It was a night after Penny met Tails and Sonic. Tails was asleep on a fold-up chair, while Sonic slept on his hammock, and Penny slept on a sofa. Sonic had moved the girl to the sofa, ignoring her protests, and said something about Penny needing to be comfortable while she was still not feeling well.
The night was peaceful, until there was a loud knock on the door.
Penny heard Sonic groan. Then silence.
The girl opened her brown eyes slightly. "Wha-"
"It's probably nothing. You should get some sleep." Sonic muttered sleepily.
"Ok." Penny muttered back. She curled up on her side, and attempted to close her eyes again, and it was silent for a few moments.
Then the knocking grew louder. Sonic groaned louder and walked over to the door. When he opened it, the two were surprised to see Eggman standing there, wearing a robe, and drenched in rain water.
"Hi!..." Eggman began, raising his hand.
"What do you want?" Sonic mumbled.
"First of all, thank you for answering the door at such a late hour. I realize what an inconvenience this must be..."
"Get to it, Egg-face!" Sonic grumbled.
"Well, I... Yeah. I need your help."
"What does he need help for?" Penny thought in annoyance.
"You need my help?" Sonic asked with a hint of annoyance yet curiosity.
"Yes! My sinister island layer, you know, the ultra high-tech stronghold where I hacked my diabolical scheme to eliminate you, it was destroyed in the storm! I was hoping I would crash with you and Tails for a few days until my robots rebuild it? Please! Don't strand me in this wilderness!" Eggman pleaded.
"You certainly could use a roof over your head." Sonic whiffed the air. He grimaced. "And a bath."
He thought of something.
"How will I know you won't capture me, Penny, and Tails while we're sleeping?"
"I promise... wait, Penny?"
"The girl who was with me and Tails earlier. She's not feeling well, and you aren't allowed to be near her or bother her while you're here." Sonic said, crossing his arms.
"I promise not to hurt you, the girl, or your fox-friend while I stay." Eggman swore. "I didn't even bring any weapons! Here, check my pants!"
Penny couldn't help but giggle softly at that.
"No, no, no, no. That's ok. I believe you. So it's only for a few days, and it's just you?" Sonic questioned.
"Just me." Eggman promised. He walked in. A moment later, two robots Penny's never seen before walked--or-- flew in.
"And Orbot and Cubot. They're family!" Eggman smiled.
Sonic groaned and slammed the door.
"Sonic, are you sure it's a good idea?" Penny asked tiredly as Eggman made himself at home.
"I'm sure it'll be fine. What harm could Eggman do for now since his fortress is destroyed?" Sonic smiled.
"I hope you're right." Penny muttered, before drifting back to sleep.
The next day, Sonic opened the door to the shack, and three other animals walked in. Penny recognized from her position on the couch, the pink hedgehog from yesterday, and the red echidna from yesterday as well. They walked in, but stopped in their tracks when they saw Eggman.
"Eggman?" The red animal asked.
"Hey, gang. Didn't know you'd be visiting so early!" Eggman smiled warmly. But I could tell it was a forced smile.
"I'm still in my evil pajamas!" He pointed to his pink pajamas and bragged. "They even have a trap door in the back!" He pointed to his bottom, and Penny grimaced.
"What's he doing here?" The red echidna frowned.
"We have a truce. Tails is letting him stay here until his layer is rebuilt." Sonic frowned.
"Still waiting on that salmon and eggs!" Eggman called.
"Coming, coming." Tails frowned in annoyance. He walked over to Eggman with his order.
Eggman frowned as he surveyed the breakfast plate in his hand. "I asked for egg whites. These are yellows! See the yellow? I am trying to watch my cholesterol. And this salmon is farm raised! What is this, prison?"
The one animal who looked like a badger turned the subject into a whole new level. "It's all some evil plot, man!" She cried. "First he lures us in with some terrible roommate hooey, but then, WHAM! Out comes this five-foot obliterator bot that obliterates us all!" She shook the red echidna, looking paranoid. "We have to get out of here."
"Sonic, who are these guys?" Penny asked from my couch.
"Oh, right." Sonic yawned a little. "Guys, this is Penny."
"Hey!" The three said in unison.
"I'm Amy. Welcome to Bygone Island!" Amy said in greeting. Penny smiled as she took her hand.
"You feeling ok?" Amy asked, noticing Penny's sitting position, and that the girl was in a pink nightgown.
"No," Penny shook her head. "I ended up getting a cold after saving Sonic from the frozen lake yesterday."
"Ooh." Amy winced.
"This is Knuckles." Sonic motioned towards the red echidna standing next to him.
"Hey!" He smiled friendly.
"Nice to meet you all." Penny smiled happily. "And who's this?" The human girl motioned her hand over to the badger, who was inspecting her, glaring at her, and poking her.
"That's Sticks." Sonic said, pulling her off of Penny. "Sticks, she's not a robot! She's a human girl!"
"That's what she wants us to think!" She screamed.
"Hey Sticks! I'm Penny."
"Penny..." Sticks stopped when she saw Penny was giving her a friendly greeting. "That's a nice name."
"Sticks is pretty cool." Penny smiled. Sticks smiled back. Then she got super close to the girl. "But if I'm right, and you're a robot planning to take over the world, I will take this screwdriver and unscrew all your limbs and cut your circuits! All technology must be DESTROYED!" She snarled.
"Sticks, that's enough!" Sonic said, pulling Sticks back. Penny giggled in amusement.
"Guys, we have to help Eggman! If we don't, we'll be no better than he is!" Amy suddenly said.
"Say what now?" Penny asked, startled that this was turning into a different conversation.
"Yeah, you'd be no better than I am." Eggman proclaimed, finally eating his sandwich.
"Think about how this is for him." Amy continued, walking towards Eggman, her face full of compassion. "Are you scared without a home? Do you feel alone? Are you eating your feelings?" She got close to Eggman, pity on her face. Penny gagged silently, but luckily Amy didn't notice.
"Someone get her away from me!" Eggman snarled.
"Guys, if Eggman wants to stay, he can stay. Who knows? Maybe he may not be so bad after all!" Tails exclaimed suddenly from the kitchen. Everyone turned to him.
"Somehow, I think not." Penny frowned.
Penny was right about that. The next few days were full of broken technology, pillow fights, and no sleep. Eggman even locked all the food except for one random radish.
But the nights were sleepless. SLEEPLESS! Eggman attacked Penny with a pillow. The next night, Sonic met the same fate. He felt pillow feathers on his head and looked up to see Eggman swinging on the roof lamp. In Eggman's hand was a pillow, and the doctor threw the pillow at Sonic.
"PILLOW FIGHT!" Eggman gleefully yelled.
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"That's it! I'm done with Eggman!" Sonic said angrily. "Layer or no layer, he's out of here!"
"You can't just through Eggman out!" Amy said defensively. "Sure, he may be a difficult room mate, but that's because you guys have a communication problem."
"Communication problem? Eggman whacked me with a pillow! Hard! I'm dizzy, and I have serious short term memory loss!" Tails complained. Everything was silent until he said again, "And I have serious short term memory loss."
"Why don't we settle this... with a roommate meeting?" Amy asked.
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Sonic, Amy, Tails, and Eggman came back a little later. Sonic advised that Penny used that time to sleep, and Penny did, thankfully. The girl woke up as they came into the room.
"How are you feeling?" Sonic asked softly.
"A bit better." Penny wheezed. Sonic felt her forehead. "Still a little warm..." He winced.
"I'll do fine. How did the meeting go?" Penny smirked, changing the subject.
"Terrible! Amy thinks that Eggman and I should have a second chance. What good is that going to work?" He muttered, sitting down beside her.
"I think it will do fine. Do what Amy says. Things might get better!" Penny grinned.
Penny was right.
Eggman was about to pillow attack Penny and Tails, but he fluffed up the pillow and gave it to Penny. The girl looked at him in surprise and delight. Eggman even did the dishes, and even Sonic was surprised.
That night, though, was still sleepless. Sonic, Eggman, and Tails played a board game while Penny snuggled besides Sonic with her favorite book. The girl was almost asleep through the middle of the book, though, when Eggman suddenly woke her up again with his kazoo.
"That's great." Sonic yawned. He turned around and picked Penny up bridal style and made his way to the door. Penny squeaked in surprise, keeping a good hold of him and her book at the same time. "We got to go."
Eggman blocked the door, though.
"You can't leave! Hang out a little longer! I'm so lonely." He protested.
In Sonic's arms, Penny glared at him. "Are you, though?"
"Yes!!" Eggman protested, glaring at the human girl, but changed his expression back to a lonesome face when he noticed Sonic glaring at him. Sighing, Sonic shook his head and turned to the two robots.
"What about Orbot and Cubot?" Sonic asked. "You guys must be exhausted."
"They're robots! They don't get tired." Eggman said.
"Harsh." Penny muttered. Sonic chuckled at her remark.
"He's right." Cubot said sadly, while Orbot took offence in that.
Later that night...
Everyone was soon by the TV. Eggman cackled while watching, and he patted poor Tails roughly on the back. Poor Sonic and Tails were so sleep-deprived. So was Penny. Eggman kept them up all night.
The next day, Knuckles, Amy, and Sticks entered again. "You guys still hanging out with Eggman?! How many hours of sleep did you get?" Knuckles asked.
"Zero." Sonic yawned.
"It's stage two of his evil plot, man!" Sticks got into paranoid mode, shrieking about the obliterator bot again.
"Sticks, stop being paranoid." Amy smiled. "Eggman has been living here for two days, and he hasn't hatched a single plot!"
Eggman's laugh was heard outside.
"What's so funny?" Penny mumble in Sonic's arms as he carried her outside.
"Remember how I said my evil fortress was destroyed by a storm? Well, I u, may have fibbed." He walked over to Penny and Sonic.
"This was all a trick to get me to live with you, and to tire you to the point of exhaustion...." Eggman saw Sonic asleep, about to drop Penny. Eggman slapped Sonic, who luckily woke up, and he boosted Penny up a little in his arms.
"Tiring you to the point of exhaustion!" Eggman repeated. "So you would be too tired to stop Obliteratorbot!" He stood in front of a tree, nearly getting crushed by it as it fell, wrecked by the robot.
"I knew it!" Sticks growled angrily. "I knew he had an obliterator bot!" She turned to the others, who got in their fighting stances. "Why doesn't anyone believe me? It's not like I'm paranoid!" She turned to her shadow and screamed, "STOP FOLLOWING ME!" She screamed at her shadow....
"Enough!" Eggman yelled. "Obliteratorbot! Sonic and his four friends."
"For-tress. Fortress! Destroy fortress!" The robot growled.
The robot continued to rant fortress.
"We're still looking into a few kinks." Orbot announced from the shack's doorway. Penny slapped her forehead a little.
"Sonic, you've got to help me!" Eggman cried.
"Why? He's your obliterator bot." Sonic frowned.
"Because if my fortress is destroyed, I'll have to stay with you guys permanently until I build a new island fortress."
"Let's roll." Sonic said.
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When they got there, Penny's eyes widened to see Obliterator Bot right on the roof of the fortress, completely destroying the whole building.
"Gotta....stop him...." Tails muttered beside Penny. "But so...tired...." He collapsed on the ground.
"He must have a weak spot!" Knuckles said.
"Maybe there's a clue on the ground!" Sonic suggested, and the poor hedgehog slowly sank into a sleeping position. "The soft, soft, bed like ground."
Penny knew this wasn't helping anything. She and Sticks hurried over to Sonic and began doing everything they could to wake him up. Finally, after a moment, Sonic shot awake. "What, what's wrong!? Are we under attack?!" He got to his feet and suddenly realized what was happening. "Oh. Right." He yawned, stretching. Penny looked at Sonic with worry.
"Eggman, you built that thing." Knuckles said. "How do we take it down?!"
"By activating two kill switches at the same time." He explained. "They're inside the layer. There..." He pointed to the left, which was guarded by lasers. "And there." He pointed to the right, where sparks of electricity from broken wires fizzed.
"Oh, come on!" Sonic grumbled. "All right, Amy, Knuckles, Sticks, distract that metal monstrosity. Tails, Penny, and I are on the kill switches." Sonic boosted Penny up in his arms and walked up to Eggman. "Eggman, you'll have to show us how to activate them."
Eggman nodded.
Sonic stifled a yawn as Amy came up. "Pre-mission group hug?" She suggested. "No." Sonic said, and gripped Penny in his arms as he darted over to a kill switch.
Penny yelped as Sonic dodged the missiles as fast as he could, and she clung to him. When they got there, Sonic collapsed to the ground, and began snoozing, but Eggman's appearance caused the hedgehog to wake up. "Jam the kinetic barrier processor. Jam the kinetic barrier processor!" Sonic shot Eggman a tired look and pulled the switch. When Eggman left to check up on Tails, Sonic yawned.
Eggman turned to help Tails. "Jam the kinetic barrier processor!"
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Obliterator Bot hopped right in front of Amy, Sticks, and Knuckles.
"I knew you were coming!" Sticks growled, readying her boomerang. "But you will never obliterate Sticks! Because Sticks is unablitter... un...obliterating!" She frowned, and decided to go with: "You can't kill me."
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"JAM THE KINETIC PROCESSOR!" Eggman yelled at a snoozing Sonic. Penny quickly helped the hedgehog up and helped him hold down the switch. Eggman looked around to see Tails snoozing beside the switch Eggman chose for him, and turned to see Sonic snoozing on top of Penny, while she struggled to keep the switch down. Thinking quick, Eggman pulled out his whistle and blew it. Finally, Sonic and Tails quickly pulled down the switches, and Obliterator Bot powered down.
Sonic grabbed a piece of Eggman's layer and jumped in the air, yelling, "PILLOW FIGHT!" And with one smack, the robot's head fell off, and soon exploded.
"YES!" Eggman cheered.
However, the impact of that one explosion caused Eggman's layer to explode.
"NO!" Eggman whimpered.
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The next day, Eggman came over with his bags of stuff. Sonic frowned.
"So, you know that my fortress has been for reals, destroyed. So I guess I'll be hanging out with you!" Eggman smiled, pulling up a fold up chair and sitting next to them.
Sonic didn't like that, and sped him back to his wrecked fortress, bags and all.
"Sorry, Egghead." Penny smirked as she watched the scene, a playful smile going about her face.
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Amy walked up to Eggman with Orbot and Cubot at her side. In Amy's hands was a balloon. "Let's explore your feelings about being a roommate. Now, pretend this balloon is your self-esteemed."
"STOP! STOP! STOP!!" Eggman screamed as he ran off.