A/N:
Here's a new one. Also if anybody hasn't seen and cares, I started a new Star Wars SI fic,
Unintended Consequences. I'm trying to update this fic and that fic bi-weekly, and alternating them. Hopefully I can keep it up.
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Amy was with Sticks, huddled behind a bush. Both of them awaited their prey, Sticks, really getting into it by covering herself up in paint to camouflage herself. They'd laid a trap, a cupcake taken from her house and saved, put on top of a mat of leaves over a pit. So long as one of the two showed up, and they would eventually, they'd have them.
"Look a cupcake!" said a voice, moving forward from behind the trees and looking around first.
"Oh no, that's the wrong team," Amy whispered to herself. It was Vanilla. It was supposed to be the Sonic and Knuckles team that found the trap!
"They must have gotten through the nets," whispered Sticks, still looking through binoculars. "No sign of team Pincushion yet. We might still catch team Lovebirds though."
"They can fly," said Amy urgently. Tails had come out and was looking around too, waving some handmade dart gun around. Vanilla had hers strapped to her shorts. Of course the darts only had suction cups on them. This was a game after all.
"I've got an extra net in my pack," said Sticks, setting the binoculars down before rummaging through said pack. "There'll be a moment before they fly out where we can run and throw the net over them."
Amy grabbed the side of the net that Sticks gave her. There wouldn't be much room for error here.
"No sign of enemy hostiles," said Tails, walking slowly towards Vanilla, who was edging closer to the cupcake.
"But they're here somewhere," said Vanilla. "Be ready, they could jump out at any time. It's probably eam Overbearing."
Amy silently growled to herself. She wanted her team to be team Rose, but everyone else decided Overbearing was close enough.
Slowly, tentatively, Vanilla walked over to the cupcake, taking to the air before she reached the pit trap.
"Now what?" whispered Amy. But before Sticks could respond or Vanilla could get the cupcake, a blue blur streaked across the clearing from the side and stopped on the pit. Sonic stood in front of Vanilla, holding the cupcake.
"Looks like somebody was too slow," he said, taking a bite. And then he fell.
"Woah!" said Sonic as he fell, and Vanilla landed in front of the pit, her back turned to where Sticks and Amy were hiding. Tails then made his way to her side.
"I was slow for a reason!" she yelled into the pit.
"Wait for me Sonic!" called out another voice. Knuckles ran out from the side where Sonic entered, leaping into the pit by himself. Amy was at a loss for words. She looked at Sticks, who looked back with a confused expression.
Shaking her head, Sticks whispered, "hurry, while they're stunned by Knuckles's stupidity and their backs are turned!"
Immediately understanding what she meant, Amy stood up with Sticks and they ran forward from behind the bush, the net held out ready to capture the two foxes.
But they turned around. In surprise, they fired their dart guns right as Amy and Sticks threw the net on them.
Amy felt the cold grip of a suction cup on her forehead. Looking to Sticks, she saw she also had one stuck on her face.
But Vanilla and Tails were struggling under the net.
"We got you first!" said Vanilla, trying to pull the net off.
"Did not!" said Sticks.
There was suddenly a loud thunderclap, causing Tails to immediately jump into Vanilla's arms. Surprised, she frowned and squeezed his shoulder in comfort while Amy looked up at the sky.
There were dark clouds moving in fast. But they were in the middle of the jungle for their game.
"Nearest place is mine," said Sticks, concerned. "But it'll still take some time to get there."
It started raining.
"A little help here?" called Sonic from the pit.
Vanilla let go of Tails and together they flew into the pit. Amy looked over and watched as Vanilla grabbed Knuckles and Tails grabbed Sonic. Once they were above the pit however, there was another sound of thunder and Tails let go in surprise, curling himself into a ball and falling back into the pit on top of Sonic with a lout
ooph.
"I'm coming Tails!" said Vanilla, leaving Knuckles to stand next to Sticks. She flew down and grabbed both Tails and Sonic, flying them out of the pit just as the rain started to fall harder.
Once they landed, Vanilla whispered something into Tails's ear and Sonic said, "There's a cave nearby. We could head there until the storm clears."
Not having any other options, all six of them grabbed their things and ran, following Sonic and Knuckles to a cave. The entrance was elevated, and Amy breathed a sigh of relief at that. The water wasn't going to flow in. They could stay nice and dry in there.
In the meantime they were soaking wet. Amy tried to pat herself dry, which got her nowhere as Vanilla walked right next to her and shook herself dry instead, showering Amy with water again.
Amy growled in frustration, as Tails on the other side of her chuckled nervously. Drying herself off again, Sticks followed Vanilla's example (or maybe Vanilla learned it from Sticks), showering Amy with water mixed with paint.
Amy growled again and said, "Did nobody pack a towel!?"
"I did," said Knuckles, holding up his hand. "But I already ate it."
"I guess we better start working on making this place more comfortable," said Sticks, looking around. She rubbed her shoulders, and it was only then Amy realised she was cold.
There was yet another thunderclap, and the sounds of Tails scampering in fright behind Vanilla were hidden by a sudden wooosh of wind entering the cave, making it even colder.
"We need to build a fire first," said Amy, shivering slightly. "Does anyone have any wood?"
"Just use our dart guns," said Tails, handing his out. "They're just toys."
Vanilla shrugged and handed hers to Amy, who took it and set it down on the ground. She then took Tails's and did the same, before pulling out her hammer and smashing them to pieces. Meanwhile, Sonic and Knuckles looked on with bored expressions before eventually turning around and leaving, moving deeper into the cave.
"Here's some dry leaves from my pack," said Sticks, arranging them in the middle of the broken pieces of wood. With Sticks, it didn't take long for a small fire to start, which promptly blew out from an unusually strong gust of wind from outside.
"Vanilla, could you stand over here and block the wind," asked Amy, gesturing to where she wanted the girl to stay.
"Or, you guys could move the fire deeper into the cave," replied Vanilla unhelpfully.
"We started a fire," said Sonic, walking up and pointing. In absolute shock, Amy looked and saw there was a soft glow coming out from the recesses of the cave.
"Wow, how'd you manage that?" asked Tails.
"Me and Knuckles found a duffel bag full of paper, so we used that for the fire," explained Sonic. Amy listened, annoyed that nobody else was helping her and Sticks gather up the wood and leaves from their own fire. "Turned out it was a bunch of money."
"What!?" shouted Vanilla, suddenly running past Sonic towards the fire. "Noooo!" she yelled, her voice echoing through the cave.
Sighing, Amy finished gathering all the wood into Sticks's pack, and they set off to join the others next to the fire.
When they arrived Amy saw that Vanilla was sniffing, hunched over the fire while Tails consoled her.
Amy didn't want to be insensitive, but there were more important things to do right now that worry about a bunch of money that was already gone.
"Sticks, why don't you search the cave for something to eat? We don't know how long we'll be here." Sticks saluted, opening her pack and fishing out a flashlight.
"Good thing I packed my magic light tube," she said, before heading off.
"You really think we'll find something to eat in here?" asked Tails, stilling patting Vanilla on the shoulder.
"Maybe," said Amy. They had to think positively, and Tails asking that completely reasonable question wasn't helping anybody. "Why don't you and Vanilla work on assembling shelter?"
"And what about you?" asked Vanilla, standing up from the fire. "Are you going to just be lazy and boss us around?"
"I want that job," said Sonic.
"No," replied Amy, to both Sonic and Vanilla. "Sonic, Knuckles, you try to find more materials for the fire, and this time
don't burn a bunch of money. And my job," she turned the Vanilla. "Is to make sure everybody gets through this."
Vanilla scoffed and looked at Amy with that all too familiar I-want-to-complain look, but thankfully kept her mouth shut.
Amy kept at it, keeping watch over everybody except for Sticks, who was missing deep in the caves, and making sure nobody was slacking at their jobs. Slowly things started to come together. Sonic and Knuckles had to venture out into the rain-soaked wilderness to get more wood and let it dry by the fire. Vanilla and Tails used his tools to make makeshift small furniture out of the large boulders, which Knuckles, his fire duty over, would move around for them. They also used Sticks's nets to make hammocks, and soon they'd made five little separate areas for everybody.
Wait, five?
"Why are these hammocks so close together?" asked Amy to Tails, pointing. The first area had a single "table", two "chairs", and two hammocks, but all the others had just one of each spread much further apart.
"Uh," said Tails, taking a step back. It was then that Amy understood, and her eyes narrowed. "Ask Vanilla!"
Amy growled and turned to Vanilla, who was standing not too far away from Tails.
"What do you think you're up to?" she asked, keeping her voice obviously calm and reasonable and not at all shrill and annoying.
"You can't stop me Amy, this is our house!" said Vanilla. She stood there, hands on her hips, and mimed something Amy didn't quite get. "That was me slamming the door on you!"
"Well fine!" said Amy. She had more important things to do, like making sure Sticks was okay.
She left the two there and joined Sonic and Knuckles next to the fire, where they were now picking up their wood, now dry. She was intending to pick up a stick and try to make a torch out of it, but it didn't look like it was going to be that easy.
"What are you guys doing?" asked Amy. There was no reason for them to take it from around the fire, since they'd have to add it at regular intervals to keep the fire going.
"We're taking the wood to our houses," said Sonic. "We gathered it, it's ours."
Amy groaned.
"We are
all down in this stupid cave," she said. "You're not the only ones who'll get cold if we don't have wood."
"We want food," said Knuckles. "I ate that towel a long time ago and I'm hungry."
"Yeah Amy, where's Sticks?" asked Sonic.
"That's what I want to find out," said Amy. "If you give me something to make a torch with, I can go look for her."
"Do you know how to make a torch?" asked Sonic.
"Well…," Replied Amy, realising just then that she didn't. "It can't be that hard, can it?"
"We want part of your share of the food," said Knuckles, picking out a large stick from the bundle under his arms. "Do you swear on your honour you'll abide by this agreement?"
Sometimes Amy didn't know where Knuckles got these words. "Yeah sure, whatever, just give me one!"
He handed one to her, and Sonic and Knuckles left, taking their bundles of wood with them to their respective camps.
Now that she realised she didn't know how to make a torch, Amy returned to Tails and Vanilla's "house." Both of them were in their hammocks, eyes closed.
"Ahem," said Amy.
Vanilla opened one eye, but didn't move. "Is that somebody at the door?" she said. "It couldn't be, or else they'd knock."
Amy sighed. This was some kind of game to them. That was fine, she could play along.
"Knock knock," said Amy.
"Who's there?" replied Vanilla.
"It's Amy."
"It's Amy who?" replied Vanilla, smirking in that way she did like she was doing something clever or fun. Amy wasn't even remotely amused.
"It's Amy who's got a real hammer and isn't afraid to knock this imaginary door down with it," said Amy.
Both Vanilla and Tails twirled in their hammocks and got up, though Vanilla gestured for Tails to get back in his hammock. She moved forward past the table and chairs and then mimed opening a door and gesturing for Amy to come in. Which she did.
"I need help making a torch so I can go look for Sticks," said Amy, skipping the scolding.
"You'd need something flammable for that," said both Vanilla and Tails, getting back into his hammock. Instead of laying down though he decided to sit on it.
"Ah," said Amy. "I guess we don't have any gasoline lying around?"
"Well if we had more materials," said Tails, "maybe we could fashion something else."
"What would you need?" asked Amy.
"Well we could do it with a lot of stuff."
"What do we have?" asked Vanilla.
"Not much," admitted Amy. "I think all that's really left at this point is whatever else is in Stick's pack." Sensing the need to look through it, Amy left their "house" to grab Sticks's pack near the fire, bringing it back and opening it up on the makeshift stone table.
"Huh," said Amy, looking through. "There's a lot of stuff here." She started rummaging through. There were tarps, rags, some weapons like a boomerang and a bow and small quiver with arrows, a burlap sack full of cupcakes… Amy would have to keep those hidden, and a bunch of candles.
Even then it felt like Amy was just scratching the surface. The pack seemed endless now that she was going into it. Carefully she started pulling some of the stuff out, no longer taking stock of what it is, so long as it wasn't food. She was the only one with a head level enough to ration it all effectively. While she took things out, Vanilla and Tails took to examining the items.
"Hey, this might work!" said Tails, lifting up a small wooden barrel. There were a bunch of a messed up paint brushes inside, which he dumped unceremoniously on the ground. "This has been lined with pitch! Give me your stick!"
Amy handed it over to Tails, who handed it to Vanilla. He then took out a screwdriver from his belt and pried apart the wooden barrel, inverting the pieces, and tying them to the stick with some twine. Vanilla grabbed one of the empty burlap sacks from the table and then gave it to Tails, who used to it cover the top before tying that down too.
"There," he said, handing the finished product to Amy. "That'll work for a little while. If I had more time I could probably just make a flashlight, but you better get to searching as soon as you can."
"Yes," said Vanilla. "Go. Leave. Fast."
Amy growled.
There was a sudden thunderclap, and Tails somehow jumped straight from his chair into his hammock with such force he spun around in it, entangling himself in the net.
Vanilla stood up quickly from her own chair, knocking it back, and helped him untangle himself before getting into the hammock with him.
Amy didn't know whether to start yelling or to admit it was the cutest thing she'd ever seen. She chose instead to do neither, turning around and going back to the fire to light her new torch.
The caves seemed to eat what little light came from the entrance and the fire they'd set up, and as she went further in it swallowed up her torch light too. She had to walk slow because she kept stumbling over rocks or falling into small dips in the ground.
"Sticks!?" she called out once their campfire was just a small light in the distance, and there was nothing else around but darkness. "Are you out there?!"
Her question echoed all around for a moment before dying down.
"Hey Amy!" shouted Sticks, right next to her. Amy was so surprised she nearly dropped the torch.
"Hey, watch it!" continued Sticks. "You should put that out, it's ruining my eyes!"
"Ruining your eyes?" asked Amy. She could barely see where Sticks was, even though from the sound of it she should be right next to her.
"You're hopeless," scoffed Sticks. "Your eyes would have adjusted by now if you didn't carry that thing with you! And why didn't you get one of my light tubes? I have a dozen of them underneath the cupcakes."
To demonstrate, Sticks turned on her flashlight and
finally Amy could see her. That was until Sticks blinded her with the flashlight, causing Amy to wince.
Sticks was carrying a large duffel over her shoulder, which Amy was sure she wasn't carrying before.
"Come on Amy, take this, lose the torch, and we can get back to the others."
Sighing, Amy just set the torch, still lit, aside and took Sticks's flashlight. She walked in front of them, and it was much easier to avoid walking into things now that she could point the light directly onto the ground. From the sound of footsteps Amy could tell Sticks was following her.
"So you found a lot of food?" Amy asked, wondering how that was possible.
"You bet," said Sticks. "I think everyone's going to be really happy."
That was good to hear.
When they finally got back to the camp, things looked very different from when Amy left it. There were now marked roads leading from the central fire to everybody's "houses," which now bore signs with their names on them, except for Amy's and Sticks's. The fire was surrounded by four large stone tables. And vanilla had even put a door in front of hers and Tails's, but it wasn't attached to a frame.
"Sticks!" called out Vanilla, opening her door and running out. "Sticks is back!"
Everybody got out of their hammocks and ran to the fire, while Sticks took her duffel off and dropped it on the ground.
"Finally!" said Knuckles. "We've been working all day! I thought we would starve!"
"What did you bring?" asked Sonic.
"Loads of stuff," said Sticks, unzipping her duffel bag. "I found tons of mushrooms." She started pulling gross slimy looking mushrooms out of the bag and dropping them on one of the stone tables. They were black or purple, wrinkly and looked disgusting. "I also found these small rocks."
She started piling rocks next to the mushrooms, and Knuckles said, "Ohh, gimme!" before grabbing two handfuls and shoving them into his mouth.
Amy was speechless as she watched, horrified as Knuckles chewed, a contented look on his face. She didn't want to contemplate if the crunching noise were the rocks or his teeth.
"And finally," said Sticks, now lifting the duffel and putting it on the table. She opened it up wide and continued with, "Cave Beetles!"
When she said this an entire swarm of insects suddenly flew out of the bag, and Vanilla screamed.
"They're in my hair, they're in my hair!" she yelled as she immediately ran into the stone table, then bounced off to the side and continued running through the fire before flailing about wildly. Tails looked confused until she ran into the fire, and then started chasing her before the sound of thunder inconveniently stopped him in his tracks.
"Well," said Sonic, watching Vanilla as he ignored the beetles swarming all around the cave. "I think she's afraid of bugs."
"I have to admit Sticks, only one of these things is food," said Amy. "I don't know why you'd think we were all going to eat a bunch of bugs."
"Sorry I didn't save you guys any of the rocks," said Knuckles, downcast.
"I was talking about the mushrooms," said Amy as the screams of Vanilla continued to echo around the cave.
"Gross, I would never eat those slimy disgusting things!"
"Knuckles has a point," said Sonic, looking to Sticks. "This is all you found? There weren't any, I don't know, ponds of cave fish or something?"
"Well, I did find some guano, but I figured nobody would eat that," said Sticks seriously. "I mean, I wouldn't."
"Ugh," said Knuckles. "No thanks, I've had enough of Amy's horse doctors."
As the beetles dispersed deeper in the caves, Sticks sighed. "It took me ages to collect all those beetles."
Amy looked around to find Vanilla and Tails, only to see that she was curled up in her hammock cowering while Tails consoled her. Amy frowned in sympathy, but she really needed to help solve this food situation. She just needed to bring the cupcakes up calmly and rationally, so nobody would fight over them.
"Well who wants cupcakes?!" shouted Sticks, running to her pack and digging through it, pulling out her bag of cupcakes.
Vanilla and Tails in their "house" perked up at that, as Sonic said, "you've had cupcakes this entire time?!"
"Don't look at me they were in Sticks's pack!"
Sticks had just brought said pack down on the stone table they were all at, along with her bag of cupcakes, opening them up and handing them one by one to Sonic and Knuckles, then Tails and Vanilla who'd just joined them, and finally Amy.
Everybody but Amy inhaled their cupcake in the blink of an eye, before Sticks started handing out more again.
"Wait!" said Amy, pushing Sticks's hand back down. "We need to save these! We don't know how long we'll be here!"
She hadn't even finished the sentence when everybody was already eating their second cupcake. Amy didn't get a second one.
"Aww," she said.
"Don't worry Amy," said Sticks, wiping her face free of cupcake crumbs. "I have seeds in my pack. I'll start a farm!"
"See Amy, you worry too much," said Knuckles.
"Plus we still have all these mushrooms I collected!"
"If we get really desperate," agreed Sonic. "Anyway, thanks for the snack Sticks. Better get that farm started. If you need any wood, ask me, and if you need anything heavy moved, ask Knuckles."
"Sure thing," said Sticks.
Amy watched, suddenly exhausted, as the others dispersed to their "homes", before remembering she had a cupcake and hadn't eaten it. Decided she too didn't really want to eat those mushrooms, she started on it as she went to her own hammock, sitting on it, and watching the others for a moment.
Tails and Vanilla had calmed down, and were talking to Sticks about something, while Sonic and Knuckles were similarly engaged in conversation around Sonic's area of the cave.
Amy yawned, and laid down. They wouldn't be there much longer, and now that there was food, however disgusting it was, and everybody was warm and content, she didn't feel the need to worry so much about her friends. She closed her eyes for a moment before drifting off the sleep.
She woke up with a tremendously loud thunderclap.
She bolted upright, surprised, and had to think for a few seconds to remember where she was. They were in a cave. It was still raining.
"Hey Amy," came the voice of Vanilla. Amy looked at her and blinked, sure she was still dreaming.
She was wearing a tie, albeit, one that wasn't tied around her neck all the way.
"I was wondering when you'd wake up," she said. "Seriously, we've got to talk about your living arrangements."
"What?" Amy asked, looking past Vanilla. Everything had changed again.
The tables around the fire had been replaced by a single stone ring which surrounded it. The fire too, had grown in size. The roads were now paved with cobblestone, and everybody else's part of the cave had been encased in thin wooden walls. Now Vanilla wasn't the only one with a door. They all had thatch roofs.
Amy rubbed her eyes again, just to make sure.
"How long have I been asleep?" she asked. "What year is it?!"
"Come on Amy, you're lowering the property value of the neighbourhood!" said Vanilla. "I'm starting to get complaints!"
"What is going on!?" asked Amy, just wanting an answer. Was this a game? Had she travelled through time? Fallen into another dimension where they were cave people for some reason?!
"Listen, it's time your house was renovated," said Vanilla, ignoring her. "You don't even have walls!" She stepped forward, then started pacing, looking around at Amy's side of the cave. "Now I think you have a good amount of room here, but maybe we should set you up with a starter home first. It is just you, after all. You don't need as much room as me and Tails, or Sonic and Sticks."
"Sonic and Sticks?!" shrieked Amy. Her head darted to Sonic's house so fast she heard her neck crack. Sonic was outside sitting on a chair, while Sticks was watering a tiny ploughed field just outside the door.
"Yep," said Vanilla. "Surprised us all. That reminds me, instead of building a new house you could just move into Sticks's old place. It'd be perfect for you, it's not too big and it's still using last generation's construction techniques, so it's not too expensive. How are you paying for this anyway?"
"Paying?" asked Amy.
Vanilla sighed. "Well now that I think about it you don't have a job."
For the third time Amy looked around. Tails was hammering something on his and Vanilla's makeshift house. Sticks was still watering, Knuckles was moving a giant rock over to where Tails was….
This was some kind of game. Well, she could go along with that.
"Is anybody hiring?" she asked.
Vanilla tapped her chin and looked Amy up and down, as if appraising her.
"I coooould use an assistant," she said.
"And what do you do?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Vanilla stood out proudly, as if she had the greatest job in the world. "I'm a realtor. Tails is a builder, and together we make sure everybody has the house they want!"
"Oh, I could be an interior decorator!" said Amy, now excited. That would be so fun!
"I don't know," said Vanilla, sounding like she wanted to ruin Amy's fun. "I think everybody's pretty happy with their interiors as they are. But tell you what, in thanks for letting me live with you back in the before-times, I'll let you join our firm anyway. You'll have to work for free though until you pay off Sticks's old house."
"Okay!" said Amy, excited to take a look inside everybody's houses. "To start with, should I take a look at your house?"
Vanilla held up her hands defensively. "Of course not, our house is perfect. I'd suggest talking to Sonic and Sticks, while I get Tails to move your hammock to your new house."
"Right," said Amy, now reminded that Sonic had
literally shacked up with Sticks. She would have words with him.
With Vanilla leaving, Amy followed the road from her house to the fire, then to where Sonic and Sticks lived. She'd have walked straight there, but she saw Knuckles was now punching a Do Not Step on the Dirt sign into the ground, so there was probably a new law in place and she didn't want to get in trouble.
Once Amy arrived, Sticks had finished watering the crops and was sitting in a rocking chair, adjacent to Sonic, who was whittling something with a piece of sharpened stone. Whittling might have been generous. He was really just gouging notches into a piece of wood.
"Wow, Amy," said Sonic, looking up as she approached. "I haven't seen you in ages."
"I thought you moved out or maybe died," said Sticks. "Since your house was such a hovel. You still living there?"
"No, actually I'm moving into your old place," said Amy. Now she had the chance to get into what she really wanted to talk about. "I was just asleep, why didn't any of you guys wake me up?!"
"Hey sleeping beauty, it ain't my job to keep track of you," said Sticks in a haughty voice. "My job is to farm these crops and find good rocks for Knuckles."
Amy turned to Sonic.
"And what's
your excuse?!"
"I was hungry?" said Sonic. He at least had the decency to look apologetic. "Sticks had food, you didn't."
Amy growled. But then she took a deep breath, and let it all out. It was fine, this was fine.
"Anyway, I am now an interior decorator. So if you'd be so kind, let me into your house so I can explain to you why everything you've done is wrong and how to fix it."
"No thanks," said Sticks. "I got this the way I wanted it when I moved in, Vanilla and Tails set it all up."
"Well I work with Vanilla and Tails now," said Amy. "And I'm sure they'd want me to improve their work."
"Are you sure they didn't just feel sorry for you and gave you a job because otherwise you'd be homeless without food?" asked Sonic.
Amy growled again, and Sonic sighed.
"Fine," he said. "Go nuts." He gestured to his door and Amy smiled.
"Now that's more like it," she said, opening the door and going inside.
She gasped.
"Oh no!" Amy couldn't help but say. The room looked like some kind of horrible combination of Sticks's burrow and Sonic's shack. Which… made sense now that Amy thought about it, but it meant it was a filthy run down dilapidated pit full of assorted molds on a shelf and a collection of snails in a wooden bowl next to the fake couch. "This is awful!"
"What, what's wrong?" Sonic said he ran into the house. He looked around, his surprise turning into confusion. "What?"
"This house should be condemned!" said Amy.
"We're not talking about your old house," said Sticks, walking in. "What's wrong with ours?!"
"These snails for one!" said Amy, gesturing the snails.
"Those are our pets!" said Sticks. "And a possible food source after the mushrooms."
"Okay," said Amy, trying to keep perspective. A good interior designer takes the needs of the customer into account. "Then why don't we get an end table and put the snails on that? And also move this uh, mold shelf to the side here…."
She kept making suggestions, and as Sticks and Sonic only sighed and rolled their eyes, she figured they were accepting them. She also didn't have much to work with. She couldn't grab throw pillows, and everything she had available to spruce up the place could best be described as "Coconut Chic."
She did the best she could, and when she was done moving things around and making suggestions, pointedly not commenting on all the things that should have just been thrown out, both Sonic and Sticks looked really unhappy with her.
"Well, I think that's everything," said Amy.
"Great," said Sonic. "See you."
He actively pushed her out of the house and closed the door in her face when she tried to say goodbye.
"Hmph," said Amy to nobody in particular.
With that out of the way there was only one other house she could work on. Knuckles's.
Knuckles's house was for whatever reason, the biggest house. Once Amy got close to it she noticed too that it had decorative fires burning on the outside, and was wreathed in vines. It was better than the places he normally slept, and she wondered for a moment if he might stay here from now on.
She knocked on the door.
"Enter," came the voice of Knuckles. He sounded like he was trying to sound impressive.
Amy walked in, and had to suppress a gasp.
The house was one large open room with a fire blazing in the middle. Looking up there was a hole for the smoke to go through. Opposite the door on the other side of the fire was what could only be described as a throne, where Knuckles sat. He wore a tall hate of grass, sticks, and moss, and looked down at Amy with a smile on his face. On each side of the throne were tall suspended bowls, with small rocks piled in.
"Ah, young Amy," he said. Amy didn't know whether to find that condescending or flattering. "It seems almost as if I haven't seen you since the before-time." He leaned forward, with his elbows on his knees and folded his hands. "Tell me, what can I do for you?"
Amy had no idea why Knuckles was talking like this, or why he had a throne. "I'm here as an interior designer to help make your house look nicer." Though she didn't know how she'd do that. There was nothing
in this house.
Knuckled gave a sharp laugh, as if he was pitying Amy.
"Poor Amy," he said. "This is not my house, this is the Elder Throne! It was built perfectly with the help of Tails the Craftsman and Vanilla the Talking Ice Cream."
Before Amy could respond, the door behind her swung open and Tails ran in.
"Wise Elder Knuckles, I've discovered something serious!" he said. He moved past Amy and bowed, holding up a bunch of large palm tree leaves with writing on them. He handed them to Knuckles, who took them and put on reading glasses to look over them. "According to my calculations, our world is about to be destroyed!"
"Hmm," said Knuckles. "These arcane runes and charts do not persuade me!" He tossed them into the fire in front of him.
"But Elder Knuckles!" said Tails, prostrating himself even more in front of Knuckles. "According to my findings, we've mined too much of this world! The ceiling that protects us is going to collapse, and soon! I warned you about this before when we found the prophecy of the Stone Tablets!"
"Enough," said Knuckles. "Amy, I don't need an interior decorator, but I do need a guard. Show Tails out, and escort him back to his house!"
Tails looked up at Knuckles, who looked down on her seriously. She then looked at Tails, who was looking at her, his expression unreadable. If this was true, she could probably help Tails even without Knuckles's help. So she pulled Tails up and fake-dragged him to the door, pushing him outside.
She walked him a few feet down the road before stopping and asking, "is what you said true? Is the cave collapsing?"
As if to answer her, there was a rumble and what felt like dirt hit her head. Amy looked up, and saw it just in time to jump forward and push Tails to the ground, shielding him as rocks began to fall.
Luckily none hit her, but when it stopped and they got up, the Elder Throne was half crushed and on fire. Knuckles started to yell, and she could see him run out of his collapsed wall, his hat on fire. He ran towards them, and Amy shielded Tails again, worried Knuckles was going to accidently light one of them on fire.
Instead he took his hat off and stamped on it, before turning to Tails and saying, "We have to assemble a team of our greatest village members!"
Tails's face grew serious and he nodded.
"I've called you all," said Knuckles, speaking to everybody. They were all gathered in front of Tails and Vanilla's house. "Because we face a shared threat. Tails has discovered that soon, our world will collapse. We have to work together, or we'll lose everything we've built here!"
"Literally," said Amy, trying not to laugh.
"Yes," continued Knuckles in his serious tone. "Since Tails was the one who discovered the problem, he will lead us to salvation. Tell us Tails, what should we do?"
"I have a plan," said Tails, stepping forward so he was in the middle of everyone. Knuckles stepped back. "We need to build some kind of… land ship. That can take us to temporary safety. Then we'll shoot an explosive into the centre of this world, which will save everything."
Vanilla burst out laughing. Everybody looked at her, silently, even though Amy herself was also finding it hard to stay quiet.
"That's preposterous!" she said.
"Young Vanilla, this is no time to visit the zoo," said Knuckles. "Now I think Tails's plan makes complete sense. You are also a brilliant mind, your help would be invaluable to this mission, but only if you work with Tails."
Still laughing, Vanilla waved him off. "Yeah, sure," she said. "Of course."
"Then it's agreed!" said Knuckles, and he gestured to Tails again.
"Alright," said Tails. "Let's get to work. Sonic, Knuckles, we'll need the materials on this list." He pulled out another palm leaf and handed it to Sonic, who looked it over and then led Knuckles away. "Dismantle the houses if you have to. Sticks, we'll need that guano you mentioned all those ages ago." Sticks saluted and began to leave, but Tails stopped her. "Take Amy with you. Vanilla and I will craft the land ship while you're gone."
"We have to be careful," said Sticks, leading with her flashlight pointed down. Amy carried the bucket, wishing she could trade with Sticks. Every now and then the cave would rumble, genuinely worrying Amy. It was all fun and games until they were too far away from the exit to really get out of here. "There are many traps laid out to protect us left here by the ancients."
"Wait, seriously?" asked Amy.
"Not those Ancients," said Sticks, her voice changing to be more nonchalant. "I mean us while you were sleeping."
"Oh."
"Yes," continued Sticks, returning to her serious voice. "The ancients laid many traps to defend against invaders. This world destruction business might set some of them off while we walk, so be on guard."
"Is there anybody to defend
against?" asked Amy.
Before responding, the sudden smell hit Amy. Sticks tapped her shoulder and pointed the flashlight down into what looked like a pool of mud. It wasn't mud.
"Gross," said Amy, more to herself than Sticks. Slowly, they approached the pit of guano.
"Since we've arrived, we've been in a cold war with the evil Eggman Federation," said Sticks.
"What?!" Amy couldn't help but shout. The cave rumbled in response, and she could hear the loud sudden squeaks of bats.
"We've got to move, fast!" said Sticks. Grabbing Amy's bucket, Sticks pulled her along and scooped up a giant glob of guano into the bucket, getting Amy dirty in the process.
"Oh please, get this off me!" screamed Amy as the sound of bats grew closer.
"Run!" said Sticks, and the cave rumbled again. Now Amy could hear the whistles and zooms of things flying past them, and then the bats getting closer. Finally, some of the bats started to meet up to them, hitting them from behind.
"We've set off the traps!" shouted Sticks. "Don't worry, I won't leave you behind!" Amy felt Sticks grab her arm hard, as she pulled her along towards the fire of the village. Every now and then Sticks would jump, or twirl or do something to make Amy feel more and more like throwing up. Behind them the bats were nearly engulfing them, and Amy closed her eyes.
Finally Sticks stopped moving, and the sounds of bats surrounded them before slowly dying out. Amy opened her eyes. They'd made it.
"Here's your bucket," said Sticks, handing it to Tails, who gave a disgusted look, but said thanks anyway.
"I need a shower," said Amy, sitting down on the ground next to the "land ship" Vanilla and Tails were constructing.
"We never invented indoor plumbing," said Vanilla, moving towards the land ship. "Please sit further away, you smell awful."
Amy sighed, but obliged, moving further away to where Knuckles was. Sonic was also approaching from the opposite end.
"The bomb's been set," he said, reaching Knuckles, who nodded.
She tried to stay closer to Sonic, but she just sighed to herself as he edged further away every time she did so.
"Guys we have a problem," came the voice of Tails running up.
"What is it?' said Knuckles.
"We've used up all the rope we could salvage. The ship is almost done. But without more rope we can't tie the land ship to Sonic so he can pull us out."
"There must be some way to get more rope," said Knuckles, thinking.
Amy heard the sounds of somebody else approaching before she heard the voice.
"I believe I have the solution," came the voice of Eggman. He looked the same as usual, and was followed by Orbot and Cubot, who were both fanning him with palm leaves.
"Eggman!" said Knuckles, putting up his fists. "What help could the Eggman Federation give us, and why should we trust you?"
Amy was really surprised. She knew Sticks had said Eggman was here, but she didn't think that was serious. It didn't make much sense.
"When did Eggman get here?" whispered Amy to Tails.
Tails whispered back, "he said there's another entrance. Same story as us."
"I have rope," said Eggman, holding up said rope. "And this incoming catastrophe affects all of us here! It's in my interest to help you."
"Hmm," said Knuckles, thoughtfully. "Very well, we will use your rope, and you and your citizens can join us in our escape."
"Excellent," said Eggman, smiling evily. "I look forward to it."
He said that, but then simply walked with Tails to the land ship, handed him the rope, and watched as Tails attached it to the front.
"Done!" said Tails. Just then the cave gave a great rumble, and more dirt was falling. This time however, the rumbling didn't stop.
"I think that's our cue to leave," said Sonic. "Everybody in the land ship!"
Amy didn't waste any time. The land ship was large, with wooden wheels and two benches on the inside. There was one large window on each side. When Amy got in, everybody tried their hardest to squeeze into the back away from her, while she took the front bench.
"Sorry," she said.
"There's hardly any room in this thing!" said Eggman.
"We didn't build it for you three," said Tails, squeezed between Vanilla and Knuckles.
Suddenly Amy could see rocks starting to follow, and she poked her head out of the window and shouted, "Sonic, run!"
The jolt from the land ship moving hurt, but once they got going it eased up. The rocks were falling at a faster rate, and a few were obviously landing on the land ship.
"Hurry!" shouted Tails, pushing through the others and ignoring Amy's stench. She joined Amy's side and banged on the wall. "It's collapsing!"
Amy could feel the land ship pick up speed. It started to swerve, violently, knocking everybody around from side to side. Amy had the wind knocked out of her as Tails fell on her during a particularly tight turn, and Tails backed off quickly, looking down on himself in disgust for a moment before he fell over during another turn. From what she could see outside, boulders were falling all around them. They might have waited too long.
But then it was over. The sound of rocks gave way to the familiar sound of water hitting the roof, and Amy stood up and looked out of the window directly for a clear view. They'd left the cave, which was now closed up. She sighed in relief.
"Oh no," said Tails.
"What is it!?" said Amy, worried something important had happened.
"I fell and damaged the remote detonator," he said. "The range has been reduced. Somebody will have to leave the land ship soon to stay in range and detonate the bomb."
Everybody looked at each other.
"I'll do it," said Tails, taking a deep breath. "This was my plan."
"I refuse to allow that!" said Vanilla, standing up. She went over, visibly braced herself, then hugged Tails in his disgusting guano covered glory. "If you go, I go!"
"Neither of you should go," said Knuckles, also standing up. It was a lot easier to stand now that they were out of the cave. "It am the elder, I've lived the longest life of the village. It's my duty to make sure the villages youngest members get a chance at life!"
"What are you guys, morons?" asked Eggman. "Just send Orbot to do it."
He looked down at Orbot and glared. Orbot looked around, then back at Eggman, and sunk down in despair.
"It's okay Orbot," said Cubot, who was right next to him. "This is what sandwiches are made of!"
"Yeah," said Vanilla, smiling. "Your sacrifice will be remembered. Nobody will ever forget your legacy!"
"Forget that, it's
my legacy that should be remembered!" said Eggman, standing up himself. "Give me that stupid thing!" He snatched the detonator from Tails's hands and looked at it for a moment. "Gross."
"Then all you've got to do is leave the land ship and press the button," said Tails. "Good luck, Eggman."
"I see nobody's trying to volunteer now," he said sardonically. "Fine, whatever, I see how it is."
He opened the door, while the land ship was still moving. The rainy jungle wooshed by, and he gave one last look at everyone.
"You guys better remember my legacy for this!" Without waiting for a reply, he jumped out and was gone. Tails closed the door, while Orbot and Cubot suddenly hugged each other.
"So noble!" said Orbot.
"A real sandwich!" agreed Cubot.
Amy sighed. Her ears pricked at the just barely audible sound of an explosion far off in the distance. Everyone looked at each other and stayed quiet for a moment, so as not to disturb the mood.
"That should be it then," said Tails. "Our world is safe."
As soon as he said it, the land ship stopped abruptly, forcing everybody on the back end of the land ship to careen forward into Amy and Tails.
The door swung open while they were all still in a huddle, Amy trying to squeeze herself out of the pile so she could breath.
"Come on guys!" said Sonic. "Come look!"
Slowly, everybody picked themselves up and began to head outside.
Amy was first. It'd stopped raining. They were at Sonic's Shack. The sun was setting. Sonic ran up, passed her, and looked for a moment into the sunset. It was the most beautiful sight she'd ever seen… within the last few hours.
He turned to look at her.
"Well, that was fun," he called out, now looking past Amy at the others. "I'll see you guys later!"
"Bye!" called Tails.
"I hope that explosion didn't blow up my hidden retirement bag!" said Sticks. Sonic looked at Amy suddenly and frowned at that.
Amy sighed. But it probably wasn't very romantic to watch the sunset with Sonic when she was still filthy and covered in bat droppings. It was shower time. She turned around and left Sonic on his beach, joining Vanilla who waited for her.
"Actually," she said. "I'm going with Tails for a bit. I'll be back home in time for dinner though."
"Okay," said Amy. "Why?"
Vanilla quirked an eyebrow at her.
"Because you stink!" she said, grinning. "But I guess Tails does now too."
She ran off before Amy could say anything. That was fine.
She was nearly home before Amy realised, if Tails stank it meant Tails needed a shower too.
Amy growled in frustration.
"Vanilla, if I find out you did anything, it's fish for dinner!" she yelled to nobody.
