While Penny focused on rescuing the villagers, her thoughts trailed back to that day, where she first met Infinite. Or, rather...the day he attacked her, causing her to experience trauma like never before...
...
Explosions echoed menacingly in her ears as she dodged another missiles, her legs shaking as she ran.
"S-Sonic...HELP ME!" Penny shrieked as a blast knocked her to her feet. She landed on her side, letting out a yelp as she felt something dig into her skin.
Hearing a sinister chuckle, the human girl turned around to see Infinite floating above her, and her eyes widened as she scooted back as far as she could, ignoring the pain in her side. Infinite, on the other hand, took an interest in her fear and moved up to her. "There is no reason to resist. Your savior is no more."
He turned his attention to the other soldiers of the Resistance and destroyed them all in a single blast. One of the Wispons skidded over to her feet, and she shakily reached to grab it, wincing at the pain in her leg.
"I can taste your terror, child." Infinite snickered in amusement as he watched the girl run for the Wispon.
"How do I use this?" The girl thought, frantically scanning for the fire button. She shakily held it threateningly at Infinite as he rambled on. "...All that anxiety and doubt...it's delicious."
She shrieked as a blast scorched her other leg, knocking her to the ground. Tears fell down her cheeks as she wrapped both arms around her aching legs.
"Give into your fear. Flee, screaming, and I'll let you live." Infinite said.
Penny shuddered in pain and fear, tears falling down her cheeks as she curled into a tight ball. She seriously wished Sonic was there to take him down for her.
"PENNY!"
She didn't answer as two sets of feet ran towards her. She felt someone pick her up in his arms. "What happened?!"
Silver.
The girl glanced up at the ivory hedgehog, shaking. Silver was immediately surprised...he never saw her this terrified.
She weakly and slowly pointed her finger at Infinite, and Silver and his companion both growled at the same time.
"You're going down!"
That second voice was Espio. Through her blurry vision, she watched as Espio lunged his rage at the new villain.
The villain smirked, chuckling as he easily batted Espio away like a little bug that meant nothing to him.
Silver glanced down at Penny, narrowing his eyes in determination. "Hang in there, Pen," he murmured.
That was all she could remember before everything went black.
...
Penny shuddered. "Stop thinking about the past..." She grumbled, trying to focus on the task.
Fear always found a way to stop her.
Fear always found a way to bring her down to the point where she felt useless.
She hated it. She desperately wished she could be brave, but that was more of Sonic, Silver, Shadow, (she couldn't think about the ebony hedgehog after Sonic's incident six months ago.) Espio, and the rest of the male members of the Resistance's thing. Even Amy Rose was braver than her.
She quickly snapped out of it and hurried up with escorting the rest of the people to safety. When she was done, she notified the Resistance.
"All clear." She called. "Mission accomplished."
"That was impressive." Knuckles hummed at her through her radio. "But we still have a lot to do!"
Sonic butted in. "Penny, are you okay?! You're not hurt, are you?"
"Not hurt." Penny responded. "One hundred percent alive and undamaged."
Sonic sighed with relief. "I knew you had it in you, Pen."
Vector's voice was next. "Nice moves, but if you hog all of the glory, how am I going to look good?!"
Penny snickered. "Don't worry, V, I won't hog all of it."
"The system is picking up a couple of strange readings," Rouge's voice was traced with worry. "They're coming from the laboratory. The one where Sonic fought Infinite."
Penny felt sweat down her skin. She had a feeling where this was going, and she didn't like it, no sir.
"Probably one of Eggman's robots." Silver hummed.
"Life readings, two of them. Definitely not robots."
"Hey, Rookie, go to the lab and check it out!" Knuckles called to her.
"O-okay." Penny nodded. "Penny out." She turned off her communicator and dashed towards the lab.
When she made it to the lab, she found something shiny on the ground. Curious, Penny walked up to it and picked it up with her hand.
"What is it?" She mumbled. It was some type of gem.
Wait a minute.
She recognized that gem.
This was the gem that fell out of Infinite's chest during the fight he had with Sonic.
Hearing someone coming, Penny turned around and her eyes brightened. "Classic!"
Classic skidded to a stop next to her and waved Tails down. Tails landed beside the two, glancing at Penny curiously.
"Have we met before?"
Penny's eyes widened. Her arms dropped to her side as she clutched the gem tightly, taking a staggered step backwards as she glanced at Tails with wide eyes.
What did he mean?!