Commission for TheMaskedTime on DeviantArt. I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or The Mask.

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Mask Cream was in a state of absolute bliss, with not a single care in the world on her mind. Her pursuit of a sweet treat had brought her to Feral's, the local ice cream parlor where she could eat to her heart's content.

And she most definitely was - root beer floats, hot fudge sundaes, every flavor of ice cream they had available. She was currently digging into her fifth banana split, a complete mess around her table as other customers stayed far away from the manic creature.

Her bliss was about to be disrupted, to her sudden surprise. Completely ignorant of the blue robot outside the window, she never saw it fire its charge.

BOOM!!!!!

In the immediate aftermath, tables and chairs were overturned and scattered all over the place, a giant hole left in the window as the remaining customers and employees fled for their lives. Only one table remained - brushing the soot off her shoulders and arms, Mask Cream looked to see who dared bother her.

"Do you mind!!! I was busy eating here, and you just made a huge mess!!! How rude!!!"

As much as his programming could dictate, Metal Sonic was surprised that his target was still standing, and apparently unharmed. No matter, he would up the ante, his objective would be met at all costs. But before he could load up again, the green-headed rabbit was right in front of him.

"Hi there! Would you like a giant lollipop? Too bad!!!"

WHACK!!!!

Dent left in his cranial section, Metal Sonic shook it off - and the two warring parties set up for battle.

Outside the city, three friends were facing a desperate situation. Still stunned by her mistake, Amy had to break the news to Sonic and Tails - and while they each agreed to help, they were all in a rather frustrated mood.

"Amy, how could you be so careless? We talked about this!"

"I don't know Tails! I'm sorry! I should have paid attention to that bag! What else can I say?"

A search of Vanilla's cottage had made it clear something strange had happened, not least the scorched marks left by the mask's twister. Cream was the only one who could have put it on, that was certain. It was now a matter of controlling her chaos, whatever form it took.

"Calm down, guys!" Ever the optimist, Sonic tried to take control of the situation. "Cream's a good kid, maybe she'll do good things with the mask. You never know."

"I guess so." Amy sighed. Cream was indeed the type who would never hurt a fly, that was a positive. But with all that power - even Sonic and herself struggled to contain their worst urges. On the face of a little kid, who knows what feelings could be brought out of her.

All Amy wanted was a positive outcome - heaven forbid she was the cause of major destruction, of real harm brought to unwitting people. She could only hope that Sonic's intuition was right - but for now, she just wanted an answer.

Back outside the ice cream parlor, Eggman's greatest creation was getting increasingly annoyed, if such a thing was possible. A voice taunted him from up above in a sing-song voice.

"Nah nah nahnahnah!!! You can't catch me!!!!"

No matter what Metal Sonic tried, his arsenal seemed useless against Mask Cream, who was taking this fight as a chance to use the city as a jungle gym. Even a shot directly to her chest merely made her tickle, when it easily should have torn out her guts. His CPU trying to recalculate a plan of attack, the blue robot looked for visual confirmation of his foe, but she seemed to have disappeared out of range.

Little did he know, Mask Cream had ended up right behind him.

"I see London, I see France, I see Metal's underpants!!!!"

Confused by this statement, Metal Sonic suddenly had a pair of underpants yanked high above his audio sensors, and his optics were quickly covered by the pair of panties. Vision obscured, the bot struggled to remove the surprise obstacle while thunderous laughter could be heard around him.

"Oooh, it's a pink thong!!!"

The underparts finally removed, Metal Sonic aimed his largest cannon, one that would peel apart any foe to skin and bones. He powered it up, but then…

"Whoa there! It's been 10,000 miles, time for an oil change!"

Now in a beat-up pair of jeans and dirty shirt, the new mechanic Mask Cream went to work on the robot, in bad need of a tune-up.

"Let's see what we have here. Looks like you need a quart of 10W30, a wheel rotation, and a brake tune-up! We take cash and credit!"

A few seconds later, Metal Sonic looked brand new - but a loud ticking sound could be heard within his chest component. Plugging her ears, Mask Cream gave him a word of advice.

"Look at that! This magnificent robot is sure to be a real bomb!"

KABOOM!!!!!!!

The contraption having detonated, pieces of Metal Sonic fell around her, as she caught the remnants of his head in a baseball glove. Lifeless optic sensors looked back at her - even Mask Cream was surprised at the ease of victory.

Pondering what to do next, a familiar voice caught her attention.

"Oh my goodness! Cream, is that you?!?!"

Turning around, she saw the familiar faces of Sonic and his friends, a rather shocked look on their faces. Giving them a friendly wave, she beckoned them on over.

"Hi Mr. Sonic!! Hi Mr. Tails and Ms. Amy!! Look what I just did!!!"

To say Sonic and friends were stunned would be an understatement. Their young friend now was the same height and age as them, a confident smile on her green rubber face. At her feet lay pieces of Metal Sonic, a foe they had long struggled to conquer but who she had beat in mere minutes.

"Cream…you did all this?!?! You beat Metal Sonic?!?!?!"

"You bet, Ms. Amy!! I'm a real hero now, yippee! Come on, let's help save the world!!!"

"Hold on a minute, Cream." Tails stepped in with a stern look in his eyes. "As amazing as you feel right now, and as powerful as you are, that mask is very dangerous. We can't have you or anyone else using that power, we don't want to be attracting attention."

"But Mr. Tails, I wanna be a hero!!! Mr. Sonic, you agree with me, don't you?"

Sonic smiled. "Cream, I'm proud of your heroics today, you did a great job. But you're not ready to handle what the mask does. Besides, your mommy will be home soon, and I'm sure you want to see her today."

Reaching a hand out, he asked again. "Come on, take off the mask and let's go home."

Thinking for a few seconds, Mask Cream reached for the back of her head and began to tug, eyes and ears becoming distorted as the mask began to separate from fur. With a loud pop, young Cream was back in front of them, wooden mask back in her gloves.

"OK, Mr. Sonic! I'm tired, I want to see Mommy now."

Handing it over to him, the four of them began to walk away from the scene, secret safe between them.

"Next time I see you Cream, I'll buy you a treat. Sound good?"

"Thank you, Ms. Amy!"

It was not the day Sonic and friends had expected - but the mask was safely in their hands again, and they were happy to have found an unexpected new ally.