See Chapter 1 for Disclaimer
Chapter 3: Discovered!
Sadly, as it turned out, someone had noticed what had happened after Sonic's little "temper tantrum" at the baseball field; that same night, over in the Pentagon, several high officers were grouping around a table to discuss what happened.
"Twenty minutes ago, an energy surge knocked out power across the entire Pacific Northwest. What do we know?", said Vice Chairman Walters.
"Well, our first instinct was it was an EMP. But electromagnetic pulses don't have that kind of power", said the Navy Chief.
"NASA has ruled out meteor strikes or solar flares", said the Air Force Chief.
"The Department of Energy says it's not a power plant malfunction", said the Homeland Security Secretary.
"Well, sounds like we're really good at figuring out what it wasn't", said Vice Chairman Walters.
"This could be a prelude to a larger attack. I'm suggesting we scramble the Fifth and Sixth Regiment...", the Army Chief trailed off.
"No, no, no, no... This needs a much more sophisticated mind. Someone who understands technology", said Vice Chairman Walters.
"You wanna send in a lab rat?", asked the Army Chief.
"Not just any lab rat. A lab rat with teeth", said Vice Chairman Walters.
"You're not suggesting who I think you're suggesting?", asked the Air Force Chief.
"I know, he's a little weird...", Vice Chairman Walters trailed off.
"Weird?!", shouted the Air Force Chief.
"No, no", muttered the Army Chief.
"He's a psychological tire fire!", said the Air Force Chief.
"But he's also brilliant. Five PhD's, IQ off the charts and his... drone tech is-is-is-is revolutionary", said Vice Chairman Walters.
"You're sure he can handle this?", asked the Army Chief.
"He has a Perfect Operations record. Remember the coup in Pakistan?", said Vice Chairman Walters.
"No", said the Army Chief.
"Or the uprising in Azerbaijanistan?", asked Vice Chairman Walters.
"That's not even a country", the Navy Chief pointed out.
"Exactly. And you can thank Robotnik for that", Vice Chairman Walters rebutted.
"I can't believe you're bringing that freak into this", said the Air Force Chief.
"Neither can I. But... we have no choice", said Vice Chairman Walters.
The Next Morning, several lab technicians and military operatives were investigating the baseball field, taking samples and scavenging, when suddenly a truck arrives at the scene, followed by several black cars. When the truck stopped, the side door of the truck slid down and turned into a staircase. And at the top of it appears the man Vice Chairman Walters was talking about: Dr. Robotnik.
His black suit and robe were just as eccentric as his hair and sunglasses; his associates, led by Agent Stone, stepped out of their cars and joined their boss, who walked down the staircase.
(Side Note: I'm skipping the part where Robotnik has his banter with the army major because even though I loved this movie, that was one part I felt like they should've cut out. It goes on for a little too long, slows the movie down and in my opinion, wasn't all that funny).
"I'm initiating a sweep sequence", said Doctor Robotnik as he cut right to the chase. He pressed several buttons located on his glove, an LCD display underneath it came to light. "Ten miles in every direction should suffice...", he said. The roof of the truck opened, several drones, who bear a strange resemblance to eggs in both color and shape, hovered out of their hiding places.
The doctor admires his drones as they spread in the air, "Ah, my babies. Hoo! Look what came out of my egg sac! You know what I love about machines? They do what they're told. They follow their program! They don't need time off to get drunk and put the boat in the water! And you do what you're told", said Dr. Robotnik as he pointed to the army major behind him, "Stand over there, on the edge of your personal abyss… and watch my machines do your job".
The doctor spread his arms and let his creations free to scour the forest, they hovered over and between the pine trees, until one of them discovered something. "Logging Anomaly", it said as it performed spectrum analysis on said anomaly: two footprints on a rock, one clearly looked human but the other was something else.
Meanwhile in the forest, Sonic and Penelope were still asleep inside Sonic's cave; they laid together on the bean bag chair, snuggled under a blanket and holding each other close. Just then, a whirring sound awoke Penelope first. "Huh? Sonic? Sonic, wake up!", she said as she shook him awake. Sonic slowly woke up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes, "Wha...what's up?", he asked. "Do you hear that?", asked Penelope.
The two of them snuck out of the cave and quietly crept over to a large log to see where the noise was coming from, they peered over the log to see several military operatives searching the forest, armed with guns, hounds and drones.
The two teens shook with fear, "Oh no! This is just like in every sci-fi movie about a friendly alien that arrives on Earth! The Government finds out about an alien on Earth and sends soldiers to capture it so scientists can dissect it! And anyone who helps the alien gets arrested by the Government and locked away forever!", Penelope whispered as she tried not to panic.
Sonic was also trying not to spaz out, "Okay, okay. Everything is fine...we played some baseball, I got a little upset, lightning shot out of my butt and now they're coming for us!", he said. Penelope grabbed his wrist, "We need to go, now! Go back to your cave and grab your stuff, I'll meet you there after I get mine", she said as she pulled him back to his cave before dashing off to hers.
Sonic dropped down into his cave and began packing his things, "Alright, alright, Earth isn't safe anymore, time for Plan B: Mushroomville. I can't take all my stuff! Okay, essential items only!", he said as he zipped around his cave, "Okay, toothbrush, toothpaste, hair gel, night light, funny hat, this half-eaten cantiloupe…oh, and my scented candle…my entire comic book collection. Beanbag chair… Can a beanbag chair fit in a backpack? No, no, no, of course not. That's stupid. Okay, what else? The rings, the rings! Yes, of course! Okay, now I just wait for Penny and we can get out of here", he said.
Suddenly, Sonic heard the sound of barking dogs and drones, they were closing in on his hideout; just then, Penelope dropped down into the cave. "Sonic, They're right outside. We gotta go somewhere else...", she trailed off as she and Sonic looked around at the cave in sadness. They had grown quite attached to their forest home in the last ten years and now they had to leave it.
Sonic and Penelope quietly snuck out of the cave and ran away in the opposite direction, Penelope grabbed her bike and started peddling while Sonic jumped into the basket; he didn't want to run otherwise they'd be easily caught. They rode all they way over to Tom's house, dropping the bike and sneaking into his garage, "I just realized I'm gonna have to ditch that bike, I'd be upset but I remembered that mushroom planet doesn't even have roads so...it would've been useless to me anyway", said Penelope.
Sonic then reached into his bag and pulled out a ring, "Here we go...didn't work out on Earth, but that's okay. We're going to a safe world, a nice safe world filled with mushrooms. Mushrooms that'll be our only…friends. That sounds awful! I can't do this!", he shouted. Penelope looked at him, grabbing him by the shoulders. "Sonic, I don't like it either but we have to go! There's no other options!", she said.
Knowing she was right, Sonic took a deep breath and was about to throw the ring when suddenly, Tom kicked in the garage door, bursting in holding a flashlight and a tranquilizer gun. "SFPD! Pending background check...paws in the air!", he shouted as he waved the tranq gun. That was when he froze when he saw Sonic and Penelope standing before him, also frozen in shock.
"Uh...moew?", Sonic said confusedly.
"Um...check please?", Penelope said with a crude smile.
Suddenly Tom started screaming, which prompted Sonic and Penelope to start screaming until Tom shot Sonic in the leg with a tranq dart. "Ow...", Sonic trailed off as he began to feel dizzy. He looked up and through blurred vision, he saw the image on Tom's shirt. "San... Francisco?", he slurred.
Sonic dropped the ring, a portal opening up on the floor; Tom watched in awe at the sight of it, dropping his tranq gun. Sonic shook for a bit and then collapsed onto the floor. The ring pouch he'd been holding fell through the hole and landed onto the Transamerican Pyramid in San Francisco. "No...", Sonic whimpered as he tries to reach out to the portal but lost consciousness.
The portal disappeared and Tom looked up at Penelope who still had her hands in the air, "You...uh, you gonna read me my rights, now?", she asked sheepishly.
A few minutes later, Tom had placed Sonic inside of a dog cage and standing close by, staring at him while poking him with a spatula. "You know, I don't appreciate you poking my little brother in the head like he's a flat tire", said Penelope who was sitting on the couch. Tom said nothing as he dropped the spatula and held up the quill he found, "The Blue Devil...", he whispered.
"Yup that's right, and I'm his little helper: The Shadow Witch. Don't worry though, I don't have magic powers so I'm not gonna cast an evil spell on you, even though I'm still pretty miffed you shot my bro with a tranq", said Penelope.
Tom turned around and leaned against the counter; behind him, Sonic woke up and let himself out of the cage, much to Penelope's relief. Tom turned back around, and stepped away when he saw Sonic was back on his feet. "Donut Lord...?", Sonic questioned as he tried to regain his senses. "You can talk. You're not… You're not here to abduct me, are you?", Tom said uneasily.
"You abducted me", said Sonic.
"And I tagged along cause I was scared you were gonna shoot me next", said Penelope.
"Okay, that's a fair point. What are you? Why were you two hiding out in my garage?", asked Tom.
"He's a hedgehog, if you must know", said Penelope.
"We...we needed somewhere safe, a-and you're the only person we could think of, Donut Lord", said Sonic.
"Why do you keep calling me "Donut Lord"?", Tom asked annoyed.
"Cause you talk to donuts", said Penelope.
"And then eat them if they get outta line", said Sonic.
"Again, fair...", Tom trailed off.
"Wait, wait, wait… Where are the mushrooms? Why are we still on Earth? Oh, did…oh, no! I lost the rings!", Sonic said as he realized the bag of rings was gone. "What?!", said Tom. Just then, they all looked up when they heard a heavy vehicle approaching. "What's happening? Is that your mothership? Not in the mood to get probed", said Tom as he ran towards the window. "You think you're worried? I'm not even wearing pants", said Sonic. "Hey I'm a girl! I'm gonna have a way worse time than either of you!", said Penelope as she shuddered.
They all peered outside the curtains to see Dr. Robotnik's truck pulling up near the house, "Oh no!", said Penelope as she and Sonic ducked back behind the curtains. "They're coming for us!", shouted Sonic. "Who's coming for you? What's that gotta do with me?!", shouted Tom.
"Creepy Government dudes who are gonna perform crazy experiments on Sonic and throw me in prison! Heck, if they're as dumb as the ones in movies, they'll probably experiment on me too cause they might I'm also an alien using tech to make myself look like a human! I'm not getting experimented on, I hate needles!", said Penelope.
"You have to help us!", Sonic said to Tom.
"No I don't! Why?", said Tom.
"Well, my legs, which normally would be classified as lethal weapons, feel like spaghetti-"
"Which is your fault, by the way. Cause you know, you shot him in the leg with a tranq!", Penelope interjected.
"-Yes. We need your help. Please? Its life or death!", said Sonic.
Tom looked down at the pleading hedgehog and girl before he let out a sigh, "Fine. Come with me", he said as he walked away. Penelope followed him but when Sonic tried to tag along, he fell face first onto the floor. "Uh...a little help...?", he said. Penelope ran back to pick him up and carried him in her arms bridal style. Tom led them to a stairway that led up to the attic, "All right. Stay here and be quiet", he said.
Penelope nodded. "Good plan, great plan. We're already working so well together, practically finishing each other's sentences", said Sonic but Tom quickly closed the hatch. "Okay let's find hiding places, in case they start searching the house", said Penelope. She ducked behind an old file cabinet while Sonic curled up and hid within a pile of sports balls.
"Okay, I'm a ball. Just a normal ball. I'm blending in like a ball. Shh, stop talking. No, you stop talking. Be quiet, Sonic. You be quiet, Sonic!", Sonic whispered/shouted to himself until Penelope finally shushed him and pointed at the window in the ceiling. Two of Robotnik's drones flew in through the window, scanning the room.
Penelope then heard Sonic mumbling to himself not to freak out, "Sonic, calm down! Don't freak out!", she whispered to him. But Sonic finally lost it, "I'm freaking out!", he shouted as he rolled out of his hiding place and rolled down the stairs. Penelope then jumped out of her hiding place and ran after him, she found him near the kitchen table; she grabbed him and then hid under the table with him, gesturing for him to keep quiet.
Tom and Robotnik then walked into the kitchen, then as Robotnik turned around to leave, he leaned back, one of Sonic's quills was sticking out of the table. He grabbed it and held it up, "Look at that…I was right. Note the lack of surprise. Shall we try this again? I'm going to give you five seconds to tell me where this creature and its little friend are...", he said as one of his drones flew into the room and aimed for Tom.
As Robotnik counted down, Sonic and Penelope grew more scared by the minute, but they weren't scared for their own safety but for Tom's. When Robotnik reached one, they both jumped out from under the table with Penelope still holding Sonic. "Wait! Don't hurt him!", they shouted in unison.
Robotnik screamed out in surprise; taking advantage of his distraction, Tom punched him and the doctor fell onto the floor. The drone unfolded itself in the form of an X, "Threat Identified", it said. Tom acted quickly, pulling Sonic and Penelope with him and hiding behind his living room table as the machine opened fire.
"This seems excessive!", said Sonic.
The drone stopped firing and as it reloaded, Sonic snuck around and climbed onto a cabinet; he waited for the right moment before jumping onto the drone. They spun around, firing shots all around the house. "Don't worry! I've got it right where I want it! Hah! Yah! Can you believe Amazon is gonna deliver packages with these things?", said Sonic. "I don't trust that anymore than do the neighbors not to steal the packages when the mailman leaves it on your doorstep", said Penelope.
The drone kept spinning around trying to shake Sonic off while continuing to destroy the house, "This was a horrible plan! What was I thinking? Ugh...I'm gonna puke!", he said as he struggled to stay on but was then thrown off. Tom grabbed a nearby ashtray and destroyed the drone by striking it with it; he then quickly dragged the dazed hedgehog with him, out of his home with Penelope following close behind them.
"Aw, don't tell me that's all you got? I'm just getting started! Let me know if you wanna go round two with the blue!", Sonic said as Tom placed him into the front passenger seat. Penelope opened the backseat door and jumped in, and Tom hopped into the driver's seat and quickly drove away.
Minutes later, they were on the highway far from the house. "Alright, pal. You need to start talking, right now. Who are you? What are you? And who's she?", Tom said to Sonic as he drove. "I'm a hedgehog. I feel like that's obvious, also she told you that back at the house", said Sonic. "Yes and I'm clearly a girl, a human being. Just like you, what are you blind or just dumb? Also we're in big trouble!", said Penelope.
Tom kept his eyes on the road, "Oh, you're in big trouble? You're not the one who punched some sort of government weirdo back there", he said. "That was awesome, by the way!", said Penelope. "You think you have problems?! I lost my rings!", said Sonic.
Tom was having trouble understanding exactly what was happening, "Rings? What are you talking about?", he asked. "Okay, rings are how all advanced cultures travel between worlds, and now mine are on top of a pointy building I've only ever seen on your skintight T-shirt", said Sonic.
"And I saw it too, so we'd like you to take us to San Francisco, so we can get back the rings and use them to get to the mushroom planet", said Penelope. That was when Tom suddenly parked by the side of the road, "Okay, pal. Out you go, both of you!", he said. Sonic and Penelope looked at him incredulously, "I'm sorry, what?", asked Sonic. "Yeah, I'm sorry, what?", asked Penelope.
"Look, this is the worst possible time for me to get myself into trouble, okay? You asked me to save your lives, I saved your lives. Now, please...go find your rings…and your mushroom land. Hopefully, I'm gonna wake up in a hospital bed and the doctor's gonna tell me that my colonoscopy was a big success. Okay? So, goodbye", said Tom.
The two teens continued to look at him incredulously, "That's great, except we have no idea where to go or how to get to San Francisco", said Penelope.
" It's west", said Tom.
"West?", asked Sonic.
" Straight shot, can't miss it", said Tom. Sonic then opened the door, "Fine. That's cool. I'm totally cool saying goodbye now", said Sonic as he zipped away. "Hey wait!", Penelope shouted. She stood behind with Tom and waited a second before Sonic came back, soaking wet, covered in seaweed and with a fish on his head.
"So, as I crashed into the cold, dark water of the Pacific, I realized a few things. A: I have no idea where I'm going. B: Saltwater stinks-"
"Also, I can't run as fast as he can and we don't have my bike, not that I was going to bike all the way to San Francisco", Penelope interjected.
"-Yeah and C: we shouldn't even be on this planet right now, but we are. Why? Because you shot me!", said Sonic.
"I know...", Tom trailed off.
"You shot me!", shouted Sonic.
"I-I heard you the first time. You don't have to... pile it on. Good grief...", said Tom.
"I'm wet, I'm cold, there's a fish on my head, and clearly we're not gonna be able to do this on our own", said Sonic. "Come on, you're a police officer. You wouldn't just abandon us minors on the side of the road to fend for ourselves, would you?", said Penelope. Tom looked at Sonic, the fish finally falling off his head, then he looked at Penelope, who was giving him the puppy dog eyes.
Tom finally sighed, "Alright get in", he said to Sonic. "Really? You're gonna help us?", asked Sonic as shook the seaweed off of him, which caused his fur to poof out. Penelope squealed when she saw him, "Oh my gosh! You look so adorable!", she said which made Sonic blush in embarrassment. "I guess it is a little bit my fault that all this is happening to you two", said Tom.
"Not a little bit, entirely! It is entirely your fault-"
"Okay, it is entirely my fault. Are you coming?", said Tom as he cut Sonic off. "Yes", said Sonic as he shook his fur out once more, reverting it back to normal, much to Penelope's disappointment as she wanted to pet his fur while it was still fluffy, before he climbed into the passenger's seat and shut the door. "Road trip! Woohoo!", said Sonic. "We hittin' the road and seeing the sights!", said Penelope as she high-fived her brother.
Tom sighed, "What am I doing?", he asked himself as he started driving again.
Author's Note: That's it for Chapter 3, come back soon for Chapter 4. Until then, this is SuperKirbyLand234 signing out!