Penny watched as Tails fixed his airplane. She was soon joined by Sonic, Sticks, Knuckles, and Amy. Sonic glanced at Tails. "Tails. We're heading for Meh Burger. Wanna come along?"
"I'm installing an awesome speaker system in my baby." Tails smiled. "Check it out!" Tails pressed a button on his remote plane, and a second later, it started dancing to a rock song.
Amy shook her head. "You spend way too much time with that plane!"
"It's like he LOVES it!" Knuckles teased, putting a hand on Tails' back. "Do you love your plane, Tails? Do you LOVE IT?"
"I do." Tails shot Knuckles a glare.
"Oh," Knuckles said. "That took the wind out of my cells."
Penny let out a giggle.
Tails turned back to his plane. "Now if you'll excuse me, it's time for her propeller-to-tail fuselage massage."
Sticks shook her head. "Okay, we're getting you out of here. That's just nuts!"
"Agreed," Penny said, walking up to Tails and dragging him away from his plane, ignoring his yelps of protests.
...
"Thanks for talking me into coming along," Tails smiled as he walked with his friends through the village shopping center. "It was good for me to get away from the workshop." He smiled. "So I could buy more stuff for my plane!"
Penny and the others groaned in annoyance.
"FREE SAMPLES! Get your free samples!"
"Isn't that Eggman?!" Penny asked, surprised at seeing the doctor in a cooking hat and apron.
"I suppose it is," Sonic said.
"Step right up and try the zestiest, lip-smacking-est flavor extravaganza ever to hit your taste buds: Eggman's Tomato Sauce! Made with real tomatoes," Eggman said.
Penny raised her eyes. Eggman making tomato sauce? That was new.
Sonic frowned. "This isn't good." Sonic quickly sped over and knocked the bowl of tomato sauce from a customer's hand.
"You'll thank me later," Sonic told the crowd. He glared at Eggman. "I know you're up to something, Egghead; I just don't know what it is yet."
"You're trying to poison these villagers!" Amy said accusingly, and the villagers gasped.
"Poison?" Eggman sounded confused. "There's no poison here, just my patented blend of herbs and spices! Here, I'll try some myself!" The doctor picked up his spoon and sipped it, and glared at Sonic. "See, harmless and delicious. You try."
He held the spoon towards Sonic, who frowned. "Eh, yeah, I think I'll pass."
"Well, looks like I've finally found Sonic the Hedgehog's weakness. He's scared of tomato sauce!" Eggman taunted, and everyone burst into laughter.
Penny scowled at them. "Oh, be quiet!"
Sonic frowned, snatching the spoon away from Eggman and tried the sauce. "Oh no, my worst fears have come true."
"What's wrong?" Tails asked.
Sonic smiled. "It's delicious! It's like my taste buds are swimming in a sea of mouthwatering, tomatoey goodness!"
"Really?" Penny smiled. "Let me try! I've been meaning to have a new sauce for my pasta dishes!" She smiled as she tried it herself, saying, "Ooh, zesty!"
"The spices are all organic and lair-grown," Eggman told her.
Tails frowned. "I'd better buy a few cans and run some tests, just to be safe."
...
"It's been hours since I ate the sauce and I'm feeling totally fine. Find anything on your end?" Sonic asked as he stopped peddling the testing machine.
"I've tested for acidity, radioactivity, arsenic, old lace, and mind-control serum; it comes up clean every time." Tails looked a little perplexed.
"So it's in the clear?" Penny asked, and Tails nodded.
"What about brainitis? Did you check for that?" Knuckles asked.
"For the last time, Knuckles, there's no such thing as "brainitis." Tails frowned at him.
"Then how do you explain?!" Knuckles yelped.
Penny glanced at her friends. "I hate to say it, but, um... maybe Eggman really has changed?"
...
Sonic had been running for some time with Penny in his arms until he saw something that made him stop.
"What's wrong, Sonic?" Penny asked.
Sonic frowned, pointing to a poster with Eggman on it, surrounded by four tomatoes with smiling faces.
"I'm sure it's not that bad," Penny smiled.
Sonic shrugged. He was about to start running when Stratsford's voice was heard. "Hey! Hey mister, you're my hero!" The little hippo boy cried, running up to them. "Can I get an autograph?"
Sonic smiled, placing Penny down and turning to Stratford. "Sure, kid, anything for-"
His mouth dropped open when Stratford ran past him, holding out a tomato sauce can out to Eggman. Eggman smiled, taking the can. "Sure, kid, anything for a fan."
Stratford smiled at Eggman. " When I grow up, I wanna be just like you!"
Eggman smiled down at him, singing the tomato can. "Woah-ho, don't set the bar too high; not everybody is cut out for the big time." He returned the can to Stratford. "Just look at that Sonic the Hedgehog guy; whatever happened to him? Is he still a thing?"
Sonic scowled. Penny patted his arm. "I'm sure everything will be okay soon."
"I still want to tell Tails about this," Sonic said. He pressed his communicator. "Hey Tails, get this-"
However, his communicator sparked and stopped working. Penny raised her eyebrows. "Now that's new."
"Oh, come on!" Sonic hissed. "Seriously?! Nothing's going right today."
...
At Tails' workshop...
Penny watched as Sonic got in a line behind Knuckles. "What's going on? I need Tails to fix my Communicator."
"Hey, get in line, dude; first he's gotta fix my headphones." Knuckles said.
"And my Ancient Artifact Analyzer," Amy said.
"And my magic light tube." Sticks said, holding out a flashlight. Penny let out a giggle.
Tails walked out from behind his plane, a worried look on his face. "Sorry, guys; I'm having problems of my own. My plane's been acting funny lately. I've been working on her all night."
"Maybe you just need a break," Penny smiled, picking up a can of tomato sauce. "How about I make some pasta..."
Sonic snatched the can from Penny's hand, interrupting her. " Ugh, can we go to Meh Burger instead? I'm sick of that stuff."
"Meh." Sticks, Penny, Amy, Knuckles, and Tails muttered, leaving the shop after Sonic.
...
At Meh Burger...
Sonic hummed as he bit into his burger. "Mmm! How do they do it?"
Dave walked up. "The secret ingredient is Meh-onnaise."
The TV turned on, and Dave frowned. "What the..."
It turned out to be another Comedy Chip show. But how did the TV turn on without anyone turning a nob?
"Welcome back to a very special edition of the Comedy Chimp Show, live from Dr. Eggman's evil lair." Comedy Chip announced.
"Thanks for having me, CC," Eggman said.
"Ugh, you've gotta be kidding me!" Sonic grumbled.
"So Dr. Eggman, you were a successful... super-villain. Why the switch to celebrity chef?"
"I've been wondering about that myself." Penny raised her eyebrows.
"Well, Comedy Chimp, honestly I needed a change. Besting Sonic week in and week out had become tedious. It was time for a real challenge."
"Okay, that's enough," Sonic grumbled. He stood up to turn off the TV, and to Penny's curiosity, the TV didn't even turn off or even change the channel.
"I guess we're stuck watching this." Penny shrugged, biting into her burger.
"And what's the deal with his haircut? I feel like I'm getting attacked by a blue pineapple!" Eggman continued.
"Burn!" Knuckles laughed. "You know. 'Cause your head has those pointy things on it."
"Those are his quills, Knuckles." Penny rolled his eyes at him.
"Now I'm told you have a special announcement for our viewers at home." Comedy Chip continued.
"That's right, CC," Eggman smirked. "You see, In just a few short weeks, I've gotten cans of Eggman's tomato sauce into every home and business in town. But Sonic and his friends assumed I poisoned the tomato sauce. Can you believe that?"
"That's just... bananas!" Comedy Chip said nervously.
"I know right? My sauce was never tainted. It was the cans they should've been looking out for."
Penny gasped. "Wait, what?" She and Sonic shared a shocked look. A second later, cans of tomato sauce started running amock, attacking the villagers. One tomato sauce robot started firing cash register coins at Dave.
"Watch it!" Dave cried, trying to fend off the coins. "I bruise like a delicate peach!"
Sticks gave a yell, landing on the Meh Burger's counter and destroyed the cash register.
Soon, Penny and her friends made it to the village square. Sticks growled as she got into a fighting stance. "They all laughed when I said our appliances would turn against us! But who's laughing now?"
"You?" Sonic asked.
"Why would I be laughing?" Sticks frowned at him. "This isn't funny. You have a sick sense of humor!"
"Let's do this." Knuckles smirked, and soon Team Sonic started fighting the robots. One of them nearly attacked Penny, but Sonic zoomed her away just in time in his arms.
"Take this, you robo-trash!" Sticks yelled.
Tails' eyes went wide. "No! It can't be!"
Penny turned to where Tails was looking, and her mouth dropped open.
Tails' plane. And she was driving on her own.
"RUN!" Tails screamed, and everyone ran in wild directions.
"Tails, we gotta destroy that plane!" Sonic yelled.
" No, we can't! Let me talk to her! I know I can reach her!" Tails hopped onto the tallest mountain and waved his arms at his plane. "Plane! It's me, Tails! Remember all the good times we've had together?"
Tails then started describing all of the memories he and his plane had together, and Sonic started sniffling. Penny glanced at him amusingly.
"What?" Sonic asked, noticing Penny and Tails staring at him.
At Eggman's layer, Comedy Chip was tied to a chair while Dr. Eggman continued his talk show. Eggman snickered. "So the doctor tells me it wasn't an infection at all! I just sat on a raisin!"
Comedy Chip forced out a laugh. "Good one!" He turned to a passing sauce can and whispered, "If you get me out of here, I'll set you up with a nice box of rigatoni."
Right at that moment, Sonic, Knuckles, Sticks, and Penny arrived. Eggman gulped. "Th-this is a closed set, you know!" He turned to Comedy Chip. " Really, sorry for the lack of professionalism around here."
"Show's over, Eggface!" Sonic growled.
"So, you think the show's over, huh? Well, I beg to differ!" Eggman scowled, pressing a button on his remote. Penny's eyes widened as the tomato sauce cans stacked themselves into a gigantic robot. Sonic pulled Penny behind him. "Oh, now I get it," he muttered.
The Scrapheap Bot hurls one of the lights for Comedy Chimp's show at Sonic and Knuckles, who barely manage to dodge it. The robot then picks up a couch from the show and launches two cans at them. Knuckles grabs one, jumps over the couch which the robot threw, opens the can, and drinks all the tomato sauce it contains.
"Can you please not do that?" Penny glared at Knuckles.
"You should try it." Knuckles smiled. "Lair-grown spices really make a difference!"
Sonic then attacks the robot's right arm, knocking it.
"Not bad for a blue pineapple," Sonic smirked at Eggman.
Knuckles picks up Sticks and tosses her at the Scrapheap Bot. She grabs onto the robot's head, and tears it off, knocking her and the robot over. Sonic holds out his hand to Sticks she grabs it and pulls herself back up. The robot, however, just automatically re-assembles itself.
"Oh, for the love of..." Sonic groaned.
"Face it you blue-haired blockhead," Eggman laughed. "I've got this one in the bag! Victory for Eggman!"
Holds up his remote control triumphantly. Tails arrives in his plane and flew towards Eggman.
"TAILS!" Penny cried happily.
"Did somebody call for backup?" Tails smiled, pressing a button on his utility belt, activating the Enerbeam. He lunged it at Eggman's remote.
"Hey, give that back!" Eggman growled angrily at Tails. Tails pressed a button on the remote, and the Scrapheap Bot falls apart and shuts down. All the appliances that attacked the villagers are also shown shutting down.
Eggman growled at Sonic and his friends. "You may have won this round, but no matter. I've got a warehouse full of thousands more of these evil robotic cans of sauce!"
Hearing wiring, Eggman turned around and noticed one of Comedy Chip's cameras recording the whole message. Eggman grumbled in annoyance.
Soon, Eggman found himself back in his layer, surrounded by his cans of tomato sauce. He sighed. "I probably shouldn't have said that all on TV."
Next Chapter: Cowbot