks - I think Rosie might be getting a little claustrophobic!" Whimsy could be heard saying. "Or maybe she doesn't trust me to bring her back after vanishing her." The audience could be heard chuckling at that. "Don't worry, Rosie; I was only kidding with that 'eighty-five percent' bit! You'll be fine! I've never lost a volunteer yet!"
"Ohhhh…" Amy moaned worriedly, her panic causing her to think irrational thoughts. Was this Whimsy character really going to make her disappear? Just poof and gone? Could she really do that? The pink hedgehog wrapped her arms around herself fearfully, starting to tremble slightly.
"Alright, here we go, everybody! Time to make the magic happen - literally!" Whimsy said from just outside the cabinet's door. Amy heard three light taps against the far side of her sealed escape route; a magician's wand, perhaps? She then heard chanting: "On the count of three, you'll be history, but not for good - only temporarily! One… Two… Three!"
Amy let out a terrified shriek and screwed her eyes shut as a loud popping sound suddenly rent the air. A second passed, and then she started to cough as the smell of artificially made smoke ticked unpleasantly at her nostrils. She stumbled forward, fell, threw out her hands to break her fall and finally opened her eyes to find herself sprawled on the stage, a cloud of smoke fading around her even as she looked around. A gloved hand was then extended before her and Amy looked up to see Whimsy smiling down at her reassuringly.
"You're alright, missy. You just got yourself a bit worked up, is all," she told the pink hedgehog, who stared up at her in confusion and… awe?
Maybe it was the fact that she had genuinely believed for a moment that she was going to disappear, possibly forever, but seeing the stage magician's surprisingly warm and gentle orange eyes, seeing her hand offered out to her, Amy felt a strange sense of relief. She reached up and took Whimsy's hand with an uncertain smile and was gently pulled to her feet.
"She's okay, folks!" Whimsy announced, and the crowd cheered and applauded. Once things settled down, Whimsy let out a knowing chuckle. "Well, that's magic for you; meant to vanish Rosie, and instead I vanished the cabinet she was in!" She then slapped a hand to her forehead in mock realisation. "Oh, wait, that's why they call it a vanishing cabinet! Doy!"
The crowd laughed. Amy could see Sonic among them, the Blue Blur chortling heartily at Whimsy's stupid, stupid joke… and then Amy herself started laughing. In seconds, she was actually doubled over with mirth, tears soon starting to run down her cheeks - tears of relief, relief that she was okay, that she hadn't vanished. In fact, she could now see how silly it was for her to have thought that she might actually disappear into nothingness at the whim of a quirky stage performer dressed in a lavender suit.
"Speaking of cabinets and the like…" Whimsy went on, leading Amy over to the nearby table - the one with the large box on it, "What d'you say, Rosie? Think you can handle being crammed into another box and sawed in half after 'surviving' being vanished?"
Amy looked at the box, stared at it for a moment, and then snorted. "Sawed in half? I'll bet your cheap saw couldn't even cut through the box, let alone me!" she declared, hands on her hips, a bold smile on her face; she'd bounced back from her little scare and was now putting on a brave facade.
"Ooh, someone's brash all of a sudden!" Whimsy teased, giving Amy a playful slap on the back - an action that annoyed Amy slightly, but she shrugged it off as the smartly dressed cheetah opened the box. Amy clambered into it and lay still, her head poking out of the end. "Alright, let's not waste any time!" Whimsy declared, suddenly brandishing a large saw in hand, seemingly having pulled it from nowhere. "After all, you all saw this coming!"
Most of the audience chuckled politely at Whimsy's lame joke, but a few cheekier people in the crowd booed, albeit not seriously. Sonic was among them, which surprised Amy a little as she watched him from her somewhat uncomfortable position; the box was a bit cramped, though she supposed that was to ensure that her feet stayed in one half of the box and didn't actually get sawed off.
Come to think of it, her legs weren't bunched up at the bottom of one half of the box, but rather stretched out, her feet poking out of the far end. She tried wiggling her left foot. Yep, it was indeed hers - not a fake pair of feet to fool the audience like she had expected. Odd, but it was surely just part of Whimsy's approach to this trick.
It was just a trick… right?
Whimsy started to saw into the middle of the box, moving the sharp tool back and forth rhythmically, bits of sawdust flying forth to land on the stage around the table's wheel-bearing legs. Amy decided not to look at the saw, instead keeping her gaze on Sonic, who was now watching the act attentively, his eyes glued to Amy's own. Was it her imagination, or was there actually a hint of worry reflected in his green irises? She smiled; it was always nice to know that he cared for her wellbeing.
Amy's smile faltered, however, when she felt the strangest sensation just along her waist. It felt like something was cutting into her.
Cutting into her?!
No. No, that couldn't be right. If the saw was actually slicing her, it would hurt like nobody's business, and the sensation Amy felt right now was more like something was phasing through her, passing through her lower torso as though it weren't there. It was… odd. It felt odd. It felt… alien. Still, it wasn't painful. Not in the slightest. No, it was just a strange, decidedly alien sensation. Just what was going on?
The saw finally cut through the bottom of the box and Whimsy moved the two halves of the table apart without hesitation. The crowd gasped in awe, and then everyone applauded. Amy's smile returned. She was okay. Of course she was okay; there had never been any danger of her actually getting sawed in half… and yet, her body still felt… odd. It was almost as though something was missing.
Whimsy stepped between the box halves to address the crowd. "Who doesn't believe that Rosie here is actually sawed in half?" she called out. Several people in the crowd raised their hands, including Sonic. "Alright, then. How about if I do… this?" the magician went on, moving over to the half of the box that supposedly had Amy's legs in them, kneeling down before her 'feet' and proceeding to remove the shoes. Amy glanced up from her position in her half of the box to see what Whimsy was playing at and her eyes widened as she felt her own shoes and socks being prised from her feet, even though Whimsy was nowhere near Amy's half of the box. Whimsy held up one of the shoes; a red boot with a white stripe down the middle.
It was Amy's shoe alright.
Amy then felt her white socks being pulled at. Crafty fingers removed the cotton garments from her feet, leaving her toes and soles exposed to the air of the auditorium. Once both of Amy's feet were bare, Whimsy, still far away from Amy, turned to the audience and grinned mischievously, reaching up to lift her purple top hat slightly, procuring something from inside of it:
A single white feather that looked particularly soft and fluffy. The audience collectively let out an "Ooooh" noise before chuckling knowingly, immediately catching on to where this was going.
Amy's eyes positively bulged at the sight of the feather in Whimsy's hand. It wasn't possible; she couldn't actually make Amy's feet feel the feather's touch from the opposite box. That would not only mean that Amy had actually been sawed in half, but also that she was still very much alive and able to feel a sensation of touch on the detached half of her body somehow. That was crazy. No, it was absurd! It was…
Whimsy, still bearing that mischievous grin of hers, moved the feather to meet the sole of Amy's right foot… and started to lightly tickle her.
"Wh-Whuh?! N-No! St-Stop!" Amy cried as the tickling sensation hit her like a truck, her whole body feeling almost as though it were electrified. The pink hedgehog clenched her teeth and screwed her eyes shut. Oh, that sensation! It was driving her crazy. It was… It made her want to…
"Three, two, one…" Whimsy counted down in a soft, knowing whisper that only Amy could hear. Her countdown was on point, for no sooner had she reached the number one when Amy utterly burst out laughing.
"TEEHEEHAHAHAHA! STOHOHOP! PLEHEHEASE!" she wailed, howling with uncontrollable mirth. A handful of audience members laughed lightly at her expense, Sonic once again included, though he showed his support to Amy by giving her an encouraging thumbs up, silently telling her to hang in there.
Mercifully, Whimsy broke off the tickling only a couple seconds later, much to Amy's relief, which she let out a sigh of. In the opposite box, her feet visibly relaxed.
"I think I've made my point," Whimsy said to the audience as she stood up, taking off her top hat and dropping the feather into it before placing the piece of headwear back atop her head, where it rested right between her animalistic cheetah ears. "Alright, Rosie, let's make sure you're all in one piece before we move on to the main event," she went on, proceeding to refit Amy's socks and shoes, being remarkably gentle. Once Amy's footwear was back where it belonged, Whimsy proceeded to move the box that apparently contained the pink hedgehog's severed waist and legs back over to her waiting torso, the two halves of the box joining together with a distinct click. The magician then placed a hand over the centre of the box halves, right where they connected, and then closed her eyes, beginning to chant once again. "Legs apart, by my proverbial staff, rejoin with Rosie's better half!" she cried.
Another alien sensation - a strange, oddly pleasant tingling - occurred all across Amy's waist. It faded as quickly as it came, however. Whimsy then proceeded to unlock the lids of both box halves and open them, allowing Amy to finally sit up. The pink hedgehog did not miss a beat as she did so.
"How did you do that?" she asked, genuinely dumbfounded. "That was so weird!" Her tone, along with her expression, then went deadpan. "And was it really necessary for you to tickle me?"
"Well, no, but judging by how you reacted, Rosie, I'd say it was good for a… laugh!" Whimsy teased playfully, earning herself a few chuckles from the audience. "As for how I did it, well…" She shrugged nonchalantly. "A magician never reveals her secrets."
"Oh, please…" Amy declared, rolling her eyes as she clambered out of the box, making sure to keep the folds of her dress down so that no cheeky member of the audience could peek at her frilly undergarment as she did so. "And stop calling me Rosie! It's Rose! Amy Rose!"
"Okay, fair enough," Whimsy said, holding up her hands in mock defence," But you know what they say: A Rose by any other name…" She trailed off, giving Amy a playful wink that made the hedgehog visibly blush, and the audience noticed, some of them chuckling and one of them yelling out something that made Amy's eyes go as round as coins… or perhaps rings:
"Just kiss already!"
The audience erupted into laughter at that. Only Sonic seemed dumbfounded by the notion, looking almost as awkward as Amy currently felt. Amy, on her part, could feel her entire face flushing bright red.
"C-Can we just wrap this up before I really start to look stupid in front of all these people?!" she demanded somewhat pleadingly, suddenly finding herself unable to meet Whimsy's gaze… at least until she felt the magician's hand on her shoulder.
"Hey," the cheetah said gently, "Don't let them get to you. They're laughing because they find your reaction to my teasing cute, not to make fun of you."
"C-Cute?" Amy repeated in a meek, awkward stammer unbefitting of her; how and why was she letting this cheetah girl get under her skin so much? Even Rouge had never made her blush to this extent!
"Just keep your chin up and you'll be golden," Whimsy went on, gently patting Amy's shoulder before removing her hand from such, reaching into the pocket of her purple coat as she did so. "You are right, though - we need to move this act along," she said as she pulled what she was searching for out of her coat pocket. It was a golden pocket watch on an equally gold chain, its surface polished to a gleam. Amy's awkwardness faded at the sight of it, her skepticism returning in its place.
"Oh, yeah, you're supposed to be a mesmerist as well, aren't you?" she said, unable to refrain from rolling her eyes right in front of the cheetah's face. "Sorry, but I don't really buy into…" She trailed off as Whimsy held up the pocket watch, dangling it before Amy's eyes, which, much to the hedgehog's surprise, were immediately drawn to its polished, glinting surface.
"Don't worry; it so happens that I love working with skeptics in my mesmerist act," Whimsy said, smiling knowingly as she watched Amy automatically focus on her watch, the pink hedgehog's green eyes drawn to it like a moth to a flame. "Makes it all the more satisfying when I put them under before they even realise what's happening." She wasn't even swinging the watch back and forth - just holding it up and letting it slowly rotate naturally before Amy's transfixed gaze.
"I… I can't look away!" Amy exclaimed in realisation, a sense of fear not unlike that which she had felt inside the vanishing cabinet gripping her. She felt Whimsy's hand on her shoulder again as she stared helplessly at the cheetah's pocket watch.
"It's okay, Amy," the magician - or rather, mesmerist - told her in a tone of voice the hedgehog hadn't heard from her before now; it was more comforting, more assuring, more… compelling. "You don't need to be scared. All you have to do is relax."
At the mention of the word 'relax', Amy immediately found herself doing just that. Her tense, fretful expression quickly subsided, the pink hedgehog standing there more at ease, that shiny, beautiful watch still holding her attention, the world around her starting to fade to her senses as she stared at it, only Whimsy's soothing, mesmerising voice reaching her ears.
"That's right, Amy. Just let the muscles in your shoulders relax," Whimsy told her gently. "Let your arms relax at your sides. Doesn't that feel better, Amy?"
"Yeah…" Amy managed, her voice calm and hushed. A few audience members let out quiet vocal nosies of awe, but the pink hedgehog was oblivious to them now.
"It feels so nice to be relaxed, doesn't it, Amy? So nice to feel relaxed and sleepy."
"Sleepy…" Amy murmured, starting to ever-so-gently sway on the spot. Her eyelids gave a single, slow blink, never once wavering from the cheetah's pocket watch all the while.
"Yes, Amy, you're getting sleepy," Whimsy said, staring to gently caress Amy's shoulder with one hand as she continued to instruct her now captivated hypnosis subject, whose eyelids were now halfway closed. "With every word I say, you're getting so much more relaxed and sleepy. So very, very sleepy…"
"So sleepy…"
"Yes, and when I snap my fingers," Whimsy continued, removing her hand from Amy's shoulder, "You will drop into a deep, hypnotic sleep. You will just let your body and mind drop into a blissful, relaxed state, the likes of which you've never felt before."
"Blissful… Relaxed… Drop…"
"That's right, Amy. You're doing so well. You're so relaxed and sleepy… sleepy… sleepy…"
Sonic was quite literally on the edge of his seat, his mouth utterly stuffed full of popcorn that he was scarcely chewing, the Blue Blur listening intently as he watched the show with utmost attentiveness, not wanting to miss a word from either Whimsy or Amy. Around him, the crowd had gone quiet, everyone just as invested as he was.
"And… sleep."
With an audible snap that seemed to echo throughout the entire auditorium, Whimsy clicked her gloved fingers. Amy's eyes immediately fluttered closed… and the entire audience collectively gasped as she collapsed. Sonic's eyes went wide at this, and he was about to readily upend his bucket of popcorn and rush up onto the stage at the speed of his namesake to catch Amy, but Whimsy had it covered, the mesmerist moving swiftly to catch Amy, like a graceful dancer catching her partner. She then gently lay Amy down onto the stage floor, where she lay with her legs strewn about comfortably and her arms out at her sides. She looked quite peaceful.
"She's under, folks," Whimsy announced, straightening up and tucking her pocket watch back into her coat pocket. The audience broke out into wild applause, Sonic joining in with a somewhat uneasy chuckle after a moment. After a couple of seconds, Whimsy held up a hand to silence the crowd, which settled almost immediately, not wanting to break Amy's trance with their noise. "Don't worry, you won't rouse her; she can't hear anything except my voice right now. Isn't that right, Amy?"
"I only hear you, Whimsy Blissclaw," Amy confirmed, her voice quiet and all but monotone. A few people in the audience let out awed sounds once more.
"Well, I'll be," Sonic murmured to himself, an impressed smile on his muzzle. "She's really got Amy wrapped around her finger." He then looked thoughtful. "Wonder if I could do that…?" He then dismissed that thought with a wave of his hand. "Nah, I couldn't do that to Ames; she's way too…" He smirked. "Well, way too something for that. Heh."
"That's good, Amy," Whimsy said. "So, how are you feeling right now?"
"Relaxed. Peaceful. Like I'm floating," Amy replied. The crowd murmured with intrigue.
"Hmm. Floating, did you say?" Whimsy asked with feigned curiosity. She raised her right hand in dramatic, over-the-top fashion, looking as though she were struggling to lift a boulder with one hand. The crowd then cried out in awe as Amy's entranced form started to slowly but surely levitate, soon hovering three feet above the stage's polished wood surface.
"Whoa. Way past cool," Sonic declared in an awed murmur.
"You like that?" Whimsy asked the crowd, sounding strained as she grinned at them. "How about this?" She began to twirl her palm around in a circle… and Amy started to slowly rotate in midair like a rotisserie style roast. The audience voiced their awe once again before breaking out into another round of applause. "Amazing what the power of one's mind can do. Wouldn't you say so, Amy?"
"Yes, Whimsy Blissclaw," Amy responded monotonously.
Whimsy slowly lowered her hand, Amy's form lowering in tandem with it. Soon, the pink hedgehog was resting peacefully on the stage once more.
"Amy, could you stand up for me, please?"
"Yes, Whimsy Blissclaw," Amy said as she obeyed without question.
"Just call me Whimsy. No need to be so formal."
"Understood, Whimsy Bli— Just Whimsy," Amy said as she stood there with her eyes still closed, causing the crowd to laugh lightly.
"Yes, well said," Whimsy said, turning to the audience and rolling her eyes knowingly, causing the crowd to laugh harder. "Say, Amy, have you heard any good songs lately?" A few people in the crowd cheered at this; the notion of the hypnotised Amy putting on a singing performance for them had the potential to be both delightful and hilarious.
"I heard a new song on the radio the other day," Amy confirmed in her all-but-emotionless voice.
"Mmhmm," Whimsy mused, nodding even though Amy couldn't see it. "D'you think you can remember how it went? Moreover, could you sing it for us if I asked you to?"
There was a brief pause. "Yes, Whimsy." The crowd cheered again.
"Okay, then, Amy - when I snap my fingers, you're going to open your eyes and believe yourself to be auditioning for Mobian Idol," Whimsy told her, "And you're going to sing that song you heard on the radio for all the people in the crowd before you, and you're going to sing it like you've been waiting your whole life to do so. Pour your heart into it, in other words. When I snap my fingers again afterwards, you'll return to this trance and stand at attention, awaiting further instructions. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Whimsy."
"Good. Okay, on three: One, two… three!"
Snap.
Amy's eyes flew open, and as soon as she caught sight of the crowd, she grinned. She took a step forward, closed her eyes again, tilted her head back, let her breath out in a low whoosh and…
"Sound the alarm," she sang, her voice melodic and filled with passion, holding her glove-adorned palm upward before her as she stood there. A few people in the crowd cheered, recognising the song. "Shatter me like glass, covered in scars… but roses are coming through the cracks…"
Sonic couldn't help but laugh as he watched the hypnotised Amy sing her heart out on stage. "Oh, man, I wish I'd brought a camcorder," he said, grinning. "Tails and Knuckles would never believe it."
"Said you'd keep me safe, now you're tearing me down - am I laid to waste now that you're not around? Come and leave your mark! Vandalise my heart!" Amy sang, getting down on one knee as she sung the words 'vandalise my heart'. Her eyes then flew open and she proceeded to do a backwards flip from her kneeling position, which was so out-of-nowhere that even Whimsy's jaw dropped. "Fight the pain away, my head is in ruins!" Amy continued upon landing perfectly on her feet to wild applause. She was putting a lot more physical energy and flair into her performance now, twirling and dancing about the stage as she sung like there was no tomorrow. "Need you in my veins, don't know how you do it! Come and leave your mark! Vandalise my HEART!" she concluded, vocalising that last word dramatically and harmonically, and as she did so, she ran forward, sliding to a stop at the stage's edge in a perfect split, one leg behind her and the other stretched out before her, arms splayed in the air in a finishing pose as she beamed out at the audience with an open-mouthed smile.
The audience were on their feet now, cheering and applauding at a frankly deafening volume. Even Sonic was whooping.
"Yeah! That's my crazy pink friend up there!" he declared, holding his fist up in the air and whirling it around like a helicopter blade, the Blue Blur making quite the spectacle of himself.
"Thank you!" Amy called joyously over the noise. She actually had tears of joy running down her cheeks as she waved to the crowd; such was her hypnotised belief that this was the biggest moment of her career. "I can't tell you how much this means to me!" she exclaimed tearfully.
Snap.
The sound of Whimsy clicking her fingers reached Amy's ears as the crowd started to die down and her head slumped forward, eyes instantly snapping shut, her arms landing at her sides and her legs locking together. She stood there at attention, motionless and emotionless, her misplaced elation and euphoria from two seconds ago already completely and utterly gone.
"And that, ladies and gentlemen, was Amy Rose," Whimsy declared, "And that… is the incredible power of hypnosis!"
The audience applauded once more, and as they settled, Whimsy walked up behind Amy and gently placed a hand on her shoulder one more time.
"Amy, in a moment, I'm going to gently squeeze your shoulder, and when I do, you're going to slowly awaken from this trance and return to being your usual, wonderful self, fully awake and refreshed with no memory of anything you did while under hypnosis. Understand?"
"Yes, Whimsy."
"Good. One, two and… three."
Amy felt a firm yet gentle grip on her shoulder and she stirred, feeling as though she had just awoken from a deep, refreshing sleep. She slowly stretched her arms upward, the hand on her shoulder moving away as she did so. The pink hedgehog then covered her mouth with one hand, letting out a soft, cute yawn that made a few people in the audience giggle. Upon hearing those giggles, Amy's eyes flew open. She blinked, momentarily confused, and then—
"Huh?!" she exclaimed in surprise, prompting those same people in the crowd to laugh. "Did I just…? I feel like I've been asleep, but…"
A familiar chuckle sounded behind her and she then felt a hand on her shoulder - a sensation that she felt curiously accustomed to at this point. "You're alright, Rosie," Whimsy said, giving Amy a playful slap on the back with her free hand. "You did good as my assistant. Maybe next time, I'll have you do the chicken dance."
"The…?" Amy wrenched herself free of Whimsy's grip and whirled around to face the cheetah. "Don't push your luck, Spots! I'll admit it was kinda fun being part of the act - your little tickling stunt notwithstanding - but don't act like we're partners just because you—!"
Snap.
Amy's head slumped forward again, eyes closed, and the audience laughed and cheered. Whimsy snapped her fingers again and Amy jerked awake once more. "Huh? What the…?"
"Don't worry, folks - that's just what we mesmerists call 'hypnotic residue'!" Whimsy assured the audience. "It'll wear off in a few hours and Rosie here will be the same old rascal as always; none the worse for wear."
"Hrrrmm!" Amy grumbled, pouting childishly. "Stop! Calling me! A rascal!" she screeched, stamping her foot on the floor in time with her words. Whimsy raised one hand, fingers poised at the ready to click, and Amy yelped in panic, covering her animalistic ears and running from the stage while the audience laughed.
"You're alright, Rosie," Sonic teased as she took a seat beside him, glad to be back in his company.
"Don't you start!" Amy warned. Grinning cockily, Sonic cheekily clicked his fingers and Amy yelped again, only for nothing to happen; only Whimsy could put her under, it seemed.
"Gotcha," Sonic teased.
"Sonic The Hedgehog, you are just the worst!" Amy declared, folding her arms and turning away, once again pouting. Sonic just laughed knowingly before putting an arm around his 'girlfriend', which immediately broke through Amy's determined pout and caused her to sink into his touch, the pink hedgehog nestling into the Blue Blur's hold and closing her eyes, allowing a smile to creep across her muzzle in spite of herself.
Whimsy looked up from powdering her snout in front of the mirror in her dressing room as the door of said room opened, one of the stage hands standing there.
"Sorry to bother you, Miss Blissclaw, but your agent is on the phone out here," the man told her. "He's being a little…"
"Disagreeable?" Whimsy finished for him knowingly. "Tell him I'll be one minute."
The man nodded somewhat uncertainly, closing the door behind him as he went. Once the male human was gone, Whimsy reached for the topmost drawer of the dresser she sat before, pulled it open and then lifted out something that was wrapped in a dark blue cloth. She carefully unwrapped it and held the object up in her hand before the mirror.
It was a shining, octagonally cut jewel of emerald green that seemed almost otherworldly somehow. It had a mystical quality to it that Whimsy couldn't describe with words, but when she looked at it, she felt almost at though it were whispering to her - not audibly, but somewhere deep inside of herself, something… resonated with this gem, and that resonation resulted in one word surfacing in her mind, a word whose meaning was unknown to her:
Sol.
"I don't know what this thing is," Whimsy mused softly to herself, "But ever since I stumbled upon it, my act has never been the same. Real magic, enhanced hypnosis…" She turned the jewel over in her hand. "It's gotta be dangerous, whatever it is, but…" She bit her lip. "It's forwarding my career in a way that's been putting my agent in a good mood for once. It can't hurt to hold onto it for a little while longer… right?"
Sol.
Exhaling deeply, Whimsy tucked the gem into the folds of her purple coat, got to her feet and headed for the door, leaving numerous elaborate stage costumes, countless bottles and containers of makeup… and an infinite amount of uncertainty in her wake.
And that's a wrap, folks. What did you think of my new Sonic OC (original character), Whimsy Blissclaw? I've been wanting to make a hypnotist OC for a while now, and I've finally pulled the trigger on it. Woo!
Also, did you get the reference? Rosie? The Rascal? Yeah, I know, it's spelt 'Rosy' in the source material, but I wanted to put my own spin on it. Yeah, that's what happened; I totally didn't forget how it was actually meant to be spelled until after I finished this fanfic and couldn't be bothered going back to correct it, no, sir! (Oy…)
The song referenced was 'Vandalise' by the band ONE OK ROCK - a song that is set to be featured in the upcoming game Sonic Frontiers. Here's hoping that game ends up being good; Sonic is long overdue for a win, Mania notwithstanding.