Roleplay:New Year Madness

My first roleplay: New Year Madness (Free to join)
Welcome to a roleplay I made (no duh). It's my first so please have faith. My goal is to get a lot of people to know me and to see how this roleplaying thing works. Happy holidays to everyone, though they ended, but I digress. Try to be nice and follow my policies, 'OR ELSE YOU WILL DIE!!! 'That is if you know what I mean. Please join and help a newcomer out. Thank you and have a nice day.

Premise
Sparky the Hedgehog is getting ready for a New Years celebration. He is inviting everyone he can to join the insanity. This roleplay doesn't have a set plot, but has several mis-advantures going on, such as Tails having to buy all of the supplies at the mall (which, mind you, is not a good experience at this time of year), and insane snowball fights among fan-characters. Even though this roleplay wasn't complete by New Years, this year is still a big one (even though I don't believe in the end-of-the-world stuff), so please join either way.

Notifications/Status
Put up your current status here so no-one is left behind and people know what's going on.

Average Editing Times (Eastern/Standard): 6 pm-9 pm on weekdays.

On Weekends and Fridays they are much longer, but sometimes weekday times are longer, too.

'''When I'm "Offline", try to respond to my writings and continue writing; don't stop until YOU have to! Just make sure to leave the main stuff to me: I'm the creator here!'''

Leader/Creator: SuperSonic096: Online

Second in Command/First Mate: Maryxgil: Online

Third in Command: Gurahk: Online

Basic Talk
If you want to talk to other users normally, such as discussing Sonic related stuff, use this section. You can also discuss how the story should go and so on and so forth.

Rules
This is set to be like a fan-fiction, having well written descriptions like a story that can be easily read. If you don't know what I mean, look at [http://sonicfanon.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:Smash_The_Echidna/A_guide_to_Fan_Characters_and_Roleplaying. Smash the Echidna's Guide to Fan-Characters and Roleplaying]. No swearing, no sexuality, no god-modding, all of the basic rules (again, look at Smash's roleplaying guide for help). I'd like to thank Smash for the guide and for his kindness to help us. Merry Christmas, and a happy New Year!! YEAH!!!!!!!! Sorry. Couldn't resist. Moving on.... this story won't be completed anytime soon. It'll take awhile, but as long as we're having a nice time, I don't care. This is a big year, so please join and have fun!

'''WARNING: It takes a bit for me to edit everything, so don't go too fast, and don't add too many fan-characters. Only a maximum of five!'''



Character Registration (Small picture of character recommended)
PLEASE NOTE: Anyone who has first registered and has not been in activity since then, their character in the registration will be deleted as it is thought that you will not be participating, and you have to sign up for a second time and each time after that. Thank you and have a nice day.

example: character with a link to that character's page (person playing that character)

Sparky the Hedgehog (SuperSonic096)



Sonic the Hedgehog (SuperSonic096)

Tails (SuperSonic096)

Knuckles the Echidna (SuperSonic096)

Dr. Eggman (SuperSonic096)

Klinx the Weasel (Maryxgil)

Slash the Cat (Maryxgil)

Macro the Giant Hedgehog (Maryxgil)

Ditzy the Weasel (Maryxgil)

Rapid the Hedgehog (RTH) - Go to link to see pic

Kyros the Hedgehog (RTH) - No pic

Zparky the Zone Cop (SuperSonic096)

Zappy the Evil Hedgehog (SuperSonic096)

Nerin the Cat (Maryxgil)

Slish the Cat (Maryxgil)

X-Nad the Robian (Maryxgil)

Metal Sonic (SuperSonic096)

Jack the Hedgehog (Spongebob100)

Patricia the Skunk (Spongebob100)

Joseph the Wolf (Gurahk)

Brittney the Bat (Gurahk)

Reggie the Bat (Gurahk)

Jimmy Canvas (Gurahk)

Tammy Watercolor (Gurahk)

Shine the Hedgehog (Gurahk)

Fetalia the Dark (Gurahk)

Drake the Hedgebat (Gurahk)

Maya the Echidna (Gurahk)

Clyde O'Donnell (Gurahk)

Angel Caroso (Gurahk)

Kyle Oikonny (Gurahk)

Ivy Prower (Gurahk)

Chapter 1: 8 days left
It's a calm winter's night, and Sparky was paying a visit to Sonic's house. Snow was lightly falling, but the air was dry and frigid. Sparky was wearing his scarf, a hand-knitted one at that. Sparky made small sparks that kept his energy going. Knocking on the door, Sparky hoped to get Sonic's attention. In no time, Sonic rushed to the door.

"Sparky? What's going on?", Sonic said, looking a bit annoyed. "Why are you so mad?", Sparky quickly replied. "I was having a nice time playing 'Sonic 3 and Knuckles' with Tails!", Sonic snapped. Sparky smirked and made a facepalm. "Haven't you beaten that game, say, 600 times already?" "Yeah, so?", Sonic glanced. "Ah, forget it. I'm here to invite you, Tails, and Knuckles to my week long New Years party!", Sparky quickly said. "That sounds great! Tails can do some shopping for us!", said Sonic. "Huh? Oh, no! You know what happened last time!", Tails blurted from the living room. "Don't worry, I'm sure someone can help you. Besides, you can go to the mall. That has lots of flying space.", Sonic assured. Tails let out a big sigh and reluctantly said "Fine, but if I get mauled by crazy shoppers, I'm blaming you!". "Hey, where do I get in the action?", Knuckles implied. Sparky said "Simple, you get at my house early in the morning and help me make the food and decorate the place." "Sounds good!", Knuckles said with a thumbs-up. "Thank you, see you tomorrow, guys!", Sparky said as he close the door and walked back to his house.

Chapter 2: 7 days left
Later the next morning, Knuckles had already showed up and Sparky was already setting up decorations, hoping someone found the flyers he put up across town.

A black weasel holding a flyer approached Sparky. With him was an annoyed looking red cat and a twenty foot tall green hedgehog. "Excuse me sir, we found your flyer." said the weasel in a gentlemanly tone.

Sparky's jaw quickly dropped at the sight of the green giant. "Er..., I did expect guests, but not ones who had a giant hedgehog for a friend. I mean, my God, why is he so huge?!?"

Macro, the hedgehog, shuffled his foot nervously. "Well.. you see.." he started, then the weasel, Klinx broke in, "Let's just say he's not from around here. Another zone to be precise."

"Ah. Something tells me that it's a long story. Anyway, thanks for showing up", Sparky said, still having his mouth wide open. "I'm Sparky the Hedgehog. I'd normally say 'come in' but how is this guy going to get in", Sparky said as he nervously pointed at Macro.

"My name is Klinx the Weasel, this is Slash the Cat, and this is Macro" said Klinx, gesturing towards both Slash and Macro as he introduced them. Macro smiled. "Nice to meet you. I can probably just crawl in, that usually works." He said, still sounding a little nervous.

Knuckles walked toward Sparky. "Hey, who are these....WHOA!!!!", Knuckles yelled as he saw Macro. Sparky quickly said "It's okay, they're here for the party." He asked the three "So.....wanna help us out?".

"Sure!" Macro said. "We would love to, right?" Klinx said, then elbowed Slash. "Fine." Was her simple response.

"Thank you. I hope you guys are good cooks, because we have some breakfast to prepare!", Sparky said cheerfully. Knuckles was still in slight shock after seeing Macro. Sparky glanced at Knuckles. "Okay, You can stop that now." Knuckles shook his head and said "I must be going crazy....."

"We can certainly try." said Klinx, walking towards the house. "What are we making?" asked Macro, who was finally sounding more comfortable.

"Well, because we have a big day ahead of us, we can make some bacon, eggs, maybe some waffles while we're at it." Sparky said, somewhat regretting asking them. Knuckles bumped in. "This party is also a half-Christmas party, so we can celebrate Christmas today and tomorrow as well as the New Year."

Klinx smiled, "Excellent. Eggs are my favorite. Christmas is tomorrow, so we best get going!" he said as he walked into the house. Slash followed him with her arms crossed, she said nothing. Macro waited for everyone else to go in before crawling through the door.

Sparky let the trio through. Macro had a hard time squeezing through, but he managed. As they walked in, Sparky noticed Slash's angry expression. He whispered to Klinx "What's with her?"

Klinx glanced at Slash. "She's just serious all the time. She comes off as cold, but she really does care." he whispered back to Sparky, reassuringly.

Sparky nodded and led them to the kitchen. Knuckles has already set up the supplies to make breakfast. Sparky heard knocking on the door and went to see who it was. He opened the door, and Tails came in, looking both angry and scared at the same time. "Did you get anyone to help me go shopping?" Tails asked, looking as if he was scared for life by something crazy. Sparky scratched his head, he quickly asked Klinx and the others "Does anyone want to help my friend Tails go shopping at the Station Square Mall?".

The three of them all look at each other. "I'll go." Slash said definitively, then walked over to Tails.

Tails shook when he saw Slash's menacing appearance, but it also assured him he would be safe. He nervously asked "So.....are you ready to go?".

"Yes." she said simply with no apparent display of emotion.

Tails and Slash walked out the door, leaving Sparky wondering what will happen.

Chapter 2.5: Tails and the shopping mall madness
Tails and Slash went through the door leading to the mall. The glass glistened and large crowds gathered around the various stores. Tails looked at the list. "Okay, so we need some flour and frosting for the cake, some party poppers, among other things. Lets look around."

Slash had a determined look on her face as she walked through the mall. They had a mission, and she was determined to carry it out. "We'll look at the directory." she said then proceeded to shove her way through a crowd to get to it.

Many people got angry, but the guards ensured nothing got out of control. Tails walked up the the directory man, who looked very nervous after looking at Slash. He gulped and said "How can I help you two." "We need to know were the party store is.", Tails answered. The man, still looking nervous, quickly answered "You need to ride the elevator to the 5th floor. The store is the 3rd to the right. Though plenty of people are already there, I'm sure you'll manage." Tails nodded and thanked the man. The two walked into to the elevator, being forced to squish in with the other people.

Slash grumbled a little at having to be crammed in the elevator with so many people. She tried to just ignore it though and reached over to press the 5 on the elevator.

It was painful for the both of them, but they managed to get out. Tails took in a big sigh of relief. "There it is!", Tails yelled as he pointed towards the store. The store was crammed and had big signs that said "CRA-Z New Years sale! Everything must go! 50% off!!!". Tails heard a familiar voice that said "What do you mean that you're sold out! Do you know who I am?!?" coming from the store. Tails and Slash ran to the store.

The entrance to the store was completely packed with people. "We're going in" Slash said, then she grabbed Tails' wrist and began plowing shoulder first through all of the people.

Tails couldn't believe it. Dr. Eggman was the one arguing. Eggman pounded on the cashier's desk. "I wait in line for about an hour, hoping to give my minions a small party at my base, and your saying your all out of party hats?!?!?", the scientist screamed at the clerk. The clerk didn't look fazed, simply replying "I'm sorry sir, but a new shipment should be here in two weeks." Eggman's face boiled with rage. "That's during the middle of January! How can I celebrate New Years if it's already the new year?!?"

The sight of Eggman automatically made Slash growl. She still hated him for tricking her. But then she realized he was there shopping just like they were and her expression softened from a snarl to just annoyance. "I didn't think that man would throw a party." she said, still showing a trace of disgust.

"Well, if he didn't learn his lesson from last time, I'm going to jump off a cliff.", Tails added, wondering how in God's name he got out of the White World from last time. Eggman swung around, looking very shocked. "Tails, how did you..... and Slash too?!? What's going on here?!?"

Slash took a step forward. "We should be asking you that! We're just here shopping!" She said defensively, almost as if she expected some sort of fight.

Eggman looked nervous, but he pointed at Slash. "For your information, you foolish feline, I found a door leading out of the White World I was stuck in. After talking to my former self, I figured if I'm going to get my butt kicked by Sonic day in and day out, I should just stop." Eggman stroked his mustache, but he looked earnest. "I figured I'd live a life of privacy and content, without the worry of attempting to crush you or Sonic." Tails raised his eyebrow, looking very suspicious. "How do we know your not lying?" Eggman laughed his usual laugh and emptied his pockets. "No radios. No switches. No weapons. No evil." The clerk looked at Eggman, still not looking worried. "Sir, your holding up the line."

Slash crossed her arms, her defensive posture was relaxed somewhat but now she looked suspicious. "I'll believe that when I see it." she said bluntly. "However, we have work to do here so finish your business and leave, Eggman."

Eggman glared at Slash. "Fine then, I already have the other things I need." He walked away with a huge garbage bag full of party supplies. Tails glanced at Slash. "That was pretty weird. I just hope he was saying the truth or else..." Suddenly, a large voice boomed from the loudspeakers. It was Eggman who was talking. "Attention everyone! A special sale is happening at all of the stores right now! Everything is 99.9% off!!!" Tails' eye twitched, remembering the last time something like this happened. Large amounts of yelling came from everywhere, and people were punching and fighting over the items there were.

"If he thinks that's gonna stop us..." Slash muttered. "Get ready, Tails. We're getting that stuff." She grabbed Tails' wrist and once again began shoving through people. It was more difficult this time since the crowds were getting violent. Slash began actually having to punch and kick people who were trying to mob them. As they went she caught a bag of party poppers that had been thrown up into the air. She handed it to Tails. "What else?"

Tails flew above the crowd and yelled down below "We need some confetti, ribbons, and balloons! And we need to get some flour and frosting from the bakery to make the cake!".

Slash nodded. She began grabbing packages and running, carrying them as if she had a football. After she had gathered all of the supplies she charged for the check out counter and actually jumped on top of it and gave the stuff to the cashier. Some indignant cries came up from the people in line but Slash ignored them.

The cashier waved at them as they dashed out the store. "Have a nice day. WAGH!!!!", he shouted as mobs of people ran him over. The two dashed out the mall, as they saw police coming into the mall, hoping to stop the madness. Tails shook his head. "Man, was that a close one. I knew Eggman wouldn't give up, even if he attempted to get revenge without using his robots. I wonder what the others are up to..."

Chapter 2.7: Setting things up
It was already noon, and Sparky and company was decorating the place for the party. Sparky looked at Macro and said "It's a good thing you're so tall, or else we would never be able to put up the ornaments on the tree."

"I'm just glad I could help." said Macro as he put the last ornaments up. Klinx was over at the fire place pinning up stockings. "I do believe we've made good progress." he commented.

"I just hope Slash and Tails get back soon.", Sparky sighed. "They've been gone for a while." Sparky also hoped that other people have found the flyers he posted.

"Yeah, hopefully they didn't get into any trouble." Macro said. Klinx snickered. "You know Slash, I'm sure they're fine."

"Yeah, I guess so." Sparky felt happy that he had some friends to keep him company, as it's very rare for something like this to happen. Just then Tails bursted through the door as Klinx put up the last stocking. "You. Won't. Believe. What. I've. Been Through!", Tails panted as Slash walked in with him.

"We got the stuff." Slash said flatly. "How'd it go?" asked Macro. "No worse than you'd expect." Slash said in a tone that implied she didn't want to go into it.

Tails was grinding his teeth with annoyance quietly saying to himself "I can't believe after all of that, he had to go and stop us. That lousy...." Sparky looked at Tails. "You're not usually like this, Tails." Tails looked up. "Sorry. Holiday stress." Sparky looked at Slash. "So, what do you think of the decorations?", he asked as he gestured to the tree, wreaths, and other decorations around the house.

Slash looked around at all the various holiday decorations throughout the house. "They're fine."

"I think they're great!", Tails exclaimed. Sparky took the supplies from Slash and starting putting them up. Macro put up the banners, Klinx blew the balloons and tied them up, while Slash set the party poppers on the table for people to get. By the end, the house looked, indeed, like a party.

Klinx looked over the house proudly. "Well gentlemen... and lady," he began, earning a look from Slash. "This may be the best decorated New Years party around."

Sparky smiled at the group. Knuckles remembered that smile. "I know what you're thinking.", Knuckles said. "Yes you do...", Sparky smirked crazily. "I say we actually PARTY LIKE NUTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!", Sparky yelled as he grabbed one of the poppers and made it spray confetti all over the place. "Let's have some fun!"

"Yeah!" Macro shouted excitedly. Klinx grinned and Slash actually looked happier for once. Klinx then walked over and turned on some peppy music.

Sparky laughed like a total nut-job, doing crazy back-flips and break-dancing moves that would give Sonic a run for his money. Just then, Sonic came in, seeing all of the decorations and hearing the music. He spotted the gang dancing, and he wasn't even being shocked by Macro's height. Sonic dashed in, break-dancing with Sparky. "I hope you don't mind I join the party!", Sonic said over the music. "Go ahead! I don't care!", Sparky yelled back. Soon, the two were in deep competition, dancing so much their faces became blue. When the song ended, Sparky laughed and feel on his butt from being too dizzy.

Klinx was dancing during the song, although nothing like Sonic and Sparky were. Macro was dancing too, but he was trying to be careful so he wouldn't accidently break any of Sparky's stuff. Slash was tapping her foot to the music. After Sparky and Sonic finished dancing all three of them applauded them. "That was awesome" said Macro, laughing.

Sonic got up and bowed. Sparky was very dizzy, spinning and walking around mindlessly. He said in a weird tone "Thank you, you're too kind. I will be here next thursday. Good morning!" Sparky landed on the couch, still laughing.

Klinx watched Sparky and laughed. "Somehow I have a feeling Sparky can't do anymore dancing just yet." he teased.

"Yeah, you think?", Sonic added while giggling at Sparky's expression. Sparky got himself together and said "Lets just have some food and relax right now, please?". Knuckles had already set up the food and drinks, which consisted of chili dogs, cheeseburgers, potato chips, soda, and various other foods. "Don't worry about that, Sparky.", Knuckles said.

"Excellent." Klinx said, licking his lips as he looked at all the food. He got a plate and put a chili dog and some chips on it. Slash and Macro both got burgers, Macro getting more than one. All three of them got their favorite drink, Dr. Pepper.

Sparky talked to the group, explaining where he was from and how he got his powers. He even showed them his lucky Time Stone, which shone brighter than ever. Soon, the night ended. "Thanks for showing up. I don't think we've had this much fun in a while!", Sparky said to Klinx and the others.

"I definately agree," said Klinx. "And we certainly appreciate you having us." Macro chimed in, "Yeah, that party was great!" Slash nodded. "By the way, Tails, you are an effecient shopper." she said.

Tails scratched his head and sheepishly said "Ah...it was nothing." Sparky thanked them, as they all left the house. Sparky hoped the next day would be like this. Maybe even better.

As the trio began the walk back to their apartment they were talking about the party along with the rest of the day. "No way, Eggman?" Macro was saying. Slash nodded in response. "Wow. Well I can't wait for tomorrow." Macro said.

Chapter 3: Christmas Day; 6 Days Left; The Snowball Fight to End All Snowball Fights
It snowed heavily that night. The next morning when Sparky went to get the mail, he saw about two feet of snow on the ground. Sparky knew the others would show up for the next part of the party, and he knew what to do.

Klinx, Slash, and Macro were walking back to Sparky's hosue, all bundled up in coats and scarves. Klinx was riding on top of Macro's head to keep himself out of the deep snow that probably would've gone up to his neck. Slash was still trudging through in her boots.

"Hello, guys. Merry Christmas!", Sparky said as he greeted them. He was bundled in his snow boots and his scarf. Sparky looked cold, but he didn't mind. "I bet you guys are wondering what we're going to be doing today", he said as he smiled similarly to the previous night, but with more control.

Klinx grinned. "Indeed! We're anxious to see how you'll top last night." he said as Macro took him off his head and gentlely set him down on the ground.

Sparky saw that Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails were walking toward his house. Sparky thought fast and and started making a snowball. Sonic saw Sparky. "Hey, dude! What are you doing?", Sonic asked. Sparky smirked his trademark smirk, and answered calmly "Oh, nothing, I was wondering if we could, you know, because of the snow, have a snowball fight." Tails chimed in. "That sounds pretty cool! We can join." Sparky got his snowball and put it behind his back. "Oh, okay. Just wanted to know if you would say yes....THINK FAST!", Sparky yelled as he launched a snowball at Tails. It missed and slammed into Knuckles' face. Knuckles got up, looking very crazy. "Oh you asked for it." "Yes, I did!", Sparky said proudly. Just then another snowball flew, this time into Sparky. Sonic laughed as he saw his snowball hit Sparky.

Klinx and Macro started laughing a little, and as they watched the situation their laughter continued to build until it was hysterical. Then Klinx felt a cold wet splat on top of his head. He looked up to see Macro grinning at him. "Oh I see how it is." said Klinx as he quickly put together a snowball and threw it. It went right between Macro's legs and hit Slash in the back. She whirled around with a look of anger that looked like it could melt the snow. Macro quickly pointed at Klinx who grinned sheepishly. "You're in trouble now." she said. Macro and Klinx imediately dashed off with Slash in hot pursuit.

"It's ON!!!!!!!", Sparky yelled. He reved up his feet and preformed the first move Sonic taught him: the Super-Peel-Out. The movement made the snow fly and build up into a small wall. Sonic quickly joined Sparky as they made a snow fort. Tails looked at Team Weasel as they ran from Slash. He made a snowball and threw it with great accuracy as it landed on Slash's head. Knuckles looked at Slash. Knowing what was to happen, he quickly made snowballs as Sparky and Sonic built the wall.

Slash turned again, she instantly forgot about Klinx and Macro as she aquired a new target. She put made a bunch of snowballs and started flinging them wildly at Tails. Taking the opportunity of Slash being distracted, Macro raked together a large pile of snow as a fort and both him and Klinx started building up a supply of snowballs.

"DUCK!", Knuckles yelled as the snowballs flew. Sonic got out some snowballs and ran around Slash, tossing snowballs as fast as bullets at her. Sparky cheered Sonic on. "Go, Sonic! GO!" Tails flew above Klinx and Macro and bombarded them with snowballs. Sparky was laughing like a lunatic. He felt a snowball get shoved in his face. Knuckles smiled, whistling like nothing happened. "TRAITOR!", Sparky yelled as he made a Super Peel-Out that caused a mountain of snow slam into Knuckles.

Slash groweled as Sonic bombarded her with snowballs, all she could see was a faint blue blur and a flurry of snow. She was trying to shield herself against the onslaught, and eventually extended her blade-like claws and began slicing through the snowballs to lessen the impact. "Aerial assault!" yelled Macro as he and Klinx were hit by Tails. They tried throwing snowballs back up at him but the problem was any that missed fell right back down around them.

One of the snowballs hit Tails, and he fell back into his fort. Sparky was chasing Knuckles like a madman. Knuckles dug into the snow and into the ground. Sparky figured what he would do. A moment later, Knuckles popped out and snow plowed into Sparky. "I see you use that skill for once.", Sparky said. Knuckles grinned. "Better now than never." Tails had an idea. He packed and rolled a large snowball, but it was still small enough for him to carry. Sonic stopped and saw Slash, who looked very furious, covered with snow. Sonic shrugged and said "What? Am I too fast for you?" with more confidence than you can think of.

"I think Tails is coming back." said Macro when he saw him putting together his snowball. He looked down at Klinx and then looked bewildered as he saw Klinx casually walk around the fort and walk right up to Tails. He had his hands open to show that he was unarmed. Slash was pratically steaming by this point. As Sonic gloated she picked up some snow, packed it very tight, and threw it right at Sonic as hard as she could, which was pretty hard.

The snowball hit Sonic's face and he fell to the ground. "I guess I'm not...", he said. Tails was ready for his master plan to start. Step 1: Build a large snowball. Step 2: Fly over Macro. Step 3: Drop it on his head (which shouldn't cause to much pain, as he was very large). Tails noticed Klinx as he walked up to him. "I thought I was fighting against you.", Tails said in confusion, noticing Klinx was unarmed.

Slash said nothing but simply walked away. "I have come to help you." Klinx said to Tails. "Clearly your tactics are superior to ours, how can I compete with that? And I have an idea for a very good use of that snowball you have there..."

Tails felt a bit calmer, but he was still suspicious. "What are you saying?", Tails said as he raised his eyebrow. Sparky stopped dead in his tracks. Knuckles stopped with him. Both were staring at Klinx.

Noticing Tails' suspicion Klinx tried to appear as amiable as possible. "All I'm saying is, if you let me help you, you can be sure the work you've put into that snowball doesn't go to waste." While he was talking he glanced at Sparky and Knuckles.

Sparky noticed that Klinx was looking at him. He looked at Tails. Suspecting something to happen, Sparky packed a snowball. Tails glanced at Klinx. "What's your 'plan'?", he asked. Noticing this question, Sparky panicked and was ready to toss his snowball.

Klinx glanced at Sparky again. "Ok I'll explain my plan. First, stand right here." Klinx said as he pulled Tails over so he was between him and Sparky. "Now you see here we have a good shot of Macro's fort. We'll move in closer, then you act like you're going to throw the ball but instead you pass it to me and I'll surprise him from behind."

Noticing Tails was between him and Klinx, he revved up a Super Peel-Out, ready to charge at any moment. Tails, not noticing Sparky, looked at his snow-bolder and Klinx. "You sure you can toss this at Marco. It's pretty big."

"Sure I can! I assure you, this plan is fool proof." he said, still periodically glancing at Sparky.

Sparky had enough at this point. "DON'T LISTEN TO HIM!", Sparky screamed as he used his Super Peel-Out to dash into Klinx. Tails gasped and flew out of the way, carrying his snowball with him. Sparky had a look that said "insane" on his face as he broke through the fort and slammed Klinx with a flurry of snow.

Klinx's calm demeanor instantly shattered the second Tails moved and left him in Sparky's path. He took on a deer-in-the-headlights look as Sparky dashed for him. Then to top it off the crazed look on Sparky's face after the attack had him genuinely scared so that he was shaking as much from the cold as he was from fear.

Sparky, still looking crazy, was breathing heavily from his attack. He had never done such a powerful Peel-Out in his life under normal circumstances. "Did...I...just.....do..that?!?", Sparky asked himself. Knuckles' jaw hit the ground. Sonic got up and saw the damage. He was shocked more than the time the chili dog stand down the road almost closed. Tails' eyes were wide open. "Yes. I think you just did.", he answered for him. Sparky looked up at Tails. "Note to self: Do not go this crazy in a snowball fight.", he said. Tails looked down at Klinx, who was still shaking. He felt sorry for him. He dropped his snowball and flew down to help Klinx up. "Um....sorry about that. I'm not that good of a sport, you see. I could do anything just to win.", Sparky said as he helped brush the snow off of Klinx.

Klinx shook his head to reorient himself. "It's q-quite alright. I certainly know what you mean by doing anything to win." he said, holding onto Tails as he got up. Macro was over to them in an instant, his eyes wide. "Oh good Klinx you're ok!"

Sparky felt very stupid as he said "I can't say sorry enough. Let's just go inside and, you know, have lunch?" Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles looked at Sparky. "It's okay. And I thought I was reckless.", Knuckles said. Sparky let out a big sigh. "Yeah. I've certainly changed.", he said in a sad tone. Sonic patted Sparky on the back. "Don't sweat it. We can go in and watch TV or something, or at least do something in the snow that isn't as crazy as this."

"Yeah, you just got caught up in the game is all." said Macro, not wanting Sparky to feel so bad. Then he stopped and thought for a minute. "I have an idea! Why don't we get some hot chocolate, that'll make everyone feel better."

Sparky sniffled and cried a little bit. "Thank you guys. Merry Christmas." Sparky got up and led the others into his house, where they made some hot chocolate and sat by the fire trying to dry off from all of the snow. Sparky sipped his hot chocolate and looked at the others. "So, anything in particular you want to do inside?", he asked.

Klinx was sitting on the couch, wrapped in a warm towel, and feeling much better. "That, my friend, is a good question." Slash was standing by the fire, periodically kindling it to keep it going.

Sparky paced around the room, thinking of what to do. He scratched his head and thought. Sparky snapped his fingers and said "I got it!". He opened the cabinet under the TV and dug through a pile of DVDs and video games. "We could play a video game, maybe watch a movie. Anything you guys want? I might have it.", Sparky said with his head inside the cabinet.

"Video games, awesome!" said Macro. "Do you have Mario and Sonic at the Olympics? That's a good party game." He bent down and trying to look in the cabinet.

"I have all three of them.", Sparky said. "Which one do you want? The Winter Olympics? 2012?"

"I'd say the winter one seems the most appropriate, don't you think?" commented Klinx.

"Heh. You're right.", Sparky said. He looked through his games and found the box. He took it out, put it in his Nintendo Wii and turned on the TV.

Klinx counted everyone in the room. "There are seven of us, and four Wii controllers. I propose that first four of us play, and the winner will play the remaining three."

"Good thinking, Klinx.", Sparky said as he tossed a controller to Slash, Marco, and Klinx. "Don't even think of beating me in figure skating, snowboarding, and ice hockey.", Sparky said with confidence.

"We'll see about that." Macro said and smirked playfully. "Well none of you will be beating my timing on the ski jump," said Klinx as he put the wrist strap on.

Sparky turned on the Wii and they started playing. The events Sparky chose were the snowboard cross, ice hockey, ski jump, and figure skating.

"Just nobody throw the remote through the TV." Klinx said as they started playing. While Klinx and Macro got a little more in to actually playing, tilting their bodies with the remote, Slash played with no more movement than was strictly necessary. Little more than her wrist actually moved.

Durring the ice hockey match, Sparky knew they had to be put in teams. He picked Klinx to join him, while Slash and Marco where on the other team. The match was fast and furious, with great passes made by Sparky and Klinx.

"Pass it to me!" Slash barked. "Ok ok." responded Macro, he lined up the shot and attempted to pass it but Klinx intercepted it. "Thank you very much." he said. Macro looked disappointed. "Aw man." Klinx then passed the puck to Sparky.

Sparky then made a quick shot, scoring them the point to win the game. Team Sonic watched on the other couch, as if it was a real sport they were watching. "Yeah! Sometimes working together is better than going against each other.", he said to Klinx. "High Five!"

Klinx high fived Sparky. "Excellent work." Slash crossed her arms. "Hmph, I'll get you next time."

"Ah, it's just a game.", Sparky said to Slash. The day went on as they played some more. They even watched a few Christmas movies. By the end of the last movie. Sparky fell on the couch and let out a big sigh. "Ah...now what?", he asked. Sonic shrugged. "No clue." The rest of Team Sonic shrugged too.

"Hmm," said Macro who was sitting Indian style on the floor. "Maybe we should get something to eat."

Sparky thought for a moment. "Good idea", he said as his stomach growled. "But where should we go?"

"Do you know of any good places nearby?" asked Macro. Klinx and Slash were already getting up, ready to go.

"Hey, I was asking you.", Sparky said, still thinking of what to do. Tails bumped in and said "Well, it depends on what you want. We could go someplace fancy, fast-food, chinese-" Sparky quickly got up to Tails. "You're a genius, Tails! We can get chinese food!"

"Works for me!" said Macro, he looked over at Klinx and Slash who both nodded in agreement.

"What are we waiting for? Lets go!", Sonic said. Sparky led them out the house and went to the nearest chinese restaurant. When they got there, the cashier looked scared (mainly because of Marco's height), but they ordered their food. Sparky got fortune cookies, bread, teriyaki sticks, and lots of ramen noodles and rice. Team Sonic got the same.

Klinx, Slash, and Macro got pork and chicken fried rice. After they had all sat down to eat Macro said "I wonder what my fortune says." "It's just a piece of paper, it doesn't mean anything." said Slash. Macro looked down at his food. "I know, but it's still fun." he said. Klinx was struggling with a package of soy sauce. Slash grabbed it from him and sliced it open with her claws.

Taking advantage of the peacefulness, Sparky, who's mouth was shoved with rice, asked Team Weasel "So, what do you guys do as a Team? Any crazy adventures you want to talk about?".

Klinx swallowed a mouthful of rice before saying "Ah yes, we originally formed with the intent of taking down Eggman, but as of late we've been more occupied with another group called "The Cat Squad". Slash's face turned to a scowl at the mention of her most hated enemies.

Knuckles looked at Slash and noticed her anger. "Something tells me Slash hates them.", he said with some teriyaki in his mouth. Sonic looked interested. "I had a similar problem. These extreme gear riders, Team Babylon, caused us trouble when we were trying to stop Eggman. Trust me, it's not easy hoverboarding and fighting at the same time." Sparky swallowed his rice. "Who's the Cat Squad?", he asked.

"Nerin, Slish, and X-Nad. X-Nad was roboticized and decided he liked it, while Nerin and Slish are both from the Anti-Mobius. Lots of evil that place is. Slish is the anti counterpart to Slash, as a matter of fact." Klinx explained. Slash banged her fist on the table. "Slish is nothing but a touchy-feely ninny! She knows nothing of real fighting!"

Sonic spoke up. "I have a counterpart on Anti-Mobius too! His name is Scourge. Man, it's a good thing he's in the Zone Jail." Sparky thought for a second. "Because everything is reversed in that Zone, that means Slish must be, as Slash said, the total opposite of her. I hope there's no evil clone of me.", he said in a worried voice. "Who's Nerin a counterpart of?", Tails asked. "Is there an Anti-Klinx and Macro, too? What are they like?", Knuckles asked.

"There's supposed to be a counterpart to everyone there, so there may very well be an Anti-Sparky. As for Nerin... her counterpart here's name is Teneko, I believe." Klinx explained. "We've never actually been to that zone so we've never seen the Anti Klinx or Marco. But I shudder to think what they're like." Macro said.

"Brrr.... I don't want to find out how crazy my counterpart might be. And something tells me the Anti-Marco is violent, unlike the kind and cautious Macro we have here, but he might as well be very tiny.", Sparky said. Tails nodded and said "Trust me. My anti-counterpart is not a nice guy either." Sonic looked even more interested than before. "What does the Cat Squad do to you guys, anyway?", he asked.

"Oh man, all kinds of crazy things. This one time, they used a bunch of holographic technology to make us believe we were actually in 19th century Oregon so that Nerin could continue her plans and we'd have no idea about it." said Macro between bites of rice.

"Geez. I wonder how they got THAT to happen.", Sparky said in astonishment, almost spitting out his ramen. "What are their plans anyway? We can help you guys.", Sonic said as he finished eating his rice.

"When Slish and Nerin got stuck here from their zone, Nerin decided she wanted to dominate it. She wants to be mistress of the world or something." Macro said. "Not on my watch..." Slash mumbled.

"Heck, Sonic and us beat Eggman and other things all the time! We can help the next time they show up! I'll give Slish a zap to the butt if I have to!", Sparky said while making small sparks from his hand to show off his powers. Knuckles pounded his fists together and said "I can smack those guys right in the face for you guys!" proudly.

Macro smiled, "Thanks guys!" "Indeed, it's certainly nice to have friends you can count on." said Klinx. "I propose a toast." he said as he held up his glass.

"A merry Christmas to everyone!", Tails said as he held up his glass. Sonic and Knuckles did the same. "God bless us, except Eggman and every other bad-guy out there!", Sparky said as he held up his glass.

Macro laughed, and he and Slash both held up their glasses as well. Everyone lightly touched their glasses together making a tink sound.

They eventually finished eating. Macro had to eat about three servings of everything, but it was fine by Sparky. They left the restaurant and said goodbye. Sparky walked back to his house and said to himself "Boy, I can't wait to see what happens on New Years!" Indeed, God bless us, except the villains.

Chapter 4: 5 Days Left: Road Trip Insanity!
Sparky woke up happy and content. He saw that the snow was still outside. He didn't really know what to do. Whatever the case, he went downstairs and hoped for the best.

Team Weasel arrived at Sparky's house nice and early. They approached the house and Klinx stepped up and rang the door bell.

Sparky was in his pajamas and socks, so he slipped and fell on the floor. He shook his head and dashed to the door. When he opened it, he saw Team Weasel. "Well, this is a bit weird.", Sparky said cautiously.

Klinx held back a snicker at Sparky's confused state. "I apologize if this is a bad time." he said. "We simply couldn't wait to get over here."

"Well, I like it how you guys are so excited to see me. It's alright.", Sparky said. "To be very honest, I don't have a clue what we should do today. We had an insane snowball fight (I'm still sorry, Klinx), had a Christmas party, and got chinese food.", he said with worry.

"There's endless possibilties!" Klinx said positively. "All that's required is to think outside the box a little." Macro put his hand on his chin, thinking.

Sparky tapped his foot and thought. "Well, around this time it's called Christmas vacation. And when I hear the word vacation, I think of the times my Uncle Hoot made small road trips and we saw the sights during the holidays."

"Interesting you should mention that." said Klinx. "I was just thinking about the fact that we didn't necessarily have to do things at your house."

"Why not we go and take a trip across some areas around here and see what people are doing for New Years. No harm done if we do some good deeds!", Sparky said.

Macro nodded. "That sounds like a great idea! And it does fit with the holiday season."

"I have just the idea to get around!", Sparky said. He dashed into the house. A minute later, the garage door opened and out came a large van. It had Tails' invention symbol on it (a picture of his tails) and had plenty of space for Macro to fit in. "Say hello to the M.I.N.I (MOTOR-VEHICLE that IS NORMAL looking but is INDESCRIBABLY big) van! Tails made it for me!"

Team Weasel watched in awe as the van came out of the garage. After it had, Klinx went over to it and ran his hand down the side. "Isn't that something." he said.

"Yep. It's custom made for me. Electric powered so I can recharge it anytime I want, High Quality SurroundSound Audio, can pick up radio transmissions either from us or elsewhere, MP3 player plug-in, electronic device recharging system, HD DVD player, GPS System, and cooling and heating. Tails said he wanted it to be like his Tornado Biplane, but it's a car. I helped make it, so he gave it to me on my 13th birthday! I still help him with other things to this day trying to repay him for his work. It's almost TO perfect.", Sparky said as he smiled at the van.

"Well it certainly is a beaute'" Klinx said, still admiring it. Slash tapped her foot, she was starting to get impatient with just looking at the van. "If it runs, let's get going!" she said.

"Sure thing! Hop in and lets pick up Sonic and the others!", Sparky said as he jumped in the driver's seat and started the engine. "This thing is an eight seater, not counting the two seats up front. Jump in and lets go! It's ROAD TRIP TIME!!!"

Klinx got into the front seat, while Slash took the one closest to the door. She liked to be able to get out quickly, ready for action. The van shifted a little when Macro got in, but he made it and sat in some clear space in the back. "Let's go get Team Sonic!" he said.

Sparky stepped on the gas and the van started moving. Within a minute they got to Sonic's house. Sparky honked the horn, which made the "SEGA!" logo chime from the old Sonic games. In no time flat, Team Sonic bursted out the door and saw the van. Tails smiled. "You're finally using that thing?", he asked. Sparky opened the window. "Yep. Hop in! We're going on a small road trip!" The Team quickly got in the van and sat in the seats next to Slash. "Let's hit the road!", Sparky said. The van started again and they were off. "Where do you want to go, guys?", he asked Team Weasel.

Slash was silently staring out the window, seemingly deep in thought. Klinx had been messing with all the various electronics that were loaded on the van. "Maybe we should just drive and see what happens." suggested Macro.

"Alright.", Sparky said. Sonic looked at Slash. "You okay there, Slash?"

"I'm fine." Slash said roughly, not taking her eyes off of the window. Klinx turned around in his chair and looked at her. "Surely we won't have to take this whole trip with that attitude." he said. Slash simply responded, "Hmph."

"She'll cheer up somehow.", Sparky said with hope. Sonic's stomach growled. "I didn't even have breakfast. Any place we can go in order to get some chow?", he asked. Sparky looked at Team Weasel. "You're our guests of honor. You decide where to go."

Klinx laughed. "I feel special now." "As long as we go somewhere with meat." Slash spoke up. "Well how about Cracker Barrel?" Klinx said.

"Got it.", Sparky said as he drove off to Station Square. They stopped at the nearest Cracker Barrel. Some people looked shocked looking at them, but Sparky just smiled and waved. Tails turned to Klinx and asked "What is the Cracker Barrel anyway?".

"It's an old timey style restaurant. They've got country ham, chicken, anything you can think of really. There's also breakfast all day long." Klinx explained.

"I hope they have pancakes.", Sparky said as they walked inside.

"Not to worry, they do." Klinx said. He walked to the server and said "Table for seven, my good man." The server then led them to a table and gave them some menus.

Sparky ordered some pancakes, eggs, and bacon in no time flat, and Team Sonic got the same. While eating, Sparky asked "Do you have any ideas where we should go?".

Klinx was eating eggs, Slash was eating bacon, and Macro was eating a country ham sandwhich. "Where do people usually go on these kinds of trips?" asked Macro.

"On road trips, people usually have a place to go to, but they can go to other areas on the way. For example, you might want to go to a park, but you can see other places such as a large mall on your way there.", Tails said in between bites of bacon. "My problem is I don't really have any plans at all.", Sparky said with eggs in his mouth.

"That is a problem." said Macro as he took a drink of his water. "What we need, is a destination that really accomplishes something." Klinx said, holding a forkful of eggs.

"Yeah, but where?", Sparky said as he scratched his head, thinking of someplace special they could go to.

"Unfortunately I just don't know." said Klinx. Macro was messing with his food trying to think.

"Hmm.....look! Brochures!", Sparky said as he got up and picked one up in a rack full of them. "Huh. Let's see....New Years celebration in New Station City. West of Station Square. Parties, food, rides, and fun for the whole family. What do you say, guys?"

Klinx looked over Sparky's shoulder at the brochure. "Now that sounds like an idea!" he said.

"All right, then. Lets go!", Sparky said as he finished eating. Knuckles gulped down his last blueberry pancake, Tails finished his last strip of bacon, and Sonic wiped his mouth with his napkin. Sparky and Team Sonic walked out the restaurant and got back in the van.

Team Weasel followed them back out, after Klinx grabbed a few mints from the check out counter. Then they all piled back into the van and into their respective seats. "Alright let's go!" said Macro.

Sparky stepped on the gas and they were off. Sparky turned on the GPS system. "Okay, it should take us an hour to get there if we take the road on Route 999.", Sparky said. "Anything you want to do until then?"

"It wouldn't be a road trip if we didn't make a few stops." Klinx said, fumbling around with a rather large road map.

"Well, yeah. Any ideas?", Sparky asked Klinx. Sonic spoke up and said "How about until we find a place to see we listen to some tunes?". "Okay. Anything you want in particular?", Sparky asked.

"Well let's see what's on." Klinx started flipping through the radio. It scrolled past all kinds of stations including Mexican music and talk shows. Eventually he settled on a station playing 'Life is a Highway'. "This seems appropriate." he commented.

Sparky laughed at the joke Klinx made. They drove across the highway with the music playing across the van. Sparky turned to Klinx. "Anywhere you want to stop at? Your the one looking at the GPS map."

Klinx scanned through the map. "Well, assuming Tails isn't still traumatized by the party shopping, there's a very nice mall coming up."

Tails shook in fear and pulled out a slingshot. "Why bring that?", Sonic asked. "In case something happens.", Tails said with fear in his voice. Knuckles turned to Tails. "Trust me. We've got a 20 foot tall giant, a slick weasel, a warrior cat, and us by your side. What could go wrong?" "That's what I'm worrying about.", Tails said. Sparky took a turn and they parked near the mall. "Everyone out. Let's see if there's anything we can find.", Sparky said.

Klinx, Slash, and Macro all climbed out of the van. "There are supposed to be very good deals after Christmas." Klinx said as they went in.

They all walked inside the mall. Tails was shaking and was ready to fire his slingshot at any moment. "Any stores you want to go to?", Sparky asked.

"Perhaps we should check a department store. The snow has made it rather cold." Klinx suggested. Macro looked at Tails, "Uh, Tails, do they even allow weapons in here?" he asked, concerned.

"All I want to do is live!", Tails said. The group walked into the department store, and Sparky 'wow'ed as they saw the various items across the store.

Macro stopped. "That is a lot of stuff." he said. Klinx leaned against Macro's leg, "Indeed it is. Where to start?" Slash let out an exasperated sigh, "This is what I hate about shopping. You have to look through all this pointless stuff to get to what you need."

"That's kinda the fun in shopping. You never know if you'll come across something good!", Sparky said cheerfully. "I feel like looking in the clothes section for some reason.", Sonic said. "I might as well wear something aside from these shoes."

Macro laughed, "Wow, Sonic wearing clothes. Who'd of thought?" "Oh you're one to talk." Klinx teased. Macro looked at himself, "I wear a vest, that's gotta count for something." Slash started walking away. "I could use some new boots." she said.

"Alright then. Lets split up. Sonic, Slash, and I will go to the clothing section. Klinx, Macro, Knuckles, and Tails will go wherever else they want.", Sparky said. "Lets move out!" Sonic, Sparky, and Slash walked to the clothing section, leaving the others to decide where to go.

"So where should we go?" asked Macro as the four of them were left standing there near the store entrance. People around were taking the long way to get out of the store giving sideways glances to the very tall hedgehog and the crazy, sling-shot wielding fox.

"Any place that doesn't have too many people.", Tails said, still having his slingshot ready.

"The cookware section...?" Macro said, trying hard to come up with the part of the store people would be the least interested in.

"Yes. That's a good idea. You never know if we can get a nice pan, or something like that.", Knuckles said. The group headed to the cookware section.

Meanwhile, with Sparky and co....
Sparky was already trying on some shirts. One of them was orange had a thunderbolt picture on it. "How do I look?", Sparky asked Slash.

Slash was standing there with her arms crossed. "Fine." she said, the same response she had given to the last several shirts he had tried on.

"Ah. Lighten up, Slash.", Sonic said. He found a blue shirt with, what else, him on it. The words on it said "Either I'm too fast or you're too slow". Sparky looked at Sonic. "That's perfect! That totally suits you." "Thanks.", Sonic said as he put his shirt in his shopping bag. Sparky saw that Slash was simply looking at the boots. "Ever thought of finding other clothes?", Sparky asked.

"What for?" she said, still focused on the boots. She opened a box and pulled out a high heeled boot, then grimaced and put it back.

"Well, sometimes it's not about having a mission or doing jobs all the time. You've got to open your heart to other things and have time to enjoy things, not just do them. Lighten up. Have fun. Look cool. I'm sure you'd look nice in some normal clothing instead of that black jumpsuit of yours.", Sparky said as he smiled at her.

Slash looked at Sparky, but it wasn't with a look of anger or annoyance. It was softer than that, although it still wasn't a smile. "What exactly are you thinking of?"

"Well, I figured you need to have fun in you're life for once. Try new things, and stop being so serious over everything. If this was a huge mission, fine. Be serious. But this is a VACATION. It's a time when others get to relax and just have fun with what they have. You didn't see me being serious over that hockey match when we played 'Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympics' yesterday, right?", Sparky said.

Slash sighed and looked up at the ceiling for a minute. "Fine." she said finally. "Whatever you have in mind for me... let's try it."

"You're the one who should learn to have fun, so you should be the one to find some nice clothes for yourself.", Sparky said to Slash, being thankful Slash didn't attack him.

"Alright, fine." Slash said, slightly annoyed. She then trudged over to the women's section.

Sparky didn't want to follow her into that section, as he knew it would be a bit rude. He smiled as he saw Slash walk away. "Man. I'd never thought she would listen to that.", Sonic said in awe. Sparky grinned. "Don't worry. She might have a change of heart because of me. Who knows?"

Slash spent several minutes browsing through the clothes. Most of it she rejected as too frilly or otherwise. Eventually she settled on something and came back over to where Sparky and Sonic were. She was wearing black pants, a white shirt with a vine-like design on it, and a new belt. "Well?"

Sparky thought for a moment. "Perfect. I love it! It shows that you have some hope left in you!", Sparky said. Sonic nodded.

"Thanks, I suppose." Slash said as she went to change back into her normal clothes so they could pay for the new ones.

Sparky suddenly had an idea. He grinned a crazy grin. "Uh...what are you thinking?", Sonic said with worry. "Don't you get it?!? If we can get Slash to put on normal clothes, we can actually teach her to have fun! What can possibly go wrong?", Sparky said to Sonic. Sonic raised an eyebrow. "Okay. What's your plan?", he asked. "Here's the plan.", Sparky said to Sonic. He then whispered his plan to Sonic. Sonic got worried. "Are you sure?" "Yes, I am!", Sparky said proudly.

After changing Slash came back to where Sonic and Sparky were, holding the new clothes on hangers. She looked suspiciously at the excited look on Sparky's face. "What?"

Sparky got nervous. "NOTHING! Nothing is wrong. Absolutely nothing!", Sparky said while Sonic was whistling.

"Hmm, well if you two are done here, maybe we should find the others." Slash said.

Sparky was ready for phase one. "I was wondering if we could get some ice cream at the food court if you want to, later. After we get the others.", Sparky said in a nervous tone. Sonic was getting very shaky just thinking of the results.

"Fine." said Slash, then she started walking off to find the others.

Meanwhile, with Tails and the others.....
Tails was feeling calmer inside the cookware section. He looked at the various pots and pans on sale. Knuckles started scratching his head. "This is getting us nowhere. I think we should convince Tails to go to another section. This is even more boring than my job guarding the Master Emerald.", Knuckles said to Klinx.

Klinx nodded. "Yes, I have a feeling Tails isn't all that interested in pans either." he commented. Macro was trying to fix a pot display he had bumped into earlier. "But what would get him out of here? He's pretty shook up over the Christmas stuff." he said.

"That's what I was asking you.", Knuckles said. He paced back and forth while Tails mindlessly stared at the forks. Knuckles thought "What is something Tails is very interested in?". He found the answer: Machines. Tails would never fail to go see some mechanical things. "I think I've got it! We need to go someplace that has lots of machines!", Knuckles said to the others.

"Sears or maybe the Apple Store." Macro suggested. He looked over at Tails, "And we better hurry, I think he's brain washing himself with forks." Distracted by Tails, Macro accidently knocked down the pots again. One of the sales clerks rushed over and said, "Don't worry about it. Please."

Tails was now drooling looking at the spoons. Knuckles was getting worried and clapped his hands in front of Tails. "Huzza, what?", Tails said oddly. "We're going to find the others and go to the Apple store.", Knuckles said quickly. Tails snapped out of his trance faster than you can say 'Sonic'. "Oh boy! I love that store! I always love trying out those new Mac computers!", Tails said happily. "It's settled. We'll go to the entrance and find the others.", Knuckles said.

"Great." said Klinx and he wrapped his arm Tails' shoulders and led him to the entrance. It was partially to make sure he wouldn't change his mind. Macro got up and carefully manuevered past all the displays, the sales clerk watching nervously and cringing anytime he came near one.

Eventually, everyone found each other at the entrance to the store. Sparky was looking anxious. "Good. Everyone is here. Why not we get some ice cream, yes?", he said in a crazy tone. Sonic's eye twitched and Tails took notice of it. "Sonic? You okay there?" Sonic whispered what the plan Sparky had to Tails. "Man! Are you sure this is going to work?" Sonic shook his head. "That's what I'm wondering.", he said nervously.

"Awesome! Ice cream! Okay. After that, Tails wants to go to the Apple Store." said Macro. Klinx gave a weird look to Sparky, "It doesn't appear that shopping brings out the best in Sparky here." he said.

"Whatareyousaying?", Sparky asked crazily to Klinx. Sonic attempted to act casual.

"Nevermind, but I'm not so sure you need any ice cream..." Klinx said, a little freaked out.

"Ishallexplainlaterfornowweneedicecream!!!!", Sparky said like a total lunatic. He dashed up to Klinx and whispered "It's because I want to teach Slash how to be happy." Sparky jumped back and looked at the group. "Are we ready?"

Klinx looked at Sparky like he was even crazier than he had when he was talking strange. But then Klinx decided he would play along anyway to see what would happen. "Yes we are." Then the group headed off in the direction of the food court.

As they walked to the 'Ben and Jerry's' ice cream stand, Sparky was twitching his head; he was that crazy. Tails didn't know what to think of it as he got a headache thinking about what chaos would happen. Sonic looked at Klinx. "I don't know if this will work.", he said to Klinx.

"Can't say as we've gotten it to work. Well, with the exception of the fact that Slash would never play video games before she met Macro and I." Klinx said. When they went to order the ice cream, Klinx got chocolate, Macro got mint, and Slash got vanilla.

Sparky got soft serve vanilla while Sonic got chocolate, Tails got mint, and Knuckles got strawberry. They all sat down and ate their ice cream. "You enjoying the ice cream, Slash?", Sparky asked her.

Slash simply nodded. Klinx was eating his ice cream then stopped. "Agh, that's some brain freeze" he said, wrinkling his nose. Slash snorted at his predicament.

Sparky turned over to Klinx. "Any ideas on how to get on Slash's good side?", he whispered.

After ridding himself of his brain freeze, Klinx turned to Sparky. "Ah, she's a tough nut to crack. I can tell you plenty of things not to do. But you should know you're doing pretty well already. She hated me when we first met."

"Okay. So what shouldn't I do?", Sparky asked as he finished his ice cream.

"Well, don't try to hard to be funny, don't act like a mime, don't suggest we play truth or dare, and no matter what you do don't ever, ever sing Row, Row, Row Your Boat." Klinx explained.

"What's wrong with 'Row, Row, Row Your Boat'? I know it's a stupid song but she must HATE it if that's the case. And also, I don't like mimes either, but why should she despise them?", Sparky asked, now getting cautious.

Klinx looked up remembering quite a few messes they'd been in over that stuff. "I don't know why, but she hates that song with a passion. Last person to sing it almost got strangled. And the mimes just bug her on many levels including the fact that they're not accomplishing anything."

"Geez. I will attempt to avoid those things at any cost.", Sparky said to Klinx. He turned to Slash again. "Is there anything you're interested in?", he asked her.

"Sparring. My bounty hunting." Slash said, still eating her ice cream. "And target practice."

"Sparring? As in fighting for the heck of it?", Sparky asked, getting a bit worried.

Slash nodded. "But it is controlled with no intent to actually hurt your opponent."

"Is that the cause of your scar?", Sparky said pointing at Slash's scar.

Slash looked away when he said that. "No." she said. She hesitated for a minute before explaining. "This scar came from when I was a kitten and my father was training me. It only happened once, because it taught me to never let my guard down."

Sparky felt a bit sorry for her. "I'm sure you've learned your lesson that time. Besides. Even though it must be a bit painful, it makes you look pretty cool. It looks like you can survive anything.", Sparky said, trying to make her feel better.

Slash actually smiled a little at that. After she had thrown away her ice cream cup she asked, "So where did you say we were going next?"

"The Apple electronics store. We're trying to get Tails to stop acting so crazy.", Sparky explained.

"Yep, he loves electronics so if we show him something good about the mall, he should like it better." said Macro. "Good luck with that." said Slash. "He saw things when we were party shopping."

"That's why we're trying.", Sparky said. They all finished their ice cream and headed for the Apple store.

They got to the store and it does have quite a few people looking at all the sales, although they're not acting crazy. "Let's hope this works." said Macro.

Tails looked at several iPads and Mac laptops. "Cool! This one is running on a 50 Gigabyte engine!", he said as he examined a Mac computer. Sonic looked at Macro. "Yep. It's working." Tails went on to babble to the cashier about what Apple should do in order to make the iPad 3 prototype have better functions. "Look, kid. I don't make these things.", the cashier said in anger. Tails walked away and said "Sheesh. I was attempting to make conversation."

Klinx chuckled, "I'd say he's much more comfortable." He then decided to go around and look at some of the devices himself.

Tails pointed at a MacBook Pro. "I designed your laptop off of this.", he said to Sparky. Sparky looked impressed as he looked though the similar features that it had compared to his laptop. He looked at Slash. "Do you want any of these. You might as well get an iPhone to keep track of everything you do, like missions.", he suggested.

"Hmm." Slash considered the idea. She went over to the iPhones and began critically inspecting them.

"You can also keep in contact with us; it IS a phone, after all.", Sparky said to Slash.

Slash wasn't exactly sure about the idea. "It seems like a liability. What if someone takes it and then sees everywhere I'm going to be..."

"You can lock those things with passwords. No one is going to be able to get in thanks to passwords.", Sparky said hopefully.

Slash said nothing but looked back down at the iPhone. She touched it again and it started playing music. "How do you make this stop?" she groweled, rapidly pressing the screen.

"Relax, Slash.", Tails said. "When playing music, there's a pause button on the application. Here it is.", he said as he managed to stop the music from playing. Sparky turned to Klinx. "Does she hate music in general, or something?"

"No, she doesn't hate music. If I had to guess I'd say it's simply more a matter of the iPhone doing something she didn't want it too." Klinx said. Slash cut her eyes over at him.

"Any music she likes? She can download it and stuff.", Sparky asked Klinx.

"It all really depends on how much patience it takes to use it. She's also not wild about spending too much money what with how much we paid for our rather over-sized apartment." Klinx said. "Hey! I can't help it." Macro said defensively.

"Heh. Don't worry about it, Macro. You need the space, anyway. Where else would you live; the streets?", Sparky said to Macro. Tails came back after showing Slash how to use the iPhone and all of its functions. "I think we should go somewhere else. We need to see some other sights around the city.", he said. "Then let's go! I can't wait to see what else there is!", Knuckles said excitedly. Sparky turned to Team Weasel. "You ready to leave?"

All three of them nodded. Then they all walked out of the store, Slash carrying a bag with the clothes she had bought.

They all got back in the van. Sparky started the car while Macro squished in the back. "Where, else should we go?", Sparky asked as the got on the road.

"We're near Station Square, correct? One of the main attractions there is the Twinkle Park amusement park." said Klinx as he was buckling his seatbelt.

Sonic was about to scream "No!", but Tails covered his mouth and said "The robots and traps Eggman placed were removed when we defeated him and Chaos, remember?". Sonic sighed with relief. "Whew. Thank goodness." "Okay! Next stop: Twinkle Park!", Sparky said as he made a turn down the road.

After they had been driving for a few minutes Macro said, "So you guys have actually been here before. Could you tell how it was? Or did Eggman mess it up too much."

"Yeah. Eggman highjacked the park at one point. He made the roller coasters incomplete, made the race track have bottomless pits, and spread the place with spikes and badniks.", Tails explained. "It wasn't very fun for any of us when we got there. But once it got fixed, it's pretty cool."

"Cool, sounds like it'll be fun then. Since I doubt Eggman will be doing anything now." said Macro. "Hmph, especially if he was telling the truth when we saw him shopping." muttered Slash.

"I hope he meant to do that just to bother us.", Tails replied. The van eventually stopped in the parking lot near the entrance to Twinkle Park. "Let's go.", Sparky said as he hopped out of the van. Team Sonic went up and saw the sign. "Cute Couples get in free. Brrr.....I remember when Amy dragged me in there just because of that deal.", Sonic said in slight fear.

Klinx chuckled. "You don't have to worry, Sonic. We won't be getting that deal. We only have one girl with us and she isn't exactly cute." he said. At that Slash punched him in the arm. "My point." Klinx squeaked in pain.

"I bet she doesn't care if she's cute; she must care about looking tough.", Sparky said. They all went inside the entrance. There were doors leading to different areas: the Raceway, the Roller-coasters, the House of Mirrors, and the Sparkle Castle.

"So where do we go first?" asked Macro. Klinx looked over at Sonic and Tails. "You two have been here, what would you suggest?"

"Well, I think we should save the exciting stuff for last. Let's go to the House of Mirrors, then the Castle, then the Roller-Coasters, then the Raceway.", Tails said. Sonic didn't know what the House of Mirrors had, but he looked like he wanted to find out. Sparky looked excited and paid for the tickets as soon as he could. He gave the group the tickets and went through the hall to the House of Mirrors. The House had mirrors all over the place. Some were bended and some were long and large. One section had mirrors on both sides, giving refections of the reflections, making a very confusing scene.

Macro looked at the reflections going every which way. "Whoa. I'm everywhere!" Klinx walked down a row of distorted mirrors, the shape of his reflection changing as he went. He couldn't help but chuckle at some of the absurd images. Slash wasn't all that thrilled, she just stood there with her arms crossed, glancing around.

"Blegh. This is making me dizzy.", Knuckles said as he saw an infinite amount of reflections of himself. Tails held back a giggle as he saw Slash in front of a mirror that made her look fat. Sonic was looking at the same mirror, checking to see if he was that fat again. Sparky looked at a mirror that made him look like he had huge muscles. "To be honest, I prefer being thin.", he said as he looked at the mirror.

"Hopefully we won't get lost in here. Mirror houses are infamous for that." Macro said, now looking at a mirror that made his head look really small.

Sparky nodded as he laughed at Macro's reflection. Sonic looked at Klinx, who was in front of a mirror that made his body looked bended and crazy. "Pfft.", Sonic said as he attempted to hold back some laughter.

Klinx looked over at Sonic with a mock-serious look that dared him to laugh. Then he saw the mirror Sonic was in front of that made the top half of his head look huge like some kind of alien and he burst out laughing.

Sonic looked back and started laughing at himself. Sparky couldn't help but laugh as well. Tails was getting dizzy from all of the reflections. "Let's go to the castle, okay?", he said while mindlessly walking in all directions.

"Sounds good, let's go." said Macro. He then started walking, intending to head for the exit, but ended up face to face with a mirror. "Wait..."

Sparky started walking slowly through the room and found the exit, which had a mirror on it. "What is it?", he asked Macro.

Macro walked over to Sparky. "Oh I thought I was lost for a second." Klinx walked to the exit. "Not to worry, that just happens on TV."

Sparky and the others managed to get out, and Knuckles made a great sigh of relief. "That was confusing and cool at the same time.", he said. Sparky nodded as they went toward the entrance to the Castle. "You're the one that's telling me." When they got in, the Castle had sections that were connected to the Roller Coasters. The lights shined bright, and despite being inside, the place had a natural feeling and look of nighttime.

Klinx looked around. "They really went all out with this place." he said. "It's big too, I can stand straight up in here." Macro commented. "It's ok." was all Slash had to say about it.

Sparky sighed at the calm atmosphere, looking at the beautiful lights and decorations.

Slash crossed her arms. "So what exactly do we do here?"

"Well, this is an attraction that's meant to be admired and looked at. We might as well look around.", Tails said as he flew around the 'courtyard'.

Macro looked genuinely interested as they walked around. Slash on the other hand, didn't. "This is pointless." she muttered.

Sparky walked towards the actual castle and a robotic princess appeared out of nowhere. "WAGH!", Sparky yelled in shock as he fell over. "Hel*bzt*lo good person. Do you want to take tour of the magical Sparkle *creak* Castle?", the robot asked Sparky. Shaking his head form the shock, he simply said "No." "Good!", the robot said with a few 'bzt's and 'clinks'. "Lets go in!", the robot said as it wheeled off into the castle. Sparky, now very curious, followed it to investigate.

Macro, Klinx, and Slash all followed Sparky in. Slash was muttering incoherently.

Sparky followed the robot in as it went into the direction of the throne room. He skidded to a halt as he saw the others follow him. "It's okay. You don't have to follow me.", he said.

Klinx shrugged. "What else do we have to do?"

"That is a very good point.", Sparky said. Hearing the robot's automated voice, he rushed to the throne room. "As you see here, the throne is where the princess sits to rule the magical land.", the robot said as Sparky groaned at the stupidity. At the same time, he giggled at how dumb it was. Team Sonic caught up with Sparky. "How is it?", Sonic asked. "So bad it's admirable.", Sparky said with his hand on his face.

"Pfft. Princess." said Slash, actually almost enjoying the stupidity of the tour, despite the fact that it was pointless.

Sparky actually began to notice the nice work put into the castle itself. Knuckles was gawking over the stained glass. "Let us *bzt* conTINue.", the robot said as it skidded off to the next room. Tails was scratching his head. "I think that thing has a few bugs and glitches."

"You know I kinda get the impression that no one's been in this castle lately." said Macro, noticing some dust as well as the unkempt state of the robot.

"Meh.", Sparky shrugged as they went to the next part. It was the ball room, and it was massive and pretty beautiful. Huge lights were hanged up on the celling.

"Cool! It looks like in Beauty and the Beast." said Macro as he was looking at the lights. However, while he was distracted by that he slipped and landed on the floor with a loud thud. "Ow... apparently they clean this part of the castle..."

"Yeah. I love that movie...", Sparky said wistfully. He shook his head and looked around. Suddenly, a robot Prince came in, ballroom music started playing, and it started dancing with the robot princess. Their dancing was strange and crazy, and sometimes when they were supposed to be together at one part, they weren't. Sonic looked at robots and started laughing. "This is so bad it's funny!", he said pointing at the robots.

Macro put his hand over his mouth, laughing. He then winced as the princess robot almost fell because the prince didn't catch her when he was supposed to. "They're not exactly what I would call graceful." commented Klinx.

The robots eventually bowed, but the princess' head bonked the prince's head, knocking it over with a satisfying 'bang' and 'clonk'. By that point Team Sonic and Sparky were rolling on the floor laughing. Sparky got up, still giggling, and brushed off the dust. "Bavo, I say! Bravo!", he said sarcastically while clapping his hands.

Klinx chuckled, "I believe you lost your head, good sir!" Macro was still laughing too hard to say anything.

The prince's body skidded away, leaving the head on the floor. Sparky kicked the head into the body, knocking it over. Team Sonic couldn't help but laugh at the physical humor. "He is such a dashing prince.", the princess robot said. The robot moved to a room that looked like a nursery. "Now, kids. Let's sing!", it said. Sparky shook his head. "This better be good.", he said. The robot whirled and paused for a moment. It suddenly starting singing. "Row, row, row your boat...", it began. Sparky's smile dropped to a frown of worry. He rushed to the robot, covering the speakers, but the robot's sudden movements knocked him away with brute force.

Upon hearing that most hated song, Slash's ear twitched and her face turned to a crazed rage. She extended her claws and lunged at the robot, tearing it apart relentlessly.

Durring Slash's rage, the robot's head rolled off the body. Before Slash could have a chance to react, a metal wall dropped between the head and the group. The singing was still going very strong, and Knuckles pounded the wall. He groaned and rubbed his hands in pain. "This is like titanium!", he said in shock. "It IS titanium.", a booming voice over the loudspeaker said. The doors and windows closed tight, leaving them trapped. "Eggman?!", Tails yelled in shock. "That's right!", Eggman said. "Because of Slash's serious reputation, I assumed one of her weaknesses would involve something very childish and stupid, but I didn't expect this reaction."

"Eggman! Okay, so maybe I was wrong about him not doing anything else here." said Macro. The song was bugging Slash so much that she couldn't think straight. She just sat there slashing the wall but was only making minor scratches on the wall that did nothing more than make it not look as nice.

"Have a Happy New Year! OH HO HO HO HO!!!", Eggman laughed as trap doors opened under everyone except Slash. Sparky quickly yelled to Slash "Think!" as he fell below. Before Tails could fly up, the doors closed on him.

Slash gripped her ears. That song was like nails on a chalkboard to her. But she knew if she didn't focus that it would never stop. She began looking around on the stage where the princess was, looking for something, anything that would help. She decided to attempt overloading the system. She reactivated the princess, who preceeded to start slamming into the wall as it was blocking her programmed path. Then Slash went around turning on all the singing robots.

The robots started singing songs ranging from 'It's a Small World' to the alphabet. The songs got glitchier and glitchier, and started becoming just 'bleeps' and static. "Wait. What's going on?!", Eggman asked in horror.

Slash kept turning things on. She turned on all the various lights on the stage which started flickering. All the while trying to resist the very strong urge to cover her ears due to all the noise.

"STOP! You'll overload the system!", Eggman yelled as the lights flickered on and off. The lights eventually shut down, the doors opened, the robots stopped singing, and the wall was lifted. "NOOOoooooo...", Eggman yelled as the power went off. The head of the princess was still singing "Row, row, row your boat."

When the wall raised up Slash walked over and crushed the head with her foot. "Hmph." she said. Macro stuck his head out of the now open trap door. "Is it over?" he asked.

"Looks like it.", Sparky said as he popped his head out of the trap door. Everyone else climbed out. "You did it!", Tails said happily. Knuckles was impressed. "I was always told to use my head and not brute force. Looks like you applied that rule pretty well.", he said to Slash.

"Thanks. I knew there was no way Eggman really changed." said Slash crossing her arms. "Yes, but what did he wish to accomplish here? Besides driving us all insane." Klinx said, rubbing his ear after all the noise.

"I think that's it!", Sparky said as he snapped his fingers. "He just wants us to go nuts before some bigger plan he has." "My guess is that he must have plans for New Years' Eve!", Sonic said.

"You know what, if that's the case. Then we do have a purpose for this trip." said Klinx. "Yeah! We'll figure out what Eggman's up to and he won't ruin New Year's Eve." Macro said.

"The problem is that the New Year isn't for a few days, but we should investigate the site to make sure things are okay.", Tails said. Sonic nodded with determination and said "Well, let's go and see what we can do!" "Yeah, let's go!", Sparky said, suddenly getting serious. "You can get serious now, Slash.", he said to Slash.

"I was already there." said Slash as they all began walking again.

Eventually the group got out of the park and got into the van. "Let's forget about the stuff in the park and focus and beating Eggman.", Sparky said as he started up the van angrily. Sonic noticed Sparky's serious behavior. "What's going on?", he asked as the van moved. "Nothing. I want to smash Eggman.", Sparky said quickly.

"Is that all?" Klinx asked, raising an eyebrow. He was sitting in the passengers seat again. Slash had resumed her staring out the window, but this time it was partially to see if there was anything suspicious going on.

"Remember when I told you where I was from? The Little Planet?", Sparky asked Klinx. "Eggman almost took it over and threatened my world. You'd be pretty mad to if someone made you fall off of a high mountain and into another planet, right?"

"Ah. I see. This is personal for you." said Klinx.

"Isn't that the same for you guys?", Sparky asked them.

"I suppose. But being tricked isn't exactly the same has having your world conquered. Well Slash was tricked, I was threatened and dragged along to find a giant hedgehog as a result of that tricking." Klinx said. "Hey look at it this way, if it wasn't for Eggman we wouldn't have met." said Macro.

"That's only one of two things I will thank Eggman for; meeting you and his laser to give me my powers.", Sparky said as he looked at his Time Stone. He sighed and started moving again.

"Well we're gonna stop whatever Eggman's planning this time so he doesn't give anyone else problems." said Macro, who was trying to get a drink out of the sink in the back of the van.

As they went down Route 999, Sonic was getting a bit bored waiting to arrive. "You want to do something while waiting?", he asked Team Weasel.

"Maybe we should watch a movie or something." suggested Macro.

"What do you think we should watch?", Tails asked. "How about an animated Disney movie?", Sparky calmly asked, remembering what Macro said back at the Castle.

"Yeah sure." said Macro. "Yes, a feel-good movie is probably a good idea." Klinx added.

Sparky thought while focusing on the road. He thought that maybe he could pull out a heart-felt Disney movie? A funny one? Both? Then, he came to a conclusion. "What about 'Aladdin'?", he asked the group.

"Sounds good." said Macro. Klinx got out of the passengers seat and sat in the row behind Slash so he could watch.

Sparky slowed down the van and selected the movie and played it on the HD VCR. When the movie started playing, Sparky was already humming to the tune of the opening theme.

"Arabian Nights!" sung Macro. Klinx laughed. Slash turned back around to them and said, "Be quiet I'm trying to watch it."

When the song ended, Team Sonic ended up giggling at the merchant's performance. "It will not break. Will not-" Then the object he was holding sprung apart. "It broke.", the merchant said as he tossed it aside.

Team Weasel were all watching the movie with interest, making various comments as it went. "Jasmine's dad is just being ridiculous." Macro said at one point. "I could take those thieves." Slash said at another.

Once the movie started really rolling, they got to the part when Aladdin rubs the magic lamp for the first time and meets the Genie. Sparky could help but smirk at some lines the Genie made, and even hummed to "You Never Had a Friend Like Me".

Macro and Klinx couldn't help but laugh at the Genie's antics. The movie went on and got more intense with Aladdin and Jasmine's love story and the activity of the villains. At one point Macro found himself hugging Klinx like a stuffed animal. "Excuse me?" said Klinx.

Sonic looked back and attempted to hold back a laugh. Sparky smiled at the fact that everyone was having fun.

After Macro put him down Klinx went to the kitchen area and decided to make some popcorn. "Alright, who all wants some?" he asked.

"Me!", all of Team Sonic said. "I'm driving, so save some for me.", Sparky said. "This thing has an auto-pilot, you know.", Tails pointed out. "Oh, okay.", Sparky said as he found the button, pressed it, and jumped to the back.

Klinx kept putting bags of popcorn in the microwave until he had made enough for everyone. He then started passing the bags around. "Enjoy," he said then took one for himself and went back to his seat.

Sparky and Team Sonic each got a bag. Sparky smelled the wonderful scent of the butter popcorn and began munching down.

Team Weasel ate the popcorn as they returned their attention to actively watching the movie. "Come on, Aladdin, you can do it!" said Macro between bites.

Sparky was eating his popcorn quickly and excitedly. By the end of the movie, Sparky and Team Sonic was all smiles. "You liked the movie?", he asked Team Weasel.

"Yeah!" said Macro, still somewhat excited. "Indeed." Klinx said. Even Slash nodded in agreement. "Hey we're probably almost there by now, aren't we?" Macro asked.

"Oh, yeah!", Sparky said as he jumped to the front and took control of the van. In a minute, they arrived at New Station City. Similar to New York, buildings were large, and there was a large plaza in the middle.

"Ah, the big city. I've done some good business here." Klinx said, looking at all the buildings out the window of the van. "If Eggman plans on doing something, this is the place to do it."

"Yeah, it's pretty dumb, if you ask me.", Sonic said as Sparky parked the van near the plaza.

Klinx smirked, "You were expecting Eggman to do something smart?" he said as he got out of the van.

When they got to the plaza, there was a large tower being constructed. It counted down the days, hours, minutes, seconds, and milliseconds left until New Year's Day.

"That is cool." said Macro, looking at the tower. "It probably involves Eggman..." Slash muttered. "Don't be so paranoid, Slash!" Klinx said and started to put his arm around her shoulders but she quickly shoved him away.

"Well, maybe Eggman might do something to it once New Year comes around.", Sparky suggested.

"We'd better keep an eye on it." Slash said, then continued walking through the city.

Tails flew to the tower and examined it. There were no mines, no robots, not even a loose wire. He flew back down and informed the others. "Looks like your theory is correct, Sparky."

"It is the obvious choice for an attack." Klinx observed, "But there's always the possibility of Eggman doing something sneaky."

"Lets continue looking.", Sparky said as he ran around the plaza. Sonic was following him, and soon they were competing who could find anything first.

Although they were falling behind the racing Sonic and Sparky, Team Weasel were actively looking as well. The longer they looked, it was hard not to imagine every harmless object being used by Eggman in some evil way.

Tails looked high, Knuckles looked low, and Sparky and Sonic looked across the plaza, but nothing dangerous was in sight.

Macro was now breathing heavy from running around the whole plaza looking. "You know, maybe Eggman's not doing anything." he said. "Wishful thinking. It's Eggman, how could he not?" Slash said.

Sparky was starting to get tired and screeched to a halt and caught his breath. "Dang. We'll never find out what Eggman's up to. See anything?", he asked Team Weasel.

All three of them shook their heads. "Well, unless you count this." Klinx said as he held up a formidable amount of change he had found on the ground.

"Tell me: is it a habit of yours to find free things such as money", Sparky asked Klinx with his arms crossed and eyebrow raised.

Klinx pulled the change back to himself, protectively and grinned sheepishly. "I take opportunities." he said, simply.

Sparky sighed and continued looking. Soon, Sparky was being driven crazy because of the lack of information. "What. Is. Eggman's. Plan?!?", Sparky asked as he was walking with his arms limp. Team Sonic was still looking for anything suspicious.

After they had been looking for a little while longer, Slash eventually said "We're accomplishing nothing like this!"

"Something tells me Eggman wants to execute the plan on New Year's Eve, so we might have to go back home and see what we can do.", Sonic said as the rest of Team Sonic regrouped.

Macro nodded. "He's probably going to keep it pretty well hidden until then."

Sparky nodded in agreement. "Let's just get back to the van and go.", he said, tired as is he just ran across the globe. They walked back the van and Sparky set it on auto pilot. "You want to watch another movie?", Sparky asked.

"Yeah, ok." said Macro, settling back into the van. "What other movies do you have?"

"Well, we have more Disney movies, but I'm sure that we have other stuff. What do you want?", Sparky asked Macro as the van started to go down the road.

"Hmm, what about a cool super hero movie?" Macro suggested.

"Sure! Any movie you want? I might have it in the built-in selection.", Sparky said as he went through the TV menu screen.

Macro thought for a minute and shrugged, "I don't know, what about Spider-Man or something."

"Okay.", Sparky said as he found the first Spider-Man movie and began playing it. Sonic went and made some popcorn and got some Dr. Pepper for everyone to enjoy the movie.

"Awesome!" said Macro as he took some popcorn and Dr. Pepper. Slash didn't want any popcorn this time around, but she couldn't refuse the Dr. Pepper. "Let the show begin!" said Klinx, leaning back in his seat.

Everyone sat back and enjoyed the movie. At various points, Sparky was impressed by the special effects they had at the time. Eventually, the van stopped and they had arrived home. "Thanks for showing up, guys.", Sparky said cheerfully. "You want me to bring you back home?", he asked Team Weasel.

"That's quite alright, I believe we'll make it." said Klinx as he, Slash, and Macro got out of the van. "That was a great roadtrip." Macro said, "We'll see you guys tomorrow!" With that Team Weasel started on their way home.

Team Sonic waved goodbye as Sparky smiled in the sunset.

Chapter 5: 4 Days Left: Getting a little 'Ditzy'
Sparky woke up the next morning happy. The sun shined bright and he jumped out of bed and drove to Sonic's house. When he was about to knock the door, the garage opened and out came a massive present. Tails was dragging it out, looking as if he didn't sleep a wink. "Dude, you okay?", Sparky asked, looking at the present that was big enough for Marco to hold in his hands perfectly. "It's something for Macro.", Tails said, grunting as he dragged it out. Knuckles and Sonic were holding much smaller presents. "These are for the others.", Knuckles said. Sparky nodded and helped drag the presents in the van and drove to the apartment building Team Weasel lived in. They got out of the van and looked up at the building.

Klinx, Slash, and Macro were in their apartment getting ready when they heard a knock on the door. "I'll get it." said Macro as he finished putting his boots on. He opened the door and looked down to see a lazy-eyed grey weasel smiling at him. "Howdy neighbor!" said the weasel. "Uh, hi Ditzy." said Macro. For a long minute Ditzy stood there just staring at him. "Was there something you needed...?" asked Macro. Ditzy thought for a minute. "I just wanted to return your rake." "Thanks, but I didn't know you-" Macro started, looking confused. Ditzy interrupted him by cheerfully saying, "Here you go!" as he handed Macro a rake then ran off.

"HELLLLLLOOOOOOOO?!?!?", Sparky yelled up to the apartment. Sonic sighed. "I'm getting bored, I don't know about you but I'm going inside.", he said as he dashed inside the apartment building. As he ran up the stairs he ran into Ditzy in the hallway. "Ouch...sorry I ran into you....what the heck?", he said as he looked at Ditzy's weird eyes.

"Hiya!" said Ditzy, acting like nothing had happened. "Are you new to the building?"

"No. I was looking for the apartment where Team Weasel lives.", Sonic said, very confused.

"Oh! I know where they live! They're my neighbors." Ditzy said excitedly. Then he grabbed Sonic's hand and started leading him down the hall.

Sparky was starting to get a bit worried where Sonic went. "HELLO?!? TEAM WEASEL?", Sparky yelled up to the apartment.

Slash heard the shouting and went over to open the window. She looked out and saw Sparky, Tails, and Knuckles. She turned around and yelled, "They're here!" to Klinx and Macro then turned her attention back to the window. "We'll be right down."

"Okay!", Sparky yelled back as he looked back at Tails. He looked stressed, as if he had been up all night making something. "Why's Tails tired?", Sparky asked Knuckles. "He was working all night on something.", he said, as if it was a huge secret.

Team Weasel made their way down stairs and eventually out the door to where the others were. Klinx looked at the three of them, noticing something was off, then asked, "Where did Sonic get off to?"

"He was looking for you.", Sparky said. Tails pointed at his presents. "We can't give you the presents until Sonic's here.", he said. Meanwhile with Sonic, Ditzy was bringing him closer to Team Weasel's apartment. "Hey, this door is open.", Sonic said as he saw the door Team Weasel left open.

"Oh, I better close it! That's the neighborly thing to do." Ditzy said. Then he pulled the door shut. "Now that that's done we can go in." After saying this Ditzy walked forward and smacked right into the door.

Sonic attempted to hold back laughter at Ditzy's stupidity, but he realized the Team was downstairs, looking for Sparky. He forgot about Ditzy and dashed down the stairs in a blur.

Ditzy shook his head and looked around. "Hey wait a minute." he said, realizing Sonic was gone. Back outside Team Weasel was still wondering where Sonic was. "Hopefully he didn't get lost." said Macro.

Sonic screeched to a halt when he found the Team. "Hey guys! You have some weird neighbors in this place.", Sonic said to Klinx.

"Indeed we do." said Klinx, thinking specifically of the same one Sonic was referring to. Macro said, "Ok, so now that Sonic's here we can-" "Howdy neighbor!" Ditzy suddenly said. Macro literally screamed at Ditzy's sudden appearance.

"Let's go up to your apartment, okay?", Sparky said, getting very worried about Ditzy's appearance.

"Good idea! Gotta go, Ditzy, see you later!" Macro said quickly then he got back inside the building as fast as he could.

"Okay!", Tails said as he and Knuckles dragged the massive present and Sonic took hold of the small ones. Sparky distracted Ditzy by making a small static spark on Ditzy's back while the rest of Team Weasel went inside.

The static shock caused Ditzy to start spinning around in circles trying to rub his back. With Ditzy distracted Team Weasel led the others up to their apartment. Klinx took out a key and unlocked the door. "And here we are."

Sparky smiled as Tails, Knuckles, and Sonic gave their presents to Macro, Slash, and Klinx.

"Aw, you shouldn't have!" said Macro. "Speak for yourself." said Klinx, inspecting his present. Slash took out her claws and made short work of the wrapping paper on hers.

Inside the gifts were several things. Each of them received a Nintendo 3DS; Klinx's being black, Slash's being red, and Macro's custom mega-sized one was green. The only thing not enlarged on Macro's 3DS was the game slot. Klinx got Sonic Chronicles, Slash got Super Street Fighter 4: 3D Edition, and Macro got the 3DS version of Sonic Generations. Other things included the X-Box 360 version of Sonic Generations, Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, and Rayman Origins. Sparky handed them an entire collection of the 'Animaniacs' TV series DVDs. "Well?", Tails asked them.

"This is just plain awesome!" said Macro, excitedly. "Indeed." added Klinx. Even Slash looked geniuinely impressed with the gifts. All three of them gratefully thanked them.

"You're very welcome.", Sonic said, bowing to Team Weasel. "So THAT'S what you were working on.", Sparky said, turning to Tails. "Trust me, it wasn't very easy to make that mega 3DS.", Tails said, scratching his head.

"It's great Tails!" said Macro looking at the 3DS. Slash already had her's on, beating up virtual people.

"Try to jump-kick him!", Knuckles advised Slash as she was playing Street Fighter. Tails flew up to Macro and showed him some features he built in the 3DS. Sparky was already showing Klinx some 'Animaniacs' episodes, and in the process, Sonic was laughing like a lunatic.

Slash was button mashing like crazy. Macro was impressed with all the features Tails had put into the 3DS, but he was also a little overwhelmed at times when Tails would go into a bunch of technical speech.

"So, who the heck was that other weasel a few minutes ago?", Sparky asked Klinx as Sonic was still laughing at the cartoons.

Klinx put his hand on his forehead. "That was our neighbor Ditzy. He's not too bright... And please, don't ask about his eyes because I don't know." he explained.

"I saw what you mean that Ditzy isn't too bright. He closed the door you left open and slammed into it face-first!", Sonic quickly pointed out as he resumed watching the cartoons.

Klinx nodded. "Sounds like him." he said, fiddling with his 3DS. Slash looked up, "Someone left the door open?" Macro looked guilty, "Oops."

"I can't believe you have a neighbor that's that stupid.", Sparky said as he got himself some Dr. Pepper. "Hope you don't mind if I help myself to a glass of this.", he said to Klinx.

"Not a problem. Really, it's the least we could do after the hospitality you've shown us." said Klinx.

Sparky poured a glass and drank a little bit before going over to the couch and sitting down to watch the cartoons.

Klinx sat down as well. Along with Slash who was still playing Street Fighter. Macro sat down in his over-sized chair.

As episodes continued playing, Sonic was laughing so hard that his sides were hurting. Sparky eventually went to the kitchen and saw if there was any popcorn. "Where is the popcorn?; I can make some.", Sparky said to the group.

"It's on the second shelf of the pantry." Macro called to him. Then just as he finished saying that burst into laughter at the cartoon.

Sparky quickly found the popcorn and put it in the microwave. He went back to wait for the popcorn to be done. Just as the cartoon had finished, Sparky said "You want to play Rayman Origins? The graphics are like an HD cartoon, so you should like it."

"Yeah, sure." said Macro. Klinx went over behind the TV to hook up the Xbox 360.

Sparky put in the disc and allowed the game to load. The first thing Team Sonic noticed was the animated intro that looked like a silent cartoon. Sparky was already smirking at the animation style.

"Cool!" said Macro. He let the into finish and the pressed the start button on one of the controllers. "Ok, so I've never played this game before." he said, looking at the main menu.

"It's an award winning game. It's won prizes such as 'Best Platformer', 'Best Graphics', 'Best Multiplayer Game', and 'Best Overall Game of the Year'. Think of it as a 2D Mario or Sonic game, only a cartoon.", Sparky said as he handed controllers to Team Weasel.

"I see. Well how about we find out what makes it the best multiplayer game?" Klinx said.

"Great!", Sparky said as he created a file. Everyone had to choose a character. Because he was the leader, Sparky chose to play as Rayman himself. As they selected their characters, Sparky giggled at the Bubble Dreamer's weird behavior observing them, such as acting like a chicken, and removing his head for a short time. Team Sonic laughed as they were eating the popcorn Sparky had made.

Team Weasel caught on to the gameplay pretty quickly. Macro had chose to play as Globox, and all the while was grinning at the antics in the game. Slash, in her usual fashion, didn't pay attention to those things but rather focused on just playing well.

Sparky got an idea as soon as they gained the skill to attack. Sparky proceeded to make Rayman pound Globox right on the head and face. He laughed at some of the expressions that came out of Globox. Team Sonic couldn't help but smile at the craziness.

"Hey, stop that!" Macro said jokingly between laughs at Globox's objections.

"Ah, fine.", Sparky said as he quickly hit a switch to get to the next section.

Klinx chuckled. Slash was still as focused as ever. "Watch your six." she muttered as an enemy came up behind Klinx. He was able to beat it, but not without taking a few hits.

The next room had several enemies they had to beat to open the cage holding the Electoons and end the stage. Sparky stopped for a moment and saw one of the hunter enemies rubbing a Lum under his armpit and using it as a basketball. "Oh, they are so dead.", Sparky muttered as he quickly pounded most of the enemies with a satisfying punch.

"They didn't stand a chance." commented Slash as they beat all the enemies and finished the stage.

When the level ended and the Lums were counted up, Sparky couldn't help but laugh at the silly end-of-level photo shot that their characters had to partake in.

"Quite an entertaining game, isn't it?" commented Klinx when the picture came up. Macro was over in his chair giggling at it.

Sparky smiled as the game went on. Eventually, they came to a 'Moskito' flying section. Sparky laughed at the fact one of the Moskitos had to ride Globox, and Globox had to flap his feet to get off of the ground. It made no sense, and he loved it.

Macro kept laughing at what Globox was doing. While Slash still had her sharp focus picking up as many Lums as possible. By the end of the stage, she ranked on getting the highest amount of Lums.

When they finished the first world, Sparky looked over to Team Weasel. "You know, maybe we should get more company. You know anyone who can drop by?", he asked them.

"I could think of a few." Klinx said as he got up and walked over towards the phone.

Sparky paused the game and wondered what Klinx had in mind. He looked over at Slash and said "You're very good at playing this game. You got the most Lums in every level we went through so far, and collected several Death Medallions on your own. With you on our side, I'm sure we can complete this game and unlock all of the extra things!".

Klinx was flipping thourgh an address book. Slash looked at Sparky. "I simply like to complete missions." she said.

"You'll find plenty of that in this game.", Sparky said as he continued admiring the game's cartoonish art style. Sonic looked over at Tails. "Let me tell ya bud, you've really outdone yourself making and getting these gifts.", he said to him. "Ah, you know me.", Tails said sheepishly.

"Sonic's right, Tails." Macro said. "You put all kinds of work into this and it was really thoughtful."

"Thanks, Macro.", Tails said to him. Knuckles finished drinking the grape juice he found and turned to Klinx. "Who's going to show up, Klinx?", he asked him.

Klinx hung up the phone. "I left messages with several people. We'll see how many show up."

Sparky shrugged and started the game again. The next world was an instrument filled place in the sky. Team Sonic liked how that the drums were used as trampolines. When they gained the skill to hover, Sparky smirked at Globox's attempt to hover by flapping his arms.

Klinx came over and sat back down. He picked up his controller again just in time to keep from getting hit by an enemy.

The game went on as Sparky laughed more and more at the craziness. Eventually, Sparky turned to Klinx and asked "Who are some of the friends you invited?".

A knock was heard on the door. "We're two of them!" A voice cried out.

Sparky jumped and went to the door. "Who are you?", he asked them.

A green hedgehog tried not to laugh. "I'm Rapid. This *cough* idiot *cough* is Kyros." Rapid said. Kyros elbowed Rapid. "Shut it, greenie!", Kyros said.

"Hey, hey, hey. Last thing I need are some unhappy guests.", Sparky said to them. "Come on in.", Sonic said from the couch.

Rapid and Kyros thanked Sparky and Sonic. Rapid's watch beeped. "Aw man! Now what?!" Rapid yelled.

"Agent RTH, you're needed in Sector XYZ to defeat a robotic flying lizard creature." A voice said from the watch.

Rapid snapped. "YOU KNOW WHAT?!?! YOU GET YOUR OWN PERSON TODAY! GET SOMEONE ELSE!"

Sparky said nothing as he saw Rapid yelling. "Dude, calm down. Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed, or something?", he asked him cautiously.

"Rapid, Kyros, good to see you!" Klinx said from the couch, not really acknowledging Rapid's frenzied state.

"Anything you want to do?", Sparky asked Team Weasel as he went back to the couch.

Macro sat down his controller and thought. "That's a good question. It's gonna be hard to top the other stuff we've done."

"You're the one that's telling me.", Sparky said. He tapped his foot and thought for a bit. "How about we try to prank Ditzy?", Sonic suggested. "From what I can tell, he won't really mind, since he isn't that bright."

"Knowing him he might even like it." said Macro, thinking about some of the crazy things Ditzy considered "neighborly."

"Then it's settled; We try to mess with Ditzy. But the question is, what do we do?", Sparky said.

Klinx walked over to a drawer. "Well I do have a key to his apartment. It should prove useful." he said.

Knuckles scratched his head. "You have the key to his apartment? How'd you get that?", he asked.

"I know what you're thinking. But he gave it to us. So we could be neighborly and watch his apartment when he was gone." Klinx explained.

"Dang. This guy must have an IQ of -10.", Sparky said as the group walked out of the apartment and into the hallway. "Lead the way.", Tails said to Klinx.

Klinx led them across the hall and two doors down. He put the key in the door and opened it slowly. Taking a quick glance around he found that, fortunately, Ditzy wasn't there.

Sparky noticed how oddly designed that Ditzy's apartment was. "So, what's the plan?", Sonic asked Team Weasel.

"Yeah now that we're here I really don't know where to start." Macro said. He looked over at Klinx who was already nosily looking through Ditzy's stuff.

Sparky noticed the rug near the entrance. He crouched down to it and started charging electricity into it. "This should be quite 'shocking' to Ditzy when he gets back.", he said.

"Indeed." Klinx said, still focused on one of Ditzy's drawers. "Come on, Klinx. We gotta go before he gets back!" said Macro.

"Maybe we can fit one more prank right now.", Sparky said when he finished charging the rug. Knuckles tapped his foot and got an idea. "I'll wait outside and distract him for as long as I can if he shows up.", he said as he went to the front door, stepping over the rug.

"What did you have in mind?" asked Klinx. Macro went over and grabbed Klinx to move him back over to where the others were just before he started looking through Ditzy's medicine cabinet.

"That's what I'm asking you.", Sparky said as Tails inspected Ditzy's TV and Sonic was looking under a couch.

Klinx put his hand on his chin and thought. "I know it's simple but with someone like Ditzy it may be entertaining. What if we glued a quarter or some other shiny object to the floor?"

"You think that will work?", Sonic asked as Tails flew every which way to see if there was anything useful.

"You've seen this guy. You don't think he would spend hours trying to pick it up?" said Klinx.

"Well, if he can slam into a door after closing it, you must be right.", Sonic said as he took out a 10 Ring ring and Tails found some glue on top of the refrigerator for some reason.

"It would appear we're all set." Klinx said. Then he heard some noises outside the door. "And not a moment too soon."

Knuckles rushed inside, jumping over the rug and said "Everyone hide!" as he ducked into a closet. Team Sonic and Sparky did the same.

Klinx and Slash hid behind the couch and Macro hid in the bathroom, hoping Ditzy wouldn't go in there. Just as everyone finished hiding Ditzy came into the apartment. As expected the first thing he did was step on the rug. It sent an electric shock through him "Ow! That kind tickles. He he he. Ow! He he he, ow!" Eventually he stepped off the rug, his fur now standing on end. Then he noticed the ring. "Ooh, money! I can buy tacos with that." He went over to pick it up but it wouldn't budge. He tried harder but it still wouldn't. He pulled even harder until he fell over.

Team Sonic and Sparky smiled like nutcase's, attempting to hold back laughter from the scene.

"Hmm." Ditzy put his eye right up against the 10 Ring ring, thinking about how to pick it up. He ran into the other room and came back with a plunger. Strangely, and fortunately for Macro, the plunger wasn't in the bathroom. Ditzy then began pushing with the plunger on the ring.

"This is so funny!", Tails whispered as he saw that Ditzy was using a plunger to get the ring.

"What'd I tell you?" Klinx whispered back. The couch he was behind was right up against the wall of Team Sonic's closet. Ditzy was still trying with the plunger, but it wasn't working. He ran off again and this time came back with a shovel.

"Oh my God!", Sparky whispered excitedly as he saw Ditzy with the shovel.

Ditzy first tried to push the shovel up against the ring to pry it off. But when that didn't work he started just hitting the shovel on the ring, which clearly wasn't going to do anything.

"Pffffft. Heh heh heh heh...​", Knuckles said as he attempted to hold back some laughter.

Ditzy tried many more crazy things on the ring including a can opener, and trying to slide it off with a stick of butter. Eventually he fell asleep right there on it.

Team Sonic and Sparky were smiling like they inhaled some laugh gas. "Shhh.", Sparky said to them as they sneaked past Ditzy and they were outside the apartment.

Once they were safely outside the apartment and away from Ditzy's door, Macro and Klinx let out their laughter. "That was great!" Macro said.

Sparky was still smiling and said from the side of his mouth "Now." to Team Sonic. They suddenly burst into laughter. Sparky was pounding on the floor, Sonic fell backwards laughing, Tails put his hand on his face, and Knuckles' sides were hurting. "That. Was. Amazing!", Sonic said as he was laughing.

"Did you see the "concentration" on his face?" Macro asked, still laughing. "With any luck that ring will keep him out of our hair a little while longer." Slash added.

Rapid walked outside Ditzy's door. "I'm not goin' in there." Rapid said. Kyros laughed. "Don't be a baby! Let's go!" Kyros said. Kyros grabbed Rapid's arm and laughed. "Wait! Kyros! No-" Rapid was cut off when Kyros ran and barged into Ditzy's apartment.

"That is far enough.", a voice that sounded just like Sparky's serious tone said. When the door opened, a blue barrier was made and the two slammed into it. When the barrier lifted, a hedgehog in futuristic armor and uniform walked over them. Sonic was confused. "Zonic?", he asked. "Close.", the hedgehog said. He lifted up his visor and it showed what looked just like Sparky, save a few scrapes and bruises on his eyes and face. "I am a Zone Cop, like Zonic, but...", he paused as he looked at the now stunned Sparky. "I'm Zparky. I'm you're No Zone counterpart.", Zparky said to Sparky in a very serious tone that implied he was in a bit of a hurry.

Team Weasel stared at Zparky, dumbfounded. Then Klinx spoke up. "Excuse me, officer. But may I inquire as to what's going on that deservers the attention of a Zone Cop?" he asked, politely.

"I've been chasing after the Anti-version of Sparky. He's been violating the Zone Lockdown rules and has escaped Moebius.", Zparky said. Sparky almost passed out after hearing there was an Anti-version of him, but Knuckles caught him before he fell over. Zparky pulled out a poster with Anti-Sparky on it. Anti-Sparky had sharp fangs and blue fur. He looked very cocky and crazy. "He has a bounty on his head. About 100 grand, I think.", Zparky said.

Slash's ears perked up at the word bounty. She didn't say anything, but you could tell what was going on in her head. Klinx and Macro were looking at the poster. "He does bear a certain resemblance to Sparky." Klinx said. "Yeah, except creepier." Macro added.

"This guy doesn't rob banks or anything. He DESTROYS them just for the sake of destroying things.", Zparky said as he put back the poster. He walked into Ditzy's apartment and turned the television on. Seeing that the channel was on a Spanish talk-show, Zparky angrily changed it to the news channel. "Breaking news! Police reports say that renowned hero-for-hire, Sparky the Hedgehog, is now a convict on the run. These are some security tapes found at the local grocery store.", the news woman said as a static-y video played, showing the Anti-Sparky destroying several isles and electrocuting clerks and standbys. He cackled evilly and messily ate some tomatoes and jelly doughnuts. Sparky felt like he was going to vomit at the scene.

Seeing Zappy only served to fuel Slash more. "His head is mine." she groweled. Ditzy, who was still asleep on the ring woke up and saw all the people in his living room. "I didn't know I was having a party! I'll get some snacks!" he said excitedly as he ran to the kitchen.

"What's worse, at least for you," Zparky said as he looked at Team Weasel, "He has ties to the Cat Squad. He's planning on joining Nerin and her group and causing some havoc. Our info leads up to that they are teaming with this world's Robotnik for some unknown plan." The footage was still playing, and the Anti-Sparky dashed up to the camera and said "I'll be waiting for you, you stupid, pathetic, spiny daffodil." in a dark, evil tone. The video suddenly ended and turned to static. Sparky was behind the couch, cowering in fear.

"So that's what Eggman's up to!" exclaimed Macro. Slash gritted her teeth, she was becoming angrier by the second. She snatched the remote out of Zparky's hand and rewound it, studying the footage.

The footage continued playing, and Sparky saw every last detail. All of the destruction, and all of the people running in total fear. Sonic was getting worried. "What about Scourge?", he asked Zparky. "He escaped jail and went to his home Zone, we think.", Zparky answered. Sonic pounded the couch. "DARN IT!", he yelled. Sparky was now crying in fear, and he curled into a ball in typical hedgehog form.

Slash was still studying the footage, making mental notes about location, fighting tactics, etc. Macro heard the noises Sparky was making from behind the couch and went and knelt behind it. "Sparky, are you ok?" he asked.

"I have an insane counterpart whose framing me right this minute!", Sparky said, still in spin-ball form. Tails looked behind the couch and patted Sparky on the head. "Calm down. We've been through worse.", he said, attempting to make him feel better. Sparky was still shivering and crying.

"Hey, look at it this way. Since he's the opposite of you, that means the worse he is, the awesomer you are." Macro said, trying to think of something to cheer Sparky up.

Sparky uncurled just enough to show his eyes and mouth. "Thanks, but what I'm concerned about his getting him out of this Zone. You sure I can beat this guy?", he asked in a scared and sad tone.

"Sure you can." said Macro reassuringly. "Anti-counterparts are physically just like us so he can't do anything you can't do."

Sparky completely uncurled and sat on the couch. "Thanks, Macro.", he said as he smiled at Macro and looked angry at the footage. "I'll be waiting for you, you stupid, pathetic, spiny daffodil.", the recording repeated. Sparky turned off the TV and said "I'll show him!" with pure determination.

"Good. You show him. Then I'm turning him in." said Slash, who was already tightening her boots in preparation. Ditzy came back from the kitchen with a container of cheese balls. "Let's get this party started!" he said. Slash chucked the remote at him and he fell over, the cheese balls container lodging itself on his head. "Mmm cheesey." he said.

Zparky nodded. "I'll assist you. He is VERY violent, so you need backup.", he said as he got his inhibitor gun ready. Sparky smiled and clapped his hands and made some static. Team Sonic got up. "Alright! Some action!", Knuckles said excitedly.

Slash cracked her knuckles. "Let's go." she said and then walked out the door to the apartment. Klinx and Macro followed her.

The group all walked outside the building. "According to his behaviors, Zappy was a habit of going to large places that have many people to create havoc.", Zparky said as he checked his gun. Suddenly, an explosion was heard from the mall. "I think that's what you mean.", Sonic said to Zparky.

"More problems at the mall. Figures. Let's go." Slash said before taking off running in the direction of the mall.

Everyone else followed Slash. When they arrived, the only store that looked damaged was the clothing store. "Dang it, lady! Tell me where Nerin is, NOW!", Zappy said from inside the store. Sparky sneaked closer and saw through the window that Zappy was yelling at a cat who looked just like Slash, except she had a dress and some high heels.

The cat was Slish, who was standing in the store holding a bunch of clothes she "got" there. "You didn't say please!" she whined in a high pitched voice.

Zappy gritted his teeth and held Slish against a wall. "Look, kid. I don't say 'please', so tell me were the heck your leader is, or I'm going to electrocute you so bad that you'll have burning fur and black skin for the rest of your days!", he yelled right at Slish.

Slish had an indignant look on her face, but caring too much about her appearance she gave in. "Fine. I'll take you to her, meanie." she said.

Zappy growled angrily, as he was hoping to personally hurt someone, but he let go of Slish, and stepped back. "Where is Nerin?", he asked slightly calmer than before.

"She's back at base." Slish said. "But I can't tell you where that is, I have to take you there."

Zappy growled again. "Do you have a faster way of getting there, aside from WALKING?!", he yelled at Slish.

Slish tilted her head, thinking. "We could take that pretty car I saw in the parking lot! The silly person left the keys in it."

"Fine, lets go, NOW!", Zappy yelled. He ran out the store, grabbing Slish as the got out. When they got out, they saw the gang, ready for a fight. "Oh, boy. Looks like you got my message, weakling.", Zappy said to Sparky. Sparky growled, but before he could lunge at Zappy, Zparky came in front and said "You're under arrest for multi-Zone destruction and Zone Lockdown law breaking. Put, your hands in the air!" as he held his inhibitor gun at Zappy.

"Well that's not very nice." said Slish. She then extended her claws and slashed at Zparky.

"I love this kid! Cute, yet deadly!", Zappy cackled as Zparky's armor was cut and scraped. Zparky grunted as he attempted to shoot Slish and Zappy with the inhibitor gun, but Zappy ran across the ceiling and escaped the blasts.

Slash couldn't stand by and watch this. She rushed forward, engaging Slish. "Oh hi, Slashy!" Slish said, perkily. They began exchanging blows but were evenly matched.

Sparky peeled-out right into Zappy as he landed from the ceiling, pounding him right against the wall. "Who's the weak one now, sucker?", Sparky said as he was still running in place to keep Zappy back. Zparky attempted to shoot Zappy, but from afar, Zappy zapped the gun, causing an explosion that sent Zparky right into the glass and smashed his helmet.

As Slash was fighting Slish and Sparky was fighting Zappy, Kinx and Macro realized they should help to shift the balance. Macro went over to help Sparky and Klinx went over to Slash and Slish. "Good day, Slish." Klinx said. "Hiya. Me and Slashy are busy right now!" Slish said. "I can see that. But I just wanted to let you know that a girl is taking the clothes you got from that store." Klinx replied. Slish turned around. "Oh, no, she didn't!" she said. Slash took advantage of the distraction to hit Slish right in the face.

Sparky was fighting hand-to-hand with Zappy. "You can't win. I can't lose!", Zappy said as Sparky dodged his punches. Sparky performed a spin kick upwards, and Zappy slammed into the wall. Zparky got up and saw the commotion. Too tired to fight, he tried to get up but fell over and onto the floor. "Help...", he said as he tried to drag himself across the ground.

Knowing that Slash could handle Slish for the time being, Klinx ran over to Zparky. He put his arms around him to help him up. "It's probably best we get you away from here, yes?"

Zparky was limp and had several cuts on his face. His armor was breaking and scarred from the slashes he took. "I agree....", Zparky said as he finally passed out.

"He had to pass out..." Klinx muttered as he slowly dragged Zparky into a nearby luggage store. Those stores were always empty. Macro did a slide kick at Zappy as he was getting ready to attack Sparky again.

Zappy flew into the wall at high velocity after getting kicked. He groaned in pain. "I expected as much from someone your size, but it will BE YOUR DOWNFALL!", he screamed as he got back up and shot a thunderbolt at Macro, right before Sparky spin-dashed right into Zappy's stomach.

Having no room to dodge, Macro was hit with the thunderbolt. It pushed him backwards and he crashed right through a T-shirt stand.

Zappy cackled like a monster right before Sparky jumped and kicked him in the head. Team Sonic was dealing with Slish, and Knuckles punched her in the face after Tails flew him over her. Sonic dashed to Macro. "You okay, big guy?"

Knuckles' punch caused Slish to stop fighting and she started crying. "You're mean!" she exclaimed. Slash snarled, Slish's behaviour never ceased to disgust her. Macro rubbed his head. "Yeah I think so." he said to Sonic.

"Told you I would pound them in the face!", Knuckles said to Slash as he and Tails held down Slish so she wouldn't attack anymore. Sonic helped Macro up with all of his might, then he quickly dashed into Zappy and performed a spin kick on Zappy, flinging the villain backwards.

Macro looked over at Zappy, "Is he down...?" he asked. Slash approached where Zappy had been flung.

Zappy groaned in agony, but he got up abruptly and rammed into Tails and Knuckles. He grabbed Slish and ran into the parking lot. "I don't have time! JUST GET ME OUT!", he screamed at Slish.

"Come over here!" Slish said. She grabbed Zappy's hand and led him to a pink corvette. "This is the pretty car I saw earlier."

Zappy snatched the keys out of her hands and unlocked the car. He opened it, threw Slish into the driver's seat, and jumped inside. "DRIVE!!!", Zappy yelled as he saw the gang find him and the car.

Slish started the car, she could see the group running towards them through the rear-view mirror, Slash looking particularly furious. Slish wheeled out of the parking lot and sped away. As she went she turned on the radio to a peppy station.

Zappy was growing agitated; being what Sparky isn't, he despises music. Zappy knew if he didn't cooperate, he would never get to Nerin. He plugged his ears and curled into a ball. Sparky and the gang, still in the lot, lost track of the car. Sparky pounded his head against the wall while saying "I'm an idiot!" over and over again.

"Nonsense! This isn't your fault!" Klinx said. Macro was holding Zparky who wasn't in a condition to run. While Slash was staring into the distance growling.

Zparky was starting to wake up. "I'm...sorry...Zonic...I...know..I...shouldn't....have...gone...alone....", he groaned as he dozed off again. Sparky sighed at Klinx. "I let my own anti get away.", he said sadly. Sonic went up to him. "Hey, the same thing happened to me, remember?", he said to Sparky.

"The same thing just happened to Slash." Macro commented. Fortunately, Slash was too preoccupied to hear it.

"Guess we all have something in common.", Sparky said, hoping Zappy wasn't doing anything big.

Meanwhile, with Zappy and Slish...
Zappy was slamming his head against the seat, plugging his ears with anything he could find to block off the music. "ARGH!!!! ARE WE BLIPPING THERE YET?!?!?", Zappy screamed in pure rage and pain.

"Wait for it..." Slish started. Then she pulled the car up next to entrance to an underground bunker, which was pretty much in the middle of nowhere. "Now we are!" she said, cheerily as she turned off the car.

Zappy unplugged his ears from the feathers and pieces of candy he found on the ground. He sighed "Ahhh...At last." He got out of the car and walked to the entrance of the bunker.

Slish knocked on the door to the bunker. "It's meee!" she sang. "And I brought a guest!" Some shuffling was heard and then the door opened. A golden colored, mismatched robot was standing in the doorway. He had an unenthused look on his face as he looked over Zappy. "Who's this?" he asked. "This is Zappy! He wants to see Nerin. Zappy, this is X-Nad." Slish said.

"Ah. A robot slave, you have.", Zappy said as he bowed respectfully at X-Nad. "A pleasure to meet someone who can be as powerful as I am."

X-Nad raised an eyebrow. "Just know I'm nobody's slave." he said. Slish led Zappy to a room where a green cat with blonde hair was sitting in a chair, completely focused on writing something.

"We meet at last, Nerin.", Zappy said to the green cat. "It is rare for a Moebian like me to be happy, but I'm beyond glad that I can meet one like you."

Nerin looked up from her writing and smiled. "Flattering. Who might you be?"

"I am an enemy of a friend of your enemies. I am Zappy the Hedgehog. Sparky is my Prime counterpart here. He's such a little annoyance, and I was hoping if I could join your group to destroy our enemies. We have something on common; we hate our Prime counterparts. I also heard you're with Eggman, the mad genius of this world.", Zappy said in a dignified manner that very much contrasted his usual angry behavior.

Nerin listened with interest, she was pleased with Zappy's attitude. "We could work something out. What skills do you have to offer?"

"Electrical manipulation and creation. I am fast and powerful. Using pure force, I can get rid of anyone.", Zappy said. He looked for a target to destroy, and he eventually settled on a test-dummy that was lying around. Zappy shrouded himself in electricity and shot a massive thunderbolt at the dummy, causing it to explode and leaving the remains to burn.

"Good. We'll work with you." said Nerin. Slish, who was still standing nearby, got excited. "That means we can be bestest friends!" she said. Nerin simply rolled her eyes.

Zappy grinned like a lunatic. Just then, the large monitor in front of them turned on. Eggman was on it. "Hello, Nerin...IS THAT SPARKY WITH YOU?!?", he asked in fear. Zappy shook his head. "I'm his anti!", he said. Eggman sighed. "Fine then. How is the Egg Emperor 2.0 and the Egg Clock Tower coming along, Nerin? I need it ready by New Years.", he asked Nerin angrily.

Nerin looked annoyed. "I told you we're working on it! Besides, we've got Zappy now. This is going to work." she said crossing her arms.

"Good. I know that Sonic and his friends will get suspicious about this. I've tried to get rid of them twice now, but it's not working.", Eggman said. Zappy shrugged. "Egg Clock Tower? What kind of a dumb machine is that?" Eggman became furious. "It's a robot disguised as a clock tower! That tower being made at New Station City is actually the machine! It's set to activate on New Year's Eve!" Zappy smiled. "Did you know a Zone Cop is chasing after me, and is soon to arrest all of us?", he said to the Cat Squad.

"He wears a silly uniform!" Slish added. X-Nad scoffed. "A cop? Why should he be of any concern?" he said. "Zone Cops are nuisances. But we can handle him." said Nerin.

"Heck. I'm sure we can. I smashed him into some glass, and he couldn't get up! What happened to strength in numbers?", Zappy said while laughing. Eggman sighed. "It's a good thing you're here to support me after my several and expensive defeats.", he said. "Expensive?", Zappy asked. "Don't ask.", Eggman said angrily.

"That's your problem. But this plan is going to work." said Nerin. She didn't intend to be beaten by a group of random heroes like last time.

Chapter 6: 3 Days Remaining: Cat Fight!
It was the next day. Sparky was up all night long, worrying about Zappy. Zparky was in the guest room recovering. Sparky got up and checked on him. He was getting better, but not by that much. Sparky got in his pajamas and went out to get the mail.

As Sparky went out Klinx and Macro were approaching his house. "Sparky! Have you seen Slash?" called Macro.

Sparky shook his head. "I didn't see her. I just got up. How long has she been gone?", he asked. Team Sonic was running to Sparky's house. Tails was carrying Zparky's armor and inhibitor gun. "I fixed these for Zparky!", Tails panted.

"She was gone when we got up." Macro said, he looked concerned. When Tails came up Klinx said, "How is Zparky doing?"

"He's still recover-", Sparky said right before Zparky walked towards them. He had several bandages on every part of his body. "I'll....take...that.", he groaned as walked over, still limp, and took the inhibitor gun and armor from Tails.

"He looks better. But what are we going to do now?" said Macro. Klinx was thinking. "I'd be willing to bet Slash went off to find Zappy herself."

Zparky got in his armor and readied his gun. "I say we...ugh...", he said as he almost fell over. Knuckles caught him. "I think you need more rest.", he said. Zparky nodded and went inside. "So, lets go find Slash!", Sonic said.

Klinx watched Zparky as he went inside. "That Zappy did quite a number on him." he said. "Yeah, so we gotta find Slash before something bad happens!" said Macro.

At Nerin's base...
Zappy was running around the entire base. He examined rooms, checked machines, and looked at weapons. He stopped when he found Nerin's room. He looked around and saw a journal. He looked around to see if anyone was there, and opened it.

Nerin's journal was filled schemes and her dreams of world domination. It also expressed her annoyances with her team-mates, and more secretly, her infatuation with Scourge.

Zappy snapped his fingers and cussed at himself. "I thought I would also win something else in this world.", he said, slamming the book shut.

Just then, Slish ran into the room. "There you are Zappy! Come look at the monitor, I think Slashy is looking for us!"

Zappy turned around abruptly. "I WASN'T...oh. It's you. I'll look at the monitor.", he said as he dashed out. He skidded to a halt when he found X-Nad and Nerin looking at the monitor. Zappy hesitated and slightly blushed, but he asked Nerin "What's going on? That stupid red-fur wants to fight you?"

"That and I think she wants the bounty on your head." said Nerin, who was looking at Slash critically. "This won't be a problem. She's alone." X-Nad commented.

"Eesh. I forgot about my bounty. I've caused so much damage that they want me arrested, no matter what. I love being evil!", Zappy laughed, but his laughter died out when he saw that Slash was getting closer to the base.

"We don't need her in here. Someone needs to draw her away from the base." Nerin said, looking over the assembled villains.

Before Nerin could finish her sentence, Zappy rushed outside the base saying "I'm going out for you!" to Nerin. Zappy covered himself with electricity and rushed at Slash. "You looking for me, lady?!?", he yelled.

Slash growled. "Yes." No sooner had she said this she then extended her claws and slashed at Zappy.

Zappy side-stepped the attack, but didn't bother to attack back. He ran a short distance and smacked his rear end. "Come and get me, sucker! A million bucks, standing right here!", he taunted.

Slash was mad. "I expected a real fight out of you!" she said, running towards him.

Zappy was dancing an Irish jig as Slash ran towards him. He dashed again when she got too close and made a stupid looking face. "Come on? You're supposed to be a pro bounty hunter? What a joke!", he said.

Slash stopped for a minute, narrowing her eyes. Then she spun around in a claw tornado and began moving towards Zappy.

Zappy got nervous, but he knew the farther away she was from the base, the better. Zappy came closer and jumped over Slash. "You must be pretty dizzy doing that!", he said while laughing.

Slash stopped spinning. She was still stable and not dizzy at all. She was beginning to sense that something was up, Zappy wasn't as oncoming as he was earlier. She slashed at him again.

Zappy dodged again and ran another distance. He was getting tired. "Dang! I hope Nerin has something up right now! This show isn't exactly what I want to do all day!", Zappy thought to himself.

Slash kept attacking. Back in the base the Cat Squad was watching them on screen. "Slash isn't going to give up until someone loses." X-Nad said. "Then we'll just have to make sure it's her." Nerin said, then she nodded at Slish who turned and ran out of the base.

Zappy breathed heavily after several dashes and dodges. He turned and saw Slish. Zappy coughed at Slash and pointed at Slish.

Slish smiled and waved, earning a scowl from Slash. They both charged forward and attacked.

Zappy took the distraction as an advantage and threw a thunderbolt at Slash. At the base, Eggman was on one half of the monitor; the other half focusing on Slash. "I wanted to check on you this morning. Things are going fine, I expect?", he asked Nerin.

Having some difficulty focusing on both opponents, Slash was grazed by the shot. Back at the base, Nerin looked at Eggman on the screen. "We've just run into one minor thing we need to take care of." she said, waving him off.

"Ah, but I have a gift for you. I hope it will be of use!", Eggman said as he went off screen. Outside the base, something that sounded like a rocket was heard. Zappy looked up. "THAT looks so cool!", he said as a Sonic-shaped robot landed in front of them. "PRIMARY TARGET: SLASH THE CAT", the robot said.

The Search for Slash
Sparky was pacing back and forth while Zparky was on the couch. Team Sonic was also in deep thought. "If we need to find Slash, then we need a search party. Know anyone who can help?", Zparky asked Klinx.

Klinx ran his hand through his hair. "A good question. If all else fails we could ask Ditzy, he's eerily good at finding us..." he said. Macro's eyes widened at that, he was worried if they asked Ditzy for help he'd never leave. "Uh... well maybe Mom and Dad can help!" he said.

"What if she's in trouble with the Cat Squad? What if we have to fight? Do you have any friends that can help in that case?", Zparky asked.

"I'm honestly not sure who we could get." Klinx admitted.

Sparky sighed and said "Well, lets get some people to look around town. I bet Slash is outside of town, but you never know. Let's go to the outskirts of the city and see if we find any-" Just then, Zparky turned that TV on, and it showed Metal Sonic flying west of Station Square on the news.

Macro leaned his head down and looked at the TV. "Hey Sonic, that robot looks like you." he said. "That most certainly can not be good." said Klinx.

"Remember when I said that Eggman was with the Cat Squad? This is our ticket to Slash!", Zparky said as he got up. Sonic looked pretty shocked. "How many times is that bugger going to come back?!", he said as he rallied Team Sonic and Sparky got up. "We need to head west!", Sparky said without question.

"Can't argue with that." said Klinx. Macro stood up, "We'd better hurry." he said.

Sparky jumped up and ran out the door, Team Sonic following. The rest of the group followed them as they headed west.

Klinx got onto Macro's shoulder as they ran. They were looking around for any sign of Metal Sonic, The Cat Squad, Zappy, or Slash. "It's possible they're at the Cat Squad's base, which it occurs to me we've never been able to find!" Klinx said, loud enough for everyone to hear as they ran.

"Well, I think that Metal is heading for the Cat Squad. Maybe Slash is already there!", Sparky said as legs ran in a figure-eight. "Obviously.", Zparky said as he ran in a similar fashion.

"This may be our chance to finally find them then." said Klinx. "Yeah, as soon as we find Metal Sonic." Macro added, running fast to keep up with Zparky, Sparky, and the others.

At Nerin's Base.....again...
Zappy was smiling at Slash's reactions to "Row, row, row your boat" in her cell. Metal Sonic had several scratches on his new paint job, but it didn't matter. Zappy turned to Nerin. "So, you think we got it covered, or what?", he asked smugly.

Slish was over by Slash's cell dancing and singing whenever the song would start playing, This only served to make it that much worse for Slash who was clawing at everything within reach and even slamming her shoulder against the cell door, causing it to shake. Nerin thought for a minute at Zappy's question. "How many did you say were after you at the mall?"

"Ah...let's see. There was these nuts called Team Sonic; a fox, echidna, and hedgehog. Then there was your enemies; Klinx, Slash, and Macro. Then there was Sparky and the Zone Cop. So.....seven, if you don't count Slash.", Zappy said, counting them up with his fingers. "LIFE FORM DATA: SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, MILES "TAILS" PROWER, AND KNUCKLES THE ECHIDNA. ALL PART OF TEAM SONIC", Metal Sonic said.

"Based on what I've heard those three shouldn't be taken lightly." X-Nad said, he was leaning against a nearby wall. "I know Klinx and Macro will be here to save their friend. Probably with those others. So what we need now is a trap." Nerin said as he thoughtful expression changed into a malicious smirk.

Zappy grinned just like Sparky does, except evil. "So....got anything up your sleeve? I heard you went to the trouble to make holographic tech to trick everyone into thinking they were in Oregon, so you must have something!", he said, remembering one of the entries in Nerin's journal.

"I might have a few ideas..." Nerin said as she walked over to the nearest monitor and dialed Eggman's frequency.

Eggman came on screen. He was singing rather horribly to "E.G.G.M.A.N.". "I AM THE EGGMAAAaa....", Eggman sang before he stopped and turned off the music. "Ah.....hello.....um......do you like Metal Sonic?", he asked.

"Yes, yes, he's nice but I was wondering if you could send us some more robots? Ones that can do hard work?" Nerin asked.

"Well, I still have some left over construction Egg Pawns from the time I captured Planet Wisp. All of my Egg Pawns perform work well.", Eggman said as he showed one of the robots walking around mindlessly. "GET ME A DRINK AND CHEESE SANDWICH!", Eggman bellowed at it. As soon as he said it, the Pawn came back with a latte' and grilled cheese sandwich. "Trust me, he can do more than that. I'm just hungry.", Eggman said with his mouth full of the sandwich.

"Good. I need some to help me make a trap." Nerin said, rolling her eyes as Eggman ate the sandwich.

"Okay. I'll send a shipment to you right now.", Eggman said as he went off screen. Within an hour, a mechanical truck appeared and about a hundred Egg Pawns walked in the base. One was holding various sandwiches and drinks. "THE MASTER SAID YOU MIGHT BE HUNGRY", the Pawn said to Nerin.

"Eeee! We can have a tea party!" said Slish excitedly as she ran up to the pawn that was holding the sandwiches. "Can you cut them into little triangles?" she asked it. Nerin sighed then turned her attention to the other pawns. "I need fifteen of you to help reconfigure the base's defenses and the rest of you start digging a moat."

"YES MADAM", the Egg Pawns said as they got to work. The sandwich pawn cut the sandwiches in triangles with his own fingers. Zappy nabbed one of the sandwiches with ham and lettuce (something Sparky hates). "CARE FOR ONE?", the Pawn asked Nerin and the others.

"No." said Nerin as she walked off to go direct the pawns modifying the defenses. X-Nad went out to the ones digging the moat. Slish grabbed the sandwich pawn by the arm and pulled him into her room. She placed a large brimmed hat on his head. "Okey dokey! Now make some tea!"

"..............DOES NOT COMPUTE.......", the pawn said as he went to pour some tea he brought. Metal Sonic actually made some noises that sounded like laughing. "Did you just laugh?", Zappy asked Metal. "NEGATIVE!!!", Metal Sonic shouted.

Slish was arranging the tea and sandwiches on the table. She looked at Zappy and Metal Sonic. "Are you two here for the tea party?" she asked.

"Ah......", Zappy said, a bit startled. Even Metal Sonic remained silent. Zappy was about to say no, but the Pawn dragged him to the table. Metal Sonic reluctantly followed him.

"Here are your hats!" Slish said, handing Zappy a fedora type hat with a large feather in it and Metal Sonic a top hat. She then took her cup of tea and drank it, pinky extended.

Metal Sonic was about to rip off the hat, but Zappy stopped him. "Dude. They're going to help us, so we might as well return the favor.", Zappy whispered to Metal. "AFFIRMATIVE", Metal said quietly as they sat down and Zappy ate another sandwich that the pawn gave him.

Slish suddenly stood up. "Oh! I'm going to bring some tea to Slashy!" she said, picking up a plate with a sandwich and a tea cup. Slish knew full well that Slash wouldn't like her doing this, which was part of the reason she was doing it.

Metal Sonic was attempting to compute this, but Zappy tried to calm him down. The Pawn walked over to Slish. "NEED MORE?", he asked.

"Not right now." Slish said. She then walked out of the room and into the room where Slash's cell was. Some yelling was heard then it became muffled. Slish came back, she had a mess of tea and mayonnaise in her fur but was smiling nonetheless. "She ate it all in one bite!" she said cheerily.

"Pffffffffffffffft...", Zappy said. Metal Sonic stared at Slish. "ANALYSIS CONFIRMS YOU WERE ATTACKED BY SLASH THE CAT", he said to Slish.

"Well she was reluctant to try it but I insisted." Slish said as she was cleaning her fur. There was a hint of an evil gleam in her eye. Just then Nerin came back. She looked very focused and ignored the people at the 'tea party'. She grabbed her notebook and several electronic parts.

"Oh, boy! Some plans! Now we can get the show rolling!", Zappy said as he threw off his hat and Metal Sonic grabbed it and his and tossed it at the Egg Pawn, knocking it over.

Slish forgot about the Egg Pawn and went over to Nerin as well. Nerin didn't say anything but walked outside and they followed her. Outside the other Egg Pawns were still digging the moat. It was very large reaching all the way up to the base and it was too wide to jump. At the bottom of the moat there was a metal floor.

"Yeah, it's pretty big, but what about that flying fox and giant hedgehog?; they can easily carry the others across.", Zappy said, looking down at the moat. "METAL FLOOR'S PURPOSE UNKNOWN", Metal said.

"The moat will be covered so they won't even know it's there. But if they do make it..." Nerin gestured to some laser net cannons that were now mounted on the outside of the base.

"Cool! Let's see what this stuff can do!", Zappy said.

In the outskirts of town...
Sparky and the gang heard some construction noises coming from somewhere. "Do you hear that?", Knuckles asked.

Macro stopped. "Yeah... what is it?" "Clearly we're close to something." said Klinx.

"Let's go!", Sonic said as they dashed off. Back at the base, Metal Sonic was scanning for the group. "LIFE FORMS DETECTED. EVASIVE ACTION!", he said as he gestured the Egg Pawns to get inside.

Everyone quickly finished up and ran inside. The moat had been covered with some very convincing looking fake grass.

Sparky drifted across the trees and corners and skidded to a halt when he found the base. Team Sonic stopped with him. "Hi? Are they just begging for us to clobber them?", Sonic said as Zparky readied his gun.

Klinx looked around. "So this is it? It's quiet." he said.

They walked a bit closer. Sparky looked across the area. Nothing was seen. "Why does whenever things like this happen, I feel like my stomach hits the floor?", Sparky said, very suspicious.

"I know it's almost creepy. I was expected us to get attacked as soon as we got here." said Macro, who was slowly moving closer to the base.

"Let's see what happens.", Tails said as he went closer to the base.

Macro took a few more steps forward when suddenly the ground gave way beneath one of his feet. His one foot went straight into the moat which left him in an awkward position about to fall all the way in.

The group rushed to Macro and lifted him back up. "I knew this was a trap!", Zparky said as he got his gun ready to blast anything around him.

The moat being stepped on triggered the base's defenses which started shooting at them. First with lasers then with laser nets. "Oh man." said Macro as he rolled over to avoid a laser blast.

Sonic was trapped inside one of the nets. Knuckles threw Tails and Sparky. In a union attack, Tails carried Sparky over one of the turrets and Sparky used a homing attack on it. Zparky used his gun to blast the net Sonic was in.

Klinx was good at dodging the blasts, but Macro was having difficulty. Klinx had Macro throw him across the moat to the base. He landed on the roof and began disconnecting wires on the blasters.

Sparky was jabbing at the wires and was tearing them apart. Sonic jumped over the moat and Tails caught him. Knuckles glided to the turrets and punched them as hard as he could.

Macro backed up and then took a running jump over the moat. He joined the others in breaking the blasters.

Sparky had an idea. He closed his eyes and raised his hands. The electricity from the blasters was draining now that they were damaged. Sparky attracted the electricity and it made a light show. Once the electricity was absorbed, Sparky jumped down and shot a massive thunderbolt at the door, obliterating it and causing a massive explosion.

"Impressive." said Klinx. They then all ran for the door. Back inside the Cat Squad was scrambling to meet them. "I knew that wasn't going to work." said X-Nad. "Shut up." replied Nerin, agitated.

"Well, it's a pity that your pal is locked up. Heck, she was forced to eat a sandwich.", Zappy said. "Good guys always win, so don't try to stop me from clobbering you.", Sparky said. "TARGET: SPARKY THE HEDGEHOG", Metal Sonic said as he dashed towards the group.

Nerin, Slish, and X-Nad were all standing there ready to fight. Macro and Klinx readied themselves. "This is more like what I was imagining..." said Macro.

The group side-stepped Metal Sonic, and the real Sonic started fighting him. Sparky engaged Zappy, throwing blasts and running across the ceilings. Knuckles distracted The Cat Squad and pounded each of them as Tails flew over them and headed for Slash's cell.

Slish attempted to slash at Macro but he kicked her away. Nerin was trying to defend herself against Knuckles and X-Nad had grabbed Klinx who was trying to talk him into letting go of him.

While the group was fighting, Tails snuck past the extremely stupid Egg Pawns who were asleep. He found Slash inside her cell. "I think we should even out the fight.", he said as he picked the lock open.

As soon as Tails picked the lock Slash kicked the door open. "Let's go." she said as she walked straight out with a look of pure determination.

Zappy pounded Sparky in the face, launching him backwards. Metal Sonic was finally defeated by Sonic when he kicked his head off. Knuckles and Zparky were dealing with The Cat Squad. Zparky shot several inhibitor blasts, and he was running out of them.

X-Nad was hit by one of the inhibitor blasts which caused him to release Klinx. Nerin prepared to use a chaos spear on Zparky but was suddenly kicked down from behind by Slash.

X-Nad was slowly weakening and electric cuffs were forming around his legs and arms. Zparky fired again and the cuffs got stronger and X-Nad felt weaker. Zappy turned around and saw Slash. "Oh, boy.", he said, remembering the bounty on his head.

When Zappy turned Slash was looking right at him. "You will not mock me again." she said and then moved towards him, claws extended. Slish was still attacking Macro, who had several cuts on his legs now.

"I won't hold back, missy.", Zappy said as he lunged at Slash. The Pawns woke up and Sonic was clobbering each and every one of them. Sparky and Tails were helping Sonic as Knuckles punched Slish in the face.

Slash side stepped and countered his blow with a powerful slash. Slish was about to start crying again when Knuckles punched her but shook her head. "You're not doing that again, meanie!" she said and kicked him.

Slish hit Knuckles right where it hurts, and Knuckles was jumping around in pain, groaning and babbling nonsense. Zparky shot a charged version of an inhibitor blast and it hit Zappy. "NO! I'M NOT GOING TO PRISON!!!", Zappy said as he tried to break free.

Slash crossed her arms. "It's too late for that." she said. Slish was laughing at Knuckles and as she did, Macro grabbed her. "Eek!" she said, struggling to get free.

Zparky shot all of his inhibitor blasts but one at Zappy, causing him to get knocked out. Sonic, Sparky, and Tails finished off the Pawns and they all surrounded Nerin. "You're under arrest. I suggest you give yourself in or prepare to get hurt with this thing.", Zparky said as he held his gun.

Nerin looked around. She was surrounded and all of her allies were down. But she wasn't going to quit yet. "Chaos control." she said, then teleported to somewhere else in the building.

Zparky screamed angrily and ran across the building, knocking over every door and blasting normal shots at every object in sight.

Nerin had teleported to the weapons room and had picked up a rather large blaster. She heard Zparky getting closer so she armed herself and went out to meet him, pointing the blaster at him.

Zparky yelled and shot his inhibitor blast at Nerin as soon as he saw her with the blaster.

Nerin wasn't expecting Zparky to actually shoot. She took a shot at him right before the blast hit her, causing her to fall down.

The shot grazed Zparky and destroyed his armor, but the inhibitor blast encased Nerin in a chain of plasma and made her weak, cutting off her Chaos powers. Sparky rushed to Zparky, who had several burns on his armor and skin. "No...", Sparky said as he carried Zparky back to the others. "At least we got Nerin.", Tails said as he and Knuckles dragged Nerin over to the rest of the captured group.

"Now perhaps we can find out what Eggman is planning." Klinx said, surveying those they had captured.

Zappy was waking up. He heard Klinx and said, "You aren't getting a word out of me!". Zparky was still awake thanks to the improved armor Tails fixed. "I say some torture is in order." "What could he hate so much to tell us Eggman's plans?", Sparky asked. "Think of something you really, REALLY like.", Tails suggested. Sparky grinned like a wacko. "Oh, I have an idea."

Later, Zappy was in a prison cell and Zparky was monitoring him. A movie was playing, "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" to be exact, with the volume high. "OH LORD! MAKE IT STOP!!!", Zappy screamed.

"It stops when you talk." Slash said. She was getting impatient. "Make it louder."

Sonic turned up the volume and Sparky was enjoying the movie greatly, sighing like a little kid. Zappy, however, was the exact opposite. "NO! I WON'T GIVE IN TO THIS KIDDY PIECE OF JUNK!", Zappy yelled as he tried to get out of the plasma chains and rope.

"Really now. Because we've got the movie set to loop indefinitely. Why torture yourself? If you really have any confidence in Eggman's plan could it really hurt to just tell us and get it over with?" said Klinx.

"GAH!!!", Zappy yelled as the movie got to one of Sparky's favorite stories: The Honey Tree. When Pooh started singing as he climbed the tree, Zappy roared in pain and agony.

"How much more do you think he can take?" Macro asked, wincing at Zappy's screams.

"Not that much.", Sparky said as Zappy was actually gnawing at the ropes, but got shocked by the plasma chains. He looked back up and Sparky went to the scene select and picked what he thought was the best story: the one when Pooh gets stuck in Rabbit's door entrance. When the scene was picking up, Zappy screeched loud enough that Sparky and the rest of the group covered their ears. "OKAY! OKAY!!! I'LL TALK!!!! PLEASE MAKE THIS TORTURE STOP!!!!!", Zappy yelled.

Klinx hit the stop button on the DVD player and everyone waited to see what Zappy had to say.

"Okay, so Eggman got us to make some robots since he doesn't have that much left. He's got two robots, one here and another in the city.", Zappy said.

"What's he going to do with them?" Slash asked.

"What do you think? Destroy you nuts and take over the city!", Zappy said, annoyed.

Slash hit her fist on the table. "I want more information than just: 'he's building robots.' Eggman always builds robots!"

"Well, one is disguised inside the city. In fact, it's still being built. The other one is a new version of an old model he had.", Zappy said.

"Disguised? It was probably right there the whole time we were looking!" Slash said, frustrated.

"Isn't that the point of something being disguised?", Zappy sarcastically asked.

Slash shot him a look. "Do you know what it's disguised as?"

"Uh....he didn't tell me.", Zappy said, trying to avoid the entire plan being given away.

"I thought you said you were supposed to be helping build it." said Slash.

"Well, we kind of send the supplies and oversee development.", Zappy lied.

"Hmm." said Slash, tapping her fingers on the table.

"That's about it.", Zappy said, sighing in relief.

"It's better than nothing..." Macro said. Klinx had been thinking, then he spoke up. "I don't suppose you could tell us what kind of supplies you were sending?"

"The usual kind of stuff: gears, wires, laser guns, and various sharp things and weapons.", Zappy replied.

"Figures." Slash muttered. "So... does this mean we should take another look at the city?" Macro asked.

"I guess so.", Sonic said as he dragged Zappy out of the cell. As they walked out, Zappy saw Nerin and the rest of the Cat Squad tied in inhibitor chains. "I guess I'll see you later, babe.", Zappy said to Nerin.

Nerin saw Zappy and gave him a look that implied she had a plan. The others didn't see this however. "So we're looking for a robot in disguise..." Macro was saying. "Heh. Transformers." he said, laughing to himself.

Zparky turned on his communicator. "Yeah, I have four criminals. Three are in a bunker in the middle of the forest next to Station Square in the Prime Zone. The fourth is with me." "I never expected you to do so well on you're own. I'll send some of my men over to pick them up.", a voice that sounded like Sonic came from his communicator. "Just make sure to bring the reward money for Zappy the Hedgehog; someone helped me catch him.", Zparky said, looking right at Slash.

Slash smiled a little. "Are we sure it's safe to leave them there by themselves?" Macro asked.

"Zone Cops can warp in easily and quickly, so I'm sure they can get there. Besides, those inhibitor chains will keep them down for a long time.", Zparky said confidently.

Macro looked less concerned. "Ok, so I guess we should focus on the robots then." he said.

"Wait. Maybe if we look at this.", Tails said as he examined Metal Sonic's broken head. Sparky brought out his laptop and they examined the coding. "Metal is programmed to pilot something called 'Eggemperor2', as it says in the coding. However, that part is set to activate on 11 pm on New Years Eve!", Tails said.

"It would appear we were right then." said Klinx. "So we got three days to figure out what it is and stop it." Macro said.

"Something tells me it's going to be big. I have an idea!", Zparky said as he took out a Warp Ring. "I say we get back home. I'll have it ready tomorrow.", he said as he activated it and the group warped back to their homes.

Chapter 7: 2 Days Remaining Until New Year's Eve: Teamwork Power; Welcome to the Special Stage!
Sparky woke up, still hearing talking from Zparky and his communicator. Sparky went downstairs and fixed some eggs and bacon. "Aren't you tired yet?", Sparky asked Zparky. "It'll be ready soon.", Zparky said, tampering with the Warp Ring.

Team Weasel were already on their way to Sparky's house. The whole way there Klinx and Macro had been having a conversation/debate about what Eggman's plan really was. Slash was walking in silence.

Zparky tapped the Warp Ring and it glowed in a rainbow color. "Yes!", he said as he got up. "Thanks Zonic!" "Not a problem.", the voice in his communicator said. "Now all we need is some more of Klinx's friends to help us!"

As Zparky was finishing up Team Weasel arrived at Sparky's house. Klinx rang the doorbell.

Zparky was so excited that he rammed into the door by accident. Sparky stepped over him and opened the door. "Sup? I have breakfast ready and...", Sparky paused and looked at Zparky. "Zparky has his plan ready."

"Excellent." said Klinx as he walked into the house. "Yeah I'm starving." Macro said. "Let's hear this plan..." said Slash.

Sparky set the table and Zparky took out the rainbow Warp Ring. "Well, Team Sonic is off looking for the robot, so I figure we need some extra power. We're going to the Special Zone."

Macro looked a little shocked. "The S-special Zone? Isn't that the crazy place where the Chaos Emeralds are?" he said.

"Yep. And that's the same place with the Time Stones.", Zparky said, nodding at Sparky as he took out his lucky Time Stone. "We need some help, though. Know anyone who can assist us?", Zparky asked.

Klinx looked around and found Sparky's phone. "I'll see who I can get." he said.

"Thanks.", Zparky said as he brought out a device that scanned every single Zone in the Multiverse. He found the Special Zone, which had several areas and very weird worlds. Sparky made some more breakfast for everyone, looking a bit worried about the plan.

Sparky heard the door knock and he opened it and was greeted by a skunk named Patricia and a hedgehog named Jack. "Hi! So, what's going on?", Jack asked Klinx.

"Good to see you, Jack, Patricia." Klinx said, greeting them both. "You're just in time for breakfast."

Sparky winced when he saw Patricia. "Eh....last thing I need is someone who stinks...literally.", he said to Patricia.

Patricia smiled and said "I love a healthy, balanced breakfast.", she said. "Yeah, me too!", Jack replied.

"I know your No Zone counterpart, Jack.", Zparky said. "Zack's a good guy. He helped bring the Cat Squad to the Zone Jail. OH! Speaking of which, here's your money, Slash.", Zparky said as he took out a check that said it was worth one million dollars.

Jack was eating his breakfast. With eggs in his mouth, he said "Mmm..delicious!" to Sparky.

"Thanks.", Sparky said as he made more bacon.

Patricia was eating her breakfast, which was much healthier. "Mmm..this is very yummy.", she said with a satisfied look on her face.

Slash took the check from Zparky with a satisfied look on her face. Not wanting to leave it anywhere she tucked it safely in her boot. Klinx and Macro were eating their breakfast.

"Umm, excuse me?" a sweet voice said behind them. "Do you know where the library is, by any chance?"

Sparky jumped. "Hello? How did you get here?", he asked in shock.

Jack turned and replied. "Oh sure, it's down the street to the left, you can't miss it."

Zparky looked over the group. "I think we have enough to get to the Special Zone!"

"Hello little one, what's your name?", Patricia asked.

The group turned to an orange echidna, in ancient tribal clothes, and a necklace and tiara of gold and diamonds. The girl looked like she was in the wrong place and time, and knew nothing about modern times...which coincidently, she didn't. The girl looked just like Tikal...and some of the gang actually thought she was her.

"What's the Special Zone?", Jack asked Zparky with wonder.

"It's a world where the Chaos Emeralds and Time Stones are hidden.", Zparky answered to Jack.

A wolf-boy ran in for breakfast. He ran in with a beautiful pink bat, a nervous blue bat, a blue fox, and a pink dolphin. They were all Joseph the Wolf, Brittney the Bat, Reggie the Bat, Jimmy Canvas, and Tammy Watercolor, respectively.

Jack turned to the new guests. "Hi, guys!"

"Hey, Jack!" said Joseph.

"How's it going?", Patricia asked the group.

"It's going great!" said Brittney.

"Whoa, whoa. Give me a break, I don't want to break my arms getting breakfast for you guys!", Sparky said, trying to get the group to settle.

"Hi, guys!", Patricia said as she ran up and hugged Brittney.

Brittney ran and hugged her back. The ancient echidna simply sat down to eat breakfast. But as she went through the menu, she looked confused, as if saying she had never heard of many of the choices from the menu.

Jack turned to the Ancient Echidna. "Don't be shy, just go ahead and make your choice."

"I....I am not familiar with these meals..." admitted the girl.

"Then allow me to make a suggestion." Klinx said. He then sat a plate of eggs and pancakes in front of her.

The girl looked at the plate, curiously. She had never seen such a fine meal as this. She wanted to take a bite, but was afraid of eating someone else's meal.

Klinx noticed her apprehension. "Not to worry, Sparky made enough for a few extra people. By the way I didn't catch your name?"

The girl gasped and hastily bowed, feeling dishonored. "How rude of me..." she said. "I am Maya the Echidna. I live in a distant future, but was born in a distant past...."

"I see. I'm Klinx the Weasel and I am from the present. Relatively speaking." said Klinx. "I'm sure you've seen some very fascinating things."

"Yes, I have." said Maya. "And this meal looks delicious. I wanted to go to the library to know eveything about this.....present time. I am, as you can tell, way behind a lot of you..."

Klinx chuckled. "Clearly, as most people nowadays would turn to the computer for information." he said.

"The computer?" asked Maya, confused as she was since she entered the restaraunt

"Yes, it's... Let's see it's a block-like device that can be used to communicate and get information." Klinx said, trying to figure out how to explain it.

"Wow....it sounds very powerful and amazing...." she said. Everyone just looked at her like she was stupid or something.

As everyone ate their meals, Zparky was examining the map of the Special Zone. "Are we almost ready?", he asked, very anxious.

"For what?" asked Maya.

"We're going on an expedition to the Special Zone and find the Chaos Emeralds and Time Stones. Their power will help us defeat Dr. Eggman and his new plan for New Years Eve.", Zparky said, closing his map device.

"I've been ready." Slash said. She was sitting in her chair with her arms crossed. Klinx looked at Maya. "Might you be accompanying us?"

"I would love to!" said Maya, extaticly. Suddenly, a dark hedgebat walked in. He looked a lot like Shadow, but didn't look nice at all. Maya noticably got shy when he came in.

"I say we have more than enough help.", Zparky said as the hedgebat walked inside.

"Please. You all look pathetic, so I think you need my help more than anything..." said the hedgebat.

"Sheesh....lighten up! You'll get plenty of action!", Sparky said as he made more food.

Just then, a dark and sexy girl rushed in with a silver hedgehog in futuristic clothing. The boy looked a lot like Silver.

Sparky's jaw dropped. "Okay, someone PLEASE help me cook, cause I think I'm going to pass out from the work.", he said, slightly agitated.

Patricia turned to the new guests. "Oh, hello there!", she said to them.

"Hi!" said the white one. "We're from the future. My name is Shine, and this is my partner Fetalia."

"More guests from another time. Zparky, I do believe you're going to have an army to help you." Klinx said. Macro went over to Sparky to try and help him cook.

"With the Emeralds and these guys, we can beat Eggman within two seconds!", Zparky said, happy with the amount of people they got.

Drake and Maya looked at the new arrivals of Shine and Fetalia, and the stare was returned. The two pairs were bitter rivals and so beating Eggman would not be so easy in terms of teamwork. But the cavalry did not end there....

Sparky smiled as Macro helped him cook. "Thanks, Macro. You're a great guy.", Sparky said in a relaxed tone.

"Heh, it's no problem really." Macro said, a little sheepishly as he worked on making an omlette.

Zparky's Warp Ring was losing it's rainbow color. "Uh oh! I say we eat fast! The warp effect won't last much longer!", Zparky said as he was tampering with it some more to get it glowing.

Slash groweled. "Forget the food! Why don't we just go?" she said.

Zparky threw the Warp Ring and it enlarged and made a portal to the Special Zone. "Everyone get in, before it closes and loses its effect!", Zparky yelled as he jumped inside the ring. Sparky dropped a pancake he finished making and dashed inside.

Slash and Klinx both jumped into the portal. Macro was about to follow them but then stopped to turn off the stove. "That would've been a mess." he said.

The whole gang followed them through, unknown that four intergalactic agents were following them, jumping into the portal after them.

The gang found themselves in a white world. The only other things around them were white doors with symbols on them. One had gems arranged in a maze, and another had a UFO inside a three-dimensional world.

Maya screamed to the world, which echoed all over: "Hellllooooooooo?!"

"The Special Zone has no inhabitants; no one lives here.", Zparky said, looking at the doors.

"Well this is gonna be a snooze-fest." said Drake, as he approached one of the doors.

"What's up with that guy?" asked Brittney.

"That is just how he is...." said Maya.

"Each of these doors lead to a Special Stage. A Chaos Emerald and Time Stone lies in each of them. We can only get them if we overcome the challenges inside.", Zparky explained.

"Too easy." chuckled Drake, as he entered the door.

Sparky suddenly got worried. "WAIT!", he yelled as Drake went into the door with the UFO on it. Sparky rushed into the door with him.

Drake looked around his surroundings, he did not seem impressed. "What is this, Independance Day?!" he said, unamused.

Sparky saw that the UFOs were randomly flying around. The space they were in was limited, and some sections had black panels, springs, and fans. The backround glowed a rainbow and bizzare pattern. Sparky had a feeling the water around the area was a bad thing, even though it wasn't even an inch deep. Sparky saw that there was a timer on his arm, along with Drake. Sparky felt like the UFOs were the target. "I say we destroy those things!", he said as he hopped over the water and chased the UFOs.

Drake smirked and he flew up. His hand formed a yellow ball and when he shot it in the air, multiple Chaos Spears were fired at the UFO's, destroying some of them.

When Sparky stepped in the water and ten seconds were off of his timer. He jumped out of it and homing attacked the rest of the UFOs. When they were destroyed, a blue Time Stone fell from the sky. Sparky nabbed it and a bright light flashed. Drake and Sparky found themselves back with the group. "So, that was pretty weird.", Sparky said to Drake.

Drake was not impressed, as if to say this was not a true challenge. "That was way too easy to be a challenge!"

The UFO door glowed and changed its color from white to green. "I think the next time we go in, it's going to be worse.", Sparky said to Drake. Zparky looked at Klinx. "Want to see what other things there are?", he asked him.

"We're here, aren't we?" Klinx said, spreading his arms apart.

"To the next Stage!", Sparky said as he went through a door that showed a clear tube full of orbs.

Reggie decided to fly in after him, just as nervous as always. He just wished he was a bit braver.

Sparky found a Chaos Emerald floating right in front of them. Before Sparky could grab it, the Chaos Emerald flew away from him. Sparky began running and chased after it. When he touched an orb, he felt like he was going faster, so he kept on picking them up as he ran to keep his speed up.

Reggie started to fly after him as fast as possible, collecting as many orbs as he could. He was amazed at the speed he was running at; it felt amazing! Like an outsanding turbulence he hadn't experienced in all his life.

"Guys, wait for me!", Jack said as he ran after them as fast as his legs could carry him.

Patricia followed Jack. "I'm coming guys!", she said as she hoped on her Flying Broom and went after them as well.

Sparky picked more orbs; it seemed way too easy. "There's the Emerald!", Sparky said as the others followed him. Sparky Peeled-Out and grabbed the Emerald. It was still trying to float away. "Help me pull it back!", Sparky said to the others as he grabbed it and tried to get it to stop moving.

Reggie was still as nervous as ever and seemed reluctant to help. He was afraid of goofing up.

Sparky was running backwards and trying to get the Emerald to settle down. "Come on! Help me bring it back!", he called to the others.

Still nervous, but wanting to help, Reggie flew after him and tired his best to catch the Emerald. This wasn't easy, as it was moving too fast for him to carefully catch.

Sparky saw Reggie helping him. Eventually, the Emerald stopped moving. "YES!", Sparky said as suddenly, the group warped back to the white area. The door they entered became green, like the UFO door. Sparky put the Emerald in his pocket. "Two jewels down, eleven to go.", Sparky said.

"Oh, goodie..." said one of the pilots, revealing themselves to the group.

Sparky turned around to the pilots and his spines pricked up like a porcupine. "Who are you?!", he asked as he charged a thunderbolt and Zparky got his gun ready.

One of the pilots held his arms up, trying to compensate. "Wait wait wait! Hold it! Hold it!!" he said. "We're on the same side here!"

"We asked 'who are you'", Zparky said, still very suspicious.

"We're the Star Wolf team." said the wolf pilot. "I'm Clyde O'Donnell, lead pilot...and the best too!"

"Name's Angel Caroso, boys." said a black panther pilot, wearing very sexy clothes. "Feeling lucky tonight?"

"Kyle Oikonny, ace pilot." said a monkey in red clothes.

"And I'm Ivy...Ivy Prower!" said a blue fox/seedrian hybrid, wearing blue clothes and a gold pendant. "I'm the head mechanic!"

Sparky's spines retracted and Zparky put away his gun. "Well, great. We have an entire army with us. It's like we don't need the Emeralds and Stones.", Sparky said. Zparky shook his head. "We still need the Emeralds and Stones for extra power.", he replied to Sparky. Sparky sighed. "Let's go into this door.", Sparky said as he went into the door with the gem maze.

Team Star Wolf followed in with him. They looked around, and found themselves baffled and virtually lost. They were amazed at the maze they were in.

A light flashed and everyone was forced to curl into a ball. The maze started to rotate, and Sparky tried to roll his way across the place and find the Emerald.

Star Wolf found this very difficult, they kept rebounding off springs and walls like it was a pinball table. This was obviously going to be much harder than they thought...

Sparky saw some parts said "Goal", but Sparky felt as if a subliminal message was sent into his mind. "Don't go to the goal." Sparky decided to obey the message and continued looking for the Emerald.

Ivy was smarter than that. She knew the goal was over there, but she had trouble rolling over there. There were hazards and springs all over the place and getting to the goal ring was even more difficult than it was to start with. However, with some quick wits and control, she managed to reach it.

Sparky followed Ivy and they were teleported to an empty room with a Chaos Emerald inside it. "Woo! This is getting easy!", Sparky said as he high-fived Ivy.

"Be careful, Sparky!" said Ivy. "It could be a trap!"

Sparky nabbed the Emerald out of the air and they were teleported back to the white area. Sparky saw that the rest of Star Wolf was teleported as well. "I sense a pattern, here.", Zparky said as the maze door turned green.

"Yeah..." said Brittney.

Sparky thought. "Sonic told me about these places.", he said, remembering the crazy stories about strange worlds he went to to get the Chaos Emeralds. "We now have three Emeralds and two Time Stones.", Zparky said. "So, now that each door is green, which one do we go into now?", Sparky asked the others.

"Let's go there!" said Joseph, as he ran to another door.

"Joey, wait!" screamed Brittney, as she ran after him.

Sparky followed them to the UFO door. He saw the UFOs were many and that they were moving faster than before. Sparky suddenly felt himself moving forward. He was forced to keep running forward and he could only change his direction. Sparky tried to fire a thunderbolt, but he didn't have the will to do so. He could only jump at the UFOs.

Joseph and Brittney started running after them. Brittney was kicking the UFO's, and Joseph was punching them; it was not easy for Joseph, but Brittney was able to fly and take them down easily.

After the UFOs were destroyed, another Time Stone fell from the sky. Sparky grabbed it and they were at the entrance again. The door turned from green to yellow. "This is going to be pretty boring.", Sparky said.

Later....
Sparky held six Emeralds and six Stones. Everyone looked a bit panicked after the various stages they were in. The doors vanished and a new one appeared in front of everyone. "Looks like this is the last door we have to go into.", Zparky said.

"Then let's go!" said Maya, rushing in.

Everyone followed Maya. Inside the door, the last Emerald and Stone were floating right in front of them. "This seems wrong...", Zparky said as he took out his gun.

"Yeah..." said Clyde. "It's too easy...."

Jack looked around. "I think it's way too easy, don't you think it's a trap or something?", he asked Patricia.

"I don't know, but I have a bad feeling about this...", Patricia replied. "Me too.", Jack said back.

Sparky went to the Emerald and Stone, but an invisible barrier was in front of him. He threw a thunderbolt at it, but it did nothing. Everyone heard a message. ''"With your powers combined....." ''"Sounds like some kind of riddle.", Zparky said to the group.

Slash crossed her arms. She was not amused by the prospect of solving a riddle. "That's the final challenge? I expected better..." she said.

"With your powers combined....what does that mean, you think?", Sparky asked Klinx, who was usually the smart one.

"What could it mean?" pondered Ivy.

Klinx put his hand on his face, thinking. "It does imply teamwork of some sort..." he said as he thought.

"Powers...THAT'S IT!", Sparky said. "We need to use our special powers all at once to destroy the barrier!"

Star Wolf looked at each other, nervously, as did Joseph and his friends. They had no special powers other than guns and weapons, so this would be difficult.

Klinx and Macro didn't really have special powers either. "Uh, define 'special power'." Macro said.

"Maybe it means our talents as well. Klinx, maybe you can talk the barrier into opening, while Star Wolf can use their battle skills. I know it sounds dumb, but you have to try.", Sparky suggested.

Klinx just blinked. "Excuse me if I'm misunderstanding but, you want me to talk... to a wall." he said. Macro was about to burst out laughing. Klinx elbowed him in the foot.

"I'm sorry, but that's your power, or at least I think...", Sparky said, feeling a bit stupid.

After Macro managed to stop giggling he looked down at Klinx. "Think of it this way, does anything in this zone make sense?"

"Absolutely not. If I had to run around and destroy UFOs that so happened to be flying over water that could kick me out of the Zone, anything can happen in this place!", Zparky said. "Okay, try to use your powers on the barrier at the same time. NOW!", Sparky said as he threw thunderbolts and Zparky used his gun.

Klinx felt a little silly but he put on his most convincing demeanor for the wall, convincing it to open. Slash was letting out all her slashes on it, she was really getting in to it. Macro shrugged and started kicking the wall, putting all his weight behind the kicks.

"COME ON, EVERYONE!", Sparky said to the others as he threw more bolts.

Star Wolf gave some of their weapons to Joseph and his friends. The entire group just kept shooting at the barriers. Fetalia charged and shot a powerful beam of darkness, while Maya shot a beam of light. Drake also fired a very powerful Chaos Lance at the barrier, and Shine fired a Psychic Knife to top it off!

"Chaos Zap!", Jack said as he electrocuted the barrier. "And Chaos Splash combine to make....CHAOS SURGE!!!", he yelled as he used both his water and electric powers to damage the barrier.

Patricia looked nervous. "I don't have any powers that can shoot out anything!"

"You don't have to shoot Patricia, just do anything you're good at." Macro said, still kicking the wall.

The barrier was flickering and vanishing, and the gems inside were getting brighter. "Come on! Just a bit more!", Sparky shouted as everyone used their powers, or a least what they considered powers.

Slash was extremely focused. Despite the fact that she considered this a mission, she was enjoying attacking the barrier. She took out all her moves on it.

The barrier was flickering even more, and it was on the brink of going away. "Everyone, at the same time!", Sparky said to everyone. "One....two....THREE!!!", Sparky yelled as he threw a massive bolt and Zparky shot a major blast from his inhibitor gun.

At that moment Slash did one of her most powerful attacks, the ultra claw tornado. Klinx kept talking to the barrier, very convincingly. Now if only this wall had money he was thinking to himself. Macro kicked the barrier so hard it kinda hurt his foot.

As everyone used their powers, the barrier broke like glass and the Emerald and Stone fell to the ground. A single ring fell into Klinx's hand.

Klinx chuckled, "Pleasure doing business with you." he said. Slash retracted her claws, she was breathing heavy. "Whew, we did it!" said Macro.

The Time Stone and Chaos Emerald flew into Sparky's hand. Sparky held them high and another bright flash was made.....

Suddenly, everyone was inside Sparky's house. The pancake Sparky left was still fresh, as if the entire journey took two seconds.

Macro looked around. "That was weird..." he said. Slash was looking at the gems they had. "Whatever Eggman has, it should be no challenge." she said.

Sparky felt power surge into his heart, but he didn't want to waste the power. Sparky absorbed the gems, but he didn't turn Super. They were absorbed to make sure no one else could have them unless he made them do so. "I'm sure they will be safe, now.", Sparky said, patting his chest.

Macro nodded. "The Chaos Emeralds are infamous for being stolen." he said.

Sparky sighed and Zparky thanked everyone for helping...

Chapter 8: 1 Day Until New Years Eve: What goes up....
Sparky was putting up decorations with Zparky. "You think everyone we saw yesterday will show up?", Sparky asked Zparky. "Most likely, and then some.", he said as he used his mini-jetpack to get some banners up.

Team Weasel was once again on their way to Sparky's house as they had each day this week. "It's the day before New Years Eve, we need to get there to help!" Macro said.

Sparky went out the door and saw Team Weasel. "You're amazing, guys! Happy New Year!", he said as he ran up to them, handing them party hats.

All three of them smiled. "You're amazing too Sparky!" Macro said. "Yes and a Happy New Year as well." Klinx added. Slash looked at the hat she was handed. "I'm not wearing this." she said.

Team Sonic ran up to Sparky's house, looking as if Eggman's plan never existed. "Ah, go ahead!", Sparky encouraged Slash as Team Sonic ran up to them.

Klinx and Macro put their hats on. "It looks ridiculous and there's no point to it." Slash said. "Oh hey guys!" Macro said when Team Sonic arrived.

"We didn't find anything, but I'm sure because we have the Emeralds, we can beat it either way!", Sonic said as he and the rest of his team came up to Team Weasel and Sparky.

"You guys haven't seen it yet, but not only do we have the Emeralds, but we have an army of sorts." said Klinx.

"Sounds like this is going to be easy!", Knuckles said excitedly. Sparky nodded. "Let's get ready for the party!", he said as he ran inside.

Team Weasel went inside as well, Slash dropping her party hat in the trash as she went by. "So what do we need to do?" asked Macro.

"Well, we have some decorations up, but you can help, too. Then, we have to invite everyone over for the actual party!", Sparky replied.

The three Team Weasel members began finding decorations to put up. Macro was putting up some high decorations and Slash decided she might actually have a little fun by making her own confetti.

Sparky was putting up some more decorations. He was a bit bored, so he decided to strike up a conversation. "So, are there any adventures you want to tell us about?", he asked. "Yeah! I want to hear more about those times were you beat the Cat Squad!", Tails said in agreement.

"Hmm let's see..." Klinx said as he tied the end of a balloon. "Ah yes, there was that one time that Nerin tried to shrink everybody."

"Honey, I shrunk the Mobians. Heh.", Sonic giggled as he was setting up more banners.

Maya looked at Sonic, curiously. She would like to know why Sonic was smiling and putting up banners like that. The banners themselves were strange to her, because she had never seen nor heard of a film in her life.

Sparky jumped at the sight of Maya. "WHOA! Geez, do people of your time ever knock on the door, or something?!", he said to Maya.

Maya blushed in embarassment and shame. "I....I'm very sorry....." she said.

"Ah, it's fine. Just sit down and get yourself something to eat.", Sparky said to Maya.

Maya sat down next to Drake and the duo had some pancakes for breakfast. Maya had a bite of one of them....and she loved it! A meal that was so delicious, her lust for more started to settle in. Drake didn't see much of a big deal, but as Maya hadn't tasted something so delicious, it was like heaven to her.

Sparky sighed. "I swear, I need to check the security of this place." "So, you were saying?", Sonic asked Klinx.

"Where was I... oh right the shrinking. Nerin first actually managed to shrink Slash." Klinx said. As he did Slash growled. "That will never happen again!" she said.

"At least she's in Zone Jail.", Sparky said to Slash. Tails looked interested. "She managed to shrink you guys? How did it work, and what was the purpose, if it wasn't squishing you guys?", he asked.

Jack came inside and asked "Guys, are you sure that we're safe from danger?".

"Aimamam! Don't do that!", Sparky said as he saw that Jack snuck inside.

"The name's Jack the Hedgehog, and sorry about that.", Jack said to Sparky.

Patricia sighed. "At least we have each other.", she said as she hugged Jack and Sparky.

Sparky groaned slightly when he was hugged, afraid of being "skunked". "Blegh. Just have a good time here..."

"Sparky, I think you left the door unlocked or something." Macro said, "And don't worry Jack, we have the Chaos Emeralds and the Time Stones."

Jack sighed and said "Phew, thank goodness!". "Okay, Sparky.", Patricia said to Sparky.

Sparky sighed. "It's fine. Just....don't scare me.", he said as he relaxed. "Continue about the shrinking.", Knuckles said to Klinx.

Patricia looked at Sparky and said "Don't worry Sparky, I may be a Skunk, but I have a Heart of Gold. I won't even harm a fly."

Sparky said nothing as Zparky hovered down. "So, the story? I'm pretty interested.", he said to Team Weasel.

"Anyways, if we have the Chaos Emeralds and the Time Stones, what are we going to do now?", Jack asked Sparky.

Sparky grew angry from Jack's questions and interruptions. "We party till we're purple.", he gruffly answered.

"That's what I'm talkin' about!" said Brittney, ecstatic.

Jack shouted "YEAH! I LOVE BEING PURPLE!" "It's a figure of Speech, Jack.", Patricia said to him. "Oh. Sorry.", Jack said to Patricia. "And sorry about my Skunk Scent, Sparky. I can't help it.", she said to Sparky.

Klinx was still trying to tell the story. "It seems like everytime I start someone walks comes in." Klinx said. Then he tried to remember where he was. "They had a machine that fires a ray makes everyone a sixth of their normal size. About 6 inches tall for the average mobian. As for the purpose, clearly a bunch of 6 inch tall people can't easily interfer with her plans."

"I can think that Macro would just be the size of a normal Mobian.", Tails said as he helped Macro put up decorations.

Klinx nodded. "Exactly. That's why they put their plan into action while he wasn't home." he said.

Sparky was grinding his teeth; he wanted everyone to just knock on the door before coming in. "Sounds cool, if it wasn't used for evil.", Knuckles said to Klinx.

"It does give you a new perspective on the world." said Klinx. "Cool? It was humiliating..." Slash mumbled.

"Let's hope no one gets shrunk by the Shrink Ray.", Jack commented.

Sparky felt as if the party would go downhill; he was used to only a few people, not a whole bunch. He was banging his head on the wall, having his earbuds on, and his iPod Touch on full blast.

"It's supposed to be destroyed." Klinx said.

"Oh, okay then.", Jack said to Klinx.

"It's gonna be a great party!" said Shine. "We need the rest, right Fetty?"

"STOP CALLING ME FETTY!!!!" screamed Fetalia. She hated that nickname with a passion.

Sparky was getting really mad. He was about to scream, but he was still banging his head against the wall and listening to tunes to distract himself.

"Is there something wrong?" Maya asked Sparky.

Sparky didn't hear Maya due to his iPod, and continued babbling to himself and banging his head against the wall.

Macro felt a little nervous with the sudden tension in the room, Fetalia's yelling topping it off. He tried to focus on putting up the decorations.

Maya taped Sparky's shoulders, trying to get his attention.

Patricia went to Macro and comforted him. "There, there Marco. You'll be fine."

Sparky ignored Maya and continued banging his head. "Donotgetmad. Donotgetmad....", he said to himself, trying to ignore his own anger.

Maya went in front of him, refusing to give up. "What's wrong, sir?" she asked.

Sparky just about had it. He ripped his earbuds out and looked just as enraged as from the snowball fight. "WHAT?!?!?", Sparky screamed at Maya, getting everyone in the room to silence.

Maya was shocked and gave a face of horror and sorrow. "I....I just wanted to help out..." she sobbed as she began to cry.

Jack was shaking in fear while hanging on the ceiling, shocked from Sparky's anger.

Sparky growled and stormed up to his room, pushing everyone who got in his way.

Patricia looked worried. "Sparky, where are you going?"

Sparky shot a look at Patricia that implied that it was not any of her bee's wax.

Patricia tried to get Sparky to relax. "Aw come on Sparky, don't be like that."

"Out of my sight....", Sparky hissed at Patricia as he went into his room and slammed the door shut.

Maya was still crying, but she wanted to help, and she stepped forward again "Just....just tell us....I can help..."

"LALALALALALALALA! I CAN'T HEAR YOU! LALALALALALALALALALA!!!", Sparky yelled from his room.

"I want to help, Sparky!!" she yelled.

"Wacka, wacka, wacka! That's all I hear!", Sparky yelled back.

Maya was getting annoyed and just punched him to knock some sense into him. "JUST LET ME HELP!!!!" she yelled at him.

"I want to help too!", Jack said to Sparky. Patricia nodded. "Me too!"

Sparky fell to the floor due to the punch. "Darn, that hurts.....", he groaned as he went unconscious.

Jack was shocked. "Yikes!", he said in horror.

Patricia checked on Sparky. "He's still ok. He's just unconscious."

Zparky looked at Sparky. "In the Zone Records, it's said that Sparky's temper is pretty short.", he said to Team Weasel.

"Ohhh...", Jack said to Zparky.

Maya then looked at herself, completely guilty and feeling remourse for her actions. She had no idea and was blaming herself now. Drake simply watched, but now showing how sorry he felt, to keep his image intact.

"I say we get this guy some rest.", Zparky said to Team Weasel.

Patricia carried Sparky and put him on the bed. "There we go."

Maya simply looked over Sparky, still guilty.

Jack looked concerned. "Are you ok, Maya?", he asked her.

"I'm fine...." said Maya.

Jack nodded. "Ok then."

Something glowed from Sparky's chest. He was quickly waking up. "What...happened?", he asked, half asleep.

"Are you ok, Sparky?", Patricia asked.

"No...", Sparky groaned.

Jack looked nervous. "Oh dear, I think you need an ice pack to make the swelling go down." He held up an ice pack and put it on Sparky.

"Get Team Weasel to come over here. I want to talk to them.", Sparky said to Jack.

"Got it", he said as he went to find Team Weasel.

"I'm very sorry, Sparky." said Maya. "I never should've did that...."

"That's fine. Go downstairs. Enjoy yourself.", Sparky said to Maya.

When Macro saw Jack he went up to him. "How is he?" he asked, referring to Sparky.

"He's fine and he wants to talk to you, Klinx and Slash. I think it's important.", Jack said to Macro.

"Ok, thanks Jack." Macro said. Then him, Klinx, and Slash went over to Sparky.

"Hi guys. I'm...sorry about this.", Sparky said, still a bit weak.

Maya was a kind-hearted girl, just like mother--Tikal--so she naturally stayed with him until Sparky healed. Drake, Shine, and Fetalia stayed outside and watched her noble and sweet actions.

"Not to worry Sparky, it was rather chaotic." Klinx said.

"I'm one who judges on first impressions, and, well, those impressions weren't good.", Sparky said to Klinx.

Patricia looked at Sparky. "Hold still please, Sparky? Chaos Heal...", she said as she used her powers to heal Sparky.

Klinx kept talking to Sparky as Patricia healed him. "Fortunately for me I specialize in making good first impressions." he said. "But in all seriousness, you can't always go by them. Take Slash for example, the first impression she made on me involved threatening my life." Slash didn't growl at that or anything. She knew it was true.

"And even after the impressions, most other people I don't know well might as well be enemies. It's just who I am.", Sparky said as he healed, feeling a bit depressed.

"Every relationship starts out without knowing the person well." Klinx said, trying to think of something to help Sparky.

"I guess your right.", Sparky said, feeling better both from Klinx's talk and the Chaos Heal.

"Anyways, what do we do now?", Jack asked. "I guess it's time to take a break or something.", Patricia wondered.

"Go watch a movie. I'll stay here and rest.", Sparky suggested.

Maya looked confused. "What's a movie?" she asked.

"You'll find out when we get to the Movie Theather, ok?", Jack said to Maya.

"How about we just go to the living room instead?" Macro said. Then he looked at Sparky. "You'll be ok, right?"

"Don't worry, Sparky will be ok. But I wonder why he's so jumpy every time he sees me.", Patricia said to Macro.

Rapid knocked on the door.

Jack opened the door. "Oh, hello Rapid!", he said cheerfully.

"Sup, man?", Sonic asked him. "Long time, no see. Sorry about K.O.ing you a few days ago.", Zparky said to Rapid.

Patricia looked and saw Rapid. "Hi there, Rapid. It's nice to meet you again!"

"Yes, welcome Rapid!" Klinx said warmly.

"So, what movie should we watch?", Sonic asked Klinx. "And is Sparky going to be fine?", Knuckles asked.

"He assures me he will be." Klinx told Knuckles. "And as for the movie, I'm not sure."

"Fine? I'm PERFECT now! Those Emeralds sure helped!", Sparky said from the top floor, sounding very much happy and not the least bit mad. "YAH!!!", Sparky yelled as he was grinding down the stair rails and landed on the front carpet.

"Can someone explain to me what a movie is?" asked Maya.

Klinx's eyebrows shot straight up at Sparky's entrance. "I see. You sure have made a full recovery." he said. After looking at Sparky, Macro turned to Maya. "A movie is a series of moving pictures that tell a story." he explained.

"Yeah, the Emeralds and Stones helped me recover in a matter of seconds!", Sparky said to Klinx. "As for you, Maya, I forgive you. We can watch 'Beauty and the Beast'. I can make snacks!", Sparky said, turning to Maya.

"That sounds very interesting..." she said, smiling at Sparky.

Jack's stomach growled. "Oh boy, I'm starving."

"Don't worry.", Sparky said as he and Sonic zipped to the kitchen. They brought out tropical punch and potato chips, among other things.

"Awesome, let's watch that movie!" Macro said excitedly. He then got an idea and went into the kitchen to gather some chairs since they had extra guests.

Sparky rushed to the movie cabinet and started digging for the movie. "Lets see....nope, not it. Nope. Nope. Why's this in here?", he asked as he tossed an old gum-ball into the trash and found the movie.

Macro was going around the living room setting down chairs. "Ok I think we got enough." he said.

Patricia was very hungry. "I really like something healthy please?" "I got it." Jack said as he went into the Kitchen and came back with some fresh fruit salad. "Mmmm, a Fruit Salad!", Patricia said in hunger.

"I have the 3-D version of the movie on DVD. I have plenty of 3-D glasses, so do you want the option on?", Sparky asked as he put the disc in his X-Box 360.

"Wow I didn't even know that was out on DVD yet, sure!" said Macro as he found himself a place to sit, taking care not to block anyone's view.

"Well, it's my fault. I saw the movie in theaters, and thought that Sparky would like it on DVD.", Tails said to Macro as he flew around, handing out 3D glasses.

Patricia put on her 3D Glasses. "Oh boy I can't wait!" Jack put on his 3D Glasses. "Me neither, let's watch the movie!"

Maya looked curiously at the 3D glasses, never having seen a pair of lenses in her life. They looked rather odd to her.

"Don't worry, these 3D Glasses can help you watch the movie in three dimensions!", Jack said to Maya.

Maya simply put them on and stared at the empty TV.

"It doesn't start yet, Maya.", Knuckles said to Maya as he got out some popcorn.

Maya apoligized, bowed, and took off her glasses. She stared at the popcorn, her curiosity getting the better of her again. "What is this stuff?" she asked.

"It's called popcorn.", Jack replied.

"This is corn?" she asked. "Why didn't you say so?!"

Sparky put his hand on his face. "Aimamam. This girl needs to be educated.", he said as the movie loaded.

"Don't worry, it's just Maya's curiousness.", Jack said to Sparky. Patricia hugged Maya. "I like you Maya, can we please be friends?" "She was frozen in time for thousands of years." said Drake. "That's why she don't know jack about the modern world."

"O-Okay..." said Maya to Patricia.

"Thank you Maya.", Patricia said happily.

"Come on! The movie's gonna start!", Sonic said as he plopped himself onto the couch.

Everyone put their 3D glasses on and sat down to watch the movie. Maya was really excited, because she had never seen a movie before.

Before the movie actually started, a REALLY fast recording of Tails's voice was played. "Note: This was only made for entertainment purposes and not for selling. All copyrighted material goes to Disney. Please do not sue us.", the recording said.

Ivy was dumbfounded and very confused as to why someone would have her father spekaing gibberish and say stuff like that. She could only hope Tails didn't pirate the movie....

The movie eventually started, skipping all of the dumb ads you would normally see.

Drake was very afraid. He was not a big fan of love stories and other type of emotional and lovey-dovy things like that. Maya didn't know what to expect though, so she went into this completely blind.

Sparky looked over at Drake. "Dude, you okay?", he asked him quietly.

"Love stories are boring...." he said.

"Don't worry. At the end of the movie there's a BIG action scene.", Sparky said assuringly.

"Whatever..." said Drake.

The movie continued playing, and some scenes Sparky found that the 3D depth really suited.

Maya was really into the movie, finding it funny, sad, awesome, and almost everything else one would expect.

Rapid stayed silent the entire time. He wouldn't talk at all for some strange reason.

Jack watched the movie in amazement. "Wow." Patricia looked very happy while watching. "Pretty."

Sparky continued watching the movie, being entirely silent to make sure everyone was able to listen.

Maya thought the music was catchy and very soothing. Although she technically didn't know the lyrics, she still started to sing along with the songs, almost as if she was one with it. Ivy started to sing with her as well. Kyle and Drake became very impressed with their singing abilities.

When the movie got to it's climax, Sparky was chewing on the paper cup he had drank out of.

Maya found herself crying when the film got to the beast getting slain by Gaston. Although everyone tried to comfort her and say none of it was real, it didn't help one bit. Tears kept streaming down her face. Not even remembering others are around him, Drake grabbed and hugged her, trying his best to comfort her. Shine and Fetalia were quite surprised about this. They had never seen Drake act so caring in their lives.

Sparky tried to comfort Maya as well. He felt a bit sad about yelling at her, so he wanted to make it up to her.

Maya looked up at the two boys and wiped the tears from her eyes. She gave them the sweetest smile they had ever seen from her.

Sparky looked at the movie and saw that the beast was glowing. Sparky knew what was to happen, so he tapped Maya and gestured to the movie.

Maya's attention turned back to the movie. She saw that the beast was being brought back to life as a human and embrassing Belle. She started to cry again....but her tears weren't of sadness...they were of happiness.

When the movie finally ended, Sparky looked tired. He stretched and yawned. "So, now what do we do?", he asked. Sonic shrugged. "Beats me."

"I had fun watching that..." said Maya, as she got up. She still wanted to know more about this modern timeline. There was so much she had to learn, and wanted to learn it as fast as possible!

Sparky tapped his foot. "Hmmm......DANCE COMPETITION!", Sparky said as he quickly turned on some lively music.

Maya was familiar with dancing, and she was familiar with music too...but she had not heard this kind of music, nor had she seen the type of dancing she was seeing her friends doing. She was confused as ever.

Sparky was outdoing everyone. He spin-dashed in place, jumped in the air, and break-danced on the floor.

Shine started to use his psychokinesis to try to get an edge. Fetalia was very impressed at how well Shine could dance. Perhaps having superspeed and psychic powers has an upside to having fun after all.

Sparky was still beating out Shine. He did some crazy moves that Sonic couldn't even do.

Maya was noticably the only person not dancing. She was afraid of not fitting in or goofing up trying to do the same dances as everyone else was doing...

Sparky was dancing while hand-standing, performing breakdance moves while keeping most of his body off the ground.

Drake kept trying to outdo him, using some techniques he learned. Angel used her cat-like instincts and smooth body to try to outdo him. She and Sparky were pretty evenly matched.

Sparky still going crazy. As a finisher, he spin-jumped multiple times, hopping all over the place in the process. He uncurled in midair, landed on his hands, and started spinning and dancing on the ground. He finished by jumping again, making a small static light show, and landing on the ground with perfect accuracy before bowing to everyone in the room.

Maya was very impressed, but she looked down in sadness. She was not able to fit in by doing the same kind of dances her friends were able to do. She felt left out and old, not knowing anything of the timeline she was currently in.

Tails was watching the dancing. "Hey, cheer up. You'll learn, soon.", Tails said to Maya.

"Th-thank you..." said Maya. The fox boy seemed awfully familiar to her, but Maya couldn't identify it. Ivy was looking at her locket. Inside was a picture of Tails and a familiar plant-like alien girl. It was her parents when they were her age....

Tails noticed Ivy's locket. "Hey, is that me?", he asked Ivy, very confused.

"Y-Yes, dad...." she said.

"Dad?", Tails asked her, as if she was from another dimension or timeline.

Ivy was confused as to why Tails didn't remember her. She showed him the pendant, hoping that it would help jog his memory.

Tails scratched his head. "Huh...why am I with a plant-like girl? Did someone photoshop this?", Tails asked, getting really baffled.

Ivy was looking at him, disappointed and in total shock. She began to cry. Her own father had forgotten her and the one that would have been Ivy's mother. Kyle got angry as well.

"Whoa, whoa, WHOA! What'd I do?", Tails asked in shock, with Team Sonic and Sparky looking very concerned.

"You...you don't even know....who I am..." said Ivy, as she contineud to cry.

"You should be ashamed of yourself!!" yelled Kyle. "That's your own kid and you act like she's some brat! What kind of father are you anyway?!"

Clyde and Angel were very shocked. They had never seen Kyle act like this. Sure he had been known to get angered, but he had rarely shown any emotion or hints of caring for someone.

Tails looked very upset. Never has he seen anyone get this angry at him. Something snapped in his mind. "ARGH!!!", Tails screamed as his head became bright red and he passed out.

Ivy's tears only increased as she sobbed over her father's passed out body. Kyle showed no sympathy for Tails, however.

"HANG ON! I'm a doctor; not just a Zone Cop!", Zparky said as he examined Tails. He took out a scanner. "Something in his brain is swelling like crazy. I don't know what it is."

"C-can I...take a look?" asked Ivy, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Yes.", Zparky simply answered.

Ivy took a look into the scanner.

"See that? Tails' brain has a section that's swelling.", Zparky said. Sparky looked very confused on what was going on.

"So that explains it...." said Ivy. Now she understood why Tails couldn't remember her. Kyle--however--wasn't fully convinced.

"Wait....I remember! Dark Oak....Cosmo....she died...and you were a seed she left behind!", Knuckles said. "Same here!", Sonic said.

Ivy was more confused. How come Sonic and Knuckles--who she considered her uncles--are just remembering all this and remembering her? And dead? Ivy didn't believe it. She believes that Cosmo was still alive, somewhere in space. But despite her efforts, no clues to her have been found. But Ivy has yet to lose hope.

Sparky was glowing again. The gems inside of him were causing the glow. Sparky went down to Tails and placed his hand on his head, causing the swelling to vanish. Tails was waking up rather quickly.

"Mr. Prower, are you okay?" asked Clyde.

"Ivy...........", Tails groaned as he threw up on the floor.

"Dad! Are you okay?!" Ivy gasped.

"Yeah....I guess. I can't believe I forgot my own daughter...", Tails said as he gave Ivy a huge hug.

Ivy just hugged back. "It's okay, dad." she said. "Once I find mom, we'll be happy again..." Kyle looked over them. He knew he couldn't stay mad at Tails forever.

"I'm not so sure about that, to be very honest.", Tails said, squeezing Ivy in her hug.

"What do you mean, dad?" she asked.

"I don't know if you can find her. I think she's alive, but I have no clue were she is.", Tails answered.

"I know she's alive, dad!" said Ivy. "But I can't find her....but I won't give up either!"

"I know.", Tails said, hugging Ivy with all of his might.

Ivy returned the hug. Kyle just did something his corades never thought he'd do: he lightly smiled.

Sparky scratched his head. "I'm not going to question this bit of confusion, so I'll ask: What are we going to do now?"

"Can any of you escort me to the library?" asked Maya. "I want to know everything!"

"I meant doing something here.", Sparky said. Zparky had a random thought. "Do you guys know about Extreme Gear?", he asked.

"No...I do not..." said Maya. "I do!" said Ivy. "So do I!" said Joseph.

"Yeah, Tails made me a board about two weeks ago. I don't know what to do with it.", Sparky said. "Maybe we can give our Gear some test runs.", Zparky suggested. Sonic looked excited. "Yeah! We have our boards back at my place! Maybe we can race!"

"Sounds awesome!" said Shine. "Let's do it!"

Sparky went upstairs and found his Gear. He put on his red flying googles, orange and yellow thunder hoodie, and his magnetic shoes. Team Sonic went to go get their Gear back at home. "Do you guys even have EX?", Zparky asked the others.

Everyone just shook their heads except for Joseph.

Sparky heard his phone ring. He went downstairs and picked it up. "Hey! I have extra Gear and two race tracks at my lab! Meet me there!", Tails said over speaker phone.

"Okay!" said Ivy.

Sparky jumped on his Gear and the rest of the party followed him as he flew over to Tails' lab. When they got there, Sparky knocked on the door. Tails, now in his EX outfit, answered it. "Hi, guys!", he said.

"Hey...." said Kyle. "Now where's the Gear?"

"That and the tracks are in the basement floor. Come on! I'll show you!", Tails said as he led the party over to a rather large elevator.

Clyde was amazed at how much someone like Tails could build so much at a young age. He now understood where Ivy got her tech and mech skills from.

The elevator moved down to the first basement floor. "After we first found out about EX, I figured we could make it a hobby.", Tails said as the elevator stopped in a room that was very large. The track was small, by comparison to other tracks, and looked simple. There were ramps to jump, rails to grind, barrels to break, and dash rings to fly through. "The extra Gear is in the back room.", Tails said as he pointed to a door that was behind the training track.

Maya was curious and decided to run back and get it. The gear looked incredible; an orange piece of material she had never seen before with a slick design, but the vehicle itself had no wheels. This left her confused; how does something like this work? What does it even do?

"There are three ability types: Speed, Power, and Flight. Speed goes a bit faster and can grind rails, Power has some great durability, and Flight lets you go faster the more you're in the air. There are several different models of Gear: some are Skates, some are hoverboards, and others can be bikes.", Tails explained.

Maya still examined it, bewildered and stupified. She was still trying to get to know modern technology. "How does this contraption work, sir?" she asked.

"That's easy to explain. According to the Kutta–Joukowski Theorem, the control surface flow is balanced by the inverse kinectics of the-- ", Tails began. Knuckles stopped him. "I don't think Maya's mind can take it.", he said.

Maya was completely confused as to what Tails was talking about, still trying to figure out how to make it work.

"Just get on it.", Sparky said as he got on his, turning on the magnet pads on his custom shoes and board, allowing him to stay on the board without the fear of falling off.

Maya put it onto the ground and hesitantly got on it. She was surpised to see it float above the ground. She was amazed, but tried to keep her balance as she did some practice laps. This was not as easy as it looked.

"Nice job, for a beginner!", Sonic said as he and Knuckles, both in their EX outfits, came over, holding their Gear. Sparky was on his Gear, doing practice laps, doing some tricks on the ramps, and grinding on the rails.

Maya approached the first ramp, but was scared. She had no knowledge of racing like this, so she came to a screeching hault.

"What's wrong?" asked Drake. "I....I'm at a dead end..." said Maya.

"A dead end? That's a ramp! Just go on it at a high speed and you can get launched over a large distance. It's cool if you have a Flight Gear.", Knuckles said as he rode past her.

Maya was still unsure, but obeyed nonetheless. She took a deep breath, a few steps back, and approached the ramp again. She held onto herself as she launched her self out sort of high. She was amazed at how high she was going. On pure instinct, she was doing some tricks which some of the guys found appealing. Maya had no idea what she was doing and landed safley. When she opened her eyes and let go, she have a look of surpirse, as if she didn't know what just happened or how she survived something like that.

"There are also Gear switches you can perform. Just turn your feet in the opposite direction while on the Gear to switch between two modes. The modes depend on what Gear Type you have.", Tails said as Sparky performed a Gear switch, causing his board to have small fins on the side, letting it perform sharp turns, but not go as fast.

Maya nodded and decided to concentrate on the track and Gear. Through some strange lighting, Maya and her board glowed as she screamed: "GEAR CHANGE!!!" Suddenly the light faded out, and she saw he board was slender and more suited for speed and grinding, as well as air travel. It suited her just fine.

"That's the way to do it!", Sparky said as he switched back to his board's normal mode.

Maya was now getting the hang of this ans she approached another ramp. She jumped from it and performed amazing tricks before landing on a rail, grinding with immense ease, before landing in big time air. Everyone was throughly impressed.

"You're a natural! How did you get so good in a matter of seconds?", Sonic asked Maya in astonishment.

"I....guess I'm a fast learner...." Maya said, blushing and acting very shy...which she was.

"The first Extreme Gear was actually a magic carpet back in Maya's age. Even though the Echidnas and Babylonians aren't connected, who knows? Maybe it just comes with her.", Tails said as he flew through some dash rings. "Go and get some Gear, everyone! I want a race!", Knuckles said to the rest of the group.

As everyone rushed to get their boards, Maya thought hard about what Tails just said. She had heard stories from her mother about a group of thieves and robbers known as the Babylon Rogues that were smuggling out treasure and valuble items from the entire world. But that was thousands of years ago. Times had obviously changed, and the Babylon Rogues have no doubt been disbanded long by now....

"There are also other types of Gear, so you don't just need a board.", Tails said to the party as they got their Gear.

After the group had gotten their gear, they all met at the starting line, eager to begin the race.

"Actually, the real track is in the next basement floor. This is the practice track you're on.", Tails said to the group as he pointed to the elevator.

Everyone groaned and walked to the elevator. Maya was really excited. She had never felt an adrenaline of excitement in her whole life! She now feels more glad than ever that Drake had freed her from her icy prison in the future, because she had found another exciting hobby.

The elevator moved down and they saw a massive race track. It was still simple, but it was perfect of serious racing. "This looks pretty cool! Let's go!", Sparky said as he got on his Gear and went to the starting line.

Everyone lined up at the starting line, as Maya waited in anticipation for the race to begin.

Team Weasel, Jack, Patricia, Rapid, and Tails were inside a spectating area with a microphone. "Hello, folks of Mobius! Today is another exciting race, live from Team Sonic HQ. People have gathered here to race in anticipation of New Year's Eve! Let's begin! Oh, and good luck out there, Ivy!", Tails said over the microphone.

"Thanks dad!" said Ivy, giving him a thumbs-up.

"Everyone, on your Gear!", Tails announced.

Everyone readied themselves on their gears. Maya was so excited, she was already on hers.

"On your mark...", Tails said dramatically.

Shine and Fetalia were ready for racing, as were Drake and Maya.

"Get set...", Tails said, just as dramatic as before.

Star Wolf was ready, as were Joseph and his friends.

"GO!!!", Tails yelled as everyone started riding. Sparky was already getting some speed. Knuckles and Sonic were neck-to-neck with him.

Maya was starting to quickly catch up to them. Shine and Drake were fighting for 2nd place, as Fetalia and Brittney kept their pace as they tried their best to stay in the pack.

Sparky saw that there was a tight turn. He, Sonic, and Knuckles switched gears and turned with relative ease.

Reggie wasn't as lucky. He crashed and burned into the wall and fell flat on his face. Drake, Shine, and Fetalia were able to pass by with ease, but everyone else had their troubles.

Sparky looked worried about Reggie. He continued racing and performed some tricks in the air.

Reggie just got back up and continued to race, but was still having trouble. Maya was starting to catch up with him.

Sparky looked back and saw Maya. While he was distracted, Sonic and Knuckles got ahead of him.

Maya sped past him, as did Shine, ad the two were neck-and-neck trying to keep up with Sonic and Knuckles.

Sparky kick-dashed his Gear and picked up speed. Sonic felt that the others were right behind them. "So, redhead? We settle out rivalry for a second?", Sonic asked Knuckles. "Agreed.", Knuckles said as they went towards a two way path. The two spit up and revealed a wall right in front of the others.

Maya almost stopped and prepared to embrace a head-on collision when Joseph sped on and smashed through the wall, clearing a perfect path for the rest of the racers.

Sonic and Knuckles started pushing each other to get ahead. Sparky went over the broken wall and flew over everyone in the process.

Shine tried his best to get after him, but Drake kept getting in his face. Maya and Fetalia started fighting for 2nd place as Maya tried her best to catch up.

Sparky was riding with ease. He was a natural, for a beginner, too. Sparky looked back and saw the others. He found a rail and started grinding.

Maya finally picked up the pace and grinded on a rail next to him. "Hello, Sparky." said Maya.

"Let's see what you're made of!", Sparky said as he jumped off of the rail and kick-dashed ahead.

Maya flip-tricked off the rail and performed amazing tricks and rode her turbulence to keep up with him.

Sparky saw that his Gear was running out of fuel. He saw the finish-line was just ahead. As a last stretch, Sparky kick-dashed once more.

Maya could see him running out of fuel. She knew he was beat. With a good swerve and boost, she was at last home free as Ivy was tailing them.

The two tied in 1st place, while Ivy was in second, and Sonic and Knuckles tied in third.

Maya was celebrating her win, while Shine and Drake were arguing over who got in the top 5 and who didn't.

"Another exciting race, folks! This is Miles Prower, signing off.", Tails announced as he flew down to give the winners a pat on the back.

Maya simply smiled. Ivy looked at the picture on her locket. Star Wolf tried to comfort her.

"Hey, I remember you now, don't I?", Tails said happily to Ivy.

"Y-Yeah..." said Ivy. "But....mom..."

"I'm sure she's out there.", Tails said to Ivy, attempting to make her feel better.

"I know dad...." she said. "That's why I joined Star Wolf. So I could find her....but...no luck...."

"Come on. You got in second place in the race. Cheer up!", Tails said as he hugged Ivy.

Ivy hugged back as her friends watched on.

Sonic was tapping his foot, now really impatient. "What should we do now?", he asked.

"Let me introduce you to my friends." said Ivy.

"Okay?", Sonic said to Ivy.

"I'm part of a team of intergalactic vigilantes-for-hire called Star Wolf!" said Ivy. "This is my boss, Clyde. He's a great pilot and is pretty smart. This is Angel, she's my best friend. She likes to hit on boys when she gets bored, but is a great friend and fighter. And this is Kyle. He isn't too nice to people, but he cares a lot about me and I like spending time with him." Kyle just blushed at this remark.

Klinx and Slash were coming down from the spectator booth. "You all have quite the reputation I assume." said Klinx.

Clyde nodded. "We're pretty popular in the Lylat System." he said.

"Huh.", Knuckles said, very interested. Sparky looked at Team Weasel. "So, you want to race, too?", he asked.

"I don't see why not." said Klinx. Team Weasel had all gotten their gear on. Klinx was wearing red goggles and gloves. Slash was wearing sports pants and a tight white shirt and Macro was wearing a full vest rather than the open one he usually wore. Each of them were wearing goggles as well.

"Do you have your own Extreme Gear?", Sparky asked, eager to start.

"Hey Klinx, don't we still have ours from Bluray's Christmas party?" Macro asked Klinx. Klinx nodded, "But Slash needs some." he said.

"It's okay.", Tails said as he brought out a red board that was a Power Type. "This should suit you!", he said to Slash.

Slash ran her hand over the board, inspecting it. She nodded. "Then let's race!" said Macro, excitedly. Klinx raised his finger, "One more thing. Anyone interested in making this race more interesting?" he said.

"Yeah, but how?", Sparky asked. "Some music?", Tails asked as he flew to the booth and played the theme of Sonic Free Riders.

Klinx chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. "Well that is nice but I meant something more a long the lines of a friendly wager?"

"Like what?", Knuckles asked, very curious.

Klinx looked thoughtful for a second, but he already knew what he had in mind. "Twenty bucks says I can win this race."

"You are so on.", Sparky said as he, Tails, and Knuckles got on their gear. "Us against you!", Tails said.

Klinx bowed, "Let the games begin." he said. Slash rolled her eyes at Klinx as she got on her board.

Sonic was now in the booth. "Three....two....", he counted down, making it very dramatic.

Klinx, Slash, and Macro were all leaning forward on their boards, ready to go.

"One...GO!!!", Sonic yelled as the Teams started to race. Sparky and his team were already taking their Type shortcuts. Tails went through the dash rings, Sparky was grinding on rails, and Knuckles pounded through breakable walls, creating shortcuts.

Team Weasel dashed off on their boards. Klinx was grinding the rails right with Sparky. Slash and Macro took the power shortcuts breaking any remaining walls.

"Want to save yourself the effort and just call the bet off?", Sparky asked Klinx, very cocky.

Klinx smirked. "I'll say no." he said before accelerating.

Sparky and Klinx were neck to neck. The two teams were evenly matched when they found each other on the main part of the track.

Klinx quickly glanced at the positions of all the racers. Slash was pushing forward with laser sharp focus.

Sparky found another rail. He grinned and got his board to hover right over Klinx's head, landing on the rail.

Klinx frowned and responded by boosting.

The two were really close together; the rails they rode were right next to each other. Tails got through some more dash rings and flew over Slash.

Klinx kept focused, knowing that there wasn't any room for mistakes. Slash saw Tails and turned onto a power shortcut, followed by Macro.

The teams were neck to neck. Klinx and Sparky glanced at each other, knowing it could be anyone's game.

"You still think you're going to win this?" Klinx asked Sparky.

"Yep.", Sparky replied.

Jack was in his Sonic Riders Outfit which are his Orange Air Goggles, his Black Singlet, his Black Gloves, his Green Wristbands, his White Sports Shorts, his Red Socks & Blue Sport Sneakers. "Wow, this is getting really exciting!"

Patricia was in her Sonic Riders Outfit, which was her Pink Aviator Goggles, her Long Pink Tight & Shiny Armbands, her Red Wrist Bands, her White Fingerless Gloves & her Women's Long Pink Sports Pants with Black Flower Decals. "Yeah, it's sooo exciting!"

"Anyway, here I Come!", Jack said as he went faster on his Extreme Gear: Orange Astro.

Sonic was looking at the match excitedly. "Hey, Tails? What does this do?", Sonic asked before pressing a red button that said "X". "NO! DON'T! THAT LEADS TOO-", Tails began before the finish line section gave way, showing a trap passage to another track. "Aimamam.", Sparky said.

Klinx looked forward at the finish. "It would appear this race isn't going to be ending as soon as we expected." he said.

Sparky, Tails, and Knuckles yelled as they went down the one-way ramp, unable to jump the gap. The track looked dark. Rails were disconnected and Power shortcuts were harder to break. Dash Rings were far apart, as well. "This is the challenging course we're on!", Tails said as he ducked under a pipe.

"I suppose this will determine the true winner then." Klinx said. Macro jumped over the same pipe Tails has ducked under since he couldn't duck under it. "Let's see how much challenge it has." Slash said, dodging the obstacles. She was still as focused as ever.

Sparky jumped, ducked, and spinned in attempts to avoid the pipes. Eventually, the came across small turrets that shot seeds quickly. The seeds didn't kill, but it stung and could really catch you off balance.

Klinx started swerving to avoid the seed fire. Slash crouched down on her board as a line shot right over her head. The seeds didn't affect Macro much though due to them being comparitively small. Except for one thing, "Aw man, I think these things are getting in my shoes!" Macro said.

Sparky saw that the next part had sideways crushers. The crushers were actually large pillows, and the crushers didn't hit the opposite walls, but the force was hard enough to push one off of his board.

"Uh oh." said Macro. He slowed down to let the crushers close once before going through. Slash however zipped right by him, making it through just in time.

Patricia maneuvered all of the Traps and pillows, then she zipped right passed Klinx, Slash & Marco. "Yahoo! This is fun!"

"Yeah! Whoo Hoo!", Jack yelled as he zipped by.

"Oh no, you don't! This is Klinx and I's race, and ours only!", Sparky said as he pushed Jack and Patricia away as his Team and Team Weasel caught up.

Team Weasel kept racing despite the interruption. "Jack's eager, isn't he?" said Klinx.

"You said it.", Sparky said as he continued riding. Soon, trap doors opened in front of them, threatening to make them fall into the pit. "You're crazy.", Sparky said to Tails. "That pit isn't bottomless, in case you're wondering.", Tails replied.

Macro looked at the pits, a little worried. "It's not bottomless, but does it have spikes or something?" he asked. As he got closer to them he said, "You know what, I'm not gonna find out." he said before maneuvering to avoid the pits.

"There's pillows at the bottom.", Tails said assuringly as he flew over it. Knuckles swerved past them, while Sparky performed an ollie and hopped over the pits.

Klinx and Slash jumped over the pits as well. "Hmph. What else does this course have?" Slash asked.

"Sorry, Klinx and Sparky, but I can't help it. I sure am ready to race on an Extreme Gear!", Jack said behind them.

"A lot of things.", Tails said as he went through some dash rings. Sparky was grinding on a rail that had disconnected parts, so he had to jump the gaps.

Klinx went on a rail parallel to Sparky. He didn't say anything though since he was so focused on jumping the gaps. Slash turned and broke through some walls.

Knuckles pushed Slash and got ahead. The finish line was just ahead.

Slash growled. She wasn't going to let Knuckles get away with that. She boosted, heading straight towards him.

Knuckles saw Slash and turned a little bit so he wouldn't get hit. When Slash got in front of him, Knuckles pushed her again.

Slash sped up again. This time coming beside Knuckles. She turned to push into him, threatening to knock them both off the track.

The track was thin, so Knuckles almost fell, but he kept his balance. Tails was flying over Macro. Being more casual about the race, Tails asked "Do you ride Extreme Gear a lot?".

Like Tails, Macro wasn't as serious about the race as the others were. He looked up at Tails. "I do sometimes, when I get the chance." he said.

"When did you first start? Klinx said something about a guy named Bluray and his Christmas party.", Tails said as he avoided more pipes in his flight path.

Macro ducked under some of those same pipes. "Oh yeah. Our friend was throwing a sort of Christmas games event, and one of the events was an extreme gear race in the snow."

"Who made that board?", Tails said, looking at Macro's oversized board as he barrel-rolled between pipes.

"Me and my dad made it. It took us awhile to figure it out, but it hasn't blown up yet." Macro said.

"That's good!", Tails said as he flew ahead. Both teams were neck to neck as they went towards the finish line.

"Looks like a photo finish, doesn't it?" Klinx said, still remaining focused so as not to mess up when he was this close.

"You said it.", Sparky said as everyone boosted at the same time. A bright flash was made when they crossed the line. Sparky stopped. "Something tells me that was a camera.", Knuckles said as he stopped as well. "I checked the photo! You all crossed at the exact same time! No joke!", Sonic said over the loudspeaker.

Maya gasped in disbelief. "But...that's impossible!" she said.

"Seriously! Look!", Sonic said as he hopped down from the booth and showed everyone the photo.

Klinx looked at the photo. "Well what do you know. Well played gentlemen, and Slash." he said.

Sparky reached into his hoodie and gave Klinx ten rings. "This is just because you're a great friend.", he said.

Klinx took the rings. "Why thank you Sparky. I'm flattered, really." he said.

"Sorry about that.", Jack said.

"Don't worry about it, Jack.", Sparky said as he handed him a ring. "So, now what?", Tails asked. "How many times must we ask this question?", Knuckles asked Tails.

"The question of the week, isn't it?" said Klinx as he took off his goggles.

"I don't know, I wonder what we should do next?", Patricia said on wonder.

"Any clue?", Sonic asked Team Weasel.

Jack asked "Got any bright ideas?".

"How 'bout you guys ride on our ships?" asked Clyde. "We could get a good ride around the world!"

"Okay, I guess?", Sparky said, a bit nervous about piloting a spaceship.

"Now there's an idea!" Klinx said, interested in the prospect.

"That does sound interesting. I could help you upgrade your ship, Ivy!", Tails said to Ivy.

"Thanks dad!" said Ivy.

Jack looked excited. "Ok then, come on let's go!" Patricia looked excited, too. "Ok!"

"What do you think?", Sonic asked Team Weasel.

Patricia looked at a Spaceship. "Wow, it's beautiful!"

"So, what engine does it run on?", Tails asked Ivy.



Klinx and Macro looked interested. "Sounds awesome!" said Macro. Slash, however, was unsure. "I'm not flying." she said.

"A G-Diffusion system, which reduces gravity forces on the pilot and provides a respectable power source for shields and propulsion." explained Ivy.

"What about weaponry? You said you're bounty hunters.", Tails asked.

Slash scoffed. "Bounty hunters in the sky..."

"Our ships come with a high defense, failproof lock-on system, and interchanable weapons system, including a single, twin, and hyper laser, laser missile launcher, laser gattling gun, and smart bombs." said Ivy.

"Sheesh! That's a lot of tech to put in a single ship. You've learned well, from me!", Tails said to Ivy as a examined the engine.

Ivy simply winked as Star Wolf climbed into their ships.

Tails was inside the ship's internal sections. "So, is this the G-Diffusion system?", Tails asked as he examined the insides.

"Yep, that's it!" said Ivy.

Klinx walked over to the ships. "I won't pretend I understand any of this." he said.

"This looks pretty complex. I love it!", Tails said as he continued looking inside.

"Thanks." said Ivy. "They were mostly like this anyway. I just fine-tuned them to make them more stronger, resilient, and durable than before!"

"You've come a long way!", Tails said as he got out and hugged Ivy.

Ivy hugged her father back, smiling as she looked at her locket once again. Kyle just lightly smiled at this scene.

"So, how about flying it?", Sparky asked Star Wolf.

Clyde gave a smirk that looked almost smug. He was always willing to show off. "Get in, and hang on tight, kid!" he said.

"What about you?", Sparky asked Team Weasel as he got in one of the Wolfens.

"I'll do it. Who do I have the honor of riding with?" Klinx asked. "I wouldn't actually fit in the Wolfens." Macro said. Slash was standing rather far away from the group with her arms crossed.

"Well since you're a hottie, you ride with me, sweetie." said Angel.

"Well let's get going, shall we?" Klinx said as he followed Angel to her Wolfen.

Angel walked toher Wolfen and posed as she got in it. She helped Klinx into the Wolfen as Clyde glared at Klinx with animosity and jealousy boiling in his eyes.

Sparky was in the same ship as Clyde. "Dude, you okay?", he asked Clyde.

"Yeah...I'm fine..." said Clyde. He noticed that Tails was climbing into Ivy's ship.

"So, ready to show me how this works?", Tails asked Ivy.

"Ready when you are!" she said.

"I am!", Tails said to Ivy.

Joseph was climbing into Kyle's Wolfen, Kyle didn't have much enthusiasm for having someone else riding with him. "Don't touch anything or you're dead, ya got it?!" he said sternly. "Okay okay, I won't!" said Joseph. On Clyde's signal, the four ships headed off, pretty fast into the sky.

"Nice view you're getting!", Sonic yelled up to Ivy's ship. "You're used to this?", Sparky asked Clyde.

"Yeah, wow.", Jack said as he admired the ships flying around.

Patricia looked at the ships. "Look at them go!"

"You know it!" said Clyde. "I am the best pilot in the galaxy after all!"

"Show off...." Ivy said quietly.

Sparky said nothing; he was too busy looking at the scenery bellow them.

"Enjoying the view?" asked Clyde.

"Yep.", Sparky simply replied.

Klinx was holding onto the sides of his seat, he hadn't done anything like this before. "You're quite the pilot." he said to Angel.

"Aww, you're sweet..." she said, seductivly.

"Ah well you know." Klinx said, looking out the window.

"So, any adventures you want to tell me about?", Sparky asked Clyde.

Clyde began to go on and on about how well a great team Star Wolf was, going into great detail about every mission they and been assigned by General Peppy and the Cornerian Army. Eventually, however, it started to get boring and Sparky was beginning to regret asking.

Sparky was drooling since he was so bored. He snapped out of it and asked Clyde "General Peppy? As in, the guy on the internet who says 'Do a Barrel Roll'?"

Clyde hadn't the slightest idea what he was talking about, but he didn't respond.

Patricia was using using one of the ship's radios. "Um, Sparky? We need to talk."

"Yeah, what?", Sparky responded.

"Every time you see me, you seem a little wierd when I'm around. Is something wrong?", Patricia asked.

"You're a skunk! I'm very sensitive about being dirty and being clean, and the last thing I need is a friend who might be extremely smelly, no offense.", Sparky answered.

Patricia looked happy. "None taken. I maybe a Skunk, but I have a heart of gold. All I know is to never judge a book by it's cover. You'll remember that motto, do you?"

"I most certainly will.", Sparky said. "How are you doing?", Sparky asked Klinx.

"Pretty well, considering. I'm just glad that Angel's such a skilled pilot." Klinx replied.

"That's not all I'm skilled at..." winked Angel.

"........Is it a habit of yours to hit on random Mobians?", Sparky asked Angel suspiciously.

"If I think they're worth it..." she replied.

Sparky said nothing; he was a bit dumbfounded by Angel.

"While I appreciate the compliment I must inform you that I'm spoken for." Klinx told Angel.

"What?", Sparky asked.

Klinx smiled even though Sparky couldn't see it. "Yes, her name's Katie."

"Ah. I understand now. Sometimes your formal talk confuses me.", Sparky said to Klinx.

Klinx chuckled a little. "Oh I see. My apologies... I mean, sorry." he said.

"Ah, it's alright. If I'm confused, I'll ask.", Sparky chuckled.

Jack was using one of the communicators Star Wolf handed them. "Hi Sparky. How's it going?"

"I'm fine.", Sparky answered.

Jack smiled. "Good. Patricia is super nice and friendly, no matter if she is a Skunk, she's still my Bestest Best Friend."

"Patricia already made her point. So, Klinx? I'm bored. Anything you want to tell me about?", Sparky asked Klinx.

"Oh ok then, sorry.", Jack apologized.

"Let's see. What did you want to know?" Klinx said, still holding onto his seat as Angel maneuvered the ship.

"Well, what was life like for you before you got into Team Weasel?", Sparky asked.

"Oh you want to know about that." Klinx paused for a minute, thinking. "I was basically trying to follow in my father's footsteps. Did a lot of business in Station Square."

"Business? And who's your dad?", Sparky asked Klinx, now getting interested.

"Well I wouldn't want to bore you with the details of business transactions... But my dad's name is Snike the Weasel." Klinx said.

"I see, but what I mean is what was your job?", Sparky said to Klinx.

Klinx sighed, "Persistent aren't you? Well to put it simply, I was a con artist." he said.

"Hi guys, Sparky and I had a little talk earlier.", Patricia said.

"Hi Patrici-what?", Sparky said to Klinx.

Patricia looked worried "Huh? But why are you a Con Artist, Klinx?".

Klinx shrugged, "You asked, Sparky. And Patricia, I suppose you could say my father taught me." he said.

"Aimamam. I see why you're a weasel.......I'm very worried now.", Sparky said to Klinx, shaking a bit.

"So uh, what should we do now?", Jack asked.

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