#Snowflake Gadget Tool

[secret-fiction]

Sonic Boom: Those Who're Made Fools

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

Below is a oneshot Sonic Boom Fanfiction that I started and finished today, April fools day 2024. I have not time to edit because my scope for this got out of hand, so I'll share it now as to release it within Apr 1st my time. I'll release an edited version later this week. _________________________

While Sonic the Hedgehog would usually be sleeping in, the cool breeze blowing through his hut and swaying the hammock he lay 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 while standing up.

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

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, and the snow flurries began to sting as they struck him. In fact it was more of a semi-frozen rain now. Everything in Sonic’s hut was quickly being coated with bits of water and ice which then turned into a slick layer over everything. He grumbled and shivered, then dashed to his door to find the off switch. The machine however blocked the entire doorway, and there were no controls on the side facing Sonic.

“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 torrent of wind and freezing 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 doorframe. 

“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 Sonic immediately descended from a hidden perch in the trees of the jungle to the machine. They fluttered with insectoid wings and had a green colour to match the jungle canopy. They landed atop Tails’ machine, and yanked a kunai dagger out of the machine's control panel before returning 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, which 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 was learning other cared about when using technology, and then-

A swinging sound from his mail chute on the 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 from the letter and filled the workshop, and his mouth. The taste of floral air freshener made him gag and spit. Then the overwhelming smell filled his nose. It should smell pleasant, but the flower scent was so overwhelming and suffocating that Tails had to cover his snout. He then scrambled for the nearest window. 

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

One by one Tails swung each window open. Then he opened the garage door of the hangar portion of the workshop. That didn’t dilute the air freshener smell fast enough so he turned on every industrial fan he could. Soon he resorted to his emergency eye and face wash station, shoving a pile of boxes that surrounded it out of the way. The torrent of water on his face 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 his welcomemat. This was definitely another prank, and the fact that he was hungry now that he thought about him annoyed him more. 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, and glanced at the bucket of ice and snow in Sonic 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 much air freshener? It’s kinda distracting.” 

“Yes! And I guess Amy thinks that’s funny, since evidently you had a much more lazy 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 for help with her party tonight.” Tails walked to his work table and plugged his nose with tissue paper before pushing the projector project aside. “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 bit of half melted snow in his face. 

“I’ll ask for your help fixing 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. After a moment or two he started thinking about what Sonic had said.

“...Fix his house? What?” 

In his state of sensory overload and anger, Tails failed to notice a figure move from the jungle canopy outside a nearby window. It stood tall, then began leaping between 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 ready, 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 fools fooling other fools. But that worry was now barely present after living the last couple years dealing with attacks from Dr. Eggman 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 everyone else to 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, a simple role playing game, she can get them to agree to do this more often.

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-

Her boot fell through her welcomemat, and Amy stumbled into the hole the had been hidden just under 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, 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 ruining 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 to glower, 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, and 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 over 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 methods,” 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…” 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 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 much easier for Knuckles to find specific rocks when they were in the ground. The polished stones he’d put 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 colours inside excited him for a moment, until he realized that it was only foraged fruit and not his basket of rocks. His stomach grumbled now, and the smell and look of the berries there enticed him. 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 leg 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 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 robe 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, glaring down at her boots. 

The sound of a bell jingle 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 again.

Sticks looked in the direction of the other makeshift alarms, and more broadly the edges of the jungle near her burrow. To her relief and wraith, 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 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 turned on her heel and threw the boomerang, letting herself snarl just a bit. 

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 and duck behind a tree. Then the boomerang came back and knocked the figure down, triggering a chain reaction among Sticks’ traps.

Nets and leaves went flying throughout the air as several trees sprung loose from the ropes of the 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 assistants, Orbot and Cubot, waited patiently for him to get his fill of laughs in. As did the green Preying Mantis Ninja standing with their arms behind their back. 

“Look at his face as he slips on his face!” said Dr Eggman, hitting his control panel and laughing, “he’s helpless against a bit of wind and freezing rain! I 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 for 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!”

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

“Why this mischievous freelancer of course!” said Dr. Eggman, putting one of his hand 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 annoyance,’ we gotta deal with that person who's trying to ruin our day!” said Amy Rose to the rest of Team Sonic. They had assembled at the Teams 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, after only gathering their food, napkins, and food packets. “Have you had 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 teams 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?”

“Grr, 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 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. She’d turned round and snarled as she tightly gripped the wrist of the Mantis Ninja, who appeared to have been attempting to tie a small wire to Sticks’ leg. 

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

Sonic recognized the smile and immediately dashed toward Dr. Eggman. Then Eggman pressed a button, and something tightened on Sonic’s leg. He fell onto his face then saw that a thin wire tied to his leg led to a small round black badnik with the shape of a spider. Three more wires protruding from this badnik were tied to Tails, Amy, and Knuckles, who were all 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 too,” 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 to appear 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 saw 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.”

“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.

“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 her friends even. Sonic and the others exchanged a glance and shrug. 

“Alright, 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 toward different directions, hiding behind different tables. 

Meanwhile Knuckles managed to get a footing against tension of the wire from the Spider Badnik. Seeing this, Dr. Eggman attacked team Sonic with the base missiles and laser on his eggmobile. 

Two epic battles played out over the next few minutes. One where Team Sonic steadily overcame the problem of being tied together. At Amy’s suggestion, Knuckles took the lead of which direction they would all move, and even threw the other within range of 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. 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.

…

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

“Yep,”

“I’m afraid so,”

“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 who stumbled out into the open.

The Mantis immediately opened their wings to take flight, but were stopped as Espio charge out of nowhere 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.

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 and he pulled a pocket register out and started typing into it, “please write down all the thoughts you had 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 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 perfect 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.

“No 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 saying “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 Stick jumped onto his chest and bared her teeth, putting a hand on his collar. 

“I have WAY too much to worry about, without 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 that pain!” 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 lying on the ground.

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

“Yeah, of course… Sorry I hafta be so mean…” 

“I'm going… to go inside, and hide.”

Sticks gave him a thumbs up and continued to just lie on the ground in front of his base's door.

[padholastore]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: The Ultimate Outdoor Companion.

[squeakyclean42]

Discover the Power of Professionalism: Lounge Cleaning Services Unveiled

Introduction In today's competitive business landscape, the significance of maintaining a clean and professional environment cannot be overstated. For lounges and hospitality establishments, cleanliness plays a pivotal role in shaping customer perceptions, ensuring staff well-being, and ultimately enhancing the overall guest experience. In this article, we delve into the realm of professional lounge cleaning services, exploring the myriad benefits they offer, the customized solutions they provide, industry standards and best practices, and the transformative impact of cleanliness on customer satisfaction. Join us as we unveil the power of professionalism in lounge cleaning services, shedding light on the key considerations for selecting the right service provider and showcasing real-life success stories of improved lounge hygiene.

The Importance of Maintaining a Clean and Professional Lounge Environment

Impacts of a Clean Lounge on Customer Perception

Picture this: you walk into a lounge, and it's as tidy as a Marie Kondo dream. Instantly, you feel like you're in good hands. A clean lounge isn't just visually appealing; it tells customers that you care about the details, making them more likely to stick around and return for more of your hospitality.

Hygiene and Health Benefits for Customers and Staff

Let's face it, nobody wants to chill in a lounge with mystery stains or dust bunnies the size of tumbleweeds. Beyond the aesthetics, a clean lounge equals a healthier one. By banishing germs and allergens, you're not just keeping your customers happy; you're also looking out for your staff's well-being. After all, no one wants sick employees serving up cocktails.

Benefits of Hiring Professional Lounge Cleaning Services

Quality Assurance and Consistent Results

Why leave your lounge's cleanliness to chance when you can call in the pros? Professional lounge cleaning services bring out the big guns (not literally, of course) to ensure that every nook and cranny sparkles. Say goodbye to hit-or-miss cleaning routines and hello to consistently pristine results.

Time and Cost Efficiency for Lounge Owners

Running a lounge is no walk in the park (unless it's a park-themed lounge, but that's beside the point). Hiring professional cleaners saves you precious time and energy that can be better spent crafting killer cocktails or wowing your patrons. Plus, outsourcing cleaning means you don't have to worry about stocking up on cleaning supplies or training staff on the latest scrubbing techniques.

Customized Solutions for Lounge Cleaning Needs

Assessment and Tailored Cleaning Plans

No two lounges are the same, much like snowflakes, but without the cold and the melt factor. Professional cleaning services understand this and will tailor a cleaning plan specifically to suit your lounge's unique layout and needs. Whether you have a cozy speakeasy or a sprawling rooftop bar, they've got you covered.

Flexible Scheduling and Service Options

Life in the lounge biz can be unpredictable, with last-minute events or spontaneous spills galore. Professional cleaners offer flexible scheduling options, so you can get your space spruced up when it works best for you. Need a quick touch-up before a VIP party? They've got your back.

Industry Standards and Best Practices in Lounge Cleaning

Cleaning Techniques and Equipment Utilized

Ever wonder how the pros make cleaning look so effortless? It's all about the techniques and tools they use. Professional cleaners are armed with the latest cleaning gadgets and know-how to tackle even the toughest grime. From eco-friendly products to cutting-edge equipment, they've got the dirt-busting game on lock.

Compliance with Health and Safety Regulations

In the world of lounges, cleanliness isn't just about appearances; it's also about keeping things safe and sanitary. Professional cleaning services stay on top of industry regulations and standards to ensure that your lounge meets health and safety requirements. So, you can rest easy knowing that your space is not just clean but also compliant.# Enhancing Customer Experience Through Cleanliness

Picture this: you walk into a lounge that sparkles like it's straight out of a cleaning commercial. You feel welcomed, valued, and ready to kick back and relax. That's the magic of cleanliness in creating a professional atmosphere.

Creating a Welcoming and Professional Atmosphere

A clean lounge isn't just about aesthetics; it sets the stage for a positive customer experience. From spotless floors to gleaming tables, cleanliness communicates that your lounge cares about every detail, making visitors feel right at home.

Impacts on Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty

Customers are more likely to return to a lounge that's clean and well-maintained. Cleanliness isn't just a bonus; it's a key factor in customer satisfaction and loyalty. Investing in professional cleaning services can keep customers coming back for more.

Key Considerations When Choosing a Lounge Cleaning Service

Choosing the right cleaning service for your lounge is crucial. Consider factors like experience, reputation, and service agreements to ensure your space stays pristine.

Experience and Reputation of Cleaning Company

Experience speaks volumes in the cleaning industry. Look for a company with a proven track record of excellence and customer satisfaction. A reputable cleaning service can give you peace of mind knowing your lounge is in capable hands.

Customization Options and Service Agreement Terms

Every lounge has unique cleaning needs. Find a cleaning service that offers customization options to tailor their services to fit your specific requirements. Clear service agreement terms ensure transparency and accountability, setting the foundation for a successful partnership.

Sustainability and Green Practices in Lounge Cleaning

In a world where sustainability is key, eco-friendly cleaning practices are gaining momentum. Discover how incorporating green cleaning products and methods can benefit both your lounge and the environment.

Eco-Friendly Cleaning Products and Methods

Switching to eco-friendly cleaning products not only promotes a healthier environment but also creates a safer space for your customers. From non-toxic cleaners to energy-efficient practices, sustainability is the way forward for modern lounge cleaning services.

Reducing Environmental Impact and Promoting Sustainability

By reducing your lounge's environmental footprint through sustainable cleaning practices, you contribute to a greener future. Embracing green cleaning not only benefits the planet but also showcases your commitment to responsible business practices.

Case Studies: Success Stories of Improved Lounge Hygiene

Actions speak louder than words, especially when it comes to showcasing the transformational power of professional cleaning services. Dive into real-life case studies highlighting the impact of improved lounge hygiene.

Before and After Comparisons of Lounge Cleanliness

See the dramatic difference professional cleaning services can make through before-and-after comparisons. From dingy corners to pristine surfaces, witness the magic of professional cleaning in enhancing lounge hygiene.

Testimonials from Satisfied Lounge Owners and Customers

Don't just take our word for it; hear from lounge owners and customers themselves about the positive impact of professional cleaning services. Their testimonials speak volumes about the value of cleanliness in elevating the lounge experience.As we conclude our exploration into the realm of professional lounge cleaning services, it becomes clear that cleanliness is not merely a surface-level concern but a fundamental aspect of creating a welcoming and hygienic environment for both customers and staff. By embracing the expertise of professional cleaning services, lounge owners can elevate their establishments to new heights of cleanliness, customer satisfaction, and operational efficiency. Let the transformative power of professionalism in lounge cleaning services pave the way for a brighter, cleaner, and more successful future for your establishment.

[essentialhomeshop]

Multi Purpose Snowflake Gadget Tool - Essential Home Shop

Looking for a multi-purpose snowflake gadget tool, then the essential home shop is best for you. This tool is made of stainless steel, this multi-tool is portable, durable, and uneasy to break, along with a long lifespan. Visit our website and buy now!! https://essentialhomeshop.com/collections/best-seller/products/18-in-1-multi-tool-stainless-steel-gadget

[ninhaoma-ya]

24 days of Christmas: Weihnachtsmarkt

Thanks to anonymous on tumblr and Minimini123 on AO3 for the prompts related to markets and gifts! Hope you enjoy :)

Hans/Pixabay

Small stalls were grouped together all across the marketplace, crowding together in the limited space. A butcher had draped his sausage chain over a bucket of the wares of a broom merchant, who in turn regularly swept the alley between the mulled wine stand and knitter in exchange for a pair of warm woollen socks and the occasional hot drink in long, winter days while waiting for the evening, when the market really got going.

Weihnachtsmarkts were a staple of winter islands, Nami had learned during her voyages. When seasonal holidays crept up in the calendar, it was time to return to familiar traditions and get ready for the upcoming changes. It was time to check if the broom needed new bristles and maybe fill the larders with sausages and cheeses and dried fruits and spices, all gathered neatly together. Of course, as pirates their journeys often took them to the places where such riches originated and Nami usually tried to get some of the spices with the best weight-to-value ratio to sell later on. Keeping their captain well fed was a never-ending task, and someone had to think of the finances.

But for today, she let herself relax. Snowflakes twirled in lazy pirouettes above, carried on by the rising heat from the masses of people gathered in the crooked alleys, jostling for a better look at the latest technical gizmo presented in a boisterous voice or queuing for roasted potatoes and sizzling sausages, their mouth-watering aroma teasing and alluring, inviting unwary visitors to spend too much on garlic-infused bratwurst and beer-battered herring.

As she sidled past a well-dressed lady in a fur trimmed coat, she resisted the temptation to pick her easily accessible pocket. There was something about such markets that dissolved her criminal tendencies. There was something about the warmth and cheer infused in the twinkling lights and torches flickering high above, in the myriad smells mixing in the air and drawing out long lost memories from the depths of her soul. Of the cheery notes echoing through the winding alleys, a troupe of musicians warming up for their performance at the small stage erected in the middle of the market. A top hart rocked above the crowd and she recognised the polished notes of Brook’s violin above the din of the crowd.

She spied Ikkaku and Usopp at a small stand off to the side, haggling over some tools with a grizzled old man, his white beard long enough to disappear behind the counter. Sanji rushed past, arms laden with the yet more bags and neatly wrapped packages, on his way back to the Sunny to fill their stocks once more. A loud laugh pointed her towards Luffy and Zoro, enjoying some glühwein with Shachi and Penguin.

And of course, sometimes you found more than trinkets and food.

“Here’s the map!”

A happy mink appeared beside her, waving a yellowed parchment in his white paw.

“Great, Bepo!” Nami exclaimed, taking the proffered map and looking it over. The ink had faded in places and the edges were full of symbols she had no way of deciphering, but the coordinates and nautical information was clear as day. “It looks like just the right one, what a great gift for the crews!”

“Do you think we’ll find a Ponegplyh there?”

Nami shrugged, pocketing the paper. “If Robin says so. I’ll wager she knows how to read the text on this thing.”

“We’ll see, if our captains ever get away from here.” Bepo said morosely and nodded towards the by now very loud crowd surrounding the stand selling mulled wine where Luffy had been. Usopp and Ikkaku had joined, still engaged by whatever gadget they had obtained, both curly heads bent over it in rapture where it now glinted on the table between them, their mugs forgotten to the side.

Luffy’s stretchy arm had, indeed, found one Trafalgar Law and pulled him to the group, where a smirking Zoro proffered him a mug. Nami smiled at the distrust evident on Law’s face as he warily accepted the offering, Shachi and Penguin’s energetic nodding merely deepening the frown on his face, lips pursed in a thin line.

And then he smelled the liquid and took a small sip. And smiled, eyes closing in bliss.

Nami understood the reaction; the glühwein sold at that stall was almost magical, notes of cardamom and cinnamon entwined with a rich red wine.

“We’ll get there,” she hummed as she linked arms with Bepo and went to join the rest.

AO3

ff.net

[mostlysignssomeportents]

McDonald's corporate wages war on ice-cream hackers

A new feature by Andy Greenberg for Wired on the bizarre fight over diagnostic/control tools for McDonald's soft-serve machines is a fantastic, fascinating look at the intersection of Right to Repair with hardware hacking, corporatism, and franchising.

https://www.wired.com/story/they-hacked-mcdonalds-ice-cream-makers-started-cold-war/

McDonald's ice-cream machines are notoriously finicky, so much so that people make bots to determine whether your local McD's machines are busted (5-16% of these machines are broken at any time)

https://mcbroken.com/

There's a reason these machines go down all the time: they are absurdly mechanically complex, designed to do overnight repastueruizations on leftover ice-cream mix, unlike less complex machines that have to be drained and cleaned every day, at high labor and wastage costs.

There's a tradeoff: the machines are *much* more complex and finicky. Not only do they fail if the reservoirs are outside of a narrow tolerance, they still have to be disassembled for weekly cleaning, and are *much* harder to reassemble.

Moreover, that maintenance is performed by McDonald's employees, and thanks to low pay and high turnover, those workers are often both very young and very new to the job. Put it all together and it's easy to see why the machines are busted so often.

But that's not the whole story: it turns out that all of this is vastly exacerbated by the repair-hostile design of the machines. When they do break down, they throw cryptic errors, necessitating an expensive service call.

This means that franchisees pay through the nose when their machines break *and* they don't get feedback on what they can do differently to prevent more service-calls in the future. The tale of this user-hostility is the crux of Greenberg's piece.

The machines are made by Taylor, a giant kitchen supply company that also supplies things like grills to McDonald's franchises. Their distributors get paid every time they do a service call, and the franchisees are pretty sure McD's is getting a cut.

That's where Kytch comes in. It's a tech startup that spun out of Frobot, a company that built automated enclosures for Taylor's froyo machines that were supposed to eliminate labor costs by creating fully self-serve systems.

Frobot machines proved to be too complex and unreliable for the field, and in the process of outfitting them with diagnostic tools, Frobot's founders created Kytch, a high-powered automation and diagnostic tool that proved to be hugely popular with McDonald's franchisees.

Kytch gave these restaurateurs the ability to monitor and diagnose their $18,000 Taylor C602 machines without having to learn technicians' secret, obscure codes ("Press the cone icon, then tap the snowflake/milkshake buttons to set the screen to 5, then 2, then 3, then 1").

It was a runaway success: franchisees bought the gadgets and paid activation and recurring fees and were glad of it, reporting major cost savings over paying Taylor's service techs and extra profits because they could sell product rather than apologizing for broken machines.

The gadget itself was superbly engineered, thanks, no doubt, to its pedigree: in commercializing the Kytch, its inventors teamed up with legendary hardware hacker and digital freedom fighter Andrew "bunnie" Huang, whose every device is a perfect marvel.

Huang describes Kytch as a huge leap in the control systems for the Taylor machines, which were mired in the "dark ages" of 50-year-old technology. Adding a Raspberry Pi-based controller took the machines from the late mechanical age to the late digital age in one step.

But this reformation met a counter-reformation. McDonald's and Taylor teamed up to crush Kytch. Taylor engaged in all kinds of skullduggery to acquire a Kytch unit and then rolled out a (less capable, more lucrative, more extractive) competitor.

(The company swears it didn't rip off the Kytch and it's all just a huge coincidence, really.)

But the real muscle came from McDonald's, which owns the land underneath each of its franchisees' restaurants and can take away their restaurants at the stroke of a pen.

McDonald's began to traffick in increasingly unhinged scare-memos, warning that Kytch might steal "confidential data" and that it "creates a potential very serious safety risk for the crew or technician attempting to clean or repair the machine."

The memos conclude that this diagnostic and monitoring device could cause "serious human injury" and "McDonald’s strongly recommends that you remove the Kytch device from all machines and discontinue use."

Kytch's founders confide that this will probably kill their business.

It's quite a tale: a clanking, breakdown-prone Rube Goldberg device that's turned into a money-spinner for a giant corporation that values the service charges more than it rues its disappointed customers.

A pair of scrappy inventors and a legendary hardware wizard who transport this gadget half a century forward in one fell swoop - and who get destroyed by the corporate behemoth through a mix of scare-stories about maimed teenage shake-jockeys and eviction threats.

Image: Gabriela Hasbun/Wired

https://www.gabrielahasbun.com/

[shreepartners-blog]

Why Do Companies Struggle with Technology Innovation?

In today’s competitive marketplace, technology innovation is key to competitive differentiation, regardless of the industry you’re in. Yet according to a 2019 Gartner study, as the pace of change in technology continues to accelerate, breakthrough technologies like machine learning (ML), Deep Learning, Intelligent RPA, and others continually challenge even the most innovative business leaders to keep up.

Why do companies struggle or fail to execute their technology strategies? And why does technology delivery often feel so difficult? Business leaders can face their fears and create sound, strategic technology programs for their companies. But first, let’s review some common pitfalls to avoid.

Taking the DIY Road

Today’s technology universe is overflowing with open source and commercial solutions that offer endless options for those searching for the right product or provider. Technology can be so easily sourced that if you do a quick Google search, you can access just about any business intelligence (BI) tool you’re looking for. Yet with such an important implementation as technology, companies should be wary of taking a “Do It Yourself” approach, which could lead to wrong choices with expensive repercussions.

Creating Unnecessary Silos

Another pitfall is adopting too many technology platforms or “silos.” Many companies tend to purchase multiple platforms and then struggle to maximize each product’s full value. As a result, they find themselves mixing and matching technologies that don’t always “talk” to each other or harmonize well together, creating data silos. When platform silos create data silos, a data integration strategy is required, which leads to building warehouses, data lakes, data marts, etc. All of this can lead to a complex, costly implementation that can span months.

In addition, while certain platforms do indeed solve real business problems, having too many disparate silos makes it difficult to holistically analyze and integrate data, report findings, and derive actionable insights to make sound decisions. Bottom line, the goal is to avoid wasting valuable time, effort and resources.

Going the Single Route

At the other end of the spectrum, clients often ask me, “Can we maximize our investment by purchasing one technology solution that covers all business units?” That’s not the best answer either, because in doing so, your company could be losing out on the speed of innovation. Some products and solutions may offer more business benefits than others, and one size (or product) does not always fit all. For example, an Azure solution might work faster and easier – and deliver more benefits – than something on AWS stack.

The Solution: A Cohesive Technology Strategy

The trick lies in choosing the right blend of technologies and stacks that won’t create integration challenges or hamper innovation. At Shree Partners, we always guide our customers to adopt a multi-platform strategy, which we truly believe is the best option.

For example, a sound data lake strategy can include more of a “data lake house” approach, using products like Redshift Spectrum or Snowflake to connect various data sources. Think of this as a fully stocked kitchen complete with cabinets, cupboards, and pantries that store all the tools, appliances and ingredients you need to become a master chef. From this “storehouse,” you can apply an integrated data management strategy that enables team members to read, write and synthesize both structured and unstructured data to derive key, actionable insights.

And what if you’re a top chef looking to create that perfect “piece de resistance?” An even better solution might be to facilitate seamless end-user connectivity by linking BI/reporting tools, or your provisioning interface, directly to source systems such as CRM or HR, so data integration happens automatically behind the scenes. Technologies exist today that enable you to connect to source systems directly – and mix and match canned data sets within the tool – without having to build complex ingestion and transformation processes in data lake storehouses.

As you can see, simple data integration solutions do exist!

6 Ways to Face Your Fears

No doubt, embarking on any technology journey, whether large or small, begins with a million questions. The good news is: The way forward is not as complex as you might think. It all begins by stepping back and asking a few pivotal questions. And what if you don’t know the questions to ask? No worries, because a trusted technology partner can help you sort them out; that’s what we do best!

As you begin your technology trek, keep these thoughts in mind:

What are my objectives? I always advise companies to identify key objectives first. You may think you want a lot – yet all you need is a little. For example, you may start by investing in just one or two foundational platforms. If you make sound choices, your platforms will “stick around” for the long haul. The worst thing you can do is change technologies like the “flavor of the month,” which leads to unwanted disruption inside and outside your organization.

Establish a budget. What does your technology investment look like? A trusted partner can help you clarify objectives and create a workable budget. For example, I wouldn’t advise a company to invest in a data lake strategy if the needs of end users and customers could be achieved by connecting them directly to source systems.

How do I make strategic choices? Just like the chef who chooses top-quality tools over flash-in-the-pan gadgets, your technology plan should tap the solutions and platforms that deliver proven, time-tested results. Take all the time you need to research the right selection for your company’s needs – and remember the old tailor’s adage: “Measure three times, cut once.”

Leverage innovation. Make the commitment to maximize every innovation your platform delivers. It’s better to keep up with technology enhancements as they roll out, rather than ignore them and find yourself playing catch-up – or having to make costly improvements later.

Apply the “KISS” method. Keep It Simple, Sir (or Ma’am)! Try not to introduce too many new innovations at once, which only leads to unnecessary confusion. You don’t want those silos creeping back up after all the time and effort you’ve invested bringing them down!

Embrace digital transformation. Keep in mind that choosing the right technology for your business is not a quick and easy decision, yet it’s ultimately worth making. It’s important to bring along key constituents, including employee and customer stakeholders. Involve them every step of the way with realistic expectations and timelines, open dialog and clear communication. These stakeholders are integral to executing each phase of your technology transformation plan.

Starting the Journey

When it comes to facing your fears about technology adoption and implementation, be sure to include a proven technology partner who can help you navigate all the questions, challenges and fears that go along with making such an important investment. At Shree Partners, we’d love to speak with you! Our forte is in helping our clients scale up technology – not only to meet today’s needs but to create sound programs that will set you up for lasting future success.

Have more questions? Email me at connect@shreepartners.com

Author: Rajiv Dahiya, Chairman, Shree Partners LLC

[miitgaanar]

Misdirection

SERIES: Marvel SHIP: Cassie/Bucky Barnes and Cassie/Quentin Beck CHARACTERS: Cassie Theron, Bucky Barnes, Nick Fury, Quentin Beck, Maria Hill WORD COUNT: 5,137

Chapter 2

Ch. 1

***********************

For all that Cassie had seen in the last thirteen years, all of the death and trauma she’d lived through, you’d think that she would be fearless in the face of any and all obstacles.

But, as it turned out, that fearlessness didn’t extend to planes.

“How did you think we were gonna get there?” Bucky teased.  “Sailboat?”

“I don’t like those much either, thank you,” Cassie replied, staring up at the massive onyx cargo plane Fury had managed to commandeer for them.  The sunlight glinted brightly off of its aluminum paneling, forcing her to squint as she watched a group of engineers examine the engines and undercarriage.  It was nerve wracking.  “Flying over land is bad enough, but the ocean?  Do you know how often the wrecks from plane crashes just go completely missing?  And you likely wouldn’t die on impact.  You’d be trapped in there.  Clawing at the windows begging for air as the cabin fills with ruthless, icy water—”

“Okay! Okay, I get it, you hate the ocean,” Bucky quickly said, his hands outstretched as he sat down on one of the crates that had yet to be loaded into the cargo hold.  He was infuriatingly okay with all of this, especially considering he wanted nothing to do with this whole world saving business.

“I don’t hate the ocean,” Cassie grumbled. “I just don’t trust it to not swallow me whole when plummeting from forty thousand feet in the air. ”

“How did you even survive that trip we took across the Atlantic to get to Europe?”

“First of all, I didn’t exactly have a choice in the matter.  You were going whether I went with you or not.”  Bucky’s face softened a bit at that.  Those years they spent in hiding were dear to them both.  It had been a weirdly simpler time, all things considered.  “Second of all, I lived in perpetual fear that a rogue wave would capsize the ship before we made it to Spain.”

Bucky relieved himself of the black hoodie he’d come to favor, revealing a plain dark blue t-shirt underneath.  He folded the cloth into a vaguely square shaped cushion as he rested his head back against the larger crate behind him, his hands clasped neatly over his abdomen.  He had no right to be so at ease right now.  “What I’m gathering from all of this is that you don’t travel well, and clearly we don’t travel enough if I’m just realizing this now.”

“I travel fine.  I love traveling!  Just, y’know, not in planes.”

“If we take a cruise after this mess, what kind of manic behavior can I expect from you?”  Bucky’s smile was mocking.  If she wasn’t so sure he would catch her fist before it came anywhere near him, she’d punch that smug smile right off his face.

“If we have clear skies and calm waters?  I’ll be sunbathing on the deck and soaking in the pool.”

He raised his eyebrows.  “And if we don’t?”

Cassie glared at him, huffing angrily.  “I’ll be sleeping with my life vest on.”

Bucky hummed to himself.  “Not as bad as I was picturing.”

“And what were you picturing?”

“You setting up shop in a lifeboat while I go clubbing.”

Cassie laughed out loud.  “You?  Clubbing?  You’re like a hundred.”

“A hundred and seven, excuse you,” he corrected.  “We just celebrated two months ago.  Don’t be going senile on me already, babe.  I don’t know if I can take it.”

She looked up at the plane again, her hands on her hips.  “I take it back.  I can’t wait to fly in this thing.  I can just flip a switch and push you out the loading ramp.”

A deep, throaty chuckle escaped him, and she couldn’t help but smile in return.  He had always been rather good at distracting her from the various anxieties that plagued her mind.  It probably came from all of the demons that still haunted his.

“Are you two done?  Or can we get this show on the road?”  Fury strode over from where he had been overseeing the arduous process of getting the necessary tools and gadgets loaded onto the plane.  “You’re sitting on my seismograph, Barnes.”

“Yeah?  I gotta say it’s awfully comfy.”  Not even the barest hint of amusement crossed Fury’s face.  Bucky sighed and pushed himself to his feet, draping the hoodie over his shoulder as he came to stand next to her.  “What do you even need something like that for?”

“These things don’t exactly come on quietly,” Fury said.  “At least that’s what I gathered from the one we saw in Mexico.  Beck said it was better to bring it along just in case.”

Bucky glanced around the abandoned tarmac.  “Where is Houdini, anyway?”

Cassie wasn’t fast enough to stop the snort that escaped her, a hand flying up to her face with an audible smack to stifle her laughter.  It turned out that Quentin Beck was not just your run of the mill soldier on his Earth, but something akin to what Tony Stark had been.  The major difference lay in the fact that he could apparently use some kind of magic.

Bucky, for whatever reason, wasn’t convinced.

Fury pointedly ignored the quip.  “He should be here soon.  Said he wanted to make one last sweep of Manhattan to make sure he isn’t reading the signs wrong.”

“So he is coming with us?” Cassie asked.  She still had some questions for their newfound ally, the most pertinent centered around this other dimension he claimed to hail from.  And there was also the issue of his strange behavior around her.  He hadn’t even so much as waved at her when they went their separate ways to prepare.

She needed some time to attempt to wheedle it all out of him, and a nine hour flight in the hold of a cargo plane seemed like the perfect place for that.

A frown pulled at the corner of her mouth.  On second thought, best not think about how long the flight would be.

“As far as I know,”  Fury said.  “Don’t really know how keen he is on flying solo across the Atlantic.”

“Please,” Bucky pleaded half-heartedly, “don’t get her started.”

Cassie elbowed him in the gut, earning her a satisfying ‘oof’ from the larger man.  Though it may have just been for her benefit.

Fury shook his head before turning to wander back toward the rear of the plane, calling over his shoulder, “Be ready to board in thirty minutes.”

“Oh, joy,” she mumbled, her hand coming up to press the heel of her palm to her forehead.  The fact that she could already feel a headache blooming behind her eyes probably wasn’t a good sign.  And she’d forgotten to buy gum for the flight.  Great.

“So,” Bucky began, his gaze on the horizon.  It was a beautiful day, with puffy, white clouds perfectly complimenting the sky’s azure coloring.  Ideal flying weather.  And if Beck was everything he claimed himself to be, they would be able to see him coming from miles away.  “What do you really make of all of this?”

Cassie let out a long, deep breath through her nose, tucking a lock of her burgundy hair behind her ear.  A loaded question if she’d ever heard one.  “Well, monsters made of the four elements wouldn’t be the worst thing we’ve ever seen.”

He shook his head.  “That’s not what I meant.”  He looked down at her, his six-foot frame dwarfing her five-foot tall stature.  “‘Another Earth’?  Really?”

She shrugged, keeping her eyes on the horizon.  If she squinted, she could make out the vague outline of the Manhattan skyline in the far distance, the skyscrapers piercing through the light haze shrouding the city like freshly sharpened knives.  “It’s… definitely a lot.  But not outside the realm of possibility, I guess.”

“Am I the only one here that smells a rat?”  He sounded genuinely frustrated.  “Even Fury seems on board with this whole thing.”

That was the most bizarre part of all of this.  As much as she wanted to believe Beck’s story, something about it just didn’t feel right.  Like she was missing something.  She thought back to the way he spoke, his theatrical cadence.  Even his bearing seemed… rehearsed, as ridiculous as that sounded.  It was subtle, only just barely there, but enough to catch her attention, enough to make her wary.

And yet Fury believed him.  Trusted him, even.  And Fury didn’t trust anyone.

“There’s an odor for sure,” Cassie agreed.  “But I’m not sure of the source yet.”

The familiar, cool touch of his metal hand on her chin sent a delightful shiver up her spine as he angled her face toward him, forcing her green eyed gaze to meet his.  Beneath the light of the sun, his eyes were the color of snow-capped mountains.  

“We don’t have to do this,” he said softly.  Tenderly.  “Just say the word and I’ll tell them all to go fuck themselves, and we can go home.  Fury and the carnival sideshow can deal with whatever this is.”

She gnawed on her bottom lip.  He would do it, she knew he would, but not just for her.  He wanted peace, he wanted rest.  There were others that could step in now, as Beck’s presence proved.  There was no need for him, for either of them, to keep fighting, to continue to balance the fate of the world on their shoulders.  Bucky more than deserved to live out the rest of his days as a simple, normal man.  He had earned it decades ago, but now it was actually possible, within his grasp.

But she couldn’t rest.  Not while those nightmares continued to haunt her.  Not while plumes of ash floated through her mind like so many snowflakes.

And she hated herself for it.  Because he would never let her take on the world’s enemies alone.

Cassie attempted a smile, though she was sure it must’ve come across as more of a grimace.  Her hand came up to pat at his chest, the comforting feeling of his heartbeat beneath her fingers a balm on her frayed nerves.  “It’s fine,” she said, her voice mercifully steady.  “One last hoorah, huh?  Then we can go on that cruise to the Bahamas, and we can see how that arm of yours holds up when surrounded by nothing but sand.”

The briefest flicker of disappointment shone in those ice blue eyes, the only sign that he had so hoped she would want a way out of this as much as he did.  It was gone within the span of a single breath, replaced by a warm smile and loving gaze—but it was enough to make her heart drop into the very bowels of her stomach.

What a selfish, vile person she was.

“One last hoorah,” he said, his voice wistful.  How many times had he been told that this time would be the last time?  That he just needed to fight one more battle, and they would leave him be?  “I guess we better make it a doozy.”

The corner of her mouth twitched upward, though the sour taste of bile coated her tongue.  “I guess so, soldier boy.”

A small huff of a laugh slipped through his lips, but it was cut short as his gaze was drawn to something in the distance.  He squinted, gently pushing Cassie behind him.

“What is it?”  She followed his line of sight, expecting to see—well, she wasn’t exactly sure what she was expecting to see, but it certainly wasn’t Beck coming to a stop in midair before them, hovering at least ten feet off the ground.

With what looked like a mist filled glass orb where his head should be.

“Well, then,” Bucky said, his hands resting on his hips as he stared up at the interdimensional soldier, “son of a bitch can fly.”

——————————————————————

To Bucky’s credit, it took about thirty-two minutes into the flight for him to make a snide remark about Beck’s strange headgear.

Although, she wasn’t an entirely reliable source, as she spent pretty much every moment leading up to takeoff alternating between praying to whatever gods still deigned to listen and dissociating.  She might have missed a quip or two.

“So, did you buy it at that gift shop on forty-first and sixth?” Bucky asked nonchalantly, his brow furrowed in faux-curiosity.  What an asshole.  “I always thought they had the best souvenir snow globes.”

“Bucky,” Cassie admonished, kicking at his shin from where she still sat in one of the seats lining the plane’s hollowed out cargo hold.  They were far from the minimal comforts of even the cheapest accommodations on a commercial aircraft, the seats placed parallel to each other on either side of the hold and made of the same tightly stretched canvas you’d find on a military cot.  Not even the slightest bit of cushioning lay between the occupant and its cold, metal frame, the mercilessly straight backed seat forcing you to sit with your back pressed flush against the meager padding that acted as a buffer between you and the hard surface of the wall.  

The ability to recline and maybe exit the plane without a spinal injury wasn’t a top priority on a military grade transport, apparently.

“What?”  Bucky didn’t even pretend to be remotely pained by her vain attempt to silence him.  God, she hated him sometimes.  “It’s an honest question.”

“Barnes,” Fury cut in, that same bluish hued hologram of the planet hovering in the air before him, somewhat distorting the clear irritation upon his face.  Beck stood to his left, seemingly unperturbed by Bucky’s remark.  “We’re now down to a little more than eight hours to get something resembling a plan together.  Unless, of course, you’d prefer this be a ‘fly by the seat of your pants’ kind of mission?”

Bucky had the good sense to look properly chastised, straightening slightly as whatever mirth had been playing upon his features drained away into a blank mask of neutrality.  Served him right.

“No, sir,” he said, his voice low and his body stiff.  She had a feeling he was resisting the urge to stand at attention.  A habit he had yet to break.

“As I was saying,” Fury said, “there’s been a spike in electromagnetic activity in a town on the coast of Morocco.  I’d usually write it off as a sun flare or an anomaly in our satellites, but Mr. Beck assures me that this is a telltale sign of one of the Elementals preparing to attack.”

“They draw their energy from the earth,” Beck said, studying the hologram intensely.  “We were always able to predict where they would hit next by the electromagnetic pulses they emitted.  Sometimes seismic activity, as well.  It depended on which one we were facing.”

“And what are the signs pointing to now, Mr. Beck?” Cassie asked.

Beck was quiet, his gaze locked on that highlighted point at the north-western tip of Africa, his brow furrowed in concentration.  “Have there been any drastic changes in the weather, Director?”

Fury glanced over his shoulder toward where Maria Hill was standing a few feet behind him, her sharp features accentuated by the rather harsh fluorescent lighting.  “Satelites indicate a storm is brewing a few miles off the coast.  Morocco’s known to be pretty dry this time of year, but an errant storm wouldn’t be entirely out of character.”

Beck hummed, his eyes still focused on that single splotch of red in a sea of blue.  “Can you overlay the satellite imagery with this hologram?”

Fury nodded and Hill rapidly keyed something into the tablet she had resting in the crook of her arm.  A second later, the hologram changed from a flat, texture-less view of the planet to what she could only assume was a live view of Earth and the various storm cells that dotted its surface.  To the southwest of their destination sat a rather large cluster of clouds, the dark gray mass undulating slowly as it made its way toward land.

“There,” Beck said, pointing at that swirling bundle of clouds.  “Far too close to the source of those pulses for my taste.  That must be it.”

“And what exactly is ‘it,’ Beck?”  Bucky asked, only just the barest hint of edge to his words.

“The air Elemental,”  Beck said, his voice grave.  “Back on my world, it was known to take the form of cyclones, masking its presence within massive storm cells.  We usually didn’t realize it until it was too late.”

“It’s also hurricane season, y’know.”  Bucky locked eyes with Cassie briefly before he continued.  He was fishing for any inconsistencies in Beck’s story, inconsistencies she could hopefully exploit whenever she got a moment to talk to him.  “Sure, it’s a bit early for something this big, but climate change has been kind of a bitch lately, hasn’t it?”

Beck shook his head.  “The Elementals rely on such assumptions, Sergeant Barnes.  They know how to fool you.  They fooled the people on my Earth long enough to get a foothold, and we were never able to recover.”

Bucky just released a resigned sigh.  “So, what’s the plan?  Not exactly sure how we fight a storm.”

“Leave that to me,” Beck said, and Cassie couldn’t help but quirk an eyebrow at the subtle change in his demeanor.  His voice was sharper, confidence bleeding into every word.  He stood just a bit straighter, his shoulders a solid frame upon which his golden armor and plum colored cape sat.  The very embodiment of a soldier ready for war.  “I have experience fighting these monsters.  Were it up to me, I’d have involved none of you in this.”

“But it’s not up to you,” Fury interjected.  “I am the authority on the safety of this planet, so all plans go through me first.”

Beck turned to face him, his hands held out in a placating gesture.  “Of course.  I meant no disrespect.  It’s just that I know them.  I’ve fought them countless times in countless battles.  I know how they work and what will bring them down.”

“And I know a suicide mission when I see one,” Fury snapped, staring down Beck with an intensity that would have sent any sane man running—but Beck’s shoulders simply slumped, his lips pressed together into a tight, thin line, and he was silent.

An emotion Cassie was afraid to place suddenly seized at her heart, her gaze drifting down to stare at the scuffed, gray floor.  Anything was better than having to see the stricken look that now sat in plain view upon Beck’s face.

A look she knew all too well.

“Barnes,” Hill spoke up, breaking the tense silence that had settled over them.  “We need you to go through our inventory and decide what you think you’re gonna need.”

Bucky snorted.  “I don’t think a grenade launcher’s gonna be much help against a cloud.”

Hill raised a single, finely manicured brow, her lips twisting into a wry smile.  “Would you rather go running into a mass of panicked and terrified people unarmed and wearing jeans and a t-shirt?”

Bucky’s rather self-assured expression crumpled into something akin to embarrassment, a muscle in his jaw feathering as he undoubtedly resisted another witty retort.  After a beat, and yet another resigned sigh, he strode forward to follow Hill toward the rear of the plane where numerous wooden crates lay strapped to the steel floor, mumbling under his breath all the while.

Fury regarded Beck with a steely-eyed gaze.  “Keep thinkin’ on that plan.  The clock’s ticking, and by the looks of that storm, we’re gonna be cutting it close.”

With that, Fury turned on his heel to follow Hill and Bucky, their voices echoing indistinctly against the bare, metal walls as they rummaged through crates of supplies and weaponry.

A hot pang of irritation rippled through Cassie as she watched him go.  As much as she knew that she was only there to ensure Bucky followed through with his agreement, it didn’t exactly lessen the sting of being so blatantly left out of all of the prep and planning.  

She let out a long, drawn out breath through her nose as she crossed her arms over her chest.  Whatever, she’d find a way to make herself useful.

She glanced sidelong at Beck, his expression willfully blank as he stared up at the hologram that continued in its slow rotation, his jaw clenched tight enough to show the strain in the muscles along his cheeks.

Well, she’d wanted time to talk.  She certainly had it now.

“Don’t mind him,” she began, allowing a small, amiable smile to grace her lips.  Beck started at the sound of her voice before he looked at her, as if he had forgotten she was there.  She fought against the urge to scream.  “He was never really the most cheerful guy around, but since he came back after being dust for five years, he’s been an especially giant dick.”

Beck emitted a soft, amused hmph, the slight quirk of his lips hardly visible from where she sat a mere few feet from him.  “I’ve fought under men like him before.  They mean well, but they’re never ready to relinquish even a modicum of their power to someone else, no matter how qualified that person may be to take command.”

Cassie leaned forward in her seat, her legs crossing at the knee as her chin came to rest in the palm of her hand.  The picture of interest.  There was no better way to get someone to talk—especially a man.  “So, you really were a soldier, then."

“Still am, as far as I can tell,” he said, gesturing to the space around them.  “The last of a lost battalion, it would seem.”

Her head tilted to the side a fraction.  He hadn’t been the only one fighting them, then.  “There were others?  Like you, I mean.”

He hesitated, taking a deep breath before he answered.  “Yes.  Many others, in fact.  My battalion specialized in arcane warfare.  It was the only thing that seemed to have any effect on the Elementals.”

“You all fought with magic?”  She didn’t have to fake her surprise.  She thought he’d have been the only one with such power.  “Does that mean you all had this whole—” She gestured up toward her face, her finger making a circular motion around her head, “—thing going on?”

A quiet chuckle escaped him, and Cassie couldn’t help the triumphant smirk that pulled at her mouth.  This was a far cry from the Quentin Beck she’d met in the warehouse.  “Those of the arcana, yes,” he replied, taking a step toward her, his hands clasped in front of him.  “A sign of our experience and rank.  A beacon for the infantry to flock to on the battlefield.”

“You weren’t part of the rank and file, then.”  Her smile turned cheeky, teasing.  Now she was getting somewhere.  “Should Bucky and I be standing at attention when you enter the room?”

“No, no.”  He shook his head, his eyes crinkling in amusement.  “Not at all.  Besides, I’d say Sergeant Barnes and I are on pretty equal footing.”

Her brow shot up.  “You’re a sergeant?”

He made an uncertain hand motion.  “Sergeant equivalent, I’d say.  I lead my own squad, but I still have plenty of people to answer to, if that’s what you mean.”

“Interesting,” she said, and she meant it.  “Did you lead a squad of magic users?  Or were you put in charge of a bunch of poor saps with guns?”

His face fell, and she knew she’d overstepped.  “We were all of the arcana, yes.”

She caught his use of the past tense, her playful mask slipping as a terrible dread settled into her blood.

“You know,” he said, his voice soft.  Perhaps even sad.  “I don’t know what happened to them.  I haven’t really had much time to think about it.  We were among the remnants of a final attempt at a counter offensive.  A last ditch effort to salvage what was left of the world.”

A yawning pit opened up in her chest, his expression uncomfortably familiar.  She thought of Bucky and the survivor’s guilt that still tore at his heart.  More than once she’d caught him staring at the various World War II memorials they’d come across in their time together, his face blank and his eyes hard.  He didn’t talk about that part of his life very often, but she knew it played more than a small role in whatever nightmares jolted him from his sleep.

She swallowed, suddenly hesitant to probe into Beck’s all too recent grief.  Bucky’s still ached after all this time, with decades to heal and forget.  

“I’m sorry,” she said softly, averting her gaze to the floor as a sudden wave of shame washed over her.  The gentle rumble of the plane’s engines filled the silence, the noise almost overtaking the hushed discussions coming from somewhere toward the back.  “I didn’t mean—”

“Don’t be,” he said, and Cassie looked up to meet his gaze.  A faint fondness danced in his light eyes.  “I’m just surprised.  This is the first time anyone’s asked about me since I got here, not just what I know.”

That only made her shame deepen, her hands fidgeting where they lay in her lap.  She’d been so eager to pick apart his story, to find the source of that nagging suspicion that had vexed her since he walked through the doors of the warehouse, that she hadn’t even considered the road the led Beck here, the loss and horror he had experienced.

And he was grateful for it, for her probing questions and playful curiosity, because he thought her to be the first to see him as a person, not as an asset.

Just as Bucky had been all those years ago.

A terrible burning sensation crept its way up her throat.  She wanted to throw up.

“Still,” she managed to say, trying her best to hide how her hands trembled, “that was insensitive of me.  You’ve been through a lot.  The last thing you want to do is answer a million questions about your life back on your world.”

“It’s more a comfort than you might think,” he said, taking another step toward her.  He stood less than three strides from her, and she could see now that his face had softened considerably.  “I don’t want them to have died in obscurity.  I don’t want this all to have been for nothing.  Talking about them, no matter how vague the terms, makes me feel like they’re still here with me, even worlds away.”

If only she could relate to that.  Just the mere thought of Bucky, of all they had lost after that fateful day, had been enough to send her into a grief fueled rage.  She hadn’t wanted to remember, she hadn’t wanted to reminisce—she had wanted them all back.  Memories did little but make her ache for a future she couldn’t have.

She could only hope that Beck wouldn’t wind up like that, bitter and angry and filled with the desperate desire to join those he’d lost.

“We find comfort where we can,” she agreed, suddenly weary.

Beck smiled in return, though it was tight and strained.  It reminded her of the smile he had given her upon their first introduction, and the fondness she had seen in his eyes had dissipated into something heavier, something like… yearning.

And she found it made her distinctly uncomfortable.

“Uh, Mr. Beck?” she tried, a nervous smile playing upon her lips.  “Everything okay?”

He blinked a few times, as if he were fighting back tears.  “Yes, of course.  My apologies.  It’s just…” he trailed off, his voice thick.  He looked at her as if he had seen a ghost, a ghost he longed to be of this Earth once more.  “You remind me of someone, is all.”

It was like a punch to the chest, forcing all of the air out of her lungs in one swift exhale.  She knew that tone, had used it more times than she could count.

But she never realized how much it would hurt to be on the receiving end of it.

Cassie pushed herself to her feet, moving to close the distance between them, to offer some sort of comfort.  Anything at all.  Anything to push that agony back into the recesses of her mind where it belonged, to wipe away the ashes that clouded her vision.

“Mr. Beck—” she began, her hand outstretched.  A strange look crossed his face, one that made her hesitate.  What could she possibly say to him?  She thought of every platitude she’d ever heard, and how much she hated every single one of them.  They were a reflex, something to say to make yourself feel better, with no real consideration for the one in need of genuine compassion.

And there were no words that could fill the hole in his heart, just as there had been none to fill the hole in hers.

It was then, right as she opened her mouth to speak, that the telltale sound of combat boots upon the metal floor reached her ears.  She looked away from Beck, an overwhelming feeling of relief rushing through her as she saw Bucky approaching.  He was newly outfitted in loose, black cargo pants and a fitted black shirt that was conveniently missing the left sleeve, leaving the dark silver metal of his arm free to glint brightly beneath the fluorescent lighting.

And based on the tentative smile on his face, he could see something was wrong.

“Everything okay over here?” he asked, his right arm wrapping itself around her waist, pulling her close to his side.  He kept his voice light, conversational, but his grip on her told a different story.

“We’re fine,” she said, looking up at him with what she could only hope was a subtle, pleading expression.  I’ll tell you later, she thought.  Just let it go.  “Just talking.  You know how I am when I’m nervous.  I babble like an idiot.”

Bucky must’ve caught the hint, because he merely rolled his eyes.  “Better him than me.”

She forced a laugh as Beck wandered wordlessly over toward where Fury and Hill now stood around the hologram, joining them in their continued planning.  “Real charming, Barnes.”

He chuckled, leaning down to press a quick kiss to her lips, his hold on her tightening a fraction.

And out of the corner of her eye, she spied Beck watching them, his hand fidgeting with that simple gold band upon his ring finger.

[gertlushgaming]

Alekon Review (Nintendo Switch OLED)

For this Alekon Review, Where we can photograph dozens of whimsical creatures, solving puzzles to get them to strike collectible poses! Then befriend them through unique quests and minigames, from snowflake design to tuning and playing crystal harps, to organizing parties!

Alekon Review Pros:

- Decent graphics. - 1.1GB download size. - Comfort settings - camera transition speed slider, a field of view slider, the reticle in cinematics, and vibration. - Controls settings - Invert axis and sensitivity sliders, auto end sprint, toggle crouch, hide not yet unlocked tools, and rebind controls. - Photography gameplay. - Plays very much like Pokémon Snap. - Take pictures of fiction which are animals and certain items. - Any new shots will say new above the subject's head. - Images are marked on size, center, angle, and visibility. - Unlock new poses for fiction. - When not on a shoot you can free roam the island. - Interact with discovered fiction and throw food at them etc. - First-person view. - Autosaves regularly. - Earn glimmer from photos and use them to unlock new locations and areas. - Improved will pop if you do a better capture shot than before. - Throw food when on a shoot to have fiction interact differently. - The camera has a cool-down to prevent spamming. - Hit parts of a level to unlock even more side routes. - The game will automatically throw out duplicate and not-as-good images. - When you shoot a fiction they get filled in within the hub and you get the proper name of them. - You can replay shoots to get different shots, improve or see things you may have missed. - Unlock new ways to capture like Zoom. - Mini-games galore with games like donut throwing to a rhythm action game. - New fiction in your hub will give out optional side quests for Glimmer. - Easy concept. - Constant tutorials and button prompts. - Cool-looking locations. Alekon Review Cons: - Takes a bit of getting used to when shooting, more because of the speed you walk. - takes a little while to get all the cool new toys and Gadgets. - The hub part has a bit of a slowdown and a sketchy performance. - Little replayability. - No gyroscope control choices. Related Post: Redemption Reapers Review (PlayStation 4) Alekon: Official website. Developer: The Alekon Company Publisher: Forever Entertainment S.A.  Store Links - Nintendo Read the full article

[secret-fiction]

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 he 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 on 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, Sticks 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…”

Sticks 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.

PART TWO: https://www.tumblr.com/onesecretperson/747242079944622080

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Multifunctional tools to make your life easier

The particular multi-tools come in around 18 different tools and are small enough to transport around and become ready to use. The snowflake multitool can end up being an innovative design that combines all the normal tools you usually use into one particular to carry multi-tool. The snowflake multitools are compact tools in a snowflake shape design. Not merely do they look cool, but they are also very useful. These people also make lovely Christmas gifts, Father's Time or special birthday provides for hard to purchase for people. the snowflake multitool can be very easily mounted on a key chain, making it easy to carry almost anywhere. I have already been utilizing it for over a year at this point and I have already found the 18 device s this has to be very useful for tasks around the house. The lightweight snowflake multitool can be carried around more easily and is less likely to cause discomfort. It really is small sufficient to fit in a pocket and clip on to a key chain. It acts as a bottle opener and will meet the needs of most households. This is actually the cool gadgets for men. Stainless steel is well known for its durability and corrosion resistance. Created from stainless steel. The perform stocking stuffers offers 18 tools, weighs in at only 0.09 kg and 2 .95 inches long. Not only are snowflake multitools useful for everyday duties, but they look great and make for a cool decoration. The snowflake multitool can be an very popular gift for husbands, boyfriends, fathers or even anyone that you experienced that may need a bunch of tools. snowflake multitools they are not only affordable, however they will last intended for at least a few years. These unique gifts are simply becoming popular, yet I think they will be really popular in the near future. snowflake multitools make excellent gifts and should become your first choice for any occasion when you need a reasonable gift which will be useful to the person receiving this. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09SL2H7NF

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Athlife Snowflake Multitool Gifts for Men Husband Boyfriend Dad 23-in-1 Snowflake Multi-Tool with Fidget Spinner Stainless Steel Gadgets for Cycling Outdoor Camping Gear Accessories

Athlife Snowflake Multitool Gifts for Men Husband Boyfriend Dad 23-in-1 Snowflake Multi-Tool with Fidget Spinner Stainless Steel Gadgets for Cycling Outdoor Camping Gear Accessories

[essentialhomeshop]

Multi-purpose Stainless Steel Snowflake Gadget Tool - Essential Home Shop

Looking for a multi-purpose stainless steel snowflake gadget tool, then check out the essential home shop. This tool is made with steel, this multi-tool is portable, durable, and uneasy to break, along with a long lifespan and used for at least 18 purposes. If you want to buy, visit our website and order now!! https://diigo.com/0mepey

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Fronnor Snowflake Multi Tool 19-in-1 Stainless Steel Multitool Keychain Bottle Opener Screwdriver Wrench Portable Outdoor Travel Camping Multi Function Pocket MultiTool Gadgets for Men DIY

Fronnor Snowflake Multi Tool 19-in-1 Stainless Steel Multitool Keychain Bottle Opener Screwdriver Wrench Portable Outdoor Travel Camping Multi Function Pocket MultiTool Gadgets for Men DIY

Price: (as of – Details) Product Description Magical Snowflake Multi Tool Well-built pocket size and easy to carry.With a key ring,can be hung on a keychain,backpack or in a pocket.Suitable for outdoor sports,camping,rescue and everything that might be used. Must-have EDC multi tool Can be used for opening beer bottles,turning screws,fixing skis,bicycles,toys and so on.This Kit can help you…

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Upgraded Snowflake Multitool, Valentines Day Gifts for Him Boyfriend Husband Men, 23-IN-1 Tool with Fidget Spinner, Portable Cool Gadgets for Men, Suitable for Hiking, Camping, Home Improvement

Upgraded Snowflake Multitool, Valentines Day Gifts for Him Boyfriend Husband Men, 23-IN-1 Tool with Fidget Spinner, Portable Cool Gadgets for Men, Suitable for Hiking, Camping, Home Improvement

Price: (as of – Details) Product Description An All-In-One Tool for Many of Your Needs If from time to time you can’t find the tools you need in your life, you can’t go wrong with this snowflake multi-tool. One tool can meet your various needs. And don’t worry about not being able to use this tool, because each of our products has detailed instructions on the back of the package. Premium…