(See Prelude for Disclaimer).

~Chapter 5: Mountain Mayhem and Secrets Revealed~

That morning, after a quick breakfast, the trio sent off into the mountains to continue their quest. Since the weather was pretty average and wasn't too cold, Penelope placed her coat back into her backpack. Now, they were flying through the air to their next destination.

"Today's forecast calls for clear, sunny skies and a 100% chance of adventure", said Sonic.

"I pinpointed the coordinates. It's right up ahead", said Tails as he flew off towards the source of the signal.

"Tails, sweetie, don't just fly off! This is the single worst place for anyone to get lost in, let's try to stay together!", Penelope called out.

As she and Sonic followed after him, they approached the entrance to a cave in the shape of an owl. "Okay, we got a giant owl door. Seems encouraging", said Sonic. Penelope placed her hand on Sonic's shoulder and gave it a firm but reassuring squeeze, "Let's get moving", she said.

Sonic nodded as they headed inside the cave with Tails; along the walls of the cave were strange looking hieroglyphics, "Check this out", said Tails.

"And I thought that the Egyptian hieroglyphics were really bizarre...", muttered Penelope.

"Can you translate that, Tails?", asked Sonic.

Tails used his Miles Electric to scan the hieroglyphics, "Yeah. Ages ago, a fearsome group of warriors, known as the echidnas, forged the seven Chaos Emeralds into the most unstoppable weapon ever created..."

"The Master Emerald", Sonic and Penelope said in unison.

"...With it, a single warrior could defeat entire armies. Believing no one should have such power, an order of heroes recovered the Emerald and swore to protect it from evil. Sounds like the owls and the echidnas have been fighting each other for centuries", said Tails.

"Wow...amazing", said Penelope.

"Like Vin Diesel and the Rock", said Sonic which prompted Penelope to laugh. Then she walked off with Tails, "Wait for me. Okay, giant owl door, giant owl. Makes sense", Sonic said as they approached a chamber with a giant owl statue.

"Wait a second. I've seen these symbols before", said Sonic as he looked at the base of the statue. Then he looked at the wall and saw the exact same symbols, "I've played enough RPGs to know that this is a puzzle, and those symbols on the wall will unlock the compass. Try it, Sonic", said Penelope.

"Here we go", said Sonic as he spun the dials on the statue to match the symbols on the wall. Suddenly, the room began rattling. "Well, that did something. Whoa!", said Sonic.

Then, the owl statue's eyes glowed bright green as it unfolded its wings. A light from its eyes scanned across the room, then a small object came out of the floor; it was circular, with a gold sphere in the center and surrounding it was a gold ring with seven tiny gems in different colors.

"The compass! This will lead us to the Emerald!", said Tails.

Penelope reached over to grab the compass and gave it to Sonic, "With this little baby, we're one step ahead of Eggface", she said.

Just then, a red dot appeared on Tails' forehead. "Hey, you got a little something on your…", Sonic trailed off when more red dots appeared all over Tails. He then looked up, "Oh, no. Tails, get back!", he shouted.

They looked up to see that Robotnik had arrived in his Egg Mobile with Knuckles and a couple of his drones.

"That guy again?", asked Tails.

"Damn it! How the Hell did he find us?!", Penelope muttered angrily.

"Heads up, my little stalagmites. Someone call an Uber? Hey, thanks for doing all the hard stuff", said Robotnik as Knuckles leapt off the Egg Mobile.

"But we'll take it from here", said Knuckles.

"Okay, we really gotta talk about your new look. It's like Professor X meets the Monopoly man. And what kind of genius shows up to Siberia in a convertible?", said Sonic.

"Little Bro, now is not the best time for jokes...", Penelope trailed off.

"The kind of genius that can turn up the heat…with a flick of a switch. Good one! I'm sure that wasn't important", said Robotnik. Then he pushed a button and fired a missile at the trio but Sonic caught it and threw it back, barely missing Knuckles as it hit the wall and created a hole.

"Sis! Tails! That's our exit. Come on. Let's split up. You two go high, I go low", said Sonic.

"Right", said Tails as he flew out the cave with Penelope following close behind on her hoverboard. Sonic spin-dashed into a badnik, breaking off a piece of it before leaping out of the cave. "Quick little stretch and here we go", he said as he leapt off a cliff and used the broken piece of metal as a snowboard.

More of Robotnik's drones flew out of the cave and chased after Sonic, "So you want to play? That's new", he said as he took notice of the bee shaped badniks.

"Sonic!", Tails shouted as he tried evading the badniks.

"Tails, look out!", shouted Penelope as she pulled a large socket wrench out of her backpack and used it as a club to hit every badnik that crossed her path. Sonic grabbed a handful of snow and made a bunch of snowballs, "Snowball fight!", he said as he pelted the robots with snowballs, "It's too easy. Come on, challenge me!"

As if to give him what he wanted, a whole swarm of badniks created a laser field to block his path, but Sonic leapt off his makeshift snowboard and gracefully floated through the air, dodging the lasers. "We are talking style and pizzazz", he said as he used one badnik to zap the others before jumping back on his snowboard, "Yeah! I make this look good".

Suddenly, Knuckles leapt out of the explosion, using a broken part of a badnik as a snowboard as well, and was chasing after the blue hedgehog. "Oh, great. The Winter Soldier", said Sonic. Knuckles slid towards him and tried to punch him, but Sonic dodged each punch.

"For a guy named Knuckles, you are really bad at punching", he said.

"Surrender the compass! You are no match for me. I've been training for this my entire life", said Knuckles.

"And I had no training at all, yet here I am ahead of you. That's gotta be embarrassing", Sonic rebutted.

Then, Sonic slid off a small rock formation just as Knuckles punched through it, turning it to rubble. Sonic lost his balance and went flying off a cliff, he grabbed the ledge in time, but several of his rings fell out of his pouch. "My Rings!", he shouted. Penelope, who had just swatted another badnik, saw Sonic barely hanging off the cliff and about to fall.

"I'm coming, Little Bro!", she shouted as she swooped down on her hoverboard. Just as Sonic lost his grip, Penelope caught him and flew him back up to the ledge, that was when Knuckles appeared before them. Penelope pulled out her socket wrench and held it like a baseball bat as she stood protectively in front of Sonic.

"Stay back! Don't make me have to use this!", she shouted.

"Step aside, Earth Woman! I do not wish to harm you, my conflict is with the hedgehog!", said Knuckles.

"Has anyone ever told you you've got serious anger issues?", asked Sonic as he peeked out from behind Penelope's back

Knuckles snarled, "You mock me with your weak jokes, but you know nothing about me, hedgehog", he said.

"Oh but we know all about you! Or more specifically, about how your people forced Sonic from his home when he was only three!", said Penelope.

"Yeah, I know you echidnas have a habit of showing up uninvited and ruining my life", said Sonic.

"Ruining your life? Another bad joke. I lost everything because of you", said Knuckles, "My tribe was on the verge of its greatest victory. The last of the owl warriors had been located. Soon Longclaw's Emerald secrets would be ours, but my father stopped me from joining the fight. He said my moment to honor our tribe would come, but it was not this moment. Those were the last words he spoke to me. I never saw him again".

Sonic and Penelope's eyes widened at this revelation, before their expressions morphed into ones of sadness.

"We both lost everything that day...", said Sonic as he remembered Longclaw and how he was forced to leave her, ultimately losing her.

"You poor thing...", Penelope said as she slowly put her wrench away and reached a hand out. Knuckles flinched a bit, but he saw that it wasn't an aggressive gesture, especially when it looked like she reconsidered the gesture and pulled her hand away.

"That seems to be the theme around here...people losing their loved ones at such a young age, and all in one day too...", Penelope said sadly as she thought about her birth parents who died in a car accident when she was seven.

Knuckles softened at the saddened expressions on Sonic and Penelope's faces, in fact, he even tried to reach his own hand to the latter...before getting tied up by Tails with electric wire ropes.

"Sonic! Penelope! Are you guys okay?", shouted Tails.

"Deceiver! Treacherous Snake!", Knuckles shouted at Sonic and Penelope as he struggled to break free from the wire ropes.

"No, it wasn't a trick", Sonic pleaded.

Knuckles didn't listen, he just broke through the wire ropes. Thinking quickly, Penelope reached into Sonic's ring pouch and grabbed the compass. "Tails, take the compass and get out of here!", she shouted as she threw it at him.

Tails reached out to catch the compass, but then Robotnik swooped in on his Egg Mobile and caught it. "Yeah! Later, haters!", he shouted as he fired out two missiles from his Egg Mobile. The missiles blew up on either side of Tails, knocking him out and knocking him out of the sky.

"Tails!", shouted Sonic.

"Oh my God!", shouted Penelope.

As Knuckles jumped back onto the Egg Mobile, he watched curiously as Sonic and Penelope raced over to Tails' unconscious body.

"Tails, come on. Wake up!", said Sonic.

"Tails! Tails, sweetie, please open your eyes! Please!", said Penelope as she tried not to panic.

"They both chose helping the fox over pursuing the compass...", said Knuckles.

Robotnik let out a mirthless laugh, "Of course they did. New friend, same pathetic weakness", he said. Knuckles looked at him with a questioning expression, almost as if he didn't like what he had said.

Then, Robotnik fired more missiles towards the mountain, causing an avalanche. "See ya, kids. Enjoy the fresh powder", he shouted as he and Knuckles flew away.

Penelope looked up at the avalanche as panic finally began to set in, "No...no! No! No! No! I am not dying like this! Not like this!", she screamed as she called her hoverboard over using her wristlet computer. Then, she grabbed Sonic and Tails and leapt onto the hoverboard, zooming down the mountain.

"Sonic, what do we do? This thing is powered by one of your quills, but even at 300 miles per hour, we can't outrun an avalanche!", Penelope shouted.

"Well, I lost my rings on the cliff! Don't you got rings? Remember, the ones I gave you!", said Sonic.

"Yeah, they're inside my backpack but I can't exactly grab them while I'm focused on outrunning an avalanche so we don't get buried alive/freeze to death, now can I?!", Penelope replied.

Seeing no other options, Sonic pulled out his cellphone and started calling Tom.

[Time Skip]

Meanwhile in Hawaii, Rachel's wedding was finally underway. She stood up at the alter with her fiance, Randall, Maddie was at her side along with the other bridesmaids and Tom was sitting in the audience.

But just as the Priest was asking for the rings from the ring bearer, Tom's phone suddenly started ringing. Everyone, especially Rachel, looked at him with annoyance. Tom took out his phone, "Sorry. Thought it was on silent", he said as he ignored the call.

"These rings--"

The priest was cut off when Tom's cellphone went off again, annoying everyone again. "So help me, Thomas!", shouted Rachel.

"Okay, sorry, sorry. Excuse me, this is an emergency. Sorry", said Tom as he stood up and walked away from the wedding. He saw it was Sonic calling him, he then answered the phone. "What? This better be important. I just…are you skiing?", said Tom.

"Snowboarding, actually. But we need your help now. Life or death situation this very second. I need you to use the Ring I gave you to save us. Like right now", said Sonic.

"Okay, slow down. I don't even know where you are, and what do you mean "we" and "us"?", said Tom.

"Dad, help us!"

Tom was shocked when he heard his adopted daughter's voice.

"What...Penelope?!"

"Forget that, for a second! Tom, you just gotta picture where you want the Ring to go. So picture this", said Sonic as he pointed the camera at the snowy terrain.

"Oh, my god. Okay, okay. Hang on, guys", said Tom as he took out the ring and threw it. It flew through the air...and then landed on the ground. Nothing happened.

"Did you throw it?", asked Sonic.

Tom ran over to grab the ring, looking at it, he saw Rachel's name engraved on it. "Oh, god..."

"What? Tell me what "oh, god""

"I think I must've mixed up the rings when I was teasing Jojo".

"What? Where is it then? Where is it then?"

Tom looked over to see Randall about to put the ring on Rachel's finger, "You don't want to know".

"But I do, Tom. I very much want to know, before my sister and I become a hedgehog and human flavored snow cone!", shouted Sonic.

"Hang tight, guys. I got this", said Tom.

"With this ring, Rachel…"

The priest was cut off when Tom ran up to the alter, "Hey! Hi.Randall", he said.

"Everything okay, bud?", asked Randall.

"Not really", said Tom.

"What are you doing?", asked Maddie.

"This is gonna sound crazy, but I need to see that ring for just one second, one second", said Tom.

"Have you lost your mind?", asked Rachel.

"I'm gonna give it right back, I promise. Please, Randall, it's really important", said Tom.

"No, bro. Go sit down", said Randall.

"Randall, give me the ring, please?"

"Randall, don't look at him, look at me", said Rachel.

"Randall, Randall".

"One second. Put the ring on my finger".

"No, Randall, listen to me".

"Randall! Look at me. Ring on my finger".

"Give me the ring! Just one second".

"Put a ring on it! Please, love? Okay?"

"With this ring…Rachel", said the priest.

"I'm so sorry about this", Tom said as he suddenly punched Randall in the face, shocking everyone. Tom grabbed the ring and threw it, opening a portal to the snowy Siberian mountains. Everyone looked to see the oncoming avalanche, "Snow my God", said Rachel.

"Oh, boy...", said Tom.

"Incoming!", shouted Sonic and Penelope as they came shooting through the portal along with a ton of snow. Everyone leapt out of the way as snow flew everywhere, nearly burying everyone.

"Anybody hurt? Sonic! Are you okay?", said Tom.

"What's happening? Are you hurt?", asked Maddie.

"Mom! Dad!", said Penelope.

"No, no, no, I'm fine. We're both fine", said Sonic.

"Okay, good. Because you're both in so much trouble!", shouted Tom.

"Um, Dad...I'm twenty years old. Even if I was in trouble, you kinda can't ground me anymore...", Penelope inputted.

"Okay, Tom, you calm down. And you two, talk", said Maddie.

"Should you tell them or should I?", Penelope asked Sonic.

"Okay, quick version. Robotnik is back on Earth and he's after a magic Emerald. We need to get it back or the world is doomed. Tails!", said Sonic as he remembered the unconscious fox. He and Penelope started digging him out of the snow.

"Wait! All this happened since yesterday?", asked Maddie.

"Wait, who's Tails?", asked Tom.

Sonic pulled the unconscious fox out of the snow, "Tails, can you hear me?", he said.

"Oh, Lord, there are two of them now", said Rachel.

"Tails? Tails, baby, please wake up!", said Penelope.

"Okay, okay, let me think, let me think. Tails, come on, buddy" said Sonic just before an electric net flew in out of nowhere and knocked him out.

"Hey!", shouted Tom.

"Sonic!", shouted Penelope.

Just then, some of the wedding attendees pulled guns out of their pockets and pointed them towards Tom.

"Randall, why do all of your friends have weapons?", asked Rachel.

At that moment, a familiar face suddenly walked in on the scene.

"You really should have taken me up on that brunch, Mr. and Mrs. Wachowski".

That's right, it was Commander Walters.

"Olive garden guy?", Tom asked in shock as his, Maddie's and Penelope's eyes widened in disbelief.

"It's okay, everyone. We're federal agents", said Walters as he pulled out his badge before turning to Randall, "You, too, agent. Go ahead".

Rachel stared in disbelief as Randall pulled his badge from within his shirt, "You mean to tell me that this entire wedding was a setup?!", she shouted angrily.

"Rachel, wait a minute", said Randall.

"What?"

"That's correct, ma'am. Every single aspect ofOperation: Catfishwas a complete fabrication", said Walters.

Now Rachell was even more angry, "Operation: Catfish? So is everyone here an agent? Are you an agent?", she looked to the priest who had a gun hidden in his bible, "Son of a…was the florist an agent? How about the photographer? The woman who waxed my…at the spa? Is Jojo an agent?"

Randall tried to approach her, "Rachel...listen to me--"

"I'm done listening! I am done listening!", Rachel shouted as she broke down crying.

"I am so sorry. I am so sorry. I really am. I am so sorry", said Randall.

Just then, a loud snap was heard as the agents locked Sonic and Tails inside a pair of cages and were dragging them away.

"Hey!", shouted Penelope.

"No. Hey, no! Let him go! Hey! Sonic, hang on", shouted Tom but he was stopped by Randall. "Take it easy. It's not worth it", he said.

Penelope tried to approach Randall but she was stopped by Walters, "I wouldn't do that if I were you", he said before taking a good look at her wristlet computer, "Quite the piece of tech you've got there".

Penelope backed away from him and glared at him, "What's that supposed to me, you old creep! I knew I couldn't trust you, let my Dad and my brothers go or else I'm gonna put you in a wheelchair and ship you off to the old folk's home!", she said as she put up her fists.

"Such juvenile talk coming from an adult, but attitude isn't a reflection of intelligence. After all, according to Dean Walden, you are the top student", said Walters.

That's when Penelope did a double take, "Wait...Dean Walden? How do you know the name of the dean of my college?!", she asked.

Walters smiled condescendingly, "We've been watching you for quite some time as well, Ms. Wachowski. Ever since you started applying for university, we've monitored your online activity in order to track you. And when you were finally accepted, we went over to the university beforehand and...persuaded Dean Walden to have my agents pose as staff to monitor you further.

"Oh, and remember that student survey you took? That was actually an I.Q. test, we wanted to see just how smart you were and the results were astounding...", he said.

"What are you even talking about?", asked Tom.

"Mr. Wachowski, your adopted daughter here has an I.Q. of 350, she almost as intelligent as Dr. Robotnik. And such potential shouldn't be wasted on measly careers in Robotics", said Walters as he turned back to Penelope, "Young lady, how would like to become one of my agents?You'll be paid exceptionally well and that large intellect of yours will be put to good use".

Penelope was extremely quiet throughout the whole exchange, then she suddenly pulled her right arm back and delivered a particularly hard punch to Commander Walters' face. She breathed heavily through clenched teeth as angry tears flowed down her face.

"You...you bastard! You've been watching me like a creepy stalker this whole time, you tricked my aunt into a fake wedding so you could capture my brothers and now...you want me to join you? Why? So you could use the tech I build for military and war purposes?

"Never! I want to become a roboticist so I can create technology that will help people, not to be misused for causing pain and suffering! Robotnik already did enough of that and he's still doing it! Go to Hell and sit on a red hot cinder!", she screamed.

Walters stood up as he rubbed the left side of his face, "Somehow...I thought you'd be more cooperative than that, but I guess that's my own fault. Even at the age of twenty, you still act like a rebellious, simpleminded child", he said as he snapped his fingers.

Suddenly, two more agents came up and grabbed Penelope from behind. "Hey! What are you doing? Let go of me! Let go of me!", she shouted as they dragged her away along with Tom.

"Penelope! Tom!", shouted Maddie as she stepped forward but was stopped by Walters, "Sonic is not a threat. He's on our side".

"He's an uncontrolled extraterrestrial. And your days of aiding and abetting him are over", said Walters before he turned to his agents, "Secure them in the hotel until the chopper arrives".

"You're making a mistake", said Tom.

"You government people are monsters! I hope you all die and go to Hell!", screamed Penelope.

Then, Rachel rushed over towards Walters, "Hold on, Major a-hole! This is still my day, and someone is gonna explain to me what the Hell is going on here!", she demanded.

"After the events in San Francisco, a global task force was created, devoted to protecting our planet from alien threats. That day,Guardian Units of Nationswas born", Walters explained.

"G-u-n...eriously?", asked Rachel.

"G.U.N., yeah", said Walters.

"Look, what about protecting our planet from Dr. Robotnik?", asked Maddie.

Walters looked at her like she was crazy, "Robotnik is dead", he said.

"You're wrong. He's back. And you just hauled away the only ones who could stop him", said Maddie.

Walters then pulled out his walkie talkie, "Sounds like Robotnik might be back in play. If he is, I want him found immediately. And cancel my five o'clock at the Olive Garden", he said.

[Time Skip]

Inside the hotel, Tom and Penelope were dragged into a room along with the cages that held Sonic and Tails, the latter still unconscious while the former had woken up.

"Hey, come on. You can't just leave us in here. My friend is hurt! He needs a doctor, a vet, anyone! Tails, you got to wake up, buddy. Please wake up", said Sonic.

The agents ignored him as he, Tails, Tom and Penelope were shoved into the room and locked inside. Sonic sat in his cage, not knowing what to do, before he looked up to see that Penelope had a dismal expression on her face.

"Sis...what's wrong?", he asked.

"Sonic, Penelope heard some news that she wasn't exactly happy about--"

"I don't care!"

The two turned to Penelope after they heard her speak, "I don't care what that old government fart said about me! I said I would become a roboticist and use my tech to help those in need, and I'm not gonna let some fossil tell me how to live my life! I will achieve my dream! And I will help people, starting now!", she shouted in determination.

She then activated her wristlet computer, "This is an emergency! Activate EB-Unit 1, Defense Protocol Alpha!", she said. Sonic and Tom stared at her in confusion.

[Time Skip]

Back outside, Jojo handed both Tails' backpack and Penelope's backpack to Maddie.

"Aunt Maddie? Sonic and his friend, and cousin Penelope dropped this", she said.

Just as Rachel walked over to them, Penelope's bag started shaking and jolting back and forth. "Oh Lord, what's in there?!", Rachel shouted in fear.

Before Maddie could open the backpack, the zipper opened up on it's own and something flew out. Maddie and Rachel gave a small shout at what had came out of the backpack, it looked like a large robotic bee that was white with cyan markings.

It had two long robotic arms, a pair pincer like legs, two antennae and a metal nozzle where its stinger should be. It was flying in the air by means of a propeller sticking up out of its back.

"EB-Unit 1, Defense Mode Activated", it said.

[To be continued...]