AN: A bit of a delay right here since I had been focused on trying to finish a story uploaded on AO3 and I had been drawing pictures of The Bad Guys and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (can be seen on my DeviantArt and Twitter). Though, finally got this chapter done, so I hope that you all enjoy this one!

Chapter 11

By the time me and Molly came out, we were greeted by a couple of police cops who already made their way to investigate the restaurant the Weasel Bandits attempted to blow up. G.U.N. was also reported to the scene since me and Molly were seen trying to chase after the three. Though, when we came out to meet them, I felt as if it had something to do with leaving my task without consent.

The front entrance was flooded with police cars and black trucks. They already had a few witnesses outside for questioning. I was hoping that they might know where the Weasel Bandits ended up, but these people looked like the ones who were close to the sushi restaurant where it started. The same agent who accompanied me for the graffiti cleaning was there as well, tapping her foot with a mop still in her hand.

And oh, the Commander was here as well. He appeared to be quite miffed. I thought Topaz would also be around, but Stone was with him as well. Make sense since he was also my chaperone.

"Well, well," said Towers, sounding tired. "You managed to get the Weasel Bandits."

"They…surprisingly outsmart us," I said. "They escaped."

"They're still idiots," muttered Molly.

"They're still smart in some ways."

Towers sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. "Fine…looks like we need to inspect through the mall. We're still deciding on if we should call for a lockdown now, considering that it's only one restaurant they attacked. But seriously, Agent Obsidian, you had strict orders to not go anyway else."

"What?" I said. "So I cannot help out."

"You're late in scrubbing the graffiti still on the wall," grumbled the female agent.

"Yeah, that's one," said Towers. "But more importantly, you rushed in without assistance! Who knows what would happen if the Weasel Bandits found out you have a ruby? We got a high signal of you using your ruby!"

"Wait, you KNEW that I used it?" I asked.

"The Inhibitor Rings can track the ratings of your ruby," explained Stone. "It's like checking vitals on a person whenever they go into battle. We got a lot of backups here and there!"

"Don't mention that," growled Towers. "Look, I know that you're trying to do a good job, but you're still identified as a convict and we cannot have them running around without assistance!" Towers paused for a moment, sighing. "At least you bumped into Agent Johnson since she's a G.U.N. agent."

"Towers, if I may," said Molly, stepping in. "With all due's respect, I was there to see how Obsidian used his ruby. He mostly used it to try to track down the Weasel Bandits. Sure, that could have gotten out of hand when he used it to trick people into thinking that he could bounce high from a trampoline. However, when we were up against the Weasel Bandits, he didn't use an exaggerated amount of his powers." She glanced at me. "Strangely, when we got close to them, he only formed a shield, made himself invincible to bullets and trapped the bandits in an energy cube when we tried to not let them escape. It was like he was trying to fight normally with minimal power."

Towers raised an eyebrow, wondering if that was true. He looked back at me and I nodded. However, I nearly thought of wanting to point out that I wanted to use my ruby to a minimum, but it would appear as a lie. Nevertheless, this seemed to convince Towers.

"Then I can assume that he only AND solely used it to stop the Weasel Bandits," he said. "That means the readings from the Inhibitor Rings detected a lot of energy vibrating from your ruby when using it. It could have been useful, but I believe it was for the best not to use the ruby to excessive levels since it might injure you. This goes along with having the Inhibitor Rings on since they limit your power."

I nodded, understanding what he meant. It was a good thing I kept myself at a limit or I might overload myself that it could result in another splitting headache. I don't think I even got to the part about lifting up heavier and larger objects yet.

"I'll let this slip by for now," said Towers finally. "Just this one since you were accompanied by an agent. But next time, ONLY if you were given a direct order. When you're allowed to step in. It's just how the plan is executed I'm worried."

I sighed, knowing that would be true. Sure, I rushed in and Molly came alongside me, but we didn't really have a full plan and there were three Weasel Bandits with weapons on them. We only got out alive by skill and dumb luck while the bandits seemed to have a plan of their own.

Despite Towers' point, I still felt the urge to solve a problem immediately.

Before I could say anything else, the female agent suddenly threw her mop at me.

"You're still on cleaning duty," she said, crossing her arms. "You're on your own."

"What?" I said. "I thought I was supposed to be with you on this one!"

"Yeah, but it's getting late now and I have to get home already."

Meanwhile, Stone crept up towards Towers, lowering his voice in a whisper.

"Oh, Mr. Towers…" he said. "The discount sale is happening at one of my favorite shops, so can I just go through there before we start the lockdown?"

The Commander shrugged. "Sure. I don't mind. Just keep an eye out for anything."

"And can I bring along Obsidian as well? I think a little shopping for cheap clothes wouldn't kill anyone."

"If so, how about you be the jackal's assistant in cleaning the walls once you two are done?" asked the female agent.

"Wait, would that be OK for Stone?" I asked.

"...sure why not?" said Towers, smiling a little. "As long as you two don't take too much time."

"Don't worry," said Stone with a smirk. "I prepared for this one."

"And as long as you two don't use any gadgets or unstable inventions."

"Oh c'mon!"

I clenched my teeth. "Oof, that's hard, buddy."

"You cannot exactly rush through cleaning," pointed out Molly.

"Yes, I can!" insisted Stone.

Towers already turned his back to discuss with another agent, telling us that this case was already closed. The female agent already began walking away to take her break. At first, I thought that Molly would remain with the other agents. But as me and Stone got through the front doors of the mall, she followed us. Running to catch up with us.

"Ah, hello there, Miss Johnson," said Stone politely. "Thinking of coming along with us."

"Absolutely not," said Molly bluntly. "I just need to collect back my shopping bags since I dropped them behind when the Weasel Bandits get here. Have to make sure that they weren't taken yet."

"Oooh," I said. "I thought you hid them in your coat."

"That's impossible! It's not big enough!" She opened her coat to reveal that it was just a couple of guns…and the NERF gun. Her eyes widened when I spotted it. "...I'm thinking of giving this to my baby cousin."

"So you kids are trying out these toys?" said Stone, taking it.

Molly blushed, embarrassed. "It was Obsidian's idea! He thought it's the best least lethal weapon to use."

"But it's not really effective, especially when it comes to accuracy-"

POW!

The human agent screamed when he accidentally pressed the trigger. Holding the mouth of the toy gun up to his face. I think the rubber bullet hit his eye since just hitting him on the cheeks wouldn't do that much. Molly was quick to grab the toy gun when Stone dropped it, hopping around in a circle.

"Huh, so this must be effective when up close to the face!" I said.

Molly grunted. "I think a tennis ball gun would be better."

As the agonizing Stone tried to recompose himself, Molly turned around and grabbed me by the shoulders, nearly coming close to my ears.

"I actually need to ask you something," she said. "You remember what I just said to the Commander?"

"You said that due to wanting to be honest and defending me," I pointed out.

Molly rolled her eyes. "I-I wasn't trying to defend you! Or…anything. Just look, it's still a good thing you didn't overdo yourself when it came to using the ruby. However, there is something I am curious about. Why didn't you use it to quickly hold the Weasel Bandits back? Why take the longer path?"

At first, I had no idea what to think of it. But when I thought further of the question, my eyes widened. The whole time, I could have subdued the Weasel Bandits in less than 3 seconds. It wouldn't work since they had the rice cooker trap, but if only I just trap them, then we wouldn't have lost them. I suddenly felt ashamed, looking down at my feet.

"H-Hey," said Molly. "I'm not saying you did a horrible job. I just…want to know why you didn't use that much of the Phantom Ruby. I mean, this was my first time in a battle. The most I could really do was try to shoot them down. But with you, you were so…like…" She paused, trying to form words. "...you and your ruby make it look easy! You're clearly a better fighter than I am. It's like you're presenting only three-quarters of your full power. You seem comfortable with using it and then you aren't."

"...I…I don't really know," I said, shrugging. "I was just mostly afraid of using the ruby."

"Even after the experiments?"

"Towers was right. Anything can happen and…who knows if that ruby went out of hand? I'm NOT gonna risk using it too much, even with the safety of the Inhibitor Rings. Besides, it doesn't…feel right using it in battle." My ears drooped a little. "I felt completely in the zone when I just used my fists, feet and taser to do the job. It felt more normal. It felt just…right."

Molly stared at me for a while. Her eyes softened a little as if understanding further. "So…you're more used to fighting on a ground level instead of a magical level, am I correct?"

"Yes. It's what I'm best in. And that's why I'm one of the greatest mercenaries of all time, remember?"

"You didn't exactly say that in the first place."

I was flustered. "OK, yeah."

"It sounds like you're more egoistic over your own abilities than the rock on your chest."

"What? I'm not egoistic."

"Yeah, that's not the right word, it's…a bit hard to explain," said Molly. "I mean, I'm obsessed with using guns. So, you're obsessed with using more of your abilities."

I thought about it. "Yeah, that makes more sense. You…get the point that it is strange to need to try something else?"

"I'm not the one with the ruby," reminded the purple cat. "You have it, so it's on you until they remove it. And you're learning how to use it within a short span of time due to how close you are to the ruby. All I can say is that it is yours to use and you would have to make the best of it. I mean, you seemed to enjoy using it when you jumped from that trampoline. You didn't appear worried."

Taking a step back, I rubbed the back of my head in reluctance. As much as I hate to admit it, I had been using the Phantom Ruby more often and I didn't find it wrong. Only after that, I felt it was wrong to use it since it didn't feel like me. Molly didn't seem to be saying that it was wrong of me to just stick to what I wanted to use. She just seemed concerned about why I toned it down when I had moments of using the ruby without shame.

"I-I'll have a think about it," I said. "Sorry if I slowed down. I'm still figuring it out."

Molly nodded. "Hope that you'll find a way with using it. But for now, we did our best."

I smiled a little, feeling somewhat relieved. "...it's a fact, right-?"

"Just take the win, Obsidian."

"And you're learning how to be a little less sarcastic?"

Molly didn't have a witty comeback this time. "...never…sure…"

Something came to my mind. I also had a question for her.

"Speaking of 'defending'," I said. "Why did you defend me when the Weasel Bandits called me out for being given mercy? You know that they are right."

The purple cat had a thoughtful look, her mouth opening a few times. I knew that she would say something dismissive or push it aside. However, my own witty statement to her to be less sarcastic caught her by the throat. I noticed that she tried to keep her eyes narrowed in the agitated way she usually wore, but her facial muscles seemed to be failing in keeping up the impression.

She inhaled for a long time, keeping herself straighten up.

"I would have listened to them if they weren't still in the criminal career," she said simply. "They're not the victims. You're different from them."

"Different?" I said. "Do you think I'm…dangerous to everyone?"

"In a good way, yes," said Molly bluntly. "You're not a bad danger to everyone. The Lightning Bolt Club is the danger in this situation." She cleared her throat. "Why does it sound weird saying that?"

I didn't pay attention to that comment, more thinking of who was really the danger right now. I thought I would be the one since I had the ruby on my chest and I was nearly off the hook for my crimes. However, I remembered that the Weasel Bandits nearly hurt a lot of people when they blew up a restaurant and even used bullets against me and Molly.

So that would mean at the moment, they were the ones who were the predators. Even if they seemed to be…unlucky, they didn't have any regrets about causing destruction and injuries.

Stone finally seemed to recover, checking back on the toy gun.

"Well, this can help with teaching kids how to shoot if they end up being G.U.N. agents someday," he said, passing it back to Molly. "You have bullets in them, you have the potential for them to grow up to be soldiers."

I glanced at Stone with a worried look. The purple cat even seemed concerned as well, though it didn't take long when she put it back in her coat. Seriously, how many items in this society encouraged children to do violence?!

Molly snorted. "Don't overthink about that as well. They just need some responsibility in the future."

"Good luck with that," I muttered.

"Anyway, we should get going now!" said Stone. "We don't want to take too long here."

"Yeah," I said, rolling my shoulders around. "I don't want to lose the motivation to clean up the messy wall."

I decided that I should try to enjoy myself for now since it was a bit of a long chase. Possibly also helped with the reassurance Molly gave me. As me and Stone walked away, I looked behind, giving her a smile. The purple cat only waved before walking off to find her shopping bags, blending in with the rest of the crowd.

Something felt different about her. It wasn't really due to what she said or what she did, but there was this sense that she changed a little.

It was a short trip, but I took the time to check on the people still around. I noticed a few of them were concerned and even in their own groups, talking about where the Weasel Bandits might have gone off to. It seemed that things had gone a bit quiet. But the majority of them continued walking around like it was none of their business. Well, given that it was due to only one store being attacked, but nobody seemed concerned about anything else. The police force was considering doing a lockdown on the place, so that might change things.

The businesses around were still open today, so that might be why not everyone was scared. Looking through the shops got my mind off from the Weasel Bandits. I allowed myself to be invested in what the shops had to offer. These ones contained products I didn't see before yet. Alongside clothes shops, there were even shops that seemed to sell toys. Some included toy guns similar to what Molly bought for herself.

I was starting to have thoughts on if violence was also a normal thing in this civilization. With these toy shops, some of the things that caught my attention were those collectible figurines, board games on display and books. All taking in the image of brutality or straight-up nightmares. The board games and books only displayed pictures, though some had paintings of blood or lonely objects.

The figurines were worse. Some of them took the shape of monsters. Even the little ones that looked more like small collectibles didn't appear that cute with some having bulging eyes or questionable designs that made them look like goo. I passed by one that was extremely skinny to nearly revealed its skeleton, had a long jaw and soulless eyes.

Why do I have a feeling Zero would love this kind of thing?

Fortunately, the shops weren't completely filled with scary things. Eventually, me and Stone arrived at the shop he wanted to go to. The inside was completely white, but the clothes on display were the ones that gave the place liveliness. For some reason, I felt that it might not be that much aside from the products.

I might be judgmental, but from this angle at the entrance, the clothes seen on the shelves and on the tables looked quite mundane.

"What is the purpose of coming here?" I asked.

"It's on a discount!" said Stone. "That way, I can easily buy more clothes here."

"...are these the clothes you want?"

"Well, yeah! I usually go for that brand."

"Perhaps we should look closer," I said, narrowing my eyes. "I really need to see what you mean."

Stone raised an eyebrow. "Alright then?" There was a buzz from his pocket and he took his phone out. "Huh. It seems that we don't need to worry about losing extra time. I just got a message that they saw the Weasel Bandits jumping over the rooftops a few blocks away from us. It looks like the mall is safe to roam around now."

"You're sure about this?" I said. "You don't think that they left a trap around here, do you?"

"Well, they would want to get out of here before the cops could arrive," pointed out Stone. "And they would know they might do a huge sweep of this place, so they have to get out of here. It's not like they'll be this desperate to leave something behind-wait, who dropped this?"

It was a single penny lying on the floor. However, there seemed to be…transparent substance on its side?

Stone looked around, trying to find the owner of the coin. "Huh. Somebody's purse must have been leaking. Oh well."

He bent down and grabbed it before he tried pulling it up. Emphasis on 'tried'. I watched in disbelief as he struggled to pick the coin off the ground.

"Are you kidding me?!" he said. "This is glued?"

"Huh, let me try," I said. "It cannot be that hard!"

So I did. Just bent down on my knees and wrapped two fingers around the penny. Easy! But…as I tried lifting it, it refused to budge. I tried a couple of times, but it didn't move. And it felt a little light, so it wasn't even heavy! It was as if it was built into the floor!

"...perhaps I can just punch it and hope the crack free the coin?" I suggested, rolling up my sleeve.

"Wait, no!" said Stone, holding me back. "It could be a trap."

Then, it hit me. "The Weasel Bandits did this, didn't they?"

"Wait, it's not really a trap. It's one of the many things the Lightning Bolt Club do in the past."

"Is this some kind of calling card of theirs?"

"No, it's just a prank they like to do." Stone hung his head, looking embarrassed. "Don't give that much attention to it. It's harmless."

I was about to ask why the Lightning Bolt Club, a criminal gang, would ever leave behind these kinds of useless pranks that could be easily stepped over. However, Molly did tell me that they were idiots before, so that would make sense. Didn't really explain how the Weasel Bandits were able to pull great stunts despite being gullible.

I shook my head, feeling that it wasn't worth thinking about them for long. This shop had plenty to reveal, so I should focus on that. Entering through the entrance, I noticed a bunch of white mannequins, wearing clothes. These must be for presenting how the clothes would look when worn. However, some of the mannequins didn't have that much to cover over their bodies.

Passing through the female mannequins, there was a couple only wearing tops and shorts. A few contained skinnier bras and tights. If they were a real person, then this would expose more of their skin and…cosmetics.

I wisely looked away just before I could start blushing. This wasn't the first time since there were a couple of pretty girls in the desert. Unfortunately exploited or willing to use their bodies for money. I hope that wasn't a problem in this society since everybody seemed to be treated fairly instead of as objects.

When I passed by the male mannequins, it felt like a bomb went off in my mind.

A couple of the blank mannequins were wearing minimum. Probably even more than the female mannequins since they were only wearing swimming shorts and underwear. Some of their underwear was really tight to reveal something bulging underneath. My eyes were then directed to the body parts.

First, the legs. Even though I never bothered about legs, their legs were surprisingly muscular. Never knew humans could have muscular legs that made them shiny. Next, the chest was like a hulking frame at its 'skinniest' with the breasts visibly more square-ish and sharp. Underneath was a row of abs that looked like they could crush a watermelon. Finally, the biceps in the arms were thick and well-rounded, reminding me of the male mercenaries who often didn't wear any sleeves.

I didn't try to look away, letting myself blush. Alongside my face heating up, my heart was pounding in my chest, my brain felt lighter than before and my tail was wagging. It was as if I was witnessing unnatural beauty. I shouldn't be staring like a creep for too long, but I didn't want to remove my eyes from the spectacular display.

It was a pleasure. It was unholy. It felt so wrong yet I want to continue drinking in the sight of…

"Obsidian?" called Stone's voice, waving a hand in front of my face. "You're in there?"

I quickly snapped back to reality, slapping his hand away. When I realized what I did, I took a step back, embarrassed.

"You're hot in the face," he said. "Is there anything wrong?"

"Nothing!" I said immediately, grinning stupidly. "Everything's fine!"

"...alright then."

It nearly felt like an hour of just walking through this shop. Must be due to nearly half of the shirts and pants appearing quite plain. The only differences were the colors, the small differences in sleeve or collar type, and where the logo was placed on. Size as well, but it was common to all kinds of clothes for different ages and species. It made me think if the clothes in this society were really diverse or not if normal people buy from these kinds of places.

Comparing this to the desert markets I have seen before, it didn't seem like this had that much to offer. Well, to be clear, the ones sold at the desert village were dirtier and not diverse in color, but they all came in random shapes. Here, it more looked like I was seeing the same thing with only small changes. I wondered what Stone saw in these simple clothes if they were that expensive.

Though, I saw a bit of his point as we explored the shop further on the other side. One thing I could praise was that each piece of clothing didn't use the same type of materials. There seemed to be more types of leggings around here. Some of the jackets looked alright, though some appeared thin and some appeared surprisingly thick. Must be due to the weather changes in this city.

But the section Stone took the longest was where he must have got his fancy jacket and shirt at. He only took the dark grays and blacks, though that could be due to him liking the 'secret agent' appearance. Some of the blazers he picked didn't look too different except for the slight modifications. I nearly thought of telling him to just take a couple without fussing around.

"Just need a couple of ties left!" he said, inspecting a box of ties. "Now, which one looks better."

"You are just seeing the same color here," I deadpanned.

"But they have different shades!"

"Why does it have to be different shades instead of just one simple color of black?"

"Everyone has their preferences of shades!" exclaimed Stone.

"Just find the one that is long enough for you and grab all that you can get."

Stone huffed. "Wait, why are you still around me?"

"...am I supposed to be with you?" I said.

"I thought that you would be walking around here to see what you would also like."

"You only said 'look around for what you like' and so I did."

"I meant you can look around AND walk around," pointed out Stone. "I thought I made that clear."

"...it didn't sound like that way."

"Don't take it too literally," said Stone. "You're free to look around."

I shrugged. "It's…not really that much for me. Normally, I just stick with my squad when picking up something to buy. I was usually just the guy who hung around the back and buy something at the last second. Or whatever I immediately find."

"Perhaps you can tell me what kind of clothes you want to buy around here? Might give you a head start and try them out before buying."

It took me a while to come up with what I really wanted to buy from here. So far, the only things that attracted me were a few green clothes. Mainly if there were any green headbands or bandannas. The leather gloves, the shoes and the green jacket I was wearing; those were something I was fine with.

That being said, thinking about my green bandanna wrapped around my head ignited an idea.

"Something green?" I said. "...maybe a new jacket. In the same color as my bandanna."

Stone smiled. "Then I think I know where the place to find them!"

With a bag of clothes for himself, he tossed me an empty bag to take what I want. I felt like a child when he held my hand and guided me back to the men's section. Stone was really acting like an uncle at this point. It felt strange that he was guiding me on how to shop like this when I usually wouldn't stop by at a certain section.

"Now, there are several types of jackets around," explained Stone. "I believe that this month, it's mostly Autumn. So, pick a jacket that's thick enough for you to wear."

"You know that I have fur, so wouldn't that be enough?" I asked.

"It depends, but I doubt that you ever went through long periods of rain and cold wind. Animals who don't wear that much and live in weather-changing environments would be more used to it due to how they adapt to it. Either through experience or how much fur they have. Though, you're mostly a desert jackal, so perhaps a jacket that's thick enough."

"I guess that's true. Though…how am I supposed to know what kind of material I want to pick?"

"One, you can touch the material. Or two, you can just see how thick, puffy or stiff it is!"

"Shouldn't be that hard," I said, grinning. "I mean, it's just small modifications of jackets!"

"Now, this should be where you can find all the jackets your size!"

My smile was wiped off when I realized how many different choices of jackets AND green were in this section. Two shelves containing green jackets. It was nearly impossible to pick since there were too many shades of green for me to decide. Especially with the type of jacket material since some of them looked too similar.

"This shop is making me so confused right now," I said.

"Your jacket, jackal, not mine," said Stone cheekily. "Make sure to check the tags since they would tell you what kind of jackets they are."

I sighed, knowing that I might spend the rest of the day browsing through this row of jackets. As I came close, that was where I was able to distinguish them based on material and shade of green. Though, I had trouble finding the right one. Some appeared too dull or too bright. Some appeared too soft or too shiny.

I wanted something that was crumbly. Something that reminded me of the desert. A jacket that could withstand the wild like a true mercenary. To be one with the wild…

And then, I came across the jacket I wanted.

It was in a moss green color with a rough-looking material. The jacket seemed to be made from denim, judging by the slightly thick and stiff look. Touching it, it felt really soft. Not too hard. The jacket was also designed to look like a military jacket complete with front pockets and a neatly-folded collar. It even appeared casual, so I wouldn't need to worry about crumpling it a lot.

"How about this one?" I asked.

"Up to you," said Stone. "Nearly close to your bandanna's color."

I decided to think through this one. Should I take it?

Nah, let's not wait for too long. I grabbed the jacket and stuffed it in my bag.

"So, that's one down," said Stone. "Anything else."

I looked down at the rest of my clothes. My eyes shifted toward my gloves.

"Be honest," I said. "Do you think leather works on me?"

"Honestly, I feel like your shoes are too exaggerated," said Stone. "Your gloves are fine."

Lifting one foot up, I inspected my shoe. I didn't need to ask again since it DID look too exaggerated. The pointed metal parts of the thick shoes didn't really suit me. I accepted it for long since these shoes were what the squad could afford from the modern world. Looking back at it, it felt like too much.

"Yeah, you're right," I said. "Too much."

"And too edgy as well," said Stone.

"I agree. It comes off as being too intimidating."

"Not the right amount of being intimidating. I mean, how many people would get scared of these shoes?"

"Well, children would," I said. "Though, come to think of it, maybe that's why Zero had them in the first place and walked around children in circles, making sure to even scrape the dirt with the pointed parts."

"Yeah, these shoes might be for bullies."

"Are there any shoes being sold here?" I asked.

"I don't really remember where the shoe section is," said Stone. "I'm more of a tuxedo guy as I just usually pick normal black shoes. But it should still be here!"

It didn't take long for us to find the shoe section. At first, I didn't have that many expectations. I was hoping that it wouldn't be too complicated with how different each pair would be like. However, once we found them on display on the shelf, I was nearly blown away.

"This suddenly makes them look more like the stars of the show instead of the rest of the clothes," I commented.

"Well, there's a reason why a lot of people like shoes," said Stone.

And he was right. There were many shoe designs not just in appearance, but also in different combinations of colors! It was as if I was seeing a rainbow. It ranged from simple palettes such as black and white to more complex palettes. This included some colors that wouldn't work together, but at least a couple of shoes included them for some people's liking. Most of the shoes were sneakers, but at least they included other kinds such as sandals, boots and high tops.

Just seeing this made things not so boring. It got my tail wagging a little in excitement.

"Now, there's a lot of choices right here," said Stone. "You might not be able to find the right specific pair that you think fits you. But which one appeals to you the most?"

This time, it was much easier to find which one I wanted to have thanks to the variety of shoes on display. I ended up going to the boots part of the section and a pair of combat shoes caught my attention. It was close to what I appealed to the most. Green, camouflage pattern and black soles. The laces were orange, but they didn't appear too out of place.

"I would like to have this one!" I said, taking the boots.

"Hold on there," said Stone. "You cannot just take them like that."

"Whoa, but it's fine to take the other clothes around here?"

"Shoes work a bit differently," explained Stone, keeping the pair back on the shelf. "You can store like more than a hundred types in the same shop. However, you can't just have all of them out since that would overfill the slots. All you need to do is to ask a nearby staff on which pair you want to try and you'll be even asked what available sizes you prefer."

"Wait, these shoes come in sizes?" I asked.

"Yeah! It's much easier to ask for the right size instead of putting all shoe sizes on display. Once happy, you'll be allowed to take it to the counter." He spotted a nearby staff worker walking around. "Hey! Ma'am. One pair of these kinds of boots for the jackal! Try average animal adult size first."

The staff worker nodded. "Alright then! Just in a sec!"

I was still curious about why they only included a sample of shoes instead of all the sizes available. This section might not be big enough to store everything, but it would be quicker instead of waiting for someone to bring up the size needed for a specific pair of shoes. However, this might work to ensure no immediate stock loss.

The staff worker fortunately returned with the exact same pair of boots that I wanted. I tried the pair of boots on, though I had to ask for a different size.

Thankfully, I found the right size I could wear. By then, I felt that I already bought enough, satisfied with the new clothes.

"Is that all you want?" asked Stone. "Seem kind of short."

"I think this would be fine," I said. "Don't want to buy too much. We can just come back here another time or I can take a visit on my own."

"Alright then. Though, you're sure there's nothing else? Maybe like new gloves?"

I shook my head. "Nah. I think I'll still keep my leather gloves on. I don't really want to completely lose the old clothes I wore."

"What about jewelry? Anything for that?"

"Why wear it?" I asked. "They are just a target to be robbed immediately."

"What about like a belt wrapped around your tail?"

I froze. "Why would I need something tied around my tail?"

"I don't know, but it would look cool on you!"

Curling my tail upwards, I stared at it and imagined a belt wrapped around it. Thinking about it, it would just make it…harder to move my full tail around. I mean, it might help with keeping most of the fluffy fur spikes combed down without flying all over. However, I felt uncomfortable with having a belt wrapped around my fluffy tail.

"No, my tail is not meant for decorating," I said, curling my tail around my shoes. "It should be meant to flow freely."

"Fair enough then," said Stone. "It's a harmless appendage, I guess. Well, if you insist, you might have to wait for a few more minutes since I need to grab some shirts."

That meant going back to the section Stone spent most of his time at. I gulped a little as we arrived there, approaching a long shelf with a couple of shirts hanging on display. All in different shades of black and gray.

"Now, which one should I take last?" said Stone.

I sighed. "Just take one of the shirts."

"Which colors though?"

"Again, why can't it all be just one color?!" I exasperated.

"Do I need to remind you?" said Stone with a playful grin. "Everyone has their preferences of shades!"

"That's too many shades to worry about when it comes to buying."

"So you're saying that it's better to decide which shade to buy on the computer instead of being up close to see for yourself?"

"...you can actually buy things on the computer?"

"...hold on, I think this is the right shade I want!" said Stone, taking the darkest of the bunch. "Makes it really mysterious, you know?"

"You could have just taken it in the first place," I pointed out.

"But what if I changed my mind on not taking really black?"

That brought up a few questions to mind. While I did ask Topaz about him, I have yet to ask him on a personal level. So seeing his enthusiasm in taking darker clothing, even casual, in contrast to his cheerful and polite manner got me wondering if there was more to him.

"You really like to be a literal black-ops agent, aren't you?" I said.

Stone shrugged. "Well, it's the best position I can find when I joined G.U.N. Leaving the Mean Machine was probably for good, but sometimes, I miss the best crimes when I was with them. This is the closest to reliving the glory days since this IS black ops after all!" He stuffed the black shirt into his bag, bending down to meet my eye level. "You asked Topaz, did you?"

"Wha? Erm…how could you tell if I did?" I asked.

"Because I'm pretty sure that you never heard of the Mean Machine before."

I clicked my tongue. "Good point there. I have a question in mind. I mean, it's cool that you've been doing a lot of experiments and making inventions. But that being said, I…don't really know why you like Eggman."

"Why can't I?" said Stone simply. "Evil can be fun at times."

"But what do you exactly see in him? What makes you think that he's a good person?"

The human frowned. It looked like it wasn't the first time asked why he liked Eggman, but the way his eyebrows were furrowed in a way that he wasn't comfortable explaining. He scanned my body as if studying me. He knew already that I held a sore spot towards Eggman and the rest of the Jackal Squad would if they were still alive.

It was a miracle that he held back any signs of annoyance or he would be acting worse.

"I know that he isn't a good person," said Stone. "I know that my former terrorist group wasn't good company to around. Eggman reminded me of my former leader in a better way. There's one thing I felt that should be done right when making a price for themselves."

"And that is?"

"That they never give up. No matter how many times, they rise to the top and they REALLY show that. Not like cowering away or relying on cheap tactics."

I crossed my arms. "What makes you think that Eggman isn't a coward?"

"Every time the world gets in danger, it's always due to him pulling out some kind of dues ex machina for himself. With every invasion, he always bring out an improved weapon that could nearly defeat the heroes. He's a madman, but he's a genius. Learning from his mistakes every time and coming back for a REAL competition."

"Sounds like you have a thing for diabolical masterminds like him."

Stone sighed. "Yeah. And every time I look at him, it makes it fun and even funny with being a villain. Do you ever miss being a criminal, Obsidian?"

I had a thought about it. At the moment, I lacked the purpose needed to go back in the desert to hunt and rob. Right here, I felt like I want to stay this way instead of going back to my old ways.

"Not now," I said. "I feel like everything will be alright since there are good people around."

"That's good for you," said Stone. "I rely more on how I feel about my experiences and what brings the best satisfaction. I might not enjoy the many deaths the Mean Machine caused, but some of them were well-deserved. At least…one of them 'cause I caused it."

"Wait, you did what?"

"I never talk about it again since I'm repaying for my crimes as well as a G.U.N. agent. And they're good with allowing me to do my own projects as long as it's 'morally pragmatic'."

Remember what Topaz said to me? Stone left the Mean Machine and managed to get them arrested, but it was never said again due to one of the members dying. Stone didn't look or sound like the type to kill a man, but he just casually mentioned causing a 'satisfying death'. What made me feel better was that maybe his victim was one who wronged him out of spite.

Maybe his victim deserved it.

"We are kind of different on how we want to kill," continued Stone. "You had second thoughts about the five people you slaughtered. Meanwhile, I'm just picking up reasons to off my targets. But if Eggman, a horrible man, already hurt so many, then I can as well if I want to."

"That's kind of messed up," I remarked.

"All in all, I do know what he did wrong. And I'm sorry for what happened to the Jackal Squad. It sounded like he was the one responsible as well for leading them to…you-know-what. There are just some things about him I want to greatly respect. His determination, his intelligence and how he can be at the top of all the humans in the world. He makes it look easy to achieve his goals for a short while and I want to try doing that."

I hummed a little, scratching my chin. I had mixed feelings about it. I was glad that he acknowledged the bad things Eggman did. He enjoyed more of Eggman's strong traits when it came to being the villain of the story. It sounded wrong, but it made sense; I had no idea if I should be happy for him or not.

Stone now reminded me of Zero since both were aspiring criminals with big goals. At least Stone settled in with G.U.N. to use his admiration of villains for the better good through making machines. Though, I don't know how far he would go with what he would do as an agent, but hopefully he wouldn't end up being like Zero. It would be horrible if he wanted to be vicious and powerful, no matter the cost.

"But hey, I'm on the good side," said Stone, flashing a grin. "So this is just all in my fantasy after all. Not like I can make it come true with being Eggman's second-in-command."

I bit my lip. "I don't think he would ever do that for you."

"It's a possibility if I reach his level."

"And I'm guessing that you're mostly rooting for Eggman because you don't want your king to be defeated?"

"It's called politics," said Stone bluntly.

I snorted, nearly breaking into a giggle. "Of course. Guess that you're one of those who are still invested in the criminal world."

"I suppose I can be a criminal or not whenever I want to. But for now, working with G.U.N. helps with improving their defenses and the society they take care of."

"Yeah. Just keep most of your admiration of Eggman in your fantasy. You already got shirts of him to flash around."

Stone chuckled, standing up. "That's true. And that also shows that I'm not the only one who admires Eggman."

I raised an eye, nearly giving up on why this society seemed to enjoy disturbing content…or celebrities for that matter.

"Oh, one more thing," asked Stone, leaning towards me. "I know that your experience with Eggman was sour, but what…else did you find interesting about Eggman? Is his cooking said to be good?"

Knowing that this wasn't too serious, I tried remembering back before the day my squad died. I wasn't too fond looking back on memories of Eggman being just rude and condescending. To my surprise, some of the worse memories were seeing him acting so unusual. His cooking? Well, I don't think the food he gave us was made by him.

"He mostly has factory-produced packages," I said.

"Are Orbot and Cubot actually secret spies on Eggman?"

"...no. Didn't you ask me a similar question like this before?"

"And are their cookies really good? I doubt that they are good cooks."

I smacked my lips, suddenly feeling hungry. "They are probably more strong in baking."

"Is it true that Eggman likes to wear all kinds of clothes? There's this rumor going on that he once wore a bra and short-?"

"What? No! No! No!" I exclaimed, waving my hands around. "He never did! He actually threatened Ace if he encouraged the internet to spread that rumor."

Stone grinned, looking a bit creepy. "Um…I know that you never got to touch Eggman's mustache, but ask me…does it look soft? And how does it smell like?"

I scrunched up my nose in disgust. "It looks…oily? I think he has his own cologne which is…oil as well? But not the bad petrol smell."

"OK, so that's close to my theory," muttered Stone. "Guess that means his mustache IS not stiff after all!"

I rolled my eyes, looking away. I really need a moment to clear my mind since I felt that we shouldn't keep talking about any weird things Eggman did. Unfortunately, my ruby decided to dig further into Stone's ulterior motives.

I could hear Stone thinking in his mind, "And now, it looks like it's safe to play with his beautiful mustache! When I get the perfect, ultimate chance…"

The cartoonish thought bubble vision reared its ugly head again, appearing above Stone's head. I placed a hand over my mouth, wanting to turn my eyes away from the thought bubble showing the same image of Stone's hand stroking Eggman's mustache. However, it weirded me out so much that it burned in my mind.

When I finally used all my strength to break free from the gaze, I slowly looked down…and noticed the front part of his pants lifting upwards. Thank goodness he was wearing pants or it might reveal a shape I rarely see in animals.

"I think you have a real issue going on," I said, pointing at his pants.

The thought bubble popped as he snapped out of his daydream. He looked down and yelped.

"Oh good heavens!" he cried, trying to pat his groin down. "You two stones go home now!"

I couldn't help but give him a judgy look. "No wonder why you like Eggman so much."

"Don't think of it that way!" said Stone sheepishly. "It's not what it looks like."

Despite the temptations of joking, I decided to leave it there in case things might get a bit more uncomfortable between us. In a way, it felt nice getting to talk with a former criminal again. I was still uncertain about his considerations of idolizing Eggman, but it was strangely comforting when listening to good old memories from a person who was like me to an extent.

It reminded me a bit of my squad. Topics might be gruesome or questionable due to what we do as mercenaries. But at the end of the day, we ended up laughing it off and telling ourselves what we could do better in the future. Or just leave it behind and move on since it was a friendly subject. I smiled sadly to myself, finding myself missing those days.

I wondered if this was in the same way Stone missed his own glory days.

With the clothes purchased, me and Stone already placed all of them in one bag to ensure that we wouldn't need to carry so many. As we made our way out of the shop, I passed by the blank mannequins again. This time, these ones had a mix of males and females together, wearing not that much clothing to show off their features.

I stopped, staring at their bodies. It was stupid of me to get distracted again. However, seeing these mannequin bodies made me curious. Both genders had really nice muscular frames. Not too skinny or thick. Just the way I…felt was right. It got me curious on how it attracted me like this. I might know why, but why now I got interested when before I didn't have that much focus on criminals' bodies in the desert?

"You have a type there, Agent Obsidian?" said Stone's voice.

I shook my head, turning back to him. "Nothing! No type!"

"Your cheeks are red again."

I slowly patted my cheeks, feeling the fur becoming hot. "Do YOU have a type, Stone?"

"I know my type," said Stone, grinning. "You might already know. I'm wondering for yours."

I sighed, taking a few deep breaths to regain focus. "L-Let's just get out of here. We have work to do."

"Oh yes, we've been shopping here for…less than an hour," said Stone, checking his watch. "We should clean up all the graffiti outside now. We should be…responsible."

I chuckled when I heard the reluctance in his voice. "Make sure not to cheat. Wouldn't be fair for me since I like getting work done the right way."

"You have a Phantom Ruby!"

"I haven't mastered changing a full brick wall. I don't think creating an illusion over the graffiti would work as well since that's cheating as well."

Before Stone could argue back, there was a familiar cooing from behind me. I yelped when a fat creature flew right through my ears, slapping through them. It was the same pigeon. Must have stuck around here after unintentionally helping me find the Weasel Bandits. It flew around aimlessly, even crashing into the walls.

"Should we take this bird out of this place?" I asked.

"I think we should just leave it alone," said Stone. "If it's intelligent enough to get here, then it knows its way in."

I was about to point out that the pigeon randomly flew through one of the back doors of the mall without even knowing. However, I found myself too dumbfounded to explain about the pesky pigeon when it flew down to the glued penny coin, still on the floor, and RIPPED it off. As if ripping a piece of string from a carpet.

With a happy coo, the pigeon flew away with the freed coin in its beak.

Me and Stone were left jaw-dropped, our brains scattering on the logic of how birds could be strong enough to pick glued objects.

"How did that bird pick up that coin and not us?" I asked.

"I have no idea, man," said Stone.

AN: I have to wonder if I did a good job of making this chapter engaging. I'm referring more to the parts of Obsidian looking through the shops and being a bit critical of the mundane clothes in the shop Stone went to. To be honest, it came a bit from my experience whenever my family went out to shops to buy casual clothes. While I do have interest, some of the shirts didn't look that much or extravagant.

I find that it was a bit tricky writing Molly's response to Obsidian's reason why he didn't use the Phantom Ruby prototype. In a way, she is trying to reassure him and encourage him to use it more without being scared of it. In a way, she's telling him to make the best of it since he has been using it for certain things during the past three days without worry. Also, Obsidian's reason is about accepting the new changes. I have some struggles as well with accepting new things coming. But it's important to adapt to them while being aware of their fault instead of trying to deny that the change happened.

The white skeletal figurine with the long jaw Obsidian came upon is actually the Shy Guy/SCP 096 from SCP Foundation. It was a good thing that when he saw its face, the Shy Guy didn't appear next to him!

I feel like this is also the right moment for Obsidian to talk with Agent Stone. I tried going with a bit of an uncle/father and son relationship-like concept between them, though at least there's still a conversation between those two. I decided to bring back what would be going through Agent Stone's mind, especially his opinion of Eggman.

The coin glued to the floor is an antic the Lightning Bolt Society actually did in the Sonic Boom show! I decided to use that joke and did it how I would interpret it. Kind of funny since both Stone and Obsidian fell for it…so did the pesky pigeon.

Thank you for reading this chapter! If you enjoy this story, be sure to follow or favorite this story, so you can get updates about this story. If there is any feedback or constructive criticism you want to share, let me know in your review. It would be nice to hear open thoughts so that I can know what to improve.

Until next time, keep on rocking!