It was another battle against Eggman. Sonic zoomed across the woods, dodging Eggman's laser. Eggman even sang as he fought. "Jungle laser, jungle laser, fry you with my laser!"
"Really?" Penny rolled her eyes.
Sonic looks ahead and sees a tree; in the tree is a bird's nest with birds inside it. Sonic smirked, turning towards Eggman. "Hey, Egghead! Smile for the birdie!"
Sonic quickly jumped up the tree and flings the bird's nest at Eggman, who immediately starts yelling in pain, due to the birds pecking his face. "Ow, ow, they're pecking my eyes! Why would I ever smile at this?!"
Sonic pursues Eggman, while Knuckles, Penny, Sticks, Amy, and Tails pursue Orbot and Cubot. Dr. Eggman comes up to a cliff wall, and part of it opens, revealing a cave inside. He zoomed into the cave, followed by Sonic. The wall closed, this time revealing some sort of a temple door. Knuckles skidded to a stop outside the door, trying to break it with his fists.
Nothing.
Knuckles snarled angrily at the door. "STOP SMILING!"
...
"There's no other way in!" Tails cried. "Sonic's trapped!"
"Oh, no!" Penny whimpered, wringing her hands. Tails patted her back reassuringly. "Don't worry, we'll get him out!"
"That means Dr. Eggman is trapped, too!" Orbot said. Cubot smiled. "We're free! Free I tell ya!" Both robots throw confetti in the air, spinning around happily. "I could buy a houseboat, and live on it, even though it's a boat!" Cubot said.
"And I can finally finish my memoirs," Orbot told them. "I've been told I'm a natural recontour!"
"And I've been told I'm a neutral raccoon!" Cubot said, and Orbot and Cubot ran away.
"Well, we're sticking around to free Sonic," Penny said. "But until then, one of us needs to be in charge."
"Good thinking, Penny." Knuckles smiled at the human girl. "I'll be in charge!"
"You? I'm in charge!" Amy snapped at Knuckles.
"I don't trust anyone in charge," Sticks muttered, glancing away from the group.
"I know," Tails said. "Why don't we all be in charge?"
"NO!" Everyone yelled at Tails.
...
Penny soon found herself trying to calm things down between her friends as they fought. Amy glared at Knuckles. "Fine, if we can't decide who's in charge, we'll split up. Who wants to be on Team Amy?"
Tails raised his hand.
"Great!" Knuckles said. "And who wants Knuckles to lead Team Amy?"
"Amy leads Team Amy; Knuckles leads Team Knuckles." Amy corrected him.
"Wait, there's a Team Knuckles now?" Knuckles asked.
"Can I be on both teams?" Tails asked.
"NO!"
"Come on, guys!" Penny said. "Stop fighting-"
"We all have to pick a side, Tails," Amy said, ignoring Penny. "Now, who's it gonna be: Amy..."
"Or Amy?" Knuckles asked, and Penny and Amy both groaned, facepalming themselves. "I still don't get how this works."
"HELP!" Orbot cried, flying up to them. Cubot joined. "We can't be on our own!" Cubot said.
Orbot shuddered. "All of that freedom, too many choices!"
Penny raised her eyebrows at them. "Isn't that the point of freedom?"
...
Soon, Penny, Knuckles, Tails, Sticks, Amy, Orbot, and Cubot sit around next to each other, trying to figure out what to do. "Let's go over it one more time; who's leading us right now?" Orbot asked.
"ME!" Knuckles and Amy said together.
"We're not getting anywhere like this; maybe I should be in charge." Tails pipped up.
"NO!" Sticks, Amy, Penny, Orbot, Cubot, and Knuckles frowned at him. They continued their argument.
"If I was in charge, we'd be in the temple already!" Amy hissed at Knuckles.
"And if you were in charge, I'd be in the temple already!" Knuckles snapped.
"What." Penny glanced at Knuckles with a puzzled expression.
"I don't know," Knuckles told her, and Penny slapped her forehead in annoyance.
"Hello? Uh, fellas?" Orbot called to them, but the others were too busy with their argument to even notice.
"You're so incompetent, you don't even know how to argue!" Amy snapped at Knuckles.
"Guys!" Penny pleaded, trying to break the argument. "Please!"
"You're right!" Knuckles snapped over Penny. "Most of the time I'm very confused and just yell back things!"
Sticks, who was also fed up with the argument, stomped over to them. "It doesn't matter who's leading; we're never getting into the..."
She, Penny, and the others let out a scream as the ground crumbles from beneath them.
After a few moments of falling, Penny groaned, standing up. Her eyes widened at the sudden sight in front of her... Eggman was on top of Sonic's shoulders, trying to reach a higher opening. "Sonic! Are you helping Eggman?!" Penny asked, surprised.
"What?!" Sonic stuttered, and the blue hedgehog quickly tossed Eggman off of his shoulders and leaned against the wall nonchalantly. "No."
Penny smirked. "Yes, you are."
Sonic was about to grumble something back at her when a minecart caught his eye. "There's our way out!"
"An old minecart?" Orbot asked, confused. "We don't know where it goes!" He let out a yelp as a rock fell on his head.
"Well, you wanna stay here?" Sonic asked. He quickly grabbed Penny in his arms and placed her into the cart, and everyone else jumped in. Sonic nodded at Eggman, and the two grabbed each end of the lever. "Ready?"
The next thing Penny knew, she was sitting on her knees next to Sonic, and squeezing her eyes shut as the cart zoomed through the tunnel. The ride got even faster and the rumbling of rocks got even closer. She squeaked and clung to Sonic's legs. He didn't even complain about it.
They race along the tracks, but the entire tunnel behind them begins caving in. They lift and pump faster as the rock slide begins to catch up, but they soon come to an opening in the cave leading back outside.
Penny let out a yell as the minecart flew out, but the tracks abruptly end, and they all fall down to the ground. Rocks tumble out, and Eggman and Sonic jump away, missing being hit by a boulder.
Eggman and Sonic looked at each other, exclaiming, "YES!" Before quickly stopping their high five and walking away.
"We're so happy you're back!" Cubot cried, giving Eggman a hug.
"We'll never desert you again!" Orbot said.
"What?" Eggman sounded confused.
"I mean, would you mind reading a draft of my memoirs?" Orbot said quickly.
"Thank goodness we've got Sonic back again," Amy said. "Knuckles, I can't believe we squabbled like that!"
"Yeah, you were out of control." Knuckles told her.
"I was out of control?! You were being totally obstinate!" Amy snapped at him.
"I don't know what "obstinate" means, but I refuse to learn." Knuckles smirked, and Penny burst into giggles.
Eggman smirked at Sonic. "You know, we actually made a pretty good team. It was almost like, we were friends or something."
"Yeah, like that would ever happen," Sonic grumbled. The ground started shaking again, and Sonic grabbed Penny in his arms and ran off, followed by the rest of his friends.
"Catch ya later, Eggface!" Sonic called back towards Eggman.
"Not if I destroy you first!" Eggman snarled, running after Sonic.
Next Chapter: Let's Play Musical Friends