It had been a few days after the escape from Area 99, and Penny was quite enjoying the peaceful atmosphere in Chris's home. She and Cream were out eating a snack together while Tails and Chuck cleaned the Tornado.
"I like to keep the Tornado nice and clean." The fox explained as he hosed down his plane. Chuck, who was watching Tails, smiled, crossing his arms. "Tails, I'd love to study this plane's mechanics one day."
Cheese hummed happily as he bit into a donut. Cream glanced at Cheese hopefully. "Do you like it?"
"Chao chao!" Cheese exclaimed with his mouth full.
Cream smiled. "I'm glad!"
"I'm happy to see you enjoying them as well, Cream!" Penny smiled lovingly at her little sister figure. The hedgehog leaned on the table and rested her head on her arms. "I made them myself when no one was in the kitchen."
"They're delicious, Penny!" Cheese smiled happily, popping a donut in her mouth.
"Hey, Tails!"
At Chris's shout, Penny, Cream, and Cheese turned to see the human boy run towards them, a worried frown on his face.
"What's wrong?" Tails asked.
"Where's Sonic?"
Penny glanced up curiously. Now that Chris mentioned it, she hadn't really seen Sonic this morning. Well, she sort of did. He stopped to check on her arm from the rescue mission, and after making sure she was okay, he zoomed off. She hadn't seen him since.
"He left this morning." Cream said, snapping Penny out of her thoughts. "He was going somewhere to explore."
"That's Sonic for ya." Penny giggled. "Every time we go somewhere new, he's off in a flash." She moved her right arm forward in a zooming motion. "I think he might've gone downtown."
Chris looked worried. "If the police spot Sonic, they'll catch him."
Tails glanced at Chris. "Catch Sonic? I don't think so."
"I just hope he's careful." Chris sighed.
"He's always careful." Penny said, reaching for another donut. "If I know Sonic, that speedster loves danger."
Chris's eyes widened. "We have to get him back, right away!"
Tails frowned as he scanned the area for Sonic. "This is like trying to find a hedgehog in a haystack!"
"I can't disagree with you," Penny called to him through her walkie talkie. "He's no where to be found!"
Hearing screaming, Penny's right ear twitched, and she turned towards the sound. "Wha..." She quickly ran towards the city (making sure to keep away from the crowd) and saw the whole thing from a TV store window.
Eggman.
Penny's eyes widened. They were right... he was here. She quickly scanned the crowd and saw two familiar faces...Knuckles and Amy.
"KNUCKLES! AMY!" Penny yelled, running towards them.
"Penny!?" Amy cried, looking relieved. "You're okay!"
"What's going on?!" Penny gasped, running up and bending over, hands on her knees.
Amy said nothing and pointed to the sky. Penny looked up and her brown eyes widened to see Tails and Chris dodging the claws of one of Eggman's robots.
"Tails...Chris..." Penny muttered, her eyes wide.
Amy turned to Knuckles. "Tails is in trouble! We've gotta find a way to help him!"
Knuckles frowned. "I've got more important things to do."
Penny's eyes widened. "YOU JERK." She hissed. "Don't you care about what happens to him at all?! FINE. Who needs you. C'mon, Amy, let's help Tails and Chris." She grabbed the older pink hedgehog's hand, and the two ran towards the building.
"AMY! PENNY!" Knuckles yelled. He growled, clenching his fist. "She's only going to get herself hurt..."
Penny and Amy ran through the building until they came up to an elevator. They stepped in and waited for the doors to close.
"PENNY! AMY!"
The two hedgehogs looked up to see Knuckles running towards them. Penny stuck her tongue at Knuckles and Amy humphed at him, placing her hands on her hips.
"STOP!" Knuckles yelled.
He was a moment too late, the doors closed. He growled to himself. "Great! What'll I do now?"
The echidna looked around and found a fleet of stairs just below the exit sign. He smirked and ran up the steps to the roof where Tails was fighting Eggman.
"All right, I need a strategy." The echidna muttered.
The elevator door opened, and Penny and Amy walked out. Knuckles smirked at the two. "What took you two so long?" He let out a yelp and backed off when Amy walked up with her hammer. "LEAVE TAILS ALONE, YOU TIN BULLY! HI-YAAA!" She yelled, and smashed it against Missile Wrist's leg.
"AMY!" Penny shrieked. She ran over to her and pushed the girl away, and ended up becoming the robot's hostage. Penny whimpered, trying to squirm her way out of the tight grip.
"HANG ON, PENNY!" Knuckles yelled. He took a leap towards his close friend, but Eggman flew in his way. "Hold it, Knucklehead!"
Knuckles grunted as he stopped, sweating.
"One more step, and the girl's a goner!" Eggman snapped his fingers, and Penny let out a frightened and pained scream as Missile Wrist squeezed her tighter. "KNUCKLES!" Penny shrieked.
Knuckles growled. "Leave Penny alone, or you'll be sorry!" Knuckles hissed.
Eggman smirked. "Sorry? I'm already sorry that you and your friend survived. My consolation is that it seemed that Sonic didn't!" He paused, looking around. "Or did he? Perhaps this is all a trap!"
Tails flew his airplane above, his eyes wide with worry. "What if Sonic doesn't make it in time?!"
Chris looked down the plane and saw a familiar blue streak heading towards them and grinned. "Don't worry, help is on the way! GET HIM, SONIC!"
Tails flew the Tornado towards Sonic and Chris tossed him a ring. "Thanks!" The blue hedgehog grinned, and zoomed to rescue his friend.
"There he is. Get ready to fire." Eggman smirked. Penny whimpered as Missile Wrist tossed her carelessly through the air, but thankfully Knuckles caught the younger hedgehog.
Sonic smirked and launched an attack at Missile Wrist, speeding up the building. Missile Wrist shot missiles at him, and an explosion shot as soon as they reached Sonic.
Penny whimpered, her ears flattening against her head.
To her relief, Sonic zoomed out of the smoke and quickly continued to speed his way up the building.
"FIRE AWAY!" Eggman yelled, pointing at Sonic's spinning body in the air.
Missile Wrist launched all he got at Sonic, and the hedgehog soon ended up taunting Missile Wrist.
"WISE GUY!" Eggman hissed. "I'LL SHOW YOU!"
Missile Wrist launched his wrists at Sonic, and the hedgehog continued his taunting.
"HEY, SONIC!" Knuckles yelled. "TRY THE OLD SLAP-ON-THE-WRIST!"
The hedgehog smirked and landed on Missile Wrist's wrist, and when Missile Wrist pulled his arm back, Sonic stuck his tongue out at the robot and snickered. Completely irritated, the robot tried smashing at Sonic, but Sonic was quick to jump out of the way and the robot ended up smashing his own arm.
"Bye!" Sonic chuckled as he hopped in the air.
"FIRE!" Eggman roared.
Missile Wrist shot more missiles at Sonic, and once again he caught the blue hedgehog in the middle of the air. And like before, Sonic sped out of the smoke and smashed right through Missile Wrist, destroying it in a single blow. Missile Wrist quickly exploded, and Sonic quickly blocked Penny from all the debris. Knuckles did the same with Amy.
"All right, Sonic!" Chris cheered from the plane.
Sonic smirked at Eggman. "You loose!"
Eggman, covered in dust, growled at Sonic. "This isn't over, blue boy. You haven't heard the last of Eggman! Soon I will rule this world, this universe, and the Chaos Emeralds will be mine!" He exclaimed as he disappeared into the sky.
"Oh, Sonic! Sonic!" Amy cried, running over and pushing Penny away, embracing the blue hedgehog in a hug. "You're okay!"
"Ugh, take it easy!" Sonic winced.
"For a while, Sonic, I thought I'd never see you again!"
"Amy, please, let me go!"
Penny smiled. Sonic turned to her. "Are you okay?"
"I am, thanks to Knuckles." Penny smiled, glancing at Knuckles.
Their reunite was short lived when soldiers ran up towards them. Sonic growled and pulled Penny behind him, covering her small form.
"All right, nobody move." One of the soldiers ordered, his gun raised.
"Oh, great." Knuckles grumbled. "Now what?"
"Don't you try running away!" The soldier continued, and Penny's ears flattened against her head. She turned to Knuckles, who looked like he wanted to pick up a fight. "Knuckles never runs from a fight!" He hissed, clenching his fists.
"SONIC!" Tails yelled.
Sonic quickly tossed Amy to the rope ladder Tails tossed to them, and she hung on. Sonic then scooped Penny in his arms and quickly hopped on himself. She whimpered at the sudden heights and buried her face in Sonic's shoulder.
"HEY, KNUCKLES, COME ON!" Sonic yelled.
"PLEASE, KNUCKLES, LET'S GO!"
Knuckles smirked, and then dodged towards the rope. He caught it just in time and hung on.
Chris smiled at them. "We'll go back to my house, guys!"
"Cream and Cheese are already there waiting for us!" Tails grinned.
"Wow! Them too?" Amy asked, carefully climbing up to the plane. "So we're all here together!"
Knuckles frowned. "Count me out. This is where I get off."
"Knuckles?" Penny frowned, opening an eye. She let out a startled gasp as the echidna hopped from the plane rope.
"NO, DON'T GO!" Amy cried, reaching for him.
"See you around." Knuckles said, turning in the air and headed for the forest below.
"He's not coming with us?" Amy frowned, glancing down at Sonic. "Why not?"
"I guess that's just Knuckles for you." Penny answered.
"That's right." Sonic said. "He does things his way."
The gang said nothing as they flew home.