Disclaimer- I don't own the games or the show.

Let's see who can succeed in evil without really trying!

And also, there's a very important update about this story at the end! Make sure to read it!

Shadow didn't know who he was angry at the most. It was a toss up between whoever threw something at him, himself for almost drowning, or the laws of physics taking an unnecessary vacation because the damn house should be gone.

There were voices all around him, but all he really heard was himself coughing up a lung – better yet both of them. And then, it didn't help that half of his being was telling him to block out the world, finding peace in the ever elusive hold of sleep.

However, the other half needed to find what hit his head and caused him to almost die at the hand of caffeine.

Sonic hid his grin behind his hand as Shadow eventually calmed back down – who new that coffee would be the striped hedgehog's worst enemy? – before asking, "So Shads, how was the coffee?"

Shadow immediately rasped, "Go to hell."

"Yeah, I understand. I'd be mad if I waterboarded myself too."

Shadow barely restrained himself from throwing his half empty cup at the faker's face. He resisted however, because he knew that his aim wouldn't be the greatest at the moment. He didn't want to give Sonic anything else to laugh at.

He was sure that the thing wouldn't appreciate a comatose hedgehog.

The striped hedgehog eventually pulled himself together, sitting all the way up and blatantly ignoring the coffee stain on the burnt carpet in front of him. Dull and slightly unfocused red irises squinted at the abandoned remote laying a distance away from him. His muddled brain – alright. Maybe Chaos Blasting to get rid of a sugar high wasn't one of his best plans. However, he wasn't shaking anymore, so at least the plan worked – connected the dots easily enough.

Shadow slightly turned so he could face the rest of the occupants of the room who were sitting in plastic chairs he sure wasn't there before. Eyes were on him, and Shadow conjured up the meanest glare he could manage. Though, little did he know, he actually looked a kid rudely awakened from a nap.

"Who?" Shadow resisted the urge to wince at his strained and tired voice, trying to keep it sharp and intimidating.

However, it only seemed to affect Tails. "It wasn't me!" the kit hastily cleared his name, innocently holding his hands up. Tails knew to not judge a book by its cover. Shadow looked rough in all the wrong ways, but he was sure the hedgehog could still make his day ten times worse somehow. Like decide to target the rest of the house next. "Metal just decided to throw it!"

"Which is weird…" Amy tapped her chin, pursing her lips. "Because Metal now knows what pain feels like…"

"Desperate times require desperate measures," Metal easily responded, not intimidated at all by the hedgehog on the floor. "He is awake, and we can now-" The robot's words cut off when Shadow decided to take a chance with his aim. Coffee splattered all over Metal, dripping down his metallic hide. He paused for a moment before uttering, "I am waterproof."

Tails didn't even care as the beverage puddled underneath the robot's chair. He'd given up on this ruined living room at this point.

Shadow knew good and well that Metal was waterproof. However, seeing the projectile hit his target was satisfying nonetheless. He would rather dismember the mech wire by wire, but he had to make due.

Knuckles glanced at the splashed robot and then focused on the drowsy hedgie. He rose a brow. "You know bat-girl brought that for you, right?"

Shadow didn't flinch, his blinking growing more lethargic. "I'm sure she'd appreciate where it ended up."

"…You realize that you just threw your only source of energy, right?"

Shadow deeply sighed. "I'm well aware." He almost regretted using the beverage as a projectile…almost. Shadow blinked when something suddenly appeared at his side. It was a second coffee cup. Steam was flowing out of the hole in the capped container.

Amy stared in shock. "You know, maybe the thing is really feeling bad for u-"

The cup was hurled again, dousing an exasperated Metal even more. This time, the splash caused the robot's neighbors – Sonic and Eggman – to hiss and grabbed their affected arms.

The blue speedster hastily wiped the piping hot liquid off. "Not cool, Shads!" He noticed his unintentional pun, but he was too busy dealing with pain to acknowledge it. Unfortunately. "I wasn't the one who woke you up!"

Eggman scowled at the weary striped hedgehog, cradling his arm. He was thinking of a devious plan to somehow quintuple the sugar contents of everything Shadow ate after they escaped from this torture house.

When yet another cup of coffee materialized beside Shadow, Sonic was ready to hop out of the way if need be.

Metal eyed the striped 'hog as the other picked up the gift. "Are you done with your childish tantrum?"

Shadow's fingers tensed around the stryofoam, but then they relaxed. He figured that the thing could only be so nice. He blatantly ignored the robot and instead blew his hot beverage, taking a cautious sip. It was almost too hot, but he could handle it. He was going to drink this slowly, because he would rather let Eggman take over the damn world before experiencing another high like that.

"…I will take that as a yes," Metal said, readjusting himself in his chair because he was slightly sliding out of it. His opticals shifted over to the discarded remote. "I would have started the episode, but the remote is out of my possession."

Shadow heavily exhaled, feeling a bruise form on his forehead.

"I'll get it!" Amy hopped out of her seat and went after the device. She avoided coffee puddles and disintegrated couch cushions as she went, burnt confetti sticking to the bottom of her socks. She palmed the remote and went back to her seat, thinking about how normal their lives were before all this happened.

The world splitting in pieces? Younger doubles showing up? Confusing time travel? All of that was normal compared to this.

Amy settled in her chair and pressed play.

The episode started off showing an orchard. Sticks was on a ladder, picking berries.

Knuckles recalled the title of this episode and grunted out, "Is she going to turn evil in this one? I could see it." Her insane ramblings and paranoia were evil enough as they were. "Just don't let her be the main focus like Buster or that weird award one. Please."

Sonic simply shrugged at that, hating the hardness of his chair and wishing that they had at least came with padding. "She hasn't been that bad in the last few episodes…" She barely talked in the last one, but that was besides the point.

"No one at the pie festival will guess that beige berries are my secret ingredient!" The badger smiled as she placed her berries in her basket. However, the smile didn't last for long, being replaced by a thoughtful look. "Unless…one of these trees is a spy in disguise!"

Knuckles gave Sonic a pointed look, and the speedster just chuckled.

"She's…not being as extreme as she normally is!" Amy brought up, trying to remain positive. Sure, Sticks was a little…out there, but so was everyone Amy had ever met. Especially Knuckles. Honestly, Amy was sure that he would marry the Master Emerald if given the chance.

Sticks climbed down her ladder and glared at an innocent tree. "I'm onto you, tree! You'll never get the recipe! NEVER!" She pulled out her boomerang, ready to go on the defensive.

Tails really didn't get her choice of weaponry. Yeah, it apparently had worked up until now, but using a wooden boomerang? Against metal robots? "I wonder how many boomerangs she goes through every week…"

"Probably twenty." Knuckles threw out a guess. "Especially if she targets trees daily."

Sonic glanced at Metal out of the corner of his eye, seeing how the coffee had made the bot's hide glisten. "Mets, you know you can clean that off, right?"

"Cleaning the liquid off would signify discomfort. I will not let the Ultimate Lifeform think that he has affected me in any way," Metal said, gazing at Shadow who was focused on his drink (and not falling over in a dead sleep).

Sonic completely understood wanting to one-up Shads, but, "Won't you get sticky?"

Metal hesitated to answer. Instead, he held up his hands and clenched his fingers a few times. "…No, I will not."

Everyone could detect his unsureness, and Shadow smirked as he took sip from his cup.

At an earlier point of his life, Eggman would've cared if his ace robot had gotten doused with one and a half cups of coffee, but right now, Metal was nothing more than another pest to get rid of.

The human inwardly sighed. Somehow.

Before she could attack however, Tails approached her in his yellow hovercraft. "Hey Sticks! How's tricks?" he greeted with a smile. "I see you're making beige berry pie."

"And the good evens out the bad," Knuckles commented. "Maybe the episode will be more bearable."

"It will never become bearable until my double shows up," Shadow opposed. And is not completely intolerable.

Sonic chuckled, unable to hold in a, "If you ever show up! We still don't have any proof if your or Metal's – gah!" He barely ducked the cup launched at his head, and he audibly groaned when Shadow was provided with yet another cup. "Oh, come on!" He glared at the ceiling. "You give him more stuff to throw, but you won't replace our couches?!"

There was suddenly a weight in his hand, and he deadpanned at the soft toy sofa in his palm.

Knuckles chortled as Tails uttered, "I would laugh, but it pains me knowing with it could've been…"

Eggman allowed a jeering grin to grow. "Should've been more specific, rodent. Then-" His grin morphed into a deep frown when the couch ricocheted off his nose. An eye twitched. "I'm tired of things being thrown around here!"

Sonic scoffed. "And we're tired of seeing you all the time, but you don't hear us complaining!"

"Yes, I do!"

"Oh, right."

Sticks blinked in surprise before whispering to her berries. "I don't know what he's talking about! I'm taking you to live on a farm!"

Amy opened her mouth to comment, but she decided to close it. Sticks talking to berries was actually tamer than trying to attack a tree for spying on her. Though…it has only been a minute since the show had started…

The badger refocused on the fox. "No, if you will excuse me, I have a few trees left to pick." The badger walked off.

"Looks like you could use some help!" Tails shouted after her. "Be right back!" He zoomed away in his vehicle.

Tails didn't know if he liked this idea or not. "I don't know, but something's telling me that Sticks wouldn't appreciate machines helping her pick berries."

"She almost attacked a tree for just existing." Knuckles rolled his eyes. "So yeah, anything unnatural would surely be on her hit-list."

The kit was now in his workshop, working on his next invention. He was singing to himself. "Grab-claw's connected to the trap-jaw! Trap-jaw's connected to the scoop-maw! Scoop-maw's connected to the positively-charged resister-cuffing ion-matrix!" Tails stopped singing and went to turn the matrix on. It didn't work.

"Yeah, that's pretty accurate." Sonic smirked over at the yellow kit. "I catch you singing while working all the time! Though, they do rhyme better than your twin's."

"That's so adorable, Tails!" Amy cooed, and Tails hated that he never noticed Sonic listening in.

His cheeks reddened in embarrassment. "I just do it to pass the time!"

Sonic decided to shift gears, turning toward Eggman. "How about you, Eggy? Do you sing while you make your flimsy bots?"

Eggman wasn't going to even address the second part of the pest's question. "Of course I don't, you cactus!"

"Yes, he does," Metal argued. "He sounds similar to a beached whale."

Knuckles snorted. "Pretty fitting description."

Eggman wished that he had a cup of steaming coffee to throw.

"Oops," he said when the voltage meter didn't go high enough. "Needs voltage. Lot of trees means lot of V's!"

Chuckles echoed in the air, and Tails sunk into his seat because he knew he was guilty of the same thing sometimes.

He strolled over to a nearby shelf. Sapphires stared at the first matrix. "Nope." Tails went to the next one; it was a little bigger, but still too small. "Nope." There was one more; however, it still wasn't enough. "Nope."

Tails then glanced out of the window to see Sonic playing volleyball by himself. He grinned. "Yep!"

Huh…Tails realized that he could save so much time and effort just using Sonic like his double was. Just imagine the money and energy he would be saving!

Sonic wasn't even surprised. "I am a great source of energy!"

"Too much," Knuckles uttered.

"There's no such thing as too much energy, Knux!"

The echidna gestured at Shadow, quickly reminding Sonic that his argument was invalid.

It wasn't long until Sonic was inside the workshop, standing on a stationary bike connected to Tails' machine. The azure speedster was a little dubious. "Are you sure about this, Tails? You know how Sticks is about machines."

Seeing that the other Sonic agreed with him, Knuckles could tell that this was going to go south real fast. "So, I'm predicting that Tails' invention somehow causes Sticks to turn to the dark side."

"Like she reacts in a way that Eggman appreciates or something?" Amy supplied, thinking that could very well happen with how the other doctor acted.

Eggman shuddered at the prospect of his twin showing up this episode – even though he knew it was inevitable – and at the prospect of working with that erratic badger. All of his things would be destroyed in a more annoying manner than usual.

"Though, if it does happen…" Sonic held up a finger. "Either Eggman would eventually hate Sticks' uh quirkiness," He held up another. "or the rest of the crew would go save her."

"Or both." Tails added.

"Yeah, right. Or both."

Tails was tinkering with the wires. "But this thing runs on natural energy…yours! It's better than going green…" He raised his arms. "It's going blue!"

"He's not wrong!" Amy giggled before reining herself back in. "But I don't think Sticks will care…"

Sonic didn't bother arguing. "Say when!" His feet were a blur as he spun the pedals, quickly charging up one of the bigger matrixes. Apparently, Sonic charged it too fast for it exploded a second later in Tails' face.

The kit was cross-eyed and struggling to keep standing. His fur was charred in some places. "When…" he said, way too late.

Tails nodded to himself. Yeah, that was a good reason to not let Sonic be an energy source. It would take precision and timing and Tails was sure more of his inventions would be blown up than powered up.

Back at the orchard, Sticks was still busy picking the beige berries. She then blinked in surprise when the ground began to rumble, falling off her ladder with a shout soon after. The badger glanced up to see Tails' berry picker charging her way. She jumped over the machine and watched it go as Tails approached her side with a remote control.

Tails was controlling the machine, but when it started to mow down whole trees, concern etched into his features.

"Yep, there it is." Knuckles pointed out. "Here comes Sticks' rise to evildom."

"That is not a word, guardian."

"Find a better one for me, Metal."

"…Give me a moment."

"Exactly."

The kit gaped as more and more trees were devoured. "Well…" He regained his composure, acting like nothing had gone wrong. "My work here is done."

"I mean…" Tails wrung his fingers together. "He did pick the berries?"

"But you know Sticks is about to freak out, lil bro."

Tails took a couple steps away, but Sticks angrily grabbed his arm, keeping him from going anywhere. "Your machine destroyed the orchard!" She gestured at the kit's invention running rampant.

"It could be worse!" Tails tried to argue, a strained smile on his muzzle. "At least you still have the berries!"

His machine then sucked up the berries and shot them out of the back in the form of juice.

Sticks' glare was intense.

"I'm on Sticks' side here!" Amy exclaimed. "For all we know, she could've planted that whole orchard herself! And now it's all juice! Dirty juice."

Sonic pursed his lips in thought. "But it was an accident! Tails was just tryin' to help her out."

Amy gave him a pointed look. "So you're telling me that if you accidently run over someone on the sidewalk, that person can't be angry at you?"

Sonic knew exactly what she was referring to, and he believed that Amy was angrier that she was wearing a new outfit that day rather than being tackled itself. The blue speedster sheepishly scratched his nose. "I thought you saw me coming, Ames!"

"Right, because I had the time to dodge basically a bullet! I had a tear in that dress because of you!"

"I repaid you, didn't I?"

"But it was limited edition and I had bought the last one!"

"It happened a couple months ago, Ames! Isn't it time to let it go?"

"It was a week ago!"

"Really? Huh."

"It was perfect! How would you feel if I…if I put holes in your shoes?"

"…You wouldn't dare."

Knuckles smirked at this argument, linking his hands behind his head. "You know, you two really sound like your doubles right now."

Amy wasn't affected by that statement, but Sonic instantly paled, knowing with the echidna was implying. "Amy, we gotta stop arguing now."

The pinkette blinked in surprise before glaring. "No! I'm still mad and-"

"Nope. Shh."

Amy puffed out her cheeks in agitation, and Knuckles couldn't hold in his laughter.

Amy, Knuckles, and Sonic then jugged over, curious about the ruckus. "What happened here?" the pinkette worriedly asked.

Sonic grinned and crossed his arms. "Looks like Tails got himself into a…jam."

Even Sonic inwardly winced at that one.

Shadow swirled his drink, half-way done with it and slowly but surely waking up. "He is definitely your twin, Faker."

Sonic shook his head vehemently. "I can't be as bad at that! I refuse to think-" He turned to his most trustworthy friend. "Tails! Back me up here!"

Tails stayed silent, acting like he hadn't heard the question.

Knuckles was proud of the fox. "And if you listen carefully, you can hear Sonic's pride hit rock bottom."

Sonic pouted. He guessed that you only learn who your real friends were when you get trapped in an indestructible house with them and forced to watch your other-dimensional self go about their days in an episodic format.

Learned new things every day.

He laughed to himself before raising a hand at Knuckles. "Get it?"

"Not at all!" the echidna responded confidently, clapping the high-five. "But I never leave a 'hog hanging!"

Knuckles couldn't sigh loud enough.

"I would love to," Eggman muttered to himself, but he underestimated the hearing of the pests around him.

"Whoa, Eggy!" Sonic couldn't believe his ears. "That's dark!"

"Too dark!" Amy echoed, thinking that she would return to the topic of her dress when she could successfully corner Sonic.

"They're right, Eggman." Knuckles jumped in. "That's messed up."

Tails nodded. "Almost, dare I say it…edgy…"

Eggman threw his hands in the air. "I get all of this backlash for saying that, but Metal said earlier that he would wear the cactus's pelt, and you all said nothing!"

"Because robots do not have morality," Metal explained.

"So I had split apart the planet, used baby animals to fuel my robots, awakened a water god, almost had the chance to control time, and this is the thing you call me out on?!"

Sonic crossed his arms. "I'm disappointed in you, Egghead."

Eggman clenched his teeth so hard that he was surprised that they didn't shatter.

Shadow had no idea what just happened, and he didn't care enough to ask.

Amy approached Sticks and attempted to comfort her. "At least one tree is still standing!"

It turned out that the tree was a costume. The person in it quickly ran away.

Amy's jaw dropped to the floor. "So it was really a spy?!"

"And we all doubted her…" Tails was going to give Sticks more credit from now on, because wow.

"So she is not insane?" Metal cocked his head at the screen. "She is simply observant."

Knuckles wouldn't go that far. "No, she's still crazy, but it somehow worked for her this time. She couldn't have possibly known that spy was there! She just making a paranoid guess!"

Sonic rose a brow at the echidna, smirk growing on his muzzle. "I know you like being knee-deep in denial all the time, Knux, but no one could seriously make a random guess about that."

"Apparently she can!"

Sonic rolled his eyes before asking the room, "Who was that guy? Did the other Eggy go recruiting?"

"I doubt it." Eggman crossed his arms, still fuming about their previous conversation. "That plan worked, so my twin couldn't be behind it."

Sonic chuckled. "We just found out that Sticks was right about in one of her wild guesses! Maybe your twin has somethin' up his sleeve too!"

"Let me repeat myself: I doubt it."

The scene switched to the inside of an unknown building. The guy in the tree costume was standing there along with three other people wearing red cloaks. They were all staring at a lone computer on a table, watching a replay of Tails' machine wreaking havoc.

"So Eggman was right. These guys aren't with him!" Amy frowned up at the screen. "And it looks like we're wrong too…the bad guys are gonna go after Tails, not Sticks!"

Tails was a little worried about this, but Sonic wasn't concerned at all. "That's even better! Because nothing they do would convince Tails to join them. Point, blank, period!"

Knuckles completely agreed. "Whatever plan they're thinking of will be shut down immediately."

"Such senseless destruction…" one the cloaked ones uttered deeply. "…Wonderful!"

"Our organization could use the mind that created this!" a second one exclaimed. "Send him a crimson letter…"

Sonic suddenly burst out in laughter, putting all of the attention on him.

"What's so funny?" Tails questioned, burrowing his brow.

The chuckling speedster glanced over to Shadow, who had finished his drink. His annoyed gaze met Sonic's. Sonic tried to calm himself down with a deep breath. "Shads…what if this is your debut? You could be part of this new group! Just look at the shortest one! That could be you!"

"It better not," Shadow nearly snarled, glaring at the television. They couldn't tell the identities of the three because of their cloaks, and Shadow swore if he was part of this group of nobodies-

Knuckles leaned forward in his seat. "If you squint a bit, it could be Shadow."

"The hell it isn't!"

"Did you not want to see yourself in an episode?" Metal asked, not cowering under the striped one's glare. "There you go."

Shadow said nothing, instead crushing his cup with his clenched fingers. His eyes were trained on the screen as the episode continued on.

Once again returning to the orchard, Tails was busy planting seeds painstakingly row by row.

"I can't believe Sticks is making me replant the entire orchard!" Tails complained, sprinkling the seeds. "Now I'm going to miss the pie festival…"

"He's missing a pie festival?!" Amy gasped in shock. "I know I sided with Sticks, but that's just wrong! Let the kid have his pie!"

"Especially since he can plant the orchard right after!" Tails would've put up a bigger fight to go to the festival, and he was sure everyone else would have backed him up.

Eggman may be evil, but refusing someone pie was on a whole other level.

The kit trailed off and paused in his flying when the three cloaked figures approached him.

The one in the middle held out a red envelope. "This is for you."

Tails hesitatingly took it, trying to open the letter but having some (a lot) of trouble.

Knuckles snickered to himself. He guessed that both Tails and his double had a severe case of noodle arms.

One of the cloaked figures suggested, "Uh, maybe it will be easier if we just told you."

"Dunno, Shads…he does kinda sound like you…"

"Faker, shut up if you don't want me to do something I won't regret."

"Like what? Sleep on my floor?"

Shadow's growl was animalistic.

The stranger who had handed Tails the envelope nodded and regarded the kit, "Your ingenuity just earned you an invitation to the bi-monthly potluck dinner and raffle of the super secret exclusive club known as…"

One of the members played a tune on a kazoo; Tails wasn't amused by it.

The trio then exclaimed, "The Lightning Bolt Society!"

If Shadow was the kazoo playing member of that dumbass society, he was going right to sleep – screw everything else.

"The…Lightning Bolt Society…?" Sonic stifled a laugh. "And who in the world came up with that name? Eggy, I think your twin might actually have something to do with this. Either him or the other Knuckles."

Eggman couldn't refute that claim, both equally possible.

Knuckles nodded. "It's an even toss-up."

"They could have gone with the Spark Society for the alliteration!" Tails was sorely disappointed in whoever decided the name. "Or the Shock Society!"

Amy twirled one of her hanging quills. "The Lightning Society would've even worked! Simpler is sometimes better!"

Metal glanced between the two. "You are naming suggestions that they cannot hear. I hope you realize that."

"Wow!" Tails gushed, expression brightening. "The Lightning Bolt Society?! Really?! I've never heard of it!"

Knuckles saw what was coming, and his gut dropped. "Oh no…Tails is going to join them because of how oblivious he is! And because of how he isn't suspicious at all of the cloaks."

"We gotta have hope!" Sonic chirped, though he had a bad feeling about this too.

The kazoo player scoffed. "That's because it's super secret…duh."

Shadow narrowed his eyes at the screen. That wasn't his voice. That couldn't be his voice. He refused to believe that.

"Come! We'll take you to our clubhouse."

"As much as I'd love to go off with you strangers…" Tails gestured to the empty field behind him. "My friends left me with an entire orchard to plant."

"Yeah…this is going south…" Tails lowly commented. "But then again, if my twin does join, he should figure out what's going on fast enough! And plus, I really don't think these guys are that evil. They don't look like it."

"…Eggman doesn't look evil." Amy gave the instantly irritated human a once-over. Her observation was especially true with his half-clothed status.

"I see your point."

The quietest third member whipped out a device that looked similar to a blaster. He loaded Tails' seeds into it and fired them all around the field in under a minute.

Shadow resisted the urge to be impressed.

Tails was awed. "Cool gizmo! How much was it?"

"Show Tails a cool tool, and he's hooked just like that!" Sonic snapped his fingers.

Tails hated to admit that the speedster was right.

The leader to the side was the one who answered. "Let's just say...it was a steal."

Knuckles rose a brow. "So they're nothing but measly thieves? Yeah, Tails potentially joining them isn't that big of a deal. It'll be resolved by the end of this show anyway."

"Which is in about seven and a half minutes," Metal supplied.

The echidna groaned. "I time has to move slower in here."

The fox tapped his chin before grinning. "Well, my work here is done! And since I missed the festival, I think I will take you up on that potluck!"

The kazoo player turned to his fellow members. "Notify the membership at once."

Eggman's evil lair was shown next-

There went Eggman's hopes and dreams.

-and said human was playing a game at his desk. He was shooting water at a small squirrel.

"I've got him now!" The screen Eggman was looking at zoomed in onto the animal. "You've stolen your last Sunder paper, you furry little mutant!"

"Is that what you do in your free-time, Eggy?" Sonic asked with a smirk. "Do you play games that give ya the illusion of winning?"

"I will never sink that low, rodent!" Eggman glowered at him. He didn't specify which question he was refuting to, however. Games were fun on occasion, especially the one about crushing candy.

Just as he was going to blast the animal, his target was suddenly blocked by something. "Ah! Pop-up!" Eggman shouted in frustration before leaning forward in curiosity. "Wait, what's this?"

"It appears to be a status update from the Lightning Bolt Society," Orbot uttered.

Eggman snorted. "Pfft! More like Lightning Dolt Society! That clever play on words should indicate that I think they're a bunch of pests."

Eggman was slightly glad that his twin wasn't in charge of the society. He wouldn't have to add that to the 'things he hated about his double' list.

"Wait…" Amy wracked her brain. "The society is the enemy of the heroes' enemy? So wouldn't that make our twins and the new guys friends?"

"In theory, but I doubt that's going to happen." Knuckles huffed. "They don't seem like the 'helping heroes' type."

There was a flashback. Eggman was standing outside of his base, watching cloaked figures search through his trash can.

The human picked up a mop and brandished it like a weapon. "Hey, you bums! Get out of my trash!"

"Run!" one of them yelled out, and they all ran away. A cloaked member had the seed-shooting device in his hands.

"Definitely not the 'helping heroes' type."

After a moment, one invader came back and took a slice of pizza from the bin before running away again.

Eggman couldn't exactly fault them for that.

Shadow grew more and more tense with every passing second. His double did not just dig in the trash because he was somewhere else and not part of that idiotic group.

Eggman glared at them. "Gotta invent some device to keep those losers out of my garbage." He reached down and placed a brick on the closed bin. "There! That oughta do it."

"Only one brick?" Sonic tisked. "Has he not dealt with raiders before?"

Tails shook his head. "Obviously not! There has to be at least two bricks."

"Two? I was thinkin' three, because there were three members."

"Hm…"

Metal turned toward them, not liking how some of his joints moved stiffly. This condition would not last long, he was sure. "I do not know if you two are serious, and that concerns me."

Sonic tilted his head at the bot, lips twitching upwards. "What? Do you think he needs four bricks?"

"But that's overkill!" Tails exclaimed. "He wouldn't be able to get into his own trash at this rate!"

"…This is a joke. I understand now."

Back to the present, Eggman was pacing in front of his helper bots. "Why would those wanna-be's initiate Tails into their group? If they're working with Sonic, I'll never get them out of my trash!" He pointed in a random direction. "To the Eggmobile!"

Knuckles rolled his eyes. "Right, because they would really help the society dumpster dive."

Sonic snickered. "That brick is a doozy, Knux. You gotta remember that!"

Sonic, Knuckles, Sticks – holding a pie – and Amy was then seen walking back to the orchard.

"Tails?" Amy called out. "We're back! Sticks won, and we've got some pie for you!"

Amy deadpanned at her other self. "Look what you guys did! You refused Tails pie, and he goes to join an evil group!"

Tails nodded. "Pie is one of the most influential desserts out there."

The quartet looked around only to find that Tails wasn't there.

"He's gone…" Sonic said.

"And all the seeds are planted!" Sticks frowned. "There's no way he could've done it so fast! Unless he used-"

"One of his inventions," Amy interjected.

Sticks glanced at her. "I was gonna say alien magic, but that was a good guess."

"I was going to comment on the alien magic, but then I remembered that it was actually a thing a while back." Knuckles threw a look over at Shadow, recalling it raining aliens left and right, a tentacled glob leading all of it.

Shadow shrugged. "Not my fault."

Strange sounds then filled the air, making the heroes look forward and gape in surprise. Giant thorned plants with purple petals were growing quickly out of the ground. They growled at the anthros with their sharp teeth bared.

"Y'know, that does look like the result of alien magic," Sonic admitted.

The heroes took a couple cautious steps back.

"What's going on here?!" Amy was beyond shocked.

Sticks opened her mouth, but then she stepped on something. Peering down, the badger saw a red envelope with a sticker on it. She picked it up and sniffed the paper. "What's this? Some kind of…pulped wood?"

"My double doesn't know how to read, Sticks doesn't know what an envelope is…" Knuckles began in exasperation. "What's next?"

Tails played with one of his namesakes. "There are endless possibilities…"

"I'm mad that you're absolutely right."

Amy snatched it out of her hand. "It's an envelope, Sticks!" The pinkette ripped it open and began to read the letter inside. "Tails is invited to join the…Lightning Bolt Society?"

Sonic narrowed his eyes. "Wait, aren't those the crooks who are always stealing from the village fruit stand?"

Knuckles chuckled. "They've clearly mistaken Tails for a lemon. What fools!"

Knuckles' face-palm was audible.

Sonic laughed out loud. "Think of the positives, Knux! He could've said lime!"

The growth of more violent flowers gained everyone's attention.

Sonic focused on Knuckles and Sticks. "You two stay here and keep these traps shut. Amy and I are going after Tails." The blue speedster grabbed Amy's arm, and they ran off.

"Ooo!" Amy leaned forward in her seat in anticipation. "They're technically holding hands!"

Sonic slumped. "Arms, there's a difference…"

At the clubhouse, Tails was piling food onto his plate with other members conversating in the background.

"Tails!" The kit turned to see the trio who had invited him. Their hoods were down. A weasel was greeting him-

This was the most relieved Shadow had felt in a long time.

-with a walrus and Dave quietly looking on. "Welcome! Such an honor! I assume you've met everyone?"

Tails furrowed his brow. "Does he not recognize Dave, or…?"

"Yeah, seeing Dave should have been a red flag!" Amy put her hands on her hips. "What gives?"

Knuckles hated to say this. "Tails is still at the top of my favorite character list, but he just jumped down a bit. Sonic's a close second now."

The fox shook his head. "Actually, no." He gestured off to the side. "Though, that tree looks really familiar."

It was the same person in the tree costume. He was having difficulty getting it off. "The zipper's stuck," he grunted out before holding a hand out to Tails. "Nice to meet ya!" The kit shook his hand. The guy smiled amiably before asking, "Have you tried the shrimp?"

Amy's brain was trying its hardest to process what it was seeing. "These are the friendliest bad guys I've ever seen! How come you've never offered us shrimp, Eggman?"

"Because I hate you all, and do I look like a chef to you?"

Amy decided not to answer that.

Tails instantly ran over to the bowl and dumped the whole thing onto his plate.

"What did you bring to the potluck?" the walrus questioned.

Tails faced him, his expression a bit guilty. "Oh, uh…" He pulled out a filled jar. "All I had was beige berry jelly."

Dave took the jar, opened it, and tasted the jelly. He immediately spat it out, eying the container suspiciously. "It's full of dirt and twigs!"

Sonic tapped his foot on the floor. "Is the other Tails really not going to address Dave? Like at all?"

"It's like he forgot that he almost destroyed the world!" Saying that Tails was confused was an understatement. His twin should have been out of there by now!

The tree guy snickered. "Hah! I told ya he was evil. Do I know how to pick 'em or what?"

"He picked the best friend of the world's fastest hedgehog." Sonic boasted, ignoring the heated stare coming from Shadow. "So, no. He does not know how to pick 'em.

Standing on a box outside the clubhouse was Sonic and Amy.

Amy couldn't control her smile.

They were peeking in a window, watching Tails interact with the members.

Sonic was the first to speak. "I say we crash through the window."

"I say that we dress up like pizza delivery guys," Amy offered instead.

"My idea has pizzazz," Sonic argue, shifting his gaze onto her.

Amy turned to him too, putting a hand on her hip. "My idea has pizza."

"Comments about the type of argument aside." Sonic pointedly looked at the smug Knuckles. "I gotta side with Ames on this one. Pizza over pizzazz all day every day!"

"Definitely can't eat pizzazz!" Amy agreed.

Metal had to ask, "Is pizza a good consumable?"

Sonic almost felt bad for the bot. "It's one of the best! I would wish for you to get a chance to taste it, but…yeah, no." No more robotic transfers for him.

"Pizzazz!" Sonic rose his voice.

Amy met his volume. "Pizza!"

Sonic scowled. "Pizzazz!"

Amy clearly wasn't backing down. "Pizza!"

The front door opened behind them. A janitor looked at them, raising a hand while the other gripped a trash bag. "Hey, can you strangers hold this door open while I go-"

"Not now!" the two hedgehogs angrily yelled at him.

Knuckles chuckled loudly. "There's no doubt now."

"They have to be dating!" Amy squealed. "That's like the perfect example of a lover's quarrel! Oh my gosh! I just need to see them on one date!"

Sonic couldn't fight it any more either. All of the hints where there, and his soul had successfully left his body. "I'd rather not…"

Knuckles was way too amused by that. "You know it's coming sooner or later."

"Later, please, with a side of never."

"That didn't even make sense."

"I'm grieving, Knux. Let me grieve."

The janitor deadpanned at them, threw the trash to the side, and reentered the clubhouse, closing the door behind him.

The pair went back to arguing.

"Pizzazz!"

"Pizza!"

Tails frowned. "Is it really that serious?"

"No, it isn't!" Amy gushed. "And I love it!"

Inside the building, the walrus was so talking up on a stage. "The Lightning Bolt Society is proud to welcome our newest member! He's a deforestation sensation and a berry bad boy! I give you…Tails!"

Knuckles propped his chin up in his palm. "I'm still confused to why he's still there."

"Are we just gonna ignore that terrible pun?" Sonic asked.

"Yes," was uttered by all in the room.

Two of the members carried the fox to the stage, letting him drop down on it. It was silent, everyone staring at him with a blank face, until the walrus added, "He brought the jam with the dirt in it."

The room erupted with applause.

"He was the only one not wearing a cloak! How did they not-" Knuckles cut himself off. "I'm just not going to ask any more questions."

Tails removed his goggles to make room for the red hat the leader placed on his head. The kit smiled sheepishly. "Oh uh…thanks! It's an honor to be around so many…" His smile slipped a bit as he stared at the members with cloaks over them. Tails pointed to his own hat. "Guys with hats like this one!"

Sonic hummed to himself. "Is that really Tails? Or did he get abducted by aliens or something?"

Tails absently scratched his arm. "I wouldn't mind that plot twist actually…"

"With an evil genius like Tails to lead us," the walrus began. "We could go from two-bit crooks, to four-bit crooks! Or, dare I say it, eight-bit crooks!"

"Nowhere close," Eggman muttered. A group that stole another man's dirty trash wasn't even on the spectrum.

"Yes!" Dave cheered with a malicious smirk. "Combining the warped genius of Tails' deforestation machine and Eggman's mutant seed gun, we can finally launch our master plan! To control all the fruit in the village!" His voice dropped to a devious whisper. "And beyond…"

No one had any words for that.

"Yeah, uh…" Tails scratched the back of his head. "Having understood very little of that-" He brow a brow at the leader. "-did I hear the word evil in there?"

"The word 'crooks' didn't set you off?" Amy was happy the other was finally catching on, but that took too long. "Or the cloaks? Or Dave?" Was her twin and Sonic still arguing outside? They needed to get their butts inside; they could kiss and make up later! …hopefully on screen.

"Indeed!" The walrus didn't beat around the bush. "With you as our evil leader, we'll be unstoppable…when it comes to fruit."

Tails rubbed the back of his neck this time. "Yeah…" he looked away. "Um, well, this is a little embarrassing, but…" Tails took off his hat. "I'm not evil."

Shocked gasps echoed around the room.

"They all knew who he was." This was so confusing that Shadow couldn't stay quiet about it. "Why the hell are they so surprised? Tails probably stopped one of their stupid fruit raids in the past."

The walrus clenched his fists. "You've betrayed us all!"

The weasel shrugged, looking a little lost. "That sounds pretty evil to me."

Dave scratched his forehead in befuddlement. "Now I'm just confused…"

Knuckles rubbed his temples. "Eggman, never become that incompetent. Please."

It was painful for the doctor to watch. "If I ever do, I have gone senile and I give you permission to put me out of my misery."

It was at that moment when Sonic crashed through the window, landing safely on the floor. Amy ran in a second after him, carrying a pizza box.

"They compromised! The best couple move!"

"Hey Ames, can you calm down a bit-"

"Nope!"

Tails perked up. "Guys?"

"Tails!" Sonic and Amy chirped at the same time.

They began to run over to the kit, but a beam of light crashed through the ceiling. Eggman used it as a pole to slide down, the two hedgies crying out, "Eggman?!"

"Wait, isn't the clubhouse supposed to be super secret or something?" Tails scratched his head, befuddled. "How did he find it so fast?"

"He must've heard the other Sonic and Amy arguing outside," Knuckles answered with a taunting chuckle.

Sonic then recovered with an impressed smile on his muzzle. "I gotta admit, that had pizzazz."

"He just put a hole in the roof."

"That is a pretty cool pole though."

"You are too easily impressed, copy."

"Sonic…" Eggman frowned. "I've seen through your plan to team up with the Lightning Bolts!"

Sonic wasn't expecting that. "What? I thought you teamed up with them! I'm here to rescue Tails!" Beside him, Amy pointedly coughed. Sonic quickly mended his statement. "We! I said we, didn't I?"

"Well, we all know now who wears the pants in that relationship."

"I'm so glad that you're having fun with this, Knux."

Eggman gestured to himself. "Me? Team up with these dolts?"

Dave deflated. "Hey, hey! Words hurt…"

Eggman continued like he hadn't spoken. "I'd never team up with these…" He fumbled for a better insult but came up short. "Dolts! I'm sorry, there's not another word for you."

Shadow snorted at that, resisting the urge to get more comfortable by laying on the floor. He knew that if he did that, he'd be out in a second – coffee be damned. "I can think of plenty of words."

He placed his hands on his hip. "So, whose side are you on?"

"We're doing our best to be bad!" the walrus explained.

"They…actually may be worse than that dimension's Eggman," Amy observed.

Knuckles nodded. "They've achieved the impossible."

"Then get Sonic!" Eggman shouted in exasperation.

The leader frowned up. "We don't have any weapons!"

"Now what kind of villains are you?" Eggman growled. "Find some!"

Sonic barked out a laugh. "Can we even call them villains? They're obviously just broke fruit lovers."

Tails pursed his lips. "…How exactly do you take over the world using fruit anyway?"

"Two words," Eggman interjected. "Killer pineapples."

All attention was on the human now. Sonic narrowed his eyes, both amused and flabbergasted. "Have you…thought about this before, Eggy?"

"I trash a lot of diabolical plans, rodent."

All of the members silently searched around the clubhouse until they all focused on the food table. They sprinted for the edible ammo threw all that they could get their hands on at Amy and Sonic.

They easily dodged them all.

The attack didn't last long, the Lightning Bolts quickly running out of food.

Amy couldn't help be to laugh at the society. They were too terrible to take seriously. "I give them an A for effort!"

"They did not think of throwing the table," Metal said. "They deserve a C at best."

Eggman was not impressed. "Really? That's all you could come up with? I'm not gonna say it, but you know what I'm thinking." He leaned forward. "You dolts."

Dave just gave him a pointed look.

"It's safe to say that Dave's not going to work with Eggman anytime soon…" Tails uttered. This was good because one of the few times that Eggman had come close to winning was due to that fiending fry cook.

Sonic glanced at the human. "Looks like it's just you and me." Amy loudly cleared her throat, and the speedster stumbled over his words. "I-I mean you plural as in two of you…and me."

"And if you look to the right, you'll see a female hedgehog threatening her nervous mate." Knuckles grinned as he did a poor imitation of a tour guide. "It is a sight to see, folks; both interesting and hilarious."

Amy laughed at that while Sonic wondered if taping the echidna's mouth shut was worth the black eye.

Eggman was running out of patience. "Hey, hey! Are we going to battle or what?"

"Actually, Dr. Eggman sir?" The tree clad member shyly spoke up. "I was wondering if you could autograph my trunk?"

The rest of the club jumped at the same opportunity, waving around their hats for the doctor to sign.

Sonic smirked. "You seem busy, Mr. Popularity. I'll catch you on the flip-flop."

Eggman was pleasantly surprised. His twin wasn't that bad this episode. But then again, he only had a couple minutes of screen time.

There was a jump-cut to Knuckles punching the dangerous flowers while Stick stomped on them. She paused it what she was doing when she saw Amy and Sonic running back, the former with her hammer out.

Knuckles didn't look too happy. "Uh, it rained while you were gone."

Amy blinked, perplexed. "But when did it…they weren't gone for that long!"

"Maybe the luck balance shifted out of their favor for a moment or something," Knuckles guessed. He couldn't think of any other explanation.

Amy sprinted into the fray and knocked the flowers out of the ground with her hammer. Sonic ran circles around the plants to tie them up before spin dashing their 'heads' off.

The heroes were then distracted by Tails' berry machine, it plowing its way through. Tails walked up, controlling the invention as it mowed down the flowers. Once the orchard was cleaned up, the fox held up his remote in victory.

Tails was happy that his twin's hard work wasn't all for naught, and that he hadn't got blown up by Sonic for no reason.

Sonic was impressed. "Nice going, Tails!"

"I guess that machine of yours was good for something after all," Sticks admitted, her tone light.

Tails smirked. "And your paranoid ramblings weren't completely detached from reality."

"This one time," Knuckles reminded.

Sticks rolled her eyes good naturally. "Good talk, now get planting!" Tails could only blink at her. "I'd stay and help, but a very nice tree invited me and my pie to a potluck dinner at some lodge." She walked away with a pep in her step.

"No one's gonna stop her? Alright."

"Maybe because they know the society won't hurt her?" Tails replied to Sonic, going out on a limb here.

At Meh Burger, Dave placed a hamburger on the counter in front of him.

Amy threw her hands up in exasperation. "We could've just ended the episode there! This is like a few extra seconds we'll never get back and will always regret losing!"

Knuckles slowly drifted his gaze over to the pinkette. "Are you alright over there, Amy?"

"I'm upset."

"Oops…almost forgot the sesame seeds." His smile was wicked as he pulled out the seed gun and shot mutated seeds on the bun. He darkly laughed as he picked up the burger and took a bite.

"Welp, there's bad news and good news." Sonic began, clasping her hands together. "Bad news is that Dave is clearly crazy and might need to be institutionalized, and good news is that this episode is over! That's another one down!"

"And another one ends where my double does not show up once." Shadow glowered.

"Mine has not either, but you do not see me pouting like a toddler."

The striped hedgehog glared at the robot. However, he marginally relaxed his expression when he realized that enough time had passed. "Stand up."

Metal's opticals flashed. "There is no reason for me to do so."

"If you don't stand up right now, you are proving that I – and even Faker – am better than you."

"There is no correlation-"

"Then there is no reason not to do it."

Metal stared at him for a moment – the rest of the room wondering what in the world was going on – before standing out of his seat.

And immediately crashing to the floor.

Shadow smirked at the downed mech, watching as he mentally calculated what just happened.

Eventually, Metal uttered, "Both of my arms and my left leg are immobile."

Shadow got up to his feet and took the robot's seat without any hesitation. His tired muscles quickly relaxed in this position, and he opened his mouth, "Don't mess with the Ultimate Lifeform ever again."

Metal's limbs twitched, a dull scraping noise filling the room, but only his right leg had full mobility. "…Doctor, I blame you for not making me coffee-proof."

Eggman sighed. "Like with the sense of taste, I apologize for not thinking of this exact situation when building you. Coffee projectiles are so obvious. How could I overlook them?"

Sonic snickered to himself. "The sass is strong in this one!"

Before Metal could attempt to belittle Eggman again, an unexpected voice rung out. "Knock, knock!" Everyone – Metal could barely move his head to the side – shifted their attention to the front door. There was Rouge, holding her gifts.

Rouge walked in the open doorway, Amy's dress in one hand and Eggman's shirt and pants in the other. "Come and get it!" she called out as the pinkette jumped up in excitement, doing a little dance. "I hope you appreciate that I'm such a nice-" Rouge just now noticed Metal on the ground. She continued like she hadn't seen anything. "-person."

"Thank you so much, Rouge!" Amy squealed as she grabbed her change of clothes. She could actually look presentable now for Sonic! That'll up her chances!

When Amy sprinted for the bathroom, Rouge didn't wait for Eggman to get up. She tossed the clothes over to the human. "You're welcome."

Eggman lifted his shirt, and his cheeks immediately reddened in anger. "Why is this so big?!" The shirt was quintuple XL. He didn't even know that they sold shirts this large! "You were better off buying me a tent!"

Rouge put her hands on her hips. "The thought actually crossed my mind, but that would've been too cruel, don't you think?"

Eggman growled before throwing on his blanket of a shirt, the end of it hanging over his knees. He disregarded the snickers around the room as he put on his pants, or rather, attempted to put them on. They didn't make it past his knees.

"Oops." Rouge didn't look apologetic at all. "I thought I had grabbed a bigger size…"

Sonic was doubling over in his chair. "Rouge, you're the best, I swear!"

"Thank you, hon. I try." Rouge smirked before focusing on the amused striped hedgie. "I see you're up and running, sugar."

Shadow inwardly flinched, frowning on the outside. That damned word gave him flashbacks. "Don't call me that again."

Rouge completely understood. Shadow looked like he'd been run over by a truck. Twice.

The bat then rose a hand in the wave, ready to get out of the cursed house. "Alright, I'm not spending another second in this hellscape-" She glanced at Tails. "No offense, hon."

Tails sighed. "None taken."

"I'm taking off before I end up like Metal on the floor." Rouge flapped her wings to get airborne.

"You're not a robot, and coffee hadn't been thrown at you," Knuckles grunted. "So you'd be fine, bat-girl."

"…I'm not taking my chances." Rouge winked at him. "After picking up Omega for extra support, I'll track down that jeweled beauty."

"That inferior model?" Metal questioned from his position on the ground. "Bring him here so I can show my superiority."

Sonic eyed the partially frozen bot. "For some reason, I don't think that'll happen, Metal."

Rouge smirked. "Let him dream, hon." She giggled. "Alright, I'm off!" She flew out just as Amy reentered the living room, happily waving her goodbye.

"…Will someone assist me?"

"No." Shadow instantly declined the robot.

"Can you see the TV from where you are?" Tails asked.

"I cannot."

The kit glimpsed at the black hero. "We have to help him out, Shadow…"

"You're saying 'we', but I'm not moving."

Sonic rolled his eyes as he stood up. "I got 'em, I got 'em!" The blue speedster approached the downed robot and picked him up by a leg. "Ready for your first shower, Mets?"

"Do not make this situation more positive than it actually is."

"Do you not know me?"

"Unfortunately, I do."

Hi, guys! So, okay, recently I've had the revelation that doing every single episode of Sonic Boom is going to take wayyy too long, especially since I'm planning on doing the second season too. It would take two years to complete Boom if I updated every week, and yeah, that's clearly not happening.

Sooo in response to this epiphany, I made a poll in my profile! It's basically listing all of the episodes left in the first season. Now, I want you all to pick your favorite ten episodes listed, and I'll pick the fifteen most popular to have Sonic and crew react to. I'm already planning on doing 'It wasn't me, it was the one-armed hedgehog', and 'It takes a village to defeat a hedgehog' for obvious reasons. I'll leave it up to you guys to choose the rest!