"Sonic, I'm hot..." Penny whined as she laid on her side on the couch next to Sonic. Beside her, Tails groaned. "Ugh..."

Sonic groaned. "This heatwave is too hot. What's a stronger word than hot?"

"Knuckles! I'm a stronger word than hot." Knuckles responded.

"Maybe this'll help." Amy suggested, pulling out a fan. Sticks glared at her. "We are suffering in this heat, and YOU have a fan?! Let's take it from her!"

"I was gonna share it!" Amy protested.

"Oh!" Sticks hummed. "Never mind, then!"

"Amy, fan me. I'm dying..." Penny moaned, reaching desperately for the fan.

Amy rolled her eyes. "You're not dying, but since you seem desperate, here you go." The female hedgehog pointed the fan at Penny, but it wasn't enough. The human girl let out a whine, collapsing on Sonic's lap. He tensed up for a moment but patted Penny's head reassuringly. Sonic glanced at the rest of the team. "We're gonna need a bigger fan."

Knuckles pointed at Tails' mobile and grinned. " How about that one?"

. " Theoretically, that could work." Tails hummed. "But using it inside would be both impractical and dangerous so... if we seal all the windows then systematically open the highest-"

" Or just giant fan!" Sonic said.

It took a lot of hauling, but the gang finally managed to haul the fan up to the window, sticking the fan part through the window. Sonic ran outside and turned on the fan, and Penny felt instant relief and hurried over, soaking every ounce of wind it blew. The rest of the team shared the same relaxed look until things started floating off the ground, and then they too found themselves floating.

"This is kinda what I meant by impractical and dangerous! TURN IT OFF!" Tails screamed.

Sonic ran over and tried turning it off, but the wind was too strong. Knuckles and Penny quickly grabbed hold of the roof's poles. Knuckles yelled. "Ah I almost crashed into Penny!" He stopped midsentence to see pieces of cake floating by and grinned. "Ooh! Cake!" The echidna let go, and accidentally crashed into Penny. The human girl yelped, letting go of the beam in the process.

Sonic had no choice but to air swim towards Penny and hold her protectively in his arms. She whimpered, burring her face in her shoulder. She opened her eyes a bit to see Sticks catch Amy in a bicycle basket.

Sonic held Penny in his arms and dashed out of the house. He still held her shaking form as he turned off the fan, and everyone let out a yell as they fell to the ground. Sonic helped Penny walk back into the house, and he glanced at everyone in worry. " Everyone okay?"

"Yeah!" Sticks, Penny, Knuckles, Tails, and Amy answered.

Sonic smirked. "Everyone wanna do that again?"

"YEAH!"

Penny sighed, shaking her head as she turned the fan on for the gang, and watched from a safe distance as the gang squealed with excitement.

"How are we going to beat this heat..." the girl groaned, leaning heavily on the fan.

While that was happening, Eggman too seemed to be suffering a heat problem of his own. He laid down on a fold up chair while Orbot and Cubot fanned him down. "This heat is more oppressive than my father."

" You could turn on the air conditioning!" Cubot suggested.

Eggman stood up and glared at the squared robot. "Or, I could melt you down for scrap! My electric bills are sky-high. What with all my inventions, monitors, the toaster, not to mention robots, the other toaster, so fan harder!"

"In the interest of preserving our mechanical backs, might I suggest an energy source that's plentiful, safe and free?" Orbot asked.

"Coal? Cubot guessed.

" I was thinking Solar." Orbot responded.

" Solar power?" Eggman asked. "That's crazy! Just crazy enough to get this story started! You can stop fanning me."

Orbot and Cubot dropped their fans and sighed with relief. However that moment of relief was short lived when Eggman glared at them. "And start installing solar panels on my roof!"

Orbot and Cubot sighed. Pretty soon they were drilling solar panels to Eggman's roof. Cubot glared at Orbot. "Great idea Orbot. This is much less work. By the way, I'm being sarcastic." He said sarcastically.

" Really? I had no idea." Orbot retorted sarcastically.

"You didn't?" Cubot asked in surprise.

After the next few hours have passed, the solar panels were up and Eggman giddily turned them on. However, Orbot and Cubot were still on the roof when that happened, and a spark from the solar panels sent them flying.

Eggman grinned at the success. "My solar panels are generating even more power than I need! Way to go me! Also the sun." The doctor pressed a button and walked to his screen, frowning. "But what to do with all the extra power?"

He thought for a moment, and the light bulb on his machine switched on right when Eggman brightened, an idea growing in his mind. " I know, I'll super charge my robots and send them on a mission of destruction! That's constructive!"

He pressed a button, and right at that moment, the robot's eyes changed to orange, and they clanked off.

Penny moaned. She'd never been so hot in her life. Sonic sighed, wishing he could help her cool down, but he too was suffering the heat himself. Hearing Knuckles mumble, the human girl turned to watch knuckles walk towards nothingness, and then he fell to his knees, wailing, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Tails pointed ahead. "Look, an ice cream cart!"

"ICE CREAM!" Penny cheered, running over. "I'd have rainbow sherbet."

The vendor nodded, giving the gang their ordered ice creams. However, the icecreams melted right in their hands.

Vendor glared at them. "NO REFUNDS!"

"We should've gone to the mirage." Knuckles sighed.

Hearing someone coming, Penny turned and saw a swarm of robots marching up to them. "Guys, robot attack at six o'clock!"

"INCOMING!" Sonic yelled as well, noticing the bots take the ice cream cart away. The gang instantly went into battle, smashing away the robots. They fell to pieces and Tails flew up, studying them. His eyes widened. " These robots are supercharged!"

Lady Walrus sat at the table with Admiral Beaverton and Professor Cluckins in Meh Burger. Beaverton turned to Cluckins. "Beaverton! I'm quite proud to have been elected to the board of the Archipelago Homeowners Association. My first official act would be to make sure next year's victory dinner isn't held in this rathole."

Their meeting was cut short when a robot landed on their table, frightening the three.

Cluckins hummed as he read the monocle on the robot. " If found, return to Doctor Eggman, 1 Lair Boulevard."

Lady Walrus gasped. "He keeps those robots in his lair?!"

Orbot and Cubot rolled into Eggman's lair, mail in their hands. "Mail's here!" Orbot announced. "And someone got a letter from the Archipelago Homeowners Association!"

"Who?" Cubot asked.

"What do those rule loving rule lovers want?" Eggman grumbled.

Orbot opened up the mentioned letter and read aloud. " It has come to our attention that you are keeping robots on your premises. Which is a direct contrevention of by Law CRM-114. You must vacate all robots immediatelly or face eviction!"

" They wanna throw me out of my lair? How can they be so evil? Well there's only one way to fight this: I'll charm them!" Eggman said.

"Don't you think menacing them would be more effective?" Orbot asked.

" I'll menace you!" Eggman snapped. "We're going to invite those stuffed shirts over for a lovely dinner! And prove once and for all that there are no robots here."

"But there ARE robots here." Orbot pointed out.

Cubot freaked out at that. "Ah! Where?!"

" I'm painfully aware of that." Eggman said. "We'll have to hide them!"

Penny moaned. This heat just wasn't going to give up on them. She wondered how Shadow was faring with the heat and hoped he was okay.

Knuckles moaned, quickly standing up. " I'm gonna cool off in the water." He got up and ran towards the water, but the instant he jumped, the water disappeared and Knuckles landed on regular sand.

"Awww, another mirage." Penny and Knuckles groaned. The sound of a cart wheeling up got the gang's attention, and they turned to another ice cream cart.

"Are you a mirage?" Knuckles and Penny asked in sync again.

The vendor nodded, and Penny and Knuckles quickly grabbed an ice cream, scarfing it down. Penny literally jammed the cone on her face, letting the coolness of the sherbet cool her down.

The girl turned back to the team, where they were listening to the radio. "We interrupt this public domain music for some important exposition. A rain storm is on it's way to finally break this heatwave."

"Finally. Better believe I'm sleeping in the rain tonight." Penny sighed happily.

Sonic nodded. " But I'm timing you just to make sure you don't get a cold."

Penny rolled her eyes.

"Looks like I'm out of the mirage business." The ice cream vendor said sadly, disappearing.

It had took quite a lot of nonsense getting all of the robots in hideouts, but Eggman had finally managed to make his lair "robot free." The doorbell rang, and Cubot popped out of his hiding spot. " Ooh! Our guests are here!"

"GET BACK IN THERE!" Eggman yelled in annoyance. " If they see a single robot here, I'll be lair less!"

The sound of lightning hitting a solar panel was heard outside, and then the next thing Eggman heard was an alarm. He hummed. " I'm sure that was nothing..." He walked up to the door and opened it up to reveal Lady Walrus, Cluckins, and Beaverton.

" Welcome fine gentlemen of the Archipelago Homeowners Association!" Eggman grinned.

"Well, I never!" Lady Walrus frowned, feeling offended.

"Oh, I'm sorry madam!" Eggman said apologetically. "I didn't recognize you with such a clean shave. Come in! Come in!"

Hearing pattering, Eggman looked down and his eyes widened to see a crab bot at his feet. Letting out a frightened shriek, Eggman quickly pushed a button and the door opened, and Eggman quickly tossed the robot outside before the society members could notice. Eggman quickly closed the door and turned to the members with a nervous chuckle. " I'm terribly sorry, I have no idea how that happened."

Beaverton raised his eyes. "You pressed a button."

"No, I didn't!" Eggman protested.

The same bot crawled through the opened door again, and this time Eggman quickly placed it in a drawer, shutting it completely. He quickly dragged the three members to the table, chuckling nervously. "Let's eat!"

Lady Walrus growled. "You're hurting us!"

Eggman glared at her. "No, I'm not!"

Eggman set the three down in chairs, left and returned with shrimp. "Who wants a Shrimp Puff?"

Beaverton grinned, raising his hand. "I do!"

Noticing bee bots, Eggman quickly spoke. "No you don't-I mean here! Have a whole tray!"

"Doctor Eggman, it has come to our attention that you keep robots on the premises!" Cluckins began.

"What?" Eggman asked. "No no, my robots, eh, commute to work! And believe you me, that's not cheap!"

At that, a motobug popped up and Eggman quickly kicked it out of the room, closing the door. He turned to the gang. " That's the oven timer, heh."

Eggman left, and Lady Walrus shoved the shrimp into her purse. the rest of her members gave her a look.

"What?! He's giving us more food!"

Eggman continued to struggle getting his malfunctioning robots under control. He heard Cluckins call out to him. "What's going on out there?"

"Nothing, nothing!" Eggman stuttered. "Uh minor earthquake. That's the price we pay for this beautiful weather."

"Do you require some assistance?" Beaverton suggested.

Eggman quickly shook his head, struggling with his robots. "NO!"

The door opened, and Eggman nearly flipped at the sight of Beaverton and Cluckins. Eggman quickly threw the bee bot away and tackled the society members to the ground. Beaverton glared at Eggman. "What is the meaning of this?"

" I wanted to show you my new rug! Like it? I got it at a store." Eggman stuttered.

Hearing the robots make noise outside, Eggman spoke up. "How about a little music?" He pressed his wrist controller and classical music burst out, and Eggman turned up the volume to block the robots noises.

" I say, that's a bit loud don't you think?" Cluckins asked, wincing.

"WHAT?!" Eggman yelled.

"THE MUSIC! IT'S TOO LOUD!" Cluckins yelled.

Eggman stuttered. "...That's my new sound system. Like it? I got it at a store!" He glanced at Lady Walrus and Cubot's hiding space, where Cubot was poking his head out. Eggman quickly ran over and closed it, offering a hand to Lady Walrus. "Care to dance?"

Eggman grabbed Lady Walrus and the two started "dancing." Eggman noticed a bee bot and quickly turned his partner around. Another bee bot entered and he turned her around again. This went on for a while until a loud bang was heard.

"What was that?" Lady Walrus glanced at Eggman suspiciously.

"My soufflé!" Eggman said quickly. He ran outside and started trying to tear apart his robots one by one.

Back at Meh Burger, Knuckles sighed and put his burger down. "Sometimes I wish Meh Burger was a mirage."

Amy glanced up and frowned. "Uh, guys?"

"What is it, Amy?" Penny asked. She turned around to see what was troubling the pink hedgehog and sweat dropped.

Eggman's robots. Another thing that confused her was... why where their eyes orange? She glanced around and saw her pet among them. "Bea!"

"INCOMING!" Sonic yelled.

The gang got into fighting stances, but the robots didn't attack. Not even Bea. The little pink and purple stripped bee bot just hovered with the rest of her siblings, just not really doing anything related to attacking. Penny and Sonic stared at each other curiously. "Outgoing? What's Egghead up to?"

"I'm curious about that myself, actually." Penny hummed. "We'd better go and make sure it's not another evil scheme and see if we can get Bea back to normal."

Eggman grunted as he tried to destroy the rest of his robots, and right at that the door opened to reveal the Archipelago Homeowners Association, glancing at him unamused. Eggman quickly tossed the robot aside, stuttering. " I know this looks bad, but I can explain!"

He pressed a button on his controller, and a cage fell on the Association members. Beaverton glared at Eggman. "How rude!"

"You come to MY lair for dinner empty handed and you call ME rude?" Eggman growled at them.

" Hold it Eggy-mo-beggy!"

Everyone turned to Sonic, who was standing there with his team, who were staring at him awkwardly.

"Eggy-mo-Beggy?" Penny asked, raising her eyes. "What kind of a nickname is that?"

Sonic glared at her. "What? You think it's easy coming up with new one all the time?"

Penny hummed thoughtfully, resting on her bo staff. "Touché."

" Oh goodie, everyone I despise is here." Eggman sneered, raising his hand. "Robots, ATTACK!"

Penny and the gang instantly got into fighting stances, but the robots did nothing.

"Oh right, the, uh, malfunctioning thing." Eggman muttered. Sonic took the liberty on freeing the Association members, and the three members glared at Eggman.

"Doctor Eggman, you are hereby evicted from this lair!" Cluckins hissed.

Eggman's eyes widened with fear. " NO! Please don't make me leave my lair, I can't be evil in a condo!"

"Then you have to get rid of all your robots!" Beaverton growled.

"I can't!" Eggman protested. "They're more than just machines of selfish, unmotivated, conquest, destruction and chaos! They're... they're...! My art!"

"Seriously." Penny muttered under her breath. "That' the best you could think of?! I mean, it's clever, but still..."

"Hm. Art you say?" Beaverton asked.

" That's something else altogether!" Cluckins said.

"Wait, what? You're not actually buying this?!" Sonic asked, his mouth dropped open.

"According to CRM 114, sub paragraph 14, art is acceptable!" Lady Walrus grinned. "Provided it's not displayed on your lawn!"

"I never do that!" Eggman said. He pressed something behind his back, and all of his robots dissembled themselves. "Good people of the Archipelago Homeowners Association, I agree to your extortion. and I bid you goodnight."

The Archipelago Homeowners Association members left, and Eggman sighed in relief. However, the door opened and the malfunctioning robots entered again.

"Well, our work here is done. Good luck with the clean up Egg...man." Sonic sighed. Penny stared at him. He turned to her. "That didn't come out right..."

Knuckles laughed. ""Egg...man"! I get it."

Penny chuckled and rolled her eyes. "Let's just go. I've got to see if Bea is back to her normal self."

The gang nodded and walked out, leaving Eggman to deal with his malfunctioning robots.

Eggman sighed. " This is gonna be a loooong night."

The doctor let out a yelp as Orbot came up with a soufflé and creamed it in Eggman's face. " My soufflé!"

Another lightning struck the base, and more robotic noises were heard.

Eggman sighed.

Next Chapter: Eggman the Auteur