Road Rage

Kate drove through the crowded, car-clotted nighttime freeway with all her friends. They were all listening to the sound of calm radio music that wasn't quite happy, and wasn't quite sad. However, not even this music was enough to break the ice as Kate looked into the backseat mirror at Nikki and Cherry. Nikki seemed to be upset.

"I'm sensing some tension between you two, for real," Kofi Yo whispered, looking to Cherry. She stared him in the eyes. Nikki shivered.

"What?" Cherry asked. "We're not tense. There's no tension." Cherry smiled Nikki's way. Nikki shut his eyes tight. Kate's eyes widened and she pursed her lips in confusion. "Haha… why are you doing that?" Cherry asked. To Nikki, her dull blue stare was like a gun pressed up against his head. Peni nervously looked out the window.

"I can't get over the fact that you guys decided to go on a tour…" Vector groaned from the backseat. "... The DAY after you agreed to help with the investigation." Espio gave Nikki a death stare, looking right past Cherry.

"Do you hear something?" Peni chuckled.

"Yeah! The day after you agreed!" Charmy exclaimed loudly, poking his head up from the front seat and flying all around the car.

"Oh I hear something, alright," Madonna sighed.

Kate looked out the window at a welcome sign. "Here we are in Valuan," she said. "Cherry, you were here just a few days ago, right? But you turned around when the PT almost hit." Peni glared at Cherry.

"Nikki? Can we have a word?" Peni asked as Cherry and Kate continue to talk. "Privately?"

"Where?" Nikki mumbled. Peni rolled down her window and grappled onto the roof of the truck. Nikki rolled down his window too, and climbed up to where Peni was.

"First of all, I wanna establish some things. Making sure I'm not crossing any lines…" Peni said. "You're comfortable with hanging out, gossipping on the roof of a probably-speeding car?"

"I stand on the wings of airplanes cuz I think it looks cool. Talk to me."

"That's the PHANTOM THIEF OF HEARTS down there," Peni hissed sternly, sticking her hands onto Nikki's shoulders. "If she so much as looks at the Chaotix, we're screwed. If she looks at us, we're dead. Probably. I dunno how it works. But still!"

"Whoa whoa whoa," Nikki tried to calm her down. "I'm sure Cherry isn't the Phantom Thief."

"Oh, really?" Peni asked, not having any of it. "Then why is it that wherever she goes, a path of gray follows? Why does she seem to switch personalities every two seconds?" Nikki stood there, unable to come up with a counterargument for a stance both he and Peni knew for a fact was untrue.

"Look… please don't tell anyone," Nikki begged.

"That right there. That's something that's been bugging me above all else… Why did you say you had the Phantom Thief right in the palm of your hand only to be hanging out with Cherry next thing I know?" Peni asked. "I can see right through you, Nikki. Give me one reason to not believe you're her associate, maybe even a scout seeing as how she's always following you around." Nikki gulped, stepping back until he was at the edge of the car roof.

"Penumbra, we're friends, right?" Nikki asked.

"There's no such thing as friends in my line of work," Peni replied, raising an arm to Nikki's chest. "You probably hate the Robotnik Empire more than anyone. You're a traitor at heart. Of course you'd show up right when I was about to get my pay in order to help Cherry escape and continue to take peoples' hearts, right? Mole your way into the investigation and get rid of us all in one go? You were ready to make a nation fall in order to get your revenge for what Robotnik did to you… That's just petty!"

"That's not it at all!" Nikki exclaimed. Peni raised an eyebrow.

"Look… I didn't just come here to stop Cherry," Nikki mumbled. "Well, I did at first! But then I realized that I kinda miss this place." Peni stepped away, confused. Nikki stepped back onto safer ground. Just in time to see two blades come down and slice Peni's legs right off. Peni screamed, and Nikki jumped back. Whoever those blades belonged to landed on the roof of the car as Peni fell onto her back. "WHAT THE—?!" Nikki shouted.

"This your friend?" The stranger asked, standing up on her long, metallic sharp legs, and pointing one at Peni's throat. Nikki stood there, dumbfounded. "Hmm… you can't say? Then I guess you won't mind… seeing her die in front of you." The teal marten cut off Penumbra's last two legs, and then… she inched her knife legs towards Peni's chest. Nikki's eyes widened, and he shot a burst of Chaos Energy right at the knife-legged marten. The electricity was drawn to her metallic legs, and spread up into her body, blasting her back. Nikki watched as she landed on the road.

"Peni!" Nikki exclaimed. Peni looked unamused. "Are you… okay?" Peni wove some new legs out of spider silk and stood up.

"No time for that," Peni sighed. "This one's persistent." Nikki looked to the road, and saw the marten finally stop tumbling as she dug her legs into the cement. She ran forward as her metal appendages blurred together into buzzsaws that carved through the road.

"You won't be rid of me that easy… for I am Blade the Marten!" The marten exclaimed. Peni shot two rockets towards Blade, but she merely deflected them with her uber-reflective legs. The arm rockets went flying backwards, causing an explosion that blasted the bridge apart. The cars on the other side screeched to a halt before they could fall into the river below. "Finally… these mere distractions are gone. Now prepare yourself! Hedgehog, I shall slice you in two, and release the darkness from your heart."

"Should I keep driving? Or do I pull over?" Kate asked, the gas pedal firmly pushed against the floor.

"Drive, drive, drive!" Charmy cried.

Nikki ducked as Blade spun through, moving her legs like a ceiling fan and nearly chopping him up. Peni shot some silk over to Blade, only for it to be cut in half. The half attached to her hand fell to the roof pathetically.

"Why are you tryna kill us? What's your beef?!" Nikki shouted.

"Illegitimate spawn of Dark Gaia… you are deeply infected by a force of unstoppable destruction and blindness," Blade murmured, turning her legs into a screwdriver and piercing the car ceiling. Madonna put his legs out to the side as the knives nearly stabbed him. Nikki, seeing an opportunity to counterattack, grabbed Blade by the tuft of hair on her head and slammed her face into the car roof. Peni webbed Blade's face to the roof, allowing an opening for Nikki to punch and kick away. He felt a feeling course through his body under the full moon. One that wasn't quite adrenaline. It felt cold.

"Wait, stop…!" Peni shouted as Nikki continued to wail on Blade.

"Huh? It's a crazy person with two knives," Nikki replied, looking up at Peni. "What else am I supposed to do?" But Peni wasn't looking at Nikki. She was looking at the road ahead.

Kate continued to drive, ducking under Blade's legs as she kicked them all around in a frenzy. Kate squinted. It looked like the road ahead was going downhill. "Now might not be a good time to say this, but umm…" Cherry mumbled. "I didn't stop turn back JUST because the PT showed up."

"Yow!" Kate exclaimed as Blade cut off some of her hair. "W-why'd you stop, then?!"

"The big hole," Cherry replied. Kate then saw that the road ahead didn't go downhill… it instead led to a chasm formed by the world shattering! Kate screamed, as she slammed her foot onto the brakes. The truck screeched to a halt, throwing Blade forward. Along with Nikki and Peni. Nikki grabbed Peni by the hand as they were thrown right above the chasm, and Air Dashed back over to the hood of the truck.

Everybody took a minute to calm down as the truck came to a complete stop just at the edge of the ravine.

"You KNOW I'm scared of heights!" Kate shouted at Cherry. Cherry jolted back, and her antennas drooped. "Why wouldn't you tell me that sooner?!"

"I didn't want you to stop driving," Cherry squeaked.

"We didn't kill that knife leg person for real, right?" Kofi asked. Nikki walked over to the edge of the hole, and looked down. He saw Blade walking up the side of the wall in an intimidating stride, piercing the molten stone with her legs like a certain echidna would with his knuckles.

"Nope! Bail!" Nikki shouted. He jumped into the truck along with Peni, and Kate drove off towards a detour.

…

A few minutes passed. Everybody was completely silent as they drove along a desolate forest path. The only sound was the truck's tires rolling against the road. "A cheap shot at a car full of innocents… how shameful…" Espio grumbled.

"The pink guy can talk?" Kate asked. Espio immediately hid his face away. "Sorry. That was nosy." They stopped at a red light. "So. Nikki, Peni, what were you talking about on the roof of the car?" Nikki's mouth dried up. He looked between Peni and Cherry. Nikki shook his head furiously back and forth.

Peni looked into Nikki's eyes. Even after she had tried to kill him twice, he had still gone out of his way to prevent her from falling into the chasm. She could have saved herself, sure, but Nikki had done everything in his power to ensure her safety. What kind of person would she have to be to backstab him after all that?

"He was telling me about his crush," Peni replied. Nikki wiped some sweat from his face. Nikki then looked out the car window, as the moon stared back at him. He thought about his fight with Blade. How she seemed to be able to track down the Dark Gaia Force he had inhaled on Lost Hex. He looked at one of the gooey, nightmarish Dark Gaia monsters that had become a common sight, roaming around aimlessly on the side of the road. He had to wonder, if the Dark Gaia Force hadn't left by now… would he soon be met with a similar fate?