15 Blue With Envy

"I don't care what anyone says. Meh Burgers has the best burgers!" Sonic smiled as he bit into his hamburger. He smiled as he swallowed. "It's like Mardi Gras in my mouth! Only no one is handing out beads."

Penny smiled. "I agree."

Something zoomed past them. Someone green, to be exact. When he stopped, he turned to the crowd, lifted up his green sunglasses, and gave the audience a wink.

The crowd gasped.

The newcomer pulled out his skateboard again.

"What's he going to do with that skateboard?" A monkey asked.

"I think he's gonna ride it!" An ox said, excitement written on his face.

The stranger smirked, shooting a thumbs up at the ox.

The crowd gasped in excitement.

"Whoa. Who is this guy?" Penny asked, turning around to watch the whole thing.

"What?!" Sonic said. "He's riding a skateboard! How is that impressive?"

Penny smiled as she watched the stranger ride his skateboard around Meh Burger, earning excited gasps.

"He's got serious street-wide style!" Knuckles said, shocked.

"He's jumping six inches off the ground!" Sonic said with an eye roll.

The stranger stopped, smiling at the crowd. "Radical Speed!"

The crowd cheered.

"That was AMAZING!" Penny gasped.

"Oh, for the love of..." Sonic began, but Tails interrupted. "WOW! Those were some sweet moves!" The kitsune smiled.

Radical Speed stopped in front of their table. "Thanks, bro," he said, crossing his arms.

"You hear that?!" Tails asked excitedly. "He called me bro!"

"Yeah, I heard," Sonic said, resting his head on his hand. "He's quite a wordsmith."

"It's Swifty!" The stranger said. "Swifty the Shrew!"

"Oh," Penny said. "I thought you said your name was Radical Speed. Swifty is a cooler name."

"Thanks, sis," Swifty smirked at her. Penny sighed happily, and Sonic scowled.

"I don't see what the fuss is about," Amy said, picking up her burger.

"You know what? I'm agreeing with you, Amy," Penny said. "He's just a shrew in gaudy clothes." And at that, she accidentally tossed her burger away.

"I got it!" Swifty zoomed over, catching the burger before it hit the ground. Penny gasped. "You...caught my burger!"

"Radical speed." Swifty smiled. He gave her a wink, wiggling his fingers over the burger. He handed the human girl the burger, and everyone watched as Penny took a bite out of it. She smiled. "Radical speed!" She repeated back, mouth full of burger.

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Give me a break," he said. "I can feed people sandwiches! Watch." He stood up and shoved his half-eaten burger into Knuckles' mouth, and the Echidna glared at him. "Hey, lay off, man!"

"Help! My baby!" Lady Walrus cried, pointing to her baby who was climbing on top of a house.

"Someone needs to help that baby!" Tails said.

"Say no more, compadre brombigo!" Swifty said. He turned to Sonic and his friends. "Time for some..."

"Radical Speed!" Everyone except Sonic said.

Sonic groaned in disgust.

Swifty zoomed over on his skateboard and caught the baby walrus before he fell. Everyone but Sonic cheered.

"Yeah?" Sonic asked, feeling jealous. "Well, I'm saving the day too!" He turned to his friends. "Time for some...rescuing...baby!" He scratched his chin. "Action! Heroes?"

The audience stared at him, unimpressed. Penny gave him an apologetic look. Sonic sighed. "I'll come up with a catchphrase later."

And he zoomed off.

Once Swifty saw Sonic zooming up to him, the shrew pulled out two fireworks and shot one in front of Sonic. Sonic covered his eyes, yelling, "OW! MY RETINAS!"

The shrew then zoomed into the glue stall, knocking over a bucket, and in an instant, Sonic was stuck. The next thing he knew, a net fell on him.

The shrew caught the baby before he fell, and returned him to Lady Walrus.

Swifty smiled. "Remember, when you need a hero with style, give me a call!" He tilted his glasses. "I'm Swifty the Shrew. Catch you around, dudes And lady dudes!"

He zoomed off.

"I'd love to be his lady dude!" Penny sighed happily. She fainted in Sticks' arms.

"Me too." The badger smiled. She fainted in Tails' arms.

"Fainting party!" Tails announced with a smile and ended up being crushed by both girls.

Later.....

"Sonic, are you okay?" Penny asked as she handed the blue hedgehog a scraper to get the glue off of his feet. Sonic grumbled as he took the scraper. "Lousy Swifty and his lousy 'in your face' street-wise style! Lousy hip urban lingo."

Knowing that it was best to leave Sonic alone when he was in one of these moods, Penny turned to Sticks and Amy with a dreamy look. "Did you see the way how he pulled down his sunglasses?!" Penny cooed. "HE'S PERFECT!!"

"What, and I'm not?" Sonic scoffed. "I'm the one who takes care of you."

But Penny didn't seem to hear him.

"I know!" Sticks smiled. "And if he ever visits me, I'll disable all of my booby traps!"

"You never disable your booby traps!" Amy said.

"I know!"

The three girls squealed in excitement.

Having enough, Sonic sped out. He decided to pay Tails a visit, but he was met with a shocking scene...Swifty sitting on Tails' plane and talking to the fox!

"This is one bodacious radical flying machine, dude-a-Rino bro-guy!" Swifty was saying.

"Dude a Rino Bro guy?" Sonic muttered, shocked.

Tails and Swifty shared a fistbump. "Totally radical engineering!" They said together. They started sharing a secret handshake.

Having enough, Sonic scowled at them. "HEY!"

Swifty and Tails turned to Sonic. Sonic continued. "That's my best friend you're bonding with, PUNK!!"

"Whoa! Chill-ax, dude!" Swifty raised his hands. "What's the big dealio?" He jumped off Tails' plane and walked up to Sonic.

"The big dealio is I'm sick of you!" Sonic seethed. "I'm sick of your gell-back fur and I'm sick of your hip urban lingo with words like..dealio!"

Penny, Knuckles, and Sticks walked in right at that moment.

"Let's not go agro, brozilla!" Swifty smirked. "Can't help it if I'm more handsome, stylin', and totally faster than you!"

"You're not faster than me."

"Bro, you've got speed. But not..." Swifty zoomed around the irritated hedgehog. "...Radical speed!"

"STOP SAYING THAT! IT'S NOT EVEN A THING!" Sonic yelled, walking away from him.

"Radical speed is totally a thing."

"I'll bet a race around the village will prove that it isn't!" Sonic turned to the shrew, giving him a challenging glare. The shrew returned it. "Eh, sounds dope! The winner gets bragging rights!"

"Agreed," Sonic said.

"And the losers leave town!"

"What?!" Sonic and Penny said together. Penny felt anxiety bubbling up in her chest. She shook her head. Sonic has to win this race. She can't live without him.

"IIIIf you don't think you have the skills!" Swifty smirked.

"I've got the skills, alright!" Sonic smirked. "I'm so full of skill that skills are leaking out of my ears! I mean, not literally, because that will be disgusting."

Sonic glanced over at his friends, who looked pretty disgusted.

Sonic turned to Swifty. "See you at the race!"

He zoomed off.

"Sonic! Wait!" Penny yelled, running after him. Sonic stopped, turning to face her. "Are you sure about this?" Penny looked worried. "What if you lose?"

"I won't!" Sonic said, putting a hand on her shoulder reassuringly. "I'll make sure I'll win. For your sake and mine."

Penny walked over, and he pulled her into a comforting hug. "Everything will be okay."

"I hope so..." She muttered, burying her face in his shoulder.

At the race...

Penny stood next to Knuckles, anxiously twiddling her thumbs. Sonic better win this race.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, prepare for the race of the lifetime!" The mayor announced. "The winner will have the right to brag whenever and wherever he wants. The looser will..um...let's see.." He pulled out the book he was carrying. "Be bandished from the village forever..."

He glanced at Sonic's friends. Penny whimpered, and Knuckles pulled her in a comforting hug, though he looked anxious about this as well.

"That seems a little harsh, but, rules are rules!"

He walked off.

"Racers on your marks, get set, GO!"

The two zoomed off, but somehow Swifty managed to get in front of Sonic.

"What if Sonic doesn't win?" Penny asked. Tails glanced at the human girl determinedly. "He'll win. Nobody's faster than Sonic!"

Sonic zoomed even faster than before, but once again Swifty zoomed in front of him. "Radical Speed!"

"Radical SHUT YOUR PIE HOLE!" Sonic yelled.

Penny sighed with relief as Sonic zoomed up to the finish line. "Ha hah!" He laughed happily. "Okay, I won!"

He looked at his friends. Penny looked upset. Sonic frowned. "This is the part where everyone cheers!"

Hearing cheering, Sonic turned around, and what he saw caused his mouth to drop open in shock.

Swifty had won, and he was being tossed in the air, milkshake in his hand. "Radical Smoothie!"

"No..." Penny whimpered. She ran over to Sonic, grabbing him in a tight hug. Sonic returned it, growling. "No way!" He snapped, furious. "He WON? With time to get a smoothie?!" He glanced at Penny, frowning. "But...how? I passed him! I saw it! There's something fishy about this race."

"I told you, I have an irritable bowl syndrome!" A fish called.

Swifty zoomed over, prying Penny off of Sonic, pushing her to the ground. "Ahem! I think it's time for someone to be banished, yo!"

Sonic growled at Swifty, then turned back to the gang, who looked saddened.

"Sonic the Hedgehog," The mayor said. "In according with the town by law 77415, subsection B, paragraph 9..." he held out his hand. "I hereby declare you...banished!"

"Sonic!" Penny whimpered, reaching out to him. Knuckles held her back, but she struggled in his grasp. "Please! Don't do this!"

Sonic glanced back at Knuckles. "Look after her for me."

Knuckles nodded.

Penny whimpered as two police officers escorted Sonic out of the village. Defeated, she collapsed into Knuckle's arms, sobbing softly as he tried to comfort her.

"Sonic..." Penny muttered.

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

"I can't believe Sonic is gone!" Amy frowned.

"But Sonic IS gone!" Eggman sneered, flying over. Penny growled at him.

"Hah hah! You all fell victim to the charms of my greatest robot yet!"

"A robot?!" Penny's eyes went wide.

"Well, more like an army of robots."

Penny's mouth dropped open as Eggman pressed a button, and Swifty zoomed up. "Radical Speed!"

At cue, ten more Swifties zoomed up. "RADICAL SPEED!" They cheered in unison.

"Sonic didn't actually lose, there were just multiple Swifties along the track!" Tails yelled angrily. "I call shenanigans!"

"It's too late for shenanigans!" Eggman said. "Now, without your precious hedgehog here to stop me, I can finally fulfill my evil lifelong dream!"

Penny whimpered as thunder crashed.

"Building my own theme park!" Eggman finished.

"That doesn't sound very evil," Amy said

"It might create some new jobs," Knuckles pointed out.

"Silence!" Eggman snapped. "In my theme park empire, your entire village will be forced to wait in long lines, buy overpriced mech, and eat week-old turkey legs covered in... preservatives!"

Everyone ran away, screaming.

Penny grumbled, walking up to the mayor. "WE NEED SONIC BACK!" She growled at him.

"Oh, well, it's not simple! He's been banished."

"Then un banish him!" Penny hissed.

"I can't just un banish someone!" The mayor pointed out. "Unbanishing requires an assembly of the village!"

"Then assemble them." Amy hissed, walking up.

The mayor sighed. "I suppose I can do that..."

Soon...

"I hereby call the order the un banishing proceeding," the mayor said. He flipped through his textbook. "Let's see...hedgehog, comma. Sonic. Middle name: the. Now, let's see, where's his 10-87-Q18 form?"

"JUST DO IT ALREADY!" Amy roared.

"A-all in favor of unbanishing Sonic so he could save our lives, say "aye!"

"Aye!"

"All oppose?"

"Nay," Dave said, raising his hand.

"I hereby declare Sonic unbanished!"

Almost immediately, Sonic zoomed in, destroying all bots in a single spin dash. Knuckles and a couple of other villagers pulled down an Eggman themed statue.

"MY THEME PARK!" Eggman roared. "I was going to make a KILLING off of that merch!"

Sonic spin dashed Eggman away. When the battle was over, Penny ran over to Sonic, grasping him in a hug, which he returned. Turning towards the direction where Eggman flew off, Sonic smirked. "Catch you... later, Eggface...!"

The villagers mumbled.

The mayor shook his head. "That's not going to kill it, son."

Penny smiled, giggling. She was just happy to have her friend back.

Next chapter: Aim Low