Sonic is now inside Ozzy's dog cage, much to Y/N's dismay and Tom gently pokes him with a spatula and moves his head a little. He then holds up Sonic's and Y/N's quill and makes an intriguing discovery.
"The blue devil and the light blue angel."
"No, duh."
Tom walks to the counter and ponders what he should do, while Y/N walks over to the couch, placing her backpack and her guitar case down, and sits down. She waits and waits for her brother to wake up, not knowing how long that sleeping dart Tom shot with will last. She then sighs, feeling she needs to relax and knowing Sonic is strong. So she opens her case and pulls her guitar and turns it on as she tests it to make sure it's working before she begins to play.
Once she was done, she turns to see the speechless Tom.
"Wow... You play?"
"Well, yeah. You like it?"
"It's... amazing. It's fantastic. Aren't you that Dark Mysterious Angel everyone's been talking about?"
"A what?"
"You didn't know? You're on viral."
Tom showed her a few videos of Y/N herself in her black disguise playing guitar with the songs they know. They got some good comments about it.
"Wow... I... had no idea."
"Well, you are pretty famous."
"That's... nice to hear."
Just then, Sonic regains consciousness, opens the cage, and tries to stand up. Tom smiles at her and turns back to the cage, but is startled by Sonic.
"Sonic! You're okay!"
Y/N immediately goes over to her brother and hugs him whilst he tries to regains his conscious.
"Donut Lord?" Sonic groaned out.
"You can talk too. You're not... you're not here to abduct me, are you?" Tom said.
"Excuse me?" Y/N glared at him.
"You abducted ME!" Sonic pointed out, looking offended.
"Okay, that's a fair point. What are you two? Why were you guys hiding out in my garage?"
"We needed somewhere safe. And you're the only person I could think of, Donut Lord." Sonic said.
"Why do you keep calling me Donut Lord?"
"'Cause you talk to donuts and then eat them if they get out of line. Which is weird..." Y/N pointed out.
"Again, fair." Tom said, looking a little embarrassed.
Sonic looked around the house.
"Wait, wait, wait. Where are all the mushrooms? Why are we still on Earth? What is-- Oh, no! I lost our Rings!"
"What?!"
Before Y/N could explain, Tom hears a vehicle approaching outside, which is Dr. Robotnik's truck.
"What's happening? Is this your mother ship? I'm not in the mood to get probed."
"You think you're worried? I'm not even wearing pants!" Sonic sassed.
Tom looks out the window to see Robotnik's truck parked outside.
"What the..."
Sonic and Y/N looks out as well but yelps and covers the window with the curtains.
"They're coming for us!"
"Who's coming for you two? What does that got to do with me?" Tom questioned.
"We don't have time to explain, but you have to help us!" Y/N pleaded.
"No, I don't! Why?"
"Well, my legs, which normally would be classified as lethal weapons, feel like spaghetti. We need your help. Please. It's life or death." Sonic said.
Tom looks at Sonic and Y/N, then back to the window, then he makes his decision.
"Fine. Come with me."
Tom walks out and Y/N follows after him while Sonic tries to walk, but instead faceplants on the floor after falling off a table.
"Uh, little help?"
Y/N sighs at this and pulls her brother by the leg and drags him through. They the made it to the attic.
"Alright, stay here. And be quiet."
Y/N nodded while Sonic smiled.
"Good plan. Great plan! We're already working so well together! Practically finishing each other's sentences."
Tom walks downstairs, closing the attic door on the way out.
"Okay, bye."
"Real smooth, bro.."
Standing in the doorway, Tom looks out and sees Robotnik on the walkway.
"Hello there! Can I help you?" Tom greeted.
Dr. Robotnik walks over to the steps.
"Good morning, my rural chum. I'm... from the power company, investigating the blackout. If you don't mind, I'd like to take a few readings inside your house?"
"No kidding! You're from the power company? You must know my buddy Spencer. We play softball together."
"Ah, Spence. He's a good man."
"Yeah. Come on in!"
"Great."
Robotnik trots up the steps and onto the porch before being stopped by Tom.
"Take all the readings you need. Except, doesn't the power company usually take their readings from outside the house? That way they can check them even if you're not home. Also, my buddy Spencer works for the gas company, and he's more of an Ultimate Frisbee guy. So, you want to tell me why you think I'm dumb enough to just let you walk inside my house?"
Robotnik puts one hand behind his back and uses his glove controls to send out a couple of his drones to search the house.
"I'm sorry, Mister..."
"Wachowski. But everyone just calls me Tom. Except my dentist, he calls me Tim. But it's gone on for so long that it would be weird if I corrected him."
"Well, Tom Whose Dentist Calls Him Tim, you may have noticed that this entire town has been experiencing a power outage."
"Yep, no lights. Picked up on that."
"Twenty minutes ago, I tracked an energy pulse with a similar signature to the one that caused this disruption."
Some of Robotnik's drones fly into the house via the windows and even the chimney and one scans the attic while Sonic and Y/N watches and tries to stay out of sight.
"Listen, Mister--"
"Doctor. Dr. Robotnik. But my dentist calls me Rob."
"Look, uh, Dr. Robotskeez. Um, I'm sure what you're here for is very serious, but it's got nothing to do with me. You can ask anyone in town. Everyone knows me."
"I bet they do. I'm sure you're hella popular with the Jebs and the Merles and Billy Bobs in this glorified gas-station rest stop. Betcha go way back to the days of tippin' cows and playin' in a jug band!"
Robotnik imitates a jug band player.
"And maybe someday you'll achieve your goal of getting a Costco card or adopting a Labradoodle. But the reality is, I surpassed everything you're ever going to do... before I was a toddler. I was spitting out formulas while you were still spitting up formula."
"I was breastfed, actually."
"Nice. Rub that in my orphan face. Mr. Wachowski, are you familiar with US Code 904, Title 10, Article 104?"
"Yeah, who isn't--"
"'Anyone who attempts to aid an enemy of the United States shall suffer death.' And if I'm the one who catches you, it'll be even worse."
"Worse than death?"
Back in the attic, Sonic and Y/N are curled up into a ball to blend in with the other sports balls to avoid detection.
"Okay, I'm a ball, just a normal ball. I'm blending in like a ball."
"Shh, stop talking." Y/N shushed.
"No, you stop talking." Sonic shushed back.
"Be quiet, Sonic!!"
"YOU be quiet, Y/N! Oh, I hope they aren't scanning me with X-rays. I had a kind of an embarrassing lunch."
"Ugh... Gross..."
Another flying drone flies into the attic and starts scanning the area and they get closer to the blue and light blue balls.
"Don't freak out. Don't freak out, don't freak out." Sonic chanted.
The lasers get even closer.
"Don't freak out, don't freak out."
Just before the scanners reach him, he panics.
"I'm freaking out!"
"Sonic!! Don't!"
Sonic leaps out of his hiding spot and fumbles out of the attic and rolls down the stairs.
"Why don't you have your staircase carpeted?!"
Sonic rolls into the kitchen and bumps into the counter. Y/N rolls herself away from the lasers and gets out of the attic after uncurling herself and goes after Sonic.
"Compared to what I--"
Robotnik and Tom look for the source of the noise.
"Old pipes." Tom lied.
"Yeah. Probably just the house settling. Nothing to see here!"
Robotnik pushes past Tom and rushes inside to find the source of the noise with Tom behind him.
"Hey!"
Tom and Robotnik find a raccoon on top of the counter, chomping away at the cake.
"Here's the thing. I'm never wrong."
Tom pats Robotnik's shoulder.
"Well, first time for everything, I guess."
Tom walks over to the counter as the raccoon leaves through a doggie door.
"Would you like some cake? I hear raccoons have the cleanest mouths of any animal that routinely eats garbage."
Robotnik chuckles and gives Tom a chagrined look and turns away, only to find two of Sonic and Y/N's quill on the table, and he picks them up, a sinister smirk on his face.
"Look at that. I was right."
He waves his hand down his face.
"Note the lack of surprise."
Robotnik's face turns angry once again.
"Shall we try this again?"
Robotnik whistles to the tune of Richard Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" and an flying drone slowly approaches Tom while Sonic and Y/N are watching underneath the counter and the drone arms its weapons and aims them at Tom. Robotnik strokes two quills as he inches closer to Tom.
"I'm going to give you five seconds to tell me where it is. Five."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Four."
"Hey, tough guy. I'm a cop. And you're threatening an officer."
Tom brandishes his badge.
"How can you threaten somebody who never existed? Three. Come on! Rack your brain! You might be able to come up with some lame excuse to go on living, in two..."
Tom glances at the drone.
"One!"
Sonic and Y/N rushes from beneath the counter. Y/N pulls out two of her wooden katanas and glares at Robotnik.
"Stop right there!"
"Wait! Don't hurt him!"
"AAH!!!" Robotnik screamed at the sight of the two hedgehogs.
Tom punches Robotnik in the face, knocking him to the ground. A skirmish ensues inside the house with the flying drone firing its weapons everywhere, breaking objects and knocking some over while Tom, Y/N, and Sonic scramble for cover.
"This feels excessive!"
Sonic notices the drone and gets an idea.
"Stay behind me."
"Uh, sir?"
Tom notices Sonic is no longer with him, but only Y/N, who points at something. He turns to see him rather, climbing on top of a shelf, preparing to commence his attack. Tom and Y/N shakes their head urgently but Sonic just nods and give them a smug look and Sonic jumps onto the drone.
"Hiyah!"
Sonic is now controlling the drone.
"Don't worry, I got it right where I want it!"
Tom and Y/N scrambles for cover while Sonic is having a blast.
"Can you believe Amazon is gonna deliver packages with these things?!"
The drone tries shaking Sonic off.
"This was a horrible plan! What was I thinking?!"
Tom sees Y/N brings out her wooden katana, ready to strike as Sonic continues to fight the drone but is ultimately thrown off.
"I'm gonna puke!"
Y/N runs out of the cover, jumps over,, and slashes the drone with one swing, destroying the machine. Tom then goes to Sonic and carries him out of the house as Y/N sheathes her katana from the back and quickly places her guitar back in the case, closes it, and takes it with her and follows after Tom while Sonic is acting loopy from the fight.
"Come on! We gotta get out of here." Tom ordered.
"I know, I know!" Y/N shouted.
"Oh, don't tell me that's all you got! I'm just getting started! Let me know if you want to go round two with the blue!" Sonic said.
Tom puts Sonic in the passenger seat while Y/N sits in the back of where Sonic is sitting and gets into the truck, starts it, and drives away as quickly as possible, just as Agent Stone arrives and he walks inside the house and finds Robotnik on the floor.
"Doctor! Are you okay?"
Agent Stone helps Robotnik to his feet.
"I saw a guy race out of here and thought--"
"That you should stop them? Open your mouth and say you thought that you should stop them."
"No, I thought that maybe I should check to see if you were okay...!"
Robotnik grabs him by his lower jaw and pulls him close.
"You know what's hard about being the smartest person in the world?"
"Everyone else seems stupid."
"Stupid, yes! Way to go! You got that one."
He releases Agent Stone and wipes his gloves on Stone's coat.
"Whatever those creatures are, it's our job to secure them, neutralize them, uncover the source of their power. And if they resists... we take them apart... piece by piece."
Robotnik puts on his broken glasses.
"See what makes them tick. Stone?"
"Doctor?"
"Call Optical Illusions."
He takes off his glasses.
"Tell them I need new frames."
Then tosses his glasses to the floor.
"They know what kind I like."
Robotnik walks away but stops.
"Oh, and bring those two quills."
Then he finally walks out.
"Yes, Doctor."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sonic, Y/N, and Tom are now riding on the open road in Tom's truck.
"Alright, pals, you two need to start talking right now. Who are you guys? WHAT are you?"
"We're the hedgehog! I feel like that's obvious. And we're in big trouble." Sonic explained.
"Very big." Y/N added.
"Oh, you're in big trouble? You're not the one who punched some government weirdo back there." Tom sassed.
"You think you have problems? I lost the Rings!" Sonic sassed back.
"Rings? What are you talking about?"
"Okay, Rings are how all advanced cultures travel between worlds. And now ours are on top of a pointy building I've only ever seen on your skintight T-shirt!" Y/N explained with a hint of sass at the end.
This made Tom sound offended.
"Hey."
"So, we'd like you to take me and sis to San Francisco so I can get back the Rings and use them to go to the Mushroom Planet."
"Mushroom Planet." Tom repeated..
"Yes!"
"Right."
Tom pulls over to the side of the road and opens the passenger side door
"Okay, pals, out you go."
"Huh??" Y/N raised her eyebrow.
"I'm sorry, what?" Sonic questioned.
"Look, this is the worst possible time for me to get myself into trouble, okay? You asked me to save your life, I saved your life. Now, please, go find your Rings and your mushroom land. Hopefully I'm gonna wake up in a hospital bed and the doctor's gonna tell me that my colonoscopy was a big success. Okay? So, goodbye."
"Fine..." Y/N sighed.
"Okay. Goodbye." Sonic sighed.
He and Y/N steps out of the truck.
"Goodbye." Tom said and noticed the hedgehog siblings are still standing next to the truck. "Why aren't you two leaving?"
"We don't know where San Francisco is." Sonic and Y/N said in unison.
"It's west." Tom stated.
"West?"
"Straight shot, can't miss it."
"Fine. That's cool. We're totally cool saying goodbye now."
Sonic grabs his sister by the hand and speeds off in the direction Tom gave him, but he comes back to the truck, now soaking wet and covered in seaweed with a fish on his head while Y/N looks completely fine and all nice and dry, not knowing her emerald necklace has helped her keep her dry, but not her brother as she tried not to smile at how funny he looks.
"So, as we crashed into the cold, dark water of the Pacific, I realized a few things. A, we have no idea where I'm going. B, salt water stings. C, we shouldn't even be on this planet right now, but we are! Why?! Because you shot me!" Sonic ranted.
"I know." Tom nodded, looking away.
"You shot my brother!!" Y/N repeated for him.
"Alright, I heard you the first time. You don't have to... pile it on. Good grief."
Sonic extends his thumb."
"I'm wet. She's not wet."
He extends his index finger.
"I'm cold. She's not cold, and she's all warm.
He then opens his hands.
"There's a fish on my head! And clearly, we're not going to be able to do this on our own. Well, my sister can..."
"Yep. I have to sadly babysit my bro. But he's right. We have no idea where we're going since we've been hiding for so long and you're the only one who knows everything."
Tom looks at Sonic as the fish falls off his head then to Y/N, who looks determined. He eventually sighs in defeat,, knowing he can't get out of this.
"Alright, get in the truck."
Sonic's face brightens while Y/N looks surprised.
"Really?"
He shakes himself off really quickly, puffing up his fur, making her snort.
"You're gonna help us?!"
"I guess it is a little bit my fault that all this is happening to you two." Tom said.
"No, not a little bit. Entirely. It is ENTIRELY your fault." Y/N pointed out with a glare.
"Okay, it's entirely my fault. Are you two coming?"
"Yes."
Sonic shakes himself off again, his fur going back to normal and he climbs back into the truck as Y/N sits in the back before he closes the door.
"Road trip! Whoop, whoop!"
"What am I doing?" Tom sighed, already regretting this.
"Doing the right thing. And maybe... things will change to say the least." Y/N stated with a smile.