It was a perfect day on the beach. Penny was sitting next to Sonic, with her favorite book in her hands.
"There's nothing like a lazy day at the beach." Sonic smiled. He turned over to the girl, surprised to see her reading the book she was reading yesterday.
"You still reading that book?" He smirked.
"Sonic, of course I'm still reading it!" Penny smirked back.
"Suit yourself." Sonic smirked.
"Fine. I'll go play volleyball with Sticks and Knuckles." Penny chuckled. She walked over to Sticks, who was smiling to herself after she caught the ball in her hands.
"It's nice to breathe that salty air and relax. For the first time, I feel nothing but stress-free."
"Hey, guys!" Tails's voice suddenly popped out of nowhere, scaring Sticks into a battle mode.
"Not stress-free, hu?" Penny joked.
"Shut up." Sticks playfully punched Penny lightly.
"I just perfected my most brilliant invention yet! Meet UT, the Universal Translator!" He pulled off the sheet that was covering his invention. The thing underneath the sheet was a small, yellow robot.
"Able to translate any universal language into our own!" Tails smiled brightly.
The rest of the gang just blinked, while Penny smiled brightly and moved closer to UT.
"How does it work?" The girl asked Tails.
Tails smiled. "At least someone appreciates my invention. Allow me to demonstrate!"
UT moved over to a bird's nest. Something blinked and whirred inside of him, and he turned around and translated the bird's thoughts.
"The fact that you pre-chew my food is repulsive." The robot translated.
"Hey-hey-hey, it works!" Knuckles smiled.
"Didn't see that coming." UT continued. Knuckles looked confused. "Uh... it's still talking." He said.
"I thought this thing just translated birds." UT continued once again.
"Since what you're saying doesn't need to be translated, UT is translating it into what you really MEAN!" Tails explained.
"Genius!" Penny grinned.
"I didn't attend for it to do that, but I will gladly accept full credit." UT continued. Tails frowned.
"That's great, Tails!" Amy smiled. UT moved over to her and proclaimed,
"Pretty lame."
Amy gulped nervously and stood up, defending herself. "That's not what I was thinking at all."
"Man, I am totally busted." UT continued.
"Tails?" Penny gulped. "I think it needs some more work." The robot moved over to her and translated, "That thing could cause a lot of trouble and get into my private thoughts!"
"Private thoughts, hu?" Sonic smirked at his young friend. "What's this about now?"
"A girl should have thoughts of her own, right?" Penny asked, full of challenge.
"If that thing doesn't shut its metal trap I think I might die." Penny looked over to Amy and saw that she was looking panicked.
"Wait, this thing reads minds?!" Sticks gasped.
"Wait, this thing reads minds?!" UT repeated.
"GET IT OUT OF MY HEAD!!" Sticks screamed.
"Get it out of my head!" UT repeated once again.
Sticks screamed and tried to attack the robot, but Knuckles grabbed Sticks and held her back. "Whoa, whoa, easy there, Sticks!"
"Take it easy, wack-job."
"HEY!" Sticks screamed.
"I am displeased."
"Don't be offended, Sticks. Knuckles didn't think that!" Sonic said defensively.
"He is not the sharpest tool in the shed." UT continued, translating Sonic's thoughts.
Knuckles growled at Sonic.
"Tails, I think it's best that you turn UT off. We don't want it to reveal anything...sensitive."
"Shut that thing off before it tells Sonic that I loo...." UT began, but Tails shut it off.
"What was that?" Sonic asked Amy suspiciously.
"Nothing, nothing important!" She laughed nervously.
Penny looked down at the ground in disappointment. She knew Amy must love Sonic, because she was a hedgehog just like him. Maybe there wasn't a chance for Sonic and Penny to be a couple.
...........
At Eggman's layer, Eggman and his robots, Orbot and Cubot, were watching the whole thing curiously.
"Very interesting. It seems that Tails's invention is causing trouble between Sonic and his friends."
"Yeah, and they're not getting along, either!" Cubot said.
"This gives me an idea." Eggman smirked. "If I could make a duplicate of the robot and replace it as the original, I can have it say whatever I want! We'll be down each other's throat in no time! And with the group divided, I can destroy them once and for all! " He laughed evilly. Orbot and Cubot joined him.
"Don't laugh, you're ruining it." Eggman snarled.
..........
At Tails's shack, he stared sadly at UT.
"Wow, UT. My friends and Penny normally love my inventions! I can't believe you have such a lousy CPU."
UT looked at Tails. "I blame myself." UT translated.
"No, if there's one to blame, it's me. Oh." He sat up in his bed and smiled sadly at UT. "You were just translating my thoughts, were you, UT?"
"I feel like a dummy." UT translated once again.
"Things will go better tomorrow, I promise." Tails shut UT off. "Good night, UT." He closed his eyes and went to sleep.
What he didn't know was that Orbot and Cubot snuck in Tails's shack with a UT that looked just like the one Tails made. The swapped it with the fake one that Eggman made, and snuck out with the real UT. They snickered as they closed the door.
Tails opened his eyes for a bit, thinking he heard something. Thinking it was nothing, he closed his eyes and went to sleep.
.............
Next day, all of us were at the beach again, relaxing. Sticks and Penny were tossing the volleyball back and forth to each other. But Penny saw hatred in Sticks's eyes, and the girl turned around to see what was troubling her. Tails was walking towards us with UT besides him.
