The epic second installment of…

The Pencil Rain

Times Station (Central Station Square)

530 hours

"PENCIL THREAT! PENCIL THREAT! READ ALL ABOUT IT!"

As groggy businessmen got up to go to their jobs, the news broke. Within minutes, it had become the world's top story. Every station had pencils; they were inescapable. The weathermen had to apologize for not having a pencil icon ready. The planet was hysterical, despite the press report's statement not to panic. Of course, as people ran through the streets, Sonic had no idea.

The blue blur was instead running at incredible speed around the canyons far outside of the city. Tails had given him a deluxe cell phone the previous week for the purpose of getting emergency calls. Sonic had the ring all the way up so he could hear over the wind in his face. However, it was as of yet unused, so he really had no clue how powerful the speakers were. Suddenly, in the middle of running, the deafening ring caused him to lose concentration and fall over before he flipped it open and mashed the down arrow on the volume control.

"Yes…Mr. President, what…is it?" Sonic barely managed to say in between coughing up dust that he had kicked up and getting up to pay proper attention.

"Sonic. We are in a very dangerous situation. There are pencils in the sky. And they're sharpened. If they fall, grievous damage could be caused to the world. I need you to help in stopping the pencil threat."

"WHAT? I mean, how can I help?"

"We have no plans as of yet because of the peculiar nature of this situation. I know you may be able to help. Over and out."

Sonic pondered, "But what in the world could I do? Tails probably has some invention he can make, and if not, he knows how to build it." He immediately set off for a nearby area where Tails said he would be testing the landing gear he finally put on his Tornado plane in the X-winged mode.

After getting lost in the canyons (Sonic rarely went that way anyway) he finally spotted a blue-and yellow speck in the sky. At the same time, Tails noticed a blue speck below, standing out against the brown that was visible for miles. Slowly coming as far down as he could, Tails tried to listen to Sonic yelling to him about the news.

"TAILS! I GOTTA TELL YOU SOMETHING!"

"WHAT IS IT?"

"THE PRESIDENT JUST CALLED SAYING THERE ARE PENCILS IN THE SKY! AND THEY"RE SHARPENED!"

"OK! I HAVE TO TAKE A CLOSER LOOK WHEN I GET BACK TO THE WORKSHOP! I CAN'T LAND HERE! HOP ON!" So Sonic got on the plane and headed for the workshop, a nondescript little building out on a hill.

"So there are pencils? In the sky?" Tails said. "Man, I know what happens when you drop a penny from a skyscraper, so pencils up that high have to be really dangerous."

"Do you have any way to stop it?" Sonic inquired as the two entered the building.

"Not at the moment, this is going to be hard to figure out. I need some time. You said there's a good chance within the week?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Wow." And at that point all sorts of possibilities occurred. Umbrellas? No, they'd weaken from pencil abuse. Collect all of the pencils? No, there's too many. Safety net? That'd be up a little high, no place to hang it from. Destroy them? Only more pencil fragments to deal with. Send them into space? You know, that might be crazy enough to work. "Sonic, these pencils may have to enter orbit. They're up higher than rain normally is; if they get a big push it could save the planet."

"But how in the world do we put pencils in space?" was the reply.

"Yeah, I have an idea, but it's going to be tough to do. If the pencils are nudged out of place, they will fall. Of course, if we use a little Chaos Control…"

"Oh really?" Sonic replied. "Well! I have one!"

"HOW DID YOU GET THAT?" was all Tails could exclaim in shock.

"Remember defeating Chaos a month ago? I had the fortune to keep one!" Sonic said.

"Wow. Completely forgot. It all passes so fast. I remember the city just got rebuilt," whispered Tails in astonishment that he had already forgotten.

"Why don't we get started then?" Sonic said with half eagerness and half impatience.

"You're right. I have no idea what people are doing. Most likely panicking their heads off. Let's get going!" Tails replied with the same mix.

All Sonic did was step outside when he noticed a plane. "Aside from the Tornado, nothing should be flying through such heavy, um, pencils," Sonic thought as the slow realization came to mind…

It was Eggman's plane!

Suspense and some actual action (I know, it's tough to write fight scenes with inanimate objects) are to come in Episode 3 of… THE PENCIL RAIN.