Sonic woke up and found himself in a soft, pink bed. He sat up, confused.

"Where am I?" he said to himself. That phrase alone sparked Sonic's memory. The events of yesterday came flooding back to him as he looked around the room. Ulala sat at the foot of the bed, brushing her hair. She smiled when she saw him wake up.

"Good morning, little guy!" she said cheerfully. "You sure are a heavy sleeper!"

"Is this your place?" Sonic asked her. She nodded.

"Welcome to the base of Space Channel 5!" she said warmly.

"You mean your news HQ?"

"You bet!" she replied. Sonic's stomach rumbled.

"Is there any place I can grab a bite to eat?" he asked, dashing out of the room before Ulala could answer him. He weaved through the hallways, following his nose straight to the kitchen. His mouth watered as the smell of pancakes and eggs hit him.

"Mmmm..." he breathed, running inside. He hopped onto a counter that was covered with food and literally dug right in. He never felt so hungry before in his life!

Ulala was worried that Sonic might run right into trouble, and was proved right as she rounded the corner. The chef was banging Sonic's head with a broom, yelling angrily.

"Steal ''my'' food, will you, you filthy animal!" he cried.

"Stop!" Ulala exclaimed, grabbing the broom just as the chef was bringing it down to slam Sonic. "He's with me!"

"This is your pet?" the chef asked her. Anger welled up in Sonic's chest.

"PET?!" he spluttered. "WHAT DO YOU THINK I AM?! A CAT?!"

"Calm down, Sonic," Ulala said. She turned to the cook.

"He's really hungry," Ulala told him. "Let him have this food. I'll pay for it."

"You don't have to do that," the chef said, relaxing. He leaned around Ulala to face Sonic.

"I apologize. I didn't mean to offend you."

"It's cool," Sonic replied. He grinned and gave a thumbs up.

"Love the food!" he said, grabbing the plate of food he was eating and running out the door. Ulala took a plate for herself and followed him.

"See ya!" she said, waving as she ran.

When she returned to her room, Sonic had already finished his plate of food. He shrugged.

"Sorry, Ulala," he apologized. "I didn't mean to cause trouble. I'm just..."

"Really, really hungry," Ulala finished for him, laughing.

Sonic laughed too. "Exactly!"

"Ulala? Are you there?" said a teen with spiky, pink hair. He walked into the room and took a good look at Sonic. "Who's that?"

"This is Sonic," replied Ulala. She pointed to the teen. "Sonic, this is Noize. He's a friend of mine."

"'Sup?" said Noize, shaking Sonic's hand.

"Hey," replied Sonic. Noize turned to Ulala.

"Fuse wants you ready. We're off to Cennenal to cover a robbery."

"Okay," said Ulala, heading out the door. "Sonic, stay here, I'll be back soon."

"No way!" exclaimed Sonic. "I'm not gonna miss all the fun!"

"Sonic, I'm just ''reporting'' the theft, not catching the crook."

"That's fine," the blue 'hog said, walking over to her. "You do the reporting, I'll do the catching!"

Ulala sighed in irritation, but smiled a little.

"You can come," she told him firmly. "But you gotta stay with me the entire time."

"Alright," Sonic replied shrugging. "Beats sittin' around."

"You think Fuse'll be okay with this?" Noize asked nervously.

"He'll be alright with it," Ulala said reassuringly.

____________________________________________

Ulala quickly found out that her boss was ''not'' alright with it, and he told her so on the way to the city of Cennenal.

"What are you doing?" he said. "It's not 'take your pet to work day'!"

"Sonic isn't my pet," she replied. "He's a friend. Not to mention that he saved me from Purge," she added as her boss scoffed.

"He really is back then, isn't he?"

"Yep."

"Alright," he said, sighing. Ulala heard a click and the connection ended.

"I like Fuse," Sonic said sarcastically. "He's a ''real'' cool guy."

"He actually is," Noize said, who was piloting the platform ship. "He just has... um..."

"Anger issues?" Sonic filled in helpfully.

"Yeah." They flew in silence for a moment before Ulala added, "He's really worried about our show's ratings."

"What do ya mean?" Sonic asked her.

"Nobody watches this show as much as they used to."

"Even though you saved the galaxy twice," Noize said bitterly. Sonic's eyes widened.

"You saved everybody's necks twice and nobody wants to watch you?" Sonic asked in shock. "I would've thought you'd have several fan clubs!"

"If there are any fan clubs, they're for Pudding," Ulala replied gloomily. "Comes from being a teen idol at one point in your life."

"Then I don't like Pudding!"

Ulala and Noize laughed as the platform ship landed. Ulala pulled out her microphone and motioned for Sonic to follow. He eagerly jumped off the ship to stand next to Ulala. Noize followed suit, carrying a camera.

"Good Morning, space cats!" said Ulala. "This is Ulala reporting from the beautiful city of Cennenal. I'm here in front of the jewelry store to announce a robbery by a red echidna, who stole the store's biggest and pricey gem."

Sonic's eyes widened in a mixture of shock and excitement. 'Knuckles is here!' he thought, leaping with joy. 'I'm not alone!'

"What's this?" asked Ulala, looking straight ahead. "There seems to be a disturbance. I... I think it's the thief!"

Sonic followed her gaze and spotted a red echidna with violet eyes clutching a green gem. A blue-haired policewoman wearing a cowboy hat had her pistol trained on the thief.

"Hand over the jewel, now," She said. "Let's not do this the hard way..."

"It's my job as guardian to protect the chaos emeralds!" replied Knuckles, holding the gem even tighter. "I won't hand it over!"

'Typical knuckle-head Knuckles,' he sighed in amusement. Then his eyes widened in shock as he realized what his friend had said.

"Um... Ulala..." he said, tapping her on the waist (he's too short to reach her shoulder!) Noize, with one hand on the camera, shook his head and put a finger to his lips. Sonic sent an urgent glance in his direction, but Noize had returned his gaze to Knux. Sonic balled his fists in frustration and leaped over to his friend's side.

"Sonic!" Ulala and Noize exclaimed as the blue blur reached Knuckles and the policewoman in a nanosecond.

"Ah!" she said, aiming her gun at Sonic. "So you're involved in this crime too, huh?"

"Sonic?" Knuckles said in an amazement that quickly faded into annoyance. "Should've known you'd be here, too." The blue 'hog ignored him.

"Who are you?" he asked the woman.

"People call me Pine," she sang. Two other policewomen stepped out behind her.

"Pine!" they echoed.

"Eastern Venus Space Police..."

"Geez, I asked you to tell me your name!" said Sonic, disgusted. "Not sing me a song!"

Ulala quickly stepped between them. "He's with me," she explained.

"Is the other animal with you, too?" Pine asked suspiciously. "He and the blue 'hog seem to know each other!"

Ulala glanced at Sonic, equally confused.

"Knux here is an ol' friend of mine!" said Sonic cheerfully, throwing one arm across the echidna's shoulders. "He guards the emeralds from the bad people!"

"Why?" Pine and Ulala said in unison.

"These things are powerful," replied Sonic, turning serious. "They fall into the wrong hands, and we're in trouble!"