Chapter 8: Mall Takeover
Sonic, Tails, Amy, and Nicole are at the Station Square National Mall Complex with Nicole using an orb drone to maintain her solid hologram body outside Tails' workshop. "Wow there are a lot of people here," Nicole said as she saw Mobians and Humans enjoying themselves while shopping at the newest shops.
"Mina is doing a show here along with her rival Honey the Cat doing another concert on the other side of the mall," Sonic said.
"I am so hyped to see Mina's performance," Amy said as Tails nodded his head.
"Yes, I hope that Honey girl doesn't do anything underhanded. She posted nasty rumors about Mina online like her trying to tie her to Shadow like she is going behind Sonic's back," Tails said.
"Yeah, that was very mean of her. She is just jealous Mina is a genuine person who is relatable and has a killer voice," Amy said.
"I know right, we can keep up if they try to make her show look bad," Sonic said.
"A rivalry huh, sounds pretty toxic," Nicole said.
"Yeah on Honey's end. We don't need more crazy girls sticking around us," Sonic said.
"Oh, like that Sally girl, you were fighting in the mystic ruins," Tails said.
"Yeah right, I wouldn't want to be with someone so stuck up like that stuffy princess," Sonic said.
"Oh yeah, Princess Sally. She was removed from her kingdom over a year ago when a coup took place there. They have been closed off ever since then," Nicole said as she felt some sympathy for Sally.
"Doesn't make her a nice person. She helped kill innocent people and she is working with a villain," Amy said as Sonic nodded his head.
"Yeah despite what happened to her. She still needs to answer for all the crimes she has done along with her crew of minions," Sonic said.
"Indeed," Tails said.
"I suppose," Nicole said as Tails checked on his digital assistant.
"So how are you holding up with the drone," Tails asked as the small, orange-sized drone was projected on her Mobian Lynx body.
"It feels nice Tails, it allows me to flex my holo body in the outside world. It's pretty nice to experience than learning about it on the internet," Nicole said.
"You picked that outfit huh?" Amy asked as Nicole was wearing a purple tank top, blue shorts, and black shoes along with a purple cap on her furry head.
"I thought it looked good right?" Nicole asked as Amy patted her on the back.
"It's very cute on you," Amy said as Nicole nodded her head.
"Okay, let's head for Mina's concert," Nicole said as they managed to see Honey the Cat going to her concert on the other side of the mall.
"Oh, that big, boobed bimbo. They care about her milkers, I will show her what real music looks like," Honey said as she approached her stage to perform one of her songs. "Hello everyone, Honey the Cat here. I hope you enjoy my performance today," Honey noticed her crowd was less than half than it was before.
"Seems like people know who the real star is here," Tails said.
"Yeah, Mina is drawing about 5 times the size, and it's not full yet," Nicole scans the room to gather this information.
"No amount of Breezie's money can buy skill and talent," Sonic said as Honey looked over at the gang to have a nasty look on her face.
"Oh, those idiots. There are here and that big, boobed bimbo is here as well. It's perfect for our plan to begin," Honey thought to cook up Breezie's plan.
Sonic and the others are within a huge area to see a stage in the middle of the room. Mina is in her idol outfit ready to perform her music. The four friends wave to Mina as she smiles back at them. She feels more energized than before to see the cheers of her fans shake up the whole area.
"Alright everyone, I am the Songoose Mina speaking, are you ready to have a good time?" Mina sound as the crowd roars with cheers as she begins singing and dancing on the stage.
"Look at Mina go," Amy said as Mina was enjoying herself pleasing her adoring fans.
"She is so bouncing up there," Nicole said as Sonic leered at her deep cleavage exposed from her low-cut top.
"She sure is," Sonic said slyly as Amy elbowed him in the stomach.
"Sonic," Amy said as Sonic had a cheeky smile. "Is that what you like Sonic, big tits?" she asked.
"Part of it is why I love her so much," Sonic said as Amy sighed at this.
"You and Shadow, only going after big-breasted women," Amy said as she felt a bit jealous that Rouge and Mina are very mature-looking females.
"I think you are going about this in a surface-level type of way. Mina was smaller back when we started dating, I still love her regardless but her looking like this is a big bonus," Sonic said.
"Yeah Sonic has a certain type of body shape he likes," Tails said as Sonic playfully hit him on the shoulder.
"Gee Tails, trying to be cool about it," Sonic said as Nicole looked with confusion.
"What is he talking about?" Nicole asked.
"Dumb boy stuff," Amy said as they resumed watching the show.
Both shows have stopped with Honey looking on with anger. She sees Mina has gathered much bigger than she did. "Well, at least she is here now," Honey said as she called on her phone to talk with Breezie. "Boss, they are here. Sonic and Mina are here inside the mall," Honey said.
"Good, taking out the competition and the hero all in one go. That is what I call a good business move," Breezie said. "Now use that computer virus and put it into the mall's mainframe. It will take care of the rest," Breezie said.
"Indeed, the whole mall can be controlled through the mainframe and the sentient virus will turn this place into a death trap for them," Honey said as she went towards the control room with the USB drive holding the virus inside. "I would love to see the look of Songoose's face when her life flashes before her eyes while I gain the real title of Mobius's top pop idol," Honey said as she sneaked off from her crowd of fans.
Back with Mina coming off the stage to see her fans wanting to take selfies and get her autographs signed for her fans. "Did you guys like the show?" Mina asked.
"Pretty good," Amy said.
"Well done Mina," Tails said.
"You were impressive Mina," Nicole said.
"Good as always babe," Sonic said as Mina giggled from their praise.
"Thanks, guys. I am glad you like it," Mina said as she whipped up her long purple hair to straighten it out. "Come on, let's hit the food court and I will treat you all," Mina said.
"Cool, I love free food," Amy said as they headed down the hallways to see Honey walking by them.
"Oh, hello there Honey," Mina said as she spoke with her rival.
"Oh, hey there Songoose. I see you managed to surpass your last outing, you must be so proud of yourself," Honey said in a dry tone.
"I should, I owe it to my loving fans, my close friends, and my boyfriend," Mina said as Honey brushed it off to be sickened by her cutesy demeanor.
"Sure whatever. I bet it has everything to do with those ballistics of yours, jumping around in that tight top," Honey said pointing to her large chest trapped in her purple top with Mina being offended by this.
"How rude, my figure is none of your business. Also, I earned my figure with training from my running. You have so much fake stuff like your eyelashes, the facelifts, and a butt lift," Mina said as Honey is flaunting her shapely figure Mina knows that everything about Honey's body is paid for to be used to push Breezie's products.
"It's all to make me flawless," Honey said as Mina felt pity for her for thinking her fakeness was a strength.
"Well, I need to eat with my friends. So have a good day," Mina said as the five friends headed off to the food court. Honey has a nasty smile on her face.
"Oh, I will have a good day. When you all drop dead," Honey said to head over to the control room.
Mina takes her group to the All-Stars Buffet and they get a seat inside. "Well, it's an all-you-can-eat buffet at lunch hours. Go nuts," Mina said.
"You are talking my language, Mina," Sonic said as they began to grab their shares with Nicole sitting at the table looking around the area.
"I can't food but I can enjoy the atmosphere around me at least," Nicole takes in her surroundings with a warm comfortable setting with families, friend groups, and couples. She looks at a human couple being happy together as this made her feel a certain way. "Love, it's quite a pleasant sight to witness," Nicole said as her body felt flushed from these unknown emotions swelling within her.
Amy is going to pick up her food as a male hawk Mobian is checking her out from his table. "Hey, look at the sexy little hedgehog," the male hawk said as he went over to Amy who was picking up some buttered rolls onto her plate.
Amy feels someone checking her out as a weird male hawk is coming over to her. "Oh great, some creep," Amy said.
"Hey there sweet cheeks," the hawk said as Amy tried to hold herself back from slamming his head in with her hammer.
"What do you want?" Amy asked as she felt the leers of this pervert looking at her body-hugging her pink and white dress while exposing her slender legs.
"I was wondering if you could hang out with me for some yummy food," the hawk said.
"I am with friends here. Look somewhere else," Amy said as the guy was pushing up on her. Tails and Sonic noticed this as they moved towards her.
"Hey maybe we can get to know each other better and then you can feel more comfortable," the male hawk said as he grabbed Amy's arm.
"Don't touch me," Amy summons her hammer to scare off the creep with Sonic and Tails approaching her.
"Amy, are you okay?" Sonic asked.
"Yeah, that guy was being very weird," Tails said as Amy put her hammer away.
"Yeah, he was being a weirdo. Give me fuck me eyes, thanks for coming to my defense guys," Amy said as Sonic pats her on the shoulder.
"Hey, what are friends for, right," Sonic said as Amy smiled at this.
"Right," Amy said as she saw them both gathered their food already. "More chili dogs Sonic?" Amy asked as he had a plate of onion rings, French fries, cheesy breadsticks, and two chili dogs.
"Hey, it's all part of a balanced meal," Sonic said as both Tails and Amy sighed at this.
"Sure Sonic, whatever you say, buddies," Tails said as Mina gathered some food on her plate to head back to Nicole to see if she was spacing into nothingness.
"Nicole. are you okay?" Mina asked as Nicole nodded her head.
"Yes, I am okay. I was thinking about some things," Nicole said as Mina had a sly look on her face.
"Oh, I heard you were getting cute with Shard in Tails' workshop," Mina said in a joking tone as this made AI blush in the face.
"Oh, Tails told you huh?" she asked.
"Yes, and I find it pretty cute. You have not been active too long in this world but you are discovering complex emotions," Mina said placing her plate on the table. Nicole noted all the foods on her plate like cheesy breadsticks, slices of cheese pizza, chicken mini sandwiches, and shreds of BBQ chicken.
"Yes I am, it's more interesting than looking it up on the internet," Nicole said as Mina bit into a breadstick to overwhelm her with a mouth-watering taste.
"Oh delish," Mina said as she focused on talking with Nicole. "Indeed, it is. I wonder how did Tails make you?" Mina asked being very curious about this.
"Well, he didn't make me from scratch. He found my prototype AI core in one of Eggman's warehouses. I was in a very primitive state and he worked onto my core to become the Nicole I am today," Nicole said as Mina's eyes widened by.
"You were made by Eggman?" she wondered.
"Kind of, he made my framework and Tails managed to put me together in a working state. I am Tails' creation but I came from Eggman's framework," Nicole said.
"Oh, I see, Tails made you who you are and your prototype core is like the seed that he helped maintain and shaped who you are now," Mina said as Nicole nodded her head.
"That is a good way of putting it but I had no memory of those times with Eggman anyway. I just remember being with Tails as I gained a personality 6 months ago," Nicole said.
"Okay, I am happy you what you are now. We can be friends now," Mina said as Nicole fixes up her cap.
"Oh, we can be friends," Nicole said.
"Yes, we already are friends Nicole. If you need any help, just give me a call," Mina tells Nicole her phone number as Nicole records this number in her databases.
"I will. Thank you, Mina," Nicole said.
"No problem and your boy troubles. I can help with that too," Mina said giving her a playful wink as Nicole glowed in the face.
"Okay," Nicole said sheepishly as she made her real friend in Mina Mongoose.
"Well, I am going to take you to some shops and see what kind of combos we can mix and match," Mina said.
"Okay, that would be fun," Nicole said as everyone got back to their seats to enjoy a nice meal together.
Elsewhere Honey is in the control room to plug in the USB drive to install a living virus in the mainframe of the mall.
"Now Havoc, do some damage. The plan is to let Havoc activate the sleeping gas putting everyone inside to sleep while triggering the generator to overheat and explode killing everyone inside the mall while they are fast asleep. It's perfect," Honey said as she left the control room with all the guards knocked out by sleeping darts. "
"Goodbye Mina Mongoose, hope your big ass tits don't hit you on our way to the afterlife along with your friends," Honey said as the living computer virus Havoc is beginning to leak out sleeping gas within the whole building while Honey makes her escape.
Back with Mina and Nicole who are shopping at a clothing shop while Sonic, Tails, and Amy are hanging out somewhere else. Suddenly they hear a hissing noise as Mina's ears pick this up. "Oh my, what is this?" Mina wondered as she got gas into her mouth as her body was beginning to feel heavy.
"What is happening?" Nicole wondered as she canceled her holographic form to scan the area. "There is a breach in the mall's security. There is a sentient virus within the mall's mainframe and it's closing down the whole mall," Nicole said as she looked over to see Mina on the floor.
"I can't move, too sleepy. Nicole, Sonic," Mina said as she fell into a deep slumber for everyone within the complex Mobians and Humans alike are dropping onto the floor. Nicole is using her drone to get out of the shop to see a very creepy sight with all the customers falling to the ground.
"This isn't good. I have to get to a terminal and jack into the digital world and sort this out," Nicole said as they flew through the hallways to see even Sonic, Tails, and Amy sleeping on the ground. "Well seems like it's up to me to stop this virus," Nicole said as she found a terminal to wirelessly hack into it allowing herself to enter the datascape of the mall.
She teleports inside to be combat-ready as she dons a purple spear she made from data for she rushes through this data world. She spots all the ads and logos of the shops and stores based within the mall. All she can see are neon lights and large blocky hills of code covered by the ads and logos.
Nicole is using her combat form to speed through the long twisting paths to head for the virus's location. She spots weird-looking wasps trying to stop her from reaching Havoc. "Better put my combat stance to good use," Nicole uses her hacking ability to shape the virtual world around her. She creates a firewall for the wasps to slam into it as she leaps off the raised floor to cut down the wasps.
"Oh, great bugs, they are protecting the virus," Nicole shoots out green-coded shards as they lock onto targets with shards floating behind her. She dodges incoming wasps as she slices them with her spear and lobs sharp shards into the weird wasps. She sees more enemies as she lets out a charged blast to blow up a group of wasps with all the shards she gathered behind her to take out the other wasps.
Nicole summons towers to act as firewalls to block the incoming bugs as she peppers the enemies with the shards blasting them to pieces. She lets out a burst of power to unleash a barrage of shards to cut them all down with the tower becoming a turret firing its shards to kill off the second wave of bugs.
She slices and dices the incoming wasps while another group of bugs aka Mantises looms over her. They use their sickle arms to try and slash her in half. She is deflecting the incoming blows with her spear as she summons a tower underneath a Mantis to slice it down the middle.
She conjures more towers to block their pursuit of her as she snaps her fingers turning her towers into turrets. More shards shoot at the bugs as she unleashes a large barrage of shards to destroy groupings of bugs.
One of the mantises fires an energy beam from its maw to destroy some of her towers. She is dodging incoming beams as she uses her spear to knock to the side. She summons two towers on either side of the bug and makes them press against the monster crushing it swiftly.
Nicole moves at a rapid pace to see a huge dome area and a shut door as she begins to use her hacking to force the door to open. "What the hell, why is there a program here fighting back?" Havoc roared.
"I am here to stop you, virus," Nicole said as she broke inside to see a huge, distorted orb hovering by the ceiling.
"A little program like you, I will infest you and turn your code apart," Havoc said as Nicole felt nervous about this. There is a counter on top of the dome to show 5 minutes remaining.
"What is that?" she asked as the living virus laughed at her.
"This is the countdown until the mall's reactor explodes killing everyone inside in a fiery display," Havoc said as Nicole is horrified by this.
"No! Mina, Sonic, Tails, and Amy. The citizens as well, they will all die," Nicole said as the evil virus laughed at her.
"Of course, that is the point. Now prepare for your deletion," Havoc said.
"I need to do this, the others are counting on me or they will be killed," Nicole wields her spear and summons a tower preparing an anti-virus program. "I am going to delete and free everyone from your grip," Nicole said as Havoc unleashed a powerful energy wave to knock Nicole into a wall.
"Try me, little program," Havoc said as he summons more bugs like wasps and mantises with Nicole using her shards, tower turrets, and firewalls to keep them off her back while forming the circle with firewalls.
"Shard Burst," Nicole lobs flying shards to impale into the bug to make them explode on impact. She is knocking the bugs away as she continues to prepare her deletion protocol.
"Rip her to pieces," Havoc ordered his bugs to swarm toward Nicole.
"Talon Scar," Nicole powers up her spear for the blade to get bigger until she swings it unleashing a barrage of energy crescents to split apart all the bugs into pieces of broken data. The remaining energy crescents tear into Havoc making him scream in pain.
"Oh no, you don't," Havoc fires beams of energy with Nicole batting them away with her spear as she summons a firewall which bounces back the attack and hits havoc causing some damage.
Havoc begins to flood the room with a sticky matter with Nicole leaps on top of her towers. She sees the matter turn into spikes which Nicole avoids by making platforms to jump on.
"Eat this, Shard Bloom," Nicole gathers all her shards to home in on Havoc while her turrets unleash even more shards to embed into the virus's orb-like body causing a chain reaction of explosions to knock the virus off balance.
The floor turns back to normal as she creates more firewalls to begin entrapping Havoc inside. She began hacking the walls to begin ensnaring the virus with twisting strands of code.
"I got you now," Nicole said as she held the virus down. She unleashes volleys of explosive shards to pepper the viral beast weakening it further. She finishes her firewalls to trap the virus. "I am finished, preparing virus deletion," Nicole said as she activated the program for Havoc beginning to disappear in a flash of light.
"Damn it, what are you?" Havoc demanded.
"I am Nicole the Lynx. Sonic and friends' cyberwarfare expert and now I will be the one to delete you. Digital Purge," Nicole said as she used her energy to activate the program to destroy the Havoc Virus and clean up the cyberspace of the Station Square National Mall.
Mina soon wakes up from her slumber to see Nicole standing over her.
"Mina, are you okay?" Nicole asked as Mina got onto her feet.
"Oh my, that was insane," Mina said.
"I managed to purge the virus and bring things back to normal," Nicole said.
"Nicole, you are amazing. You saved all of us," Mina said as she hugged her holographic form with Nicole feeling embarrassed.
"Oh, it's nothing, I was doing what I was made for. You guys are my friends after all especially you Mina," Nicole said.
"Well, I am happy you are part of Team Fighters," Mina said as Nicole looked on with confusion.
"Team Fighters?" Nicole asked.
"Yes with me, Sonic, Tails, and Amy along with you as our new teammate since you managed to do all this," Mina said as Nicole bowed her head feeling honored.
"I will be happy to be part of the team. I will give you cyber warfare assistance on-field and off-field. I will do my best," Nicole said.
"Okay, now let's continue our clothing shopping," Mina said as Nicole felt happy to be part of the team.
"Yes let's," Nicole said as they go hang out together becoming good friends.
Elsewhere Breezie is quite pissed with Honey as her virus Havoc failed to kill Sonic and the others.
"Are you kidding me, this should have been a flawless trap, and yet we still lose," she shouted out of the cell phone.
"Look I didn't know they had an AI on hand and a very powerful one at that," Honey said feeling cheated of her ultimate victory against Mina and her friends.
"What AI?" she asked.
"That girl Nicole who is a little brown Lynx," Honey sends the photo of Nicole to Breezie.
"Oh, she is quite adorable. She would be a good digital pop star if I had gotten her image. Anyway, I have to report back to Naugus with this failure. Honey, you are dismissed," Breezie said to cut off the phone. "This is concerning, I need to make better viruses to deal with this little AI they've gotten," Breezie said as she prepared her plans to deal with Sonic and the others.