A/N: The characters' ages are as follows,

Tails: 19

Sticks: 21

Amy: 23

Sonic: 24

Knuckles: 26

Dr. Eggman: It's rude to ask a villainous scientist his age, you know?

Sticks frantically darted around her burrow, rummaging through the various mountains of junk, trash, and other assorted garbage that riddled her humble home, all the while her friends observed on by the entryway with a bemused expression on their faces. She paid no mind to them, however. All that mattered at the moment was that she was prepared for when 'it' happens.

"Is it me guys, or is Sticks acting crazier than normal?" said Sonic, watching the madness unfold before his eyes.

"I'd say she's acting par the course given this is Sticks we're talking about here," replied Amy. "Although I have to admit this level of paranoia induced preparation does seems a bit over excessive."

"She's going pretty fast," remarked Tails, "she might even be faster than you, Sonic."

"I'm gonna go ahead and ignore that," Sonic grumbled.

"Yo, Sticks. Why you acking so cray cray?" asked Knuckles.

"You're the one who's acking cray cray!?" Sticks snapped, caused everyone to reel from her outburst.

"Well, now my feelings are hurt," Knuckles pouted.

"I-I'm sorry big guy!" Sticks quickly apologized but didn't stop what she was doing. "I just need to get ready for when 'it' hits me and I don't want to hurt anyone."

"Uuuuh, 'it'?" said Sonic, scratching his head.

"You know, 'it'!" Sticks exclaimed as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. She was greeted with an awkward silence from her friends that was broken by a dry cough from Tails.

"Er, for those of us who aren't in the know, what exactly is 'it'?" Amy asked with a sheepish grin.

For the first time since this morning Sticks stopped in her pursuit of self imposed isolation and pulled out a crude diagram drawn on a large leaf from her junk pile depicting herself as a stick figure and the several phases of the dreaded 'it'.

"I'm not sure if you all know this or not, but I am no ordinary badger, I... am a feral badger," Sticks began, pointing to the image of a disheveled looking badger.

"Gee, what a revelation," Sonic quipped sarcastically, his face deadpan. "So what does this have to do with this stuff?"

"I've been stockpiling supplies to wait 'it' out. 'It' usually lasts for about a week so I need to get everything ready before 'it' hits."

"Could you just tell us what 'it' is already?" said Tails exasperatedly.

"I was getting to that," Sticks cleared her throat and pointed to another section of the diagram. "You see, unlike you guys I haven't outgrown any of the feral traits our ancestors had that have allowed us as a species to thrive for so long in nature. That's why once a year for a whole week I lose control of myself and enter a state of pure feral instinct where I act without inhibition."

"You mean act like you usually do?" Amy bluntly stated with a raise of her eyebrow.

"Sorta, only I get more aggressive. My predatory senses increase tenfold and I have the irresistible urge to mate."

"...What was that last part?" Sonic blinked, his cheeks dusted pink.

"You know, mate," Stick repeated, earning another bout of silence from her friends. "You know, to dance the horizontal polka. To spear the white whale. To plug the leaky tub. To verb the adjective noun."

"Sticks, we get it. Please stop speaking," Amy interjected, her face red as a tomato.

"Wait, was this why you couldn't show up for movie night last year?" inquired Knuckles.

"Well, that, and I'm pretty sure movies are actually a gateway to another world. I didn't come because I was afraid the creatures in the film might leap out and devour our faces," replied Sticks.

"Yes, because that's the part that's the most polarizing of news," Tails deadpanned.

"You know what, I think we should get out of your hair so you can get back to your 'it' business before you start losing it and jump someone's bones," said Sonic.

"Sonic!" Amy rebuked, her face reddening even further to the point she became purple.

"Gotta go!" Sonic waved goodbye before hastily speeding off into the distance, to which Amy watched with incredulity.

"...He's lucky he's cute," Amy grumbled sullenly. "Apart from his poorly worded statement, he's right. It's time we left you to your thing before 'it' gets out of hand. See you in a week, Sticks. We should have some girl time once you stop being driven by pure instinct."

Amy, Knuckles and Tails each exchanged a brief farewell with Sticks who returned the gesture before rummaging through her garbage pile again. She needed to work fast. She could feel herself growing more and more unrestrained as the minutes ticked away. The urge to hunt, the urge to forage, the urge to propagate. It was becoming overwhelming. There was food to pack, doors to board and bugs to sweep for, both the insect and the listening variety.

"Gotta make sure to line my burrow with tin foil to block out the government mind control beams..." Sticks muttered.

Five days went by on Bygone Island.

Sonic and his friends, sans Sticks, went about their lives the same as always. There was the occasional attack on the team by Dr. Eggman, to which he was comfortably thwarted in a timely manner. He laid in a smoking crater amidst a collection of smoldering metal that used to be his robot army in the middle of town, his hovercraft having been reduced to modern art after receiving a good thrashing with Amy's mallet.

"Argh... You might've won this time, Sonic the Hedgehog and pals! But next time, I'l- Hey, where's the crazy orange one? She hasn't been with you for a few days now," asked Eggman, smoting the tiny flame upon his impressive moustache.

"Oh, Sticks? She's dealing with a personal issue at the moment," replied Amy, setting her mallet down.

"Hmm. It isn't feral reversion syndrome, is it?"

"Uh, feral what now?" Sonic raised his eyebrow.

"Feral reversion syndrome," Eggman repeated, dusting the soot off his clothes. "It's a neurological disorder where certain domesticated creatures, you for example," he pointed to Sonic, "temporarily revert to a more primitive state of mind wherein you act like the animal you evolved from."

"That must be the scientific term for the 'it' Sticks was talking about," said Tails.

"I'd always figured she had it, and not just because she's a whackjob conspiracy theorist jungle badger that's been living on the fringe of modern civilization her whole life. That cuckoo in the coconut badger friend of yours must be going through one heck of a change if it's taking this long to recover from it."

"How do you know all this?" asked Sonic.

"I have a minor in neurology. You'd know that if you'd actually ask what I'm good at," Eggman grumbled.

"Sorry we don't exchange small talk that often, Egghead," Sonic quipped. "We're always fighting, save for the moments we end up working together from time to time."

"It happens more than you know," Knuckles added.

"Well, I hope she's doing fine. It's not the same trying to destroy you all when there's only four of you," Eggman commented wistfully. "Word of advice, I'd steer clear of her if you know what's good for you, the guys especially. Until she snaps out of feral reversion syndrome she'll be boy crazy like a teenage girl who listens to too many sugary pop songs."

"Trust us, we know," Tails deadpanned, the memory of the Justin Beaver debacle resurfacing in his mind.

"Anywho, same time for our battle tomorrow?" asked Eggman.

"Hmm, let's see..." Amy pulled a pocket book and flipped through its contents. "I'm booked until the evening. You can try annihilating us and/or terrorizing the village with another convoluted scheme of yours before supper."

"Perfect! There's a shrink ray I've been meaning to test out on the local populace," Eggman exclaimed gleefully. "Mwuhahahaha! Well, see you tomorrow." With that, Eggman left casually like a coworker clocking off work for the day.

"Well, that's that," said Sonic, dusting his hands. "We still got the rest of the day. Anyone up for some Meh Burger?"

"You guys go on ahead, I gotta check the engine for the Tornado," said Tails who was already leaving for his workshop. "Bring me back some fries though, I'll pay you back!"

"Tails and that plane of his," Sonic chuckled.

"If he loves it so much why doesn't he marry it?" Knuckles quipped.

"Don't give him any ideas," Amy lightly chided the boys. "Now come on, all that hammering has left me absolutely famished."

Sticks was having a terrible time.

'It' was in full swing and it left her positively overwhelmed by the previously mundane sensations that assaulted all her enhanced senses. The floor was suddenly too hard, the dirt was suddenly too soft, and the air suddenly smelled too airy. She held onto herself atop her bed, eyes darting back and forth sporadically as they desperately searched for prey that didn't exist. To top it all off, the 'it' was making her even more paranoid that she usually was.

Several thoughts raced through her head. What if her friends were getting replaced by robots? What if the government was trying to clone her to create an army of jungle badger super soldiers? What if more recognizable and popular characters from the series franchise showed up and stole the spotlight from her? It was too much, too much, too much!

She bit at her lips and rocked side to side trying to distract herself from her instincts. It did little to alleviate the hypervigilance she was experiencing. Her entire body was screaming at her to go to the jungle and be free, to go wild like her primitive ancestors, to find her mate. She fought hard to maintain what semblance of control she has over herself. She didn't want to hurt anyone with her recklessness, especially not her friends.

There were two days left. Then she can be free to poke and prod strangers for information about aliens without feeling like her heart was going to jump out of her mouth.

There were only two days left.

Only two...

Tails pulled back from the Tornado's engine and marveled at his work, wiping away the grease that stained his cheek. Yessiree, his plane was a beauty and the new modifications he added to it were only going to make it even better. Setting his spanner down Tails hopped into the cockpit of the plane and turned the engine on where he began admiring the hum and vibrations of the motor.

"Oh yeah, listen to that baby purr," said Tails. "Tails, you've outdone yourself this time. Wait until the guys see this."

The sound of the engine stalling suddenly brought his attention back to the plane. He raised his eyebrow quizzically, unsure as to what the problem might be.

"Huh? That's weird," Tails scratched his head. "I could've sworn I did everything rig-"

He was interrupted in his speech when the engine suddenly burst into flames and promptly exploded with the force of Knuckle's punch. It knocked him out of the seat and sent him flying out of the workshop at mach speeds, leaving a neat hole in the shape of his outline in the ceiling. He soared through the air yelling the whole way through, a trail of thick black smoke emanating from his twin tails painting the sky like a streak of charcoal on paper.

Nearby at Meh Burger, everyone witnessed a screaming fireball soaring through the air.

"Hey, what the heck is that!" Sonic exclaimed, pointing to the smoking object in the sky.

"Is that..." Amy squinted, her vision better than most. "Tails?"

"Hmm... Looks like the engine on the Tornado exploded after he tuned it up and it sent him flying through the air like a bird," Knuckles correctly surmised, earning a few looks of utter flabbergast from his peers.

"What's his trajectory, where's he headed?" Sonic asked.

"It looks like he's headed for... Stick's burrow!" shouted Amy.

"We gotta move!" Sonic and his friends all dropped their meal and took off running, but not before returning to wipe their hands with some napkins. Then they took off running again, hoping that they'd be able to reach Tails before he crashed into Sticks's home.

Little did they know the mess they would stumble across soon afterwards...

Tails collided into Sticks's burrow with a resounding crash that sundered the roof of her home and sent a plume of dirt and junk into the air. Trash scattered all over the poor fox as he started seeing stars, his vision a blurry mess of brown hues and flashing light. Luckily for him he was relatively unharmed. Years of fighting Eggman and dealing with faulty machines backfiring on him have left him with the hearty constitution of a cartoon character.

When the dust finally settled Tails was able to see clearly again, though his head still ached something fierce as he forced himself back onto his feet. He struggled at first, wobbling side to side but held firm when someone helped to right him.

"Tails! Are you alright!" Sticks exclaimed, holding onto his arms.

"S-Sticks?" Tails muttered. "Whuah happun?"

"You tell me, buster," Sticks began. "You crashed into my home like some sort of out of control government spy satellite and-and..." she began to trail off, suddenly taking interest in Tail's arm all of a sudden. She traced tiny circles with her thumb around his bicep, admiring the feel and texture of his fur. "Tails, has... has your fur always been this soft? It's so plush and huggable. You're like a teddy bear."

"Um, what?" Tails blinked quizzically as Sticks continued to feel up his arm, rather enthusiastically too.

"And these muscles of yours," she purred huskily, tightening her grip on Tails. Her expression changed from concern to avid curiosity. "So taut and strong. Guess working on those machines of yours paid off."

"Wow, I'm glad someone finally noticed," Tails blushed, only to wince as Stick's claws began digging into his supple flesh. "Uh, Sticks. D-do you think you can ease up on the sharp talons. They're starting to hu- Huh!?" he gasped as the girl suddenly pulled him close and buried her face into his chest, causing him to turn as red as Knuckles. She breathed in his natural musk, sighing dreamily as she did so.

"Mmm, oh yeah..." Sticks shuddered uncontrollably, eyelids fluttering in turn. "Motor oil, welding smoke and WD-40. That's the stuff."

"S-Sticks! What's the big idea! Stop it, this is getting really weir- Oh, no," Tails's pupils shrank to pin pricks when he finally remembered that Sticks was still undergoing feral reversion syndrome, or 'it' as she so eloquently referred to it as. Eggman warned the boys to steer clear of her during this delicate time, and here he was directly in her clutches.

Swallowing thickly, he turned his gaze to the amorous badger and gave her a once-over.

Sticks looked horrible.

She was never the most hygienic person on the island but at the very least she had a modicum of class for a jungle badger. However, looking at her now it looked as though she'd been tossed through a hurricane and spat out unceremoniously.

Her hair had been undone and was unkempt, her fur matted with sweat and dirt. Her clothes had been torn at and were left dangling off her body in loose shreds. A pungent funk wafted off her being, a mixture of earthy roots and sour berries that stung the nostrils. And her eyes, still as wide and wild as they were before only now they stared at him with all the intensity of a hungry predator eyeing vulnerable prey.

He needed to get out, and he needed to do it fast before she did something both of them will regret.

"Uh, S-Sticks," Tails began, attempting to pull away from the badger. "I-I just remembered. I was supposed to meet up with the gang at Meh Burger. Wouldn't want to be late for our lunch together, heh heh..." He started to back away slowly but Stick held firm, pulling him into her bosom where she held him tight. "Mmpf! Sticks!"

"...I've decided," Stick murmured, gently caressing the boy's ears.

"D-decided what, Sticks?" Tails replied, gulping.

"I've decided that you're the one for me, Tails," Sticks announced proudly, nuzzling his cheek. "You're my perfect mate!"

Tails immediately broke out into a cold sweat at the brash declaration.

This was going to be a loooong day.