"Building takes teamwork, and a team needs a coach, and that's me!' Amy smiled, putting her hands to her hips. She turned to the group, who were busy working on the stage. "Sonic, hold that support strut horizontal."
"Since I'm the judge of this year's chili dog cookoff, I don't think I should help. I have to stay impartial." Sonic pointed out to her.
"No stage, no contest. No contest, no chili dogs to judge." Amy told him.
"Burn," Penny smirked at Sonic, who playfully glared at her. He turned to Tails and Knuckles. "Tails, Knuckles, get to it!"
Tails yelped as Knuckles smashed Amy's hammer and caused Sonic to fly towards Amy, who both collided into a tree. Amy sighed in annoyance. "I don't have time for this." She said, pushing Sonic off her. "I need Tails to prep the collar planks, and Knuckles to get the joist hangers, and Sticks to get more sticks."
"Tadah!"
Amy, Sonic, and Penny turned to face a completed stage.
"Well, what did you know?" Penny grinned.
"Thanks for keeping Amy busy so we could finish." Knuckles grinned at Sonic.
"Anything for a free chili dog." Sonic grinned back.
Amy frowned, walking up towards the stage. A banana seemed to be holding the stage. "What's that?" She asked. She grabbed for it.
"Don't!" Tails yelped. "That's a load-bearing banana."
Ignoring Tails, Amy pulled the banana out and the whole stage collapsed. She growled at her teammates. "Who builds with a banana?"
"Only a total dumb-dumb," Knuckles said, taking a bite out of a wooden plank. "Bananas give me splinters in my gums."
"You've got that all mixed up..." Penny shook her head with a giggle.
"That's it. I'll build the stage myself." Amy grumbled.
Soon, Amy smiled at a fully completed stage. "Ha! And that, my friends, is a stage." She turned around to find out that the rest of the team was gone. "Guys?!" She turned around to see that they were sitting at a Meh Burger table and talking about the contest.
"If you win, I'll wear the trophy upside down on my head like a hat for a year." The kitsune said with a smile.
"No way!" Knuckles pounded his hands on the table. "My trophy, my hat!"
"No, Knuckles, I think he's trying to..." Sonic began but paused when Knuckles stared at him. He sighed. "Ugh. Just wear the hat."
Dave walked up and placed a plate of six chili dogs. (six because Penny does NOT, and I repeat, NOT like chili.) Dave gave Penny her Meh Burger, and she thanked him with a grin.
Dave smirked at the rest of the team. "Eat 'em and weep, losers! I'm winning this year's cookoff with my super-secret chili recipe."
Sonic took a bite and turned to Dave. "Ketchup, wasabi, and chunks of expired pigeon meat."
"Lucky guess." Dave hissed. He took the plate and walked off.
Amy took her seat next to Sticks. "I finished the stage, praise me."
"Thanks, Amy," Sonic said.
"Thanks!" Tails grinned.
"Nice job!"
"MUCH better than the old one." Penny grinned.
"Can it be used as a flotation device in the event of a water landing?" Sticks asked.
Everyone stared at her.
"We'll see who's staring when that thing lands in the ocean!" She shrieked.
Penny giggled.
"We don't need a judging stage." Knuckles said suddenly. "I've got the contest in the bag!" He took out a box and placed it on the table.
"I thought you said it was in the bag," Penny said with a raised brow. Knuckles grinned at her and took the bag out of the box. "Yeah, who am the smart one now? That's a rhetorical question, by the way. The answer is, of course, me am." Knuckles said, taking out a smaller box from the bag and showing the gang a familiar-looking pepper.
"My secret weapon: A one of a kind pepper!"
Penny frowned. Something seemed fishy here... Sticks had shown her the same one earlier.
Wait a minute...
"One of a kind peppers! Get your one of a kind peppers!" Mrs. Vandersnout called out, standing by a sails cart.
Sticks, Amy, Knuckles, and Penny frowned at her, holding their own one-of-a-kind peppers. Sonic hummed as he bit out of a chili dog, and Penny gave him a weird look.
Sticks marched up to Mrs. Vandersnout, glaring at her. "You told us these were one-of-a-kind peppers!"
"I never said they were one-of-a-kind peppers."
"Here's another crate of those peppers you're selling as "one-of-a-kind!" A delivery guy said. He yelped as he tripped over the peppers. The peppers from the crate spilled to the ground.
"Ah, don't even worry about it. I got another 20 crates on the truck."
"Well, that was poorly timed. I suppose you want a refund. I'll just get your money. I keep it in a place called... tough luck, losers!" Mrs. Vandersnout snarled at them, and hopped in her cart, and drove off.
"Jerk." Penny scowled. Sonic nodded in agreement.
However, Mrs. Vandersnout drove so fast that she nearly ran into them, but Sonic pushed Penny out of the way just in time. smashed into the stage Amy worked so hard on, knocking it to the ground. Mrs. Vandersnout landed on her back. She turned to Team Sonic with a hopeful expression.
"Can one of you dears help a poor little old lady?"
"NO!"
"I deserve that."
"If I'm going to win that contest, I gotta go find a unique pepper!" Knuckles said. He ran off.
"I hope he finds the unique pepper..." Penny said.
...
Knuckles walked through the forest, searching for his unique pepper. He finally found a bright red pepper, and he grinned. He picked it up and inspected it before he took a bite.
However, it was burning hot...way too hot for Knuckles to bear. The echidna let out a pained yelp before passing out on the ground.
...
Knuckles returned to the stage, eyeing the rest of the team stirring their chili dog pots. "I have found the pepper of peppers!" Knuckles grinned. "Hot with an indescribable flavor!"
"Really?" Penny grinned, running up to Knuckles. "You're going to win for sure!"
"Thanks, Pen!" Knuckles grinned back. "Those others might as well stop stirring now."
"Not so fast!" Eggman called to him, holding a pepper. "Behold, the Facepeeler Maximus! Witness now..." He paused, stuttering. He turned to Orbot. "Line?"
Orbot hissed to him, "If you dare..."
"Witness now, if you dare, the Chili Maker 5,000!"
"Copyright Eggman Industries, patent-pending, all rights reserved, some restrictions apply," Cubot said quickly.
"This little beauty extracts the very essence of the chili pepper, creating a chili dog of unprecedented potency!" Eggman said with a grin.
Orbot pulled out a kazoo and played it, at the same time throwing colorful confetti in the air.
Penny and Knuckles watched as Eggman placed his pepper into the machine, and with one single drop, it dropped to the pan in a burning flame of fire. Knuckles scowled and walked off, tossing away the pepper.
"Better luck next time?" Penny called nervously.
"Psstt!"
Knuckles turned to the familiar call to see Mrs. Vandersnout waving him over. Knuckles hurried over to her. "If you want to win this thing, you need the Lost Pepper of Claggerhorn."
"Well, hand it over!"
"What part of "the lost" didn't you get? Luckily, I've got this one-of-a-kind map!"
Mrs. Vandersnout handed Knuckles a map, who received it with an "oooh!"
Knuckles dropped three coins in her hand and walked up, holding out the map with excitement.
"Where do you want this crate of "One-of-a-kind maps"?" The delivery guy from before asked.
"Put them with the others." Mrs. Vandersnout answered, pointing to crates of maps.
...
Knuckles grunted as he climbed a giant cliff. "Almost there..." He grunted as he put one leg on a loose stone, and the stone broke. Knuckles gave a startled yell as he rode down the mountain on it. He yelled as he skidded to a stop near the edge of the cliff.
"Awesome!" Knuckles grinned. "I gotta do that again!"
He ran off.
...
"The Staircase of Terrifying Slipperieness..." Knuckles read from the map. He glanced at the stones which were piled up like staircases. He tried running up them but kept slipping every time.
Finally letting out a frustrated yell, Knuckles used his fists to climb his way up the stairs.
...
(The Field of Baby Ducks is my personal favorite Sonic Boom Knuckles moment!)
"The Field of Baby Ducks..."
Knuckles walked up to one of the ducks and smiled at it. "Hey, little fella, you're cute!" Knuckles cooed. He picked up the duck and it exploded in his hand.
"Look at you!" He yelped as it exploded. He wiggled his head from the shock and glanced at the next duck.
"Look at you!" The same thing happened again.
"Look at you!"
Later...
"Fool me once, shame on you, fool me 87 times, shame on me." Knuckles groaned as he limped through the Baby Ducks field.
He picked up another duck and it exploded in his hands.
Knuckles yelled and tore through a bush, panting. He lifted his head in the air and let out a werewolf-like howl.
Knuckles pressed a button to a speaker, and it blared out, "Congratulations, you have successfully traversed The Lands of Doomed! And so, sit back in your very own recliner... of the doomed."
Knuckles let out a yell as he felt himself being shoved into a chair, and his wrists were shackled to it. He soon found himself flying seriously fast, at the same time being hit in the face by a pie and a baby duck explosion.
Knuckles let out a yell as he broke free from the chair and smashed headfirst into the bottom of the volcano, and everything went black.
...
Knuckles groaned as he opened his eyes. The first thing he noticed was he was tied to the ground. He grunted as he tried to escape.
"What is this? Let me go!"
"What is it that 'ya seek?" A voice boomed.
"I seek the lost Pepper of Claggerhorn!"
"Why do 'ya seek it?"
"To roast over an open flame, to tear the seeds from its insides, chop it into tiny pieces, scald it in boiling oil, and use it to flavor my Chili for a chance win a very small trophy..."
"I am the Lost Pepper of Claggerhorn!"
Knuckles tilted his head to see a red pepper standing on his stomach, with an eye patch and a bite on his head. Knuckles gulped. "Let me finish... Is the opposite of what I would do!"
"Nice recovery, laddie."
Knuckles eyed the head bite. "Dude, what's with your head bite?"
The other peppers around them gasped.
Lost Pepper of Clagerhorn raised his hand and turned to Knuckles. "'Tis a scar I wear proudly, to remind me of the home we lost."
"What's happening?" Knuckles asked as a vision of the home the Lost Pepper was talking about.
"It's just a vision. Claggerhorn was a paradise, lush green meadows, majestic mountains, and the hot springs, laddie... It was prophesied that a big dumb oaf would come one day to lead us back to our beloved hot springs..."
"What were they like?"
"They were hot."
"Didn't see that coming." Knuckles chuckled.
"We have found our oaf!" Lost Pepper cheered, and the other peppers started to chant "Oaf! Oaf! Oaf!"
"The time has come, 'me pepper people. We must reclaim our land for our children, and our children's children! Are 'ya with me?!" Lost Pepper cried.
"YES!" Knuckles cheered, snapping through the bonds. Knuckles glanced at his raised fist and quickly placed it back to his side. "Oh. Haha, sorry."
...
Hearing yelling, Penny looked up to see Knuckles running towards them accompanied by some peppers.
"Huh, there's something you don't see every day," Sonic hummed.
Knuckles launched one of the chili people, and Penny let out a yelp as it knocked her down. Sonic came to her aid, protecting her from the peppers.
Sticks let out a yell, smashing the peppers away from her, however, the pepper was sent flying into Eggman's pepper machine, and the machine exploded, flinging the stage into the ocean.
"It CAN be used as a flotation device!" Sticks grinned.
Two peppers were launched at Eggman's side, and he yelped. "Ow! Orbot! Cubot! Deal with these pests!"
"You got it, boss!" Cubot said, and he and his buddy started hitting Eggman instead of the chili people.
Knuckles launched another trio of peppers at Sonic and Penny, but Sonic grabbed Penny in his arms and dodged them all. Sonic frowned at Knuckles. "Knuckles, what are you doing?"
"Helping these pepper people reclaim what is rightfully theirs!"
"By attacking your friends?!"
"You're gonna have to choose, laddie, between old friends and new. FOR CLAGGERHORN!" Lost Pepper yelled, and he jumped off of Knuckles and dodged towards Penny, whose eyes widened in fright. Knuckles quickly grabbed a pan lid and stood in front of the human girl protectively. Lost Pepper yelped as he bounced off the lid and landed in a pot next to Amy and Tails.
They gasped.
"Lost Pepper!" Knuckles cried, running over. Penny and Sonic followed. Knuckles quickly glanced into the pot. "You okay?"
Lost Pepper hummed in happiness. "'Tis like a thousand tiny bubbles, urging me to let go. Like the hot springs of old. But with expired pigeon meat."
"Does everyone know my secret recipe?" Dave hissed in frustration.
...
Soon, Sonic walked around the stage, checking out how the others were doing. Amy grinned. "This is perfect! The Pepper People get to take a good hot soak and in turn their flavor our chili! It's a win-win!"
"Soo... What is it you do with this chili? Pour it on your enemies from the turrets of your castles? Scald them into submission?" Lost Pepper asked from Knuckle's pot, taking a sip from the chili.
"Are you kidding? My friends LOVE to put it on hot dogs and they eat you-uh-it. I mean it." Penny gulped nervously at Lost Pepper's suddenly dark expression.
"By all that is chunky in my grandfather's beard, YOU WANT TO EAT OUR ESSENCE?!" He yelled at her, and she winced. "TRUCE OVER, ATTAAAAA-"
Sonic quickly placed a chili dog in Lost Pepper's mouth. Lost Pepper hummed before calming down. "'Tis like the world's finest carcass. But without the wretched taste of mixed lungs."
Sonic poured some on a chili dog and took a taste. He grinned. "I don't need to taste the others, WE HAVE A WINNER!"
"My hero!" Penny grinned, running over to Knuckles and giving him a hug. Knuckles grinned, hugging her back while everyone cheered.
"Sometimes it just takes a little teamwork to really mi-" Lost Pepper began, but was soon turned into Sonic calling out to him. "Hey! There he is!"
"Knuckles!" Penny yelped, running up to the echidna. "Please be okay!" She gasped, putting a hand on his shoulder. Knuckles grinned drowsily at her, all at the same time giving her a flirty look. "I won ze cookoff and I won your heart!"
"Maybe you're not okay..." Penny gave him a worried look.
"Uh, actually, the cookoff was yesterday," Amy said. "We've been looking for you ever since then!"
Knuckles sighed. "I ate this pepper. It was a tiny bite, but it gave me this crazy dream!" He grinned. "Or maybe, it was a DREAM!"
"That explains the weird thing you told me..." Penny shuddered a tiny bit.
"A pepper that strong?" Sonic chuckled. "Come on, Knuckles."
Penny and the others laughed.
"I guess you're right," Knuckles sighed. "that's impossibl-" He let out a belch of fire that scorched the rest of the team.
Penny glanced at everyone else, and they laughed again.
Next Episode: Late Night Wars