Sonic's next encounter was with Knuckles the Echidna, who was holding a gift of some sort, wrapped in metallic green paper.
"Hey, happy birthday, Sonic!" said Knuckles.
"Thanks, Knuckles!" replied Sonic. "Can I open my gift now?"
"Sure, go ahead!"
Sonic unwrapped his gift. It was a…sandwich?
"Heh?" said Sonic. "Ah well, free food's always decent!"
"I made it myself, too!" said Knuckles. Sonic took a bite out of the sandwich, only to bite down on something unusual.
"Knux, this sandwich tastes funny! What's in…" Then, he realized that Knuckles' hand was in the sandwich.
"Hey man, I always thought ya deserved a knuckle sandwich, so here!" Knuckles punched Sonic in the face with his sandwich hand.
"OW!" exclaimed Sonic, who got a sizeable bruise. "That was way uncool!"
Knuckles was laughing. "Come on, lighten up, man! It was only a joke!"
Of course, Sonic was not amused. "Ha ha ha. Smell ya later, Knucklehead!"
The Blue Blur sped away.
At this time, Sonic was rather deep in thought. His birthday was always an interesting day for him, but this was something else. Sure, there was that whole incident with the Time Eater, but that was different. He was used to defeating evil demons that popped up out of nowhere, but he wasn't used to people wishing him a happy birthday in such unusual ways.
Speaking of unusual ways, Sonic was snapped out of his train of thought when he nearly collided with a marching band in Green Hill Zone. Not just any marching band, either; it was a small parade. They had a couple of floats and a giant banner saying "HAPPY BIRTHDAY SONIC THE HEDGEHOG!" The band was playing "Stars & Stripes Forever". Ol' Blue looked at the whole spectacle with awe & confusion.
While he was watching the whole thing, the parade suddenly came to a stop. Two familiar faces descended from one of the floats: Amy Rose & Cream the Rabbit. Amy was dressed in a red cheerleader's outfit, while Cream was wearing a blue dress with the Sonic Team emblem on it.
"Hellooooooo Sonic!" cried Amy, who wasted no time in giving Sonic a big hug & a kiss. Sonic was rather unenthusiastic.
"Happy Birthday, Mr. Sonic!" said Cream.
"Chao chao chao!" said Cheese, Cream's pet Chao.
"Whoa…what's with the whole song & dance here?" asked Sonic.
"Cream & I put it together, silly!" replied Amy. "Isn't it fantastic!?"
"It's certainly…different."
"We wanted to do something special for the best person in the world!" said Cream.
"Chao!" said Cheese
"Awwwww…that's really neat!" said Sonic. "Thanks for the spectacle; it looks boss! Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta book." Sonic tried to keep going, but Amy grabbed his arm and prevented him from doing so.
"Hey, where are you going so soon?" asked Amy.
"I got a party to go to, Amy!" replied Sonic.
"Come on, Sonic, don't you wanna ride the float with us?"
"I'd love to, but Tails is probably waitin' for me!"
"Aw, come on! It'll be fun!"
"Yeah, Mr. Sonic!" said Cream. "We want you to come with us! Please?" Both Amy & Cream were giving Sonic innocent, doe-eyed smiles. He didn't really want to come along, but after a few moments, he caved:
"All right, I'll go along with ya for a bit!" Amy, Cream & Cheese all cheered when Sonic agreed to this.
"Then let's go!" said Amy. Once she'd dragged Sonic to the float, the parade started back up again. Amy, Cream & Cheese were all waving to an invisible crowd, while Sonic just stood there with Amy's other arm wrapped around him.
"Come on, Sonic, wave to everybody!" said Amy, who elbowed Sonic.
"But there's nobody else here!" said Sonic.
"It's OK, you can pretend, Mr. Sonic!" said Cream.
"Chao!" said Cheese.
"Ah, what the hey, I guess it can't hurt." So, Sonic waved to the invisible crowd and pretended to be enjoying himself.
(This is so lame,) thought Sonic. (I don't mind Cream or her little bud, but I'm not sure I really wanna hang with Amy for so long. Also, what's the point of this jam if nobody else shows?)
After a couple more miles with nobody else coming to see the parade, Sonic looked at his watch. Suddenly…
"Well well well, look who's having a birthday today!" Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik showed up in his Eggmobile, which had a couple of Tesla coils attached to it. Accompanying him was Snively, his nephew/assistant, who was driving a hovercar with some sort of generator on the back.
"Hey Robuttnik, how'd ya know it was my birthday today?" asked Sonic.
"Sonic, you fool! I know EVERYTHING about you! Even if I didn't, I also happened to know that today was YOUR birthday because it's really MY birthday today! And since you've been rude enough not to give me any presents, I'll just have to ruin your wretched party! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"Go away, Dr. Robotnik!" shouted Amy. "You're not going to rain on our parade!"
"Yeah!" said Cream. "We worked so hard to impress Sonic, and we won't let you ruin it!"
"That's what you think!" said Robotnik. "Snively, is the Egg-O-Matic Raindancer ready?"
"Yes sir!" replied Snively.
"Excellent! Prepare to ruin their festivities! MUHAHAHAHAHA!" Robotnik fired off a few lightning bolts, which didn't hit the parade floats or any of the participants, but came dangerously close. Meanwhile, the sky grew cloudy as Snively fired up the Egg-O-Matic Raindancer.
"Come on!" exclaimed Sonic. "Let's give these turkeys a silver lining!"
"Yeah!" shouted Amy & Cream. Sonic curled up into a ball and Amy hit him with her Piko Piko Hammer, sending him hurtling towards the Eggmobile. Cream took Cheese and hurled him at Snively's hovercar. The force of the impacts was enough to send Robotnik & Snively flying off into the horizon.
"I HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE THAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT HEDGEHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOG!" shouted Robotnik.
With Robotnik's plot foiled, the sky cleared up again.
"That was dy-no-nite!" exclaimed Sonic.
"Of course it was!" said Amy. "You're the greatest, Sonic!" She gave him another hug & kiss. Cream also gave him a hug.
Once they finished their hug, Cream said, "Three cheers for Sonic! Hip-hip…"
"HOORAY!" shouted everybody.
"Hip-hip…"
"HOOOORAAAAAY!"
"Hip-hip…"
"HOOOOOOOORAAAAAAAAAAAYYY!"
"Gee…thanks, guys," said Sonic. Then, he looked at his watch again. "Whoa, look at the time! I really gotta book!"
"Wait, where are you going, Sonic?" asked Amy.
"Please don't leave yet!" said Cream. "We're only getting started!"
"Hey, I'd love to ride this tub around, but I gotta go! The guys at Knothole are probably sick of waitin' for me, especially Tails! Up, over and gone!" He broke free of Amy's grasp and kept going.
"Awwww…I was hoping he'd stay!" said Amy.
"Don't feel too bad, Miss Amy," said Cream. "You should be happy that you got to spend time with him today!"
"Chao!" said Cheese.
