Ch. 20 Shopping Drags

Needless to say, shopping was not one of CYBER's preferred activities.

"Why would I buy this? I'm a robot, I don't wear clothes!" CYBER huffs, hanging up a t-shirt back on the rack.

"Nonsense!" Amy says, holding up some more shirts. "These would look great on you!"

CYBER shakes her head, "No, the fabric would just mess with my air intake." She says, gesturing to the engine that makes up her torso.

"Suit yourself," Amy says, turning around in the cramped clothing store's aisle. "More for me!"

Amy giggles as she lays the shirts in Sonic's already full arms. About nine plastic bags from various mall stores hang from Sonic's arms. Sonic gives an uncomfortable smile as he adjusts to lift the new additions.

"Oh my," Amy says, looking at all of the stuff in Sonic's arms. "We've got quite the haul today."

"Um… Amy?" Scuff says, peeking around the corner, but unable to get all the way in. "Sonic and I only wear shoes, so all of this is your stuff"

"Well, except for the leftover Chinese food," CYBER adds.

"Oh…" Amy looks at the piles of stuff. "Let me put some of this back"

Amy grabs the clothes out of Sonic's arms, hanging them back up. She also grabs a few of the bags from Sonic and heads out of the store. After she's out of sight, Sonic sighs in relief but looks at the bags digging into his arms.

"I can carry them if you want Sonic," Scuff offers, as Sonic turns around to face him.

"You sure? I mean, I've got them," Sonic says with a grin, pointing at himself with his thumb.

As he does so, the bags slide down his arms to his wrists, and Sonic's hand is pulled down as he needs to readjust himself. Scuff reaches over and grabs the bunch of plastic bags by the straps.

"Nonsense, I am a robot, I don't get tired," Scuff says, lifting the bags off of Sonic's arms and sliding them onto his own.

"Thanks man," Sonic sighs in relief, rubbing the divots in his arms that the plastic bags had dug.

"You know," Sonic says, looking Scuff once over "It's really weirding me out how much you look like Shadow."

Scuff adjusts the bags on his arms before looking up at Sonic.

"Well, he's my hero! I want to be like him as much as I can," Scuff says, smiling, but it really only serves to highlight his dead eye.

"Eh," Sonic shrugs, "I think he's a flaky faker, but I guess he pulls through when it really counts."

Scuff looks slightly away from Sonic, pretending to be engrossed in a particularly brightly colored shirt on the rack next to him, crossing his arms, and causing the bags to crinkle together.

"Hey…" Sonic says, interrupting the silence and looking over his shoulder. "Where's Cy?"

-

CYBER wanders aimlessly down the concourse of the mall, looking at the various shops with a wide-eyed grin. She ambles past a kiosk, ignoring the salesman's calls. CYBER does a little spin as she walks, taking a 360* look at all of the shops, most don't interest her, except maybe a gaming shop with flashy posters on the front. CYBER lifts a small bag of rings that Amy gave her, she shakes it, hearing the soft clinking inside. She looks up and spots someone walking up to a gumball machine and then receiving a gumball. CYBER cranes her neck to look at the machine and rushes over to the machine as soon as the previous user leaves. She gives the machine a once over before pulling out one of the little rings from her pouch and jamming it into the slot. She turns the crank, watching the ring disappear as she holds out her hand. Soon the metal flap on the square gumball machine lifts up as a purple gumball drops into her hand. CYBER smiles.

"Purple, that's my favorite color," CYBER grins to herself and then wonders if her favorite color is blue instead.

Before CYBER turns back around, she hears the sound of giggling. Intrigued, CYBER's eyes focus on a nearby little play place. Kids are wandering up and down the playground structure while parents chat on nearby benches. CYBER wanders over, leaning on the fence surrounding the play area. CYBER watches two kids play Pattycake, and she starts to mimic the motion, though she keeps one hand closed to clutch the gumball.

"What a strange game… Fun!" CYBER smiles to herself, looking down at her hands.

CYBER's eyes shoot back up when she hears the sound of whining. She spots a group of three kids, one looks larger than the other two and is pushing them and bossing them around. The bigger one whines and stomps his foot until the other two kids do exactly what he tells them to do.

CYBER frowns, "Punk kid…"

With a flick of her hand, CYBER releases the gumball, it rolls across the dirty, sticky floor of the play place, slowing down right as the big kid stomps his foot down. The kid's foot comes down on the gumball, which doesn't break, causing the kid to step awkwardly. The big kid flails his arms as he slips on the gumball. He falls backward, landing with an "Oof" that silences the whole playground. Soon the soft murmur of the mall is interrupted by the sound of an agitated kid bawling. Quickly, one of the nearby parents pops up from her seat and rushes over. The slight smile on CYBER's face fades as the scene unfolds, she cringes with each of the kid's cries. The parent who came to check on the kid kneels down and picks him up, hugging her against him. The other two kids stand dumbfounded momentarily before one of them points an accusatory finger at CYBER. The woman looks up angrily, bearing fangs until she sees CYBER's unusual appearance.

"W-What are you?" The woman asks, taking a step back while she clutches her child protectively.

With the crying of the kid and the mom's panic, a crowd soon forms, gawking at the spiky purple robot.

"Woah, woah, hey, I didn't mean to-" CYBER is rudely interrupted when a small metal object collides with her head.

"Get out of here robot!" a voice yells.

"Yeah! You machines are bad news!" Another chimes in.

"It's probably one of Eggman's!" an angry voice calls.

CYBER's hand flies up to cover the Orange Eggman symbol painted on her head as the crowd murmurs and a few loose objects fly her way.

"Wait! I'm not like that!" CYBER yells out, deflecting a piece of garbage with the back of her hand.

Her words fall on deaf ears though as the onslaught of angry mall-goers continues to close in. As a few angry individuals draw near, the jets on CYBER's hands start warming up as she grits her metal teeth. But right as CYBER raises her hands, unsure of what she'll do next, a mighty voice booms out above the crowd.

"HEY!"

Marching through the crowd -a pink ball of fury- is Amy Rose.

"Everyone back up!" Amy demands, shoving her way through the crowd.

As everyone takes a few steps back, Amy elbows her way into the area around CYBER, stomping quite dramatically in her heels. Most of the things she had bought are now gone. Amy walks, arms stiff with her wrists extended and her hands clenched, a serious pout on her face.

"You should all be ashamed of yourselves," Amy reaches out to grab CYBER's hand, but recoils from the heat of her warmed-up mini engine, so she moves her hand further up to grab CYBER's wrist.

"C'mon Cy, we're leaving," Amy says bitterly, dragging a stunned CYBER through a stunned crowd.

After about 15 paces, the crowd begins to disperse quietly, leaving some trash in their wake, but completely clearing the playground.

Soon, Amy stops and turns back to CYBER, grabbing her hands now that they've cooled.

"I'm so sorry Cy, people can be… quick to make assumptions," Amy sighs, squeezing CYBER's hands comfortingly.

"I-I guess I didn't think about Eggman…" CYBER says shakily, releasing one of Amy's hands and reaching up to scratch the orange Eggman symbol on her head.

CYBER clenches her teeth as she looks down at Amy's hand on hers, real hands.

"Hey, Amy!" A voice calls from behind, and soon Sonic runs up to Amy's side, followed closely by Scuff, who is running carefully to avoid damaging the bags.

"We may have lost track of- Oh! Hey there Cy," Sonic smiles and waves across at CYBER.

Amy sighs and turns fully around, releasing CYBER's hands, and looks straight past Sonic.

"It's time for us to go," Amy says quietly and neutrally as she begins walking back towards the entrance.

Scuff follows her with his eyes as she walks, his eyes briefly snapping back to CYBER before he turns on his heel and follows, the bags crinkling gently.

Sonic scratches his head, turning to CYBER, "Was it something I said?"

CYBER shakes her head.

"It's just… I'm a robot… and robots are bad…" CYBER says, holding her arm while looking down and away from Sonic.

"Aww, C'mon, not all robots are bad!" Sonic says, setting a hand on CYBER's shoulder, which causes her to jump slightly.

"I've known a few good bots in my day, I could even introduce you to some!" Sonic says with a smile.

"Really?" CYBER asks, her eyes sparkling as she turns to stare at Sonic.

"First thing in the morning," Sonic reassures, looking forward towards Amy. "Now C'mon, let's catch up before Amy leaves us in the dust."

And with that, Sonic takes off in a brisk walk with CYBER close behind at his shoulder, staring at the back of his head.

–

Elsewhere/Later

–

"C'mon let's make this quick knucklehead, I've gotta take Omega to Sonic's house in the morning, and I've got some upside-down zzz's to catch," Rouge the Bat says, standing on the edge of a building with Knuckles nearby behind her.

"Aren't those the same as regular zzz's?" Knuckles asks, stepping up beside Rouge to look over the cityscape.

Rouge laughs, throwing back her head and slapping Knuckles on the shoulder.

"You are so funny!" Rouge says, covering her mouth with her hand.

Knuckles just looks confused for a moment before Rouge calms down and shakes her head.

"Anyway, let's get this done," Rouge says with an amused sigh, handing Knuckles a black mask.

Knuckles nods, brushing aside his confusion as he slips on the black mask, covering his whole head snugly except for his eyes.

Rouge kneels down on the edge of the building, peering down at a clean marble museum below her. It's unlit and there are only brief glimpses of light flashing from security guards walking around inside. From their vantage point on the rooftop, they can see the entire back side of the building, as well as the roof, including a giant glass dome on top.

"You know, we don't always have to do what I want to do on our little dates, right?" Rouge raises an eyebrow looking back up at Knuckles.

Knuckles shrugs, "I'm just happy to be here."

Rouge smirks for a moment before pulling a similar black mask over her face.

"Remember, only use our codenames while we're in there. Right Kicks?" Rouge says, handing Knuckles a metal object as she swaps her white gloves for black ones.

"Sure thing Screams," Knuckles nods, attaching the metal clamp he was just handed to the edge of the building.

Knuckles begins winding a crank, which lowers a steel wire down the side of the building. Once the wire is all the way down, Knuckles stands up, wiping his forehead one last time with his black gloves.

"Let's do this," Knuckles says, grinning through his mask.

"These rich jerks won't know what hit 'em," Rouge leaps off the building, opening her wings.

Knuckles follows close behind, gliding silently through the air toward the quiet, dark, unsuspecting museum.