Sticks woke with a start and a loud scream, catapulting up out of her bed like she was spring loaded. A nightmare had plagued her, it was enough to rip her from out the realm of dreams and back into the meatspace. She threw off the covers and immediately began to hyperventilate, holding onto herself so tightly that her claws dug into her fur as her eyes frantically darted around her burrow.

Her mind was in a haze and her body was high on alert, muscles tensed and ready to strike at a moment's notice. She couldn't recall anything outside of being enraged and terrified at the same time but for the life of her she couldn't remember why. All she knew was that something had set her off and she hadn't been able to turn it off since.

Just then, a blurry shadow crept in beyond the corner of her view, causing her to shriek in terror as it reached out at her with inky digits and held her down. She struggled in their hold, screeching defiantly as she did so.

"Ah!" Sticks yelled, straining against her captor's hold. "Let me go you amorphous shadowy blob thing from outer space! I know what you do to terrestrial creatures! I refused to be probed by the likes of you! My fleshy wet orifices will remain unmolested, or my name isn't-!"

"Sticks! Calm down. It's me, Amy!" Amy cried out, loosening her grip on Sticks.

"A-Amy?" Sticks croaked out, her vision clearing. She was greeted by Amy's soft visage, an expression of concern etched upon her face. The sight of her closest friend put her at ease, if only slightly, yet it was enough to quell her resistance. Looking around she realized it was daytime, early morning to be precise.

"Shh... Take a deep breath, girl. Everything's okay. It's alright now," Amy cooed, placing a reassuring hand on Sticks shoulder. Tails, Sonic and Knuckles soon filed into the room, alerted by the disturbance. They all crowded around Sticks, concerned for her well being.

"Everybody... W-what happened? Dah!" Sticks murmured just as a sharp jolt ran through her head. She clutched a hand on her forehead, sucking in a sharp intake of air through gritted teeth just as the pain subsided. "Oh, my aching head. It's like a tiny little gobbo is tap dancing up there, and he brought all his friends along for the hoedown."

"Easy there, Sticks. You've been through a lot," said Knuckles.

"A lot?" Sticks raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean- Ah!" she yelped as it suddenly hit her. "The 'it!' Is it finally over?"

"Well, that depends. How do you feel?" asked Sonic.

Sticks stared at her hands, tilting her head like a curious dog before an oddity. "Exhausted. Like I just ran around the island all day without stopping. Everything aches."

"Pfft, that's nothing," Sonic quipped, earning a sharp jab of an elbow to the ribs and a stern glare from Amy. "Uh, I mean, you feel anything else?"

"My senses seemed to have calmed down. I no longer smell color, the air doesn't feel like a million flensing razor blades upon my fur anymore and my loins have finally cooled down."

"TMI, Sticks. TMI," Amy deadpanned.

"Wait a minute," Sticks looked up from her hands and surveyed her friends. "What are you all doing here anyway? How did you even get in?"

"In the order of questions, we were worried when you didn't show up after your week in isolation," replied Tails. "And as for how we got in..." He looked up, causing Sticks to follow his gaze towards the gaping hole in the ceiling.

"...Oh," said Sticks. "I'll have to get that fixed. Any who, guess the 'it' passed without problems this year. I mean, nothing happened right? I didn't go rogue, break out and attack anybody, did I?" She looked at her friends warily.

"Yes!"

"Nope!"

"Of course not!"

Her friends replied all at once in a hurried panic. It was enough to relax Sticks, however.

"Phew," Sticks breathed a sigh of relief. "For a moment there I was afraid I'd broken loose, stalked a potential mate and forced them into a shotgun relationship."

"Pfft, what? That's ridiculous. None of that happened whatsoever, no sirree. Your week with the 'it' was boring and completely mundane and one hundred percent free of mate stalking," Amy replied coolly.

"That's good to know. I wouldn't want to get hitched to anyone I don't know, or Ancients forbid, Dave," she shudders.

"Y-yeah. We wouldn't w-want that," Tails sputtered nervously.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I could go for a nice relaxing walk," said Sticks as she trudged her way out of bed. Once she was on her feet she performed some quick stretches to loosen up the limbs, a fact that Tails couldn't help but stare at unbeknownst to the others. "Some fresh air should do me some good after suffering all week long."

"You do that. We'll be around the village if you need us," said Amy.

At that, they each exchanged curt goodbyes and parted ways, leaving the orange badger to her own devices. The moment she was out of earshot however, they all let out a collective sigh of relief, relaxing their tense muscles as they did.

"Phew, she actually bought it," muttered Sonic.

Outside Stick's burrow. The day before

Sticks continued to thrash futilely against the glowing walls of the kinetic cage, roaring in frustration with each blow struck. Eventually her energy gave way and she slowed down, her powerful strikes once able to snap a tree in half had been reduced to pitiful slaps.

Nearby, the rest of the rescue team and Tails had gathered to access the situation after having a much needed reprieve. They had succeeded in capturing Sticks and freed Tails from her captivity. All that was left to do was to watch over the belligerent badger and ensure that she made it through the 'it' without any further consequences. Which would take roughly,

"Eight hours?!" Sonic wailed incredulously.

"Grr... You don't have to shout. I'm not deaf," Eggman grumbled, slowly pulling away his hands from his rattled ears. "Although at the volume you somehow managed to achieve there I might as well be."

"Eight hours isn't that long, Sonic," Amy chided.

"You all might be content to stick around and let the world turn for you, but I can't be grounded like this, I gotta move! It's a medical condition!" Sonic argued. "Gotta go fast is a real condition!"

"Look, I've done my part already so I don't care how you chucklenuts decide to eke out the latter half of the day with your whackjob of a friend," started Eggman. "The feral reversion syndrome should wear off at precisely midnight, pacific standard time. After that she will lose consciousness and suffer acute memory loss."

"Wait, you mean she'll forget everything?" Tails asked, sounding half relieved and half disappointed. "That sounds... strangely convenient."

"The mind can only handle so much stress without breaking down," Eggman explained. "Repression and mental censors act as a defense mechanism for the mind to cope with such traumatic experiences. And I'd say suddenly reverting to a primal state of mind is awfully traumatic. I'd suggest tucking her into bed after she passes out, that way everything that's happened throughout the week will feel like a terrible fever dream to her when she wakes up."

"We should probably be there when it happens to comfort her too," added Amy.

"Maybe ditch these costumes while we're at it too," quipped Sonic, swiftly crumpling up his costume and promptly recycling it in the village before zooming back. "That's better."

"Wait. If we're supposed to watch Sticks for hours, what do we do when she needs to... you know," Knuckles stated sheepishly.

"It's a good thing I planned ahead for that too," said Eggman as he pushed some buttons on the kinetic cage.

The cage whirred to life with loud rattle and sharp hiss, followed by a privacy curtain appearing from a slot atop the machine and draping itself over the cage's glowing walls. The interior of the cage also reformed itself, the panels of the floor shifted around and slid back into place, forming a cramp but fully functional lavatory with all the basic amenities needed to stay fresh and at your best.

"Ever since I got trapped in one of my own cage in Dave's basement some time ago I realized that it's dreadfully boring to just sit there and do nothing while waiting to be rescued. Since then every Eggman industry brand cage comes with all the basic amenities to ensure that your captivity is a comfortable one."

"Hey! These magazines are from two month ago!" Sticks yelled from behind the curtains. "How am I expected to do my business reading old news?!"

"You'll figure something out your feisty fleabag!" Eggman retorted before turning his attention back to Sonic and the gang. "Well, I held up my end of the bargain, and threw in a little extra too. This team up is now officially null and void."

"And I wouldn't have it any other way," snarked Sonic.

"We're grateful regardless of villain hero team up etiquette," said Amy in a barely repressed growl that was directed solely at Sonic. "Hopefully the next team up would be under better circumstances."

"Indeed," agreed Eggman. "Now, if you don't mind, I need to clean up all this scrap and rebuild my army for tomorrow's battle, Orbot and Cubot especially. Expect an invoice from me in the mail."

"That's cool. Tails is good for it," said Knuckles.

"Wait, what?!" Tails snapped at Knuckles. "Why do I have to pay? I'm the victim here!"

"None of this would've happened in the first place if you hadn't been working on your precious plane in the first place," Knuckles reminded smugly.

"How was I supposed to know it was going to blow up in my face?!"

"Tails, when hasn't one of your inventions blown up in your face?" Amy deadpanned.

"...Point taken," Tails mumbled dejectedly.

"I knew it was going to work," added Knuckles.

"No, you didn't," Tails deadpanned.

"Well, I hinted at it."

"Regardless, Sticks is none the wiser of everything that's happened and, against my better judgement, it's probably for the best," said Amy. "The last thing we'd want would be for her to be wracked with guilt after thrashing us like that, and kidnapping Tails for that inane mating ritual of hers."

"I guess that means we can say: mission accomplished," Sonic announced with a triumphant thumbs up. "It got a little dicey near the end but we pulled through all the same."

"With the help of Eggman's army of badniks," reminded Amy.

"Details, details," he waved her off. "Team Sonic succeeds all the same. It's all wrapped up with a neat little bow on top." Amy couldn't help but roll her eyes at the comment.

"Whatever you say, oh, brave team leader," she replied and didn't even bother to hide the obvious tone of sarcasm dripping from her voice.

"Can we get some breakfast now? I'm in dire need of protein," Knuckles flexed his wiry biceps. "These babies don't get bulky themselves, you know?"

"I'm all for that," Sonic added cheerily. "Sonic needs food, badly."

At that, the team departed for breakfast, their stomachs growling in anticipation of the most important meal of the day. But in their haste, they failed to notice that Tails swiped something from a table nearby and stuffed it into his belt pockets...