Work Text:
Today was an odd week for Amy Rose.
Metal Sonic had suddenly defected from Dr Eggman's control. Nobody knew how.
He had done so before, but Eggman had changed his coding so thorughly that whatever bit of Metal that rebelled against his creator was no longer present.
It seemed as though he somehow either recovered that part of him or he had developed it anew.
He acted unlike the last time he had rebelled.
He performed small acts of kindness and acted like he was friends with everyone in a similar way as Sonic... But was still hostile to Sonic.
Amy offered to keep Metal busy for a while and try to get it through to him that if he was going to try to be buddy-buddy with everyone, he had to extend the same kindness to Sonic.
So... Now they were out at a mall together.
Amy kept a close eye on Metal to make sure he didn't act out for whatever reason, but he remained docile.
He kept looking around expectantly at the people around them and always seemed disappointed when he was either coldly ignored, avoided or outright saw fearful reactions.
There was never enough time for him to dwell on it though, since Amy had some things in mind for them to do.
The two passed a clothing store. It caught Amy's intrigue, but she wasn't sure about Metal's opinions on clothing.
"Hey, would you like to see what's in there? Maybe try some stuff on?"
Metal looked at the store, scanned the sign and observed the mannequins in the window for a while. It almost seemed like he was going to head inside before he turned his head away.
Amy was a little disappointed, but she wanted to do something Metal would enjoy as long as it wasn't something that would cause trouble.
"Alright... Do you know what you'd like to do? There's lots of stuff we can look at or do here! It's a pretty nice place."
Metal looked at Amy. After a few seconds of staring, Amy guessed that she should probably be suggesting other things.
"Um... Well, Tails likes going to hardware places... The one time I got Knuckles to come here he liked the dojo, but we ended up having to pay for damages to the dojos since he didn't know his own strength..."
Metal crossed his arms and looked away slightly.
Amy desperately tried thinking of all the stuff her friends enjoyed doing here.
"Blaze and I enjoyed trying the teas, Rouge mentioned enjoying a spa... I think there's a virtual reality arcade Sonic used to like-"
Amy noticed Metal's eyes light up as she mentioned that last thing.
She realized that Metal would probably want to like whatever Sonic liked. It kind of made sense in retrospect.
"Alright, sure, we can go find that arcade! I haven't been there personally, but it shouldn't be hard to find!"
Metal lifted off of the ground for a few seconds in anticipation.
The two found a map of the mall and followed it, with mild confusion, to the arcade.
Amy paid for herself and Metal to get an hour in the arcade and got them set up with headsets and controllers.
The two picked their games and started playing.
Amy didn't play video games very often, they weren't her thing. She didn't hate them in the slightest, but they weren't her preferred passtime.
That being said, virtual reality was very interesting. The closest experience she'd had with it up until that point was when she and her friends had fallen into Cyberspace on the Starfall Islands and it was obviously nothing like this.
It was a lot less... Eerie.
She had to get used to balancing herself since she was still moving in real life outside the game.
The game she picked was very pleasant. It was a simulation of being on a resort and doing small activities that would typically be done on a resort.
She was enjoying it for a while, but then she started hearing sounds of robotic frustration from nearby.
She lifted the visor from her head and saw Metal thrashing about in a frustrated manner. She approached him but before she could say anything, he took off the visor and angrily stomped on it and the controller, leaving nothing but shattered pieces of plastic and circuits. Amy reached her hand out.
"Metal!"
The robot turned his head and despite his unchanging expression, he seemed very upset.
The ferret shopkeeper came running upon hearing the commotion and brought his hands to his head upon seeing the ruined devices.
"Agh, my gear!"
Amy tried to deescalate the situation by putting herself between Metal and the shopkeeper.
"I'm so, SO sorry. I'll cover this, I promise. Metal just gets a bit... Heated!"
"Listen, I know you from your reputation, Amy... Just as much as I know IT from its reputation!"
Metal Sonic's stance straightened upon being pointed at.
The ferret retreated his hand, but continued on.
"I know about how you want to assume the best in people, Amy, people love how sweet you are... But you shouldn't give this creep the benefit of the doubt so quickly. Treating it like you would Sonic won't get you anywhere."
"How dare-"
Amy turned her head to check on Metal. She saw him ball his fist and tremble it a bit before he stormed out. She intended to follow him.
But first.
"How dare you?! You don't know anything about me, you're just some guy! Metal's been butting heads with us forever, sure, but if someone's going to show willingness to change, they're obviously going to feel frustrated! I'm sorry that HE broke your stuff, HE'S trying his best and dismissing him like you just did isn't going to help anything!"
Amy firmly put a large sum of money into the shopkeeper's hand before storming out to go after Metal.
She looked up and down for him and was worried for a moment that she lost him.
Luckily, she ended up finding him near the food area, which was odd since he was a robot. He shouldn't have to eat.
But as she approached, she noticed that he had a chili dog in his hand that he was grasping WAY too hard...He was also looking up at a screen on the ceiling.
There was a broadcast of the news on.
Sonic was being interviewed, slightly against his will because he showed up to help during a sudden, major fire in a large residential complex.
He was basking in the attention, but still seemed to want to leave as soon as possible.
"We truly are lucky to have a hero like you around! Do you have any comments on the incident, Sonic?"
"Nope! No comments. Better fire escapes should be made, that's about it. I really gotta get moving, now..."
"Surely you can tell us about some of your other daring exploits!"
"As much as I love gloating, it seems like a weird time to ask... I'm leaving."
"Wait-"
The cameraman seemed to have been blown back by the sheer speed of Sonic running off.
The reporter was incredibly energetic after having met and spoken to Sonic.
Metal just watched blankly as he tried to smush the chili dog against its face.
Where his mouth would be.
Amy approached him slowly and entered his field of vision before trying to get his attention.
"... Hey."
Metal slowly turned his head toward Amy, who then walked up to him.
"... Are you okay?"
Metal looked away from her and squeezed the chili dog. It broke into pieces and fell on the ground.
The robot just lowered its arm.
Amy wasn't incredibly sure how to address the situation... She didn't know Metal too personally.
"You only wanted to try the arcade because I mentioned Sonic liked it, right? But you ended up hating it."
A whirring noise was Amy's only confirmation of Metal's attempt to respond until he started motioning to his face.
Amy remained silent since she was unsure about what he was trying to communicate, but then he started touching his face.
Where his muzzle would be.
Then he looked to the floor at the chili dog. Amy's gaze followed.
"You're still trying to be like Sonic."
Metal then turned his head toward Amy rapidly and made an aggressive stance toward her. Amy was surprised but stanced back in return, ready to summon her hammer if Metal made a move.
To her surprise, though, he softened up his posture and instead started scratching the table next to him.
The grating noise was annoying, but Amy realized that he was trying to engrave something.
She just waited to see what he was writing.
Soon enough, it came together.
"I AM SONIC."
"Metal, I-"
Metal pounded his fist on the table and pointed toward the name he engraved into the table, "SONIC," in an annoyed and aggressive fashion.
"I understand, I'm sorry! But... Listen, you don't need to do things you think you need to like."
Metal Sonic looked down to the ground.
Amy approached him.
"I understand you must be going through a lot... You haven't been free from Eggman for a long time. I want you to know that I'll be here for you, no matter what."
Metal Sonic looked up at Amy. She was smiling at him.
He couldn't return any kind of expression and yet Amy could sense that he was trying to return the emotion she was directing at him.
"We don't have to stay here. At the mall, I mean. We could go anywhere you'd like!"
Amy put her hand toward Metal.
After staring at her for a few moments, Metal Sonic took hers and started pulling her somewhere.
Amy felt a sense of shared joy as they approached the clothing store from before.
As they headed inside... She sensed a change in the cybernetic hedgehog.
He was still learning about himself and breaking free from the mold Eggman had created for him.
As he showed Amy a cute, puffy sweater he was trying on, she could sense a change within him.
The two eventually left the mall.
They happened to come across Sonic along the way to Amy's house...
But Metal Sonic didn't lash out.