"Tails!" Penny called as she hopped over rubble that was left over from the last battle. "Now where could he be..." She glanced around and quickly recognized his twin tails in the distance. He was hoovering over at Zavok's wrecked form. Tails sighed. "I couldn't figure it out for you, buddy. I'm sorry I wasn't smart enough..."

The human girl hurried over and placed a hand on his shoulder in comfort. "Tails..."

Tails turned to the human girl. "Hey, Penny." He said, his eyes showing that he didn't really get enough sleep these past few nights.

"Trying to figure out what happened to Zavok?"

"Yeah..."

"I'm sure you'll think of something. You're more smart than we give you credit for." Penny smiled at him, bringing the fox in a hug.

Hearing stomping behind them, Penny and Tails turned around. "Chaos!"

Thinking quick, the human girl threw herself in front of Tails and grabbed her Wispon. She tried clicking it, but it didn't fire. "C'mon, come ON!" She hissed, banging it.

Chaos hissed and stomped towards them. Completely panicked, Tails and Penny latched onto each other, both yelling at the same time, "SONIC, HELP ME!"

Penny tightened her grip around the shuddering fox, awaiting for the blow, but it never came. The human girl gasped and turned around to see a familiar ball of blue electricity smash into Chaos, destroying it. Penny's heart nearly stopped when she saw the blue figure land in front of them.

Penny tapped Tails' shoulder, and the kitsune turned around. "Sonic?" His eyes brightened and he smiled excitedly. "You're alive!"

"Take a closer look, Tails." Penny said, pointing her thumb at the smaller version of Sonic, who was eyeing them with worry.

Tails nodded slowly in realization. "Oh! You're that Sonic from the other dimension, are you?"

Classic smiled and nodded.

"Right, right, right." Tails hummed thoughtfully. "That makes sense. I think."

Penny kneeled down to Classic's height level and glanced curiously at him. "Do you know how you got here?"

Classic shrugged.

"Maybe that power that Eggman is using is somehow affecting other dimensions." Tails hummed thoughtfully.

Classic Sonic nodded.

Tails grinned, continuing. "Which might work to our advantage! I mean, everything happens for a reason, right?" He looked at Classic. "We need to save the world, and maybe that's why you're here. To help save the world!"

Classic smiled, his hands on his hips as he and Penny listened to Tails. "Either way, it's still good to see you, Sonic. Heck, it's good to see any Sonic! Right, Penny?"

"That's right." Penny said. She caught Classic in a hug, surprising him. "And this version of Sonic is so cute!"

Classic chuckled, scratching his head.

Tails snickered. "Just make sure you don't tell our Sonic that you said his shorter version was cuter than him. He might get jealous."

"That is if he's still alive..." Penny sighed, sadly glancing down.

Classic frowned at her sudden change of mood, and hopped out of her arms. Penny watched curiously as the little guy began making silly dance moves.

Penny snickered. Sonic used to cheer her up like that. "Thanks, little guy. I needed that." The girl picked Classic up and hugged him, and he returned it. Tails walked up and joined in on the hug.

Later...

Penny sat down in the Resistance control room, and Silver ran up to her, his eyes wide with excitement. Penny glanced up. "Silver, what's up?"

"Haven't you heard?" Silver grinned excitedly. "Knuckles announced it!"

"What?"

"Sonic's alive!"

Penny's eyes widened and she jumped up with a start. "Alive?!"

"He's captured in the orbiting prison." Knuckles said, walking in the room. "My spy there says he's in a solitary confinement cell, and they've been torturing him for months."

"T-torcher?" Penny asked, her eyes wide. "Then we have to get him out of there!"

Knuckles nodded. "Plan's already happening, Pen. I've got a squad on the way to a Space Port in the Chemical Plant to "borrow" a shuttle." He then grinned. "Come on, guys! Who's ready for a old-school style jailbreak?"

"I'll do it!" Penny quickly stood up.

Silver and Knuckles glanced at her. "What?"

"I'll rescue Sonic." Penny said, narrowing her eyes in determination.

"Are you sure?" Knuckles frowned. "I thought you never wanted to set foot on the battle field again after last time."

He was right. She remembered how terrified she was when facing the enemy on her own. When Espio and Silver rescued her and bought her back, she was shaking like a leaf, and she didn't speak for the next few days. Penny remembered that day completely.

But after hearing the news that Sonic was alive, the human girl felt braver. And after seeing Classic earlier, she felt more than brave to rescue her long lost friend.

She glanced at Knuckles and nodded. "Yes. I want to help him."

Knuckles sighed.

"Commander?" Silver asked.

"Fine. She can go." Knuckles said. He glanced at Penny and placed a hand on her shoulder. "We're counting on you, Rookie."

Penny nodded.

Rouge's voice suddenly came over the radio. "Knuckles, can you hear me?"

"Rouge. It's about time. How's Sonic doing?"

"He's been better. They're getting ready to banish him into space."

Penny gasped, her brown eyes wide.

"What?!" Silver yelped. "You can't be serious!"

"Eggman's been keeping Sonic alive all this time." Rouge continued. "He's been waiting to show him his completed empire before banishing him."

"And torturing Sonic just to pass the time." Knuckles sighed, shaking his head. "That's low, even for Eggman."

"I agree," Penny said.

"Eggman got wind of our rescue plan and is moving forward with his plan ahead of schedule. The clock is ticking, boss."

"Rouge, we don't even know where they're keeping Sonic!" Penny pipped up.

"Yes we do." Rouge responded. "Eggman rebuilt the Death Egg. That's where he's keeping Sonic."

"The Death Egg?" Vector repeated. He winced. "That's not good..."

"None of this is good, Vector." Knuckles said. "That's why it's called 'war'."

"War..." Penny repeated, feeling queasy to her stomach.

"You all know what to do." Knuckles said to everyone, though his eye contact was on Penny. "Let's go get Sonic."

Penny nodded. She glanced down to the ground and muttered, "Hang in there, Sonic. I'm coming."