See Chapter 1 for Disclaimer

Chapter 7: That's The Power of Love

Sonic was dreaming...

As he laid unconscious in Penelope's arms, his mind began to wander...drifting back to old memories before and after he came to Earth.

~Dream Sequence~

It was nighttime on South Island, Longclaw the owl flew through the air as she was doing her nightly hunting. Just as she spotted a lone mouse and was about to dive down to catch, a sound caught her ears. It sounded like the sound of a baby crying; Longclaw swooped and landed on the ground, she walked around looking for the source of the noise.

She then came stopped near some bushes where the sound was the loudest, she parted the leaves and gasped when she saw what was in front of her: it was a small, baby hedgehog with blue fur. The poor infant laid on the ground, crying endlessly; Longclaw gently reached down and lifted the baby hedgehog into her wings.

"Oh you poor thing, who would just leave you out here all alone?", she said. The baby hedgehog stopped crying and opened its eyes, looking up at kind face of the old warrior owl; the infant then began giggling as it reached its hands to run through the down feathers on her chest. Longclaw let out a soft laugh, "Aren't you a sweetheart? Would don't you come home with me? I'll take good care of you", she said.

The baby hedgehog then yawned and curled up Longclaw's wings, getting comfortable as it fell asleep. "I think I'll call you...Sonic", she said as she walked back to her home.

(~Dream Transition~)

One morning in the forest outside of Green Hills, Sonic was skipping across a river over a bunch of rocks; nearby, Penelope was washing some of her scavenged clothes. "Sonic, be careful! You don't want to fall in and get swept away!", said the eight year old little girl. "Don't worry, Sis. I'll be fine!", Sonic called out. He continued to skip along the rocks, until his foot began to slip.

"Whoa!", Sonic shouted as he lost his footing and fell into the river. He splashed near the surface trying to keep from sinking, "Penny! Help me!", he shouted. Penelope saw him and quickly dropped her clothes before running along the riverbank, she grabbed a long stick and held it out to Sonic. "Little Bro, grab onto this!", she shouted.

Sonic reached out and wrapped his hands around the stick, and Penelope used all of her strength to pull him out of the river. Sonic laid on the riverbank, coughing and shivering; Penelope carried him back to her cave, wrapping him in a warm towel and sitting him near her campfire. "I told you to be careful! If I wasn't around, you would've gotten swept all the way out to the ocean", she scolded.

Sonic shivered in his towel and looked away in shame, "I'm really sorry, Sis. I should've been more careful", he said. Penelope smiled at him as she dropped down near him and gave him a hug, "Oh I can't stay mad at you, my baby brother", she said. Sonic smiled and hugged her back before he started sneezing. Penelope stood up, "Oh no, looks like you might catch a cold. I'll go make you some soup", she said.

(~Dream Transition~)

Sonic, when he was still a young child, was spending the day running all across South Island, finding joy in being able to transverse the entire island in a matter of seconds. He also knew he shouldn't have been doing this because his powers were extraordinary and he had been told by his caretaker, Longclaw, to keep them secret.

But being only five years old, of course he didn't listen; he was having so much fun running that he didn't want to keep this ability to himself, like any child, he couldn't confine himself to sitting still and just had to move.

Sonic ran all the way back to the hut where he and Longclaw lived, rolling up to his caretaker and bumping into her chest, startling the owl from her daytime slumber. Sonic fell upon the ground, laughing as Longclaw shook her head to regain her senses.

"Sonic! Someone could have seen you", she said in concern. "No one saw me. I'm too fast. And…I wanted to bring you this", said the young hedgehog as he pulled a sunflower from his quills and held it up to his caretaker. Endeared, Longclaw smiled and reached out to grab the flower but before she could take it, she saw something outside behind Sonic.

She looked up in horror to see that several masked echidnas have surrounded the house, arching bows. "Get down!", she shouted as she grabbed Sonic and slammed the front door shut just as the echidnas fired their arrows. One flew through the window, straight through the flower Sonic had been holding. Outside, the was tribe coming closer, they stood at the windows, some of them holding nets; Sonic looked at them in fear but Longclaw glared at them before bolting out the window and taking to the air, the young hedgehog clutched in her talons.

The echidnas continue to fire more arrows, eventually hitting the owl in her flank; Longclaw grunted and fell on the ground, Sonic slipping from her grip. Sonic stood up and looked to see the tribe charging at them, "Longclaw! They're coming, we gotta get out of here!", he shouted. But when he turned to face his caretaker, he gasped in shock; instead of Longclaw lying on the ground, it was Penelope lying there with an arrow jutting out of her side.

Then a whirring sound caught his attention, Sonic turned around and saw the echidna tribe had suddenly transformed into Dr. Robotnik, flying towards him in his hovercraft, with hundreds of his drones circling around it. Sonic's eyes widened in horror as he ducked down, covering his head with his hands and waited for his end to come.

~End of Dream Sequence~

Sonic let out a small groan as his nightmare overwhelmed him but he remained unconscious; Penelope, who still held him in her arms, keeping her eyes shut as she waited for Robotnik to shoot her with the laser, silently praying for her and her brother to make it out of this alive or at least that their end was swift and painless so they wouldn't have to suffer.

That was when Tom discovered and grabbed the ring pouch that had slid away from Sonic when he had fallen; as Robotnik charged his laser, a portal was opened up behind the doctor, revealing Tom, who jumped onto the back of the machine. "I don't have to tell you how many scientific breakthroughs have been made possible by animal testing. You're being very selfish", said Robotnik unaware of Tom's presence behind him.

"Going my way?"

"What the..."

The cop punched his adversary in the face once again, knocking the goggles of his head; they had a brief scuffle, "Who the hell do you think you are?!", asked Robotnik. "I'm the Donut Lord, you son of a...", Tom was cut off as Robotnik fought back. He knocked out Tom and tilted his vehicle, causing the sheriff to fall off of it.

"Auto pilot, adjust", said Robotnik as the hovercraft recalibrated itself. Maddie rushed to her husband, who groaned as he got back up.

"First that stupid girl and now you?! Why? Why would you throw your life away for this…thing? That's why I don't have friends. Next thing you know, you're somebody's best man, they wanna have the wedding outta town, like nobody has anything better to do. Anyway, where were we? Oh, yes...you were about to die", said Robotnik.

But just then, a shot was fired at Robotnik's ship. He, along with Tom, Maddie and Penelope turned to see Wade, holding out his gun. "That's our sheriff you're messing with", he said. He was then joined by Crazy Carl, holding a chainsaw, "And our Blue Devil and Witch. Who, as everyone can see, are both very real, and not at all invented by me!", he said holding up the active saw which made Wade feel uncomfortable.

Maddie looked over to Sonic, who was still held in Penelope's arms, "Tom!", she said. Tom followed his wife's gaze. Sonic laid in his adopted sister's arms, he appeared to be dead as the poor girl continued to cry over him, pressing her forehead to his. Tom seemed sad, defeated, until Robotnik broke through the silence.

"I don't mean to be indelicate here, but... someone should get some ice to keep the body fresh. He's just a silly little alien. He didn't belong here!", said Robotnik. Tom stood up, defiantly turning to the doctor, "That little alien... knew more about being human...then you ever will. His name was Sonic. This was his home. That girl was his family...and he was my friend", he said.

Suddenly, Sonic's eyes flew open, his irises having turned blue again. Tom, Maddie, Penelope and Robotnik look at him, the latter shielding his eyes; the girl slowly helped the hedgehog to his feet before standing up and moving a few inches away. Sonic was standing up, lightning flew everywhere, but he seemed to be able to control it now, he was charging up; as he opened his eyes again, Penelope, Tom and Maddie all smiled, before the sheriff looked over to Robotnik.

"He's all yours", Tom said to Sonic as he and the two girls got out of the way, "Everyone, get back!"

All of Green Hills' residents stepped away from the scene, safely out of Robotnik's line of fire. Penelope looked at Sonic from a distance, "Kick his butt, Little Bro!", she whispered.

"I think you have something that belongs to me", said Sonic as he made a fist, lightning flew from the Eggmobile to his fist. Robotnik struggled a bit, until the glass around the quill inside the machine broke, disabling it. "This is my power, and I'm not using it to run away anymore. I'm using it to protect...my...friends and my family!", Sonic said in determination.

Robotnik put his goggles back on, Sonic's visage was reflected in them. Several rockets appeared along the rims of the ship and laser pointers crawled over the asphalt, towards their target. Sonic got down on his hands and knees, both of them at the ready.

After a moment, the doctor made his move. The rockets flew away at Sonic, who evaded them and launched himself against the Eggmobile. He reached the accompanying wall, bouncing off of it and attacked again. He went on and on, ricocheting around the ship in a haze of blue. Eventually, he slid back to his starting position.

The Eggmobile was severely damaged by this point, "Ah, ooh… Oh... Now you've done it!", said Robotnik. "Guess what, Eggman?! I'm not leaving Earth! You are! Donut Lord?", said Sonic as he turned to Tom.

The man nodded and sprinted around the battlefield. Tom fished another ring out of the pouch and threw it, opening a new portal. Both Sonic and Robotnik sped towards each other; Sonic, in his ball form, hurled himself against the nose of the ship, completely wrecking it. The impulse caused the doctor and his device to fly through the ring, to the mushroom planet; Robotnik screamed as the portal closes.

Sonic's powers gradually dimmed down and the lightning disappeared, the crowd cheered. Tom and Maddie ran back to their friend, but Penelope beat them to him as she ran over to Sonic and threw her arms around him, engulfing him in a big hug. "Little Bro, I'm so happy that you're okay. And that was awesome! You took that creep down like a boss!", she shouted excitedly.

"Sis...you're holding me to tight! I-I-I can't...breathe!", Sonic struggled to say. Penelope realized that she was practically strangling him and released her grip, letting him stand back up straight. Tom approached him, "Told you, you got this...", he said. Sonic smiled, "Hey, we got this", he said.

Tom held up his hand. Sonic, overjoyed, circled around, laughed, jumped up and gave his friend a high-five. Tom held out the bag of rings, "I think these belong to you", he said. "Thank you very much", said Sonic as he reached for the bag. Tom unexpectedly held the bag back, "No more pushing people off of buildings", he said.

"You know I can't promise that", said Sonic. Just then, Penelope slapped him in the back of his head. "You better promise! Do you know how scared I was when I was falling off that building? If you do that to me again, I'm gonna whoop your butt so hard you won't be able to sit down for a whole week!", she said. Sonic rubbed the back of his head, "Okay okay! I promise! No more pushing people off of buildings!", he said.

"Good! And...I'm sorry for hitting you", said Penelope as she smiled and bent down to give him an apology kiss on the forehead. Tom then gave him back his bag of rings, "You did pretty good, Spacehog", he said. "Thanks, Donut Lord", said Sonic as Penelope gave him a thumbs up.

"You're gonna have to explain this Donut Lord thing", said Maddie. Penelope laughed while Tom and Sonic looked at her. "No, sorry. That's for me, the girl and the little guy, right?", said Tom. "Yeah that's our thing, just know that it involves donuts, which are delicious! Speaking of which, I'm hungry! Is anybody else hungry?", said Penelope.

Sonic nodded as Maddie laughed, but then she suddenly gasped. "Oh, my God. My sister...", she said.

Meanwhile in San Francisco, Rachel was still tied to her chair while Jojo was running around the living room, imitating Sonic. "Gotta go fast, gotta go fast, gotta go fast...", said the little girl. "JoJo, put on my FitBit. I can at least get some steps", Rachel said while pouting.

Back in Green Hills...

"We can never go back there", said Maddie. "I mean, are we? 'Cause it kind of feels we're home right now. I kind of feel like I checked the "Save A Life" box of my bucket list. Now all I wanna do is spend my life with the people I care about. I wanna check that box", said Tom. "Okay. I'd like that", said Maddie.

"And...eh...give your sister a week, maybe she'll get over the whole fiasco. Or not...either way, can we go get something to eat now? I wasn't kidding before when I said I was hungry", said Penelope. "Yeah me too, can we get some chili dogs?", asked Sonic.

As the four of them walked away, Wade tried to disperse the crowd and get them to leave. "Come on, let's go! You act like you've never seen a fight between an intergalactic space rodent and a robot with a doctorate", he said.

Author's Note: That's it for Chapter 7, come back soon for Chapter 8. Until then, this is SuperKirbyLand234 signing out!