Sole Power

"What's so awesome that you had to bring me and Penny all the way out here?" Sonic asked as he, Tails, and Penny sat in Tails' mobile.

"Check it out." Tails smiled. "Voice-activated control!"

"Voice-activated control?" Penny smiled. "Cool!"

"Watch this." Tails smiled, turning to the controls. "Start engine."

The mobile powered up.

Sonic smiled. "Huh. Let me try. Give me a chocolate shake!"

The dashboard opened and handed Sonic a vanilla shake. He frowned. "Vanilla? I asked for chocolate! Fail!"

The machine then pulled out a chocolate sauce, pouring it on Sonic's head. Penny let out a giggle. Tails smiled. "Still working on the kinks. There's a towel in the workshop."

Sonic handed Penny the milkshake and zoomed off. However, once he started running, a loud, painful noise came from his feet, causing the mobile to go haywire.

Penny and Tails screamed as the mobile zoomed ahead.

"TAILS, DO SOMETHING!" Penny screamed, clinging to the mobile.

"Uh, Voice Control, I don't mean to be bossy, but, DON'T CRASH!" Tails cried.

"Uh, Tails..." Penny gulped. Tails looked ahead to see the volcano up ahead. "Uh oh..." Tails gulped.

Thankfully, the Mobile stopped going haywire, and Penny and Tails sighed with relief.

That was until the painful sound came back. Tails and Penny shrieked again, covering their ears.

The mobile tilted again. Penny and Tails screamed as the Mobile headed towards the lava...

....but Sonic saved them in the nick of time. He bumped them back to the surface. Sonic turned to them with a smile. "I guess voice-controlled rocket thrusters are a bad idea when you two are screaming." He said, helping a shaken-up Penny climb out of the mobile.

Tails unbuckled his seat belt and glared at Sonic. "Penny and I wouldn't have been screaming if you weren't making that horrible noise!"

Sonic frowned, glancing down at Penny, who was shuddering in fright and breathing heavily from the near-death experience, clinging to him. He glared back at Tails. "What noise? I didn't hear any noise."

"Wait a minute!" Tails said in realization. He walked up to Sonic and Penny. "I bet it's because you're faster than the speed of sound, you don't hear it!"

"I'll prove it wasn't me!" Sonic said, gently prying Penny off him. He smirked at the two. "When I start running and nothing happens, you're going to feel so dumb."

He zoomed off again, and the noise came back. Tails and Penny screamed, covering their ears. Sonic stopped, frowning. "Now that's just circumstantial evidence."

..........................................................................................

"Sonic, I'm going to run a few tests to figure out what's wrong with you," the kitsune said, holding a reflex hammer.

After a few tests, Tails and Penny could still hear the noise. Tails sighed. "I just can't figure out what's wrong with you! Until we get to the bottom of this, you'd better not run."

"All right, no problem," Sonic smirked and zoomed off. The noise blared, causing Penny and Tails to both scream and cover their ears.

"Sorry, old habit," Sonic said apologetically.

..........................................................................................

Soon, Sonic and Penny walked over towards the volleyball net, where the rest of the team was waiting for a daily game. Amy frowned. "Sonic, you were supposed to get the volleyball!"

"Oh, sorry!" Sonic chuckled. "I'll just zip home and get it..."

Penny and her friends quickly covered their ears. Sonic stood up, sighing. "By zip, I mean walk slowly and deliberately."

He began walking. Sonic sighed. "Ugh. Is this what average people do?! This is nuts!"

He finally reached the volleyball and walked back towards the gang. Sonic looked up at the trees and saw Eggman's robots clinking their claws.

"Guys!" Sonic dropped the volleyball, pointing to the trees. "Robot attack at six o'clock!"

"I can't do six o'clock!" Knuckles protested. "I have tickets to the opera! Oh, wait, that's someone else."

"BEHIND YOU!!" Sonic yelled.

Knuckles quickly smashed the robots.

Sonic tried to help, but the noise got in the way. Amy yelped and covered her ears. She glared at Sonic and smashed the robot before turning to him. "Sonic, we got this! Sit down with Penny until this is over. Penny, make sure he doesn't run."

Penny nodded, sitting down next to a very annoyed and bored hedgehog. This didn't stop Sonic's encouragement, though. He turned to Knuckles as he smashed the robots. "Way to go, Knux! A left! Then a right! Then another left!"

"Wait, which one am I on?" Knuckles asked. He let out a yelp as the robot knocked him to the ground. Knuckles growled, rubbing his head. "How come he gets it and I don't?"

Sonic turned to Sticks, who was hiding in the bushes. "Sticks! Your best move here is a spin attack!"

"That's your move!" Sticks snapped at Sonic, standing up. "Not mine!"

Hearing clanking, Sticks realized her mistake. "Uh oh..."

"Sonic, I think..." Penny began, but Sonic had turned to Amy. "Yeah! Give him a taste of your secret triple backflip move!"

Amy yelped as the robot grabbed her foot, dragging her to the ground. She glared at Sonic. "It's not a secret if you tell anyone!"

Sonic winced.

"This ends NOW!" Sticks hissed.

"HEY!" Sonic growled. He was tied to a nearby tree with the volleyball net. "I thought you were talking about THEM!" He growled as he watched his friends finish the fight. "Oh, sure, you think you can do this without...."

He frowned as Amy smashed a robot.

"....me?"

"Sorry, Sonic," Penny said apologetically, putting a hand on his shoulder. "It's the only way to stop you from running."

"Looks like someone else is sitting in the sidelines." A familiar voice said.

Sonic and Penny turned to see Eggman sitting next to them on a fold-up chair.

"Eggman!" Sonic growled, awkwardly pulling Penny behind the tree he was tied to. He tried to break himself free but stopped. "Wait. What do you mean about someone else?"

"I didn't send those Crab Bots," Eggman said. "Orbot and Cubot were dusting and accidentally hit a button in the layer!"

"And we're supposed to believe that?" Penny grumbled from behind the tree.

"So you weren't behind this?" Sonic asked in surprise.

"Looks like you don't need to be a genius to be an evil genius anymore." Eggman moved his fold-up chair closer to Sonic. "Makes me feel kind of unneeded."

"I guess we have something in common," Sonic sighed.

"You eat popcorn when you're depressed too?" Eggman asked, holding up a carton of popcorn.

"It..nooooo." Sonic looked away from him, glancing at his friends celebrating. "You know, the whole sitting on the sidelines thing?"

"Here, have some popcorn. You'll feel better." Eggman said. Penny watched as Sonic opened his mouth, and Eggman tossed the popcorn in.

"Okay, the doctor is in." Eggman placed a hand on his chest. "Talk to me! Just because I'm your sworn enemy doesn't mean we can't be friends!"

Penny raised her eyebrows. Sticks walked up to them with a frown. "Sonic! Eggman's not your friend! If you live near him, you could end up tied to something!"

"Yeah, I wouldn't want that to happen," Sonic said sarcastically.

"Sticks, he's pretty much tied up already." Penny rolled her eyes.

"I don't think this is a good idea, Sonic." Tails walked up with a frown plastered on his face.

"Well, you couldn't help me!" Sonic protested. "I'm running out of options here!" He sighed and turned to Eggman. "Whenever I run, there's this weird noise."

"You know, that happens to Cubot when he gets in the motor oil." Eggman scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Let's go run some tests."

Penny and the gang watched with open mouths as Eggman freed Sonic's tree. Sonic hopped away.

"I wonder if he can actually fix Sonic's sound problem..." Penny shook her head as she turned around to help her friends rebuild the volleyball net.

............................................................................................

Soon, Penny was about to hit the volleyball when someone stole it from her. And that someone was Sonic. She watched with an open mouth as Sonic sped around. He smirked as he skidded to a stop next to Penny, smirking at the human girl. "Yeah! Sonic's back, baby!"

Penny blushed slightly and lowered her head, a small smile playing on her face.

Amy frowned. "Don't refer yourself to a third person," she said. "It's creepy."

"Yeah! Knuckles hates that!" Knuckles grumbled.

"Wait!" Tails looked shocked. "No noise! I guess Eggman figured it out!"

"Yeah!" Sonic showed off his new shoes. "Power absorbent insoles!" He zoomed around his friends and smiled. "Eggman actually helped me!"

The sound of a robot crashing towards them caused Sonic to frown. "Or it was part of a trap." Sonic zoomed over to the robot, but the robot blocked him away, firing its laser. It turned to Penny, grabbing her in its fist.

"SONIC!" Penny shrieked, struggling in the tight grip.

Sonic growled, zooming towards the robot, trying to free his human friend. But the robot blocked Sonic's attacks, and the hedgehog landed on the ground.

Eggman flew in between them, smirking down at Sonic and his friends. "Sonic, I'd like you to meet Giant Robot. I didn't have time to name him because I was too busy planning this trap!"

Sonic growled, zooming over to try to free Penny from the robot's grip. But as he ran, Penny felt pressure squeeze on her, and she let out a yell of pain.

The robot blocked Sonic's attacks and lifted its arms, making a victory noise.

"My turn!" Eggman smirked. The robot smashed Sonic with its free fist away, and Sonic fell into Knuckles' arms.

"SONIC!" Penny yelped. Sonic growled and zoomed over to try to free her, while Tails held a handheld device and frowned. "It doesn't have a power source!" The kitsune said. "How's it even possible?!"

Eggman laughed. "That's right, Sonic. Run. RUN!"

Tails frowned. His gaze drifted over to Sonic's shoes, and the kitsune gasped in realization. "SONIC, STOP!" He yelled. Sonic stopped, glancing at Tails. The kitsune continued. "Your shoes are powering the robot! The faster you move, the stronger it gets!"

"Ooh, sneaky!" Eggman smirked. "I wish I thought of that! Oh, wait, I did."

"Oh, that's easy to take care of," Sonic smirked and tried prying off his shoes, but no avail. They stuck to him like superglue. Sonic frowned.

"Oh, did I forget to mention, they don't come off?" Eggman sneered.

"We'll see about that, Eggie!" Sonic growled. He walked over to a tree to try to kick them off, but that didn't work either. All he got was some type of hard fruit to fall on his head. "I'm not saying that it would be easy."

While Sonic struggled to take off the shoes, the rest of the team worked to defeat the robot and free Penny. Sticks frowned. "If Sonic's not running, why does the robot still have power?!"

"Because the shoes store the energy that he generates!" Eggman smirked. "You see..."

"Are we really going to do the thing with you explaining how you did it?" Amy frowned.

"The hardest part was getting that sound to play every time Sonic ran," Eggman said. "I've actually prepared a brief presentation that explains the whole brilliant scheme."

Just as the presentation device was about to share the scheme plot, Amy smashed it with her hammer.

"DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG IT TOOK ME TO CREATE THAT PRESENTATION?!" Eggman yelled at Amy. "Here. I've prepared a brief presentation that explains it step by step,"

Sonic took another spin dash at the arm that held Penny, but the robot once again smashed Sonic away. Penny squeezed her eyes shut.

"If you could only see yourself right now." Eggman chuckled. "I took your greatest strength and made it into a weakness!"

The robot squeezed its fist tighter around Penny, and she let out another shriek. Sonic growled and tried to launch another attack, but once again it was worthless.

Eggman laughed at Sonic's defeated expression. However, Sonic's defeated expression was short-lived when an idea suddenly popped into his head. He ran back towards the robot and started spinning around it. Penny squeezed her eyes shut again... just seeing Sonic run around in circles made her feel queasy.

"Sonic, this is CRAZY!" Sticks said, her eyes wide.

"No it isn't, it's stupid!" Knuckles shot back, and the two started to fight about it.

"Crazy!"

"Stupid!"

"Crazy!"

"Stupid!"

"Crazy."

"Stupid."

"It's BRILLIANT!" Tails gasped.

The robot started twitching, and Penny gulped nervously. What was happening?

Eggman frantically pressed a few buttons on his control. "Hey, wait, that's too much. Seriously, it's overloading!"

After Sonic reached a certain speed, the robot exploded, and Penny fell from the hand. Sonic jumped up and caught her in his arms before she hit the ground.

"Thanks, Sonic..." She smiled weakly at him, wincing in pain. Sonic smiled gently at her. "Take it easy." He warned her. He turned to his friends. "Welp, now that we're done warming up, Sonic's going to go for a run!"

Sonic zoomed off with Penny in his arms.

Eggman turned to the rest of the team. "Do you guys think it's creepy when he refers himself to the third person?"

"Yeah." Amy, Knuckles, Tails, and Sticks said in agreement.

Next chapter: Sleeping Giant