After having left the arcade with Akira, Manic gave a contented sigh. "That was fun man and I hadn't had this much fun at an arcade in ages..."

"That's mean to Little John, you know? Implying that he's boring company without saying it." Akira remarks with a chuckle. "I think I'll go tell him on you when I see him next time."

Manic chuckles lightheartedly. "I just meant that the last time I had this much fun, that was when I went with my dad."

"I'm sure he had high scores of his own on some of those machines."

"He does."

"Probably been replaced by other high scores since if he's not in the top three."

"Yeah, likely…"

"So, what now?"

"I suppose we can go our separate ways for today. Unless there was something else you wanted to do that is."

"Since we haven't heard back from them yet and I still need to go to 48th Street to get this watch fixed up at a store there, we should probably call it a day and wait til they get back in touch with us."

"Right. I'll catch ya later."

"See ya later then."

Manic nodded, then walked off. Akira headed back over to Cyber City and headed on over to 48th Street to look for the shop Vanilla had told him about, subconsciously clutching his analogue watch in the left pants pocket as if it's going to get pickpocketed from him again.

Sure enough, Akira would eventually happen upon the electronics shop that Vanilla told him about called 'Mary's Repair Wares'.

'Took you long enough to get around to it...' Akira chides at himself before stopping at the entrance of the shop. 'Three Palace trips later that is...'

The wolf walked through the door and stepped on inside.

The inside of the shop was rather modest for what it was. Featuring various electronics old and new displayed on the shelves plus the displays in the shop window. There were even an entire section dedicated to video game systems and accessories. In the back, there's a counter where a mobian leopard who looked to be partially roboticized on some parts of her body was manning the register.

There was a slight metal robotic plating on her right cheek as well as her right eye being black with a digital red iris and her entire left arm, shoulder and both legs were completely roboticized.

As for her organic features; she has golden fur with black spots all over, long violet hair done in a gothic style, various types of earrings piercing the lengths of her ears, a barbel-style piercing on her left eyebrow, black lipstick on her lips and black gothic eyeshadows.

Wearing a purple tube top, matching briefs style pants and material with both bearing white circuit patterns on them. Fishnet tights overtop her robot legs, a pair of black high-heeled platform shoes, a pair of spiked punk wristbands and a spiked punk collar.

She was looking over something on a smart tablet she had in front of her on the counter.

'I'd ponder if being roboticized is a statement but I then remember that the only statement coming out of it is loss of free will... She was likely close to losing it herself.' Akira goes on over to the counter and when he reached it, he pulls out his analogue watch to place it on the flat counter surface. The girl blinked, looking up from her tablet at the watch.

"...You here to pawn that off or do you want it fixed?"

"First part's out of the question. A repair job is what I'm looking with this."

"Gotcha..." The girl looks the watch over; "So, what's wrong with it?"

"The clock hands hadn't moved for some time. Likely stopped running a while ago and it's an older pre-Great War model."

"Hmmm..." The leopard was examining the watch. "What usually happens with these older analogues is that eventually the battery dies and you have to take it to go get the battery replaced."

"Or one of the components is jammed like the tourbillion mechanism and halting everything."

"That could do it too..." The girl said with a nod. "I'll say this: I can take a look at this thing but I would recommend investing in a new watch because if this thing is completely busted, it will take longer for me to fix because I would need to order replacement parts and physically take it apart to fix it and replace the broken parts."

"Hey Tia, is the milk any good?" A robotic-sounding girl's voice called from the back room. "I'm ordering groceries."

"I'm with a customer here!" Tia called back. "Just order milk and we'll sort the rest later. Oh and tampons too!"

Tia sighed, then looked over at Akira. "The woes of being roboticized, right?"

"Depending on how much it affects the person physically and spiritually... No less horrific than the experience of being suspended in blankness while a foreign controller hosts the bodily vessel in your stead."

"I was the lucky one between us. When I was being roboticized, the thing fouled up and only it only roboticized a few parts of me but it also caused some complications in my internal structure; namely in the lower-torso organs. Had to be replaced with artificial ones. On the upside, I can smoke however much I want and not have to worry about my lungs going black."

She glanced at the doorway to the back area a moment. "My partner Leia wasn't as lucky. She got completely roboticized and had her robotic body heavily modified into a worker drone for a factory Robotnik had owned. When the Robian Liberation Signal was sent out, she told me she had this moment when she finally 'woke up' and broke down at what's been done to her... Her family had to check her into a mental ward for about two years. The two of us met at a Roboticization Survivor group that we had joined and since then, we'd been inseparable."

"Yet pales in comparison to a some fictional forced cyber-conversations."

"Some sci-fi movies and shows have been kinda iffy for us both because of it. E. V. Odle's The Clockwork Man which I used to love as a child would be a little unsettling to watch today." She sighed, leaning down low against the counter. "I can't enjoy a lot of my favourites anymore because of that bastard Robotnik. Too many of them involving people turning into robots..."

"But, then I discovered a bunch of the old-school works where that doesn't happen as often." She smiled a bit as she stood back up straight. "I'm talking stuff like 'Shinobi III', 'Incredible Melting Mobian', 'Godkiller: The Epic of Sojiro Sakura' or shit like that. The real obscure that gets thrown onto video or laser disc and be forgotten about until a bunch of entertaining folks showcases it on an episode with the wit to match. That's the stuff that's apparently okay for us to watch."

"Alcoholism were treated as a largely a joke in comedies til cultural standards evolved overtime to have it taken more seriously."

"Yeah... War changes a lot of things, I'll tell ya that."

"I'll be holding off on getting a new watch. This one's a family heirloom."

"Right. I'll see what I can do about repairing it."

"I'll pay as much to have it in working order again."

"As long as you're paying, I'll do what I can." Tia said with a nod, setting down the watch. "I've had way too many clients stiff me on payment for stuff like this."

"The watch's valuable to me, so I'm willing to pay as much for the repairs to have it working again."

"Besides the watch repair, is there anything else you wanna buy or whatever?" She asks, gesturing to all the other items in the shop. "We have a pretty good selection. I'm certain you saw the selection of retro video games and consoles we have, right?"

"What do you have?"

"We have a lot actually. We even have some stuff from Japan too but mostly we have the stuff from over here. A lot of good stuff here to choose from like the Saturncast. We have even have some old gaming PCs like the Rear Admiral 64 with the games and accessories for them."

"Maybe next time I come down here, I'll consider picking up one of your systems. Only came here today to bring in the watch."

"Well, they'll be waiting for you when you do." Tia said, smiling to him.

"Thank you." Akira nodded. Tia taking away the watch to be held somewhere safe.

Akira would take his leave from the shop when he meets a female tiger being escorted by a pair of lizards he recognised as Hud and Mad Veruca. The tiger seems familiar to him but was drawing a blank til Doctor reminded him that he had see her before in Anton's Palace.

Tatiana Tiger is her name.

The wolf didn't expect to see her with the way Anton's been keeping her away from Manic and a bit star-stuck by her beauty. For someone who's supposedly an addict, she shows no signs of being one on her which made Akira believe the addiction story was made up by Anton just to twist the knife in on Manic.

She wore blue booty jean shorts that shows off her long curvy legs, a half-ripped black t-shirt with a yellow thunderbolt on it that showed her entire stomach area up to just under her bust line, a pair of red sneakers, a black baseball cap, a pair of sunglasses and a creamy yellow and red letterman jacket identical to that of Anton's.

If he didn't know any better, he'd have assumed that's how she normally dresses everyday and being confident in her looks. Yet the gaze she gave him and seeing her eyes through the sunglasses, he sensed a quiet depression from her as though she's living a life oppressed snd dictated by someone else. The shape of her smile only adds to the theory.

"Hey Mad, look who happens to be coming out of his basement. Manic's cock-sucking fag buddy and client of Dr Hans Jerkvof, Four-Eyes." Hud said snidely, giving Akira a sneering and condescending smirk. A smirk that befits a future serial killer or future CEO.

"Hehehehe!" Mad laughs at his brother's unfunny joke. "Must be trying to hit off with the lesbo owner to try to score hehe!"

"As if she'd let some inbred doggo fag stick his stub in her. Would have to force himself her to get any puss and make her straight."

"Guys, leave him alone..." Tatiana spoke up quietly to them.

"Shut it bitch!" Hud growls at her, smacking her ass. "This is guy business and you don't have a say in this! So shut your whore mouth!"

"Hey, show her some respect asshole. Not being very civil here." Akira was a little ticked-off by the lizard's display and everything else about him.

The crass lizard just snorted. "She's big bro's girl and she should know her place as his woman. Same goes for you Fuckface."

"You should learn to be less of a dickhead and not treat her like a dog."

"Can we just go now..." Tatiana murmurs quietly but went ignored by the Verucas.

"And quit looking at her creepo unless you want to be paralysed by big bro Charlie. This ain't Japan and this ain't an anime. You're not getting any bitches through plot armor." Hud gave Akira a smug face ripe for a hollow point bullet to go through before turning to Tatiana. "Come on, let's go."

The tiger nodded hesitantly and the three started heading off. Tatiana looking over to Akira with a meek voice. "I'm sorry about all this..."

"Don't be. It's not your fault." Akira responded back. Earning a hint of a sad smile from her before leaving with the Verucas.

"She didn't look happy there..." Pixie murmured sadly to Akira as he watches them leave. "You wouldn't be if you're Anton's girlfriend... I'd be taking drugs or taking a gun to my own head to not have to wake up to that mug..."

He debated on wether to tell Manic about the encounter or not. Eventually, he'd relent on it and messaged him about it in a short text as he heads on his way to check out more of Cyber City.

Julayla Memorial Park, Mobotropolis

Afternoon

Sonic was leaning up against one of the trees planted in the city park named after Rosie Woodchuck's late cousin and mentor of Sally Acorn. Yesterday's news came and went but the Westropolis fatality remained on his mind as he was relaxing in peace after going on another run today while Sally's busy attending to matters around the Acorn Castle.

Although the late Director of the Mobius Mint wasn't an immediate friend of Sonic's, his loss is tragic all the same. Taken by the ongoing mental incidents for reasons that are anything but good. The thought of it being a callous act caused by an individual made him mentally grimace just like Shadow. The idea of someone purposely causing that accident appalling.

Tails was sitting under the same tree looking at a handheld device, deep in thought with a visible sign of worry on his face. The reported incidents going on since last year seems to get progressively more violent and sudden in the fatalities with very little warning in-between. In addition to the ongoing incidents, Sonic had taken notice of Informative Global News' gradually-growing prominence in their critiques of him and his influence.

He's always has his fair share of critics in the past and never let their criticisms get to him. However, he couldn't help but take notice of I.G.N due to the fact they've been getting more boldly outspoken about him whenever there's new coverage of him. Not helped by the fact that they're able to convince people through persuasive language, mainly the impressionable ones of the points they're making against him. Getting them to question if he's really a positive for society.

Not that it bothers the blue hedgehog as he doesn't give them the news group the time of day for anything. Though, a few of his friends would be bothered by them sometimes because some of the weasel-speaks they'd employ. Phrased and worded in a certain way to avoid having libel or slander lawsuits launched against them. Always constructed in an ambiguous way to make it more difficult to prove they're committing defamation and they can pull the freedom of speech card if they try to do anything about their way of "news" coverage.

"...Sonic?" Tails asked suddenly. "...Do you think it's our fault Bunnie got roboticized?"

"You weren't there when it happened and Bunnie has told us herself that it wasn't our fault. It was just a case of us unable to rescue her in time before the conversation started. What's past is past." Sonic answered him. "What's up?"

Tails looked down at his shoes. "...This reporter at I.G.N... He... He claimed that her getting roboticized might be on us but the way he words it... It kind of made sense in a way..."

"Tails. He's the same person who once commented that you might be an annoying useless sidekick who can't do nothing without me around..." Sonic turns his head to him. "Everyone who knows better would say you're an invaluable help and Station Square wouldn't be around if you hadn't defused that rocket when I wasn't around to stop it. Besides, he wouldn't dare say any of the stuff he says on TV to our face in person and he worded that comment vaguely enough to make it a rhetorical than an outright slander as Rouge would say."

"I guess..." Tails fidgeted with his namesakes; "I just... I don't know... Sometimes, I feel like things get out of hand for us way too often..."

"And it's our responsibility that we minimise the harm they'd have on innocents along with the environments. If we're not here to stop would-be egomaniacal world conquerers from turning the planet into their playground, who else can?" Sonic said with a neutral expression. "Certainly not that Ian K. Sessler one badmouthing us."

"That may be but a lot of people have been getting hurt from of our heroics even if unintentional or at the hands of our foes..." The kit hesited to say it out aloud. "Sonic. What if something really horrible happens and we can't stop it?"

"...Then we just have to make sure it can never happens again. We've made mistakes before in the past and we try to learn from them whenever we can to avoid repeating them like what Cat used to tell us..." Sonic signs, scratching one of his brows. "Think of how much worse things could turn out if we weren't around to minimise the damage. It ain't good when bystanders gets hurt in the crossfire but the best we can do is making sure those people don't get killed on us."

"I know.. It's just that sometimes bad things happen and seems like there's nothing we can do to stop it."

"Yeah..." Sonic nodded slightly to that, understanding his worries. "But don't let that weigh you down and stopping you from doing what's right. Nothing ever gets done with inaction except sleep."

"I suppose..." Tails replied, though didn't quite seem sure.

"Come on, let's not keep dwelling on something started by a dude who looks to shop for his suits at the same clothing store as Wes Weasely." Sonic would start; "So, you been coming up with ne—"

"Gadgets? I have like twelve of them that I'm currently working on... Well, more like I have twenty... I haven't exactly been sleeping lately with how many I've been working on... I've been chugging back some energy drinks just to stay awake long enough to work on them."

"Geez Tails, what did Bunnie tell you the other night?"

"I know but I gotta get these done. I've fallen behind lately and I need to fulfill my deadlines for them."

"Deadlines for whom? You know that we have Rotor too and he's more than happy to take on some of your workload for you."

"Deadlines that I set myself... I tend to try to set my own deadlines whenever I work on my inventions and usually, I'm pretty good about fulfilling them but lately I've been so distracted between reading up on the mental incidents, school and everything else. I've been distracted and so in my distraction, I fell behind on my own schedule."

"Then I suggest you try take a break from overworking yourself at the work desk and getting some good sleep. That brain of yours would most certainly appreciate having some downtime."

"No, I can keep going. I've gone a week without sleeping. I think I can go a few more days. At least three because if I sleep now, I'll be dead for three days."

"Uh... Well if you get the sleep your body needs, you'll be able to finish your projects quicker that way."

"Well... I mean... I guess I could get some sleep in..."

"That's the spirit. Even I doubt the Ultimate Grump can ignore the calls of the Sandman." Sonic crosses his arms.

Tails laughed at that. "Well, I guess my dreams could occupy my mind for the time being."

"You can do that for sure."

Tails nodded, smiling before asking; "Can we get some ice cream before head back to HQ?"

"Then let's go get some." Sonic got up as did Tails as they start walking away. "I think the choc mint should be replenished today..."

Fiona's Penthouse, Cyber City

Evening

"...And just like that, he accepts the deal? Either he's got some kind of deathwish or have little else to do outside of studying like a bludger."

"What can I say? He's a sweet guy but goddamn is he naive." Fiona has a wireless earpiece in her ear connected to her phone. She was currently in the process of painting her toenails as she talked, clad in a pair of zebra-print skintight spandex leggings and shiny black shoulderpad-style tanktop that showed off her midriff.

"Pot calling kettle black for someone that was just as naive herself a few years ago."

"A lot can change in a few years. Besides, doesn't that make me good at spotting naive suckers like that?"

"Whatever floats your boat..." The friend on the speaker said. "Doesn't change the fact he was able to psych out Anton for a moment with that description of his' and giving no shits in ruffling his feathers either."

"So he's got a big mouth? Big deal. Plenty of guys like him have big mouths if they're hard-up enough. Besides, I can probably use this guy for my own gains if that helps."

"Assuming Anton doesn't do him in or run him out of town before you get to do anything."

"Well, that's why I'm doing him this solid. I already faxed you guys the picture of the guy I want you guys to nab. Don't kill him but I am giving you liberties on what else you can do with him during the time you have him in captivity."

"Anytime to get at those arrogant Hooligans is a good time for me. Not sure exactly why he needs to do that infiltration plan but if it means helping to knock those Verucas down a peg or two, then who am I to argue? Him coming here might be a late Christmas present for us."

"Exactly. It's win-win. Plus, he'll owe me a favor and when that favor is repaid; I'll owe him a favor, and vice versa. Everyone wins."

"For how long though?" Fiona's friend asked pointedly. "How long until you know who starts taking notice of him and gets him involved in his world?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it." Fiona responded dismissively, looking at the bright pink nail polish she had applied to her toenails.

"On it or under it?"

"You let me worry about that."

"Whatever. Just don't pull another act that puts us under the meat cleaver a second time with him..." Fiona's friend murmurs, not letting her forget that one. "Anyways, how's your week been going? That bitch Migu trying to up the ante on you with her rumourmongering?"

"Nothing I can't handle." Fiona begins to paint her fingernails next. "Migu is basic that it pains me to see her strutting around like some diva. If I could, I'd have her sold to a brothel just to see how much of a hot shit she thinks she is then."

"Good luck dealing with Anton's guys if you did. You know why he ain't dead long ago for being a real asshole." Her friend said on the line. "And don't underestimate her either, that cunt's mouth is lethal enough to crash your life at college with a few words to her P.T.A mummy. Just ask any of her twenty-one victims and counting about it."

"Trust me, I've dealt with punk bitches like her before. She doesn't scare me in the least bit."

"That was all before last year happened and those other girls didn't have a family as well-connected as the Verucas in this city. Sometimes, you seem to forget that you shouldn't bite off more than you can actually chew." Fiona's friend on the line told her straight up. "Last time you did that, we nearly met our makers for real."

"But that was one time. This will be different. Trust me, I know what I'm doing."

"I'll hold you to that."

"Hey, you know how I do."

"Most of the time. I'm also the closest thing you have to a guardian if you wanna be pedantic about it."

"Exactly." Fiona said with a smirk. "Besides, I'm the best at this sorta thing and among other talents of course~"

"Mmm. I'll have to be going now since I got things to be doing tonight. Bye." The female caller ends the phone call on her side of the line. Fiona shrugged as she laid back on her bed, thinking a moment. How exactly she got to this point.

She then went and called up the henchmen she had tapped to kidnap Grady O'Wolf. "Yo. You guys ready to go?"

"Just waiting for the go-head to seize him."

"Whenever you're ready, do it."

"Has the other party given the signal yet?"

"They said whenever they're ready, it's a greenlight. Just make sure the other guy is able to take his place without anyone noticing."

"Understood."

"And remember; Discretion is key here. Do it in stealthily if you can."

"We'll do so once you get the go-ahead from them."

"Of course. In fact, I'll call him right now just to make sure."

The henchman hung up to let Fiona ring Akira. Fiona then called up Akira, laying on her stomach on her bed while doing so.

"Konbanwa Fiona, what's up?" Akira greeted once he picked up the call from the vixen. The first time she's heard him speak in Japanese and a nice-sounding one too.

"Yeah, hi." Fiona greeted him, getting right into business. "I just wanted to call and let you know that my guys are ready to go once you give the word."

"We're just waiting on one of our guys to get back to us and begin the job proper."

"Right. Keep me posted and I'll pass the word on."

"Gotcha."

Fiona then hung up, then called her hatchetmen back up. "Their guy said he'll give the word and then you go. I'll let you know when to get ready."

"Okay."

"I'll pass the word to you once we're good to go." The henchman would then end the call afterwards. Fiona rolled onto her back, giving a contented sigh before murmuring; "...Power is power..."

'Sounds childish, right? A city newcomer and a bunch of guys from the other side playing hero to takedown someone powerful like him but I'll be damned if I choose to stand aside and do nothing while somebody have their lives destroyed by some greedy piece of shit punk.' Akira's words swam in her thoughts. The conviction in those syllables and in his eyes; spoken like an ookami reborn from the rusted chalice of stagnation and that seemed to win her over to make the deal...

"Childish? Fiona murmured, staring up at the ceiling and dragging herself back down to reality; "More like naive... What the hell could you possibly do to him to take him down? It's a fool errand you know... Suicidal even..."

Author's Note: Whenever you're doing character writing, there's always a balancing act of giving them the right amount of depth without overloading the reader with unnecessary details, keeping their actions consistent with who they are, knowing their do's and don't's and how you frame their actions.

Understanding who they are, what are their core values and what are their distinct voice within a work. It's far from easy and straight forward. You want to make a noble character be likeable, you want a comic relief being hilarious without coming off as irritating and you want a loathsome character to be somebody to root against. Sometimes, cultural views can make you look at certain archetypes more positively than others.

Nothing's worse than a character we're supposed to sympathise with unintentionally being someone we dislike; especially when they're treated as being just by the narrative despite acting like a jerk without being called out for their actions while another character gets unfairly punished bordering on hypocritical or unintentionally rooting for the villain to give the bratty "hero" a good paddlin' when you're supposed to boo them according to the story yet they look like the more reasonable party compared to the heroes...

We've all had those moments. Although, there are times where a creator will make a great character and cause unintended interpretations by accident as per the death of the author where the reader's interpretation determines a work's meaning more than the author's intentions. We've all encountered this literary theory at some point. Either because of canon debates, retcons, controversial character choices or our attitudes to certain divisive storylines.

With Sonic the Hedgehog, there's more than enough examples to chose from but I think the best example is Sega's stance on Team Dark's relationship. From Sonic Heroes to 2006 and Forces: Episode Shadow to a certain extent, we see they're a close-knit lot and willing to go the distance for each other. We all remember Rouge's Remain by your side speech to Shadow in 2006. We all remember that scenes from Heroes where the first thing a revived Shadow did is save Rouge from Omega's bullets and her getting the two gentlemen to become a team with her to get back at Eggman. The Archie Sonic comics has a number of good moments with them.

But according to Sega? They're just work colleagues, not teammates or friends. Even if I don't elaborate on it, you could see the big problem with that and even Sega themselves have contradicted themselves over it. The criticism of Shadow's portrayal in IDW Sonic has been discussed at great lengths and that one is just the cherry on top. There's more fans who considers Team Dark as true friends through thick and thin than those who see them as allies.

Also on the matter of word of god regarding works... Unless what they say externally (Interviews, Podcasts, etc.) is found in the texts themselves, we can chose to acknowledge it because we like it, think it makes a lot of sense and it adds more to the lore itself or disregard their statement because we dislike it, think it's a load of nonsense and adds nothing of substance to the lore while making us prefer the fan theories more than the official statement... That's a whole other discussion not suited for here.

With that all said, that concludes this chapter. I'll see you all another time.