"There's no doubt about it," Chuck said as he walked over to Chris's computer. "Chris built this machine to teleport himself and Kat to Sonic's world."
Mr. Thorndyke turned to his father. "Then let's use it to find them! Penny, too!"
Chuck turned around, his expression serious. "Unfortunately, Chris seemed to have designed the machine so that nobody but him and Kat could be teleported."
"What?!" Mr. Thorndyke gasped. Mrs. Thorndyke walked up. "Can's you reprogram it?" She asked.
Chuck closed his eyes and shook his head.
Mrs. Thorndyke whimpered and clung to her husband, who comforted her.
"There is one thing," Chuck said with a smile. He walked over to Chris's computer. "Even though we can't teleport ourselves, it seems we can use the machine to teleport material objects to Sonic's world."
"Really?" Mr. Thorndyke asked, surprised.
"Yes," Chuck said, smiling and nodding.
...
Back at Angel Island, Sonic's World...
Vanilla stared worriedly at the empty space where the Master Emerald once rested. "I wonder where Cream, Penny, and the others are and how they're doing." She said, turning around. She clasped her hands. "I hope everything's okay."
A bright light suddenly glowed behind her, and Vanilla turned around, and to her surprise, boxes of different shapes and sizes appeared right in front of her. She gasped in surprise as a baseball rolled up to her feet. The female rabbit picked up the ball. "This looks like..." She gasped but was interrupted when a mountain of clothing landed right on top of her.
...
At the Chaotix Detective Agency...
Vector groaned in annoyance in his sleep as the phone rang. "Charmy, get the phone!" He moaned. The little bee moaned as he over to the phone next to Vector and dropped it on his head.
"Dah! That's not what I meant!" Vector yelled in annoyance.
"You'd better answer it before they hang up!" Charmy smirked.
"You little!" Vector growled, picking up the phone. "I already told you to check the mail!"
"Vector, is that you?"
At the sound of Vanilla the Rabbit's voice on the other end, Vector's cheeks turned scarlet. "Ahh! Cream's mother! How've you been?"
"I'm calling because I need your help!"
Vector smiled. "Sure, my agency's at your service!" Vector said.
Vanilla continued. "I'd like to explain the job to you in person."
Vector blushed. "Sure! We'll come over right away!" He slammed the phone on his head and yelped in pain. Charmy laughed at the sight, and Vector grew angry. "What are you laughing at?!" He snapped at the bee.
Charmy whimpered and started wailing, shedding fountains of anime tears. Vector muttered in annoyance as he put the phone down. "Don't cry!" Vector told the bee, and almost immediately Charmy stopped crying and had his cheeky smile on his face. "Okay!"
Vector looked around. "Now where's Espio?"
Charmy pointed at a corner. "He's right there!" He smiled. Vector turned to see the purple chameleon ninja meditating in the corner.
Vector smirked. "Hand me the pepper mill!"
Charmy grinned. "Sure, boss!" He tossed Vector the pepper mill and the two walked over to the meditating Ninja and poured some pepper specks on his head. Espio sneezed, causing Charmy and Vector to laugh.
Espio glared at Vector and Charmy. "Can't you buy an alarm clock?!" He snapped.
...
Soon, Charmy, Espio, and Vector stood gaping over the number of boxes resting on the Master Emerald's resting place. Vanilla looked at them. "All of this suddenly appeared out of nowhere!" She said. "Chris, Penny, and Kat's family must've sent them their belongings. Chris, Penny, and Kat are traveling in space with Cream and I was hoping you could deliver these things to their ship."
Vanilla smiled at Vector, Espio, and Charmy. "And please, check on Cream and Penny, I've been worried about them both."
"Don't worry, ma'am!" Vector said, blushing again. "We'll take care of it, no problem!"
Espio stared at Vector like the crocodile was out of his mind. "Vector."
Vector stared at him. "What's the matter?"
Espio glanced at him. "We can't do this job."
"How come?" Vector asked, confused.
Espio continued. "If you think we're cruising the galaxy without a ship, you're spaced out!"
Vector realized the chameleon was right. He looked up, pondering about the situation. "Where could we get a ship?"
Before anyone could reply or make a suggestion, a red space ship appeared out of nowhere and landed right in front of the Master Emerald's resting place.
Charmy looked at his buddies. "Looks like that problem's solved!" He said.
Vanilla bowed at them. "I hope you boys have a safe trip."
...
At the Blue Typhoon...
"It looks peaceful out there." Tails smiled at the driver's seat.
Cloud nodded. "No sign of any Metarex, either." The two Mobians shot them a thumbs up.
"I'm glad it's clear for once," Hiro noted. "I was hoping to have a break of fighting for a change!"
"I agree." Silver said with a nod.
Amy said nothing but flipped the page of her book.
Cream, Tangle, Kat, Blaze, Whisper, and Cheese stared out the window, stargazing together. Cream smiled. "It's nice to travel in space when you can take a time to stargaze!"
"I agree. How about you, Whisper?" Tangle asked.
"They are really pretty," Whisper whispered, smiling at the view as her wisps floated around her. "I've never seen so many stars!"
"You know, me neither." Kat smiled. "We'd only see a few at home, but here we can see a bunch of them!"
"Yup!" Blaze grinned. "And I never knew there could be so many worlds! I didn't even start thinking about it until we came to Chris and Penny's home planet!" She smiled at Penny, who was watching Knuckles and Sonic play chess.
"How's your game?" Penny smiled at Sonic and Knuckles. The two had decided to play a game of chess, and she couldn't really tell who was winning.
"Great!" Sonic grinned, then pulled his attention back to the game. Sonic muttered in annoyance as he stared at the chez board, waiting for Knuckles to make his move. "Why don't you move your king?" Sonic asked.
Knuckles made no reply but kept his arms crossed and glared at the chessboard.
"Well, call me when you make your move. I'm gonna go out for a run!" And with that, Sonic dashed off. Penny looked back at Knuckles and noticed something on his side. "Knuckles. I think you can..." She pointed at a piece and space. Knuckles smirked. "That's it! Thanks!" He looked up. "That's check...WAIT! WHERE DID SONIC GO?!"
"He's on a run. I thought you didn't know?" Penny asked, surprised at Knuckle's shocked expression. The echidna grabbed the board and left Penny inside the Typhoon. "HEY SONIC," He yelled as the hedgehog zoomed past him. "IT'S YOUR MOVE!"
Sonic didn't stop.
Knuckles grumbled in annoyance. "You're not giving up are you?"
Sonic finally stopped but ended up flying off the ship.
"SONIC!" Knuckles yelled. He sweatdropped as Sonic floated farther away. "That's just great! Sonic can't get back to the ship, so somebody has to go after him!"
...
"Say what?!" Penny gasped in shock when Knuckles told the human girl what had happened. "What do you mean Sonic can't get back to the ship? I know he went for a run, but..."
"He slipped off while running, Penny! And he's getting farther away from us any second!"
Penny yelped in shock. "Knucks, we have to do something to get him back!"
"I know," Knuckles told her. "But how will we get to him? Think of something fast, Penny, before Sonic's out of reach!"
Penny sweatdropped as she thought of a way to get Sonic back, then an idea hit her. "I've got it!" She said, grabbing Knuckles and pulling him along with her. "But first we need to find a rope!"
...
After launching Knuckles on a rocket path after Sonic, Penny hurried back to the Blue Typhoon control room. Noticing everyone's worried faces, she looked at them. "What's the matter?" The human girl asked.
Cream looked at Penny. "We're being followed!"
Penny stared at the ship on the screen, and it looked strangely familiar. Before she could tell them who she thought it was, everyone went to sudden conclusions.
"That ship will catch up to us soon," Cosmo said.
"Who are they?" Hiro pondered. "Are they Metarex?"
"Uh..." Penny started, but they started talking right over her.
"We can't be sure yet," Chris said. Tails nodded. "But they're probably Metarex!"
Cloud looked at his sensors. "Our sensors aren't picking up any weapons on the ship."
Blaze, Tangle, Whisper, Cream, and Cosmo turned to Penny. "Do you know where Sonic and Knuckles are?" Cream asked the human girl.
"Sonic slipped off the ship, so Knuckles had to go take a rocket path and go rescue him," Penny explained. At that, she heard Amy shriek in shock behind her. Chris and Tails yelped in shock as well. "Penny, we could've gone after him in the Blue Typhoon!" Tails cried.
"Sorry..." Penny said. "Knuckles seemed to be in a hurry to go after Sonic, so I had no choice but to come up with a faster plan! So blame Knuckles, not me!"
"It's okay, Pen." Chris smiled and then turned serious as he looked back at the ship. "Right now we have to worry about getting this ship ready for battle! That other ship is definitely trying to intercept us."
"What if they board our ship?" Cosmo whimpered.
"We'll be ready!" Tails said.
"This should be interesting..." Penny muttered to herself.
...
"I wish we knew how to use this ship's communicator!" Vector complained as he drove near the Blue Typhoon. "I guess we'll just have to surprise them!"
Charmy smiled as he dug into a chip bag. "Want a chip?" He asked, his eyes sparkling at how tasty it was. Espio glared at him. "Stay out of those boxes!" He snapped.
"Espio's right!" Vector said. "We was hired to deliver that stuff, not devour it!" He steered the ship to a part of the Typhoon. "I'm gonna go let them know we're here," Vector said, entering the Typhoon. "Which way is the bridge?" He asked. He looked over to a door where a red arrow sign pointed inwards. "Must be that way!"
...
In the door, Chris, Kat, Penny, Silver, Blaze, Hiro, Tails, Tangle, Whisper, Cream, Cosmo, Amy, and Cheese all prepared themselves. "All right, everybody get ready!" Chris ordered.
Everyone nodded, and Chris switched the lights off.
"Chris, I don't think..." Penny began, but Chris placed his hand over her mouth and shushed her. Penny sighed, but stayed quiet anyway, and moved away from the group.
A moment passed, and Penny heard a familiar voice ask, "Hello, anybody there? I'm here to..." His entrance speech was cut short when Chris, Kat, and the Mobians quickly grabbed Vector and attacked him, using anything they got on him.
Penny winced. "Poor Vector..." She muttered under her breath.
...
Vector groaned in pain as he entered back into the ship, nearly covered in bandages, a bump over his eye, and a tissue stuffed in his nose.
Charmy and Espio looked stunned.
"I haven't got this beat up since the time we staked off that shark tank!"
"Really?" Espio looked surprised.
"You mean those guys attacked ya?!" Charmy asked.
Espio sighed. "I think it's better if I handled this." He closed his eyes, clasped his hands together, and soon turned invisible.
...
"What a mess," Amy grumbled as she painted over the wrecked walls of the Blue Typhoon. "It's lucky they didn't let that Metarex pass us or it could've wrecked the whole ship!"
Hearing the door next to her slid open, Amy looked curiously in front of her. Something was off. Grabbing the paintbrush, Amy swiped it over the head of the invisible object, and an eye opened. "Uh oh." A deep voice soon appeared afterward.
Amy screamed.
"AMY?!" Chris, Blaze, Penny, Tangle, and everyone else gasped as they heard the feminine hedgehog's shriek.
"What's going on?" Tails asked.
"L-look!" Amy whimpered, pointing ahead, where Penny could see a moving object running in front of them, slightly invisible.
"Wha?" Penny asked, surprised.
"It's another Metarex!" Hiro growled, getting into a fighting stance.
Chris nodded. "Let's get him!"
And once again, Penny stayed out of the way as everyone attacked the 'invisible Metarex.'
...
"I'm in pain." Espio huffed as he stood in front of Charmy and Vector, He was still invisible, but boot marks and the paint and cuts and bruises were still visible on the chameleon.
Vector winced. "Looks like you're in pain, too!"
"I can't believe I was discovered so easily!" Espio said. "I'm so humiliated, I wish I could disappear!"
Charmy smiled at Vector. "Maybe they'll listen to me, Vector!"
"Are you sure?" Vector asked.
"I won't let you down!" Charmy grinned his mischievous little grin.
"Just be sure to protect yourself out there, Charmy, it's dangerous!" Vector said.
"I know!" Charmy laughed, slapping on a helmet.
...
"Snack time, everybody!" Cream smiled as she, Cosmo, Cheese, and Penny walked into the main room rolling in trays of cake and tea.
"CAKE!" Kat, Blaze, and Tangle yelped enthusiastically, surrounding Penny. She giggled.
"Wow, perfect timing!" Chris smiled as Cream walked up to him with a cake in her hands. "I was just starting to get hungry!"
"This looks delicious!" Silver smiled at Cream. "What kind of cake is it? It looks like a mix of strawberry shortcake.. and..." He frowned, trying to think of what else it reminded him of.
Cream smiled at the silver hedgehog. "I call it, Cream's Strawberry Cream cake! I made it myself!"
Penny smiled. "I vote we make Cream chef of the ship!"
Whisper nodded as her wisps pounced excitedly on their cake. "She could make cake for every meal!"
Everyone laughed.
"Did somebody say cake?" A voice suddenly appeared at the doorway. Penny turned towards the direction of the voice to see a person in front of them, wearing a type of armor. Chris and the others thought it was a Metarex, but Penny sweatdropped when she recognized him as Charmy.
"It's another Metarex!" Kat, Hiro, Tangle, and Blaze yelped together.
"Let's get him!" Chris yelled.
"CHARGE!"
Charmy yelped as everyone except Penny attacked him.
...
"It's totally unfair!" Charmy explained after he came back to the Chaotix all bandaged up. "We came in peace and we got torn to pieces!"
"Yeah!" Vector said. "We came across the galaxies to help these guys! I didn't expect a party, but they didn't have to treat us like pinatas!"
"They're most ungrateful." Espio said. "But I will not step quietly through the door of defeat!" He winced as Charmy moved a little too close to him. "I'd say we head for home, pronto!"
Vector looked determined. "We ain't gonna give up yet, Charmy! The reputation of our agency is at stake, and we're gonna do the job we was hired to do! We gonna board their ship and this time we'll succeed 'cause I'm totally fired up!"
He turned to Espio. "And, while I'm getting warmed up, let's go cool off and think of a strategy. I mean, there's no rush or anything, right?" He asked, walking over to the driver's seat.
Espio and Charmy looked confused.
"Come on," Vector called to them. "Let's take a coffee break!"
...
Penny hummed to herself as she placed a forkful of Cream's cake in her mouth. She looked over at her brother, who was now starring at the scanner. Tails noticed, and he asked Chris what was wrong.
Chris smiled. "Looks like the Metarex are taking off!"
"They're escaping?!" Tangle snapped.
"Don't worry, I'll go stop them in the X Tornado!" Tails said, pumping his hands in determination.
"Uh, you're really going to go after them all by yourself?!" Chris asked.
"Relax," Amy said, not looking from her book. "You said yourself that ship doesn't have any weapons."
"That's right!" Tails said.
"I guess if they're retreating, they can't be very tough!" Chris said finally.
...
After Tails trailed them down for a while, he suddenly realized something. "That rackety old house looks familiar!" He said. "It couldn't be..." He zoomed his plane over to the window on the roof and gasped in realization.
Vector, Espio, and Charmy.
"Hey, it's okay, you guys!" Tails cried. "We didn't know it was you! Well, at least I think Penny recognized you..." He winced, remembering the human girl looked hesitant at dealing with the 'Metarex.'
...
"Looks like he wants to negotiate with us!" Vector said. "Should we talk?"
Espio smirked. "It's probably just some sort of ruse."
"Espio's right," Charmy said. "I bet they're trying to trick us!"
"Nobody tricks me!" Vector snapped. "Hold onto your seats, boys. We're gonna shake these turkeys! Here we go!" He announced, pulling the wheel.
He zoomed off.
"They're too fast!" Tails said. "I'll never be able to catch them in the X Tornado!" He pressed the communicator, and Chris appeared on the screen. "I saw what happened. Looks like that ship's gonna be harder to stop than you thought!"
Tails scratched his head. "Yeah, you'll have to catch them in the Blue Typhoon after all."
Chris nodded. "Will do!"
"Once you catch up to them, try grabbing onto the hull of their ship with the mechanical claw!" Tails suggested. Chris smiled. "I've been wanting to use that! Hold on, everybody, we're going to pull a quick 180! Let's catch those Metarex!"
"Uh, correction, Chris, that's not a Metarex ship after all..." Tails said.
"I told you it wasn't them!" Tails heard Penny grumble.
"Then who are they?" Chris asked curiously.
...
"Ah!" Charmy panicked, looking at the screen.
"What is it, Charmy?" Vector asked.
"It looks like they're trying to chase us down!" Charmy said.
"NO WAY!" Vector yelped.
"You see?" Charmy said.
"Well, uh, I'll bust this bucket space driving trying to escape if I have to!" Vector yelled.
Espio looked horrified. "Vector, no!" He gasped.
Too late.
Everyone yelled as the ship started zooming around.
"Slow down, Vector!" Espio yelped, clinging to his seat.
"No!" Charmy said, looking like he was enjoying this. "Speed up!"
Then they stopped.
"We stopped." Espio said.
"I didn't do it!" Vector said.
"So, then, how'd we stop?" Charmy asked.
...
"I've completed the capture, Tails," Chris informed the fox. "I'm bringing the ship in!"
"It's Vector, Espio, and Charmy! Their radio must be broken or something,"
"I knew it! I knew they looked familiar." Penny said.
"Hu?" Blaze looked surprised. "You mean it wasn't a Metarex?"
Chris chuckled nervously, shaking his head.
...
"Well?" Penny said, frowning at her brother and friends.
"We're sorry, you guys," Chris said, bowing apologetically at Vector, Espio, and Charmy.
"Sorry!" Everyone else said, bowing as well.
"Well, at least it's all settled now!" Vector said.
"We forgive you!" Charmy said.
Espio nodded. "It was just a big misunderstanding. Let bygones be bygones."
Everyone sighed in relief.
Penny smiled at Espio, Vector, and Charmy. "I know I met you two," she said, pointing at Vector and Charmy. "But you are?" She asked Espio.
"I'm Espio," The chameleon told her. "It's nice to meet your acquaintance."
Penny smiled at him welcomingly. "And I'm Penny. It's nice to finally meet you as well, Espio," She said, taking his hand. Before the two could say anymore, Vector broke in, looking annoyed about something. "Why don't you help us unload the stuff Chris, Penny, and Kat's families sent for them!"
"Mom and Dad sent us stuff?" Penny asked.
Espio nodded. "Yes."
Penny smiled. "Mom, Dad, I miss you all!"
...
"Thanks, Espio." Penny smiled at the chameleon as they placed the last of her boxes in her room. "I let you know if I need any help with the unpacking."
Espio nodded. "Sure," he said. "Take care of yourself."
Penny nodded and watched as he walked out. When he was gone, Penny looked at the boxes. "I miss mom and dad so much," She thought, sniffling a bit. She clutched the locket she now always wore around her neck. "I'm happy they still remember me after all this time to do something this nice."
She smiled, then remembered something. "Wait. Are Espio and the others leaving? Not until after I say goodbye and thank you to them!"
She got up and darted to the transportation room.
...
"Wait up, guys!" Penny called, running up to them with Amy, Cream, and Cheese.
"Don't leave yet!" Amy called as well. "Come have some tea!"
"We've got cake, too!" Cream said.
"All right, cake!" Charmy said excitedly. Espio patted him down. "What Charmy means to say is that we must be leaving!" He said.
Penny pouted, crossing her arms. "But I didn't get a chance to say thank you yet!"
Thankfully, Vector helped her out. "Hang on, Espio. These folks are offering their hospitality! We don't want to be rude, do we?"
...
Penny smiled as she sat down next to Espio, watching them enjoy their refreshments.
"Vector, would you like thirds?" Cream asked. And Vector licked his lips in response. "You bet!"
Then Vector looked at both Penny and Cream. "By the way, girls."
Espio looked at Vector suspiciously. What was he going for this time?
"Yes, Vector?" Cream smiled sweetly.
"What do you need?" Penny asked as well, not noticing the chameleon's expression.
"Girlies, I hope you two will forgive me if I sound just like a nosy old crock."
"Vector, what are you talking about?" Penny asked, getting up and standing next to Cream. Vector continued. "But are you sure you two should be playing around in space?"
"Penny and I are not playing around!" Cream snapped. "We're helping save the universe!"
Thankfully, Cosmo saved Cream and Penny. "I don't think you realize what's at stake here, Vector." The Seedrian said, walking up to Cream and Penny. "We're on a mission to stop the Metarex, it's serious business!"
Cream and Penny both smiled at Cosmo, and Penny caught Espio giving her an apologetic expression, and she nodded in his direction.
"Maybe it is, but I think Cream's mother wants Cream and Penny to come home!" Vector said.
Cream looked furious. "My mother doesn't want that, she trusts me and Penny! Because she knows that we're here to help our friends." The rabbit turned her heal and walked out, pulling Penny with her. "Come on, Penny and Cosmo!" She said, walking out.
Penny looked over at Espio one last time, before smiling softly and walking out. Espio gave a small wave before turning to Vector. "Why would you say that, Vector?" Espio questioned. "Cream's mother didn't tell us to bring the girls home. She told us to check on them."
"Yeah, that's what she told us," Vector said. "But she was trying to be strong! She was really thinking, 'I'm so worried about my little baby and her friend, you've gotta save them, Vector!' He said, imitating Vanilla. 'They're too young to be out there all alone!"
"Hold on there, Vector!" Espio snapped. "Cream's mother never said that!"
"She thought it, and I'm a detective. So I detected it!" Vector said, scratching his nose.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to another episode with delusional thinking with Vector!" Charmy announced, imitating an announcer.
"We're taking Cream and Penny with us!" Vector said, using his 'and that's final!' voice
"But Vector..." Espio protest.d
"No buts about it! I made a solemn promise to Cream's mama and I ain't going back on my word!" Vector snapped, raising his nose in the air.
Espio stood up, placing his hands on the table and glaring at Vector. "You never made any promise." He said, slapping Vector across the chest to try to get him out of it.
Vector glared at him. "I made a promise, you just didn't hear it!"
Espio slumped back into his seat and cradled his head in his hands. Vector continued. "'Cause I made it from the bottom of my heart!"
"I'm sorry, Penny." Espio thought. "This is hopeless! I can't argue with someone who refuses to make sense!"
Vector held two satchels. "I'm tossing Cream and Penny into these bags and then we're gone!"
"Yes!" Charmy said. "Look at him go, Ladies and Gentlemen. He's out of control. There's no stopping him!"
...
Chris sighed as he pressed a few buttons. "It doesn't look like there's any Chaos Emeralds around here." He said.
"I agree." Tails said. "Since there aren't many planets around here, the Emeralds wouldn't be drawn this way!"
Penny stood next to Cosmo as they looked at the scanner. She had the presence of someone behind her, but before she could do anything, she felt something droop over her head, and soon she was surrounded by darkness and swung over someone's shoulder.
"Great." Penny thought. "I've been bagged!"
She could hear Vector's voice faintly through the cloth. "Time for us to skedaddle, folks!"
She then heard Chris. "You sure you don't wanna travel with us a little?"
"We can use all the help we can get battling the Metarex!" Amy said.
The person who was holding her satchel turned around. "We will fight with you in spirit." He said, and Penny's eyes widened. Espio?! And she thought they were friends!
"Keep up the good work!" Vector said, and Penny could feel herself being moved. The next thing she knew, she was pulled out of the bag and placed on the ground. Penny blinked and turned around to glare at Espio, who muttered a small apology.
Vector placed Cream beside Penny. "What do you think you're doing, Vector?" She snapped. Cheese chaoed angrily.
Vector looked at Cream, Penny, and Cheese. "You're going back to your mama, Cream. Penny's going with you, too!"
Suddenly, Cosmo appeared out of the bigger bag, the one that held Cream and Cheese. "And I am going too!" She said.
"How'd you get in there?!" Vector asked, and Penny chuckled at his shocked expression. Cosmo stared at him, hopping backward. "You didn't think I was just going to stand there and let you and Espio take Cream and Penny, hu?" She asked. "Well, I'm not going to!"
"This don't happen to do with you, missy!" Vector snapped, charging at her. Cosmo easily dodged him, her dress allowing her to float whenever she hopped. Vector growled in annoyance. "No stowaways aloud on this ship!" He snapped, and he charged at her again.
Cosmo dodged him again and glared at him. "You are taking me back. And Cream and Penny too!"
The two continued. Cream, Cheese, and Penny cheered after Cosmo.
"I wanna play, too!" Charmy smiled. He winced as Cosmo jumped in the air and Vector slammed in the dashboard next to him. "Maybe not..." Charmy suddenly gasped, looking at the screen.
"What is it?" Vector asked.
"We...got... company!" Charmy gulped.
Penny smiled when she realized that the Blue Typhoon's passengers were on its way to rescue them.
"I'll handle this." Espio said from Penny's side, and she turned and watched him teleport outside of the ship. Espio glared at the metal claws and threw his ninja stars at the claws. He smirked. "Three... two... one..."
And right at the moment he said one, the stars exploded. Espio smirked, then gasped at his team's now damaged house. "That kind of worked...
...
"I thought I was gonna run out of rope!" Knuckles grumbled as he finally caught up with Sonic. He held the rope leading to the Blue Typhoon wrapped around his arm, and he held a rocket path in the other.
"Thanks a bunch, Knuckles!" Sonic smiled, placing the rocket path on his back. "Gotta fly! See you back at the ship!" He smirked, flying back to the ship.
"Uh, Sonic?!" Knuckles yelled after him.
...
"So can you get it to work?" Amy asked curiously.
"I think," Tails said. "But it'll take a little ingenuity on Chris's part."
"No problem!" Chris smiled, shooting them a thumbs up. Hearing tapping on the window, Chris looked to see Sonic outside. "Sonic!" He gasped.
"We were worried about you!" Blaze said.
"Finally!" Tangle gasped, running up to the window. "You think you can catch a ship while you're at it?"
Sonic looked curious.
Tangle looked worried. "Vector took Cosmo, Penny, Cream, and Cheese."
Sonic glared.
...
"Come on, give me more speed!" Vector grumbled.
Penny looked at the ground, wondering what to do now. When she was starting to feel a bit hopeless, she heard a window crash, and she looked up to see Sonic landing in front of her, Cosmo, Cream, and Cheese.
"You made it!" The girls cried happily.
Sonic glared at Vector. "I don't know what this is about, Vector, but Penny and the others are coming with me!"
Vector stood up. "I don't wanna fight you, Sonic, but I said I'd bring little Cream and Penny back to Cream's mamma and no one's gonna stop me!"
"I'm not little!" Penny snapped, glaring at Vector.
"Let them go!" Sonic growled. "Or you'll be sorry!"
"Oh, yeah?" Vector snapped. "It's lucky for you that you're blue because nobody's gonna notice the bruises when I'm done whipping you!"
Sonic yelped as Vector lunged for him, but to Penny's relief, the hedgehog easily dodged it. "Is this what you meant to do?!" Sonic growled. He lunged at Vector, smashing him to the ground. "There's plenty more where that came from!"
"Will you please stop fighting?!" Cosmo asked. "Don't you understand? Only two of us could deside what Cream and Penny should do."
"Cosmo's right," Chris said, hopping in the ship. In his arms was a pink spacesuit for Penny. "Cream's mom may worry about her and Penny and may want them to come home, and we may want them to keep traveling with us." He handed Penny her suit, and she quickly got into it. Chris walked up to Vector. "But we don't get to choose what Cream and Penny do. Only they can."
"Sorry, kid," Vector told him. "But you know how parents are!"
Chris smiled at him. "Believe me, Vector, I do. But still!"
Sonic walked up to Penny and Cream. "So what's it gonna be, girls?"
"I wanna stay here and help because it's important to me." Cream said.
"Me too." Penny nodded.
Cream continued. "I'm sure my mom's worried about us, but I also think she trusts me and Penny to do the right thing!"
Vector sighed. "Espio, Charmy, we're out of here. Our mission has been accomplished, guys."
"Huh?!" Charmy asked. "Aren't we supposed to take Cream and Penny home?
"We were sent to make sure Cream and Penny were okay, and that's what we've done!" Vector said. As they walked out, he turned to Cream. "Hey, Cream?"
"Yeah?"
"Be sure to drop your mother a line from time to time,"
Cream smiled. "I will! And I'll make sure Penny says hi too!"
Charmy smiled as he snapped a photo of Penny and Cream together.
...
Hearing her printer beep, Cream's mother looked curiously at the picture spitting out. "What could that be?" She asked.
She smiled when she saw who it was. "I miss you, girls, too, but I know you're doing something important."
...
"So, Penny," Sonic said, looking at the human girl in front of him.
Penny looked nervously at Sonic. She hoped this will turn out okay. His arms were crossed, and his green eyes were staring at her. "You and Espio, hu?" he asked.
"What do you mean?" Penny looked confused.
"Are you two close?"
"Not that I know of." Penny shrugged. She looked down, grabbing her left arm. "Look, if you're worried we're thinking about being together, don't. Because I have eyes on for someone else."
Sonic looked curious. "Who?"
Penny smiled at him. "You." She grabbed him in a hug, startling him. "You're my hero."
He smiled back at her, returning the hug.
...
Rouge hummed to herself as she opened up the door to a secret lab that she just found. When the doors opened, she walked in. Her eyes widened at a familiar capsule in the room.
"Why is that capsule here?" She asked. Her eyes widened at the familiar dark figure in the capsule. It looked strangely familiar.
"No. It couldn't be!" She gasped, her eyes wide.
