"You ready to head out?" Sonic smiled at Penny, offering his hand to the girl. Penny smiled at him. "Ready as I'll ever be," she said, grabbing his hand.
The two stepped out onto the porch, but before the two could even walk out, Sonic started sniffing the air, and his eyes trailed down to a basket of cookies on the ground. Sonic smiled, picking one up. "Wow, cookies! Hope this one turns out a lot better than the last time someone placed baked goods on my doorstep,"
"You mean that time Knuckles "surprised" birthday cake and it was all awkward after he popped out of the head of it and stuff?" Penny snickered, remembering the time. Knuckles and Sonic had this awkward staring moment, and Knuckles had sighed, saying, "Awkward?"
Sonic had stared at him blankly. "Awkward."
Penny giggled as she remembered Knuckles muttering, "This will be another minute."
Sonic rolled his eyes. "Yeah, these will be better."
However, before Sonic could place the cookie in his mouth, his communicator blinked. "Hey, Sonic, Penny, are you there?" Tails called. "I could use some help."
"Is it urgent, Tails?" Sonic sighed, glancing at his cookie. "I'm sort of in the middle of something here."
"Ummm, yeah?"
"There seemed to be some racket going on back in his shop," Penny said. "I think we should check it out. The cookies can wait." She sighed. "I just hope Tails' vacuum didn't go haywire again..."
Sonic nodded, sighing. "You're right." He scooped her up in his arms and zoomed off. "Let's help him."
The next thing she knew, Penny found herself trying to tame a wild vacuum. She and Tails hid behind Sonic as Sonic held a chair, trying to fend off the bot. "Back! Back, I say!"
Tails and Penny screamed.
Penny gasped, quickly running away. However, that sudden movement caused the vacuum to notice her and trap her. "SONIC! TAILS!" She screamed, reaching out to her friends. Sonic and Tails quickly grabbed her hands, and they finally got her free, but the force slammed the three friends into the wall.
Penny let out a groan.
Having enough, Sonic ties the vacuum up by the nozzle and it explodes, causing dust to fly everywhere. Tails grumbled. "Look at this mess!" He cried, motioning his hands around the now dust-covered room. "I just vacuumed!"
Penny giggled, and she, Tails, and Sonic walked back towards Sonic's shack. Sonic smiled at the cookie basket. "Wow, almost forgot...what the?!" He picked up the cookie. "There's only one left!"
"Oh well." Penny smiled. "I guess I could go for some pizza." She walked into the shack, allowing Sonic to enjoy his cookie. However, Tails stopped him. "Sonic! Don't eat that cookie!"
"Why?" Sonic asked.
"Well," Tails looked down sheepishly. "Chocolate Chunk is my favorite..."
"Fine." Sonic tossed the cookie to Tails. "I guess I'll go have some pizza with Penny." He walked off, leaving Tails to enjoy his snack. Tails popped the cookie in his mouth and smiled. "Mmm, chocolate chunk. Ooh! With a hint of cinnamon, and a touch of..."
Tails yelped, falling to the ground. After a few minutes of twitching, Tails raised his hand. "EVIL."
.........................................................................................................
Later...
"I wonder what's keeping Sticks," Penny frowned, walking up to Sonic as he nuzzled in his hammock, watching some TV. More like flipping through random channels. "We were supposed to go treasure hunting today!"
"I'm sure she'll turn up," Sonic smiled at Penny. "You wanna watch something with me while you wait?" He motioned his hand towards the TV, and it showed the Gogoba leader talking to a sales clerk. "Can I afford to give you $200 for this? No, but you seem like a nice fellow, and I suppose my children could go hungry for a couple of nights..."
"Those guys just can't get a clue, huh?" Penny raised her eyebrow at the TV. Sonic smirked at her.
A noise is soon heard from outside, and Sonic and Penny glanced at each other, and they ran to the window to see Orbotstaring at them.
"Hello!" Orbot said, waving at the two.
Penny raised her eyebrows. This was new.
.................................................................................................
Turns out, Orbot had visited them for a reason...to tell Sonic about their friends being turned into Egghead Juniors. Penny hid behind a few crates while she watched Eggman give out a class to Knuckles, Sticks, Amy, and Tails. Sonic joined her side, waiting for the right moment to pop up.
"So far so good!" Eggman was saying. "Now write the exam. The topic is: How To Capture Sonic. You may begin."
Sonic let out a small growl and burst in. "Pencils down, Eggheads!" He yelled.
Eggman turned to Knuckles, Sticks, Amy, and Tails. "Clones, change of plans! Your writing exam is now practical! ATTACK!"
Knuckles leaped to his feet and ran towards Eggman, but Eggman grabbed him and turned him around. "Not me! Sonic!"
"Oh, right!" Knuckles said. "I hope this doesn't affect my grade..."
"Enough of this!" Amy snapped, holding up her hammer. "I'm taking charge!" She let out a yell and smashed her hammer at Sonic, but he easily dodged it. "You guys are our friends!" Penny cried from behind Sonic.
"Your evil friends!" Knuckles corrected her.
"Stop sucking it up..." Eggman growled at him.
Knuckles, Sticks, and Amy all ran up, trying to attack Sonic. Sonic dodged it, grabbing Penny in his arms. "You guys! You gotta snap out of it! This isn't you, it's the cookies!"
Hearing laughter, Penny glanced over Sonic's shoulder and her eyes widened. Sonic turned to where she was looking at and saw Tails flying in his own miniature Eggmobile. Tails laughed as he shot at them, followed by a group of robots.
"Wonderful work, everyone!" Eggman laughed. "Finally! After all my long years of trying, I've captured Sonic the Hedgehog!"
"What do you mean, you captured Sonic? Evil Amy frowned. "This is clearly the result of my leadership!"
"You were losing until I deployed the robots!" Evil Tails snapped at her.
"With all of you arguing, I can't hear da voices in my head!" Evil Sticks snapped as well.
"I'm an evil mastermind of average intelligence!" Evil Knuckles said.
Penny's mouth dropped open as Eggman's clones started attacking each other. She yelped as lasers flew over her head, and Sonic quickly scooped her up in one arm and pulled Eggman away with his free hand, pulling the two behind a chalkboard.
Sonic frowned at Eggman. "This plan didn't go as well as you hoped, huh, Eggface?"
"Why won't those other "me's" listen to me?" Eggman said. "I only know what's best for me!"
"That doesn't make any sense." Penny raised an eyebrow at Eggman, and he grumbled at her.
Sonic glanced at Eggman, and then at Eggman's DNA cookie machine. Sonic smiled. "I have an idea," the blue speedster said.
"Do you?" Eggman asked. "Because that will be great. 'Cause I ... I got so much going on, and I ... My plate is full, you know. I've got ... I've looked at the calendar, and ..."
Eggman continued talking as Sonic zoomed over to the machine, plucking off a quill, placing it in the machine. A second later, a cookie popped out, flying into Eggman's mouth.
After a few moments of twitching, Eggman suddenly turned into a clone of Sonic. Penny grimaced... blue never really looked good on that guy anyway.
Eggman had a new smirk on his face. "Let's crack these Eggheads!"
Penny hid behind the chalkboard as Eggman and Sonic continued fighting. After a moment, Sonic ordered Eggman to stay and fight, and the blue speedster scooped Penny in his arms and dodged around their friend's homes, collecting items that were worn or cuddled with. They soon zoomed back, and Sonic held out the hairs. "Let's get baking!"
Eggman smirked.
Soon, there were four colored-coded cookies. Eggman flung them into the air, and Sonic kicked them each into their friend's mouths... the pink one went to Amy's mouth, the brown went to Sticks, the red one went to Knuckles, and the orange one flew into Tails' mouth.
After a few minutes of twitching, they were back into their normal selves.
"Hi, guys!" Penny smiled.
"Hi!" Sticks waved back.
Tails looked pleased. "I feel like myself again!"
"I also feel like myself again," Knuckles said. "Knock on wood." He knocked on his head. "Who is it?" He asked.
Penny laughed.
"Yeah!" Eggman said, motioning to his now blue body. "We're on the same team! We'll fight side by side together!"
Penny and the others shared a glance, and Sticks tossed an evil cookie in Eggman's mouth."One for all and one for..." He looked surprised as the cookie landed in his mouth. Eggman twitched for a few moments until he was back to his normal looks. "Okay, fun's over. I gotta get back to work! Evil doesn't brilliantly plan and execute itself, you know."
He grumbled to himself as he walked off.
Next Chapter: Dr. Eggman's Tomato Sauce