Ch. 22: Seventeen Minutes Later…
Vector pulls the leg off of an egg pawn and tosses it to the side "Food and entertainment? I was just here for business."
Vector wipes a splotch of chili off his chin and looks up at the battlefield. Sonic's front yard is once again strewn with robot parts and impact craters. As the chatter of badniks dies down, the whole group meets by the porch, with Sonic landing nearby and walking up to the edge of the circle.
"Great job everyone!" Sonic grins, placing his hands on his hips and rocking back and forth on his heels, "Another great day of breaking Eggman's toys."
CYBER looks down at her hand and then raises it up for a high five. To her delight, Sonic accepts, the high five leaving a metallic ting in the air. CYBER pulls her hand back down, looking at her palm and smiling.
Vector stretches and glances at Charmy, "I think we should get going, still gotta work."
Charmy jumps into the air, flapping his wings as he spirals around CYBER's head, "Thanks for playing with me!"
Unexpectedly, CYBER wraps her arms around Charmy and pulls him into a hug, "Aww it was great fun!"
Charmy squirms for a moment before popping out of CYBER's grip, but CYBER still has a huge toothy grin on her face.
Vector turns to Sonic, shaking his hand, "Thanks for talking me down, I guess I'm just paranoid."
"No problem," Sonic says, taking a sidelong glance at CYBER as he gives Vector's hand a gentle shake.
"Charmy, do you wanna go get Espio for me?" Vector says, returning his hand to his side.
"Of-" Charmy gets cut off.
"I can do it!" CYBER says, raising up her hand and bouncing on her heels.
Without waiting for an answer, CYBER bounds towards the house, brushing her shoulder against Sonic as she passes. Her mind races with the possibilities of what Sonic meant when he mentioned having a one-on-one chat with her. She could certainly dream.
"Wow, eager, isn't she?" Vector says scratching his head.
Inside, Scuff and Espio are seated on opposite sides of the couch, Scuffs hands are folded neatly in his lap as he sits up straight, watching the TV. Espio is sitting on the far end, one leg atop the other, and he has an elbow slung over the side. Espio's attention is split between the TV and Broast, who has their legs tucked into their metal frame and is planted on the floor next to the couch.
"-And you just have to be nice to everyone! You never know what someone is going through," Broast is talking Espio's ear off, one arm gesticulating wildly with every word.
Espio is just nodding along but is the first to notice CYBER entering, perking up but not saying anything. Scuff notices, looks CYBER up and down, gives a small, curt wave, and looks back at the TV. Broast however, pops up off the floor, ejecting their legs from inside of their body, doing a little hop.
"Here, I'll show you!" Broast says to Espio before bounding over to CYBER in a cartoonish manner.
"Hi! I know you, but I don't think we ever formally introduced ourselves," Broast says, offering CYBER a handshake. "I'm Broast!"
"CYBER, but you can call me Cy!" CYBER doesn't miss a beat, breaking into a huge grin and shaking Broast's hand
"May I just say that I think your design is fantastic!" Broast says, releasing the handshake, putting one hand on their "hip" while pointing at CYBER with the other.
CYBER giggles, one of her hands running over her head as if to smooth down hair that isn't there, "I am pretty unique, huh?"
CYBER looks down at her reflection in one of Broasts metal panels, and for the first time, doesn't frown when she sees herself.
Broast turns around and looks back at Espio, "See? New friend!"
"I will admit," Espio says, "Your energy is quite infectious," he says with a small smirk.
"You know what?" CYBER says, walking up next to Broast and giving them a side hug, "We could even be BEST FRIENDS!" CYBER's eyes focus on Scuff, the corners of her spiky smile twitching as she stares Scuff down.
Scuff just slowly crosses his arms and avoids eye contact.
"I dunno…" Broast begins, but stops themself, "Well… we could all be best friends!"
"A best friends squad!" Broast says, looking back and forth to everyone, shaking with excitement.
Espio raises an eyebrow, Scuff is still avoiding eye contact, and CYBER just giggles at the prospect.
"You can't have more than one best friend," Tails says sarcastically as he enters the room, "You can only pick one."
"Oh…" Broast pauses for a moment, turning back and forth to look at everyone in the room. "I choose, Scuff! But the rest of us can still be friends."
Tails looks slightly disappointed, but he recovers quickly. " It makes sense; you two have been hanging out quite a lot…"
CYBER leans on the arm of the couch near Scuff, tapping her fingers on the edge, now frowning slightly, "So… whatcha doing here Tails, I thought you were helping Amy with the dishes?"
"Oh, Amy's outside, we finished the dishes already," Tails points back to the door with his thumb. "They sent me in because, well, Vector is trying to leave and… you know, Espio never came outside…"
CYBER immediately pushes herself away from the couch, "Oh crap! That's right!"
She marches across the room, grabs Espio's wrist, and drags him towards the door. Espio's eyes go wide and he stays tense, getting half dragged down the hall, stumbling behind CYBER. He gives Broast and Scuff a small wave before he's pulled out of sight.
"Bye…" Broast says quietly, folding their legs back into their body and sitting on the floor beside Scuff.
Scuff pats Broast on the shoulder as Broast looks down at the ground dejectedly. Tails just stands there bewildered for a moment, then shakes his head and follows CYBER outside.
"Helloooo everybody!" CYBER announces with energy, releasing Espio's wrist as they reach the porch.
Amy is standing next to Sonic, and Vector is across from them. The three are chatting but turn when CYBER steps out. CYBER steps down from the porch and inserts herself between Sonic and Amy. She puts an arm around each of them and grins ear to ear.
"Hiiii Sonic!" She says leaning into him and then back away.
She turns to Amy, "Thanks for getting that chili dog out of my teeth, you're a lifesaver!"
Amy, a bit caught off guard by CYBER'S flamboyant entrance, just smiles, "It was no problem really, though I have no idea why you tried to eat it in the first place…"
Espio makes his way over to Vector, rubbing his sore wrist as he does so. He gives Vector a small nod.
"Welp, we're off," Vector announces, turning to go. "It was nice visiting!"
"Come anytime!" Sonic says, grinning happily and waving as the Chaotix leaves.
Vector and Espio walk side by side, Charmy is sitting and playing with a flower he found, but he quickly hops up to follow.
"Be safe!" Amy calls after them, giggling to herself as Tails steps off the porch.
CYBER is smiling all the while, holding Amy close and Sonic closer. Noticing Tails, Sonic turns around, breaking CYBER'S grip. Sonic gives Tails a fistbump.
"I assume cleanup was ok?" Sonic asks, addressing both Tails and Amy.
"Yep! All good," Amy says, turning around and also breaking CYBER's grip.
"Thanks for helping me put it together and clean it up Tails," Amy says, putting one hand on her hip and gesturing with the other.
"Oh, nonsense, you did most of the work," Tails says, rubbing the back of his head.
CYBER still hasn't turned around. She's watching the Chaotix shrink into the background, half listening to what's being said behind her. CYBER waits for a chance to insert herself back into the conversation, her hands clenched. She suddenly snaps back to herself as she feels a hand rest on her shoulder.
"I think it's about time for us to head home as well, don't you think?" Amy asks rhetorically, her hand resting gently on CYBER's shoulder.
"Sounds fine to me," Sonic says, stretching his arms up. "Same time tomorrow?"
"Of course," Amy says, looking back at him, her eyes sparkling, "Bye you two!" She says, waving to Sonic and Tails.
"Yeah, bye Sonic!" CYBER says, waving with a contemplative expression on her face.
CYBER waits for Amy to walk past her before reluctantly following. She casts more than a few glances back as she walks down the road.
Tails sighs softly, "Well… we're gonna need more chili dog stuff."
"Heh," Sonic gives Tails a light punch to the shoulder, "You can say that again buddy."
As he watches everyone leave, Tails' ears perk up, "Hey, Sonic?"
"What's up bud?" Sonic says, one fist resting lazily on his hip.
"Did you ever follow up with Amy after your date? It was kinda cut short…" Tails fidgets with his hands.
Sonic freezes for a moment, "Yeah… I guess I never did, did I?"
"She kinda just dropped everything to help take care of our new friends," Tails sighs. "And she's never complained."
Sonic looks down for a moment, inhaling before ruffling Tails' hair, "Don't worry about it, I'll catch up with her real soon, that's a promise."
Tails laughs briefly, pushing Sonic's hand away, "Glad to hear it." Tails starts to fix his hair, "Let's go inside, I wonder what's on the-"
Suddenly, Scuff bursts through the front door, his good eye wide with surprise. "You two really need to see what's on TV…"
Sonic and Tails glance at each other quickly before hopping up the porch and heading inside. The duo follows Scuff down the hall and into the living room, where Broast is now standing, staring at the screen.
"Um… weren't those two here this morning?" Broast says, pointing up at the TV.
On the TV, a news report is blaring: "Local Museum Broken Into: More On This Now". The screen shows scenes of broken glass display cases, yellow police tape, and empty pedestals. Perpetually on the side of the screen is some fuzzy security camera footage outlining two dark shapes. Outside of context, the two silhouettes would look quite random, they could be anyone you meet on the street, but with a little bit of background knowledge, one would know that the shadowy figures match the profiles of two friends quite closely.
The TV continues with its announcement, "So far, no one has come forward with any knowledge of these two thieves. Similar scenes from around the world have raised the names 'Kicks and Screams' who leave their calling card [Pictured above] at each location. Although robberies like these have been perpetrated from Apotos to Spagonia, we never thought something like this would happen in our beloved city…"
The TV broadcast continues. Broast is glued to the TV, staring without realizing what they are being shown.
"Is that… them?" Scuff asks quietly, to no answer.
Scuff, his posture tight and nervous, looks to Tails, but Tails is too busy looking at Sonic. Tails' tails are bristled and unmoving as he stares up at Sonic for answers. Sonic stares unblinking at the screen, locked on the darkened silhouettes of a bat and what he knows has to be an echidna.
Sonic turns away from the screen, rubbing the bridge of his nose, "I need to make a few calls."