It was a perfect day on the beach. Penny was sitting next to Sonic, with her favorite book in her hands.
"There's nothing like a lazy day at the beach." Sonic smiled. He turned over to the girl, surprised to see her reading the book she was reading yesterday.
"You still reading that book?" He smirked.
"Sonic, of course I'm still reading it!" Penny smirked back.
"Suit yourself." Sonic smirked.
"Fine. I'll go play volleyball with Sticks and Knuckles." Penny chuckled. She walked over to Sticks, who was smiling to herself after she caught the ball in her hands.
"It's nice to breathe that salty air and relax. For the first time, I feel nothing but stress-free."
"Hey, guys!" Tails's voice suddenly popped out of nowhere, scaring Sticks into a battle mode.
"Not stress-free, hu?" Penny joked.
"Shut up." Sticks playfully punched Penny lightly.
"I just perfected my most brilliant invention yet! Meet UT, the Universal Translator!" He pulled off the sheet that was covering his invention. The thing underneath the sheet was a small, yellow robot.
"Able to translate any universal language into our own!" Tails smiled brightly.
The rest of the gang just blinked, while Penny smiled brightly and moved closer to UT.
"How does it work?" The girl asked Tails.
Tails smiled. "At least someone appreciates my invention. Allow me to demonstrate!"
UT moved over to a bird's nest. Something blinked and whirred inside of him, and he turned around and translated the bird's thoughts.
"The fact that you pre-chew my food is repulsive." The robot translated.
"Hey-hey-hey, it works!" Knuckles smiled.
"Didn't see that coming." UT continued. Knuckles looked confused. "Uh... it's still talking." He said.
"I thought this thing just translated birds." UT continued once again.
"Since what you're saying doesn't need to be translated, UT is translating it into what you really MEAN!" Tails explained.
"Genius!" Penny grinned.
"I didn't attend for it to do that, but I will gladly accept full credit." UT continued. Tails frowned.
"That's great, Tails!" Amy smiled. UT moved over to her and proclaimed,
"Pretty lame."
Amy gulped nervously and stood up, defending herself. "That's not what I was thinking at all."
"Man, I am totally busted." UT continued.
"Tails?" Penny gulped. "I think it needs some more work." The robot moved over to her and translated, "That thing could cause a lot of trouble and get into my private thoughts!"
"Private thoughts, hu?" Sonic smirked at his young friend. "What's this about now?"
"A girl should have thoughts of her own, right?" Penny asked, full of challenge.
"If that thing doesn't shut its metal trap I think I might die." Penny looked over to Amy and saw that she was looking panicked.
"Wait, this thing reads minds?!" Sticks gasped.
"Wait, this thing reads minds?!" UT repeated.
"GET IT OUT OF MY HEAD!!" Sticks screamed.
"Get it out of my head!" UT repeated once again.
Sticks screamed and tried to attack the robot, but Knuckles grabbed Sticks and held her back. "Whoa, whoa, easy there, Sticks!"
"Take it easy, wack-job."
"HEY!" Sticks screamed.
"I am displeased."
"Don't be offended, Sticks. Knuckles didn't think that!" Sonic said defensively.
"He is not the sharpest tool in the shed." UT continued, translating Sonic's thoughts.
Knuckles growled at Sonic.
"Tails, I think it's best that you turn UT off. We don't want it to reveal anything...sensitive."
"Shut that thing off before it tells Sonic that I loo...." UT began, but Tails shut it off.
"What was that?" Sonic asked Amy suspiciously.
"Nothing, nothing important!" She laughed nervously.
Penny looked down at the ground in disappointment. She knew Amy must love Sonic, because she was a hedgehog just like him. Maybe there wasn't a chance for Sonic and Penny to be a couple.
................................................................................
At Eggman's layer, Eggman and his robots, Orbot and Cubot, were watching the whole thing curiously.
"Very interesting. It seems that Tails's invention is causing trouble between Sonic and his friends."
"Yeah, and they're not getting along, either!" Cubot said.
"This gives me an idea." Eggman smirked. "If I could make a duplicate of the robot and replace it as the original, I can have it say whatever I want! We'll be down each other's throat in no time! And with the group divided, I can destroy them once and for all! " He laughed evilly. Orbot and Cubot joined him.
"Don't laugh, you're ruining it." Eggman hissed.
At Tails's shack, the fox stared sadly at UT.
"Wow, UT. My friends and Penny normally love my inventions! I can't believe you have such a lousy CPU."
UT looked at Tails. "I blame myself."
"No, if there's one to blame, it's me. Oh." He sat up in his bed and smiled sadly at UT. "You were just translating my thoughts, were you, UT?"
"I feel like a dummy." UT translated once again.
"Things will go better tomorrow, I promise." Tails shut UT off. "Good night, UT." He closed his eyes and went to sleep.
What he didn't know was that Orbot and Cubot snuck in Tails's shack with a UT that looked just like the one Tails made. The swapped it with the fake one that Eggman made, and snuck out with the real UT. They snickered as they closed the door.
Tails opened his eyes for a bit, thinking he heard something. Thinking it was nothing, he closed his eyes and went to sleep.
Next day, all of them were at the beach again, relaxing. Sticks and Penny were tossing the volleyball back and forth to each other. But Penny saw hatred in Sticks's eyes, and the girl turned around to see what was troubling her. Tails was walking towards us with UT besides him.
"I know things got on the wrong foot yesterday, but..."
"Tails, I think it's best that you shut UT off."
"Amy Rose is a big dope." UT said suddenly.
"NOW THAT'S WHAT YOU THINK?!" Amy yelled angrily at Sonic.
"What?! No, not at all! I didn't say that! He did!" Sonic pointed accusingly at UT.
"And Penny's hair stinks! What did she use? Yogurt from the back of the fridge?!" UT continued.
Penny stared at Sonic, looking shocked and hurt. "That's what you actually think of me?!" She gasped.
"No, not at all!" Sonic looked panicked, like that was exactly what he was thinking. UT continued:
"Why did I ever become friends with such a slowpoke?"
Penny stared at UT, tears brimming her eyes. She then stared at Sonic, who was looking shocked and upset.
"Penny, don't listen to what UT says! You're one of my best friends!"
Penny looked at him. The girl didn't say anything, and she turned heel and ran off. She heard Sonic yelling her name, but Penny didn't look back.
"Sonic the Hedgehog," Amy snarled. "I can't believe you would say those awful things!" She yelled angrily. "And you told the new girl she's one of your best friends? What about me?!"
Sonic stared angrily at Amy. "Now you're going to trust some bucket of bolts over me?!" He growled. "And yes, Penny's one of my closest friends! What's wrong with having a close friend who needs caring?!"
"So, wait, who called me stupid? I called me stupid?!" Knuckles asked, scratching his head.
"You see? This is what it wants us to do! A robo apocalypse is NIGH!!" Sticks screamed.
Amy and Sonic stared blankly at her, then continued. "After everything I did for you, you don't appreciate it! Why am I even here? Why is SHE even here?!" Amy motioned her hand to the spot where Penny once stood.
As Amy and Sonic continued fighting, Tails looked over at UT, inspecting it.
"I know my friends wouldn't say horrible things about each other! And I know Sonic will never think those things about Penny.... wait. Maybe UT is malfunctioning?" He took his screwdriver and released the battery pack, and his mouth dropped open.
"What the heck?!" Tails gasped. "I didn't install a remote control speaker!" He pried the speaker loose and turned to his arguing friends.
"Guys! Listen! Eggman swapped UT and replaced it with a decoy!"
Everyone stopped and turned to him.
"We gotta save the real UT and get Penny back!" Tails took off running, and turned around to see that no one was following him.
"Don't you wanna help Penny and save UT?"
"Truthfully, I think Penny just needs some space." Sonic said. "And UT just makes us fight a lot!"
Tails looked angrily at them all. "If that's what you think about Penny, and if you don't wanna help me, I'll go retrieve them both myself!"
Tails took off.
......................................................................................
"PENNY!" A voice called. A familiar voice.
Penny stopped, and turned around to see Tails running over to her, looking horrified.
"Tails, what's wrong?!" Penny gasped, running over to him.
"Penny, Sonic was telling the truth! He wasn't saying any of that stuff in his head!"
"He did." Penny looked away, hurt.
"Penny, listen to me! Eggman swiped UT with a fake one with a remote speaker!"
"What?!"
"Sonic and the others think you need space, but I think you need a friend at your side right now."
Penny looked at him, wiping tears from her eyes. "Thanks, Tails. You know what? For being the only one who's kind to me right now, I will help you find UT."
Tails looked at the girl in surprise. "Really?"
"Really." Penny ruffled his head. "Let's go."
...................................................................................
The two snuck into Eggman's base, fighting off any robots that got in their way. Well, Tails did the work. Penny just plain careless and nearly got herself hurt. But Tails hurled his screwdriver at the upcoming robot, knocking it unconscious.
The two climbed Eggman's base and looked down a window. There was the real UT, Eggman, and cake.
Wait. Cake?
Tails silently opened the latch, and he and Penny leaned in to listen to the conversation.
"Would you like some more cake?" Eggman asked, offering a piece of his own decorative cake to UT.
"What a beautiful cake. I hope no one sits on it!" UT translated.
Tails and Penny held each other's hands and jumped down together, landing on the cake.
"HEY!" Eggman growled, annoyed that his cake was ruined.
"Eggman!" Tails said fiercely.
UT looked at the two trespassers. "Landing on that cake really hurt my credibility."
"Not now, UT." Tails threw a piece of cake at UT, shutting him off.
After Tails helped Penny off the cake, Penny stood and glared at Eggman. "Give Tails back his robot!"
"Or what?" Eggman snarled.
"That's a fair question." Tails gulped.
A bunch of Eggman's robots surrounded them.
Penny gulped. Tails and Penny locked hands once again and Tails glared at Eggman.
"Where's that blue loser, and the rest of your friends?" Eggman snarled.
"We came here alone. We came to negotiate the release of my robot, UT." Tails said.
"Negotiate? Usually we just battle till the losing party, sometimes you and sometimes me, it's about a 50-50 split, retreats to their layer."
"Let's pretend that's true and that you don't always lose. In exchange for the safe return of my robot, we've prepared to offer our services as your maid and lab assistant." Tails said.
"What?!" Penny looked at Tails shocked. "You even thought this through?!"
Tails looked at her. "Trust me, Penny, this will work out." Tails said, and turned back towards Eggman.
"Intriguing. With two mechanical geniuses and a maid are under one roof, I'd raise my win ratio well above the 50-50 split we agreed earlier was completely accurate." Eggman said thoughtfully.
"Then it's a deal?" Tails asked. Penny still looked unsure. Orbot and Cubot were looking at her hopefully, though, like they wanted to serve someone else then Eggman. Penny sighed.
"Fine." she said.
"I'll have Orbot make a contract for you two to sign. This will be delicious! Having two of Sonic's friends helping me build the tools and cleaning my layer!" Eggman smiled.
Penny cringed. Seriously?! Why not send her home with UT as well?!
"It's ripe with irony, your evilness. Sonic won't know what hit him!" Orbot promised.
"But wait. The moment Sonic realizes that you and his girlfriend are gone, he'll come bursting through that door with that circus troop he calls friends, and put a damper on all the fun!" He told Tails.
"I'm not his girlfriend!" Penny said fiercely. "We're just..." The girl looked down sadly. "Friends." Tails squeezed her hand comfortingly.
"I've thought of that. Since you're letting UT go, Penny and I'll just send a message along with him," Tails smiled, patting UT.
"Good thinking, number two." Eggman smirked.
"I thought I was number two." Orbot asked.
"Oh, please, I need a computer to figure out where you'll fall in the pecking order. Fortunately I have one here. 347."
Orbot slumped, and Penny moved to him and patted his head. "I don't like evil, but you'll always be my number two," She smiled softly at the robot.
Orbot looked up in surprise. "Thank you!" He looked happy at the young girl's honest comment.
Tails and Penny turned to UT.
"Hey, gang, it's Tails."
"And Penny." Penny added.
"We're going to stay with Eggman for a while. No need to rescue us... we're 100% safe and happy." Tails ended the recording, and sent him on his way.
...............................................................................
Back at the beach, Sonic was getting worried about Penny. "Maybe I should've followed her." Sonic frowned.
"You said so yourself." Amy frowned back. "She should be left alone."
"But she's never been gone this long after we have an argument! I'm worried something might have happened to her, and I wasn't there to protect her."
Amy was now starting to feel bad. She was about to say something when she saw something move toward them. It was UT!
"Hey, here comes Tails's missing robot!" She smiled.
"Hey-hey-hey, we found him! Did you see Tails and Penny? Tell them we looked everywhere for a long time." Knuckles smiled. Amy frowned at him.
"OR we can just recycle the thing, take a blood oath, and never tell a soul!" Sticks said.
Everyone stared at her.
"What?" She asked. "Just spit-balling here."
UT suddenly stated to do funky movements. Everyone turned his and her attention back to the robot. The robot suddenly shot a hologram image of Tails and Penny. Sonic nearly had a heart attack when he saw her, there with his buddy Tails.
"Hey, gang, it's me, Tails." Tails began.
"And Penny." Penny jumped in, but Sonic could see that there was a small hint of uneasiness written in her brown eyes.
"We're going to be staying with Eggman for a while. No need to rescue us, we're 100% safe and happy."
The message ended.
No one said anything for a while. Sonic stood there, shocked, trying not to get angry. He knew there was an explanation. He could've sworn he saw fear in Penny's eyes when she jumped in to say her part of the message.
UT suddenly said something. "We snuck into Eggman's base. We were awesome, you should've seen me protect Penny from robots! Anyway, I need you to rescue me and Penny now. Sorry for the inconvenience."
Sonic looked shocked as everyone else.
"Wow. UT really came in handy!" Knuckles broke the silence.
"Maybe it's not as dumb as an invention as we thought!" Amy smiled.
"Yeah. But we should still smash it, just to be safe." Sticks said.
"No time for that now, we gotta save Penny and Tails!" Sonic said fiercely.
Meanwhile....
Penny stood next to Eggman, holding out a plate of snacks. She frowned worriedly at Tails, wondering if this was the best way to do this.
Eggman was trying to fix a damaged bee, but his tool wasn't plugged in.
"Penny, be a doll and plug this in for me."
Penny gulped, placed down her plate of snacks for Eggman and Tails, and grabbed the plug. The girl jerked back when she saw a broken outlet surrounded in water, electricity sparking around it. Tails noticed her troubled expression and checked out the problem.
"That doesn't look very safe. Maybe I should do it." Tails suggested.
"No, that's why I'm having her do it." Eggman snarled. Penny gulped nervously, and leaned down to try to carefully plug it in without getting hurt.
"Be careful..." Tails muttered to Penny.
That's when an alarm was heard.
Penny looked up at the screen to see Sonic fighting robots. A happy smile traced her face.
Outside, Sticks, Knuckles, Sonic, and Amy were fighting the robots that were attacking them. Suddenly, Eggman's door opened, and Penny stood there with Tails.
"PENNY! TAILS!" Sonic gasped, reaching out his hand.
"Sonic!" Penny gasped.
Sonic glared at Eggman. "We're gonna save our friends from your evil clutches." He snarled.
"Wait, what?" Eggman snarled. "No! Tails, Penny, and I have a contract!"
Orbot came over with two contracts. "Here are the contacts, waiting to be signed."
Tails and Penny looked at each other, and smirked. "Nah." Penny skipped happily over to Sonic, and the two grabbed each other in a hug. Tails soon joined them.
"Good thing I always have a plan B." Eggman pushed some buttons on his computer arm band, and Obliterator Bot from before popped out of nowhere, and bees started to shoot at Sonic and Friends. Hearing rumbling, Penny looked up to see the robot looming over her, raising its arm, about to crush her...
"Penny!" Sonic dashed over and grabbed Penny bridal style. "That was close." He said. UT suddenly rolled up to them.
"I care a lot about your well being." UT suddenly said. Penny looked shocked, and smiled at Sonic. "Thank you." She said softly.
Penny watched as Sonic blushed and sped off, trying to break the robot like Knuckles was doing.
"Tails, deploy the bombs!" Eggman ordered Tails. Tails ignored Eggman and continued to dodge the bees. Eggman grumbled, and pressed a few buttons. The bombs moved over to each friend, and Penny watched as Tails backed away from the bomb. Her eyes widened in fright as the bombs exploded, but UT "saved" Tails before the fox landed in the water.
Another bomb moved over to Knuckles and Penny, and the bomb exploded. Penny yelped, but luckily Sonic grabbed Penny in his arms once again. "Sticks! Set Knuckles up!" Sonic ordered.
Sticks smacked her boomerang against a bomb, and Knuckles smacked it towards the center of the robot. The bomb exploded, along with the robot that it collided with. The explosion caused the robot to fall back into the water below the fortress.
"NO!" Eggman cried. Grunting in frustration, Eggman raced back inside, followed by Orbot.
"Thanks for the rescue, guys." Tails said as Penny, Sonic, and the others walked up.
"Yeah, thanks!" Penny grinned at her friends.
"We couldn't have done it without UT!" Sonic said, motioning to Tails's robot.
"I have a feeling we will be going on a lot of adventures with UT from now on." Sonic grinned.
"I agree." Sticks said.
"I'm going to destroy that stupid robot!" UT translated Sticks's thoughts.
Grumbling in annoyance, Sticks picked up UT and tossed him in the lake where Eggman's robot had collided. Tails turned to his friends with a look of annoyance on his face.
"Sorry, Tails." Sticks said, wiping her hands. "It had to be done!"