Zip Zap Zoom ʚɞ Sonic the Hedgehog

ʚɞ Six - Fun family roadtrip ʚɞ

"All right, there's gonna be rules on this trip," Tom announced. "Number one, both of you do exactly as I say all the time. Got it?"

"Got it," Alex replied, who was sitting in the back, doodling.

Sonic gives Tom a little salute, "Got it, Donut Lord."

"Would you stop with the Donut Lord?" Tom asked. "I have a name. It's Tom."

"And you can call me Alex," Alex introduced herself.

"I'm Sonic," Sonic smiled.

"Sonic. Sonic. So you've been spying on us all these years?" Tom asked.

"I mean, I wouldn't call it spying," Sonic replied. "We were all just hanging out, only I wasn't invited and no one knew I was there."

"Bro, I can't believe Crazy Carl was right all this time!" Alex chuckled.

"Yeah, you should call him Super Observant Carl instead," Sonic remarked.

"I'll be sure to tell Ash that," Alex laughed.

"Who's Ash?" Sonic asked. "Is that the girl you're always with?"

"Yeah, that is her," Alex nodded. "She's my best friend."

Sonic nodded, taking this information in before his eyes widened and he peered out the window. "Oh, my God, stop the car right now!"

"What, why?" Tom asked, expecting there to be something wrong. 

"The World's Largest Rubber Band Ball?" Sonic read the billboard they were driving past. "We gotta see it!"

"No, no. No, this is not some fun family road trip, okay?" Tom replied. "The government wants to dissect you and arrest me. This is serious."

Sonic gives Tom a smug smile before he zooms out of the truck. He comes back in the blink of an eye with a baseball cap and some small rubber band balls.

"Eh, you're right. It was lame. The gift shop was cool, though!" Sonic smiled, holding up a mouse pad that reads "I Heart Rubber Band Balls. "I got you a mouse pad. When are we gonna get there?" Sonic holds up a paddle ball and plays with it at a very fast speed while looking at Tom with a playful smile.

"We will get there when we get there!" Tom answered as Sonic continued playing with the paddle ball.

■■■

Eventually, it got dark and Alex ended up falling asleep in the back seat. 

Tom exited the car, placing on a cap and faced Sonic, "All right, I'm gonna go check in with Wade, see if he knows what's going on."

"You're gonna see Wade in that glass thing?" Sonic replied, eyeing the payphone oddly. "What is it, a teleportation box?"

"It's a payphone. It's mostly for drug dealers and fugitives from the law, which is us," Tom answered simply. "Stay in the car with Alex. I don't want anybody seeing you."

"Ugh, fine," Sonic sighed.

Tom walks up to the payphone and goes inside.

Meanwhile, Sonic is horsing around in the truck, pretending that he is driving it and making engine noises. At one point, he spots a large gathering of bikers off to the side. 

He gasps with wonder before ducking down behind the door. "Okay, okay. That is the coolest place on Earth, but you have to stay with Alex in the car!"

Sonic slowly peeks his head up to continue watching everything play out in front of him. He begins to hyperventilate, fogging up the glass on the window which he wipes away to keep watching. 

Even after a minute passes, he's still fighting his excitement by rocking back and forth in the driver's seat. "Be strong, be strong!"

Not taking it anymore, Sonic spots a pair of sunglasses and smiles as he gets an idea.

Meanwhile, Tom is on the phone with Wade.

"Hello. Green Hills Police Department," Wade answered the phone.

"Wade, it's me," Tom said.

Hi. I'm so glad that you called," Wade replied, sounding nervous. "Uh, so, some guys came in asking some questions. Uh, they're a little creepy. Kind of reminded me of, uh, the guys from Men in Black, but not as likeable or, uh, charming as Will Smith."

"Wait, what kind of questions?" Tom asked.

"Um, questions about... terrorism?" Wade answered, still sounding nervous. "Heh, I told them that I've gone ice fishing with Tom. He doesn't know how to make a bomb! He can't even make bait in the cold!"

"All right, Wade, listen to me," Tom ordered. "This is really important. Don't tell them that we talked, okay?"

"You know, I think they already know," Wade replied before the phone was snatched away from him.

"Mr Wachowski," Robotnik began.

"Ugh, Tom," Tom corrected, now knowing why Alex hated people calling her Alexandra.

"I want you to know that the only person who ever punched me in the face was the school bully," Robotnik began to explain. "He hit me in the cafeteria, causing a blunt-force contusion to the soft tissue surrounding my orbital bone. Humiliated me in front of the entire school! And you know what I did in response?"

"Uh, I'm assuming that you reported him to the principal's office 'cause, you know, that kind of behaviour is really unacceptable," Tom replied sheepishly.

"No, I examined the inefficiency of a world where brawn trumped brain, and I used technology to resolve that inefficiency," Robotnik explained. "The boy ate his meals through a straw for a year. And I have never lost a fight... until today."

"Hey, hooray for me then, huh?" Tom replied.

"No, because you're about to become the bully with the straw!" Robotnik snapped. "I'm coming for you, Mr Wachowski, and your daughter. And when I catch you, I'll-"

Tom hangs up. Threatening his daughter was the last straw.

■■■

Tom comes back to the truck with a fast food meal, "Okay, not exactly the healthiest meal, but..."

Tom quickly notices that only Alex is in the truck, who has just woken up.

"Alex, where's Sonic?" Tom asked.

"I dunno, I just woke up," Alex replied with a small yawn. "Where are we, anyway?"

Tom looks over to the biker bar and quickly realizes. "No, no, no, no, no!"

Alex quickly grabbed her jacket and followed her dad as he rushed towards the biker bar, both of them knowing that Sonic probably made a very bad decision.