Honesty is the Best Policy {Comic Edition}

Chapter 23: New Pets and New Problems

Honest couldn't even say anything to Sonic when she saw him that night before he had her wrenched into the Station Square Eggmart and perusing the goods contained within, searching for something specific.
"What are we looking for, and why do you need me, specifically, to help you?" Honest asked, following the azure hedgehog as he slowly made his way down the pet food aisle.
"I don't know, but you should know," Sonic told her, pushing a cart. "You see, Tails found a stray cat today, and I need to buy stuff for it. You have a pet cat, so you should know exactly what I need."
Honest's eyes lit up. "Wow! Really? What is its name??"
Sonic sighed. "...Sockets. He wants Sockets to be an indoor cat and sleep on his laboratory's floor in a comfy cat bed."
Honest grabbed a bag of food off the shelf and read the label aloud. "'Ultimate Choice brand Indoor Cat Food'. This should work." She threw it in the cart.
(I was working on an illustration of this scene, but my computer broke and my project file was on it.)
"And you said you need a cat bed? Those should be on the end here." Honest pointed to the back of the store. "Akane just sleeps in my bed, so we didn't bother getting her own."
They reached the end of the aisle, but as Sonic started to reach to feel one of the fluffy cat beds, a duplicate of himself rounded the corner pushing an identical cart to his, store brand dry cat food and everything.
"Scourge?" Honest exclaimed.
"Honest?" He answered.
"Scourge?" Sonic said as well.
...
"You have a cat?" Sonic asked, tilting his head. When Scourge didn't answer right away, Sonic squinted at him and added, "That cat food better not be a present for Honest."
"Of course not," Scourge told him, crumpling up the paper list in his hand and shoving it into one of his jacket pockets. "Honest would probably prefer a cake as a present. Speaking of which, yes, I have a cat. Her name is Princess. Rosy gave her to me as a Valentine's present about... five years ago... after my old cat wandered onto Mephiles's yard and disappeared."
Sonic's arms were crossed and his eyes half-lidded as he said, "It's probably dead."
Honest fought back the urge to jab him in his ribs with her elbow, but then again, would she even be able to reach his ribs with her elbow before he noticed and evaded her attack? Anyway, Scourge was probably contemplating doing something far worse to Sonic, so Honest was forced to butt in.
"Tails took in a stray cat, so Sonic wanted my help as a fellow cat owner to help him buy some things for it." Honest picked up an extra fluffy cat bed and put it in Sonic's cart. "You want to buy some treats?" she asked, looking up at Sonic who was now gripping the cart's handle so hard he might crack the plastic grip.
"Yeah, sure," Sonic said, turning and pushing his cart right past Scourge. As they passed, Honest looked up at Scourge. He just shook his head hopelessly, indicating that he didn't know what to do. Honest wanted to admit that she didn't know what to do either, but right now she was on a mission. Her and Sonic stared at the cat treats for a while, trying to decide which kind to get for Sockets.
"Akane likes the seafood kind with the chewy insides. She'll eat any kind, but that's her favorite."
Sonic tapped his chin in thought. "Do you think maybe it's cats' favorite in general? Like maybe cats naturally like seafood of all kinds more than they like chicken or beef or turkey?"
Honest shrugged. "I dunno, maybe?" She grabbed the container of chewy seafood treats and put it in the cart's seat.
When they went to check out, the only checkout counter was occupied by none other than Vector the Crocodile. He had a cart chock full of stuff that the Eggrobo was slowly but surely sorting through. The green reptile turned around and explained to Honest, "Espio, Charmy, and I drew sticks to see who would buy groceries this month, and guess whose stick was the shortest."
Scourge pushed his cart to stand in line behind them. He didn't have much, just some essentials to get him and Fiona through the week. Sonic stared straight ahead and tapped his foot on the tile floor impatiently while Honest turned around to talk to Scourge.
"How are you?" Honest asked. With some people, asking that sort of question would probably result in them saying something sarcastic. However, with Scourge, that kind of question was exactly what you should ask if you wanted him to speak with you.
"Oh, you know." Scourge shrugged. Honest noticed his eyes looked tired. "Okay. Not the best, but okay." He leaned on his cart which caused it to roll forward a bit and catch on the corner of a shelf parallel to the checkout counter. He then whispered so quietly even Honest had trouble hearing him, not just Sonic, "You need to come to the Castle."
Honest's eyes widened, and she heard Vector thank the Eggman's robot behind her and leave. Sonic pushed the cart forward, and before Honest knew it, was paying for his groceries. After everything was said and done, Honest waved to both Scourge and the robot cashier, and her and Sonic left the Eggmart.
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