While Sonic the Hedgehog would usually be sleeping in, the cool breeze blowing through his hut and swaying the hammock he laid on beckoned him awake. He declined this request to wake up at a normal time and curled up further. However his body began to shiver and his mind was dragged into enough consciousness to realize that the cool breeze was actually a freezing wind. His eyes shot open, seeing a light flurry of snowflakes blowing over him, already building up drifts in his beachside hut.
"What the f-, flakes? Snow?" said Sonic as he wobbled to his feet.
The warm light of sunrise was peering through his windows and the island outside looked as tropical as it should. The culprit then, Sonic deduced, was likely the large yellow painted machine that looked like an industrial sized window air-conditioner if it were built by a mad scientist.
A letter lifted off of the pile of mail he kept strewn on the ground and into his face. It was the invitation to Amy's birthday event this evening. Thus, it was also April Fools day.
"Either Tails actually got his sleep schedule in check just to get me first, or I need to have a chat with him about staying up all night again," said Sonic aloud, ears turning to listen for any unseen listener.
The wind then picked up, the flurries of snow beginning to sting as they struck Sonic. In fact it was more of a semi-frozen rain now. Everything in his hut was quickly being coated with bits of water and ice which created a slick layer over all surfaces. He grumbled and shivered, then dashed to the machine jammed in the door to find the off switch. The machine however blocked the entire doorway. There were no controls on the side facing Sonic, just a torrent of freezing rain blowing from a vent.
"Aw what the heck?!" Sonic tried to push the machine out of his door but found his feet slipping on the frozen and wet floor. "TAILS! I don't wanna break your new toy here, but I will!"
Sonic heard no response aside from the gale of freezing wind and rain, which grew strong enough to send him slipping onto his face and sliding away to the far wall. He grumbled, stood up, and placed his feet on the wall. With one strong kick he spin-dashed into the machine, sending pieces of it flying as it fell out of his door frame.
"Brrr, jeez," said Sonic as he stood up and looked around, seeing no sign of Tails, "don't tell me he already ran off to prepare another prank. This one was already a bit much… Guess I'll have to teach him a lesson on restraint."
With resolve filling his eyes, Sonic the Hedgehog took off running across the beach in a blur. The machine was left behind on his front porch, a problem for later perhaps.
A potential problem for now descended from a hidden perch in the trees of the jungle toward the machine. Insectoid wings fluttered, carrying a figure whose green colour matched the jungle canopy. They landed atop Tails' machine, then yanked a kunai dagger out of the machine's control panel before heading for their next target.
The drone of power tools echoed throughout Tails' workshop as usual while he assembled a new gadget. Progress was going good by his insane standards of pacing, so he took a step back to look over the device. Lifting the goggles off of his eyes revealed they bore a giddiness bright enough to almost hide his dark eyebags. This projector he was modifying would surely be perfect for setting the mood at Amy's event this evening. All he needed to do now was program a remote for ease of use, something he had learned others care about when using technology. From there he'd-
A swinging sound from the mail chute on his door pulled Tails' attention away. Could it be Sonic's counter attack already? He chuckled to himself, picturing Sonic popping out of a pile of harmless snow with a dumbfounded look on his face. Upon approach however he saw that it was clearly from Amy. It bore fancy calligraphy for the address and her custom rose wax seal which was slightly cracked, likely from its journey.
"Oh, she must be excited," muttered Tails to himself before biting the letter to open it with his teeth.
Tails immediately regretted his lazy choice of letter opening when a pink cloud of a gas blasted forth from the letter, filling the workshop and his mouth. The taste he recognized as floral air freshener made him gag and spit. Then the overwhelming smell filled his nose. It should've smelled pleasant, but the flowery fragrance was so overwhelming, suffocating, that Tails had to cover his snout. He scrambled for the nearest window before his breath ran out.
"What The FLYING FFff-!" Tails gritted his teeth and compressed his fit into a soft growl while throwing a workshop window open.
One by one Tails swung every window open. Then he opened the garage door for the hangar portion of his workshop. That didn't dilute the air freshener smell fast enough so he turned on every industrial fan he could. Soon the continued overstimulation made him resort to using his emergency eye and face wash station, after shoving a pile of boxes blocking access out of the way. The torrent of water on his face made his eyes stop stinging so bad and got most of the taste out of his mouth. But his nose was still completely overwhelmed.
"I can't work like this! Why should I work like this?!" said Tails as he shook the water off of his head.
The ring of his doorbell drew Tails' irritated red eyes to the door. Opening it revealed a fast food bag, of which he couldn't smell at all, sitting on the welcome mat. This was definitely another prank. The fact that he was quite hungry now that he thought about it annoyed him greatly. So he leaned forward and kicked the bag away before turning to slam his door shut.
"Hey woah!" said Sonic, jumped down from atop the workshop roof, "what's up? Not hungry?"
Tails glared at Sonic, glancing between him and the bucket of ice and snow in his grasp.
"Okay to be fair you really-" Sonic coughed and waved a hand in front of his muzzle, "wow bud isn't that a bit too much air freshener? It's kinda distracting."
"Yes! And I guess Amy thinks that's funny, since evidently you had a much lazier prank in mind," said Tails.
"Amy?" said Sonic, "she usually doesn't take time for anything more elaborate than what you can buy at the joke store."
"Yeah, except when she asks you for help with her party." Tails walked to his work table and plugged his nose with tissue paper before pushing the projector project aside. "So let's see how she likes my help now, heheheh…"
"Tails you're getting a bit maniacal," said Sonic, "seriously, don't go overboard again. It just smells a bit too nice in here."
"You don't mess with someone's sense of smell and get off easy," said Tails.
"Okay, well, can I ask your opinion on something first?" said Sonic
Tails turned to face Sonic, only to get a glob of half melted snow thrown in his face.
"I'll ask for your help fixing the wind damage to my house later!" said Sonic before dropping the bucket and dashing away.
Tails grumbled, wiped the snow off his face, then grabbed any errant material he had lying around to build his revenge on Amy. Though after a moment or two he started thinking about what Sonic had just said.
"...Fix his house? What?"
In his state of sensory overload and anger, Tails failed to notice a figure move from its perfectly still position in the jungle canopy outside a nearby window. It stood tall, then began leaping away between the trees toward the village.
The hum of Amy Rose's voice trailed through her house as she happily prepared for the rest of the day. Her daily twenty-four step quill-styling routine was now finished, she was dressed, and every surface of the room was covered in decorations and snacks to be assorted. Sure she always had a bit of anxiety about the fact her birthday falls on the first of April, the day of The Fool. But that worry was now barely present after living the last couple of years dealing with Dr. Eggman attacking at any random time.
Working out a block of time in her schedule to deal with an inevitable attack or crisis meant Amy had all the time she needed to still have a fun birthday. She smiled to herself while looking over a stack of colourful papers she had printed, it was hard to suppress her enthusiasm at having her friends over tonight. Truly the real power of one's birthday was the leverage it put on everyone else to finally try your favorite forms of entertainment.
"Alright, let's get this next part right," said Amy to herself as she organized the papers, character sheets. "This is my one chance this year to convince the other that this'll be fun. And this time I'm right."
Amy's smile faltered slightly as she remembered her failure to convince Sonic and the others that playing out her favorite musicals was fun. Really she should've known that'd be too much. This time though, an engaging role playing game… she can get them to agree this activity is worthy of regularity.
A knock on her door made Amy jump and gasp with a smile. She waved her hands a bit to lower her giddiness, taking a deep breath. Then she skipped over to the door.
Greeting her outside was a basket with a bow on it, sitting just past her welcomemat. Amy's heart skipped a beat, but she quickly recognized Knuckles' handwriting. "Hope you like these colourful rocks!" It wasn't a romantic gesture from Sonic, but still nice. With a sigh and a soft smile she stepped forward to see what varieties of polished stones Knuckles had-
Amy's boot fell through her welcomemate and she stumbled into the hole that had been hidden just below it. It was a short fall, but she landed on her face and splattered some liquid all over herself. It took a few seconds of sitting still to process what just happened.
"What the F-Ow…" said Amy as she stood up, eyes stinging from the oily fluid coating her. "What is this stuff?"
The smell, and once her vision cleared, the black colouration showed Amy that this was actually just oil. Used oil. Most likely motor oil. From a motor. Filled with gunk. Gunk that was now in her quills… and her whole dress.
"Are, You, SERIOUS?!" shouted Amy, "isn't this a bit much!?"
Amy sighed, but tried not to let this ruin her mood. It was meant as harmless fun, even if it was harmful to her morning. It wasn't usual for Knuckles to be that deceptive though, even though signs pointed to him being involved with how good he is at digging. Perhaps Tails put him up to this, considering the use of engine oil. But why would he? This is usually a thing between him and Sonic.
After a moment of glowering, Amy decided to climb out of the small hole. The dirty motor oil made this tricky however, as she fell back in several times. By the time she heard the swishing of Tails' tails mid flight, along with a nefarious chuckle, she had worked through her patience.
"TAILS! Get down here this instant!"
Amy heard a gasp, then the patter of footsteps. Tails leaned over the hole and looked at her with a strange squint. She in turn gave him the most stern look she could.
"This is really obnoxious, especially for you!" said Amy.
"Yeah, like you don't know a thing about obnoxious pranks," said Tails, glancing away from Amy's eye contact.
"There's MOTOR OIL In My Quills Tails!" said Amy.
Tails leaned out of Amy's sight, she heard him put something down on her deck, before he leaned back over the hole. "Who put a hole full of motor oil here anyway?"
"...It wasn't you?"
"No! This is lazy! And just mean!" said Tails as she gestured energetically, "I'd at least be way more creative for something this mean! Or just less mean if I don't have time to be creative."
"Okay, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to insult your… prowess with pranking," said Amy, "Please get me out of here."
"Oh yeah, sure."
With ease, Tails lifted Amy out of the hole and dropped her on the deck before landing himself. She pretended not to notice him immediately kicking a really haphazardly thrown together looking device out of sight.
"Uh, Amy," said Tails as he rubbed the back of his head, not noticing the oil stain he was leaving there from his glove, "do you happen to know anything about the perfume filling my workshop."
"What? What happened?" said Amy.
Tails made eye contact with Amy, a look of anger quickly fading to regret. "I-I'm sorry, someone else must've put that perfume bomb in my mailbox then."
"...Probably Eggman, right?"
"He… He's not good at all at being that sneaky though…not without letting you know it was him." Tails squinted as he looked at the hole, "And this does look like it was dug by claws, natural or those glove things people can get. And I guess Knuckles can be sneaky sometimes?"
"Okay but how would he do this without your help?" said Amy.
"...I dunno, could've gone to a mundane mechanic," said Tails, "But this is something he'd try to do to Sonic for April fools, not you."
Just overhead, as Amy & Tails started talking about their problems, a sneaky individual leapt and flew away from the top of a palm tree. It was bound for a path deeper into the island's jungle.
It was much easier for Knuckles to find specific rocks when they were in the ground. The polished stones he'd collected in a gift basket for Amy evaded him in a way most minerals couldn't. He'd been forced into retracing his steps to the best of his ability, now out on the jungle trails just outside of the Village. However all he could find was litter and Sticks' traps.
"Oh come one gift basket, where'd you go?!" said Knuckles aloud, "I need you to be a good friend to Amy!"
The gift basket didn't answer, only the rustling leaves did. Of course Knuckles could quickly gather some neat looking plants, but it wouldn't have the same meaning to it. He slapped himself on the head trying to remember where he could've left the basket. After the week he spent picking out the perfect colourful stones it sickened him to just lose that gift.
Searching the edges of the trail closely, Knuckles came across a tree with a nook inside it. The bright colours inside excited him for a moment, until he realized that it was only foraged fruit, not his basket of rocks. Though his stomach grumbled now, and the smell of the berries grew enticing. Then when he noticed a doodle carved in the bark next to the nook in the tree, depicting a simple Sticks the Badger giving a thumbs up, he smiled.
"Oh! Awesome! I really gotta thank Sticks for these snack stocks she leaves out," said Knuckles
As Knuckles stepped close enough to reach into the nook of this tree, something snagged on his leg. He instinctively kicked and felt something wrap tight around his ankle and pull him upward. He gave a yell as the complex and well hidden snare trap hung him upside down from the top of the tree, several feet out of reach of the collection of berries.
"Ah dang! I set off one of Sticks' traps again…" said Knuckles as he folded his arms. "Wait, why was there a trap there, when there was a friendly and welcoming sign?! That's like, the opposite of making sense!"
Knuckles grumbled to himself. If it took Sticks too long to find him then he'd have less time to find his gift basket. Then even less time to beat Sonic & Tails in the April Fools prank war.
"Wait, I think I know what's going on…. Sticks is trying to make me an April Fool!" said Knuckles, slapping his face in shock. "Oh man I've never had to deal with a prank battle involving her before."
"Knuckles! What're you doing up there!" shouted the voice of Amy Rose.
"Amy?!" Knuckles looked down to see Amy with several paper towels in her hands & quills and a bag over her shoulder. "Thank goodness you're here! Sticks got me in a prank-snare thing! Who knows what she'll do next!"
Amy's eyes widened, then squinted. "Knuckles, Stick doesn't do April Fools day!"
"Oh wait, really?"
"No, she stays in her burrow all day, remember?"
Knuckles thought about that. He did begin to recall Sticks' distaste for the idea of April Fools day the first time it was 'explained' to her. That was one crappy day, Sonic only barely survived.
"Oh yeah!" Knuckles leaned up and grabbed the rope tied to his legs, then ripped it apart with his raw strength. He landed on his feet next to Amy and sighed in relief. "I was worried I'd have to stay up there all day. Good thing this rope doesn't actually belong to Sticks."
"Hey, I had a question for you," said Amy.
"Oh yeah, I was gonna ask you about the oily smell but I can wait," said Knuckles.
"...Yeah you didn't dig that pit in front of my house then."
"A pit?"
"Yeah, sorry, I thought you tried and succeeded to prank me."
"Oh wow! If I were you I'dve like, punched me in the snoz," said Knuckles as he looked over just how messed up Amy's quills were, "man, I'm glad you're so reasonable Amy. It's nice knowing you have faith in the rest of us."
"Heheh, yeah," said Amy, tucking the bag over her shoulder behind herself. The spice-laden cupcakes inside will have to wait before burning someone's mouth up.
Seeing where Amy and Knuckles' conversation was going, the hidden figure in the canopy fluttered away. Only one more member left to find.
No amount of fresh air from outside could alleviate the tension in Sticks the Badger's nerves. She'd just managed to will herself out the door of her burrow, knowing that the number of traps and practical alarms she'd placed around would warn of any intrusion. None of the others were going to mess with her this year, she knew that, they assured her and she trusted them. She desperately wanted to just trust them.
"C'mon, you promised Amy you'd go to her party…" Sticks muttered, grimacing as she stared down at her boots.
The sound of a jingling bell made her ear twitch and her body stand even more tense than before. She glanced over, seeing no sign of anyone there. That upset her more than anything she could've seen prowling toward her burrow. Her teeth clenched together hard enough to become sore, as they often do.
Sticks looked in the direction of the other makeshift alarms, then more broadly the edges of the jungle near her burrow. To her relief and ire, someone was here and it wasn't only her. That camouflaged figure staying perfectly still in the trees evidently didn't realize to what extent Sticks had memorized the area around her living space.
Being sure to not look to close in the direction of the figure, Sticks started walking into the jungle. The peripheral view she'd had gave her enough information about the size and shape of this stalking figure that she was confident about what to listen for. After only a few steps she heard the sound of it sticking to a new tree, a light thud very subtle but distinct from the tropical woodpeckers.
"Heh, see, It's not any of your friends," Sticks muttered, trying then to steady her breath.
Based on the pace of when the figure hopped between trees, Stick knew exactly which snare to pass under. With a hand on her boomerang she listened as she walked. In short order, the figure fell into the trap as Sticks heard the snare suddenly tighten above her. She scowled, turned on her heel, and whipped the boomerang at the figure whilst snarling.
The sight of a scarf and large insectoid wings is all Sticks could see of the figure through a cloud of blue glitter as they were pulled away into the air. Sticks heard a snap from her rope and saw the figure dodge the boomerang then duck behind a tree. Then the boomerang came back and knocked the figure down with a thwack, triggering a chain reaction among Sticks' traps.
Nets and leaves went flying throughout the air as several trees sprung loose from the tension of ropes and traps. Sticks dived behind a safe tree and tried to watch the figure, but they managed to escape her sight and each trap they triggered. Eventually she heard the drone of their large wings as they disappeared into the jungle. The only sign they left behind was a spot of blue glitter on every tree they'd touched.
"Sticks!" shouted Knuckles, "What was all that?! Are you alright"
"I've only heard legends, but if my guess is right… some sort of Ninja," said Sticks.
Knuckles gasped, "a Ninja?! AWESOME!"
"Wait, you've heard of 'em?" said Sticks, "The rest of you hardly ever know what I'm talking about."
"Well when you watch enough tv you learn what a Ninja is," said Knuckles.
"TV? Darn, I should've known…" said Sticks as she walked out to find her boomerang, "wait, why're you out here?"
"Oh yeah, Amy wanted me to find you. We have a problem."
"Hoh Hoh Hoh!" laughed Dr. Eggman as he sat in his room of many monitors. On the largest screen the unfortunate situations of Sonic and his friends played out on loop. His laughs bellowed uninterrupted as a figure stood patiently behind him. It was a green Preying Mantis in gray robes, a pine green scarf hanging from their neck to nearly the floor. They kept their arms folded behind their back and their eyes on the Doctor.
Also waiting patiently were Dr. Eggman's assistants, Orbot and Cubot. Though their postures grew more eager and anxious with each loop.
"Look at his face as he slips onto his own face!" said Dr Eggman, hitting his control panel and laughing, "he's helpless against a bit of wind and freezing rain! I've gotta remember that!"
"Uh boss," said Orbot, "now that we've played these recordings on loop 20 times, perhaps we ought to worry about what Sonic and the others are going to do to retaliate?"
"Oh yeah, what did you build for Sonic to blow up today boss?" said Cubot.
"I didn't build anything to face them today," said Dr. Eggman.
"But eeh… that means they're gonna break something else," said Cubot.
"No you nincomputer!" Dr. Eggman stood up from his fancy swiveling chair, "they don't even know who's responsible for the appropriation of their pranks! It's genius you see! The initiative still lies with me!"
"But sir, who else would antagonize them like that other than you?" said Orbot.
"Why this mischievous freelancer of course!" said Dr. Eggman, putting one of his hands on the Mantis' shoulder and giving them a friendly shake.
"I did in fact sabotage their joy today," said The Mantis, standing stiff and waiting for Dr. Eggman to release them.
"Yes you did! And you got four out five of them! That's four stars out of five in my book! I knew I wouldn't regret hiring you out of that catalog."
"Oh yeah, you were like 'I better not regret this!'" said Cubot, taking up an Eggman-like pose.
Dr. Eggman glared at Cubot, then coughed and turned to look down at the Mantis. "Your contract said I've got your services for the whole day, yes?"
"I am standing here for that reason, yes," said the Mantis.
"Good, now let's show them who's really responsible for their misfortune! I'll even let you partake in gloating with me!" said Dr. Eggman.
"I do not have 'gloat' in my skillset. Thus I would perform poorly at that task," said the Mantis.
"...I can teach you a bit about it on the way."
"Alright team, if we're going to have fun during my birthday, and Sonic & Tails are gonna have a fair 'battle of pranks,' we gotta deal with whoever's trying to ruin our day!" said Amy Rose to the rest of Team Sonic. They had assembled at the Team's agreed DPZ, De-Prankified Zone, the Meh Burger dining lot.
"Who, other than Eggman, would go to these lengths anyway?" said Tails, "that's what's really bothering me. Have we done anything to someone recently?"
"Well there's people who get 'parasocially angry'," said Sonic with finger quotes. "Could be literally anyone who doesn't vibe with our brand of swagger and has no life of their own."
"Ninja's are notoriously without a life," said Knuckles.
"And good at blending in…" said Sticks, turning and eyeing a family sitting at a nearby table with suspicion.
"That I have seen," said Sonic.
"Oh yeah, did you manage to hire-" started Amy, before the attention-demanding voice of Dr. Eggman rudely interrupted her.
"MUAHAHAHAH!" bellowed Dr. Eggman from his flying eggmobile. His threatening presence caused the other patrons of meh burger to steadily flee. Though only after gathering their food, napkins, and flavour packets. "Have you had a bout of misfortune today Sonic?"
"Are you going to have some misfortune?" said Sonic, leaning forward but staying seated.
"Not today, Hedgehog! For you see, I have the upper hand."
Some patrons scooted by the team's table as Tails said "Have you actually built a badnik we haven't seen before, or are you just trying to hype up Mega again?"
"Hey! I don't use that one that often!" said Dr. Eggman
"Uh, yeah, you kinda do," said Sonic.
"It's frankly embarrassing how often you pull out the same few badniks on us," said Amy, "the people of this village can't even be bothered to put energy into fleeing from you anymore, that's how stale you've gotten."
"Yeah, and you use the same robots all the time!" said Knuckles.
"Yeah, okay. So maybe I can't churn out new super badniks at an insane rate, but I've got standards for my health! I'm not gonna crunch my schedule if you lot won't even respect what I build!"
Sonic turned and stared at Tails for a moment, who took a bit to notice. "What?"
Sonic titled his head and raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
"Does Egghead actually have a better sense of self care than you these days?" said Sonic.
Tails folded his arms and looked away from Sonic.
"If you all could be bothered to pay attention for more than a second!" shouted Dr. Eggman, "You might notice-"
The crash of a soda cup hitting the ground drew everyone's attention to Sticks. Her hand was clasped around the wrist of the Mantis Ninja, having caught them in the middle of trying to hook a small wire to her leg. The two made eye contact, Stick's glaring furiously and the Mantis wide eyed yet focused.
"Well, colour me impressed," said Dr. Eggman with a widening grin.
Sonic recognized that grin. So he immediately dashed toward Dr. Eggman. Then Eggman pressed a button and something tightened on Sonic's leg. He fell onto his face and heard a crash behind him. A thin wire had tied to his leg, which led to a small round black badnik shaped like a spider. Three more wires protruding from this badnik were tied to Tails, Amy, and Knuckles, who had all been sent to the floor by the momentum of Sonic's dash.
"Ow FUCK!" shouted Tails.
"Tails what the F-! You can't say that!" said Sonic.
"Actually," said Knuckles as he pushed the dining table off of himself, "I'm with Tails, this fucking hurts."
"I've had enough of Eggman's shit today to care," said Amy.
"Goddammit, could you guys at least try to keep the Team PG?" said Sonic.
"It's no use anyway," Said Sticks, still grippin the Mantis, "It's not like we're getting fucking renewed anytime soon."
"...What?" said the Mantis, with the second emotion anyone's seen on their face being sheer bafflement.
Sticks responded by punching the Mantis in the face. The force allowed them to pull out of her grasp and dart away, diving behind the counter to the despair of the service worker there. Still Sticks gave chase, throwing her boomerang.
The Mantis responded with a flying kunai that struck Sticks' boomerang and changed its trajectory. Truly Ninja's are as dangerous as Sticks worried, as she found it hard to follow the boomerangs flight path. She only regained sight of it just before it was about to strike her in the face.
Then a second kunai hit the boomerang, deflecting it away from Sticks. Everyone looked over to see a floating hand. Actually, it was attached to a well blended figure, whose colours changed from that of the background to purple.
"Chaotix agency, Espio," said Espio the Chameleon.
"Oh he's good," said Amy, "how much money did Vector want?"
"Not too much," said Sonic as he stood up and struggled against the wires of the spider badnik, "they said if we were actually dealing with another Ninja we'd get a discount."
"That… doesn't make sense," said Tails.
"The honor of testing my skills against another trained in these arts," said Espio as he stepped closer to the Mantis, "is worth a quarter of my boss' revenue."
The Mantis nodded, "so be it."
"That's it," said Sticks, "two Ninja's is too much for me to worry about! I've got something more important to be doing!"
Sticks the Badger proceeded to leave… without even assisting her friends. Sonic and the others all exchanged a glance and shrug.
"What is even happening anymore?" said Dr. Eggman, "this was supposed to be when you all cower at the genius of my Tripping-bot in conjunction with my competent hiring judgment!"
"Well Egghead, you're not the only one who gets the 'spies and assassins' catalog," said Sonic.
"If that's the case, no more delaying! Ninja, attack!" shouted Dr. Eggman.
"Go get em Espio!" said Sonic.
The two Ninja's locked eyes, raised their kunai, and charged at each other. Just before an intense clash of blades, both Espio and the Mantis dodged into different directions. The blur of their respective colours of green and purple disappeared among the furniture of the dining area.
Meanwhile Knuckles managed to get a footing against the tension of the wire from the Spider Badnik. Seeing this, Dr. Eggman attacked team Sonic with the basic missiles and laser on his eggmobile. He was sure he could give them a humiliating defeat himself in these conditions.
Two epic battles played out over the next few minutes. The first being Team Sonic steadily overcoming the problem of being tied together. At Amy's suggestion, Knuckles took the lead of which direction they would all move, even throwing the others up to Eggman. Via taunting, Tails tricked eggman into blasting the cord tying him to the others and started flying interference.
Eventually Tails lured Dr. Eggman close enough to the ground for Sonic, Amy, and Knuckles to time a jump together and all land on Dr Eggman's vehicle. Just in time too, as he had finally grabbed ahold of Tails and was about to throw hands. From there all four of the team beat up Dr. Eggman and his eggmobile until he finally admitted defeat, which took an impressive amount of blows to make him do.
All the while the two Ninja's engaged in the most intense battle of their lives up till now. The Mantis used their flight advantage to duck behind elevated positions and look for Espio. However Espio knew this and compensated with his camouflage and speed. Both moved between positions only at the best opportunities and waited to find a clear opportunity to attack the other unawares.
From the perspective of everyone else and each other however, they both remained completely out of sight. Some customers even started returning to the Meh Burger, unaware of the intense battle going on between tables and booths.
"...Are either of them still here?" asked Amy.
" I literally can't tell," said Sonic.
"Well one of those ninja knives just appeared in my shoe, and I'm sure it wasn't there before," said Knuckles.
"They must be so fast!" said Tails.
"And sneaky," said Sonic.
"How impressive!" said Amy.
…
"This is so boring," said Sonic as he sat down in a chair.
"Yep," said Knuckles.
"I'm afraid so," said Amy.
"Maybe I could build a Ninja tracker?" said Tails.
"If this fight takes that long, I think we're better off-" Sonic leaned back in his chair as he talked and to everyone's surprise tripped the Mantis Ninja, sending them stumbling out into the open.
The Mantis immediately opened their wings to take flight, but were stopped as Espio charged out of nowhere, ramming horn first into their torso. The two Ninjas tumbled to the ground with the sounds of struggle. Once everyone managed to realize what was happening Espio had his kunai at the Mantis' neck.
"Damn," said the Mantis.
"Yep," said Espio.
The two stood up and dusted themselves off. Espio quickly went to retrieve his scattered ninja weapons while the Mantis adjusted their scarf.
"Apologies Doctorate Eggman," said the Mantis, "I was bested in the duel. Here is an adjusted invoice. Call my number if you have questions."
"Right…" said Dr. Eggman as he rebooted the eggmobile.
Sonic and the others went over to Espio to congratulate him. Though the chameleon kept a stoic pose, Amy at least could tell he seemed to appreciate the praise.
"For the discount," said Epsio as he pulled a pocket register out and started typing into it, "please write down all the thoughts you have about my performance for my boss to see."
"Yeah I'll tell vector you did a good job," said Sonic.
"How will you be paying?"
"I have a card," said Amy.
"But it's your birthday!" said Knuckles.
"Yeah, we can cover it, right Sonic?" said Tails.
"Uh… yeah, I'll just… hafta to buy a smaller gift for Amy," said Sonic.
"D'aw," Amy smiled warmly at Sonic, that comment alone fully recovered her mood from earlier, despite the battle damage to her dress and quills. "Don't worry Sonic, having more money for later is a lovely birthday gift."
"Oh, yeah, sure thing Ames," said Sonic.
While his mood was a bit soured, Dr Eggman took some pleasure in knowing he at least inconvenienced Sonic and his friends today. That was worth something. Now he just needed to figure out how best to word that to Orbot and Cubot as to make it sound like he didn't lose.
That train of thought was halted when Dr. Eggman got within view of his lair. Smoke poured out of several portions of the structures, and loose wires threw sparks all over the place. Several of his defensive badniks were flying and walking circles around the base in full alert, but it was clear they had no idea where the culprit of this mess was. Dr. Eggman grumbled and flew in closer to evaluate the damage.
"Now who had time to do this?!" Eggman said to the badniks.
From behind a rock, Orbot and Cubot peeked out and pointed to the top of the base, Orbot stuttering out "she did…"
"Wha-" Dr. Eggman was cut off by Sticks the Badger landing on his Eggmobile and driving an obsidian shortsword into its control panel. He screamed in genuine terror as they crashed to the ground. Dr. Eggman felt himself tumbling until he lay flat on his back. Then Sticks jumped onto his chest and bared her teeth, putting a hand on his collar.
"I have WAY too much to worry about, without even dealing with this damned 'Fools Holiday!'"
"Wait, I-" muttered Dr. Eggman.
"SHUT UP!"
Dr. Eggman shut up.
"When I hafta to worry just that much more, it actually hurts! And I'm not willing to spare you the pain it causes me!" Sticks took a few heavy breaths and made sure Eggman was looking her in the eyes. "Now, are you EVER, going to make me hafta to worry about an 'April Fools' again?!"
"Well… when you ask so nicely…"
Stick growled like a wild badger.
"No no of course not! Jeez! I'll leave you alone if you leave me alone!" said Dr. Eggman.
Sticks' posture immediately softened and she released Dr. Eggman's collar. She let out a sigh and said "thanks," before stepping off of Eggman's chest and sitting on the ground.
"Uh… don't mention it," said Dr. Eggman.
"Yeah, of course… Sorry I hafta be so mean…" said Sticks as she laid her back to the ground.
"I'm going… to go inside and hide."
Sticks gave Dr. Eggman a thumbs up and continued to just lie on her back in front of his evil lair.