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Pranks and Party of the Epilogue

With Dr. Eggman's intrusion in Team Sonic's April Fools games thwarted, the Team moves on to tricking one another before the main event of Amy's birthday party. 3,930 words.

Though Amy’s quills weren’t perfectly restyled and Tails still smelled obnoxiously of perfume, they and the other members of the Team got together for the birthday party that evening. Knuckles had placed a plank of sturdy driftwood over the pit in front of Amy’s house for guests to walk over. So no one had any accidents placing gifts inside and getting confections in return.

After a bit of running Sonic arrived at Amy’s house to see quite a crowd assembled outside. Several benches were placed around and it seemed their neighbors in the village had taken the opportunity to turn this into a potluck. In fact it looked as though Amy’s birthday party had taken the usual dinner rush that the Meh Burger would be getting.

It also helped that Espio was sticking around, seemingly becoming a bit of an attraction. A line formed up to him for people to “take selfies with a Ninja.” The catch being he’d blend into a different spot for each photo, making spotting him a challenging game.

“Having fun?” said Sonic, leaning up against Amy’s deck near Espio.

“I’m doing promotional work for the Chaotix Agency,” said Espio, pausing to vanish, and probably smile, for another photo. “Your friend’s event is a good opportunity.”

“Well, do you like your work? The whole Ninja thing that is,” said Sonic.

A slight twinge of a smile appeared on Espio’s face before he refocused his seriousness. “I can’t imagine doing anything else.”

As the last selfie taker, a local deer, uploaded the photo Sonic heard a ping on several nearby phones. Most notably Tails’ with its custom tone as he walked along the deck behind Sonic carrying a box of contraptions.

“Oh hey!” said Sonic, “heard you before I smelled you this time!”

“Yeah I washed most of that air-freshener perfume-stuff out of my fur, but I still smell it everywhere I go,” said Tails. “Hold this for a second?”

“What’re all these contraptions?” asked Sonic as he took the box from Tails.

“Contraption singular, in separate pieces for transit,” said Tails, before knocking on a closed window to Amy’s house. It opened far enough to show Sticks, who now looked about as calm as she usually did. “Got a few more selfies for you!”

Tails presented his phone screen and Sticks leaned close, arms crossed while squinting at it. “There he is under the window. He’s standing on one foot in this one. There he’s mostly behind that table.”

“Wow,” said Tails, “You’re so good at this! I gotta get some where’s Waldog books for you.”

Espio let out a disappointed sigh, of which Sonic noticed.

“Don’t fret too much,” said Sonic while leaning over to Espio, “Sticks is unnaturally good at the small details when she feels like her life is on the line, which I guess is almost always.”

“If there are small details to find, I still need to get better,” said Espio.

“If you Ninja’s learn anything new I’ll adapt,” said Sticks from the window.

Espio and Sticks made eye contact for a moment, both squinting slightly. Seeing this, Tails put his phone away and went to take his box back from Sonic.

“Well I should get back to work setting this projector up and- hey!” Tails leaned down next to Sonic and picked up some doohickey with copper wire coiled on it, “you dropped a piece!”

“I feel like I was staying pretty still bud,” said Sonic.

“It’s not broken at least,” said Tails while throwing the doohickey in the box and taking it from Sonic.

Before Sonic could argue about this, Knuckles and Amy came out the front door carrying trays of different snacks and treats. Several colourful cookies and muffins adorned some trays while others were like a charcuterie of meats and cheeses. This drew the attention of most of the guests outside who quickly crowded around them. Even Tails abandoned his project for a moment to fly over and snag a handful from each platter before they were put down.

“Good idea, saving some for us,” said Sonic.

As Tails landed on the deck he frowned and glanced between the snacks in his hands and Sonic. “Us?”

Sonic chuckled and said “I’m just kidding, mostly,” before reaching over and taking a piece of bologna off of Tails’ hands.

“Guys!” said Amy as she forced her way out of the crowd, “Knuckles and I made extra just for us later.”

“Better let Tails get his fill in now or the rest of us won’t see those snacks,” said Sonic.

“Speaking of,” said Sticks, “the rest of you alright with that other Ninja taking some of yer confections?”

Everyone turned toward the crowd around the snacks table, noticing the Mantis Ninja casually walking away with a to-go bag. They glanced over and noticed the team staring. This didn’t seem to worry them, as they finished eating a cracker.

“Hey! I thought I recognized you!” said Knuckles, leaning over the crowd and pointing.

“Oh great, you got another trick for us?” said Amy.

“No,” said the Mantis, “my task has been dismissed, I am only here for professional courtesy.”

“Good,” said Sonic, who was now behind the Mantis with a breeze of wind, “Cause I wouldn’t wanna make a scene here.”

“Who said you could have those snacks anyway?” said Knuckles.

“The apparent social customs of this public party,” said the Mantis.

“Oh yeah, social customs,” said Knuckles.

“Actually hang on,” said Amy before running into her house. She quickly returned with a larger and more dressed up cupcake. “You should take one of these too. I honestly appreciate your attitude.”

“Thanks,” said the Mantis, taking the cupcake.

Sonic stepped aside and let the Mantis leave the party as Amy waved them off.

“Was that actually a kind gesture, or…” said Sonic.

“Or,” replied Amy with an evil smile.

—-----------

The smell of burning wires filled Dr. Eggman’s evil lair, even as most of the fires had been set out. All this done by someone simply prying metal panels loose and throwing pine sap onto the wiring. None of the damage to the exterior of the structure was actually critical, but he really dreaded just how close to catastrophic several spots of damage were. If the Badger had dug just a bit deeper into the holes she made, she could’ve irreparably damaged critical functions.

As it was though the Badger only shut down the ventilation and set enough fires to create a frightening image. Still, the thought that she knew exactly what to target in his lair greatly bothered Dr. Eggman. Though at the moment, not as much as potentially suffocating on bad air, of which his assistants took to reminding him.

“My sensors still say the air contains noxious levels of carbon monoxide,” said Orbot.

“I haven’t got the ventilation going yet!” said Dr. Eggman from under a control panel, “You don’t need to tell me nothing’s changed until something should be changing!”

With an audible click the lights in the room flickered, then the air started to move as the fans slowly wound up. Smoke drained from the ceiling at a steady rate. Dr. Eggman sighed in relief that he wouldn’t have to choose between brain damage and sleeping outside.

“Oh hey, the extra spicy particles in the air are going away,” said Cubot.

“My onboard carbon monoxide detector still says the air isn’t perfect, but it should be clear soon,” said Orbot.

“Alright, are there any other ‘hazards to my health’ I should worry about?” said Dr. Eggman, waving his hands in mock drama.

“...Nothing critical sir,” said Orbot.

“But in non-critical news the Ninja you hired is back!” said Cubot.

Dr. Eggman turned and saw the Mantis Ninja standing a few feet away with a gift bag in their arms. Their antenna twitched and they side-eyed the smoke, but they didn’t say anything about it.

“What? Keeping an Evil Lair operational without a few hazards is nigh impossible!” said Dr. Eggman.

“I will take your word for it. I do not have the credit to own a lair,” said the Mantis.

“Whaddya got there?” asked Cubot.

“Confections from the hedgehog Amy Rose’s party,” said the Mantis, holding out the bag, “you may have them, if you want them.”

“Hmm,” Dr. Eggman grabbed the bag and laid out the contents on a nearby table. The pastries and lunch meats did look enticing and well prepared, but he doubted they tasted much better than his TV dinners. After scrutinizing a card shaped cookie from the assortment he gave it a bite. It turned out to be good enough for him to forget to pretend he wasn’t enjoying it. “Well, maybe I should program my assistants' cooking modes off of the pink ones' recipes.”

“May I try one boss?” said Cubot.

“For the last time, I’m not inventing a robotic mouth with flavor sensors just so you can waste food!”

“Well, it would help us to prepare you better food sir,” said Orbot.

Since he was unsure if he could give a good rebuttal, Dr. Eggman turned to the Mantis instead. “I appreciate the gesture, but this won’t get you that fifth star.”

The Mantis nodded, then suddenly leaned past him and cut a small chunk out of the biggest and most colourfully decorated cupcake.

“Helping yourself eh?”

“Testing a suspicion,” said the Mantis, before they ate the bit of cupcake and got an inquisitive look on their face, “The hedgehog Amy insisted I take this one specifically.”

“Oh, testing to see if it laced I see!” said Dr. Eggman, patting the Mantis on the back of the head, “smart!”

Dr. Eggman then proceeded to take a bite of the cupcake. To his surprise, instead of a sweet flavor, he was met with an overwhelming burning sensation. It was as if all the sugar had been replaced with capsaicin. His face turned bright red and he screamed while running to the nearest sink.

“Why the hell didn’t you notice any of that spice?!” yelled Dr. Eggman between bouts of gargling water from the sink.

“I did, and I am in incredible pain,” said the Mantis. “By the time I had found the words for it you’d already taken a bite.”

—----------------

With the rude intrusion on the Team’s playful pranks resolved, the remaining daylight soon turned to Mischief. Not before everyone remembered to independently let Sticks in on the timing of their respective pranks. She had requested as much.

Before enacting his primary plan, Sonic made sure to tap every guest to Amy’s party on the shoulder and disappear before they looked. As planned, he caught a glimpse of Tails seeing this before secluding himself inside to finish some ‘secret project.’ Now was the time.

Slowing his pace to an uncomfortably slow walk, he slipped into Amy’s house behind Tails. Just as expected, the genius fox had sat next to some candy bowls while fiddling with some sort of projector. As quietly as possible Sonic creeped closer and placed one extra bowl of candy shaped like mints.

Tails’ ear twitched. Thinking fast, Sonic tapped him on the shoulder and ducked away.

“Ha hah Sonic,” said Tails, reaching to feel for anything stuck to his back, “figured you’d be more creative.”

“Dunno what you’re talking about,” said Sonic as he stood up from behind a table. “I’m just checking your reflexes.”

“And what would you have done if I jumped and blinded you with my new invention?” Tails tapped the yellow painted projector, sending a wave of light over Sonic who covered his eyes.

“I’d just not look at it, duh,” said Sonic.

For a moment, Sonic thought he heard a clicking sound. Then the projector shut off as Tails started fiddling with it, coils of copper wire in one of his hands.

“Aw heck, it’s still a bit glitchy,” said Tails, before he grabbed a couple special mints and shoved them into his mouth.

Sonic felt a subtle smirk on his face and turned away from Tails. “Well I'm sure you’ll get… whatever that is working.”

Little did Sonic know, Tails had a similar grin on his own snout as he faced away from him. “Oh I know I will.”

“Hey guys,” said Knuckles, stepping into the house holding what looked like a brown paper bag, “does this thing I found on the roof look like a hornet nest?”

Both Sonic and Tails turned to look, simultaneously realizing that yes, it did appear to be paper wasp or hornet nest of some kind. They realized the looks on their faces must’ve answered this question as Knuckles’ eyes widened while looking at them.

“Knuckles, get that back outside,” said Sonic.

Of course with their luck, a cloud of angry looking large wasps flew out of the nest. In an instant it entirely engulfed Knuckles.

“KNUCKLES!” yelled Tails.

The swarm cloud turned toward Sonic and Tails, prompting the former to grab the latter and make a run for it. They reached the back door in under a second, but were blocked by Amy walking in with a paper cup in her hand.

“What’s with the screaming in here?” said Amy, putting a hand on her hip.

“Amy MOVE!” said Sonic.

“Ex-cuse me?” said Amy with a dramatic flair of offense.

“SONIC!” yelled Tails.

The cloud of wasps was already upon them, causing both Sonic and Tails to flinch. Both expected to start receiving several painful stings. Instead, the droning buzz of the swarming wasps moved past them. Both blinked, then turned to see most of the wasps landing on Amy. Several were taking tiny sips from the cup of soda in her hand. The unconcerned look on her face seemed to mock them.

“Amy… did-, did you domesticate a swarm of wasps?” said Tails.

“Well what else was I supposed to do when a nest appeared on my deck? Recklessly spray pesticide all over the place?” said Amy.

“Okay. But. How?” said Sonic.

“With this breed, you just gotta bribe them with sugary food!” said Amy with a bright smile, “Learned that from Sticks. Then double checked with an entomology book to be safe.”

Knuckles walked over from the other side of the house, no sting wounds on him. “Wow you two totally panicked! Hah!”

“That was legitimately terrifying,” said Tails as he finally jumped out of Sonic's grasp, “I thought you were a goner.”

“Well I think you might be becoming half ghost Tails,” said Knuckles, pointing at Tails’ muzzle.

“What?” As Tails turned to face Sonic and Amy, it became clear that the food grade dye in those ‘special’ mints was more effective than Sonic hoped. His entire mouth was neon green and almost looked like it glowed. Of course seeing this Sonic couldn’t help but snort and scrunch up his face, revealing his betrayal.

“Sonic what’d you do to him?” said Amy, the wasp swarm on her turning to glare at him.

“Just added some prank dye to a bowl of mints,” said Sonic, “the package said it was safe to eat.”

Tails found a mirror and looked at his maw, before gasping dramatically. “Sonic, I’m allergic to green three!” He proceeded to put a hand over his head and slowly fall backwards, getting caught by Knuckles.

“Oh No! Tails, hang in there!” yelled Knuckles.

“It’s too late… I’ve been… filicide-ed…” said Tails.

“Dude I know they put the green part of that dye in half the things you eat,” said Sonic.

“Oh come on Sonic, let him be theatrical,” said Amy, putting a hand on Sonic’s shoulder. An immediate small static shock caused them both to flinch.

That shock seemed completely random, until Sonic caught a glimpse of the pure evil look on Tails’ face as Knuckles’ shadow cast over him.

“What did you…” Sonic was cut off by the sound of every magnetic metal object in the room sliding across the floor, “...ah, I see.”

Within a few seconds Sonic and Amy’s quills frazzled and were covered with spare change, keys, lint, and a few of Tails’ tools, The wasp swarm flew off of Amy in surprise while she made eye contact with Sonic. The two of them then glared at Tails.

“YES! It worked!” said Tails, before trailing into a full maniacal laugh, “I’m a genius! It only took me half an hour to throw that device together!! And neither of you noticed me giving you separate charges!”

“I have no idea how that is supposed to make sense,” said Amy.

“I think I understand it,” said Knuckles, “good going Tails!”

Sonic walked over to Tails, who was still giving him a self-satisfied grin. He then poked him on the nose, zapping his whiskers with static electricity.

“OW!”

The change in charge caused everything to fall out of Sonic’s quills and onto the ground. Tails responded by trying to tackle Sonic. This soon devolved into a full light-hearted battle between the two of them while Amy tried to break them up. That struggle continued until Sticks appeared in the doorway with a clay vase.

“Yins guys done deceiving each-other yet?” said Sticks.

“Yeah yeah,” said Sonic, holding a flailing Tails in the air by the scruff of his neck, “come one in!”

Sticks hesitated for a moment, but stepped inside and held the clay vase out to Amy.

“Did you make this?” asked Amy.

“Yeah,” Sticks looked away, “I know where to get good clay, the hard part was learnin’ how ta use it.”

Amy pulled Sticks into a hug, who tolerated it for a couple seconds before becoming fidgety. The other three cooed at this gesture. Sticks sighed and rolled her eyes, but Amy ignored them as she released the hug.

“Thanks for coming out of your burrow today, really.”

“Course, I like ta think I trust you guys,” said Sticks.

It didn’t take Amy long to find a shelf to put Sticks’ homemade clay pot on, nor to find a wildflower to put into it. She clasped her hands together and turned to her team with a smile. “Now, who wants to get dressed up!”

Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Sticks all looked at each other with expressions of skepticism.

“No no trust me this’ll be fun!” said Amy, placing a box of fantasy costume pieces in front of everyone.

“...I guess that cape looks cool,” said Sonic.

As the Sun started to set outside everyone helped gather up the garbage outside. Soon there was no litter left to bug the local environment. Inside, Tails had finished setting up the projector device on Amy’s ceiling and given her a remote control and instructions. From there everyone picked out some bits of costumes which included faux armor, capes, cloaks, and a variety of large fun hats.

Amy had gotten the most dressed up, adorned with the garments of a witch. She then handed everyone sheets of paper with a couple powers and skills listed on them, insisting that she’d explain the rules as they played. It wasn’t like any of them would have the focus to study beforehand anyway. The most eager other than her was Tails, though he was clearly reaching the end of his energy level as she caught him napping on his feet a couple times.

The Projector Tails had built clicked on, painting a scene on the walls, depicting a hilly gothic environment.

“You’re all the chosen defenders of your home village,” started Amy in a monologue, putting on a dramatic voice as she read from a notebook, “The Witch of Rose Thorns has summoned you here, telling of a terrible scourge on its way into this realm…”

While Amy had at least four more paragraphs of introductory context to give, a glance at her friends revealed that their collective attention was already waning. Sonic clearly wanted to try and entertain this role playing game, but his foot was anxiously tapping as he waited. Sticks had become distracted by searching the projected background on Amy’s walls. Tails and Knuckles were trying to keep track of the important points of the monologue, but the prior could barely keep his eyes open and the latter seemed to be stressed out by the numbers on his character sheet.

“As… the Witch of Rose Thorns…” Amy flipped a few pages ahead of her notes, “she beckons you to join her on a dramatic and romantic quest, but is interrupted by-” Amy pressed a button on the remote, causing a burst of fog to blow from the projector. An image of a ghastly knight in a threatening pose then projected onto the fog between her and the others. “A Dark Knight of the Spiked Gate attacks!”

Tails’ eyes widened and he immediately shook Sonic's shoulder. “Look! It works! Hah!”

“Woah, neat!” said Sonic.

“So is this guy real, or…?” asked Knuckles.

Amy smiled, and pressed another button on the remote. The image of the knight entered a sword swinging animation as she said “While you all hesitate and talk, it attacks Knuckles!”

“Oh no!” said Knuckles.

“Yeah, you take a cut to the arms,” said Amy.

“Oh NO! I need those!!” said Knuckles.

Running past Knuckles, Sticks thrust a foam spear into the projection of the knight. “I stab him! Or her! Them! Repeatedly!!”

“Wait, can I kick the Knight’s helmet off?” asked Sonic.

“You two attack!” said Amy, a smile growing on her face as she rolled dice nearby and glanced at the results, “and knock the Knight prone! Mortally wounding them with the spear!”

The image of the knight changed again to a still projection of it lying face down on the ground. Tails got more excited with each successful use of the projector as he hopped over. “I wanna question the knight! Who sent them?”

“Yeah! I also demand they tell us who sent them!” said Sticks.

“And do I need to worry about getting an infection?” asked Knuckles.

Amy shook one of her hands to keep her excitement at a reasonable level. It seemed like her friends were actually engaging. So she quickly flipped back to the opening monologue, finding the name and goal of the villain, declaring it from the dying knight. None other than King Arthur, seeking to tear down the land to build a new castle and city.

“Oh man, what else are we gonna fight?” asked Sonic.

“No spoilers,” said Tails, “but this device should be able to project some pretty big beasts.”

“Like a werewolf?” asked Knuckles.

“I take offense to that,” said Tails.

The Team continued asking questions about the game, Amy more than willing to oblige the violent direction they seemed to want to go toward. The excitement was even noticed by those lurking outside of Amy's house, watching them from a distance.

“Sir, it appears they are indeed having fun,” said Orbot.

Sitting in his backup grounded eggmobile and sucking on an ice cube as he watched through binoculars, Dr. Eggman let out a sigh. “What range exactly would you say?”

“Ninety-two percent fun efficiency,” said Orbot.

“Oh! That’s at the ‘having a blast’ level!” said Cubot.

“Darn, if I crash this party in revenge now, they’ll be way too mad about it,” said Dr. Eggman, “If they were only mildly enjoying that game I’d be willing to risk it. But not now… Robots! Abort Attack!”

Several badniks on the beach started moving and following Dr. Eggman back toward the sea and his evil lair. This to the disappointment of a cloaked Espio, who appeared from behind a rock. “Damn, now attacking him would just be assault.”

Sonic Boom: Those Who're Made Fools

As April Fools day is upon them, Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends must contend with a series of pranks from an outside source that go a little farther than they would like.

Updated Version of this Sonic Boom April Fools themed fanfiction. A new ending & epilogue will be added at to this post as a reblog. 6,238 words here. 10,198 words total.

General Audiences, Swearing

While Sonic the Hedgehog would usually be sleeping in, the cool breeze blowing through his hut and swaying the hammock he laid on beckoned him awake. He declined this request to wake up at a normal time and curled up further. However his body began to shiver and his mind was dragged into enough consciousness to realize that the cool breeze was actually a freezing wind. His eyes shot open, seeing a light flurry of snowflakes blowing over him, already building up drifts in his beachside hut.

“What the f-, flakes? Snow??” said Sonic as he wobbled to his feet.

The warm light of sunrise was peering through his windows and the island outside looked as tropical as it should. The culprit then, Sonic deduced, was likely the large yellow painted machine that looked like an industrial sized window air-conditioner if it were built by a mad scientist.

A letter lifted off of the pile of mail he kept strewn on the ground and into his face. It was the invitation to Amy’s birthday event this evening. Thus, it was also April Fools day.

“Either Tails actually got his sleep schedule in check just to get me first, or I need to have a chat with him about staying up all night again,” said Sonic aloud, ears turning to listen for any unseen listener.

The wind then picked up, the flurries of snow beginning to sting as they struck Sonic. In fact it was more of a semi-frozen rain now. Everything in his hut was quickly being coated with bits of water and ice which created a slick layer over all surfaces. He grumbled and shivered, then dashed to the machine jammed in the door to find the off switch. The machine however blocked the entire doorway. There were no controls on the side facing Sonic, just a torrent of freezing rain blowing from a vent.

“Aw what the heck?!” Sonic tried to push the machine out of his door but found his feet slipping on the frozen and wet floor. “TAILS! I don’t wanna break your new toy here, but I will!”

Sonic heard no response aside from the gale of freezing wind and rain, which grew strong enough to send him slipping onto his face and sliding away to the far wall. He grumbled, stood up, and placed his feet on the wall. With one strong kick he spin-dashed into the machine, sending pieces of it flying as it fell out of his door frame.

“Brrr, jeez,” said Sonic as he stood up and looked around, seeing no sign of Tails, “don’t tell me he already ran off to prepare another prank. This one was already a bit much… Guess I’ll have to teach him a lesson on restraint.”

With resolve filling his eyes, Sonic the Hedgehog took off running across the beach in a blur. The machine was left behind on his front porch, a problem for later perhaps.

A potential problem for now descended from a hidden perch in the trees of the jungle toward the machine. Insectoid wings fluttered, carrying a figure whose green colour matched the jungle canopy. They landed atop Tails’ machine, then yanked a kunai dagger out of the machine's control panel before heading for their next target.

________________

The drone of power tools echoed throughout Tails’ workshop as usual while he assembled a new gadget. Progress was going good by his insane standards of pacing, so he took a step back to look over the device. Lifting the goggles off of his eyes revealed they bore a giddiness bright enough to almost hide his dark eyebags. This projector he was modifying would surely be perfect for setting the mood at Amy’s event this evening. All he needed to do now was program a remote for ease of use, something he had learned others care about when using technology. From there he’d-

A swinging sound from the mail chute on his door pulled Tails’ attention away. Could it be Sonic’s counter attack already? He chuckled to himself, picturing Sonic popping out of a pile of harmless snow with a dumbfounded look on his face. Upon approach however he saw that it was clearly from Amy. It bore fancy calligraphy for the address and her custom rose wax seal which was slightly cracked, likely from its journey.

“Oh, she must be excited,” muttered Tails to himself before biting the letter to open it with his teeth.

Tails immediately regretted his lazy choice of letter opening when a pink cloud of a gas blasted forth from the letter, filling the workshop and his mouth. The taste he recognized as floral air freshener made him gag and spit. Then the overwhelming smell filled his nose. It should’ve smelled pleasant, but the flowery fragrance was so overwhelming, suffocating, that Tails had to cover his snout. He scrambled for the nearest window before his breath ran out.

“What The FLYING FFff-!” Tails gritted his teeth and compressed his fit into a soft growl while throwing a workshop window open.

One by one Tails swung every window open. Then he opened the garage door for the hangar portion of his workshop. That didn’t dilute the air freshener smell fast enough so he turned on every industrial fan he could. Soon the continued overstimulation made him resort to using his emergency eye and face wash station, after shoving a pile of boxes blocking access out of the way. The torrent of water on his face made his eyes stop stinging so bad and got most of the taste out of his mouth. But his nose was still completely overwhelmed.

“I can’t work like this!! Why should I work like this?!” said Tails as he shook the water off of his head.

The ring of his doorbell drew Tails’ irritated red eyes to the door. Opening it revealed a fast food bag, of which he couldn’t smell at all, sitting on the welcome mat. This was definitely another prank. The fact that he was quite hungry now that he thought about it annoyed him greatly. So he leaned forward and kicked the bag away before turning to slam his door shut.

“Hey woah!” said Sonic, jumped down from atop the workshop roof, “what’s up? Not hungry?”

Tails glared at Sonic, glancing between him and the bucket of ice and snow in his grasp.

“Okay to be fair you really-” Sonic coughed and waved a hand in front of his muzzle, “wow bud isn’t that a bit too much air freshener? It’s kinda distracting.”

“Yes! And I guess Amy thinks that’s funny, since evidently you had a much lazier prank in mind,” said Tails.

“Amy?” said Sonic, “she usually doesn’t take time for anything more elaborate than what you can buy at the joke store.”

“Yeah, except when she asks you for help with her party.” Tails walked to his work table and plugged his nose with tissue paper before pushing the projector project aside. “So let’s see how she likes my help now, heheheh…”

“Tails you’re getting a bit maniacal,” said Sonic, “seriously, don’t go overboard again. It just smells a bit too nice in here.”

“You don’t mess with someone's sense of smell and get off easy,” said Tails.

“Okay, well, can I ask your opinion on something first?” said Sonic

Tails turned to face Sonic, only to get a glob of half melted snow thrown in his face.

“I’ll ask for your help fixing the wind damage to my house later!” said Sonic before dropping the bucket and dashing away.

Tails grumbled, wiped the snow off his face, then grabbed any errant material he had lying around to build his revenge on Amy. Though after a moment or two he started thinking about what Sonic had just said.

“...Fix his house? What?”

In his state of sensory overload and anger, Tails failed to notice a figure move from its perfectly still position in the jungle canopy outside a nearby window. It stood tall, then began leaping away between the trees toward the village.

_____________

The hum of Amy Rose’s voice trailed through her house as she happily prepared for the rest of the day. Her daily twenty-four step quill-styling routine was now finished, she was dressed, and every surface of the room was covered in decorations and snacks to be assorted. Sure she always had a bit of anxiety about the fact her birthday falls on the first of April, the day of The Fool. But that worry was now barely present after living the last couple of years dealing with Dr. Eggman attacking at any random time.

Working out a block of time in her schedule to deal with an inevitable attack or crisis meant Amy had all the time she needed to still have a fun birthday. She smiled to herself while looking over a stack of colourful papers she had printed, it was hard to suppress her enthusiasm at having her friends over tonight. Truly the real power of one's birthday was the leverage it put on everyone else to finally try your favorite forms of entertainment.

“Alright, let’s get this next part right,” said Amy to herself as she organized the papers, character sheets. “This is my one chance this year to convince the other that this’ll be fun. And this time I’m right.”

Amy’s smile faltered slightly as she remembered her failure to convince Sonic and the others that playing out her favorite musicals was fun. Really she should’ve known that’d be too much. This time though, an engaging role playing game… she can get them to agree this activity is worthy of regularity.

A knock on her door made Amy jump and gasp with a smile. She waved her hands a bit to lower her giddiness, taking a deep breath. Then she skipped over to the door.

Greeting her outside was a basket with a bow on it, sitting just past her welcomemat. Amy’s heart skipped a beat, but she quickly recognized Knuckles’ handwriting. “Hope you like these colourful rocks!” It wasn’t a romantic gesture from Sonic, but still nice. With a sigh and a soft smile she stepped forward to see what varieties of polished stones Knuckles had-

Amy’s boot fell through her welcomemate and she stumbled into the hole that had been hidden just below it. It was a short fall, but she landed on her face and splattered some liquid all over herself. It took a few seconds of sitting still to process what just happened.

“What the F-Ow…” said Amy as she stood up, eyes stinging from the oily fluid coating her. “What is this stuff?”

The smell, and once her vision cleared, the black colouration showed Amy that this was actually just oil. Used oil. Most likely motor oil. From a motor. Filled with gunk. Gunk that was now in her quills… and her whole dress.

“Are, You, SERIOUS?!” shouted Amy, “isn’t this a bit much!?”

Amy sighed, but tried not to let this ruin her mood. It was meant as harmless fun, even if it was harmful to her morning. It wasn't usual for Knuckles to be that deceptive though, even though signs pointed to him being involved with how good he is at digging. Perhaps Tails put him up to this, considering the use of engine oil. But why would he? This is usually a thing between him and Sonic.

After a moment of glowering, Amy decided to climb out of the small hole. The dirty motor oil made this tricky however, as she fell back in several times. By the time she heard the swishing of Tails’ tails mid flight, along with a nefarious chuckle, she had worked through her patience.

“TAILS! Get down here this instant!!”

Amy heard a gasp, then the patter of footsteps. Tails leaned over the hole and looked at her with a strange squint. She in turn gave him the most stern look she could.

“This is really obnoxious, especially for you!” said Amy.

“Yeah, like you don’t know a thing about obnoxious pranks,” said Tails, glancing away from Amy’s eye contact.

“There’s MOTOR OIL In My Quills Tails!!” said Amy.

Tails leaned out of Amy’s sight, she heard him put something down on her deck, before he leaned back over the hole. “Who put a hole full of motor oil here anyway?”

“...It wasn’t you?”

“No! This is lazy! And just mean!” said Tails as she gestured energetically, “I’d at least be way more creative for something this mean! Or just less mean if I don’t have time to be creative.”

“Okay, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to insult your… prowess with pranking,” said Amy, “Please get me out of here.”

“Oh yeah, sure.”

With ease, Tails lifted Amy out of the hole and dropped her on the deck before landing himself. She pretended not to notice him immediately kicking a really haphazardly thrown together looking device out of sight.

“Uh, Amy,” said Tails as he rubbed the back of his head, not noticing the oil stain he was leaving there from his glove, “do you happen to know anything about the perfume filling my workshop.”

“What? What happened?” said Amy.

Tails made eye contact with Amy, a look of anger quickly fading to regret. “I-I’m sorry, someone else must’ve put that perfume bomb in my mailbox then.”

“...Probably Eggman, right?”

“He… He’s not good at all at being that sneaky though…not without letting you know it was him.” Tails squinted as he looked at the hole, “And this does look like it was dug by claws, natural or those glove things people can get. And I guess Knuckles can be sneaky sometimes?”

“Okay but how would he do this without your help?” said Amy.

“...I dunno, could’ve gone to a mundane mechanic,” said Tails, “But this is something he’d try to do to Sonic for April fools, not you.”

Just overhead, as Amy & Tails started talking about their problems, a sneaky individual leapt and flew away from the top of a palm tree. It was bound for a path deeper into the island's jungle.

_________________

It was much easier for Knuckles to find specific rocks when they were in the ground. The polished stones he’d collected in a gift basket for Amy evaded him in a way most minerals couldn’t. He’d been forced into retracing his steps to the best of his ability, now out on the jungle trails just outside of the Village. However all he could find was litter and Sticks’ traps.

“Oh come one gift basket, where’d you go?!” said Knuckles aloud, “I need you to be a good friend to Amy!”

The gift basket didn’t answer, only the rustling leaves did. Of course Knuckles could quickly gather some neat looking plants, but it wouldn’t have the same meaning to it. He slapped himself on the head trying to remember where he could’ve left the basket. After the week he spent picking out the perfect colourful stones it sickened him to just lose that gift.

Searching the edges of the trail closely, Knuckles came across a tree with a nook inside it. The bright colours inside excited him for a moment, until he realized that it was only foraged fruit, not his basket of rocks. Though his stomach grumbled now, and the smell of the berries grew enticing. Then when he noticed a doodle carved in the bark next to the nook in the tree, depicting a simple Sticks the Badger giving a thumbs up, he smiled.

“Oh! Awesome! I really gotta thank Sticks for these snack stocks she leaves out,” said Knuckles

As Knuckles stepped close enough to reach into the nook of this tree, something snagged on his leg. He instinctively kicked and felt something wrap tight around his ankle and pull him upward. He gave a yell as the complex and well hidden snare trap hung him upside down from the top of the tree, several feet out of reach of the collection of berries.

“Ah dang! I set off one of Sticks’ traps again…” said Knuckles as he folded his arms. “Wait, why was there a trap there, when there was a friendly and welcoming sign?! That’s like, the opposite of making sense!”

Knuckles grumbled to himself. If it took Sticks too long to find him then he’d have less time to find his gift basket. Then even less time to beat Sonic & Tails in the April Fools prank war.

“Wait, I think I know what’s going on…. Sticks is trying to make me an April Fool!” said Knuckles, slapping his face in shock. “Oh man I’ve never had to deal with a prank battle involving her before.”

“Knuckles! What’re you doing up there!” shouted the voice of Amy Rose.

“Amy?!” Knuckles looked down to see Amy with several paper towels in her hands & quills and a bag over her shoulder. “Thank goodness you’re here! Sticks got me in a prank-snare thing! Who knows what she’ll do next!”

Amy’s eyes widened, then squinted. “Knuckles, Stick doesn’t do April Fools day!”

“Oh wait, really?”

“No, she stays in her burrow all day, remember?”

Knuckles thought about that. He did begin to recall Sticks’ distaste for the idea of April Fools day the first time it was ‘explained’ to her. That was one crappy day, Sonic only barely survived.

“Oh yeah!” Knuckles leaned up and grabbed the rope tied to his legs, then ripped it apart with his raw strength. He landed on his feet next to Amy and sighed in relief. “I was worried I’d have to stay up there all day. Good thing this rope doesn’t actually belong to Sticks.”

“Hey, I had a question for you,” said Amy.

“Oh yeah, I was gonna ask you about the oily smell but I can wait,” said Knuckles.

“...Yeah you didn’t dig that pit in front of my house then.”

“A pit?”

“Yeah, sorry, I thought you tried and succeeded to prank me.”

“Oh wow! If I were you I’dve like, punched me in the snoz,” said Knuckles as he looked over just how messed up Amy’s quills were, “man, I’m glad you’re so reasonable Amy. It’s nice knowing you have faith in the rest of us.”

“Heheh, yeah,” said Amy, tucking the bag over her shoulder behind herself. The spice-laden cupcakes inside will have to wait before burning someone's mouth up.

Seeing where Amy and Knuckles’ conversation was going, the hidden figure in the canopy fluttered away. Only one more member left to find.

_____________

No amount of fresh air from outside could alleviate the tension in Sticks the Badger’s nerves. She’d just managed to will herself out the door of her burrow, knowing that the number of traps and practical alarms she’d placed around would warn of any intrusion. None of the others were going to mess with her this year, she knew that, they assured her and she trusted them. She desperately wanted to just trust them.

“C’mon, you promised Amy you’d go to her party…” Sticks muttered, grimacing as she stared down at her boots.

The sound of a jingling bell made her ear twitch and her body stand even more tense than before. She glanced over, seeing no sign of anyone there. That upset her more than anything she could’ve seen prowling toward her burrow. Her teeth clenched together hard enough to become sore, as they often do.

Sticks looked in the direction of the other makeshift alarms, then more broadly the edges of the jungle near her burrow. To her relief and ire, someone was here and it wasn’t only her. That camouflaged figure staying perfectly still in the trees evidently didn’t realize to what extent Sticks had memorized the area around her living space.

Being sure to not look to close in the direction of the figure, Sticks started walking into the jungle. The peripheral view she’d had gave her enough information about the size and shape of this stalking figure that she was confident about what to listen for. After only a few steps she heard the sound of it sticking to a new tree, a light thud very subtle but distinct from the tropical woodpeckers.

“Heh, see, It’s not any of your friends,” Sticks muttered, trying then to steady her breath.

Based on the pace of when the figure hopped between trees, Stick knew exactly which snare to pass under. With a hand on her boomerang she listened as she walked. In short order, the figure fell into the trap as Sticks heard the snare suddenly tighten above her. She scowled, turned on her heel, and whipped the boomerang at the figure whilst snarling.

The sight of a scarf and large insectoid wings is all Sticks could see of the figure through a cloud of blue glitter as they were pulled away into the air. Sticks heard a snap from her rope and saw the figure dodge the boomerang then duck behind a tree. Then the boomerang came back and knocked the figure down with a thwack, triggering a chain reaction among Sticks’ traps.

Nets and leaves went flying throughout the air as several trees sprung loose from the tension of ropes and traps. Sticks dived behind a safe tree and tried to watch the figure, but they managed to escape her sight and each trap they triggered. Eventually she heard the drone of their large wings as they disappeared into the jungle. The only sign they left behind was a spot of blue glitter on every tree they’d touched.

“Sticks!” shouted Knuckles, “What was all that?! Are you alright”

“I’ve only heard legends, but if my guess is right… some sort of Ninja,” said Sticks.

Knuckles gasped, “a Ninja?! AWESOME!”

“Wait, you've heard of ‘em?” said Sticks, “The rest of you hardly ever know what I’m talking about.”

“Well when you watch enough tv you learn what a Ninja is,” said Knuckles.

“TV? Darn, I should’ve known…” said Sticks as she walked out to find her boomerang, “wait, why’re you out here?”

“Oh yeah, Amy wanted me to find you. We have a problem.”

_________________

“Hoh Hoh Hoh!” laughed Dr. Eggman as he sat in his room of many monitors. On the largest screen the unfortunate situations of Sonic and his friends played out on loop. His laughs bellowed uninterrupted as a figure stood patiently behind him. It was a green Preying Mantis in gray robes, a pine green scarf hanging from their neck to nearly the floor. They kept their arms folded behind their back and their eyes on the Doctor.

Also waiting patiently were Dr. Eggman’s assistants, Orbot and Cubot. Though their postures grew more eager and anxious with each loop.

“Look at his face as he slips onto his own face!” said Dr Eggman, hitting his control panel and laughing, “he’s helpless against a bit of wind and freezing rain! I’ve gotta remember that!”

“Uh boss,” said Orbot, “now that we’ve played these recordings on loop 20 times, perhaps we ought to worry about what Sonic and the others are going to do to retaliate?”

“Oh yeah, what did you build for Sonic to blow up today boss?” said Cubot.

“I didn’t build anything to face them today,” said Dr. Eggman.

“But eeh… that means they’re gonna break something else,” said Cubot.

“No you nincomputer!” Dr. Eggman stood up from his fancy swiveling chair, “they don’t even know who’s responsible for the appropriation of their pranks! It’s genius you see! The initiative still lies with me!”

“But sir, who else would antagonize them like that other than you?” said Orbot.

“Why this mischievous freelancer of course!” said Dr. Eggman, putting one of his hands on the Mantis’ shoulder and giving them a friendly shake.

“I did in fact sabotage their joy today,” said The Mantis, standing stiff and waiting for Dr. Eggman to release them.

“Yes you did! And you got four out five of them! That's four stars out of five in my book! I knew I wouldn’t regret hiring you out of that catalog.”

“Oh yeah, you were like ‘I better not regret this!’” said Cubot, taking up an Eggman-like pose.

Dr. Eggman glared at Cubot, then coughed and turned to look down at the Mantis. “Your contract said I’ve got your services for the whole day, yes?”

“I am standing here for that reason, yes,” said the Mantis.

“Good, now let’s show them who’s really responsible for their misfortune! I’ll even let you partake in gloating with me!” said Dr. Eggman.

“I do not have ‘gloat’ in my skillset. Thus I would perform poorly at that task,” said the Mantis.

“...I can teach you a bit about it on the way.”

___________________

“Alright team, if we’re going to have fun during my birthday, and Sonic & Tails are gonna have a fair ‘battle of pranks,’ we gotta deal with whoever’s trying to ruin our day!” said Amy Rose to the rest of Team Sonic. They had assembled at the Team’s agreed DPZ, De-Prankified Zone, the Meh Burger dining lot.

“Who, other than Eggman, would go to these lengths anyway?” said Tails, “that’s what’s really bothering me. Have we done anything to someone recently?”

“Well there’s people who get ‘parasocially angry’,” said Sonic with finger quotes. “Could be literally anyone who doesn’t vibe with our brand of swagger and has no life of their own.”

“Ninja’s are notoriously without a life,” said Knuckles.

“And good at blending in…” said Sticks, turning and eyeing a family sitting at a nearby table with suspicion.

“That I have seen,” said Sonic.

“Oh yeah, did you manage to hire-” started Amy, before the attention-demanding voice of Dr. Eggman rudely interrupted her.

“MUAHAHAHAH!” bellowed Dr. Eggman from his flying eggmobile. His threatening presence caused the other patrons of meh burger to steadily flee. Though only after gathering their food, napkins, and flavour packets. “Have you had a bout of misfortune today Sonic?”

“Are you going to have some misfortune?” said Sonic, leaning forward but staying seated.

“Not today, Hedgehog! For you see, I have the upper hand.”

Some patrons scooted by the team’s table as Tails said “Have you actually built a badnik we haven’t seen before, or are you just trying to hype up Mega again?”

“Hey! I don’t use that one that often!” said Dr. Eggman

“Uh, yeah, you kinda do,” said Sonic.

“It’s frankly embarrassing how often you pull out the same few badniks on us,” said Amy, “the people of this village can’t even be bothered to put energy into fleeing from you anymore, that’s how stale you’ve gotten.”

“Yeah, and you use the same robots all the time!” said Knuckles.

“Yeah, okay. So maybe I can’t churn out new super badniks at an insane rate, but I’ve got standards for my health! I’m not gonna crunch my schedule if you lot won’t even respect what I build!”

Sonic turned and stared at Tails for a moment, who took a bit to notice. “What?”

Sonic titled his head and raised an eyebrow.

“What??”

“Does Egghead actually have a better sense of self care than you these days?” said Sonic.

Tails folded his arms and looked away from Sonic.

“If you all could be bothered to pay attention for more than a second!” shouted Dr. Eggman, “You might notice-”

The crash of a soda cup hitting the ground drew everyone’s attention to Sticks. Her hand was clasped around the wrist of the Mantis Ninja, having caught them in the middle of trying to hook a small wire to her leg. The two made eye contact, Stick’s glaring furiously and the Mantis wide eyed yet focused.

“Well, colour me impressed,” said Dr. Eggman with a widening grin.

Sonic recognized that grin. So he immediately dashed toward Dr. Eggman. Then Eggman pressed a button and something tightened on Sonic’s leg. He fell onto his face and heard a crash behind him. A thin wire had tied to his leg, which led to a small round black badnik shaped like a spider. Three more wires protruding from this badnik were tied to Tails, Amy, and Knuckles, who had all been sent to the floor by the momentum of Sonic’s dash.

“Ow FUCK!” shouted Tails.

“Tails what the F-! You can’t say that!” said Sonic.

“Actually,” said Knuckles as he pushed the dining table off of himself, “I’m with Tails, this fucking hurts.”

“I’ve had enough of Eggman’s shit today to care,” said Amy.

“Goddammit, could you guys at least try to keep the Team PG?” said Sonic.

“It’s no use anyway,” Said Sticks, still grippin the Mantis, “It’s not like we’re getting fucking renewed anytime soon.”

“...What?” said the Mantis, with the second emotion anyone’s seen on their face being sheer bafflement.

Sticks responded by punching the Mantis in the face. The force allowed them to pull out of her grasp and dart away, diving behind the counter to the despair of the service worker there. Still Sticks gave chase, throwing her boomerang.

The Mantis responded with a flying kunai that struck Sticks’ boomerang and changed its trajectory. Truly Ninja’s are as dangerous as Sticks worried, as she found it hard to follow the boomerangs flight path. She only regained sight of it just before it was about to strike her in the face.

Then a second kunai hit the boomerang, deflecting it away from Sticks. Everyone looked over to see a floating hand. Actually, it was attached to a well blended figure, whose colours changed from that of the background to purple.

“Chaotix agency, Espio,” said Espio the Chameleon.

“Oh he’s good,” said Amy, “how much money did Vector want?”

“Not too much,” said Sonic as he stood up and struggled against the wires of the spider badnik, “they said if we were actually dealing with another Ninja we’d get a discount.”

“That… doesn’t make sense,” said Tails.

“The honor of testing my skills against another trained in these arts,” said Espio as he stepped closer to the Mantis, “is worth a quarter of my boss’ revenue.”

The Mantis nodded, “so be it.”

“That’s it,” said Sticks, “two Ninja’s is too much for me to worry about! I’ve got something more important to be doing!”

Sticks the Badger proceeded to leave… without even assisting her friends. Sonic and the others all exchanged a glance and shrug.

“What is even happening anymore?” said Dr. Eggman, “this was supposed to be when you all cower at the genius of my Tripping-bot in conjunction with my competent hiring judgment!”

“Well Egghead, you’re not the only one who gets the ‘spies and assassins’ catalog,” said Sonic.

“If that’s the case, no more delaying! Ninja, attack!” shouted Dr. Eggman.

“Go get em Espio!” said Sonic.

The two Ninja’s locked eyes, raised their kunai, and charged at each other. Just before an intense clash of blades, both Espio and the Mantis dodged into different directions. The blur of their respective colours of green and purple disappeared among the furniture of the dining area.

Meanwhile Knuckles managed to get a footing against the tension of the wire from the Spider Badnik. Seeing this, Dr. Eggman attacked team Sonic with the basic missiles and laser on his eggmobile. He was sure he could give them a humiliating defeat himself in these conditions.

Two epic battles played out over the next few minutes. The first being Team Sonic steadily overcoming the problem of being tied together. At Amy’s suggestion, Knuckles took the lead of which direction they would all move, even throwing the others up to Eggman. Via taunting, Tails tricked eggman into blasting the cord tying him to the others and started flying interference.

Eventually Tails lured Dr. Eggman close enough to the ground for Sonic, Amy, and Knuckles to time a jump together and all land on Dr Eggman's vehicle. Just in time too, as he had finally grabbed ahold of Tails and was about to throw hands. From there all four of the team beat up Dr. Eggman and his eggmobile until he finally admitted defeat, which took an impressive amount of blows to make him do.

All the while the two Ninja’s engaged in the most intense battle of their lives up till now. The Mantis used their flight advantage to duck behind elevated positions and look for Espio. However Espio knew this and compensated with his camouflage and speed. Both moved between positions only at the best opportunities and waited to find a clear opportunity to attack the other unawares.

From the perspective of everyone else and each other however, they both remained completely out of sight. Some customers even started returning to the Meh Burger, unaware of the intense battle going on between tables and booths.

“...Are either of them still here?” asked Amy.

“ I literally can’t tell,” said Sonic.

“Well one of those ninja knives just appeared in my shoe, and I’m sure it wasn’t there before,” said Knuckles.

“They must be so fast!” said Tails.

“And sneaky,” said Sonic.

“How impressive!” said Amy.

…

“This is so boring,” said Sonic as he sat down in a chair.

“Yep,” said Knuckles.

“I’m afraid so,” said Amy.

“Maybe I could build a Ninja tracker?” said Tails.

“If this fight takes that long, I think we’re better off-” Sonic leaned back in his chair as he talked and to everyone's surprise tripped the Mantis Ninja, sending them stumbling out into the open.

The Mantis immediately opened their wings to take flight, but were stopped as Espio charged out of nowhere, ramming horn first into their torso. The two Ninjas tumbled to the ground with the sounds of struggle. Once everyone managed to realize what was happening Espio had his kunai at the Mantis’ neck.

“Damn,” said the Mantis.

“Yep,” said Espio.

The two stood up and dusted themselves off. Espio quickly went to retrieve his scattered ninja weapons while the Mantis adjusted their scarf.

“Apologies Doctorate Eggman,” said the Mantis, “I was bested in the duel. Here is an adjusted invoice. Call my number if you have questions.”

“Right…” said Dr. Eggman as he rebooted the eggmobile.

Sonic and the others went over to Espio to congratulate him. Though the chameleon kept a stoic pose, Amy at least could tell he seemed to appreciate the praise.

“For the discount,” said Epsio as he pulled a pocket register out and started typing into it, “please write down all the thoughts you have about my performance for my boss to see.”

“Yeah I’ll tell vector you did a good job,” said Sonic.

“How will you be paying?”

“I have a card,” said Amy.

“But it’s your birthday!” said Knuckles.

“Yeah, we can cover it, right Sonic?” said Tails.

“Uh… yeah, I’ll just… hafta to buy a smaller gift for Amy,” said Sonic.

“D’aw,” Amy smiled warmly at Sonic, that comment alone fully recovered her mood from earlier, despite the battle damage to her dress and quills. “Don’t worry Sonic, having more money for later is a lovely birthday gift.”

“Oh, yeah, sure thing Ames,” said Sonic.

________________

While his mood was a bit soured, Dr Eggman took some pleasure in knowing he at least inconvenienced Sonic and his friends today. That was worth something. Now he just needed to figure out how best to word that to Orbot and Cubot as to make it sound like he didn’t lose.

That train of thought was halted when Dr. Eggman got within view of his lair. Smoke poured out of several portions of the structures, and loose wires threw sparks all over the place. Several of his defensive badniks were flying and walking circles around the base in full alert, but it was clear they had no idea where the culprit of this mess was. Dr. Eggman grumbled and flew in closer to evaluate the damage.

“Now who had time to do this?!” Eggman said to the badniks.

From behind a rock, Orbot and Cubot peeked out and pointed to the top of the base, Orbot stuttering out “she did…”

“Wha-” Dr. Eggman was cut off by Sticks the Badger landing on his Eggmobile and driving an obsidian shortsword into its control panel. He screamed in genuine terror as they crashed to the ground. Dr. Eggman felt himself tumbling until he lay flat on his back. Then Sticks jumped onto his chest and bared her teeth, putting a hand on his collar.

“I have WAY too much to worry about, without even dealing with this damned ‘Fools Holiday!’”

“Wait, I-” muttered Dr. Eggman.

“SHUT UP!”

Dr. Eggman shut up.

“When I hafta to worry just that much more, it actually hurts! And I’m not willing to spare you the pain it causes me!” Sticks took a few heavy breaths and made sure Eggman was looking her in the eyes. “Now, are you EVER, going to make me hafta to worry about an ‘April Fools’ again?!”

“Well… when you ask so nicely…”

Stick growled like a wild badger.

“No no of course not! Jeez! I’ll leave you alone if you leave me alone!” said Dr. Eggman.

Sticks’ posture immediately softened and she released Dr. Eggman's collar. She let out a sigh and said “thanks,” before stepping off of Eggman’s chest and sitting on the ground.

“Uh… don't mention it,” said Dr. Eggman.

“Yeah, of course… Sorry I hafta be so mean…” said Sticks as she laid her back to the ground.

“I'm going… to go inside and hide.”

Sticks gave Dr. Eggman a thumbs up and continued to just lie on her back in front of his evil lair.

#Sonic Boom #Sonic Fanfiction #Sonic Fanfic #Sonic the Hedgehog #sonic series #Epilogue #My writing #My Art #Secret Person

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