Adventures of Sticks the Badger - Season 1

Episode 2

3 Days Later...

On the Saturday at noon, Sticks prepared for the village feast with Mayor Fink, helping Primrose get ready as well. Sticks intended to introduce her to the village and explain what had occurred just nights ago, particularly explaining to Mayor Fink the situation with Wally the Walrus and the Phantom Ruby, to ensure precautions were taken to keep Tyrone the Jackal and Fiona Fox in their cells.

As they prepared for the feast, Sticks pulled out a black dress from Vanilla's closet, also helping Prim try on a small pink floral-patterned dress that she'd bought from the mall the day after the incident.

Once they were ready, Sticks noticed Prim seeming a bit nervous. She kneeled down, placing her hands on the young hedgehog's shoulders.

"Everything'll be okay, Prim. I'm sure the villagers won't turn you away while you're with me." She said, smiling as Prim looked up at her, "Besides, you're too adorable for them to turn away."

Prim smiled back hearing this, before hugging Sticks, who smiled as she hugged her back.

After a brief time hugging, Sticks stood up, before picking Prim up and placing her on her shoulders in a seated position.

"I'll carry you there, Prim, just make sure to hold onto me." Sticks suggested, as Prim smiled joyfully.

With Prim on her shoulders, Sticks headed to the door, opening it and ducking to exit, before closing the door behind her. After closing the door, Sticks started walking towards the village.

After several minutes of walking, Sticks and Prim arrived at the Town Hall, with Mayor Fink already standing at the door, ready to greet them.

"Young Sticks, welcome!" Fink announced, before noticing someone missing, "Where's Shadow? And who's the little girl? A relative of his?"

Sticks sighed, grabbing Prim and gently placing her back on the ground next to her.

"Mayor, Shadow and Vanilla both left the island on Wednesday, they went to Mobotropolis for something to do with Shadow." She explained, looking down at Prim, "That night though, a group of Lightning Bolts attacked and killed this girl's father in the outskirts, taking some gem they called the Phantom Ruby. One of them said they'd be able to free Tyrone and Fiona with it."

Hearing this, Fink immediately stepped back in shock, before looking down at Prim.

"Well, then, the local militia recently came back, ready to meet with Shadow, but I'll have them on high alert for if anything goes wrong." Fink responded, "Come in, both of you. I'll make an announcement to the villagers, leaving out the part about this Phantom Ruby."

Fink then walked inside, as Sticks held Prim's hand, taking her inside.

Inside the town hall, numerous of the townsfolk sat around a large rectangular table, cutlery and crockery sat out in front of them. Against one of the walls of the hall, was a similarly large table covered with various dishes which had been prepared for the feast. Seeing this, Prim licked her lips cutely, as Sticks noticed her tummy grumbling.

"You hungry, Prim?" Sticks asked, "You'll just have to wait a minute until everyone starts, okay?"

Prim sighed, as suddenly, an adult female walrus approached them, holding a baby walrus as another young walrus, appearing not much older than Prim, walked next to her.

"Hello, you must be Sticks, the one who helped Shadow get those pesky criminals locked away." The woman started, as she gestured to herself and her two kids, "I'm Wendy Walrus, this is my eldest son, Stratfort, and this is my baby son, Chumley."

Wendy then crouched down holding little Chumley, to see Prim trying to hide behind Sticks.

"And who might this adorable little one be? Shadow never told anyone he had any relatives." She asked, as Sticks giggled.

"She won't hurt you, Prim." Sticks told Prim amongst a giggle, "This is Primrose, she's...Shadow's niece."

"She's a beautiful little one, I'll admit." Wendy replied as Prim looked up in confusion at Sticks, before standing up, "After the feast, I'm sure the kids will all be able to go and use the playground outside. It was nice to meet you, Sticks."

Wendy walked away, the eldest son Stratfort looking back at Prim momentarily, smiling before turning back away. Sticks then kneeled down next to Prim, who was visibly nervous.

"No one here's going to hurt you, Prim, I promise." Sticks tried to comfort Prim, " Pretend you're Shadow's niece, can you do that? We've gotta keep the villagers from knowing about your father and the Phantom Ruby."

"So you're the one who helped lock up Tyrone and Fiona, huh?" She suddenly heard a voice, looking up to see a young female wolf approaching her, and standing up as she approached with a frown on her face.

The light cream-furred wolf, appearing around the same age as Sticks, wore a dark grey jumpsuit covering her neck to toe, fit with some armour in the form of a chest and backplate, shoulder, elbow and knee pads. Her brown muzzle revealed a fang protruding from either side of her mouth. Her blue eyes, painted with dark grey eyeshadow, were also surrounded with a white patch of fur almost resembling a mask. Her long fur-coloured hair was all tied back in a ponytail, with her long bushy tail behind her.

"Um, yeah, hi? I'm Sticks." Sticks responded, confused, as the wolf giggled.

"I'm messing with you, girl! The name's Whisper, I'm a scout with the Diamond Cutters, the island's militia. We just got back from a mission in one of the other villages on the other end of the island, to hear you and Shadow had finally locked up the Lightning Bolt bosses." The wolf, Whisper, explained, smiling as she quickly glanced around, looking for Shadow, before looking back at Sticks, noticing Prim, "The rest of the squad's out back chatting with the Mayor, I just thought I'd come and see the new hero on the island. Where is Shadow, anyway? Is the kid his?"

"Shadow kinda left to go to the mainland, this is Prim, his niece." Sticks answered as Whisper sighed gleefully.

"I was testing you. Mayor Fink already told us what's going on. So they're trying to use this wacky gem to free their bosses, are they?" Whisper responded as Sticks nodded, "Here comes the Mayor now, I'll introduce you to the others after the feast. Good to meet you, Sticks."

Whisper started walking away as Mayor Fink came back into the hall, moving to an empty chair at one of the ends of the table, gesturing for Sticks to take a seat on another empty chair at the opposite end of the table. Sticks sat in the chair, sitting Prim on her lap.

"Welcome, villagers! I've called this feast to celebrate the imprisonment of the sinister bosses of the Lightning Bolt Society, Tyrone the Jackal and Fiona the Fox." Fink started, before looking over at Sticks and Prim, "We're also here to celebrate a new villager welcomed to us, two in fact. Give a warm welcome to Sticks the Badger, and the little hedgehog girl she's brought with her today. I wish we could extend our gratitude to Shadow, but I've been informed that Shadow has temporarily left us for personal business, and at no better time than this. Without further ado, let's feast!"

With this, all the villagers got up one by one, the mothers first for their children, collecting some food and returning to the table, as Sticks got up with Prim, dishing up two plates of food for herself and Prim, as the feast got underway.

Outside, as the village remained empty with the town hall filled, Wally Walrus emerged from a bush near the local detention center where Tyrone and Fiona were being held, with three navy blue-furred weasels behind him, all four of them wearing crimson red masks and hooded cloaks embroidered with the insignia of the Lightning Bolt Society, a closed fist grasping two lightning bolts.

"Alright, boys, we've gotta get in there and get out with the boss as quick as we can." Wally explained as he chuckled evilly, the weasels chuckling with him.