Hop To It - Advance 17

[Amy]

Sleeping in an actual bed again after so long in a tent, or a sleeping bag, or a hammock, or a… softer than average rock, was heavenly.

It wasn’t that Amy disliked travelling, far from it! Even when she wasn’t able to find Sonic, going all over the place and meeting new people was wonderful. But having a home to come back to was good too.

Idly, Amy wondered if she should work for Vanilla at the Chao Garden. Maybe she could be the waitress! She was babysitting Cream pro bono as a favor, since Miss Vanilla was so busy getting her business set up and didn’t have the money to spare. She didn’t mind, Cream was wonderful, but she would need her own house eventually and for that she needed to save up.

Amy sighed. She didn’t want to leave the bed. But once she woke up, getting back to sleep was impossible, so she rolled out of bed and left the guest room, looking for the shower. After a nice wash and a quill-styling to tame her bedhead into her usual cute look, Amy was ready for her day.

A noise brought her into the big storage room where her hosts kept all of Humi’s junk. The lights were off, the sun streaming in from the windows not quite enough to light up the entire space. She took a little time to find the switch, but while she was searching she saw two figures digging through a pile of scrap. “Heyu, Humi! You guys are back already and you didn’t say ‘hi?’”

The two figures turned towards her, and Amy frowned. The brown figure was the short one and the pink one was the tall one. That wasn’t right.

She found the switch, finally, and flipped the lights on for the building. The figures in the warehouse were just that pink G.U.N. Hunter Humi fixed up and the robot monkey. They were looking at her blankly, responding to her voice, and when she didn’t say anything else they turned back to whatever they were doing.

“Oh. Nevermind, you aren’t them.” Maybe she needed to eat more carrots. She heard they improved night vision.

Shrugging, Amy went outside to greet the day. The village was a charming little neighborhood, and she already liked it better than her apartment in Station Square; her neighbors mostly kept to themselves back then. Which was fine! But not a lot of fun.

Shelldon had produced a cauldron from somewhere and was brewing something in it on his front lawn. Amy had no idea what it was, but the snail seemed not to notice that the steam coming off the boiling pot was curling into the shape of a skull. Probably best not to try it out today. Amy waved hesitantly as she passed, but thankfully he didn’t notice.

“Amy!”

She turned just in time for Cream to slam into her, knocking her onto her tail. “Oof! Cream!”

Cream beamed. “Good morning!”

Amy felt a weight settle on her head, followed by Cheese leaning into her field of view from above. “Chao!”

“Cream!” The three of them looked up to see Vanilla approaching, looking frazzled. “Let Miss Amy up now, please.” Chocola was hovering over her shoulder.

She did, and even offered her a hand to help her up. “Sorry, Miss Amy, I didn’t mean to knock you down. I was just excited.”

“Excited for what?” Amy asked, picking Cheese off her head and handing him to Cream.

“Mama’s bringing the Chaos to their new home today!”

Vanilla hid a smile behind her hand. “Yes it--” It turned into her trying to cover a yawn. “Yes, the Garden is well underway, enough that the little ones can start moving in.”

“That’s great news,” Amy said. “Are you okay? You look exhausted.”

“I am.” The older rabbit chuckled, rubbing her eyes. “I’ll be able to get some proper rest soon. Miss Gildenhall has been hosting the Chao in her family’s private garden for the time being, and I need to get them moved over today before they get any more settled; changing homes so soon in such a short time would cause them unneeded distress otherwise.” She looked at Amy tiredly. “I don’t suppose you’d be willing to watch Cream while I get all that settled?”

Ah, of course. “It’s no problem at all!”

Cream didn’t agree. “What? But Mama, I want to help the Chao too!”

“Chao chao!”

Chocola folded his arms imperiously. “Chao…”

“I know you do, dear,” Vanilla said, bending down for her. “But trust me, it’s going to be so very boring. A long train ride there, signing paperwork for the transfer of custody, loading all the Chao in the truck, it’s not going to be much fun at all. You’ll have plenty of time to play with them once they’re here, okay?”

“Okay…”

Oh, Cream was just too cute. Amy pulled her into a hug. “Don’t worry, we can find our own fun while we wait! Maybe we can get Big to teach us how to fish! Or take a run through one of the ruins!”

Cream perked up at that. “That sounds fun…”

“See?” Amy turned to Vanilla with a wide smile. “Don’t you worry, we’ll have a blast!”

Vanilla returned the smile gratefully. “Thank you, Amy.”

Waving goodbye, she left towards the station with Chocola following behind her. Amy turned to Cream and grinned. “So, what do you want to do first?”

Cream thought for a long second, then smiled. “I know! I want to go into Mr. Spud’s tunnels to explore!”

Amy’s smile turned brittle. “...Are you sure you wouldn’t like to do something else?”

----------------------------------------

[Heyu]

You know something? Central City is a great place to go for a run.

We did end up going to the skatepark Rev recommended, and it was a blast. Humi got to try out her Grind Shoes for once, I had fun with the rollerblade attachments I rented for the day--I only fell down twice--and even Iota seemed to have fun testing out his speed. 

I’d forgotten how much he enjoyed going fast. And after what we’d been through, I guess I did too. After an hour or three, the park started feeling a little small, so we ended up just… wandering.

I don’t think I could ever live like Sonic, always zipping off from place to place and going wherever the wind takes me, but I could see the appeal. Iota weaved through traffic while I bounced across rooftops, and Humi…

Well, Humi seemed to have gotten it in her head that she needed to get faster, so I spent a decent chunk of the day timing her while she ran around. We even went and climbed Radical Highway for a bit. Humi’s fast, but her stamina wasn’t great, probably from the way she rode on either me or Iota all the time, but hey. Something to work on whenever she wanted a break from machines. A lap or two around one of the courses in Mystic Ruins would probably be good for all of us.

All in all, a good day.

The library, comparatively, was a disappointment. I suppose it was a longshot to think that there’d be any studies on chaos energy, but hope springs eternal. And a quiet day spent reading was just as good, after all the excitement of the day before. It didn’t have to be all research all the time.

Once inside we went our separate ways. Humi said she was going to find a novel to peruse while Iota went to the video section to download some new documentaries.

I, myself, actually managed to find a weatherbeaten copy of an old treatise on magic stones that purported to have entire chapters dedicated to the Chaos Emeralds.

Yeah, I know, I know, I just said I wasn’t going to do research, but honestly this stuff is just interesting to read about. There was no way to know how much of the book was even true, since according to the library sticker inside the cover, the book was donated in honor of the library’s opening over a century ago. It was more legend than anything resembling a scientific document.

Hm, I wonder if the university would pay good for the stuff I got off the ARK. Something to think about once I run out of cash again.

Anyway, the Chaos Emeralds might be pretty involved in current affairs, but in the past it was exceedingly rare for all seven to be in one place at the same time. According to the histories recorded in this book, it was looking probable that they were never gathered in groups of more than three between the fall of the Echidna empire and… whenever Robotnik first started looking for them. 

“Hm,” I muttered to myself. “It says here that the red and blue Emeralds were once used to create an entire island.” Red for fire to set off a volcano, and blue for water to cool down the lava? Was that possible? Maybe. Supposedly the Chaos Emeralds could do anything; Frankly Robotnik should be embarrassed that he only ever uses them for batteries.

There were other stones in this book, though, not just the Emeralds. I was particularly interested in the Time Stones of Little Planet, since I could swear that I’d heard Amy mention the place at one point. Mystic gems that could turn deserts into the oceans they used to be, reforestate farmland and undo pollution, and even basically create ‘miracles’ by bringing potential futures into the present.

There were other less known ones, like the redundantly-named Black Onyx and the mysterious Fregosi Sapphire, both of whom had legends that were basically forgotten aside from the barest details. Something about a dragon? My personal favorite was the Guiding Star, a gemstone created by the Echidnas that eventually found its way into the care of the old Acorn Kingdom. It was destroyed shortly before the kingdom fell, but a gem that could teleport you was very cool in concept.

Someone pulled out a chair to sit across from me and started writing something. I glanced up at them and was mildly surprised to see the white-furred monotreme. He had nice hair, too, and not for the first time I wished that my own head fur would grow out a little, but alas. Shame.

He looked up and caught me staring. “Can I help you?”

I smiled sheepishly. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to stare. I’ve just never seen a platypus Mobian before.”

He made a pleased sound. “Oh. Well, yes, we aren’t very common. I’m impressed, though, that you recognized me for what I am,” he added. “Most people I meet initially think me a duck.”

I tilted my head. “...But you have fur, not feathers.”

“Thank you,” he said, emphatically. “Is it really that hard to look before you speak?”

“I feel you. I’m a hare, but I always have to tell people because they think I’m a rabbit.” I shrugged. “Not as egregious as your problem, obviously, but it still used to bug the heck out of me.”

“I see.” He looked me over, presumably to see if he could tell the difference between a hare and a rabbit at a glance; I’d seen that happen before. Most couldn’t. But then his eyes widened and he looked again. “Wait a minute, I know you.”

I winced, guessing what was coming.

He stood up, leaning across the table. “You’re the rab--hare that was standing next to Doctor Eggman on the ARK footage!” Someone beyond the shelves shushed him, and the platypus shot a dirty look in that general direction before turning back to me. “You have to tell me what he’s like!”

He? Who’s he? “You mean Sonic? I don’t know,” I admitted. “I never really got the chance to talk to him.”

“Not Sonic.” The platypus rolled his eyes impatiently. “I mean Eggman. What is he like in person?”

I paused. Closing my book and putting it aside, I clasped my hands in front of me and gave the platypus my full attention. I finally noticed the G.U.N. logo on his jacket, and it was that that I stared at when I asked my own question. “You a fan of his, private?”

The platypus blinked rapidly. He sat back down, looking faintly embarrassed. “I, uh, no of course, not. Obviously he is a very bad man,” he said dismissively, “wanted for all those awful crimes like…” He waved his hand vaguely, grasping for a crime and apparently unable to think of one. “...Unliscensed logging. Animal cruelty.”

“Attempted global omnicide,” I offered.

“Things like that, yes. But! You can’t deny that the man is a genius, a once-in-a-generation mind!” he finished.

Once in a generation, huh? I dunno about that, I could think of at least two others, but whatever. I suppose I could understand being fascinated by Robotnik’s technology. A lot of it was legitimately incredible, it was just a shame that he put it to such a bad use. Maybe he was one of those scientists who lived in a bubble where only their special interest existed.

“Well,” I said, folding my arms and leaning back. “If I’m being honest, Robotnik--”

“Eggman.”

“Whatever. The man is undoubtedly brilliant, but my experience with him is…” Theme parks. “...unimpressive.”

The platypus deflated. “Oh. Really?”

“Don’t get me wrong, he’s a big personality and a showman, but he’s so petty.”

“Petty. Petty?” he asked, incredulous. “How is taking over the world petty?”

“His motivation is wanting to build a theme park, and to this end he seeks to blow up cities and topple nations.” I shrugged helplessly. “It’s just hard for me to respect him when his means and his end are so… disproportionate.”

The platypus grit his teeth. “...I don’t believe you. If you didn’t know anything about him you should have just said instead of making it up. No one as brilliant as Doctor Eggman would do so much for so little.”

I shrugged again. I could tell him the story of how we discovered his plans during the Chaos Incident… but that would need a lot of context, and I didn’t feel like getting any further into it right now. Not to mention that his attitude around Robotnik was weirding me out. So instead all I said was, “Yeah, you’re probably right,” and returned to my book.

We both fell silent. I turned to a small entry that took up only a single page: Wavestones, which even the book admitted were probably just made up for old stories. Still, they were interesting enough.

“Oh, I’ve read that one.”

I looked up again. “Yeah?”

The platypus nodded. “Interesting stuff, though ultimately not very useful. I was doing research on a particular stone called the Warp Topaz.”

I flipped to the index, then back through to find the relevant page. The picture was a crude artist’s interpretation of an orange and red gem with spiral striation. “Oh, neat.”

“Nothing about a location, though,” he groused. “My research in that direction has stalled somewhat, hence my current project.”

I looked down at the paper he was writing. He’d shown an interest in my book, so it was only polite… “What project is that?”

“I’m so glad you asked.” He flipped the paper around and slid it in front of me. “As part of my work at G.U.N., I’m attempting to create a… veteran prosthetic program to repair injuries and leave the afflicted better than they started out.”

I scanned through the paper, frowning. “...You’re very proud of your abilities, aren’t you?” I said, not really asking.

The platypus preened. “I have every right to be, yes.”

“Uh-huh.” I handed the paper back. “Well, I don’t know if you’re looking for constructive criticism, but I think you’re patting yourself on the back too much in your proposal. You refer to yourself as a genius once per paragraph.”

He looked down at it. “Did I?”

“Mm. If they’ve let you get this far, they probably already know you’re smart. Now I’ll admit I don’t know much about academia, but it seems to me that you need to focus less on yourself and more on your actual project. Lay out your method, explain what you’re doing.”

“I did.” He pointed at one paragraph in particular.

I peered at the indicated section. “Oh, that. I skimmed over that. Related: you might be a genius but there’s no guarantee your audience will be. You should simplify your terms.”

There were at least four different words in his not-so-brief that began with the ‘neuro-’ prefix. I could guess what they meant while I was reading it, but someone listening to him give the speech wouldn’t be so lucky.

“You want me to stoop to layman’s terms?” he asked, sounding insulted.

“That’s what I’d do if I wrote something like that.” I paused again, rubbing my chin. “In fact… I’ve been reading enough academic papers, I should probably try my hand at one myself.”

The platypus snorted derisively. “Oh, certainly. What could you possibly have to share?” he asked, pulling his paper close to scan it with a reluctantly more critical eye.

“Hm?” I asked, not really paying attention to him anymore. “Oh, my daughter accidentally turned me into a monster trying to drain chaos energy from me.”

He stilled, then gave me a perplexed stare. “Your daughter? You look younger than me.”

I opened my mouth, but my ears twitched before I could say anything. I turned to see Humi approaching, holding a pair of books. “Whatcha got there, Humi?”

“I like these two,” she said, showing them off. One was a college-level textbook about computer coding, and the other was an old-looking novel I’ve never heard of called Orvis that featured a clunky-looking robot with mismatched eyes on the cover.

I took the novel and read the blurb on the back. “Neat. If you’re ready we can go check them out.”

“Is that okay? When will we be able to return them?” she asked.

“This library accepts mail returns, it’ll be fine.” I stood up. “Do you think Iota’s finished downloading the entire video section yet?”

She rolled her eyes, amused. “Probably.”

“Let’s go collect him. There’s still time today to hit the zoo, I think.” 

“There is no need.” We turned to see Iota carefully navigating the shelves… holding a stuffed fox and penguin. “Explanation: I found the gift shop? This one is for you, Humi,” he added, giving her the fox. She beamed and hugged it tightly.

The library has a gift shop? Sure, why not. Shaking my head, I stood before turning to the platypus and offering my hand. “It was nice talking to you, pal.”

He looked a bit gobsmacked, looking from Iota, to Humi and the textbook in her arms, to me. 

Then he accepted the hand with a smile. “Starr. Linus Starr. A pleasure to meet you.”

I pulled my hand away, then frowned when I felt something in it that turned out to be a card with his phone number. Huh, he’d already made business cards for himself with the G.U.N. logo on it. Strange. 

I just smiled back. “Hayden Fiver. Maybe I’ll see you around, next time G.U.N. gets involved.”

“Perhaps,” he said, chuckling to himself. “Perhaps.”

------------------------------

[Amy]

The road was basically repaired. Spud was crazy but he wasn’t so insane that he refused to let Fry shore up the tunnels so the surface didn’t collapse. According to him that was how he got ran out of his last home, and he wasn’t keen to repeat history.

That meant the only entrance into the underground now was the hole that represented his house. Cream was adamant that they explore the tunnels, and Amy couldn’t really think of a good enough reason to say no, so off they went to knock on his door.

Passing the Vespas’ house, they saw the bees hovering outside the front door waiting for something.

Amy frowned, but before she could ask, the door opened and Fry stepped out, stripped down to just his undershirt and carrying a wrench.

“Sorry, guys, I just don’t know what’s wrong,” the gator said, scratching his scalp.

Honey sighed. “Oh, dear. Thank you anyway, Fry.”

“I suppose we’ll need to call someone from the city,” Waxer mused. “That might be expensive. Speaking of--”

Fry waved them off. “Don’t worry about it. I couldn’t fix it so I’m not gonna ask for pay.”

“What’s up?” Amy finally asked, getting their attention.

“Our water stopped working,” Honey said. “I was in the middle of a shower and it just cut out!”

Cream gasped. “Oh, that’s awful.”

“We were hoping Fry would be able to find the problem since he set the plumbing up himself, but, well,” Waxer trailed off.

Fry shrugged. “I’ll admit, plumbing wasn’t my specialty. I thought I did everything right, but I musta missed something.”

Honey smiled, flying over to ruffled Cream’s hair. “Don’t you worry about us, darlings, we’ve got plenty of bottled water, or failing that, Shelldon.”

They looked over in time to see Shelldon’s cauldron tip over and spill on the grass. It soaked through into the ground, and where the liquid touched, no grass remained. Just bare dirt. The snail stared at the result of his brew, dipped a finger into the pot and took a taste, then shook his head and crossed something out before upending the whole thing.

Their group took a step away, even the ones who weren’t touching the ground. “Well, we’ve got water anyway,” Honey amended. “We’ll be fine until we can get it fixed.”

“Good luck finding a guy for that,” Fry said. “I’m gonna see if Shelldon wrote down how he made that stuff. He could market it as an herbicide.”

Amy shook her head while the bees went back inside. “C’mon Cream, let’s go.”

“It looks like Mr. Spud is clearing land up here now, too,” Cream pointed out as they approached his plot. “Maybe he could use some of that drink to get rid of the grass for him.”

“I don’t think so. I’m pretty sure he wants something else to grow there eventually.” Amy walked up to his trap door and knocked on it with her heel.

They didn’t get an answer, so she just pulled it open and jumped down.

“Amy!” Cream gasped. “We weren’t invited in!”

“Good thing we’re not vampires then.” She grinned, only to falter at the blank look she got from Cream and Cheese. “Nevermind.”

Spud’s ‘house’ was really just the potato field, or at least that was what the rope ladder dropped them down into. The rooms where he actually lived were embedded straight into the walls; he even had one with a crescent-shaped hole in the door that Amy didn’t want to think too deeply about.

Cream waved at the scarecrow while Amy looked around. “Hello, Mrs. Jackie.”

“Spud! Hello? Are you here?” Amy called, cupping her hands around her mouth. 

They didn’t get an answer.

Cream thought for a moment, then lifted one of her ears up. Cheese mimicked the motion despite not having any ears, and it was so cute Amy almost squealed. Then, apparently having found what she was looking for, Cream marched over to a big door with a rounded top and stepped into a side tunnel; if Amy understood the dimensions of this place, it was the one that led under the road.

And it was; the tunnels were still pretty rough, but Spud had at least allowed someone to set up some support beams. There were some hanging electric lanterns too that almost managed to give off enough light. “Is there another tunnel? I don’t see him.”

“Shh.” Cream held a finger to her lips, listening. She flew up and grabbed a lantern--Amy still didn’t understand how her flight worked. Tails’ helicopter blade thing at least made some sense, but Cream barely flapped her ears at all--before dropping back down to illuminate a side tunnel that had been hidden in darkness. “They’re in here.”

“They?”

Only a short distance later they entered into a smaller room, where a bunch of pipes were exposed to the air.

“...so if you can get me one of these I can split off another channel from the station and get you some running water down here, for you and your plants.”

“Thanks kid. My water closet’s only one of those things right now, and I’m itching for a bath.” Laughter. “See, see, I’m itching. Because I’m dirty, and I need a bath--”

“I get it, sir.”

Amy squinted in the dark. “Spud? And who--”

“Hi, Fritz!” Cream said happily.

Both of the speakers turned around, an orange badger and blue fox.

Amy smiled. “Oh, so you’re Fritz. It’s nice to meet you.”

The little guy looked away, embarrassed. “Hey.”

Running up to him and holding a hand up for a high five, Cream greeted them both. “It’s so good to see you, Fritz! You’ve been gone since the experiment.”

“Sorry.” He stared at her hand and meekly pressed his palm against hers before withdrawing it. Cream accepted the extremely lackluster handslap and turned to wave at Spud too.

The badger grunted. “What, don’t I get a high five?”

Still smiling innocently, Cream shook her head. “I heard you say you were dirty, and I had a bath last night.”

Spud’s face fell slack while Amy snickered. She looked up at the pipes and frowned. “So… what are you guys working on?”

“My irritation system!” Spud declared, pointing at the ceiling.

“Irrigation,” Fritz corrected quietly.

“Hm… No, I think I meant irritation. I’m good at that.”

“Are you sure you should be doing that?” Amy asked. “I don’t know if you know this, but I think you turned the bees’ water off.”

The fox’s eyes widened and he inspected the pipes intently. He grasped vaguely towards the lantern until Cream handed it over, and he raised it up to illuminate something just barely in his limited reach. It all looked like a mess of pipes to Amy, but Fritz grumbled to himself and climbed up the pipes to make an adjustment. A handful of pipes shuddered as water started flowing again, and he climbed back down.

“Sorry,” he said, murmuring. “I was trying to help Spud. I thought those were Mr. Fiver’s pipes; I figured since they were gone for the weekend they wouldn’t need it while I… uh. You know.”

Amy folded her arms and endeavored to look unimpressed. “Newsflash, buster, I’m still there!”

“You are? Oh.” He shuffled awkwardly. “Sorry.”

Gosh, he looked so sad and wet… Amy sighed. “It’s fine. Just, next time tell someone what you’re doing before you go shutting off the utilities, alright?”

“Sorry,” he repeated. “I was just trying to help. Plumbing’s the one thing I know how to do, but I guess I messed that up to…”

He trailed off, staring at the floor, until Spud clapped him on the shoulder and pulled him close, making him yip.

“None of that, boyo!” the badger declared. “You’re young, you’ll learn! We’ve all gotta pull together to make this little community work, and you’re a part of it now!”

“I am?”

“Of course!” Cream nodded seriously. “We’re friends, aren’t we?”

“We are?” The poor boy looked thoroughly lost.

“We are!”

Amy tried to stifle a laugh.

Spud tried to look wise and sagelike. “Making mistakes is the best way to learn. Trust me, I’ve made at least a dozen mistakes in my life, and I learned from all of them! Just keep workin’ at it, and be the best plumber you can be!”

The fox’s expression flattened. “Oh, boy. Just what I always wanted.”

“Atta boy.” Having said his piece, Spud apparently decided his work was done and left.

Amy rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry about it, Fritz. Even if you made a mistake, you fixed it! Right?”

Cream nodded. “I can hear Mrs. Honey’s shower on now, up above. She didn’t turn it off when it went out.”

“See? And that’s more than I could do.” Amy waved her hand at the wall of pipes. “I don’t know what any of that does, and I’m like twice your age!”

The fox looked at her. “...How old do you think I am?”

“I dunno, I thought you were the same age as Cream. Five or six.”

His face was stony. “I’m eleven.”

Amy blinked rapidly. She looked from him to Cream; not counting their ears, she had a solid inch of height over him. “What? But you’re--” 

“Don’t say it!” Fritz pulled his ears down over his face and stalked out of the room, embarrassed.

“Gosh,” Amy said, apologetic. “There’s no need to have a short temper about it.” Wait. “No, wait, I didn’t mean it!”

“Arrrgh…”