See Chapter 1 for Disclaimer
Chapter 6: Battle Against Robotnik
Rachel's car was driving shakily over the road, the front of it was slightly damaged; Sonic's voice could be heard, filled with excitement. "Coming through! Whoa, whoa, whoa! Now, this is my turn and I'd pull around here! Sorry! And… perfect park!", he said as he drove the car and slid it into a parking spot. Tom, Maddie and Penelope then climbed out of the car, "There anything you didn't hit?", asked Tom.
"Why did we let the alien drive?", asked Maddie. "Well, would you have rather let the inexperienced seventeen year old drive the car instead?", Penelope asked sarcastically. Sonic smirked, "Hey, I got us here. And please, five stars. So, this is it?", he said as he got out of the car and looked up at the Transamerica Building.
The others looked up at it as well, "Wow that is one tall building!", said Penelope. "That's it. That's your pyramid", said Tom. "What happens now?", asked Maddie. Sonic then zipped across the street to the building, but then he immediately came right back. "Bro, where are the rings? Weren't they on the roof?", asked Penelope. "No good. You need a special key to get to the roof", said Sonic.
Penelope then turned to Tom and Maddie, "I bet an employee inside that building might have a key, but how do we get it", she said. "Time for me to abuse the power entrusted to me", said Tom. Maddie and Penelope looked at him puzzlingly; they all walked into the building while Sonic hid himself in a sports bag, he zipped it up as the three humans walked up to the receptionist.
"We got a jumper on the roof. Gotta get up there fast or we have a human pancake on our hands", said Tom as he showed his badge. The receptionist looked at him with a questioning expression, "Y-You came all the way from Montana?", she asked. "Yep. That's how serious it is", said Tom. The receptionist looked over to Maddie and Penelope, before she handed Tom a key card to the roof. "Okay", she said.
"You just saved a life", Tom said as he took the key card. They then made their way to an elevator; two business people appeared alongside them, looking at their phones. "How much longer? I can't breathe in here! Hello? Anybody there?! ", Sonic said from within the bag. The businesswoman standing near Maddie looked down at the bag and then at Tom, "Do you have your child in that bag?", she asked.
Before Tom could say anything, Penelope cut in. "Uh, no! You see, I'm a ventriloquist and my dummy is inside that bag! I was just wondering if you'd notice if I threw my voice", she said. Sonic heard this and while being a bit offended by the 'dummy' line, he decided to play along.
"He's a snippy little puppet but he sure does love it in there, don't you buddy?", said Penelope. "Why would I like it in here? This is worse than the dog cage Tom had me in earlier", said Sonic as Penelope tried to subtly move her lips in time with his speech. This unnerved the two business people but they didn't question it any further and just assumed Penelope was one of those particularly weird ventriloquists who treated their puppets as real people.
Soon the elevator came and the trio got onto it; they soon reached the top floor and used the key card to open the door to the roof; once outside on the roof, Tom opened the bag. Sonic popped out, gasping for breath with a pair of underpants stuck on his forehead. "Oh... What were you keeping in this bag?! A jar of pickled farts?!", he said taking the underpants off his head.
"Alright, alright…what are we looking for?", asked Tom. Penelope looked around and spotted something, she ran over and bent down, picking the thing up which was revealed to be the bag of rings. Sonic zipped over to her and took the bag, ran back and showed Tom one of the rings, "This!", he said. "Okay...what happens now?", asked Maddie. "Now, all Sonic has to do is think of where we want the other end of the ring to appear and...then throw it", said Penelope.
"So, that's it? We did it?", asked Tom. "Yup, pretty much yeah. We did it", said Penelope. "Hey... Sorry we didn't get to do everything on your bucket list, kiddos", said Tom. Sonic and Penelope smiled at him, "It's okay. I did the ones I needed the most", said Sonic. "And besides...these last two days were the most fun we've ever had", said Penelope.
Maddie smiled at them, "You three are so cute, like..."
"Oh... Please, what?", said Tom.
"We are not", said Sonic.
"No, we're not cute", said Tom.
"Oh come, I think you two are pretty cute. And besides Sonic, I've always referred to you as my adorable little baby brother so...I don't see why you're so embarrassed", said Penelope. Sonic turned and looked at her, "Hey we're family, it doesn't bother me too much when you say it but you", he said as he turned to Maddie, "We are a couple of loose cannons, just livin' by our own rules".
"Really?", asked Maddie. "Yeah", said Tom. "And our rules include expressing heartfelt emotions", said Sonic. Maddie smiled at them while Penelope leaned down and gave Sonic a playful noogie on his head, making him laugh. "Alright... Um, you gotta go, right?", said Tom. Sonic and Penelope looked at him, "Yeah, yeah, we gotta go", said Sonic. "I gotta go. You…we gotta go too", said Tom.
The two teens turned away for a second before turning back to Tom, "Just... one more thing...", said Sonic. Tom walked over to him and knelt down on one knee, making eye contact with the hedgehog. "I'm sorry I was so hard on you. I know it's a tough decision for you to leave Green Hills. Walking away from something you care about…has to be painful", said Sonic. Tom smiled, "You're not sure you really wanna go, huh?", he said.
That was when Penelope surprised them by running up to Tom and hugging him, "No...I hate saying goodbye...cause I'm gonna miss you so much! I really don't want to leave!", she said holding onto him tightly. Sonic looked up with a sad expression on his face, "I don't wanna go either, but we can't stay. As long as I'm here, I put everyone in danger and Penny has made it clear that she's coming along with me, no buts about it. I can't keep putting you in danger but I just want you to know that these last two days have been the best two days of my life", he said smiling.
Penelope pulled away from Tom, quickly wiping her eyes to keep the tears from falling. "And I know this is gonna sound weird but...even if I've only know you for two days, you've felt like a father to me, even if you didn't want anything to do with me or Sonic when we first met. You're a really nice guy and whatever you choose do next...I hope you have a great life", she said as she stood up.
Tom stood up and walked back over to Maddie, "You know, I never thought I'd say this, but I'm actually gonna miss you, you little blue devil. You too, Shadow Witch", he said. " We'll miss you too, Donut Lord. Thank you", said Sonic while Penelope nodded. The two teens then turned around, Sonic fished a ring out of his pouch, which he had strapped around his shoulder like a fanny pack. He threw it, expecting it to open a portal to the mushroom planet, however, it bounced off of one of Robotnik's drones and fell down. Suddenly, a number of them begin to surround three humans and hedgehog.
"Okay, did someone leave their Find My Phone on?", asked Sonic. More drones surrounded them, almost causing Sonic to fall off the ledge. Then a flying machine appeared, the hood slid open, showing Dr. Robotnik is at the controls, wearing a weird red-and-black suit. "Welcome to San Francisco, Mr Wachowski. Are you enjoying the clam chowder?", he said.
"It's the government wack job who keeps trying to kill us. Unsuccessfully! Nice for you to swing by on your way to Comic-Con", said Tom. "Yeah, what are you wearing?", asked Maddie. Robotnik looked at his own outfit, "It's a flight suit. Designed to modulate my body temperature and reduce drag. And besides, you should what the girl is wearing! It looks ridiculous!", he said as he pointed to Penelope.
Penelope looked down at her own outfit before looking at him, "Hey at least what I'm wearing is normal! You look like a rejected Star Fox pilot!", she said which made Sonic giggle. "Yeah. And yet, you still are a drag", Tom said to Robotnik. "Ho ho! Good one! You are catching fire, Thomas. Oh, and speaking of heat, I see you've taken a lover", said Robotnik as he looked at Maddie.
Maddie glared at the doctor. "Does she have a name, or should we just call her "Collateral Damage?", the dangerous doctor laughed and slammed against the rims of his ship. "Hey, watch your mouth. Unless you want a little more of what I gave you earlier…I punched him in the face", Tom said to Maddie. "Oh, he punched him right in the face. It was awesome!", said Sonic. "Yeah, that was the single funniest thing I've ever seen in my life!", said Penelope as she laughed.
Robotnik quickly grew frustrated, "The time for talking is over! It's time to push buttons!", he said. Sonic looked at him with a cocky smile, "Your flying eggs are pretty impressive, Mr Eggman. But let's face it, you'll never catch me", he said. "Confidence...a fool's substitute for intelligence", said Robotnik. He opened the hatch of a button, which was supercharged by the quill he had obtained, "Prepping Quill Energy" appeared on a readout. All of the drones surrounding the group simultaneously opened their flaps to attack mode.
"That's not good", said Sonic. This actually made Penelope angry as she was getting tired of some wackjob government scientist chasing after her and her little brother for no reason. She turned towards him, "Enough, Dr. Robo-twink! We got what we wanted, and now, Sonic and I are leaving for a planet where no one will abuse HIS powers EVER AGAIN! And anyway, you've got what you wanted, considering that quill of his that you picked up earlier. So just let us all go, and fly away, and we will NEVER bother you or this planet again!", she shouted.
"Sorry little lady, but I'm here on a mission given upon me by our fair, democratic government. I wouldn't expect a teenager to understand, what with you all always going on and on about how governments are bad and anarchy and whatnot. I blame violent video games and bad parenting", said Robotnik. Penelope felt her blood boil, how dare this nutcase talk badly about her parents, people he didn't know who took good care of her and always set a good example for her to follow.
As this was going on, Tom addressed Sonic. "Uh... Sonic? I know you've got the super speed and everything, but Maddie, Penelope and I...", he trailed off.
"Totally defenseless? Probably gonna get blown up?", said Sonic.
"Yeah".
"Pretty much, yeah".
Sonic turned to them, "Don't worry. I know exactly what to do", he said. He suddenly bolted toward the wall behind them, then toward them, pushing Tom, Penelope and Maddie off the roof. The three of them screamed as they were falling down the building. Robotnik looked down at them in surprise, then sat back. "I was not expecting that. But I was expecting not to expect something, so it doesn't count", he said.
All of the drones opened fire at Sonic, but they slowed down and stop, just as they were about to hit the hedgehog; the world had re-entered Sonic's realm of speed, everything seeming as though it was playing in slow motion simply because of how fast Sonic was moving. Penelope, Maddie and Tom were falling and Robotnik was reaching out to push the red button, while Sonic stood there pretending to look at a watch on his wrist.
He waved some of the rockets out of the way, grabbed two of them and drummed down the bullets flying towards him. As Sonic dismantled the drones, Robotnik's finger inched closer and closer to the button; when he pressed it, the flying vehicle was charged up and flew straight upwards. Just as Sonic pushed two of the drones around so that they will fire at each other...
"Pew! Pew, pew, pew! Pew, pew, pew, pew...", Sonic said as he made finger gun gestures at the destroyed drones.
...The machine flew back down and pulled out a laser. Sonic's eyes widened in horror as it was fired. He tried to get out of the way, but the beam blasted him out of his bullet time. When he regained consciousness, he saw Penelope, Tom and Maddie, coming closer and closer to the concrete below. Sonic, surrounded by his scattered rings, screamed and tried to grab one of them, which is just out of his reach.
"Come on! Come! Come, come, come, come, come! Come on, come on, come on!", he said while air swimming trying to reach a ring.
The hedgehog then, in a moment of quick thinking, pulled out one of his quills; he fished the ring out of the air and found his footing. While running down the Pyramid, he threw the ring, teleporting the three falling people back to Green Hills, flying sideways into an open barn.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!", Sonic said as he found himself unable to stop. He skidded, falling down a tree and landed on the sidewalk. Crashing and clattering sounds of all kinds were heard as rings, broken drones and rubble fell down around him.
Back in the barn, the owner of the farm then saw Tom, lying in a haystack with his wife and Penelope. "Oh... Hi, Tom. Glad you're here, could use some help. Old Bessie is about to give birth", he said as the sound of a cow mooing could be heard. "Give me a minute...", Tom said as he breathed heavily trying to regain his senses. Penelope sat up blowing straw from her face, "Next time I see Sonic, he is so getting a butt-whooping!", she said as she tried to pull herself out of the hay pile.
Back in San Francisco, Sonic shook his head to get his bearings; Robotnik's machine has lowered to the same level, "Can I give you one genius piece of advice? Don't run. It'll only hurt more if you do. And it's bad for your joints, they've proved it", he said. "All right, Eggman. You wanna get fast? Let's get fast!", Sonic said in determination. He quickly scrambled around to collect his rings and ran away. Robotnik put his goggles on, "The hard way, it is", he said.
His hovering vehicle charged after the target. Running through the streets of San Francisco, Robotnik fired his laser constantly, but they missed due to Sonic's agility. "That was an illegal left, by the way!", said Robotnik. Sonic then slid under a tourist bus with a Paris ad plastered over it. Robotnik blew through it; Sonic, still at the lead, fished a ring out of the pouch. "How is this possible? No one's ever caught up to me before...", he said.
Meanwhile in Paris, France, a mother and daughter were looking at a mime. The child seemed particularly uninterested, until the mime made a circle with his arms, revealing the ring portal Sonic just made. "Coming through!", he shouted as he sped down the street and through the ring, passing the three occupants. The mime ducked, "Sacré-bleu!", he said as he jumped out of the way.
Robotnik came flying out of the portal soon afterwards, "Excusez-moi, monsieur", he said to the mime before turning his attention back to the blue hedgehog. Another portal opened up on the Great Wall of China; both Sonic and Robotnik flew through it, "Here we go. Road opening up!", Sonic shouted.
The hovercraft swirled around, but Robotnik was still able to keep up, even though the blue hedgehog jumped around and ran along the walls of the passage. Sonic quickly threw out a third ring, leading them to Egypt. "I can't lose him!", Sonic said as he kept running.
The lasers had caused the sand to fly up; as Robotnik destroyed the Great Sphinx, Sonic skidded in the sand, soon getting an idea. "If you can't beat 'em, blind 'em", he said. He swirled around the plain of sand, circling Robotnik's machine. A sandstorm flew up, blinding Robotnik.
"Lost...visual contact!", he said but then he saw Sonic, running up the edge of the Giza Pyramid. "You're not allowed up there! It's one of the Seven Wonders!", said Robotnik. He sped out of the tornado; just as Sonic threw out another ring, Robotnik activated his laser again, blowing Sonic through the portal.
In Green Hills, where it had become night, the other end opened and Sonic fell through it, landing on the asphalt, ruffled and defeated. His ring pouch slid along the road, out of the his reach. Robotnik's hovercraft slowly, ominously emerged through the portal before it closed, towering over Sonic. Penelope, Tom, Maddie and the farmer soon appeared on the scene.
"You're an astonishing little creature", said Robotnik while laughing and lifting up his goggles. Sonic's eyes briefly open, but he was weak and couldn't lift himself off the ground; Penelope gasped as she rushed over to him, ignoring Tom's attempt at stopping her, and she dropped down next to him, throwing her arms around his body.
"It'll be fun to take you back to the lab for a litany of invasive exploratory procedures. Any last words?", said Robotnik. "Guac… I like that word...", Sonic said weakly before slumping back down on the ground losing consciousness. Penelope gasped as tears spilled from her eyes, looking down at her little brother's ruffled and slightly charred body.
She gently lifted him up from the ground, holding him in her arms and pressing him close to her body in a protective manner. "I suggest you put that creature down, young lady. Unless you want to spend the rest of your miserable existence in prison", said Robotnik. Penelope suddenly adopted a look of pure rage on her face; still holding Sonic in her arms, she turned to face the mad scientist.
"No! I'm not going to stand by while someone I love is taken from me again! When I was a child, I lost both my parents in a car crash, and I ran away and lived the remainder of my life in woods because I didn't want to go to foster care!
"I had to steal food and scavenge clothes from donation bins to survive! I was all alone with no one to talk to, no one to share stories and laughter with, no one to call...my family! Then I met Sonic, he was all alone too, having been forced to leave his old home and abandoning the closest thing he had to a mother.
"I took him in, adopting him as my baby brother and promising to take care of him. And now here you are, trying to take him away from me just so you do what every cliche mad scientist does in every sci-fi movie: cut him open just so you can learn how his physiology works!
"I never even understood that, really. I mean, how the heck is dissecting the strange animal or alien, which might be the only one of its kinds mind you, supposed to tell you anything about it? But I know what kind of person you are, Robotnik! You're one of those selfish types whose only in this for personal gain!
"Even if Sonic was hostile, you still would've tried to kill him and harness his power so you could just take over the world, like the power hungry psycho you are! Well, guess what? That's not happening!
"I don't care what you do to me! I don't care if you send me to prison or shoot me down and kill me, Sonic is my little brother and as long as there's still breath in my lungs, I'm not going to let you hurt him! So go ahead, do your worse!", shouted Penelope as she finished her tirade.
Robotnik sat there, slowly clapping his hands in patronizing way. "My my, that was quite the speech. You know, maybe you could've had a career as a motivational speaker but I suppose that's out of the question since you're willing to throw your life away for this creature.
"As I've said before, children are foolish, idiotic people. They know nothing about how the world really works and instead waste their time living with their heads in the clouds, fantasizing about how they wished the world worked.
"You brought up movies before...you know who you remind me of? Every single child in pretty much every movie about rare creatures, aliens or just animals in zoos. You feel bad for the strange creatures, you wanna be their friend and you get in the way of intelligent, hard working adults like me who are simply doing their jobs.
"Well...there's one thing I'm going to do the one thing those films never did because they were too 'family friendly'...I'm going to dispose of the young nuisance that's in my way! Any last words?", said Robotnik as he pointed his laser at her. Penelope looked at the laser in fear, all the bravado she had gained suddenly disappearing as she realized that she was about to die.
Penelope looked down at Sonic's unconscious body cradled in her arms; as tears continued to fall from her eyes, she leaned close to his ear. "Sonic...thank for always being here for me. Thank you for being my family and for all the wonderful memories we made together. I love you, Little Brother", she whispered. Penelope then placed a gentle kiss on his forehead and held him close, squeezing her eyes tightly as she dropped to her knees and waited for the end.
Author's Note: That's it for Chapter 6, come back soon for Chapter 7. Until then, this is SuperKirbyLand234 signing out!