Sonic Boom My Story

The Awardy Award

A/N: Since a chunk of this is read, all the words that a character is reading will be in italics.
Cleaning all the octopus guts off Tails took all day and you weren't so lucky the next day as meteors kept raining from the sky. Everyone but Amy looked on in horror.
"Meteors are shooting stars. We shouldn't be running. We should be making wishes!" she exclaims. "I wish for a pony!"
"And I wish you'd take cover," Sonic adds. You all do take cover.
"How come YOUR wish came true?" she asks, annoyed. Sonic just smirks.
"Should I use my meteor defense system?" Sticks offers.
"You have a meteor defense system?" Tails questions and Sticks nods.
"I have defense systems for all sorts of junk," she replies, showing you all a series of wood levers at her burrow. "Wildfires, floods, people trying to read my thoughts..."
"Yeah, start with the meteor one," Sonic says quickly. She pushes a lever on the far end and out pop a lot of wooden paddles that swat the meteors away. "The 'people trying to read my thoughts' one is exactly the same, but with tinfoil trim."
"Yeah, makes sense. That can protect you from mind control," you put in. She agrees. You both were in good terms after the incident with Sticks' former pet, Buster. Now he's out in the big world, where he'll be safe.
You all come over at Tails's house later that day. Tails is chatting with you while Knuckles is feeding your new cat, Gingersnap, whom you got during the incident with Buster, and Sonic is trying to find Amy a good drink.
Soon, Sticks comes in with an envelope, saying, "Someone left this at my house."
"Yeah, the mailman. It's a letter?" Sonic says, handing Amy a soda and they both take seats on Tails's other couch. You and Tails (who are on the other couch) turn to Sticks, as does Knuckles from the floor where Gingersnap is busy lapping up a big bowl of milk. He finishes quickly and leaps in your lap.
Sticks sniffs it from all directions. "Letter, huh? I don't know. Paper folded over itself?" She turns dramatic, looking at it from an angle. "What's it hiding? What's it hiding???"
Amy grabs the letter, ripping the envelope open and she unfolds it. The second she starts reading it, she gasps, mouth agape in glee. "Sticks, you've been nominated for an Awardy Award!!"
"They really need a better name for that thing," chimes in Tails.
"Yeah, 'Awardy' isn't a word," you nod sassily. "Who named those things?"
"The government??" Knuckles guesses, grabbing the letter from Amy. "Let me see." He puts on a pair of glasses from nowhere. "Oh, wait, I can't read."
"Give me that!" Sonic snatches the letter and starts reading, "'In honor of saving our village, the Mayor coordinately invites you to the Awardies. Huh, conveniently, you can also bring up to your 5 closest pals. The Awardies will be at the Mayor's Mansion. You'll dine on—Ooh—elegant food and mingle with elegant guests. After which, the Awardy Award will be awarded to the winner. Which could be you!"
"I can't make it," Sticks says, out of the abyss.
"Ditto," you nod.
"What? Why?" Amy asks, surprised.
"Dentist's appointment," you say. Knuckles screams and you look at him, confused.
"I HATE THE DENTIST!!" he yells, panicking.
"I'm by myself! Just a checkup," you tell him and he breathes a huge sigh of relief.
"I'm slammed this week," Sticks adds & pulls out a booklet shaped like leaves. You suppose that's her schedule. It's Monday. "Tuesday: Rummage through garbage, Wednesday: Rummage through garbage, Thursday: Get tetanus shot, Friday: Rummage through garbage. I'm booked solid!"
"This is the honor of a lifetime!" Amy tells her.
"You might even win a shiny trophy," adds Tails with a smirk, "You love shiny things."
"I do love shiny things..." but Sticks shakes her head wildly, making her big pigtails whack against her face. "But no! Nuh-uh! Nah!"
"Sticks... are you afraid to go?" Amy asks.
Sticks continues to violently shake her head. "Afraid? No! Of course not. No way, uh-uh, nope!... A little."
"Sticks, there's nothing to fear," you try to help her as Gingersnap goes to sleep on the couch.
"Look at me. I'm a feral badger 🦡! I'll embarrass myself!" Sticks whines.
"Who cares what other people think?" Sonic just shrugs.
"Don't worry. You'll be fine.  I'll teach you to be a lady," Amy assures her calmly. You nod and give a thumbs-up.
"A lady? That's the thing that holds the garbage, right?" Sticks asks.
"No, a lady is a polite, sophisticated member of society," corrects Amy, who is indeed Sonic's self-proclaimed girlfriend, so she, of course, has to be ladylike.
"Yeah, a lady is the girl version and a gentleman is the boy version," you add, hoping Sticks won't think men are ladies as well.
Sticks growls. "If I have to be a lady, so does Cathy!"
You laugh. "Good luck with that." You pick up the still-sleeping Gingersnap and start to fly to the door, but Tails pulls you down.
"No, I'm not doing this!"
"Come on, you both can do it," Amy assure you both.
"Fine," she sighs.
"Alright then," you add.
"Great! A proper lady requires an escort for the gala," Amy smiles. Sticks turns to Sonic.
"NO," he frowns.
"Come on, Sonic! We need you!" you beg.
"Eh, fine. But I'm not wearing pants!" he says and Sticks pounces on him, giving him a huge hug.
"Ahhh! Thank you! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!"
"Fine, then Cathy gets Tails," Amy chimes in.
"Why me?" Tails questions from the counter.
"Knuckles wouldn't be good. He's too tall and heavy," you explain.
"Now, Sticks, Cathy, if you want to be a lady, you'll have to train hard," replies Amy, "You up for it?"
"Yes!" you and Sticks agree at the same time, with you saluting. You all start to train at Amy's house.
"When meeting something new, try starting with a compliment. Try saying something nice about their perfume," suggests Amy. Sticks sniffs all around her like a dog.
"You don't stink," Sticks has to say. Amy laughs.
Your turn for an example comes and you and Tails go into a different area of the house since the living room just smells like Amy's perfume. You take a sniff around Tails, telling him, "Your perfume is real nice." He smiles, though he hardly smells like anything.
All that day, you and Sticks go through a big series of lady tests, including practicing how to dance (you didn't like that at first since you didn't know how to dance until the test), drinking tea ("When in doubt, pinkies out," Amy rhymed, but Sticks drank her tea by lapping it up like Gingersnap laps up his milk), and speaking right, all going fair.
The next night was the night of the gala and everyone picked out great outfits:
Sonic just came in a reddish blazer (it was hard to make it out since it was nighttime), no pants like he said, and his cool red sneakers. He just kept a frowning smirk on.
Sticks had a short-sleeved (though long) black-and-white dress.
Amy came in a beautiful fix his dress and pearl necklace, black high heels, and equally fuchsia leggings.
Tails is in a full tuxedo 🤵.
You're in a sleeveless white dress, your long black hair is in braids, and your face was full of makeup of all sorts.
"It is my pleasure to introduce two couples that will be appreciated!" Amy announces from the landing of the stairway in a British accent, "Lady Sticks and her escort, Sir Sonic of Hedgehog..." Sticks and Sonic descend from the stairs, arm in arm. "And Lady Catherine and her escort, Sir Tails of Fox!" The same applies for you and Tails.
You spend the first part of the night wonderfully, from dancing around with Tails, to the compliments, to even singing Party Rock Anthem on stage!

You head to the food court with Tails, Sonic, Sticks, Amy closely following you and Sticks, and Knuckles. A lot of the food looks like it came from other countries, but you finally get something good and head to the table.
Several other people are already there, and the first thing you see is a lot of forks. But there's a distant thumping.
"Excuse me, pardon me. Pardon me, excuse me, evil genius coming through," Eggman says, sitting beside Sticks.
"Eggman! How did you—" you start, sputtering.
"Get nominated? Let's just say, I had a loyal base of... supporters." Eggman faces Sticks, suspicious. "You look familiar. Do I know you?"
She blurts out after a beat, "You have... healthy hindquarters!" While you have no idea what hindquarters are, you turn away from them to laugh with Sonic while Amy face-palms.
Sticks starts lapping up her bowl of soup, making Amy facepalm herself again while Sticks sticks her pinky out, slurping the rest of her soup. You start to slurp your soup properly with your spoon as the mayor walks onstage.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we're ready to announce this year's winner!" he announces. You grab Sticks' hand, whisperingly chanting her name to yourself so she'll win while also focusing on not squeezing her fingers too tight as she joins in, quietly chanting "please be me" repeatedly.
"And the Awardy goes to..." the mayor rips the envelope open with a flourish, "Leroy the Turtle!"
You both stop whispering & you let go of her, both mouth agape.
"WHAT?!" exclaims you, Sticks, and even Eggman. The only excited one at the table is Leroy, who isn't that far from Eggman. While despondent, you clap slowly for Leroy as he steps onstage to take his trophy while the mayor gives way for him.
"Leroy the Turtle?! That award was mine! Something smells fishy here. If you won't give me the award, I'll take it!" screams Eggman, who then gets lifted on the table by a really big bot. "With my ballot-stuffing robot! Stuffer Bot, stuff their ballots!" Stuffer Bot sprays a ton of envelopes everywhere, but it does no damage to anyone, which you expect. Though you have gotten many paper cuts before, the ballots are aimed paper-cut-less. "This is not quite as menacing as I hoped. Minions, attack!"
A ton of Bee Bots fly in, causing all the others to flee until Teams Sonic and Eggman are the only ones left in the Mayor's Mansion.
"Sticks, get 'em!" Sonic shouts after spin-attacking a Bee Bot and you behead one with your sword. But Sticks just shakes her head slightly and sadly.
"A lady doesn't fight," she insists, remembering what Amy warned her at her training. She had tried to make a first impression at a cardboard Sonic, but failed and Amy told her that ladies don't fight.
Eggman traps Sonic and Amy in an energy bubble, then does the same to Tails and Knuckles, and finally, Stuffer Bot pins you to the ground with ballots, the corners sinking into the skin of your limbs (since your dress is sleeveless, it's an opportunity for the enemy), blood slowly forming a pile on the ground. If only your mother was here for you!
Your mother was a surgeon before she died of lung cancer when you were only starting middle school.
"Sticks, we could really use some help here!" Tails shouts.
"No! Must... remain... ladylike!" Sticks shouts. Despite being pinned to the ground, you grab your sword and throw it at Stuffer Bot, doing little damage. But your wings have minds of their own and they remove the ballots, rendering you free to where you can grab your sword, but you're too hurt to keep fighting. Team Sonic notices you limping and gasps.
"That's it!" Sticks shouts, seeing her good friend hurt. "I'm sick of being proper! Time to get primal!"
She rips her dress apart, revealing her old clothes underneath. She bends a spoon like a boomerang & throws it at Eggman. He avoids it, but not when it comes back. It hits his wrist controller, freeing Tails and Knuckles. Eggman aims a laser at Knuckles, but you and Sticks tackle Knuckles out of the way.
Sticks then leaps at Eggman, hitting his wrist controller again & it frees Sonic and Amy. Sonic rapidly runs around the evil genius and his robot, sending them both into a wild spin.
"Eat garbage!" Sticks yells, throwing a vase at the robot.
"I'll be back! And next time, I'll bring more ballots! More ballots!" Eggman screams, retreating with the Bee Bots in tow.
Sticks walks up to Leroy, who is still onstage. "Leroy," she says, "you may have won the Awardy, but I think that we can all agree that today, I was the real hero."
"Yes," he nods, "but I won the award." Sticks's eyes widen at the sight of the trophy.
"GIVE ME THE SHINY!!!" she screams and while they scuffle, Sonic and Tails help you stand.
"You alright, Cathy?" Tails asks, picking the bloody ballots out of your limbs.
"Other than a lot of blood lost and a messy new outfit and a big humiliation I haven't encountered since Mother's death, I suppose," you explain, still limping as Amy and Sticks approach you. "Thanks for saving us all, Sticks."
"Just followin' the old instincts," Sticks smiles.
"Think you could teach ME how to do that?" Amy asks.
"Sure!" Sticks grabs Amy by the arm and cannonballs them both into a dumpster. You all laugh.