Amy and Penny smiled to themselves as they sat in Vanilla's house. Vanilla had a special offer for Penny and Amy, and she wanted to ask them about it.
Amy smiled as she drank her tea. "Ah. Just the way I like it." She smiled.
"We're really happy you stopped by to visit us, Amy and Penny!" Cream smiled.
Penny smiled softly, and put down her drink. She looked at the new locket she wore around her neck. It installed a picture of her and her family. She missed them dearly. Especially Chris.
Vanilla looked up at the girls. "So have you thought about that offer we made the other day?" She asked. "Would you like to come live here?"
"Mrs. Vanilla, I would love to!" Penny smiled happily, and Cream ran over and gave her a hug.
Amy looked down. "Thanks for the invitation." She smiled. "But I can't accept."
"Why?!" Cream cried, loosening her grip on Penny. "We want you to stay here with us! We really care about you!"
"Cream!" Vanilla said soothingly.
"I know!" Amy said, tears going down her cheeks. "I'm really glad I have a friend like you! But you don't have to worry about me! It's been lonely without Sonic around, but...I know he'll come back."
Penny looked down at her locket again. She too was concerned on why Sonic hadn't returned home. It was curious that he didn't join her, Silver, and Knuckles when they walked into the portal. The human girl hopped that Sonic was okay.
"I AM BACK!" A familiar voice roared outside, snapping Amy out of her trance. The female hedgehog growled in anger, and she ran outside and threw a hammer at Eggman's ship.
"HEY!" Decoe yelled at the sudden hit.
"WHO WAS THE WISE GUY WHO HAMMERED OUR HOLE?!" Bocoe yelled as well.
"There's something about that hammer that looks awfully familiar." Dr. Eggman said nervously.
"AMY!" Decoe growled, glaring at the pink hedgehog below. "Why would you hit us! We were not bothering you!"
"Don't you have any idea what time it is?!" Amy snapped. "Turn off the volume or I'll turn off that loudspeaker out of the sky!"
Eggman growled in pure annoyance. "JUST BECAUSE YOUR BOYFRIEND'S NOT HERE, DON'T TAKE IT OUT ON ME!"
Penny and Vanilla watched from the window, and Penny frowned in jealousy when Eggman noted Sonic was Amy's boyfriend. Why couldn't he be hers alone?
Something had changed in Amy, like after that last comment Bokkun said about Sonic not being interested in Amy anymore. Vanilla grabbed Penny in the house and slammed the door, and the three girls hurried over to the window and closed the doors as Amy let out an angry scream and started hitting Eggman's ship with all the hammers she got.
Penny chuckled amusingly. Even as she did, she desperately wondered where Sonic was. And hoped he was okay. Why didn't he return? Something happened, but what? Hopefully nothing bad.
...
Watching the whole thing from afar, Knuckles smirked. "Amy's not too happy." He said.
Rouge nodded. "She's been like that since she came back." She said. "I talked to Penny the other day, and the girl seemed like she missed Sonic even more. Especially her family."
"Of course." Knuckles nodded. "I know why. I also understand Penny as well. They both miss having someone they could hang out with!"
Rouge nodded, smirking as she looked away. "Yeah..." She said. "This planet could get pretty lonely." She looked up. "I wonder why Sonic's still hasn't shown up yet. What do you think happened?"
Knuckles shrugged. "Who knows? Sonic's unpredictable."
"I'm sure he's on his way." Rouge said. "He can't keep Penny waiting forever. Unless Sonic had a time warp while transferring to this world. If that happened, he might not get here for weeks, or months, or even years!"
"Time works are trickier than you realize." Knuckles said. "All kinds of crazy things could happen if you get stuck in one. Of course, you're just a jewel thief, so you wouldn't know. You won't have a clue...AUGH!"
Rouge had bonked him hard on the head.
"WHY'D YOU DO THAT FOR?!" Knuckles yelled at her.
Rouge humphed. "Because I don't like your attitude!" She said, imitating Knuckles. "You're just a jewel thief, so you wouldn't know! Ugh! Instead of being so nasty all the time, maybe you could try to be nice to me once in a while, and then maybe I wouldn't find you so unlikable! As it is now, you're as sour as a truckload of lemons!"
"THEN DON'T HANG OUT WITH ME!" Knuckles yelled back.
"I WON'T!" Rouge screamed angrily. "Once I'm gone, you'll be completely miserable, Mr.!"
Knuckles humphed. "It'll be a huge relief not to deal with your batty behavior! But I'm sure you'll come flying back!"
At that, Rouge smacked him to the ground again, smashing him into the rocks. Knuckles groaned as he stood up. "That. Does it!" He snapped, turning around. "It's been a real kick having you around, but you better behave yourself! Or I'm going to have to give you the boot!"
Rouge glared. "I'm going to keep pounding away until I get you tenderized."
Knuckles gasped.
"From now on you're going to respect me!" Rouge yelled. Soon enough, yells and punches could be heard as Rouge and Knuckles fought for a while.
...
In the air, Tails grumbled as he glared at Eggman. "I'm grouchy when I don't get my sleep!" The little fox grumbled as he flew his plane in the air. He still had his nightcap and sleeping mask on. "I'll teach me not to wake me up!"
"I won't rest until I track down Sonic, and no one else will either!" Eggman swore. "So if you want me to get back to sleep then help me find that hedgehog!"
Furious, Tails tossed off his sleeping mask and nightcap. "I'M NEVER HELPING YOU!"
In Eggman's ship...
"He's challenging us!" Bokkun cried.
Decoe looked at Eggman. "Shall we charge up the cannons, doctor? We can blast him out of the sky!"
"Good idea!" Eggman said. But before they could continue, a huge smash shook the ship. "Let's lead Tails into a trap!" Eggman sneered. He spoke into his microphone. "Follow me, Tails!"
"Okay!" Tails growled, flying after Eggman. "But don't try anything funny!"
"Who, me?" Eggman neared.
...
"Eggman's at it again." Blaze chuckled as she, Silver, Cloud, and Hiro watched the whole thing from the ship.
"You'd better believe it." Silver shook his head with a smile.
"He hasn't been giving up about this whole Sonic thing." Cloud said with a shake of his head.
"Hey, have you guys seen what happened to Sonic?" Hiro asked curiously.
The three friends around him shook their heads.
...
"GET BACK HERE, I'M NOT FINISHED WITH YOU!" Amy yelled furiously, readying her hammer. However, she was so exhausted, Amy slumped down to her knees.
Cream smiled. "Why don't you come back inside, Amy? Your tea's getting cold."
"Chao chao!"
...
"We'll hide from him behind these clouds. Then we could ambush them!"
However, before Eggman could do his scheme, Tails started shooting his lasers at them.
"Tails didn't give us a chance to double cross him!" Eggman complained.
"That twerp is one step ahead of you!" Decoe said.
"ALL RIGHT!" Eggman growled. "I'll just have to triple cross him!"
"Doctor, he is coming at us again!" Bocoe yelped in panic.
"FIRE!" Eggman yelled.
...
"Guess he's got me." Tails said, sweat dropping a little. "I'd better get out of here!" He pulled down the lever, but to his surprise, his ship started changing, and a safety window suddenly appeared right above him.
"What's happening?!" Tails gasped, when a message from Chuck appeared in the radio.
"Tails. This is Chuck. Since you just pulled the transformation lever, I assume you're in danger right now. But don't worry. This new shield is made of special material that can withstand almost any assault. When I heard you were leaving, I decided to make you a secret gift. I made sure you were away from the lab and made some modifications to the X Tornado. I'm not as clever at engineering as you are, but I don't think I did too badly for a old timer. Anyway, I did my best and I hope my gift comes in handy."
"Thanks, Chuck." Tails said, his eyes watering.
"X TORNADO... TRANSFORM! Now it's the hyper Tornado! Good luck, Tails!" Chuck said.
The message ended, and Tails dove down at Eggman with a newly transformed aircraft. "Eggman, look out!" Tails growled.
...
"What is that?" Eggman asked.
"Tails transformed his plane!" Bocoe said.
"It looks completely different now!" Decoe gasped.
"And more dangerous!" Bokkun said.
They screamed as electrocuting pain shot through them.
...
"MISSILES AWAY!" Tails screamed as he fired missile after missile. "Fire plasma blast!"
However, to his shock, Eggman's ship survived!
"You're wasting your time, you little pest!" Eggman growled. "Because in a few moments, your plane will be history!" At that, Eggman burst out laughing.
"We have the perfect weapon to take him down, doctor!" Decoe growled, pressing a few buttons. A moment later, a missile shot out of the ship, following Tails everywhere he flew. Tails thought about tricking it into exploding the missile at Eggman's ship, but to his shock, it didn't even work!
Eggman laughed. "I finally invented the perfect weapon! No mater how hard you try, you won't shake that missile from your tail, Tails!"
"This missile has been programmed to only attack your plane!" Bocoe said happily.
Bokkun laughed. "Now that's a personal touch!"
Both robots applauded Dr. Eggman, who smirked in response.
...
Tails seemed to be in hot water now. "It's no use!" He cried. "I can't get away!"
"I think Tails has learned his lesson." Eggman said. He turned to Decoe. "You could go ahead and recall the missile!"
Decoe gave a start. "But how, doctor?!" He asked, sweat dropping.
"Just hit the recall button!"
"Heh heh. There is no recall button!"
"YOU DIDN'T RESTALL ONE?!" Eggman roared. "THANKS TO YOU, TAILS REALLY IS GOING TO BE DESTROYED! With Sonic gone, I can't afford to loose another enemy!"
"Sorry, doctor!"
"There is nothing we can do to save him now!" Bocoe said.
...
Tails braced himself in his plane for the final blow. "This is it..." He mumbled.
But it wasn't it!
Something bright and familiar appeared in Tails's vision, and he opened his eyes to see none other than Sonic the Hedgehog, in his golden super form!
Tails literally burst into tears at the sight of him. Sonic did return!
The speedy hedgehog smashed into the missile, destroying it into tiny bits. When the missile was done, Sonic smirked at Dr. Eggman. "Hi, Eggman!" He said. "What's up?"
Eggman smirked back. "Ah! You're finally here!"
Sonic smirked back. "You won't be conquering this world either!"
"That's what you think, Super Sam! If you dare to interfere with my plans, I'll squash you like a bug!"
However, Sonic destroyed Eggman's ship with a blow, sending the doctor and his robots screaming.
Sonic turned around, and flew off.
...
At Cream's house...
Penny sighed as she held a sleeping Cream in her arms. She really missed Sonic. Sonic hadn't dumped her, did he? She wondered what might have happened.
She glanced out the window, when something that looked like a moving star caught the human girl's eyes. Was it...?
She squinted her eyes. It definitely looked like Sonic in his super form.
Penny darted out of the house and ran over to Sonic. Sonic stared at her panting form, and he smiled softly at her.
"Hi!" He smiled.
"Well?! Is hi all you could say?!" Penny yelped, tears falling down her eyes. "What took you so long? You know all I had to go through to leave my beloved family behind to save both our worlds! I was worried that you wouldn't show up! That you'd go straight to Amy instead of me! It scared me to think that I would be completely alone! I was afraid I would never see you again!"
Penny sobbed as she continued. "I waited! I couldn't stand being alone anymore! I didn't know where you were! I couldn't stand not knowing! I told myself I should give up hoping. I was convinced that you decided to go to Amy and leave me alone! I thought you were gone forever! But then I realized that you would never abandon me! And I decided that I would wait. I would be patient, and now here you are. Thank you for everything, Sonic!" Penny said, continuing to sob. "I'm so glad you're back! Don't you ever leave me again!"
Sonic smiled softly at the girl, and walked up and gave her a hug. Penny sighed as she hugged back, letting the tears fall. She felt better now, that she let it all out.
"Hey." Sonic smiled at her.
Penny looked up, brushing her reddish-brown hair from her face. Sonic was holding her a flower. "Don't you worry, Penny." He smiled. "I will never leave you!"
Penny sobbed, and clung to him, while he patted her back.
She hoped this moment would last forever.
