Chapter Text
According to Sonic, the saccharine sweetness of those cheesy pop songs Amy kept singing is plain disgusting. Not like that stopped her. From the boombox blasted the excessively catchy hot songs of the week, whatever that meant. They all sounded the same to him, anyway. He made a face, looking at the small vacuum in his hand.
“If ya got a problem with the music, you can change it!” Amy said, waving her feather duster from across the room.
He groaned, chiding himself for the smile that crept across his face. She’s as happy as these songs, Sonic noted in his head. Somehow, he ended up getting roped up into helping Amy with her spring cleaning.
“I thought you don’t like speed metal,” Sonic said, raising an eyebrow as he handed her a rag.
“Nah, it’s just a lot harder to sing along to,” Amy shrugged. She wiped the sweat from her forehead before turning back to clean the windows.
Sonic found himself distracted by the current song as it faded in. The beat was electronic, and the vocal melody synthesized beyond recognition. Something about it was familiar, but he couldn't shake why.
“Sonic, could you help me with that?” Amy pointed to a porcelain knick-knack placed high on a shelf she couldn’t reach. It took him an extra second to realize Amy asked him a question, but connected the dots when he saw where her hand was pointing.
“What? Yeah.” Without thinking, Sonic picked up Amy by the waist and hoisted her up higher. She grabbed it easily, then looked back at Sonic as he put her down.
“You know, you’re tall enough to have grabbed it yourself,” she said.
♫ I've been here before and I know that
We must stand up tall ♫
“What can I say,” Sonic teased. “I’m just following the music’s orders.”
“Whatever you say,” Amy replied, still confused. “I’ll just grab a step-stool.” She left the room, leaving Sonic to his own thoughts.
♫ ...If you could tell me how to lend a hand
I would try to understand
No words could say how much I care
Together we can take a stand ♫
He blinked, trying to figure out why he felt so weird about this song. His mind wandered to Amy, and how she might tease him if he admitted this one in particular was alright in his book.
“Hey Amy?” he called loudly so she could hear him in the other room. “I’m gonna switch it to rock.”
Beep-blip! An electronic jingle rang out from their communicators.
“Guys,” Tails said through the call. “You’re probably gonna want to turn on the TV.”
Amy hit the power button on her remote, and the screen lit up with Comedy Chimp’s familiar face.
“We’re holding auditions for Unnamed Idol down in the town plaza tomorrow!” announced Comedy Chimp. “One lucky resident is gonna win a contract from the Grammy award-winning label, Eggman Industries.” The camera panned over, revealing Doctor Eggman as the guest of the day.
“You can’t be serious,” Sonic groaned. Amy bumped up the volume up a bit higher.
“Couldn’t have said it better myself,” Eggman said. He sat poised in the chair, enjoying the limelight.
“Aren’t we legally named Hedgehog Village?” Comedy Chimp asked, continuing with the interview. “Why is the competition named Unnamed Idol?”
“As if I’m going to give any credit to that blue pineapple,” Eggman groaned. “Plus, there’s only three hedgehogs on this entire island, as far as I’m concerned. Doesn’t make too much sense.”
“He has a point,” Knuckles chimed in over the communicator.
“We should probably check it out,” Amy said into her communicator as she gave Sonic a nod.
“Will you vote for me if I audition?” Knuckles asked.
“Someone fill me in,” Sticks said impatiently. It was already obvious she wasn’t willingly going to watch the program.
“Looks like Eggman is sponsoring a music competition,” Sonic began.
“Ah, It’s going to be some mind control hoax, like all reality television,” Sticks said.
“Probably,” Sonic agreed. “But it’s not like we have anything better to do.”