Maria was exploring the downtown walking mall with Shadow on her left side and Scourge on her right. It was a rare chance for her to be outside the home due to her debilitating condition, NIDS. It was an autoimmune disease that made her vulnerable to viruses and bacteria so she would become sick very easily and would hit her hard. To top it off, her immune system attacks her muscles, leaving her growing weaker over time. Most sufferers of this very rare disease don't make it past the age of twenty.

The guys flanked Maria as one way to keep the public at a distance from her, shielding her from diseases anyone could be carrying. They each held one of Maria's hands. With Scourge, their hands were cupped while with Shadow they were laced.

A store caught Maria's attention and they went inside. It was a general store, having a variety of different items. But it was the UFO catcher machine at the window that had drawn Maria inside the store. She headed straight for it with a smile on her face, even letting go of the boys' hands to pull ahead. Lots of animal plushes were inside the machine.

Maria lifted her hands to touch the glass of the machine, but a black arm wrapped around her and pulled her back. The smile dropped and the yellow hedgehog turned her head to look back at her captor. Keeping his arm around her, Shadow's deep voice warned in a gentle tone, "Be careful. You have a condition."

Right. She couldn't just go around touching things like everyone else could. It was too risky to her health. It was already a risk just coming out here as it was. She turned her head back to the machine. "Which one do you want?" Shadow asked.

The smile returned to Maria's face, "The sky blue hedgehog!"

It was hedgehog toy made to look like a normal hedgehog but made cuter. It was a light blue colour with the quills extra shiny. A unicorn horn protruded from the forehead. A hedgiecorn?

Scourge approached the machine and put a hand on his hip, "These things are kind of rigged. You have to spend so many rings before it'll allow the toy to be grabbed. They're actually classified as gambling devices."

Maria started to frown. That was a shame. The plush looked so huggable, too.

Then he produced a ring from his jacket pocket, "Fortunately, I have plenty of rings. And lots of experience with these things."

Scourge stepped closer to the machine and popped the ring into the slot. The machine beeped and the claw wiggled to signify it was ready. While the green hedgehog started working on getting the toy, Shadow slid his arm from Maria. This ordeal could take a while and Maria's frail body wouldn't be able to stand for long periods. "I'll get a chair for you. Stay with Scourge," Shadow said before walking off.

"Ok!" Maria replied then turned her attention to watch Scourge make attempts with the toy. She clasped her hands together, holding them to her chest as she watched.

It was unknown how much money was already spent on the machine from other customers or how much more the machine needed for the successful toy grab. The first attempt failed and Scourge pulled a cigarette from his jacket pocket and stuck it in his mouth, but didn't light it. He slid another ring into the slot and went for a second attempt. With the expected failure of that one, Scourge used his tongue and lips to shift his cigarette to the right side of his mouth and he went for the third attempt.

Shadow returned with a chair he snagged from the corner of the store and sat it behind Maria. A "thank you" and Maria took a seat on the chair. It was actually a relief to sit down. If she were walking, she could be on her feet longer. But standing still was a problem. With a hand on the top of the chair back, Shadow stood by Maria, also watching Scourge work the machine.

A lot of time passed and many attempts were made until finally the machine hit the ring count it was programmed to wait for. The claw kept a hold of the toy and dropped it into the hole. With a smile, Scourge plucked the cigarette from his mouth and grabbed the toy from the open bin. Maria smiled and clapped her hands together, "You did it!"

Turning around, Scourge held the toy out to Maria, "One plushie, as ordered."

Maria hugged the soft toy with a small squeal. It was actually hers now! The material was soft and the stuffing was firm enough to handle hugs without losing its shape. She stood from the chair and kissed Scourge on the cheek, "Oh thank you, Scourge!"

With a cool smile, Scourge replied, "No problem, sweet cheeks."

After more exploring, the small group entered a little restaurant. It was after the lunch rush so there wasn't many people inside. Which was good. The seat and table needed to be wiped down with sanitization wipes, which Shadow took care of before having Maria sit down. While he cleaned, the server looked on in confusion. She didn't understand Maria's health situation so this seemed odd. They always cleaned the seats and tables after each guest. But it wasn't a full sanitization that was needed for a NIDS patient.

With the task done, Maria finally sat on the booth seat with Shadow sitting beside her. Scourge took the seat across the table. Maria didn't take a menu, knowing those were never cleaned. Instead, she looked at Shadow's menu while he held it. She kept her arms around the hedgehog plush toy Scourge won for her, hugging it while it sat in her lap. Scourge looked through his menu. This restaurant had a little bit of everything so there was a variety of styles one could chose from.

Everyone made their selections and the waitress took the menus and submitted the orders to the chef.

"So what are doing after this?" Scourge asked, leaning back in his seat. "It's not often you get to come outside, princess."

Maria hugged the plush a little tighter as she answered the green hedgehog, "Um... Maybe we can go dancing? I haven't done that in a long time."

Shadow went deep into thought, as he often did, mulling over the suggestion. Dance clubs could be quite crowded. But today was a Tuesday, so maybe it wouldn't be too bad. They should be able to have space between them and other people on the dance floor. "We can go to Club Rouge," Shadow suggested, "It'll be less crowded today since it's not a weekend."

Maria looked at Shadow with hope in her eyes. Sometimes her friends went to Club Rouge. Maybe she would see them there? "I wonder if Amy and the others will be there?"

"Perhaps."

Scourge shrugged, "You could always text them."

"Good idea," Maria said and pulled her phone from Shadow's jacket pocket. Holding the plush with one arm, Maria used the other hand to send a text message to Amy.

The waitress returned with the food and sat everything on the table, with each plate going in front of the person that ordered it. Then she walked away.

Scourge dove into his food and watched Maria still texting with Amy on her phone. Shadow picked up his chopsticks but didn't start on his meal yet. Instead, he turned his head to Maria and frowned at her ignoring her meal.

She smiled at a message she received from Amy and sent another one back to her friend. The conversation they were having confirmed that Amy and Sonic would meet them at Club Rouge for some dancing. Amy was going to try and see if anyone else from their circle of friends would like to come along as well. This would be nice having everyone get back together. It had been a while.

"Maria," Shadow started.

"Mm?" Maria snapped her head from her phone, turning it to Shadow.

"Don't get too distracted. You need to eat."

Using his chopsticks, Shadow plucked one of the strips of beef from Maria's plate and held it to her face. Dutifully, Maria took the bite and ate the meat. Scourge closed his eyes halfway then looked down at his meal. He didn't have anything she could have, at least not without health consequences. Sometimes it was kind of a pain with how delicate her condition was.

Finally, Maria set her phone down and started on her meal. Shadow returned to his and began eating, now satisfied that Maria wasn't going to neglect herself. Scourge was the last to return to eating.

All three were quiet as they focused on eating. Having a conversation during a meal wasn't of high importance since they spent a lot of time together. The entire time, Maria kept the plush toy in her lap with her arm around it. This would prove to be a poor choice as a piece of food slipped from her chopsticks and dropped on the toy with a wet "slop" sound. With a shocked expression, Maria looked down at her new plush already being made dirty. "Oh no..." she whimpered and picked up the meat from the faux fur material representing the quills of the animal.

"Shit, I think that was the only one the machine had," Scourge said, thinking a replacement would be needed.

"It'll be fine," Shadow said as he reached over and took the toy from Maria. He used one of the sanitizing wipes to wipe off as much of the steak sauce as possible from the toy. Most of it came up but the toy was definitely going to be a bit stiff in that area. Once it was properly washed, it would be fine. "We will run it through the washer when we get home," Shadow handed the plush back to Maria, who was thrilled that it was saved. She hugged the toy with glee then kissed Shadow on the cheek, "Oh thank you, Shadow!"

Then she cuddled into his shoulder.

Scourge was the first to finish eating. Knowing how things typically went, he was going to be waiting a while for Maria to finish. She was usually the slowest. He needed to do something to occupy himself though and that itch to smoke was growing. Scourge pulled that cigarette from earlier out again and popped it in his mouth as he leaned back against his seat.

Shadow shot Scourge a look of warning. He didn't want Maria exposed to cigarette smoke. Her health was terrible enough already. Scourge lifted his chin in return as he removed the cigarette with his index and middle finger to hold it for a bit. He knew the deal. He wasn't going to light up with the girl present. There was just this oral fixation he needed to satisfy. Addiction was a bitch. But Scourge didn't abstain from smoking around Maria because of Shadow's command. It was because it bothered Maria and he wanted to be on her good side. He returned the cigarette to his mouth.

When it was time to head for Club Rouge, Shadow, Maria and Scourge left the walking mall to go to the parking lot. It was across the road so they stood at the crosswalk and awaited for traffic to clear. There was no hand holding as Maria was occupied hugging her new toy but she stood between the boys as she usually did.

Stunted by her condition, Maria was small for her age. For normal hedgehogs, the tops of Amy's ears reached the bottom of Sonic's. Maria's ear tips came to the middle of eye height. Or they would if she ever held them up instead of keeping them folded down.

Finally the light changed and the crosswalk light gave the green light. The three hedgehogs walked across the road and entered the parking lot. They had taken Shadow's car being that he was the only one between the three of them who had any vehicles. Scourge possessed speed like Sonic and Shadow so he usually just ran to wherever he needed to go. Same with Shadow. But a car was taken with the expectation that there would have been a bunch of shopping done today. To their surprise, there wasn't. It was just the stuffed toy.

Shadow took the driver's seat with Maria in front passenger and Scourge in the back sitting in the centre space.

The drive to Club Rouge wasn't too long. It was located in Station Square as the strip mall was. The only bad part was that everyone else was getting off work so there was a lot of traffic. There was no parking lot for this part of the city so Shadow had to park the car in a parking garage. This left everyone having to walk. Maria left her plush in the car as it was going to otherwise be difficult to manage in the club. It was just too easy to lose the item. On the plus side, she could hold the boys' hands again.

They escorted her through the streets and arrived at Club Rouge. Outside, one could hear the muffled music that was blaring inside. Some people were standing around outside the entrance. The three hedgehogs were able to go right through the entrance to the club, being recognized by the bouncer.

Inside, there were some people here but as Shadow had predicted, there wasn't many. A couple people were sitting at tables with food while a few more were on the dance floor.

"Hey, guys!" called a woman's voice. It was Amy. She stood at the entrance to a reserved table and waved to the group to come over.

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