Little Plum Riding Hood [Halloween Special]

Part 3: In the Cottage...

[✧] When Plum/Astra and Cobalt entered, she closed the door behind her while he immediately caught on that Hunter was disguising himself as her cousin so that he could coerce her into going back to him, but needed the right time to interfere. Albeit a bit surprised, Plum couldn't help but gasp at the new appearance of Amy and rapidly knew something wasn't sitting right with this situation. "Cousin! You... you look--" Plum faltered but was cut off. "Tired, dear; very tired. Now, come close and sing me a little song.~" Amy(?) requested again.

[✧] This made her feel visibly distressed, but she remembered that Cobalt was next to her as he was scanning the cottage with the help of his technological advancements to detect if the signature of the real Amy was close by. Plum hesitantly sang a help-me song in fluent Japanese while subtly signaling for him to help as soon as he could. She cut herself off mid-song as she pointed out, panicking, "Goodness, cousin, what dark skin you have... And what dark quills you have!" 'Dark skin and dark quills?' Cobalt thought before realizing something.

[✧] Hunter was impersonating Amy with his usual up-to-no-good demeanor, just like Oran had warned him of. This led Cobalt to shield the panicking Plum with his right arm as he finally found a good opportunity to interfere. "Hold it! You're not the real cousin of Plum's, but rather an impersonator!" Cobalt retorted, "The real one should make their presence known in 3... 2... 1..." Then, as if on cue, a sneeze began to be heard. Plum quickly rushed over to where the sneezing was coming from and opened it, only to reveal the real Amy Rose inside the nearby closet.

[✧] "Cousin Amy!" Plum exclaimed, relieved that Amy was still alive. "Astra! I'm so glad you're here!" Amy replied as Plum gave her the basket and said, "Mother wanted me to give this to you." Amy thanked her and the girls exchanged a sibling-like conversation. Meanwhile, Hunter was sweating badly; Oran was right after all, for he was in hot water as Cobalt gave him a menacing glare. He knew he was bad enough, but what he pulled off was so atrocious, it could've scared one of the girls to death.

[✧] "Hunter Elliott Balboa!" Cobalt snapped, now filled to the brim with rage. "I knew you were behind that facade, but you could've scared Little Plum or even her cousin to death! I always knew you were predatory, but never would I come across a side of you that's far worse, and yet here we are! You're not just sick to my stomach; YOU'RE WORSE THAN HEAVEN'S SNAKE THAT GAVE THE [QUACK]ING APPLE TO EVE!!!" This startled the girls, as they had never seen a good Robian like Cobalt drop an F-bomb in this way before.

[✧] 'Woah...' thought Amy. 'I've... never seen him get fumed like this before.' Plum/Astra, on the other hand, was beginning to become obsessed because of it; she felt like passing out from shock and being smitten as her face turned into a tomato-red color as she thought, 'Mon Dieu, he's irate, but I can't help myself of the fact that he's so hot when he's aggressive!~' Cobalt grabbed Hunter by the neck, walked outside, and beat him up to the point where he fell unconscious.

[✧] The second that Hunter even became unconscious, Cobalt punched him so hard, that he sent him flying towards the nearest prison from the forest. At this point, when he went back inside, he found Plum blushing so badly, that she couldn't keep herself together. "Is something... bothering you, Plum?" She didn't respond, but instead, she kissed him on his cheek as a thank-you token. This surprised him since he wanted to do that earlier, but never got a chance. "I think my cousin likes you." Amy teased, coughing a little bit from the illness.

[✧] It was at this moment that Cobalt knew; he had to come clean on something, more specifically regarding his real name. "Hey, Plum? Can I... fill you in on a secret?" Cobalt asked her, to which she nodded in response. "My name isn't really 'Cobalt;' I introduced myself as such so I wouldn't scare you," He hesitantly explained, worried. "My real name's... 'Metallix'." This didn't scare Plum, but instead fascinated her; she had never known someone with a name like that before... until now, that is. "That's by far the coolest name I've ever heard!" Plum beamed.

[✧] This stunned him to the point of blushing badly; he now wanted to share one kiss with her so badly but wanted to prioritize consent as a primary thing. So, Cobalt/Metallix gently wrapped Astra in his robot arms and led her out of the cottage so that he could talk to Amy, who was still inside the cottage, regarding his love for Astra. Once that was done, he then led her somewhere secluded, where it was only the two of them alone so that he could confess something.