Zip Zap Zoom ʚɞ Sonic the Hedgehog

ʚɞ Thirteen - Friend ʚɞ

The blast from Robotnik's hovercraft sends Sonic flying through the portal and hurtling him onto the streets of Green Hills where he lays motionless and unconscious.

Robotnik menacingly appears through the portal, which closes behind him. Tom, Maddie, Alex and the farmer rush in to see Robotnik cackling loudly and taking off his flight goggles.

"You're an astonishing little creature," Robotnik chuckled. Tom spotted Sonic's bag of Rings by his feet. "It'll be fun to take you back to the lab for a litany of invasive exploratory procedures. Any last words?"

"Guac... I like that word..." Sonic said before slumping down.

"I don't have to tell you how many scientific breakthroughs have been made possible by animal testing," Robotnik replied, never noticing Tom as he appeared from behind his hovercraft and jumped on. "You're being very selfish."

"Going my way?" Tom asked.

"What the-" Robotnik let out as Tom punched him in the face, knocking his flight glasses off his head, and the two start fighting inside the Eggpod. Robotnik grabs Tom by his shirt, "Who the hell do you think you are?"

Tom breaks free, punches Robotnik again and grabs him, "I'm the Donut Lord, you son of a-

Tom gets elbowed by Robotnik and he is thrown off the hovercraft when Robotnik jerks the steering yoke.

"Autopilot, adjust!" Robotnik puts his flight goggles back on his head and Maddie and Alex rush to Tom. "Why? Why would you throw your life away for this...thing? That's why I don't have friends. Next thing you know, you're somebody's best man, they want to have the wedding out of town... Like nobody has anything better to do! Anyway, where were we? Oh, yes... you were about to die."

Suddenly, a bullet ricochets off the hovercraft. Alex looks over to see that it was Wade who fired his gun. Ashley stood next to him, holding her baseball bat.

"That's our sheriff you're messing with," Wade said.

"And our Blue Devil," Crazy Carl announced, holding up a chainsaw, "who, as everyone can see, is a very real creature and not at all invented by me!"

Wade gently pushes the chainsaw away, trying to make sure Ashley was a safe distance away. "Careful. Just- just put it away."

"Tom?" Maddie said, looking over at Sonic. Alex felt tears beginning to flood her eyes at the sight of Sonic laying on the street.

"I don't mean to be indelicate here, but someone should get some ice, keep the body fresh," Robotnik announced. "He's just a silly little alien. He didn't belong here!"

Alex looks over at Robotnik and stands up, angrily wiping away her tears. "That little alien knew more about being human than you ever will! His name was Sonic. This was his home... and he was my friend."

Suddenly, Sonic opens his eyes and stands up as his body is now supercharged with blue lightning-like energy, leaving Dr Robotnik bewildered and the Wachowski family smiling.

"He's all yours!" Tom said to Sonic before leading his wife and daughter to the side. "Everyone get back!" Everyone else moves out of the way. Alex ran to Ashley and hugged her, glad to see her again.

"I think you have something that belongs to me!" Sonic clenches a fist, which starts to pull out the energy from his quill in Robotnik's hovercraft until it is no longer glowing and the energy has been transferred back to Sonic. "This is my power, and I'm not using it to run away anymore. I'm using it to protect my friends!"

Robotnik puts on his flight goggles and readies his hovercraft's concealed weapons, the laser markers pointing at Sonic, who gets into a start position on the road.

Robotnik smirks and fires the weapons. Sonic leaps into action, dodging the rockets and starts to bombard the vehicle with body slams, each one increasing in speed until the hovercraft becomes disabled, which infuriates Robotnik. "Now you've done it!"

"Guess what, Eggman? I'm not leaving Earth. You are!" Sonic snarled before looking over at Tom. "Donut Lord?"

Tom nodded, revealing the bag of Rings in his hands. He ran to the back of Robotnik's hovercraft and pulled out a ring, imagining The Mushroom Planet. Throwing the Ring, it opened up to The Mushroom Planet.

"What's that?" Ashley asked.

"Long story," Alex answered. "But to cut it short... say buh-bye to Egghead."

Both Robotnik and Sonic charge at each other, but Sonic lands a powerful blow to the hovercraft, reducing it to useless junk and sending it and a screaming Dr Robotnik through the portal. It closes, sealing Robotnik away. 

The electricity emanating from Sonic fades away with the crowd cheering for Sonic's victory as Tom reunites with him. Alex runs over too, a huge smile on her face.

"I told you, you got this," Alex smiled.

Sonic smiled back at her, "Hey, we got this."

Alex holds her hand up for a high-five, which excites Sonic so much, he happily laughs and runs around in a circle at super speed before jumping up and giving Alex a high-five.

Tom hands the Ring satchel back to Sonic, "I think these belong to you."

"Thank you very much," Sonic replied.

Before Tom can give Sonic the Rings, he makes one final rule, "No more pushing people off buildings."

"You know I can't promise that," Sonic admitted. Tom gives the Ring satchel back to Sonic.

"You did pretty good, spacehog," Alex chuckled.

"Thanks, Curly Tree," Sonic replied.

"You're gonna have to explain this Donut Lord, Curly Tree thing," Maddie said, beyond confused.

"Nope, sorry," Alex shook her head, making her and her parents start to laugh.

"That's between me, Alex and the little guy. Right?" Tom chuckled. "Tom: We got our own thing, you got your thing with your... sister."

"Oh, my God, my sister," Maddie's eyes widened as they all realised they'd just left her there tied up. "We can never go back there."

"I mean, are we?" Tom asked, earning a look from his family. " 'Cause it kinda feels like we're home right now."

"Really?" Maddie asked.

"I kinda feel like I checked the save a life box off my bucket list," Tom explained, smiling down at Sonic before facing his wife and daughter. "Now all I want to do is spend my life with the people I care about. I want to check that box."

"So do I," Alex smiled. "I mean, those opportunities aren't going anywhere just yet."

"Yeah, I like that," Maddie smiled, hugging her husband and daughter.

"Does this mean you aren't moving?" Ashley asked. "Because that means I don't have to worry about writing this cringy speech I was gonna give you."

Alex laughed, nodding her head. Ashley breathed out a sigh of relief and hugged her best friend again.

"Oh, you're Curly Tree's friend!" Sonic exclaimed.

Alex chuckled a little before she began the introduction. "Sonic, this is Ashley. Ash, this is Sonic."

"All right, everybody. Nothing to see here," Wade announced, clapping his hands together. "Let's disperse. Just another ordinary day in Green Hills. Carl, I'll take that chainsaw. Come on, let's go! You act like you've never seen a fight between an intergalactic space rodent and a robot with a doctorate!"

Tom and Maddie began walking home, still embracing each other. Alex and Ashley followed with Sonic by their side, while Ashley was already being told about what had been going on the past few days.