Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was just another day in the village. Mobians were walking around, doing their own business and stuff. Honestly, with the sun out and fluffy white clouds decorated the lovely blue sky – one would think today would be a great day. 

It was. 

Until Eggman decided to be a problem. 

 Now that was a problem.

"I told you three times already! I don't want coconut milk in my bread! I'm not lactose intolerance!" 

Inside his floating Eggmobile, he stood a vile big figure human that called himself as Eggman. Well, Eggman wasn't actually his name, but the people there seemed to fear it despite how ridiculous that name was. So it kinda stuck there. Especially since his arc nemesises also called him that. 

A giant robot that sizes the building of five floors stood enormously in the middle of the village. Its looming red eyes watched as people scattered away from it in fear. A young kitten even slipped on a rock and fell on his feet. 

Eggman cackled maniacally. "Take that, you fool! Feel my wrath! Next time, take my order right!" 

How can there still be customer service for this man was questionable indeed. 

"Obliteratorbot, OBLITERATE!" 

Obeying its master, the bot aimed its claw hand towards the fallen young kitten. He cried in fear, legs unable to move with the exception of the uncontrollable trembles due to overbearing fear. He closed his eyes shut when the claw aimed at him getting closer. With a yelp of anticipation, he turned his head away and shielded it with his arms, hoping for no pain gotten in his path. 

It didn't. 

A heavy thud was heard echoed in the sky, but it wasn't for the kitten.

Slowly, he peeled one eye open and took a dare to see between his arms. His arms dropped when he saw a red wine skirt and pink spikes. 

"Back off, Eggman! Don't you dare try to harm this village!" 

There stood bravely with a sweet smile and a deadly hammer, a pink hedgehog that was named Amy Rose. Her jade eyes glared at the humongous bot with knitted brows, yellow and pink hammer readied in hands. 

"Miss Rose...," the kitten sobbed out, relief flashed in his eyes. 

Eggman huffed in displease. "You think your hammer is enough to beat me?"

Amy did not flatter. "What do you think?" 

"Of course no— technically, it is. But only when Obliteratorbot is alone. And he's not alone!" With a push of a button on his watch, various robots of different sizes barged into the village. 

Amy jumped away from the double attacks coming from two robots that looked like a bug with a tire. She dodged another rolling attack from them again, hitting one with her hammer in the process. She hits another two who try to approach the child villager behind her. 

"Run! I'll cover you!" She stated. 

The feline nodded, shakily stood up from where he fell, and ran away with his tail wrapped around his leg. Amy swiped away several robots and shaped mantos from reaching the kid, without knowing a motobot was charging at her at full speed. 

Fortunately, the mentioned robot was destroyed before it could even reach her. 

"Don't you dare mess with my friend!" A wild looking girl, with a bizarre hairstyle and snarly face, said while holding a staff. 

Another one joined in with tight clenched fists. Easily, he punched those robots and made his way through them all. 

The young kitten who had been running for his life gasped at the presence of two more warriors. "It's Sticks and Knuckles!" He exclaimed before another young kitten grabbed his hand and dragged away from the fight. 

Amy, too, had noticed their presence. Well, how can she not? Sticks and Knuckles were the farthest of the definition of quiet. Either way, her pink painted lips curved to a smile as she swung her hammer at a flying Beebot. 

"Glad to have you two with me! Where's Tails?" 

"Up here!" A cheery voice answered. A unique two tailed fox waved to the pink hedgehog, a laser gun in his other hand. 

Amy nodded. Eggman grumbled in annoyance. "Ugh. I'm not surprise to see all four of you together. When there's one, there are always the rest of you brats—wait a minute. Where are the other two hedgehogs?" 

Tails shrugged with a roguish smile. "I dunno. Have you checked your everywhere?" 

"What are you talking about? I'm up here. I see the ground. No annoying face, no edge guy that sometimes give off angsty vibe," the evil doctor said. 

"How about up?" Knuckles pipped in. 

Eggman's frown grew deeper. "What nonsense are you on about? Don't be silly, of course I've already checked—," a heart attack was what he will get one day if he keeps on receiving such surprise. 

For example, a smiling blue hedgehog that had been sitting on his shoulders without him knowing while peering down at him with a smile. 

"— AAAH! OH CHAOS, Sonic, get down!" 

The blue hedgehog named Sonic crackled in glee, swiftly dodged every slap aimed at him before he stood up and hopped away from the doctor's shoulders. The relief from the doctor was only short-lived as the blue guy only ended up perching on his control panel of the Eggmobile. 

"Sup, Egghead?" The male hedgehog stuck his tongue out. "Miss me?" 

The doctor groaned. "Why should I? We see each other at least once a week!" 

The human aimed his laser beam towards the blue Mobian. Sonic had the time to snort, leapt away from the control panel, and jumped by blackflipping style. He landed right on the current biggest bot's arm – the one with a claw as a hand – and made silly faces at the non-living being. 

Despite being stated it was a non-living being, Obliteratorbot became frustrated by the hedgehog and aimed its other hand towards Sonic. Sonic let out a few chuckles, dashed away only to perch on its shoulder. 

The chainsaw made a connection with its wrist, in addition to cutting off its clawed hand of its wrist. Eggman let out several frustrated shouts while Sonic laughed and the villagers cheered in joy. 

"You imbecile!" Yelled the evil doctor who was actually not a doctor. "Take this!" 

Lines of laser beam were aimed at the hedgehog. Sonic grinned. He jumped away from the enormous bot only to caused Eggman's own attacks hit his own machine. Obliteratorbot let out some machinery noises that could be dechiper as a robot's way of screaming in pain. 

"You should stop while you still can, Eggman!" Amy said. Her hammer on her shoulder while her other hand rested on her hips. Scattered pieces of robots were everywhere around her. "Or else."

Refused to give up, the doctor sneered. "Or else what?" 

Amy opened her mouth, then closed it again. "Or else— Uh. What do we usually say after the sentence 'or else'?" 

Tails shrugged, already lowered himself down to stood next to Sonic. "I dunno. Usually, that threat sentence always ended up with us experiencing the consequence, not seeing it or hearing it. But I do know someone who knows what happen after 'or else'."

Knuckles, the usually clueless buddy he was, tinted his head aside. "Who? Me?" 

"Nope," Sonic replied. "But maybe my bro bro over there could answer you, Egghead."

The doctor instantly froze up. With a genius brain of his, of course he instantly understood the implication of what that blue Mobian was stating. Although, only then he noticed the dark presence of somebody behind him. 

Eggman took a deep breath, cold sweats dripped down from his forehead to his back. "I'm not gonna turn around."

Tails' smile shifted to pity in an instant. "Yeah, we know."

Sticks narrowed her eyes. "It's not like the result will change though."

"I'm still not going to turn around."

"Well, that's your problem, Egghead," Sonic said. He kicked away what left of a Beebot's torso, watching with boredom as its metallic wings deattached from its main body. "Bro's mad that you ruined his nap. I mean, who's still awake in the middle of the afternoon?" 

Well, people who decided to not take a nap in the middle of the afternoon. But this was Sonic we were looking at. 

Tails shots him a look, but did not speak anything. No one did when Eggman let out a pleading cry before a sudden – but expected – explosion was heard coming from the Eggmobile. Sonic, Tails, Amy, Knuckles and Sticks winched and watched along with the villagers as the Eggmobile flew away with trail of dark smokes, bringing along its master. 

At the retreat of their master, robots that could (barely) still stand followed after him. Some of them thar looked better than the surviving bots dragged parts of their fellow broken bots along for fix and adjustment back in the lair. Their evil lair. 

Before the Eggmobile exploded, only Sonic saw a red and black blurry orb jumped off from the floating mobile and landed perfectly to the ground. A smile carved on the blue hedgehog's countenance as he waved at a fellow male hedgehog, only made the latter black with lines of red. 

There it was, the last member of their little hero group. Another male hedgehog who was also Sonic's brother, Shadow the edge lord. I mean, hedgehog (hey it wasn't my fault that I need only to rid the first H to get the word edge lord in hedgehog. Also adding I and R and rid the last G. But that wasn't the point). 

The crowds of villager cheered in joy as once again, their heroes saved the day from Dr. Eggman's anger issue... and his justified anger towards the bad customer service yet his unjustified action on attacking the village. 

"Another day, another saved," Sonic grinned. "Well done, team!" 

"You betcha!" Tails agreed. 

Amy looked around warily. "Is it just me, but I kinda feel bad towards Eggman? I mean, it is the baker's fault for serving him a coconut milk bread when he requested none of that."

Sonic deadpanned. "Yeah, I understood on that part. But try not to feel bad to a guy who attacks a village just because of that." With a yawn from his leftover tiredness, the blue hedgehog skipped toward his brother and slung an arm around the latter's shoulders. "Plus, he ruined our nap."

Shadow rolled his eyes. His arms crossed against his chest after he shrugged his brother off and headed over to the beachside. Sonic shrugged, knowing full well what his brother wanted and knew better than to mess further. 

"Well then, gang. If you excuse us, we got some zzz to catch up," said the blue spiked hedgehog. He strode after his brother while walking backward. 

Tails and Amy waved back. When the two male hedgehogs became smaller from their sights, Tails turned to Amy with half-lidded eyes. "I guess this is it. Do you want to grab something to eat at MehBurger?" 

Amy seemed unamused. "I don't like MehBurger," then in a blink of an eye, her soured expression dropped and replaced with a sweet smile. "But sure! You're up, Knuckles and Sticks?" 

The red echidna fist bumped into the air. "Yeah! MehBurger!"

The badger grinned and went over to Amy and Tails. They took it as her affirmative to the question, knowing Sticks was more of the type of 'action is louder than word' and 'the only time she uses words was when she rambles about her crazy theories of government, spies, alien and/or everything that mix together'. 

Tails glanced over to the spots where Sonic and Shadow previously stand. By now, the brothers had disappeared fully to retreat back to their lala land. Those two had quite the fond in their afternoon nap, more so than their sleeping time at night which hold more significant requirement than a simple nap. 

But these were Sonic and Shadow he was thinking about. No matter how serious that Shadow guy was, even he had his liking in silly things (for example ; he obsessed in coffee beans. He preferred grey over black, despite his emo attire. He found it easier to talk to the elderly rather than anyone else. He liked romantic comic and secretly collected them – well, he thought it was a secret but everybody and their moms knew). 

And Sonic was Sonic. 

The hedgehog brothers were weird, no one can change that fact. But hey, Tails was a fox that could fly with his two tails, Knuckles ate barks whether by accident or not, Sticks thought the toaster was spying on her for the government and Amy could get her hammer out in a pocket. 

Maybe Shadow was the most sane Mobian in the town. 

(It was fearsome how an edge lord could be dubbed as the most sane)

But no matter. This story was about the heroes of this unnamed village that nobody questioned its name until the episode about it came out aired. A group of hero that consisted of Amy Rose, Sonic and Shadow the Hedgehogs, Miles 'Tails' Prower, that one guy that from the Angel Island and that lunatic badger. 

Yeah. Sound like a very heroic team to me. 

When their friends saw that shack, they saw a shack. Or a hang out spot. Whatever. 

But when the brothers saw that shack, all they saw was their home. 

Which... happened to be a shack. 

Shadow entered their home first. The wind chimes made of shells, a coconut shell and sticks that Shadow collected hanged on the window closest to their front door – or, their only door. Sonic still couldn't see the reason why they should install door, but Shadow was determined about it when they first received the shack.  

Sonic watched as his brother climbed onto his own hammock, before he himself stepped away from the porch and went over to the beach. The sound of waves gently hitting the sand will forever be something that Sonic remembered. 

After all, it was the earliest memory he could remember without a headache. 

The sound of the gentle waves against the sand. The taste of salty water inside his mouth. The sensation of sand stuck on his quills. 

The feeling of being dragged out from the sea. 

Sonic stopped. His feet was an inch away from getting kissed by the waves. His breath hitched. The scene of seeing the waves returned back to the sea giving him the feeling of seeing someone being dragged back to the sea. 

"Don't take him away!" 

"S—!"

His eyes glimmered in curiosity when he spotted something shiny half buried under the sand. It wasn't clear at first, but once the waves retreated back leaving nothing but wet sand, Sonic saw it. 

It gave off orange light – amber, perhaps? – once it smooth surface made contact with the sunlight. Sonic crouched down, for a moment he thought he saw a pretty shiny shell. But once he dug it out with two fingers he was instantly proven false. 

An orange sea glass. 

"Why is your eyes so...that goldy orange?"

"It's called amber, idiot."

Amy once told him that orange sea glass was among the rarest colours of these stones. She had been looking for one for one for ages, until she found a pink sea glass. It wasn't as rare as the orange, she had state. But pink was also rare. And it seemed she favoured the pink more than any sea glass colour. 

"Lucky," he told himself. 

Using the sea water, he washed off the stone from any sticky sand and retreated back to the shack. Any warmth radiated from the stone was quick to cool off, especially after it was washed. 

He had no use for a sea glass. A sea glass was just another thing they could fine on the beach. Like shells, sand, that one seagull that stole his chili dog. 

But the colour was nice. 

And Sonic loved nice things. 

The sight of his brother laying on his hammock was the first thing that greeted him. The blue hedgehog did not bother to lighten his steps, Shadow would still hear him after all. 

He did, however, carefully put the sea glass at his brother's side. Making sure not a single tap sound was heard. Once the sea glass was carefully placed and won't fall off from the hammock, Sonic left to get something from their tiny, open kitchen. 

He didn't notice a gloved hand creeping closer to the sea glass, nor how it gently hold the tiny stone. 

The next day, when Amy came over, her eyes automatically landed on the prettiest thing in the shack. Which, wasn't much. Actually, there was just one. 

Her smile softened to see the wind chimes still intact and hanged on the window. It was one of the few – very few – things that the hedgehog brothers didn't break. 

Her jade eyes lit up though when she spotted an addition on the wind chimes. 

"Oh! A sea glass. And an orange one at that. How pretty!" 

"Take a good nap, Shadow. Soni—"

"Take a good nap too, M—"

"You guys love me too, right?" 

Chapter Text

Another day, another routine. There was no particular robot or any type of machinery from the Eggman Industry that scream attacks and terrorism, especially since Eggman just launched an assault a few days ago. As much as a villain that guy was, even he got schedule to attack this unnamed village. 

You know. Being a successful villain and all. 

To enjoy this relaxing day, Sonic, Shadow and Amy were out and hanging out together in one of the most well known spots in the village – MehBurger. A lazy name that accurately described the restaurant. 

Despite its laziness and numerous complaints from the customers, it was still swamped with Mobians that wanted to eat greasy fast food and disregard their own health. Sonic, Shadow and Amy were ones of the people that had been waiting in that singular line, all eager to order their meals. 

Well, one of them was. 

"Man, I'm starving," Sonic said, patting hid stomach. "Next exit, Munchie Town. Population; us."

Shadow glared at the MehBurger signboard. Disgust laced in his tone as he spoke. "We shouldn't eat here often, Sonic. It's..."

Amy shared the same sentiment. "...unhygienic? Unhealthy? Disgusting?" 

"All three of those."

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Awe come on, guys. It's just MehBurger, the same food corner that we grew up with? Shadow, don't you remember when we gathered money for a week just to taste a MehBurger Duh Meal?" 

"Yes. An instant regret. I wished we bought Mrs Piper's carrot soup instead," the dark hedgehog retorted. 

Amy groaned. "Why are we even came here?" 

Sonic shrugged. "Because the plot keeps making us? And because none of us wants to waste the time we queue in line?" 

Accurately, Sonic hits all the marks. 

Shadow and Amy shared the same, equal disgruntled expression. With how similar they were when in comes to MehBurger, Sonic won't be surprised if someone mistook those two as siblings instead of him and Shadow. Well, if they ignore the appearance, for obvious reason. 

Finally, it was their turn to order up. Sonic was just about to make his order first when someone else cuts in. 

"Hey, hey, watch it, blue head. I was here first," stated boldly by the infamous doctor, Dr. Eggman. 

"Hey!" Sonic took a step back. More annoyed that someone was cutting him instead of that someone was a regular villain that kept destroying their village. 

Shadow growled in miff. Amy puts her hands on her hips as she gave a pointy look at the evil genius. "We were here first, excuse me. You're the one cutting the line."

"Yeah, go to the back, Egghead!" Sonic said and pointed to the very long, long queue that seemed so endless in exaggeration. 

The human scrunched his face. He was about to give a retort when someone else did a favour for him first. A light turquoise furred nutria that had been working as one of the servers in MehBurger interrupted with a fake cough. 

"I believe this barrel chested gentleman with luxurious mustache was here first?" He said, completely ignoring to the gawks of Amy and Sonic. 

But he can't ignore Shadow. 

"Excuse me, WHAT?" The dark spikes hedgehog snarled, his hands balled tightly to his side as he glared dagger at the turquoise rodent. 

Feared for his life, the server yelped and hid behind the cash register. His shoulders were hunched together as he tried to make his tall, lanky frame as small as possible. 

Sonic gave the stink eye at the server. "You're talking nonsense. It's obvious we were here since the beginning of this story!" 

"Sonic," Amy stepped in. "Let's not break the fourth wall – and makes a scene. Just let Eggman do what he wants."

The blue hedgehog grumbled but relent. After all, she did make a point. Eyes of many were staring at them, and as much as loved attention, he preferred the positive ones. Furthermore, Shadow wasn't the type to like the spotlight. 

"Fine," he huffed out. 

Shadow's scowl deepened when Eggman shots them a victory smirk. They waited with disgruntlement as the doctor gave off a very long list of order, so long that Sonic thought he was trying to feed a family of five. 

"Let's just order our stuffs," Sonic spoke. 

Afterwards, they went to their seats. Unlucky to them, there weren't much empty seats in such a busy restaurant. So they had no choice but to chose the table that placed directly next to Eggman. Honestly, that was also the same table that nobody dared to approach since the evil doctor took the table next to it. Understandably so, as no one in their sane mind wanted to sit next to a villain.

"Tsk," Shadow clicked his tongue. "Why are we sitting here again?" He questioned, while side glared to the doctor at the next table. 

"This is the only available spot," Amy answered, already tired out of her wits. 

"We should ask for take outs," Sonic spoke. "Why didn't we ask for take outs?" 

The pink hedgehog sighed, regret apparent in her eyes. "Because we didn't think about it."

"Ah."

Despite the order was way too long for a single man, Eggman's food came first. How and why were the questions in their minds when the server, who soon they learn he went by the name Dave, brought a trail filled with two double extra size burgers, and too much extra fries. 

"Oooh, guys~," the hedgehogs heard the doctor pointedly glanced at them. "How are your food doing? Oh, my apologies. Yours aren't here yet!" 

Shadow's claws digged deeper into the wooden table while Sonic tapped his in ryhmtic pattern. Amy tried to remain unfazed by the doctor's immature behaviour. 

Just then, their ordered meals arrived. Although, it was thirty minutes late. Dave walked and slammed the trail that carried their food. Due to the harshness of his behaviour, their burgers' top buns fell down and revealed a bunch of extra pickles that all three of them certainly remembered, that they requested no pickles. At all. 

"Here we are. Two Double MehBurgers and a normal MehBurger with extra pickles."

"Hey, I say no pickles!" Sonic looked at Dave, demanded an explanation. 

The server simply shrugged, prompted to ignore the blue hedgehog and walked away. But a fool he was if Shadow would let him get away. 

Especially since he ordered no pickles. 

Shadow did not like pickles. 

And he also did not like a bad customer service. 

Before Dave could took the third step, a hand roughly grabbed the back of his collar shirt and forcefully made him halted. The turquoise rodent let out a squeak. He tried to look at the assailant by over his shoulder but immediately regretted doing so when a murderous ruby eyes were glaring at him. 

Sonic was quick to get off of his chair and hold his brother's shoulders. "Bro— Shads, calm down."

Shadow did not flatter his hold. "Let me call your manager."

Nervous and fear for his life, like he should have when he served Shadow a burger with extra pickles, Dave barely squeaked out a response that a tad octave low. 

"Uh, I... I'm the manager...?" 

The irk marks on the dark hedgehog's forehead grew. Sonic flattened in tired defeat as Amy peaked out behind them with a soulless smile and storms in her eyes. 

"Then call your boss," she added the next part with a bolder tone. "Please."

Dave the intern did not survive from the angry hedgehogs. 

Chapter Text

Usually, their pain in the neck was a guy called Dr. Eggman. 

Usually. 

Not once in their life that they thought meteors would be it. But hey, when they say life is full of surprises, maybe it's time we should take that in every literal way. 

The hero gang stood at the sideline, unsure how to react to this. Maybe they should just run and scream like everyone else, but common sense was not their fort. 

Amy, the one who always tried to be positive even in this not so positive situation, smiled and clasped her hands together. "Meteors are shooting stars -" 

"The ones that try to kill us," Tails mumbled. 

"-we should make wishes! I wish for a pony!" 

The one who got one of the five braincells (Shadow had three, Amy and Tails sometimes shared one) did not even spare the female hedgehog a glance. 

"And I wish you'd take cover— Let's go!" 

Dragging Amy along, the group headed to the closest safe spot, which was underneath a building. Amy puffed her cheeks, voicing out her dissatisfaction that Sonic got his wish came true instead of hers. 

Sticks, who had been quietly observing the mayhem around them, spoke up. "Should I use my meteor defence system?" 

Shadow turned to her, his eyebrows lifting further from his eyes. "You have a meteor defence system?" 

"I have all sorts of junk," the badger replied nonchalantly. Then she gestured towards a machinery with numerous levels that appeared out of nowhere beside him. "Wildfires, flood, people trying to read my thought."

As weird as it sounded, they were facing some potential apocalypse in the moment. So they should just take whatever they can. 

"Yeah, let's go with the meteor one," Sonic said, poking his head from their shelter before he was pulled back by Shadow. 

Sticks shrugged and pulled the first level on the first row. In cue, numerous swatters made of wood materialised from people's roofs, beside buildings, and basically anywhere. 

How Sticks managed to make this was a question indeed, but how meteors that were rocks from space coming in high speed due to gravity got defeated and thrown back by swatters made of wood was even more confusing. 

But hey, their village was saved. What else can they complain about? 

"At this point, I stop asking questions about common sense," muttered Tails with a dead tired tone. 

"Yahoo!" Sonic and Amy cheered. 

Shadow nodded silently, a tiny smile carved on his monotone facade. 

"Way to go, Sticks!" Said Knuckles, delighted as much as the rest for another day rescued from anything. 

Time skipped later on. The gang was hanging out at Tails' home. Sonic, Amy, and Tails were cheering on Knuckles and Shadow, who were competing against one another in a hand battle. 

"Come on, Knuckles!" Amy clapped her hands. 

Tails whooped. "You can do this, Shadow!" 

Sonic grinned. "Beat him up, Knucks!"

Shadow shots him a glare. Sonic shrugged it off as if receiving Shadow's withering glare was a daily thing to him, which it was. 

"What?" 

The dark hedgehog focused back on the battle when Knuckles managed to push through. Not giving up, the hedgehog pushed back with more strength, causing the echidna to staggered before reacting back in adding strength in his hold. 

The situation was tense, that until a huge slam on the door snatched all their attention away. Hastily, they turned towards Tails' front door, only to slumped when they realized it was their paranoia friend. 

But it seemed like she brought something with her. If the way she held it out in the open wasn't obvious enough. 

"Someone left this at my house," the badger stated. 

Sonic shots her a deadpan look. "Yeah. The mailman."

"YEAH! I WIN!" Knuckles elatedly announced. 

Apparently, due to Sticks' suddenness, Shadow lost his focus (Knuckles, too, actually) while Knuckles yelped in surprise. In addition, Knuckles accidentally pushed his hand and, thus, won the battle. 

"By accident," Shadow grumbled, arms crossed over his chest as he side glared the newly arrived badger. "Thanks, Sticks."

Knuckles, the one who rarely receives a brain cell in the group, stared at the dark hedgehog. "Uh. Why are you thanking her for? She made you lose."

"So you admit that it Sticks' the reason why you won and it's never because of your own strength?" Tails pipped in curiously. 

"Hey! That's not what I mean— wait, then what exactly do I mean?" 

Amy strode forward to greet her badger friend, who had been anxiously smelt the letter while repeatedly keeping it away from her face. 

"I'm not sure about this 'letter' thing," she said. "Paper folded over itself? What's it hiding? What's it hiding?" 

"That's why you gotta to open it up to find out," Amy gently replied, taking the letter from Sticks and gingerly opening the glued opener. 

It had the stamp from the Village Council, which means whatever it contained inside must be important and formal. The paper texture also felt slightly heavier than commonly used paper, and the ink it used had to be expensive as well. 

"It straight out from the mayor's office," Amy concluded. 

She read what was written there. A soft gasp surpassed her mouth. 

"Sticks! You've been nominated for an Awardy Award!"

Instead of feeling happy for his friend, Tails decided to do a criticism first. "They should choose a better name than that."

Shadow spoke monotonously. "You're talking that when we live in a village with no name?"

"Point taken."

Knuckles went over to the pink hedgehog and took the letter away from her to read it by himself. He even prepared a spectacle for it. 

Only to realize he can't read.

Sonic snatched the letter away from the echidna.  He read, "In honour of saving our village, the mayor cordially invites you, Sticks the Badger, to the awardies. Huh. Conveniently, you can bring your five closest pals," the blue spiky Mobian raised his gaze from the letter with a knowing look. 

Simultaneously, everyone in the room glanced at each other. Sonic winked at his brother. Shadow rolled his eyes and gave a side glance to the eager looking Tails. The fox grinned at Amy. Amy smiled to an anxious Sticks. Sticks lifted her gaze to Knuckles. And Knuckles winked back to Comedy Chimp. 

Wait. 

What? 

Shadow snatched a wrench from Tails' poach bag and shoved it right onto the chimpanzee. "What are you doing here?"

"How did he even get here?" Sonic blurted out. 

Knuckles worriedly glanced at the camera. "Look, I know this is an adaption from a comedy show, but you got to agree on this one, random guy show out in people's home without anybody notice is pretty awful—"

[Bzzzzzzzzz]

[Let's ignore story for a moment and here, take a look at this picture of a young Shadow staring at someone with teary eyes, while clutched on to a young, sleepy Sonic's hand. They were in their pajamas attire, and Shadow seemed like he had a nightmare]

[Cute, doesn't it?]

[Bzzzzzzzzz]

Simultaneously, everyone in the room glanced at each other. Sonic winked at his brother. Shadow rolled his eyes and gave a side glance to the eager looking Tails. The fox grinned at Amy. Amy smiled to an anxious Sticks. Sticks lifted her gaze to Knuckles. And Knuckles winked back to her. 

Sonic continued to read, "Now where was I? The awardies will be at the mayor's mansion, where you'll dine elegant food, and ooh~ Mingle with elegant guests. After the Awardy Award, it will be awarded to the winner. Sticks, it could be you!

"Elegant food? Hopefully, it's better than MehBurger."

"Come on, bro bro. You put such a low standard, and even a toddler can jump over it."

The hedgehog brothers then shared chortles and fists bumped together. Amy rolled her eyes but couldn't find a way to refute. It was not like she was trying to find it anyway. 

"Eh, I can't make it," Sticks said, shaking her head. 

Amy blinked in surprise. "Why not?" 

"I'm swamped next week," To prove her statement, she pulled out a notebook that barely contained any writing things. "See? Rummage through the garbage, rummage through the garbage, tetanus shot, rummage through the garbage— I'm book solid."

"This is the honour of a lifetime!" The female hedgehog retorted. 

Knuckles tapped his chin with his side fist. "If she got a reward for saving the village, why we didn't get one too? I mean, we saved the village a bazillion times before."

Tails shrugged. "The episode wanted to focus on Sticks wearing dress. If you want your own episode, go wear pants."

At the mention of pants, the echidna shivered and took a step away from the fox. He brushed his arms in an attempt to soothe the tiny fur that stood up. "Yeah, no thanks. I'm an idiot, not a weirdo."

The fox scrunched his face. "I don't know whether it was better or not."

"Sticks," with gentle tone, yet firm, Amy took a step towards the badger with patience eyes. "Are you afraid to go?" 

At that, the badger recoiled with a smile forcefully stretched and stepped backwards from the female hedgehog. "What? Me? No, I'm not!" 

At the stares she received, Sticks' ears dropped as her shoulders slumped. 

"Maybe a little."

"Oh, Sticks," sympathy evidence in her jade eyes, Amy looked at the girl with a soft smile. "It'll be fine. It's just a formal party."

"But look at me! I'm a feral badger. I'll make a fool out of myself at the party!"

"Just beat them up if they ever look at you funny," Shadow stated, but his mouth clamped shut when Amy shot him a dark glare. 

Sonic snickered, only to be roughly stabbed by his brother's elbow. 

"Who cares about what other people think?" Sonic said. 

Knuckles agreed. "Yeah. Everyone at that party is a windbag anyway." To prove his point, Knuckles turned to Sonic and put a hand on his chest. While his other hand lifted in an exaggerated manner. "What a robust moustache you have, Colonel Grumpkin."

Joining the act, Sonic dramatically took a bow. "Why, thank you, Madam Longbottom."

It didn't take long for those two to crackle in laughter. Amy turned back to Sticks. 

"Don't worry, you'll be fine. I'll teach you how to be a proper lady."

"What's a lady?" Sticks guessed. "It's that thing that holds garbage, right?" 

"What? No! A lady is a polite, sophisticated member of society," answered Amy. "You can be that."

Sticks turned hopeful, albeit not understanding the word 'sophisticated'. 

"Lesson number one; don't talk about trash."

Sticks' expression wilted almost immediately. "I give up."

"Come on, don't give up," Amy encouraged the badger. "I know you can do this, Sticks."

The latter female let out a sigh, but determination in her eyes. She nodded, ready on to take the challenge. 

Amy smiled on seeing her friend not give up. "Great! A proper lady requires an escort for the gala."

Right after she finished her statement, Comedy Chimp appeared in the doorway with a blooming smile. Only to be instantly crushed by Shadow, who had shut the door right on to the chimpanzee. 

"Why is he even here?" The dark hedgehog muttered. 

Knuckles shrugged. "I don't know. I'm not the one who does the writing here."

"Anyway!" Amy said sharply. She cleared her throat. "Gala. Escort. Sticks."

Right afterwards, everyone's gaze landed on Sonic. The blue hedgehog deadpanned when Amy looked at him expectingly, with Sticks that was giving him a pleading look. 

Of course, it had to be him. 

The story continued on as usual. Amy was teaching Sticks how to be a proper, polite, and sweet lady — or at the very least, a normal Mobian that did not talk about robot apocalypse.  

The scene cuts to the last part of the lesson. Dancing. 

Sonic and Sticks practised waltz together with Amy monitoring them, while the rest of the boys served as the background music. Tails on the drumming section, Shadow on the violin, and surprisingly, Knuckles was talented enough to play the piano. 

The pair for the gala were doing great so far until the part where they had to do the dip. Sonic held Sticks down while she hanged onto him. But of course, nothing came nicely when it included a lunatic conspiracy badger. 

"Why is the music controlling us?" Sticks asked the air. Sonic rolled his eyes, already far used to this. "I'm not a puppet you can master." Swinging her arms and legs, the badger literally was slapping everything. "I'm not a puppet you can master!" 

Including Sonic. 

At the struggle, Sonic lost his balance and accidentally tripped to the back. Tripping to the layout background that was hanged in the shack, causing it to fall off, along with Sticks, who still stuck with him. 

He faintly heard the voices of his brother and friends calling them, his attention went over to the badger that laid close to him, however. Tiredly, he glanced over to the approaching figures of two more hedgehogs. 

"Yeah, I think she's ready," the blue hero stated. 

The next day, well, night, actually. The hero team was preparing for their arrival at the gala. They all had gotten ready in Amy's house for obvious reason. 

Tails had a yellow bow tie on matched with a cream yellow blazer. His fur cowlicks had been slick down to pipped down the wildness vibe and sending more polite vibe. Knuckles had his spikes to be tied to a low ponytail with a black ribbon. His muscular arms had been covered by the black blazer that Amy had force him to put on. 

Shadow and Sonic also put on respective blazers that looked very alike. The only thing that distinguished those were the colours, in which Shadow's blazer a deep red wine while Sonic's got a brown one. 

Then the girls. Amy had decided to wear a purple dress with flower patterns on the end, paired with dark purple heels and knee-long white gloves. Her usual hairband had been replaced with a red one that had a lone flower decoration. 

Sticks, finally in the eyes of her friends, looked like a girl. Her long fur had been styled to a braided bun, decorated with white and black gems. She wore a black and white dress along with a black heels. Although the heels were in much shorter height compared to Amy's. 

"We're ready!" Amy beamed as the group comically stood in positions that shout photoshoot and modelling. "Finally, I can check off a wish in my bucket list."

"Of what? To see us in formal attire?" Shadow asked. 

"To see you guys look like a proper people."

"Ah."

That settled then.

They went to the gala in the designed venue. As the one who received the invitation, Sticks had to be the one made her grand entrance. Also Sonic, who unwillingly was her escort for the night. 

So when the pair was bathed under the spotlight, Sticks tried hard not to flinch. 

It was hard to do so when people stared at her so differently than the way they used to do. No fear, no weirdness. No accusations in their eyes that screamed she was a lunatic when she warned them about an upcoming apocalypse. 

They stared at her in awe and admiration. Something that Sticks never imagined to receive. 

She didn't know whether that was a bad or a good thing. 

For once, she had to depend on Sonic to lead her down the stairs. If the blue hedgehog noticed her unusual silence and stiffness, he didn't say it. 

Meanwhile, Knuckles, Tails, and Shadow showed up together. As a food critique (Shadow), a guy who always hungry (Knuckles), and a guy that didn't know what to do (Tails), they wordlessly agreed to go to the food section 

"Asparagus crostini, hemp seed quiche," Shadow scrunched his face while staring at the rows of silvery plated food. "Hmp. At least these are all clean."

Let's be honest, none of these guys knew what these food were (the names were something the author got from the subtitle. Who knows whether it was right or not). But hey, on the bright side, it wasn't MehBurger. 

Shadow grabbed the food that he most recognised, which was caviar on toast. Gingerly, he picked up the careful cutted bread and took a sniff. The hedgehog recoiled at the scent, but he wasn't the type to just judge by the smell, so he gathered enough courage to take a bite on the meal. 

...it tasted like fish eggs. Raw fish eggs. 

Well, what did you expect? 

"Should I be concerned that despite eating raw fish eggs, it somehow felt cleaner and safer than those dumb MehBurgers?" Shadow questioned after he swallowed. 

Knuckles shrugged before his attention was grabbed by a meal that seemed to be wrapped in salad. Tails squinted his eyes at the food, not making a move to get something unlike his older friends. 

Honestly, he didn't know why he was here either. This place was boring and too fancy than his liking. Plus, the bow tie was scratching his neck. He loathed it. Nothing fun was in here. 

Furthermore, Sonic wasn't here with him! Sure, the blue guy was here, but not with Tails. Sonic decidedly glued close with Sticks in case the badger makes a scene, and Amy wasn't enough to stop it. 

It wasn't like Shadow and Knuckles were bad. It just they didn't understand him like Sonic did. 

Tails spun on his heels and took several steps away from the table. He was bored, and he hated every second he was here. Urgh. Why did he even try to encourage Sticks to participate in such a boring event? 

The fox glanced around in boredom. Really, he had nothing to do...

Shadow was the first to notice Tails' absence. He glanced over his shoulder and took a turn to see where the youngest in the group was. 

"Tails?" He called out the fox after seeing him froze up. 

Tails seemed to wake up from whatever trance he was in when Shadow called him for the second time. The kit turned to look at the dark hedgehog, mouth open and closed again before he walked away in a rushed manner. 

Shadow blinked at the odd behaviour. He turned to see what Tails had been staring at. Only there was nothing odd, however. There were only people dressed up in fancy garments, chatting among each other and practically doing what rich people did in a gala. 

There was nothing odd. Well, if you put a particularity, there was one Mobian that stood out regarding the age. 

A young vixen that seemed close to Tails' age stood particularly among the older folks. She dressed nicely in a red carmine one shoulder dress, her long fur tied to a ponytail with a red bow, and she wore shiny red shoes. 

Honestly, there was nothing odd about her except for she was the only young kit (minus Tails) among these old folks. There was also the fact that she seemed familiar to him. He might have seen her before in the village. 

Knuckles went over to the dark hedgehog. "Dude, why are you staring at Zooey?" 

"Zooey?" Shadow parroted the name. 

"Yeah. Zooey. I helped her and her family move here a few months ago. She's a really nice girl."

"I see...," Shadow casted one final glance at the vixen before he looked back to the food. 

Whatever business Tails had with her, if it was her that he had been acting weird, well, it wasn't Shadow's business. 

Except if it was another one of those bullying problems. But there hadn't been one for years. Not after Tails purposely sets up his bullies to punched each other and turned one of them to have a neon pink fur for a week straight. 

[Note : Please don't be like Tails. If you're having bullying problems, tell someone older and/or you can trust.]

The party started off with waltz. As the one who held the event, the mayor got the opportunity to have a dance with a fellow female noble. They shared a dance and ended after the slow, soft music ended. 

Then, the moment Sonic and Sticks had been anticipated for. 

Their first (public) formal dance. 

This was way too different than the wild dances they had done previously. They had to remember each step instead of wildly making your own. Sonic had been itching to run, and he would if Sticks didn't need a friend to escort her. 

"Just remember your steps!" Amy whispered right when the two entered the circle. 

Sticks put her hand on Sonic's shoulder, and Sonic held her waist. Chaos, it was so awkward. 

At least it wasn't as awkward when he practised waltz with Shadow. It didn't end with waltz. The brothers got so stressed by the waltz practise that it ended with them doing a breakdance instead.

Ha! Sonic would crackles right now if people weren't watching him. 

That was such a fond memory, even if waltz was suck and lame. Shadow wasn't a great dancing partner. It wasn't his fault, though. Shadow can never be a great dancer like M—

...

"...who?" 

"Sonic?" 

Who was he thinking about? Amy? No, they never share a dance together. Tails? The kit would dart away from any kind of dance. Knuckles? Everybody in their team simultaneously agreed to never let Knuckles on the dance floor for any formal dance. 

Then who?

Wait. 

When did he and Shadow practise waltz together? 

"Sonic!" 

Sticks' harsh whisper snapped him out of his confusing thought. She hastily pulled him away from getting crash by another dancing pair. The badger looked at him with a confused mix worried, and Sonic pushed away everything that he thought earlier. 

(But it never left his mind)

"You okay?" The badger asked. 

"Y-Yeah," the hedgehog breathed out. 

(Why did his legs fall easily into the steps of waltz?)

When the music ended, both friends let out a sync sigh. 

One was tired of staying formal. 

Another was tired to stay sane. 

"Sonic? Sticks?" The purple heels entered his view. Sonic lifted his chin (he didn't realize he was looking down) to see the concern in Amy's countenance. "Are you... okay?" 

"Peachy," he cracked a smile. "Where are the others?" 

Amy didn't seem to believe him, but thankfully, she let it go. "Shadow and Knuckles on the food section. I don't know where Tails is, though."

"That's fine. I'll go look for him," the blue spiked Mobian suggested and left before Amy could say anything.

Amy and Sticks exchanged a worried look. 

At least Sticks didn't push him off this time.

The fresh air was inviting. It helped him to clear his mind. The crescent moon plastered on the dark sky also helped to change the view. To forget of those eyes that scrutinised and judged every part of their moves to make him feel like himself again.

("—better dancer than you are!"

"No, you're not!"

"Guys, you both suck—")

Sonic closed his eyes. 

The headache was invading his head again. 

He hated it when it happened. 

Sonic didn't know how long he had been waiting there, at the outside of the City Hall, doing nothing but standing while staring at the moon. There wasn't anyone other than him outside, and even if there were, none of them thought of approaching the blue hero. 

Well, except for one. 

"Sonic," a gruff voice called him from behind. 

The mentioned boy didn't need to turn around to see who. Just by the voice (and the footsteps), Sonic knew who. 

"Heyya, bro. What cha' doing outside?" 

"Amy told me you went out."

"Awww~ what? You're worried—"

Shadow continued on without a hitch. "After half an hour passes."

"..."

Did he really been out for that long? Huh. He didn't notice. 

"Amy said you were looking for Tails. But he's already inside with Knuckles. Where were you?" 

Sonic rocked on the ball of his feet. "Nowhere in particular. Just... here."

Even without turning around, he could feel his brother's judgmental arched brow. "Doing... what?"

"Nothing. I just think that the moon is pretty tonight," the hedgehog answered. 

There was silence afterwards. Nobody says a word. Sonic continued on staring at the moon, and his brother was watching his back in a literal manner. 

They stayed there in peace. Seconds later, the dark hedgehog moved to sit next to his brother, and Sonic couldn't find himself to give any sort of response. 

Except—

"Hey, Shadow?"

His brother hummed. 

"Who were we?" 

"...brothers," the latter answered.

"..."

Sonic chose to believe. 

They stayed there for ten more minutes when Shadow's ear twitched and someone coughed. The brothers turned around, only to see a cute girl smile shyly at them. Shadow was quick to recognise her as the earlier young vixen. 

Sonic perked up. "Oh! Zooey. You're here too?" 

The girl nodded. "Yeah... dad saw you two going outside earlier. He told me to inform you that the award will be given out soon."

"Ah," the blue spiked hero stood up and dusted off his knees. "Thanks for telling, Zooey. Tell your dad 'hi' for me, kay'?" 

Amy will be mad if she heard him say casual words at a formal event. But she wasn't here, and the event was inside the City Hall. Not outside. So that was a win for Sonic. 

Zooey nodded again, and she rushed off silently. Shadow side glanced to his brother. "You know her too?" 

The other replied without looking at him. "Yeah. Me and Knux helped her, and her dad moved here. She's a nice gal, quiet but not the silent type." He stretched his arms upwards, letting the satisfying sound of crack echo in his ears. "Let's go back. I don't want Ames bomb me with questions."

Shadow didn't say a word, but Sonic didn't need to see to know his brother followed after him inside. 

Each guest and the awardies were seated in their own seats. The guests sat together while the participant for the award had been gathered in a table a bit tar fancier than theirs. Sonic could see Sticks already there, sitting next to...

"Eggman?" Sonic blinked in disbelief. "What are you doing here?" 

Eggman grinned. "Why, getting my award, obviously. What? Do you think I don't have a loyal base of supporters?" 

"No," both of the hedgehog brothers spoke in the same dead tone. 

Eggman huffed, unamused by their responses, and turned away from them. Sonic gave that hand sign where it means he would be watching the evil doctor before he and Shadow went over to their table. Coincidentally, they shared a table with Amy. Tails and Knuckles shared a table close by, along with two noblemen that seemed to be engaging in a conversation with Knuckles out of all people. 

"Where had you been?" The female hedgehog asked. 

The blue one averted his gaze away from hers. "Just... out. You know. Staring at the moon."

She frowned. "For half an hour and ten minutes?" 

"I guess...?" 

"You haven't even tried their food," Shadow spoke, not giving Amy the chance to remark. "They're expensive, that's for sure."

Sonic arched a brow. "Better than MehBurger?" 

"I thought we agreed that the bar was so low."

"So a raw fish is better than those burgers?"

"I didn't try the sashimi yet, but yes, the caviar is way much better."

"Hah! Wait, how about the time Knuckles made us sandwiches?" 

"At least there weren't any newspapers in our food."

"Tails' burnt eggs?"

"Fresher than the Moody Meal Set."

Amy rolled her eyes at this point. At least they weren't bickering. 

"Sticks' mashed up hot pot when she thought we were cursed that one time?" 

"The ingredients she used were all edible— except for the spider eye. But it honestly safer to eat than the—"

"—McEh Double Cheese Burger that didn't have any cheese despite the name," Sonic ended his statement with a grin. "I hope you're happy, bro."

A loud clanking noise snatched everyone's attention away. All eyes shifted to the very person who clang his glassy wine cup with a spoon. There, stood proudly on the podium, was a mouse Mobian known as Mayor Flink. 

"Good evening, everyone, and welcome to the Awardy Award. Tonight, we award an Awardy Award for the award-winning cyphers," the mayor paused. "Please note I'll be firing my speechwriter, but let's go on to the moment all attendants have been waiting for."

"This is it!" Tails whispered to Knuckles.

Sticks shifted in her seat. Her blue eyes anxiously eyed the trophy that was in the mayor's hands. Coincidentally, it became extra glamorous under the lights. 

Eggman also eyed the trophy. A confident and cocky smirk plastered across his countenance. 

"I hope it's Sticks," Amy murmured. 

The mayor pulled out an envelope from his suit, where the winner's name had been hidden there. He opened it, took one glance before closing it again, and cleared his throat. 

"For this year's winner, the Awardy Award goes to.... Leroy the Turtle!" 

At that, applaused and shouted of surprise (Eggman) filled in the room. Leroy cheered, climbed down from his table, and went over to the podium to receive the trophy. Sticks dropped, but it didn't look like she was depressed over it. Eggman, on the other hand. 

"Leroy the Turtle?!" He repeated in disbelief. "There's no way that guy is the winner. That's it! If you don't give me the award, then I'll take it myself!" 

"By what?" Sonic spoke up. "Using your robots?" 

Suddenly, a big robot with four legs came out under the table. Eggman sat on it, and a wide smile stretched his face. "I'll do it with my ballot stuffing robot!"

Amy and Shadow glared at Sonic, who thought this one shiny spoon looked interesting all of sudden. 

Eggman pushed a button on his watch, and the robot he was riding created a humming noise before envelopes puked out from it and scattered around the room. Tails picked up an envelope. 

"Huh. I guess this is how he got nominated."

Eggman slightly wilted. "Well, this isn't as threatening as I hope. That's fine. I got them to back it up."

With another push of button, the familiar buzzing noise of his Beebots breached their ears. Mobians screamed in fear and fled away once the bug themed robots came into their view, entering the City Hall shot lasers everywhere. 

The three hedgehogs get off of their seats. Shadow kicked the table and used it as their shield from the lasers. Tails and Knuckles also took shelter by using those shiny steel plates to fend off. Sonic peeked out from behind his brother to see Sticks, who was uncharacteristically frozen at the sideline. 

"Sticks! Get em'!" He shouted at their badger friend before he got pulled back by Shadow. Again. 

The badger shook her head. "A lady doesn't fight," she stated. 

Amy nodded proudly, a tear dripped down from her cheek. "She remembers. That's another wish that I must check off from my bucket list."

Sonic threw a chair at a Beebot who tried to attack from behind her. "And I'll add a wish in my bucket that you'd focus on battles."

Shadow grabbed a chair and slammed it on two bots. Amy pulled out her signature hammer and hits several bots in one swing. Sonic curled to a ball and destroyed ones that surrounded them. Knuckles used the plate to attack. Once it bent and broken, he changed his attack with his fists. 

Tails hits a few bots with a wrench that he miraculously found somewhere in the City Hall. Totally not something he had been sneaking in when Amy wasn't looking. The kit was handling himself just fine. That until he saw a Beebot charged up at a cowering vixen, while her father tried so hard to protect her. 

"Don't touch her!" Tails shouted, and threw the wrench at the Beebot. 

It broke and the bot fell down. Zooey smiled in relief, but she barely said her gratitude when her father carried her and exited the hall together. Tails smiled in relief, but it was short lifted because he was unaware of Eggman's smirk. 

Fortunately, Knuckles noticed it. 

"Tails! Watch out!"

Unfortunately, when the echidna tried to push the kit away, Eggman took that chance to trapped them inside a plasma ball. 

"Tails! Knuckles!" Sonic yelled. 

Shadow gritted his teeth, fangs baring in ire while Amy gripped on her hammer tighter. Sticks bit the inside of her cheek, trying so hard to contain the rebellious badger inside of her. 

"Let them go!" Using his spin-dash, Sonic charged forward. 

He pinned down every Beebots that unlucky to got his hits, and went straight ahead to the evil doctor. The doctor snorted, and his ballot stuffing robot used its front legs to kicked the hedgehog away. 

Blue blur was thrown back, and Sonic would had received a bad back pain if Shadow didn't cushioned him with his own body. 

Eggman grinned and the plasma orb trapped the brothers in. "Man, Shadow," the man sighed. "Your brother have always been your priority, doesn't he?"

Sonic flinched at the statement. Shadow narrowed his eyes. His ire evidently grew judging by the added frowns on his face. He punched the shield, but his attack only got repel back. 

"Hah! Finally! I capture these meddling hedgehogs!"

"You forgot one more!" 

Eggman hastily avoided the thrown hammer with a screech. Gripping hard on his robot, he turned to look at Amy in fear, as the pink Mobian began to threw chairs and tables at him. 

It literally took him two whole minutes (and tons of Beebots) to capture her. When he did so, Eggman felt he would lose hair if he wasn't already bald. 

"Sticks!" Tails cried out for their last teammate. 

Sticks shuts her eyes tight. "No... must... remain... ladylike!"

Amy sobbed. "I raised her well."

Sonic deadpanned. "For once, I hoped you didn't."

Despite her wish to remain on the teaching Amy had taught her, Eggman certainly wasn't going to make it easy. The doctor attacked her with his robot that sprouted out a wheel to make it easier for it to chase the badger. Sticks could barely dodged it using her heels. 

Sticks' patience had its straw broke when she dropped to the floor. Not by Eggman, but by the heels. 

"That's it!" She sneered. "I quit on being proper!"

Ripping the end of her dress and tied it around her waist (she wore her miniskirt underneath the dress), the badger slipped off her heels and used it as weapons. She charged forward, successfully dodged every attacks in more flexible manner and even managed to land a hit with the pointy part of her heel. Her braided bun already long lost its style and its accessories, leaving behind a messy braided fur that draped over the badger's back. 

Amy sniffed. "I spent hours on that fur."

Sonic deadpanned. 

Sticks threw her heel like a boomerang and it hit the mark. Which was the watch strapped on Eggman's wrist. The watch broke down, along with the shields that trapped her friends. 

Shadow, who still hadn't lose nor ease his ire, taking a threatening step forward. He cracked his knuckles, red eyes blazing in unspoken anger. 

"I'll beat you up for good this time."

Feared for his life, Eggman screeched and fled away from the scene. Shadow snarled as the remaining Beebots tried to stop him from getting to their master. 

Read ; tried. 

All of them became pieces from his kicks and punches. The dark hedgehog scoffed at the pathetic sight, and would had continue his hunt if his brother didn't stop him. 

"Stop it, Shadow. It's no use," the other hedgehog sighed. "We'll be seeing him soon anyway."

"By that, he means next week Tuesday or Thursday," Tails supplied. 

Shadow huffed, but obliged nonetheless. He turned around and slightly baffled at the conflicted look on Sonic's face until he recalled what Eggman's earlier statement. 

Hesitatedly, he stepped close to his brother and clasped the other's shoulder. "You know you're not a hindrance, right?" 

Sonic's lips pressed to a thin line. There was a doubt in there, and Shadow silently promised himself that he would packed an extra punch to a certain villain the next time he makes a scene.

Somewhere far from the unnamed village, Eggman shivered. 

"Yeah... I know," Sonic replied. 

Shadow wasn't convinced, but he knew pressing further would only getting nothing but a negative response. So he stopped. 

Unknown to the dark hedgehog, Sonic wasn't only bothered by the villain's statement. 

["Your brother have always been your weak point—"

"DON'T TOUCH HIM!"

"S—"]

"Thanks for saving our skins, Sticks," Amy thanked the badger. "I guess it wasn't always proper to be proper."

Sticks smiled. "Just following the old instinct."

Amy clasped her hands together. "Think you can teach me to do that?" 

The badger beamed. "Sure!"

The boys tried not to flinch at Amy's screech as Sticks dragged her into a dumpster that miraculously appeared out of thin air. 

That night, in a familiar shack near the beach. 

A certain dark hedgehog watched from the doorway as his brother stood outside, making some calculated steps in a circle. Only by a glance, he knew the other was doing a waltz. 

Alone. 

The hedgehog went back inside and appeared once more in the doorway with a folded blanket in his arms. He waited there, waited and waited. 

Even when the other repeated the same dance move over and over again. Even when two hours had passed. 

He only approached the other when his knees buckled, and gave up. The other dropped to his knees, head hang low as Shadow draped the blanket over his figure. 

Softly, Sonic asked. "...who were we?" 

Shadow halted. His hands hovered above his brother, before settled on the other's shoulders. 

"Brothers," he said. 

Sonic pursed his lips, but the blue hedgehog didn't say anything more. After all, despite on the brink of losing himself in these painful headaches (and questions), it was the only thing Shadow will say to him.

The only thing Shadow was willing to answer. 

The blue hedgehog, albeit the coldness and his trembling body, found himself digging his digits into the sand. He quite aware of the fact it will stained his gloves again, not that he cared. At least he wouldn't ripped them apart. Like Shadow. 

The sound of waves crashing the sand felt so distant. They oddly louder tonight. Or perhaps, it was the echoes inside his head? 

Sonic didn't know.