It was finally time for the shopping trip. Wolf, Fay, and Panther were all seated alone at the back of the bus. Turns out that when two well-known mercenaries get onto public transportation people tend to get off at the nearest stop. Hopefully the trip to the mall would go smoother, Wolf thought to themselves. He was wearing his flight suit today, which felt… uncomfortable, for the first time. Tight around the legs, and the arms… Well, at least they'd get a chance to have something different to wear.

"So…" Fay was kicking her legs back and forth. "Since I guess we've got this whole thing to ourselves, would you mind if I asked you some questions about your Star Wolf life?"

Panther chuckled. "I certainly don't have any issue with that. As long as Wolf is fine as well?"

Wolf nodded. "Yeah, go ahead."

"Great!" Fay perked up. "So… uh…" She trailed off.

"Didn't actually have any questions prepared, did you?"

"No I did! I just… didn't actually think you two would be okay with questions so… so yeah no I didn't have any prepared."

Wolf glanced over at Panther. "We could tell her about Kai."

"Kai? Who's that?"

"She's our tech specialist." Panther replied. "And spy."

"She? I didn't know there were any girls on the Star Wolf team." Her eyes widened. She glanced at Wolf and was about to say something but must have decided against it, whatever it was. "Did she break out with Leon and Pigma?"

Wolf shook his head. "No, she's been on her own mission for the past… year or so. Still keeps in touch with us, but she had to lie low during the Aparoid invasion so we don't really know where she is right now."

"Additionally, this is Kai we're talking about. There's no guarantee she'd have been willing to take the free slate that we did."

"Why's that?"

"Kai… let's just say that she and Leon got along well, similar morality and stuff." Wolf glanced out the window. "Both of them would be willing to kill you over a sideways comment."

"And you wouldn't?"

"I…" They didn't have an answer for that.

The rest of the trip was, thankfully, uneventful. It wasn't long before they arrived at the Central Cornerian Mall, which was quieter than Wolf and Panther had expected. When they asked Fay why, she just shrugged and said it must be a school day. Well, so long as it's still open.

"So, where to first?"

Wolf realized that the other two were waiting for a response. "W- me?"

"You are the one we're shopping for."

Ah. Right. That makes sense. "Uh..." he chuckled sheepishly. "I don't... really know what stores there are."

"Well, I suppose not." Fay and Panther glanced at each other for a moment. "I guess... we're kinda asking what kind of clothes store. You know?"

"Oh? Oh!" Right. Again, makes sense. "Um…" C'mon, Wolf, you've gotta say it out loud. Just like what Panther said, stop fighting and repressing yourself. "W… I'd like… I'd like fem… feminine clothing." He let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding.

"Great!" Fay clapped her hands. "I know just the place."

"Valerie's Fits?" Wolf squinted their good eye. It looked fine, it was just… not really what they had expected.

"Yeah! This is where I buy allll my clothes. It's where I bought that outfit you wore the other day, so I bet you'll find something you like here." She smiled. "Plus if my usual cashier is here…" Grabbing Wolf's hand, she dragged them inside.

"Welcome to Valerie's Fits, how can I- FAY?" The cashier, a short female brown bear, perked up when she saw Fay enter the building. "Girl it's been forever since you've been here! How've you been?"

"Ursa it's been a week and a half." She giggled. "I've missed you though."

"And who're your friends?" The bear, Ursa, walked over from behind the cash register. "It's not every day you bring folks in here."

"Well this is Wolf, and I'm hoping you can help her find some new outfits." Gah, there it is again. Wolf still wasn't used to their tail wagging every time-

Any train of thought was immediately interrupted by Ursa clapping her hands in excitement. "Oh you know I can." She glanced at Panther. "And you?"

He chuckled. "I'm just here for emotional support, is all."

"Good. We need more folks like you." Taking Wolf's hand, she looked the mercenary over. "What's my limit, here?"

"I was thinking… three or four outfits? And these will be Wolf's first real outfits, so don't go overboard." Fay met Wolf's eye. "Remember, your comfort is what's most important, so if something doesn't feel right please speak up."

Wolf gulped and nodded. How was it that facing an entire fleet of starships wasn't as nerve-wracking as this?

"Okay now shoo." Ursa said, waving Fay and Panther off. "I don't want you two to influence her decisions here." With that, she led Wolf into the fitting room.

Wolf looked at the mirrors. Strange how the Wolf in the mirror no longer looked… right. It was the same reflection they'd had for years but now…

"Well, to start off with, do you have any styles you like?"

"Uh…" Wolf shook their head. "I… never really gave it much thought."

"The world's your oyster, then. What kind of things do you plan on doing?"

What's a non-threatening way to say 'probably kill some people'? "I'm going to need to be… active."

Ursa nodded. "Probably want something that's not too flowy, then."

"I'd still like some flowy outfits though." Huh. Where'd that come from? It was true, but… eh.

"Well of course, don't you worry about that. It can just be tricky to be active in a dress is all. What about colors?"

Colors? Another thing they hadn't thought of much. "At this point, I think I'd take whatever colors I could get my paws on, heh."

"I getcha. A preference towards light or dark, though?"

Hmm… "The only outfit I've worn so far was light colored. Orange and yellow. It… was nice."

She chuckled. "Alrighty, time to work my magic then."

The next forty-five minutes felt like a blur to Wolf. So many beautiful outfits flashing by before their eyes. If only they could try them all on… It felt like they could have spent the whole day in there, trying on each and every dress and blouse that went by, but when all was said and done there were just three outfits remaining. Ursa called the first one a 'casual, around the house' look, a light blue, oversized, long-sleeved, off-the-shoulder shirt with pink striped thigh-high socks. Wolf hadn't expected to like it as much as they had but it was just so cozy. Then there was the 'simple day out' outfit. A pink blouse, a long, flowy, beautiful yellow skirt, and some adorable black shoes that Ursa called 'Mary Janes'. And then finally the 'active day out' outfit. Long brown boots, cream-colored tights, some argyle-patterned brown shorts, a short-sleeved white blouse with a brown and gold halter-top over it, and an adorable brown hat that Ursa called a 'newsboy hat'.

"And I think that's it." Ursa brushed off the outfits one last time. "I'll pack these up for you and meet you three at the register." She smiled at Wolf, coyly. "Unless you'd like to wear one of these out?"

Wolf giggled. Heck, giggling? That's new. "I think I'll do that tomorrow. Don't want to rush things." As they left the dressing room, they were again surprised at how ill-fitting their flight suit felt. Strange…

Panther and Fay had been waiting outside the fitting room, browsing outfits. When they saw Wolf, they waved, and Panther stepped in front of Fay. Had Fay been holding something? Eh, probably not important. "Ah, there you are. We were starting to get worried you'd stay in there forever."

"It was tempting." Wolf admitted. "But I'd rather be able to actually wear them out and about at some point." It was still odd how much more comfortable they were with saying these things out loud, but they also didn't really mind too much.

"You two go on outside, I'll pay for this stuff." Fay said, giving Panther a thumbs up.

Panther nodded and shuffled Wolf towards the main hall of the mall. "Yes, I'm sure you're hungry. Perhaps we should make plans for lunch?"

Wolf went along with Panther without much of a fight. Clearly the two were up to something but it wouldn't be anything bad. Probably best to not cause a fuss. "Yeah, I'm a bit hungry. Do you know what the food court here has?"

"I could have sworn I saw a sign for Space Whataburger on the way in."

"Oh if they have that then that's absolutely what I'm having. Love me some Space Whataburger." Unfortunately, between Panther's rush and Wolf's eyepatch, neither of them noticed who they were about to bowl over until it was too late, and they found themselves in a pile on the floor with an angry and familiar blue bird.

"Hey! Watch it, Einstein!" It was Falco Lombardi. "You'd think random yokels would at least try to not slam into war heroes." He stood up, brushing himself off. "Watch where you're going next… time…" He trailed off as he finally realized who had knocked him over.

"I'm terribly sorry, sir, but…" Panther had been focused on helping Wolf up, so he hadn't realized the trouble that was about to start, but he finally looked up and narrowed his eyes. "Ah."

"Figures." Falco had already grabbed his blaster and had it pointed at Wolf's head. "I had heard that you two were out and about but I hadn't realized that anyone would actually be stupid enough to let criminals like you-"

"Woah! Woah woah woah woah woah!" Fay had finally finished up and was walking out of the store, holding four bags. "I dunno what's going on out here but you need to put that blaster away, pal."

Falco grimaced, but didn't lower his arm. "Yeah, cool, whatever. You should just get out of here lady, and let me handle this."

"No, you need to put that blaster away before you do something stupid." Fay marched in between Falco and Wolf, blocking his aim. "I'm under strict orders from Cornerian Command to keep an eye on these two, and there's no way in heck that I'm letting you kill them." She set down one of the bags and pulled out a badge, holding it up in Falco's face. "Right now you're threatening two civilians in the middle of a shopping mall. Who's the bad guy here, fly boy?"

This finally seemed to click in Falco's mind, and he slowly lowered his blaster. "Tch, fine."

Not backing down from Falco, Fay glanced at Wolf and Panther. "You two okay?"

"Yes, we're quite all right." Panther laughed, attempting to defuse the situation. "Besides, it was our fault for not looking where we were going."

Falco had relaxed a tiny bit, but he was still clearly agitated. Which was fair, given that not too long ago they'd been shooting at each other in spaceships. He glanced between the two Star Wolf members, Fay, and the store the three of them had just come out of. "So, what, you using your authority to drag two known criminals around to help carry your purchases?" He scoffed. "That's low, even for Cornerian Command."

Fay scowled. "For the record, these aren't my items-"

"Hah! What, you buy them for Wolf?"

Fay and Panther glanced at each other, unsure how to respond. "Uh, actually, they are… for…"

"I'm not sure you even need to know who-"

"Plus like, there's-"

Falco rolled his eyes and looked at Wolf. "Nah, they've gotta be for the big, bad, wolf here. You went so soft that you had to get some dresses-"

"Falco I'm not sure that you-"

"Who am I talking to, here?" He snapped. "I'm talking to Wolf, and I'm sure that he can speak for himself."

Wolf had just been trying to let the conversation rush past them, but this… no, it was time.

"I'm just saying that-" Panther was still trying to lower tensions when Wolf held up a hand.

"No, Falco is right. This Wolf can speak… for herself." All of a sudden a rush of something shot through Wolf's body. "The clothes are mine. I picked them out myself." She stared Falco in the eye. "Is there a problem with that?"

A flurry of emotions shot across the bird's face. Confusion, realization, understanding, embarrassment, even a hint of anger. Finally, he shut his eyes tight and grit his teeth. "I'm… very happy for you… I'm sorry… if I said anything… offensive." Shoving his blaster back in its holster, he turned and stormed off.

Panther placed his hand on Wolf's shoulder. "That… uh…"

Wolf nodded. "Yeah." She looked at her two friends. "Either of you two hungry?"

Fay giggled. "I guess I was wrong, earlier. You wouldn't kill someone over a sideways comment."

Panther laughed. "Ah, that's just because it wasn't Pigma."

Wolf giggled as well. "True, I would have killed Pigma."

I should have killed Pigma, Leon thought to himself. At least that way he wouldn't be stuck with him on this stupid mission. After having to shove himself into a tiny cargo ship that would have barely held two normal-sized people, let alone someone Pigma's size, they had to fly halfway across the galaxy to Macbeth. And now the two of them were slinking towards a factory that supposedly Andrew had paid off a guard to let them in. Well, he was slinking. Pigma was… trundling. Stumbling. Crashing, even. He sighed and touched his arm. Definitely realizing that he hadn't missed Pigma at all. Unlike-

"So, Leon, I've been thinking." Pigma snorted out.

"Doubtful."

"Do you ever just… hear technology talk to you?"

Leon paused and glared at Pigma. "What the heck are you even talking about?"

Pigma shrugged. "Look, just like, after I got assimilated and stuff, I've felt like I've had a better connection with-"

"Nevermind, shut up." Leon was struggling to think of one singular good thing that had happened since he broke out of prison. Currently nothing was coming to mind. The two continued to walk in almost silence. Finally, after what felt like hours but was most likely minutes, they reached their target.

"So… did Andrew tell you what we were supposed to do once we got here?"

"I thought I told you to shut up." Pigma regrettably had a point, though. Did he just expect for them to walk to the door and… knock? Heh, if only he had some of Kai's gadgets, or even-

All of a sudden the door was thrown open. A coyote with light brown fur stood there, eyes twinkling. "LEE? It's been AGES!"

Leon barely managed out an "ack" before he was wrapped up in a hug by Kai Yates, fellow member of Star Wolf.

"Kai? So you're the guard Andrew bribed, eh?" Pigma snorted.

Kai finally let go of Leon before pointedly ignoring Pigma. "I've been infiltrating this factory for the past year or so because I heard that they had, like, this whole robo army that they've been building and like, I just had to get in on that, right?" She didn't wait for a response. "It's true too! Like, just an entire robo army being built by, get this, Beltino Toad. Like, OMG, right? Anyways come on! I already took care of the security and stuff so we're totally in the clear." With that, she took Leon's hand and led him, and Pigma to a lesser extent, deeper into the factory.