Instincts
Ch. 23
By: Cutegirlmayra (-play the opening chant of Circle of Life- A BABY IS BORN. Lol, here's his picture~ cutegirlmayra. deviantart art/Data-from-instincts-1-colored-485215787 And cutegirlmayra. deviantart art/Data-From-instincts-2-colored-485216500 . Just take away the spaces :3 SO! The Baby is yet to be known by our little gang and isn't even named yet. Being raised by Eggman, however,.. can't be a good thing. I designed his clothes off of Eggman, but changed the yellow square's of his designs to belt buckles. I took Shadow's type of red stripes on his quills to his own, but his quills are more like squished in or crunched up, very crooked like. Silver's white fur and aura marks are on him, but with Sonic's blue coloration. Lastly, we have Amy's dark green eyes and her three quills, but their crooked up and still bear resemblance to his own back spines. I'm really proud of how my sketch and coloring turned out :) I have a feeling you're all going to love Data (the baby), so please! Stay tuned! :D because we're not exactly sure if THIS is the baby Silver forewarned about…or is it?)
Amy had fully recovered from her surgery procedure and was right now trying to enjoy being outside again.
She still desperately tried to forget about the horrible wrong Eggman had done to her, even if he tried to justify it by not leaving her 'completely empty' it was still terrible and Eggman must of known it too. But she was trying to forget that sad fact and look to another one, which was why Tails wasn't allowing her to see Sonic, Silver, and Shadow as of late…
As she moved through the forest, mating season being over, she took a big gust of air in and starting thinking how much her life has changed over just 2 years.
'…I wish it never happened…' she began to think, letting her hands trace the sides of the bushes and flowers as she walked by, looking quite depressed it seemed, and longing for the past again. 'If none of this happened… we'd still be happy-go-lucky people, without a care in the world… but I can't keep dwelling on what's happened. I'll never smile again if I do, and that's no good.' She stepped out onto a path, having gone off the road through the forest just to be alone and explore a bit, even if she knew the forest pretty well.
Looking down, she tried to make herself bright and cheerful again. It wasn't like her to be sad all the time, and so she was trying to find hope for happiness once again, a trait that had helped not only her, but her friends, through the darkest of times. 'I can't help what has been done, or regret on things I wished I would of done… all that matters now, is how I handle the future.' She looked up to the sky, and closed her eyes, taking in the wind.
"I just have to find my happiness again." She spoke out loud, and continued down the path some more.
-Not so far away~-
"Hold the head, Cubot!"
"Errr.., it's hard! He keeps on, emmm, squabbling!"
"Baby's don't Squabble, they squirm. You're thinking of the wrong word, now, give him here."
Cubot and Orbot were taking care of the little baby, holding him and feeding him with a bottle they made for him as he began to drink it quite fast.
"Boy, this kid has some appetite!" Cubot exclaimed, watching the bottle become completely empty as the baby chugged it down in seconds flat.
"Something he undoubtedly inherited from one of his fathers…" Orbot rolled his eyes, thinking of Sonic's love for chilidogs…
"He didn't inherit… I GAVE him the traits he ended up with."
Eggman's grumbly voice rose up from in front of them, as he was sitting down and typing things in on his computer, readying something he had created for it's test run. "I didn't really look at what I was giving him, though. So he could, undoubtedly, have genes from those four we don't even know about." He spun around a bit to look at the two, as the baby started crying, and Orbot bounced him in his arms and tried to coo him to be silent.
Cubot just pushed another bottle in his mouth, as Orbot gasped in fright at the forcefulness of it, and glared evilly at Cubot.
"GENTLY." He stated, as he held the baby hold the bottle up. "It's only a month old."
"But its body readings state it's about a few months." Eggman scratched his head, before folding his arms and crossing his legs. "That growth serum is just like the one my grandfather used, however, with my own added flare to it. It should stop his growth cycle after he reaches his teenage years… but I worry he won't be immortal like Shadow." He stated, as Cubot and Orbot looked up at him, a bit concerned.
"What do you mean? He'll still stop at a teenage level right?"
"Or… he could maybe grow above that, and die fairly early if that growth serum doesn't die out in his system like it should." Eggman stated, and sighed, tilting his head to the right. "He could just live a bit longer than most of his kind, staying a teenager longer before aging all over again, and faster at that time. I seem to have miscalculated the advanced science of living organisms. I'm always studying things that usually I 'create' not 'breed'!" he threw his hands up, frustrated with it all, and how truly unprepared he was for this turn out. "One baby… that's all? How could I make an army with that-" he was holding his head as he turned back to his screens, before looking like he was struck with an idea.
That evil curl of his lips came across his face again, as he got up and his glasses shined with possibility.
"…Boys, take care of it. I'm going to be working late tonight…" he walked up to the baby, "Hold still." He happily stated, before taking a small quill spike and tugging it out.
The baby cried out in pain as Orbot flipped out, "WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT!?"
"I needed it." Eggman stated, and started to walk off.
"Now, hold on!" Orbot was about to say something when Eggman turned around, the hair behind his back with his hands together, as he seemed to be getting annoyed with Orbot's 'motherly' nature. "…Umm… I-it needs a better name then… it." He stated, abandoning his first thought.
"Yeah! Who names their kid, It, anyway?" Cubot came up to the defense of Orbot, scratching his head and shaking his head, before looking to Orbot, then Eggman.
"…A name?" Eggman stated, "Names mean attachment. I don't attach myself to my creations." Eggman looked forward.
"…Please? Any name will be better than It. As we've already established…" Orbot put the baby in Cubot's arms, and put his hands together, before parting them out to Eggman in a desperate pleading look. Looking to the side in his shyness at being so bold to an already annoyed Doctor, he muttered, "You do kinda carry the responsibility of caring for him until you can train him to be you're war machine. Don't you think a name would suffice for when you need him?"
"…I'll call him what he is." Eggman turned around, looking down at the baby, but keeping his head held high.
The baby was already done with the bottle, and was shaking it around and bonked Cubot with it a few times, chuckling innocently, before gnawing on the bottle and looking up at Eggman.
Eggman's mouth stretched to the side, "Neh…" he turned back around and started walking off.
"Data."
He stated.
"Because he's literally all random data strung together."
"…Precious data." Orbot smiled, looking kindly to the baby and touching his head.
The baby laughed and kicked the bottle away, yawning and closing his eyes, snuggling up to Cubot who held him in his arms.
The two robots exited the ship, flying down to the forest.
"Are you sure Eggman's not gonna be upset with us taking the Baby out?"
"Positive. He made it quite clear that he doesn't need Data yet, and has many more important things to do in preparation for when he's of age. Right now, I'm more concerned with his well-being. And as that new parenting book I ordered stated, every baby needs some sunlight. Put him down here." Orbot instructed, as Cubot flew down, taking careful consideration of where he was holding the squirming infant, and put him down on some comfy leaves inside a bush.
"There, out of sight, and surrounded in nature! Ah… now this is free air!" Orbot breathed in the open air, putting his hands to his stem. "…Now if only I was actually able to breathe, this would be much more of a statement."
"Hey, O-Orbot…" Cubot looked a bit scared, pointing to the baby.
"Hmm? What's wrong? You forgot to bring a spare diaper, didn't you?" Orbot hovered back over, glaring at Cubot.
"N-no, I didn't! I even brought the extra absorbent kind! B-but… look."
The Baby began to grow in front of their eyes, getting bigger and taller, and seeming more to be a few months old than just a month old baby. Data had become a small child, and the realization of seeing it happen so quickly was a bit unnerving to the two robots.
"…Data..?"
Orbot looked a bit worried, seeing that the child had grown in just seconds after a certain time.
"How many growth spurts is he gonna get?" Cubot asked, looking up at Orbot for answers, and seeming just as worried as he was.
"I.. I don't know. Not even the Doctor has a definitive answer on that. Couldn't you tell?" Orbot stated.
The two sighed, like worried parents who didn't know what to do with their strange child, when they heard a rustling of leafs.
"Oh no! Quick! Hide the baby!" Orbot whispered and pushed Cubot to act fast.
Cubot and Orbot ducked back into a farther bush, and peeked out as Amy Rose came out from the side of the road and seemed to be lost in thought.
"…Oh no! It's Amy! If she finds the baby, Eggman will have our batteries for this!" Orbot worried, before looking to Cubot.
"Uh-huh." He said, afraid.
"…Cubot. Where's Data?"
"…I thought you had him?"
"..I TOLD YOU TO GET HIM!"
"Nuh-uh. You told me to hide him! I remember! It's logged in my memory banks!" Cubot stood up a bit over the bushes edge, leaning over Orbot to make his point, as Orbot shushed him and flapped his hands at him in a sissy attempt at getting him back down.
Orbot looked to see Amy still distracted by her thoughts, and turned quickly back to Cubot. "Then where, pray tell, is the baby?!" he asked.
"I hid him, just like you said."
"WHERE?!" Orbot looked ready to strangle Cubot, leaning forward with his eyes changing to a bright red in his rage.
Cubot simulated a gulp, and shakily pointed a hand to the bush they were just at. "There. I covered him with more leafs and branches."
The baby squirmed, not liking the plant life on him as he started crying out for help, showing his discomfort.
Orbot gripped his head, moving more up towards the bush. "No, no, no! This is bad! Very bad! If Eggman finds out…" he held his hands up to his mouth, acting like he was biting his nails, as Cubot reached out to try and comfort him, before looking down and realizing his failure might lead him and his friend to a horrible fate, and looked ashamed of his misunderstanding.
Amy heard the cry and immediately her instincts merged with her and she blinked her eyes, looking around and getting down low to the ground.
Now that she was merged, her instincts could naturally come out on her command, but the sound of the baby is what activated her instincts, not herself.
This forced reaction was from the baby's cry, it was so high pitched, it simulated a part of the female Hedgehog's nature to nurture, love, and protect.
Amy sniffed around, being compelled by instinct to find the child, as she shook her head a moment to remember she was in control now.
"Oh, right." She reminded herself, and stood straighter up, and walked around. "Here, baby, baby, baby… where are you?" she heard a tearful cry and choke, and looked to the bushes.
"Oh no! Here she comes!" Orbot grabbed Cubot, fear stricken as she parted the bushes. "No!" he whispered a shout, reaching forward as she moved the leafs and branches away, seeing the most precious child she had ever laid eyes on.
Her instincts bore a forceful impulse to immediately hold him, and she did so, having jolted upright with him in her arms.
"Woah." It was all so fast, she barely had time to process what she just did. Shaking her head and blinking again, she got out of instincts and looked down at the boy, her face showing her melting heart, as she felt a strange bond with the little boy. "Aww… aren't you just the cutest little thing~ Goochie, goochie, goo~" she wiggled her nose on his, and he immediately stopped crying, only sniffling, as he looked up to her, confused by the action, but started laughing and seeming to love the attention.
After all, robots aren't very good at knowing how to show love, only how to care and maintain a healthy heart beat. So Amy's interaction with him made him feel more safer and naturally allowed him to relax and be calmed.
Amy giggled, loving the little tike as she looked around, but saw no mother…
"Where'd you come from, huh? And how'd you get all the way out here?" she looked around some more. "Hello? Is the mother around? Helloooo!" she called, but no one answered.
"Right her-EMEMM!" Cubot tried to step out, waving a hand to get the baby back, but Orbot just plugged his mouth, as he held him back.
"Quiet, you idiot!" he scolded a shouted whisper at Cubot.
"..Hmm… that's odd… you were deeply covered… were you…" she looked sadly down to the baby, as he cooed in his baby talk.
She thought maybe he was abandoned, and something filled her heart with sorrow for it, at how someone could just leave a child alone, without even a blanket, like that…
Then again, she did meet that horrible alpha female…
"That's it! I've made up my mind!" feeling a new sense of joy and love, she declared her resolve. "I'm gonna take care of you! Yes, I am~ Yes, I will take good care of you, abu-bu-bu~" she wiggled her nose to his again, and kissed his forehead as he giggled.
"Huh? What's this?" She noticed something on the ground of where she had picked him up, and picked it up.
It was a tag on a bracelet, too big for the baby boy to wear, but it had a name on it…
"Data?" she stated, seeing the name, and looked down at him. "Is that you're little name?" she asked.
The baby yawned, rubbing it's eyes.
"Hmm. A weird name, I must say. Well, better than Baby." She stated, smiling and shrugging. "Alright, let's get you cleaned up." She stated, and began walking home, looking at the baby and laughing as it tugged on her quills. Her instincts kept coming out to rub her scent on it, but Amy just let her instincts do as they pleased. The baby was hers now, anyways. If her merged self wanted to claim it in the old hedgehog ways, let it.
Orbot and Cubot jumped out of the bushes, hovering quickly around the corner of a tree to peek at her. "This is bad, this is so very, very bad!" Orbot stated, as Cubot folded his arms.
"She's walking away with our baby! How rude. Hmph." He looked away.
"Ugh, this is no time for you're inability to be smart right now, Cubot!" Orbot gripped Cubot's side of his squared and boxed like head over to him. "We have to sneak that baby out of her grasp… and do it before the Doctor realizes it's gone!"
Walking back to Tails's house, she knocked on the door, excited to introduce Tails to the lost and found baby, as he rushed from the garage up to the door to get it.
"H-hold on! I-…I'm coming!" he seemed frantic, like he was trying to hide something…
Amy heard grunts and noises from the garage, and slowly turned her head over to the garage door.
Turning her body, she flickered her ears out, and was about to summon her instincts to find out what those familiar noises were until Tails abruptly opened the door, looking terrible as his lab coat was hanging down over one of his shoulders, and him looking out of breath.
"Ehem, sorry, what's wrong?" he hadn't liked her over for a while now. And Amy never really knew why. She hadn't seen Sonic, Silver, or Shadow in a long time too…
He pulled up his lab coat, back around his neck, and adjusted his goggles on his head. "Just um… experiments. What's u-?...!" his eyes widened at seeing the baby in his arms, and he fell down. "No…"
"Huh? Oh, NONONONONONONO!" she looked down to see the baby, and quickly realized what he had thought. "Tails, no!" she reassured him. "I found him abandoned in the forest!" she explained, holding her hand out and shaking it quickly.
"Oh, thank Chaos… Mating season is over s-so…" he got up from his knees, and sighed a breath of relief. "Thank goodness."
More sounds came, like scratching and banging, followed by animal noises and barking.
"…Tailllls…" she was getting suspicious, and looked over his shoulder.
Tails sweated nervously, frowning and gritting his teeth together as his eyes looked back over his shoulder to the garage.
Amy looked down at him, and seeing that look on his face, she knew her suspicions were correct.
Barging past him, she started to make her way to the garage.
"Ah! A-Amy, wait! You can't! Amy, listen to me!" he tried to stop her but she had moved the child up to her shoulder, and used her now free arm to turn the knob on the door and swing the door out.
Seeing what she did, she froze, her eyes widening in shock as she saw the huge clear dome and the three hedgehogs all fighting over their food.
Sonic and Shadow were tug-o-waring some meat as Silver had to wait for his turn to get some leftovers, as he was still treated like an Omega in the pack.
Amy's mouth hung open, breathing in gasps it seemed, as she was shocked to see them still in instinct form. "What… what have you done?" she asked.
"It's an experiment." He stated, moving around and in front of her, stopping her from moving on. "I didn't tell you because I knew you'd think it was wrong. But listen, they have to learn to merge, they have to give up and surrender to their better selves. This way, they can both live in harmony with one another, win-win. Do you see?"
"…Or else… what?" Amy stated.
Tails closed his mouth, forming a tight line.
"..Or else what, Tails? What have you done to force them to stay in instincts?!" she asked, growing enraged as she looked down to him.
He stepped down from the blocked steps up to his door, and into his garage. "…They… they have to surrender Amy… Just like yours did." He wouldn't look at her.
"Tails… this is EXACTLY why Sonic's instinct became so violent in the first place! You're doing it all over again, don't you see that?!" she moved toward him, gesturing her arm out as she put the baby down to talk to him more strictly. "Tails, this isn't how Merging works! I only merged with my instincts because we had the same thoughts and desires! I knew I had to get out of that situation, I was confused, our thoughts were the same, that what was happening was wrong. We both had the same desire to get out of their and flee, and together, we worked as one to accomplish that." She explained, as Data started to crawl on the ground, learning quickly how to use his limbs to do so, and starting wobbling on his legs. Taking a few steps forward, he used super speed before falling back to his arms, and continuing to crawl. He soon found immediate interest in the three hedgehogs inside the dome…
"What you're doing is wrong, Tails! They need to have that moment and experience on their own! They can't have it being trapped and forced to yield like this! You're only teaching them to not trust their Others even more! And especially you! The person we want more than anything to be accepted by them!"
"Why is it everything I do to help is wrong!?" Tails snapped, turning around and glaring at her, but looking truly hurt. "All I ever do is worry about you guys. And every time I try and make it work, you… you're never grateful for it… Don't you think I'm at my wits end here, too!? We need them to merge! And if I have to be the bad guy then-!"
Amy stopped him, shaking her head. "No." she stated quietly, seeing Tails about to break down and cry. "…No, you're not the bad guy…"
He walked into her embrace as she held him a minute. He didn't know the right option anymore, and it killed him that he didn't understand Instincts as much as he wished he did.
"…I'm so sorry, Amy… I just don't know what else to do…I-.."
"Tails… no more. You don't need to do anything more for us. You've done all you can, we shouldn't be putting all our hopes on you to fix this. You see.. that's the thing." Amy moved him away a bit from her, and looked at her young friend dead in his eyes, but with a smile, shaking him a bit. "They don't need to be fixed, or managed, or controlled. They're us… at our rawest form. They need to be guided, taught, and loved. We don't need to teach them to submit, Tails. We need to find a way to have them connect with us, to have the same goal, want, wish or whatever as us! Look, we're the ones that have been wrong. We need to train ourselves, not them."
Data slowly approached the dome, and pawed at it, whimpering for some attention.
The three boys halted all movement, and slowly turned to the small child.
Sonic and Shadow dropped their piece of meat.
"What are you saying? That… That you don't need me..?" Tails's heart had already been broken, but now it felt like his soul was being ripped out of him too.
"What? No, Tails. Of course we need you. We need you to help us understand their side of things, to connect and to bond with us. I learned to listen and see my Instincts as someone who just wanted to learn more about the world, and we worked together to help one another. My case was a little extreme… but they can learn to do the same, somehow." She pulled Tails into another hug. "Please, you're not alone… don't you ever think we're not grateful for you, or don't need you… Tails, we'll always need you, okay? Don't worry…"
Tails hugged her back, nodding before the two heard growling and grunts.
Amy looked up and gasped, her eyes widening, as Tails turned around and put his hands on the side of his face.
"That baby!"
"Data!"
Data was now a little ways away from the dome, lowering his body submissively, and tilting his head curiously at the older three men.
At first, the three hedgehogs were all gathered around where he was located, and just stared with their heads either down or up at the strange little hedgehog, before Sonic made the first move.
He scratched at the dome, and then lowered his body to stare at the baby, seeming highly curious about it.
Silver just stared, and moved to get closer, but Sonic's alpha side kicked in and he growled a warning, before barking a strict command as Silver was forced to move away, but still looked at the baby using his Other's power to hover in the air over the other two. He felt like the baby could be as young in mind as him, in some way, and the urge to greet it increased. Sonic just felt the protective instinct of a Kind Alpha, wanting to sniff the thing and find out if it was part of his pack or not.
Shadow, on the other hand… shook his head and huffed in frustration at it. He bit at the dome's walls, trying to somehow reach the little one for closer inspection as Sonic opened his mouth to give a threatening growlish grumble. Shadow returned the action and the two fought a moment for supremacy over Alpha status again, before ending once again in a draw, only to really look back at the baby and observe it again.
Amy rushed over and knelt down to grab the baby, holding it up against her as the three's eyes widened at seeing her.
Immediately, a frenzy began, as they all banged on the dome, trying to get to her, and jumping over the other like dogs when they're excited.
She wanted to know what they were so worked up about, and shifted into her instincts.
Amy! Amy, it's you!
Is that thing yours!? Traitor!
If I find you have betrayed me, I will kill you!
Amy! Amy, I missed you!
Silver's Instinct was over thrilled to see Amy again, wagging his tail and flying around the dome, rubbing his scent on it, as he bumped his head against the dome a few times, wanting to receive attention from her.
Shadow was enraged, if the only female in their pack had mated, then a new Alpha reigned, and he was already having a hard time with Sonic…
Sonic growled, but clearly wanted to see her again, moving around and trying to be the only one up against the dome part where she was, even if Shadow was pacing and jumping over him to try and get to her as well, he was holding his ground as the only one in front of her.
"They seem to-"
"It's okay, Tails. I know." Amy looked up to him, looking sad at how he could of kept them away from her like this. "I know." She smiled, and looked back to her friends.
Be calm. I am well. And this little one was found by me. I claim him as my own child.
"..Claim?" Tails looked on the screen, having a sarcastic smile on his face, turning back to her with an eyebrow raised.
Amy flinched, looking back at the boys.
I-I-I mean..um.. he's just mine now, okay?
She draped a paw in front of the boy, feeling awkward about how she worded that, as the little boy huffed a cute grunt.
He was attempting to speak like they were, but was only mimicking, so the action had no actual words.
Sonic huffed back, upset the boy dared to speak up at the moment. He was still unsure of its origins…
Instinct Shadow still paced, his face looking harsh with distrust.
I will only believe you when I smell no other male upon you.
He stated, as Sonic looked back, not saying anything, before replying.
I agree. Let us near you again.
Silver flew down, licking the dome.
Amy! Amy! I want to be with you again! It's so scary here. This piece of sky hurts us when that fox scolds us for trying to escape.
Silver's instinct looked over to Tails, who jolted as Amy quickly shot her head over to his direction.
Sonic growled.
All Others are monsters. And they work together to inflict pain upon us.
Shadow finally stopped to look at Tails.
The fox holds powers we cannot fight. And although I am not afraid, I can neither challenge his power either. He is not one of us, he does not know our ways. Why does he try and tame us? What does he gain from our affairs with our Others?
Shadow turned away then from Tails, and moved on to pacing again, waiting for Sonic to move from his spot to then take directly with Amy again.
Tails's back was toward them, as his guilt resurfaced and he put his hands down on his work table, trying to hold back any further tears…
Amy got up, and walked over, looking at the buttons and pressing one while holding Data in her arms.
"W-what are you doing?!" Tails stated, seeing her actions.
"I'm setting them free."
"No! Wait!" he tried to stop her but the dome began to lift up, as the Hedgehogs squirmed and wiggled their way through the small crack and finally was able to get out.
They immediately ran to Amy.
"No!" Tails felt something may happen, as he himself, didn't trust the instincts, even if he felt bad for them. Stepping in front of Amy, he waited for the worst, before…
"..Tails, buddy, it's okay. We regained ourselves."
Tails opened his eyes from squeezing them shut, and looked up. His hands were spread out to protect Amy, as Amy looked over his shoulder and grinned. "Sonic!"
Sonic slowly rose from on his hands and feet, before getting jumped by Amy into an embrace. "Woah! Hey, now… I'm kinda a bit weak from not being out in my body for so long." He stated, letting her hug him until she was done and stepped back, as he sighed out in exhaustion. "We didn't really make any progress, Tails. We've been stuck, letting them run around, for months now. It's kind of a shock to realize we still couldn't find a common ground…" Sonic folded his arms, upset he couldn't connect with his instinct, and more so disappointed that he failed in their last attempt at solving their Instinct problem.
"I'm afraid there's no other option. We just have to be contained during mating season." Shadow also rose up, closing his eyes and folding his arms, as Silver slowly approached the child.
"He.." the team all stared at him.
"What's wrong, Silver?" Sonic asked.
"…He's not the one." He sighed out in relief. "I was worried for a moment, that that child was… nevermind." He shook his head, and smiled again. "I missed you,… Amy. How have you been?" he asked, as Amy smiled, she had missed the boys too.
She hugged Silver, making him step back a bit as Data looked up from the side where Amy held him away, and Silver weakly smiled and chuckled, seeing it awkward that the baby was staring at him. "Ha, ha…"
"I missed you too, Silver…" she admitted, and pulled out of his embrace. "I'm sorry I didn't know about you three…" she stated, before looking to Shadow and moving to him.
"Oh no." Shadow held out his hands. "I don't hug." He stated, "You should know that by now." He was attempting to fold his arms again but she rushed in on him, and to his surprise, she hugged him without his permission.
"I never asked if you wanted one." She stated, as he looked away, annoyed and scowling at her actions, but deep down he did want some kind of assurance that she cared he was gone for so long.
She stepped back, feeling a lot better that the boys were back, as she held the baby to her side. "Alright, now that that little experiment of boredom is over, let's find this baby a nice, warm bath!" she picked the baby up over her head and rubbed her nose against his again, knowing he laughed every time she did it, and held him back to herself as he gripped her shoulder and hung there. She bounced off, humming, as the boys looked to each other, not sure if she wanted them to follow or…?
"Well?" She stuck her head out from the door that she had just exited through. "Are you coming?"
Well, that answered their first question.
"Now, hold on, Amy. I know you're excited about taking care of the baby… you know… after.." he started to whisper quietly at the last part, as Amy understood why. He rose his voice again, "But I think we should be looking for that baby's mother."
"He was abandoned though…" she pouted, as the Baby fiddled with her quills to her sides again, pawing and stroking them down before nibbling at them.
"You don't know that." Sonic stepped forward. "Listen, we need to sleep." He gestured to Shadow, Silver, and himself. "So, we'll help you get word out about his disappearance, but first, let us take a nap." He hung his arms out and leaned down, looking exhausted as his eyelids drooped down with him.
"Sonic's right. We've been trying to agree on a compromise with our instincts for months now. We're mentally drained." Shadow explained.
"Hey, it's not the kid I'm looking for, but after I rest, I'll be happy to lend a hand." Silver offered, even though he was only saying that to be with Amy, and didn't actually feel comfortable with the child at all.
But he didn't really know why….
"Hmph. The baby's mine. End of story!" she puffed up her cheek, and swished her head to the side along with her quills, as Data reached for his quill, and started crying when he couldn't reach it. "There, there. Mama's not gonna let them give you away, no she's not, hehe~" she cooed to him, before walking off.
The three sighed, before all getting headaches at the same time.
"Uhh… maybe you three should lie down." Tails had a sweat drop drip down the side of his face.
-Amy's home-
Amy was washing Data up, as he played in the bubbles, splashing around as Amy gave him a bubble hat, and laughed at it on his head.
She then wrapped him up in an old blanket of hers, kissing his forehead and trying to rock him to sleep. "Lalala~"
The baby cried.
"Oh, come on. I don't sing that bad, do I?" she frowned, and tried to sing something else, "All's well, that's cast under a spell~ A spell~ that makes the flowers~ grow~" she took her old song and tried to make it softer, a little less jumpy, and more like a lullaby. "And the water~ flow~ Spell, spell, all is well~"
The baby continued to cry, and she stomped her foot down, upset.
"Ohhh… stop crying! I don't know what else to do… ah! Wait! You're hungry, right?"
Running down the stairs, she set him down on some pillows she had circled around to make look like a cradle, but it ended up looking like a small nest.
She started pouring some milk, not realizing baby's drink formulated milk, and walked in to give him it.
She gasped, almost spilling the milk when she noticed the baby now looked more like a 2 year old.
"Uh… how… when did… you?" she pointed to him, then up, and then put her pointer finger on her chin, looking up and trying to make sense of it all.
A knock came to her door, having been hours after seeing the boys, and it being very much the beginning of night.
"Coming!" Amy knew it was probably Tails or something, so she set the milk down and rushed over, the baby still crying. "Yes?" she opened the door slightly, and saw Sonic, Shadow, and Silver all looking pretty awkward at her door.
"Tails says it's too late to set up flyers, and we'll do it tomorrow. But um…" Sonic scratched the back of his head, previously having them folded a moment ago. "…He wants us to make sure you're taking proper care of it. But to be honest, I don't know how to take care of babies! You seem better at it then I do-"
"WHHHHHAAAAHAHAHAHHHAAAA!"
"What is that awful shrieking?" Shadow asked, before blinking a moment, and then looking completely done with life. "I'm not agreeing to take care of anything." Shadow stated, upset he was being wrangled into this.
He had no patience for little ones… or so he had thought.
Silver was immediately placed online to figure out why Data was drinking the milk, and started relaying instructions to Sonic and Amy, who were cooking in the kitchen, and trying to make the formulated milk.
Shadow… was holding a toy Amy had given him to entertain the baby, but it only kept screaming in his face, as he just shook the toy once over it's face, before looking up like he hated his life.
Once the milk was done, Amy hurried to pass it to Sonic, "Quick! Go, go, go!" she cried out, as he raced to the baby and tried to figure out how to get his mouth to close over the bottle.
"He's not taking it!" he cried out, everyone frantically trying to get this baby to just shut up already.
"Here!" Silver gripped the bottle with his powers, and put it down by his mouth, letting it tap his lower lip as the boy started drinking.
The gang all watched a moment, before sighing in relief.
Data was done quickly though, and in a matter of seconds, was crying again.
"Darn it all! Just give him something to chew on!" Shadow cried out, as the gang rushed to mush up whatever Amy had for the little guy.
Finally feeding him properly, Data burped and yawned.
The gang had ruffled quills and were leaning on SOMETHING out of exhaustion.
The baby had kept them up all night, and Silver was leaning down on the chair near the computer, looking out like a light.
Shadow was sitting on the table, glaring at the baby in exhaustion, because Sonic was slumped over the couch, snoring a bit, and Amy had her arm over the armrest near the baby, sleeping like that.
Shadow was about to fall asleep, assured now, that the baby wouldn't wake up, as it was his designated shift to watch it. He leaned on his hand before the baby started awake, and so did he, blinking quickly as he saw the baby wake up.
"Emm… ga.." it was about to cry again.
Amy woke up, and tapped the baby's belly. "Data….go to sleep…" she muttered, half asleep already.
"Data?" Shadow hadn't heard the baby be called any name, but the boy sure didn't look like an infant anymore… in fact… he seemed… somehow different in appearance from when he last saw him in the dome.
The baby was squirming, and it seemed like he was about to cry again.
Amy tapped his stomach, "All is well…" she yawned, unable to sing.
Remembering something, Shadow quickly placed his hand over Amy's tapping hand, and moved it in a rubbing way, as Amy's hand rubbed the sleeping baby for him.
Then, as Amy fell back to sleep, he started singing Maria's song to him.
"Next to me… you are free… Like the water flowing, like the ocean's pleasant breeze. Do-dodo-do…"
The baby actually liked the deep and quiet rhythm of Shadow's voice, and slowly blinked his eyes closed.
Seeing it was working, Shadow continued.
"Like the flowers, come spring… do-dodo-do~… I am always, do-dodo-do…"
He stopped rubbing Amy's hand, and picked it up, looking to her and seeing her asleep, he held her hand a moment in his own.
Holding it more properly, he rubbed his thumb against the softness of her glove, and held it close to his face for a moment, smelling her familiar scent but since it wasn't mating season, it wasn't that kind of smell that would trigger him.
He slowly placed her hand back down on the armrest. "Here." He finished, before leaning over the couch, reaching, and slapping Sonic awake.
"Huh, wha, what?" Sonic was barely awake, as he looked to Shadow, yawning as he spoke. "Whhhhaaatda do that for?" he smacked his lips, still very tried.
"Watch the kid." Shadow instructed, and lay down against the closet door.
"O…Oh." Sonic looked to the baby. "…Great…" he realized it was his turn, and did not look very happy about it…
The baby woke up later when Sonic was sitting on the table where Shadow once was, having his arm up and holding his head up as he slept, before the baby started to make noise, and he shook himself awake, shaking his head to stay awake, and reached over.
"Hey, squirt." He stated, breathing out some air as he strained to move forward, leaning over the kid. "D-…Do me a favor. Don't cry." He chuckled at his own joke, and held his face close to the baby's.
Data stopped from about to cry, out of curiosity.
He reached out and gripped Sonic's nose.
"Ow." Sonic stated, squinting his eyes at the tight grip the kid possessed. "You've got a firm grip." He stated, not really liking it, but shook his head up and down. "How… do … you … do." He joked that that was a handshake, as the baby giggled and shook his nose around, but when he pulled it up to far, it felt like something ripping Sonic's nose off, and he had to pull back and sneeze, rubbing his nose.
Data sneezed too.
"Heh, hey, jinx. You owe me a chilidog." Sonic teased, and got down to kneel by the kid, so he didn't have to lean over him, and let his head rest on his feet. "So… you gonna go back to sleep now?" he kid.
Data cooed, and reached up to touch his face.
Sonic didn't really want his face touched anymore, but let the kid grip at his cheeks before he started trying for his eyes, and that's when his hands came up.
"Tell ya what, you can play with these." He stated, as Data touched his hands and fingers, chewing on one. "Haha, you're teeth are kinda nummy." Sonic laughed, before feeling slight teeth. "Hey, ow, when did those chompers get there?" he was surprised, a moment ago that kid barely had a bite, and now, he was chewing. "Ow, okay, enough of my fingers…" he pulled his hands away as Data started crying, not liking having his chew toy taken away.
Sonic got worried, his spines standing on end as he looked to Amy, who started to stir in her sleep, possibly waking up. "Hey, no. no, no, no! Don't wake her up!" Sonic whispered, picking the baby up and holding him a moment, bouncing him up and down. "No, no, no… it's okay, Sonic's gotcha now." He patted the kid's back, as Data cried a little more, and he rushed upstairs so no one would wake up.
Data was then moved to Sonic's arms as he saw the weird bracelet around one of his quills. "..Huh?" taking the beaded stringed bracelet with the name tag on it, he stopped bouncing the kid in his arms and just swayed his body left and right. "Data?" he stated, and looked down. "Really? That's a… well, it's a name, at least." Sonic concluded. "Hey, I don't want to insult ya, I mean, you just got the name, right? Maybe it'll grow on ya. Haha. You only get one, squirt." Sonic kid, as Data started to fall back asleep, and Sonic couldn't help but feel something strange, like a protective urge to keep this little guy safe.
He felt weird about it though, and shook off the feeling, startling the baby back awake, as he immediately regretted that decision. "Oh, no, no, no, no, not again." He felt himself starting to get scared. There was a baby in his arms, he had never held something that terrified him so much, as he realized how much responsibility he was holding, and started to think of the future, which wasn't something he liked to do.
Feeling afraid of his growing affection for the little tike, he raced downstairs, and woke Silver up.
"H-huh?" Silver rubbed his eyes, before having the baby dropped in his care. "Wait, what are you.. d-doing!?" Silver was wide awake now, having Sonic move from one leg to another in desperation to get this baby out of his arms.
"It's up to you now!" Sonic patted his new found friend's back, and ducked to the other side of the couch, falling down and trying to sleep his worry and fear away.
"What, but, I've never… hey!" Silver spoke a little too loudly, as Data woke up annoyed, and started crying again, but was too exhausted to really put up a fight.
Silver freaked out, holding the baby with one hand as he got up, and flew up in the air. "There, there. There, there." He bounced the baby in his arms, and looked around.
Seeing Shadow and Sonic sound asleep, he suddenly saw Amy, and his fear rushed away from him as he noticed how peaceful she slept.
Feeling guilty about thinking of waking her up to take care of the kid, he just held the kid up to himself and gave him a smile. "Don't worry. I'll let her sleep." He started flying around, as the movement seemed to not bother Data, but make him sleepy.
Silver flew down, but held the baby up in the air and with his power, slowly let go of the baby, and rocked him back and forth in the air.
Data, once again, didn't resist the pull of sleep and was once again breathing quietly with his eyes gently closed.
Silver took an immediate liking to the boy the second he started to stir awake a few hours later, as Silver hadn't been able to sleep as he need to remain focused and rock the baby in the air.
Pulling him down to him though, he saw the baby start fiddling and licking his chest fur, and not liking the texture of it at first. He laughed quietly, "Yeah, give it a few years… you'll have your own soon enough." He kid, and looked to see something around his crooked quill.
As Data continued to fiddle with his fur, he took the bracelet off and took a peek at the name tag. "Dat?" he stated, before moving his thumb. "Data." He stated, and looked down at the boy, who didn't seem to respond to the name. "Did Amy name you Data?" he raised an eyebrow, not sure how to react to that. He looked back up at the bracelet, then shrugged, and put it back over his quill. "Well, it's a cool name." he stated, and looked down at the kid, who was resting against him, and fell back to sleep.
"…Data…" he looked up. "…I don't think I've ever heard that name before."
Amy slowly stirred up, blinking her eyes and looking around, before seeing the baby wasn't in his pillowed cradle. "Data?" she looked around.
"Over here." Silver stated, before thinking how awkward it was to be taking care of the kid and flew up, holding him and carrying him to Amy. "He um… well uh… I think it's you're turn now." He stated, but secretly, he kinda liked the kid.
Amy nodded, "Right. My shift." She yawned, and walked around with the baby.
"Y-you sure you'll be okay?" he asked, hovering a little closer to her.
"I'm fine." She winked to him, making him look over her shoulder to see her face better, and smiled.
He suddenly jolted away, "Oh, a-about that day…" he had never fully explained what had happened.
"Don't worry about it, Silver. I figured you're instincts work a little differently because of evolution. I know you didn't mean too." She kindly stated, and put her attention back to the baby. "You are such a big boy! Aren't ya? Have you gained weight?"
As she moved away, Silver lowered his arms down…
He had meant that kiss…
As Amy walked outside, Data looked over her shoulder and lifted his hand up, giggling. A light blue aura arose, but Amy was too busy thinking the baby might cry again and wanted to make sure he was bundled up in his blanket that she had pulled from the couch while looking for him to notice this strange occurrence. As she placed the blanket over him, he used his power to pull Sonic's head up a little from the couch. He smiled, before Amy pulled him down, and Sonic's head flopped down from being filled with blue aura on the armrest. She placed him down on his back on her lap and started playing peek-a-boo. She wasn't so tried anymore, not like the boys, who really needed the sleep.
She wanted to spend time with her new little bundle of joy, before seeing something odd.
The door was open, and she could peek in, so when she saw Data's ear twitch…
She remembered her own ear twitching in instinct form.
His eyes were closed, and it was too dark to see, but his eyes were in instinct form.
She saw him wiggle his nose, and felt that was similar to something she had seen before too. Looking behind her, she saw through the door that Sonic's nose wiggled too, up on the couch's armrest he was on, when the cold hit it from the door.
"Huh… that's weird." She thought, and looked back to the boy. He was falling asleep, but took his finger and rubbed the tip of his brow. She looked back and saw Shadow huff in his sleep, and rub the tip of his brow…
She was gawking now, and looked back down.
He kicked his foot out, and she turned to see Silver adjusting himself on the table, and kick his foot out before curling up a little bit to stay warm.
She looked back, and there was Data, curled up slightly to keep himself warm.
"…No." she shook her head. "It's probably just a hedgehog thing." She concluded.
Though… besides the ear twitch, her behaviors were not like the boys…
"You're… you're just a special boy, aren't you?" she tried not to think about that weird coincidence, and started tickling him. "Hehe! I love you!" she laughed, as the boy gripped his blanket, looking a lot older, maybe like a 3 year old now, but Amy was too tried to notice.
"Love you~ I do~" she kissed his forehead and continued to play with him, as he giggled and giggled, waking up more and more and smiling, before she thought she heard.
"L-love!"
"…I love you…?" she opened her eyes and waited for the sound of him speaking to happen again. She knew he looked to young to speak, and when he didn't speak again, only rocked on his back and held his feet in his hands, hanging his tongue out, she just thought it was the wind. "Heh, love, love, love~ Silly me, I must be very tried." She wiggled her nose against his, and he laughed, as he always did when she did that.
She blew on his stomach to get him to curl up, and laughed when he became a ball.
Then he didn't uncurl.
"Huh?" she lowered down and tried to tickle him out, but he wouldn't budge, he was just in a tight ball.
He giggled, just playing with her, and liking the attention.
"….It can't be.." she moved her head away a moment, growing suspicious…
Orbot and Cubot peeked their heads out from her garden, having disguised themselves as flowers.
She lowered her head down, and parted his quills, blowing gently on the exposed skin.
When he uncurled, she gasped, and Orbot quickly threw a wire from his hand out at her, like a spiderman move, as it flew out and stuck to her head.
"Wha? Ah!" she was jolted and knocked out, as Cubot reached to grab the boy before he fell.
"She knows! She knows!" Cubot frantically spoke out, before Orbot smacked his head.
"Now you listen to me! According to Eggman, she has no idea! And we are not responsible for any ideas that got into her head about it! Deal?" Orbot put a hand out, as Data started crying.
"Uh, uh, deal!" Cubot shook Orbot's hand, as they quickly flew up and out of sight, as the baby's crying grew weaker and weaker….
-Egg Airship-
Eggman had stepped into the Boy's room, or more like cell, to see Orbot and Cubot recharging over the boy's bed, as Eggman noticed the substantial increase in size and apparent age Data had grown since this morning.
"…Hmph." He flopped the clothes on the bed, and was about to walk out, before seeing the sunrise, and looking at the three.
He grumbled a quick sigh, and walked over to the barred window, and moved the window blinds so the sun wouldn't disturb them.
He then took one final look at Data and his two robots, smiled quickly, before lowering it back to a content frown, and walking out.
What vile plan did Eggman have in mind for Data now…? And what would Amy do, now seeming to have an idea of what the child could possibly be..?
(I headcanon Eggman is good on a sewing machine. So yes, Eggman made those clothes for Data xD)