Tails eyed the title. 'Hmmm, show thinks the title can't be merged into one word and still be grammatically correct.'

The scene begins with Tails' house where Sonic is running around the kit's small table, whilst Tails, Knuckles, Amy and Sticks are watching the blue blur.

"We're approaching hour 23 of Sonic and Knuckles' stay awake challenge and it's still anybody's game. Sticks what do you make of their strategy so far?" Tails asked, turning to Sticks.

"Well..." Sticks beat her to it. "It appears Sonic is jogging in circles to stay awake while Knuckles keeps his focus by watching late night TV. Both strong approaches, but personally, I find the grim knowledge that our freedom is slowly eroding enough to keep me awake at night."

"What about the rest of you?" Sonia asked. "At least one of you had to stay awake to be sure they don't cheat."

Sonic glanced at his little sister. "I should probably tell you that me and Tails' twin were forced to awake all night for at least eight hours."

Tails nodded. "But this overshadows that."

"Dang." Manic snorted, shaking his head. "That's cruel."

"Pathetic actually." The blue speedster corrected. "Ignoring Knuckles, Amy and Sticks, Eggman really thought that keeping me and Tails tired would stop him from his so-called "plan'."

Sonic panted as he ran around the table. "Give it up, Knuckles. I can keep moving all night. The second you find something boring on TV, you're going to be out like a light."

Knuckles smirked, holding the TV remote. "Don't be silly, Sonic, TV is never boring."

"Except talk shows." Knuckles said. He's not familiar with the technology, given that he's been at Angel Island for some time, but thanks to his friends, he's somewhat understandable.

"I noticed that there's no sleep deprivation between you two." Torque pointed out. He gestures at the blue hedgehog and the red echidna "Shouldn't they have eye bags, slurred speech, irritability, and social ineptness by now?"

"Not unless they've had enough coffee." Cory said.

Knuckles pressed a button on the remote and it turned to the Comedy Chip show.

"So Soar, tell us more about your dried, dense and complicated new book about introspection and self-betterment."

The red echidna grumbled.

Soar grinned at the audience. "My new book, counter productive, is about fixing your old mistakes, times when you made a mess of things. When you were a bad apple, active like a basket case."

Knuckles' eyes widened.

FLASHBACK

Knuckles grinned hopefully at the basket of apples in Charlie's hand. "Hey Charlie, can I borrow your basket? It's really important!"

"Who's that?" Amy asked.

"That's Charlie." Andy answered. "He's the one who's gonna be Knuckles' enemy in this show."

The red echidna raised a brow. "How so?

"Watch and you'll see."

Before Charlie could protest, Knuckles grabbed the buckets and dumped the apples to the ground. He strapped them to his feet and used them as mini stilts. Knuckles walked away on them, laughing excitedly. "Haha, neat! I'm all tall and stuff!"

Charlie hissed angrily.

Knuckles seemed to understand. "Oh..."

END OF FLASHBACK

Sticks waved her hand in front of Knuckles' face, and he didn't flinch. He just gaped at the screen. "Not getting a response from Knuckles, Sticks grinned. "His eyes are open, but his brain is definitely asleep. Sonic wins!"

Knuckles gasped, his eyes wide. "Am I... counter productive?" He asked slowly.

Sonic smirked at him, crossing his arms. "Nope, just someone who can't stay awake for twenty-three hour straight."

Knuckles ignored him and turned his attention back to the TV.

Soar continued. "If you don't go back to the people you've wronged and make up for your misdeeds then you're basically a monster and that's science."

"No! If you don't do that, you'll just be regretful!" Tails protested. "This guy is wrong on so many levels!"

"He was wrong when he tried to motivate Eggman." Shadow mention. "And that's saying something."

Knuckles' eyes widened with horror and he abruptly ran out of the room, screaming, "Don't look at me! I'm a monster! A monster!"

Sonic sighed. "Hope this turns out better than when he thought he was a ballerina."

Knuckles ignored that statement.

Flashback to where the red echidna got on his tippy toes and started dancing to one of the Nut Cracker themes, the Sugar Plum Fairy.

Sonic shuddered at the memory.

Some of the audience were laughing/giggling.

The scene changes to Knuckles walking up to Charlie's old boss, the Shopkeeper. "I'm looking for Charlie."

The shopkeeper shook his head. "You mean that guy who kept dropping my apples? Fired him years ago. Last I heard he was working at a dig-sight just outside the village. Probably mocking that up too."

Amy gasped in shock. "He fired him for what Knuckles did?! Why didn't he just explain to his boss what happened?!"

"He was probably too angry to listen." Tails guessed. He felt sorry for Charlie. When Andy told them that he was going to become Knuckles' enemy, he couldn't blame him.

"Aren't there any other jobs he could try out?" Lilac asked. "Maybe he could work at Meh Burgers with Dave."

"No way." Amy discarded that idea immediately. "One Dave the bad Intern is bad enough."

"For once, I agree with pinky." Eggman added.

Knuckles grinned. "Thanks! And as a token of my appreciation I will buy one apple." He nabbed one of the apples, but that one grab caused all of the apples to fall to the ground, leaving some of the baskets empty. He turned to the owner. "Now that those baskets are empty you mind if I borrow some?"

The shopkeeper snarled as Knuckles walked away with two baskets on his feet

The scene changes to a dig-sight, where Charlie is slowly pulling an ancient artifact from the ground, muttering, "Careful... careful."

Suddenly, Knuckles appears out of nowhere. "CHARLIE!" He cried.

Completely startled by the sudden outburst, Charlie nearly dropped the artifact, but luckily he caught it before it hit the ground. Charlie glanced up to see Knuckles. "Remember me? The guy that turned those apple baskets into stilts at your old job? Man, that was fun. But it turns out it wasn't fun! It was counter productive. So I'm here to make it up to you."

"How?? By making his life already worse??" Carol questioned.

Charlie looked surprised. "Oh. Wow. I totally forgot about that. Don't worry about it, my life is great now. I've got a wife, a nice house, this wonderful job, digging up ancient artifacts."

Amy was happy for him. "Wow. That's great! Now Knuckles can-"

"Doesn't matter." Knuckles put a hand on Charlie's shoulder. " I gotta make this right."

The pinkette blinked, dumbfounded. "Ehh??"

"Honestly, you really don't have to." The rat tried to protest.

"Exactly." Silver nodded. "His life is already great. While it's good that he wants to help, Knuckles really shouldn't be pestering him."

"Indeed. He's just gonna get both in trouble." Espio added.

"And cause Charlie to become evil." Vector stated.

"Can it!" Knuckles exclaimed. "I'm trying to be nice to you. We'll start with your lunch order."

Charlie held out a sandwich. "But I brought my lunch."

Knuckles frowned. "Not good enough!" He grabbed the sandwich and tossed it into a nearby lake. "I'm gonna get you something special!"

"He just wants to live his life in peace! Sure, he was probably mad at you that you'd got him fired from his old job, but now he has a new one!" Amy yelled. "And you're ruining it! AGAIN!!"

Knuckles sighed. This show's strong point is dabbling in the predictable. Sure, some of it is pretty funny, but man oh man, does it know how to push people's limits.

Knuckles ran off, accidentally kicking the buckets off of his feet. The bucket slammed into Charlie, causing him to break his artifact.

Charlie scowled in annoyance. He grabbed his broken ancient artifact and tried to fix it, but was interrupted once again as Knuckles came running in with a grin on his face. "Soups on!" He shoved everything, including the artifact, off the table.

Charlie scowled, but Knuckles didn't seem to notice. "I got braised short-rib on focaccia toast with a dollop of garlic -chive aioli and just a hint of lime."

Charlie smiled. "Actually, that sounds pretty good."

Knuckles nodded excitedly. "I thought so too. That's why I ate it on the way here. But don't worry, look what I found." He held up a mushy sandwich. "Can you believe some dope just tossed this in the lake?"

"You tossed it in the lake." Amy groused. Honestly, she was expecting the upcoming pain on Knuckles' twin once it happens.

"I really should get back to work." Charlie turned to pick up the fallen objects.

Torque nodded in agreement. "It's best to leave the guy alone."

"Too bad my twin won't do so." Knuckles grumbled. "Reminds me when Sonic tries to annoy me on Angel Island."

"Since when is it wrong for friends to hang out with each other, Knux?"

"Since, you've started acting like a spoiled brat."

The blue blur scoffed. "I'm a soiled brat?? I'm not the one who constantly gets frustrated when my precious emerald is gone."

"That 'precious' emerald of mine is very important to me."

Knuckles ran over. "Oh, let me get those for you, because I'm helpful and not counter productive."

"No, really, it's o-"

"Charlie, come on! It's me!" He tossed the sandwich away and snagged a pickaxe. However, that sudden movement caused a shovel to fall on Charlies' foot, and he hopped around in pain.

Rouge winced. "Poor guy. He just want to be left alone, but Knuckles isn't letting him.

"Just like how you always bother me??"

The bat grinned at the echidna. "Awww, come now, Knuxie. I'm not all that bad."

Knuckles frowned. "The working conditions here are dangerous! I'm gonna go talk to your union rep." He ran off.

The scene changes to Charlie walking home. He sighed as he entered his household. " Phew, honey, you would not believe the day I had." He looked over at the table and his mouth dropped open when he saw who was sitting there.

Knuckles.

The echidna grinned at him. "Hi Charlie!"

Amy facepalmed. "Now he's invading someone's home?"

Carol cringed. "He must really want to be on his good side. Even though he already has a life... that's about to be ruined."

"He tries to 'fix' the problem with Charlie, but the problem is him doing good things that ends up with him being the bad person." Sonic remarks.

Charlie took his seat next to Belinda. "Sweetheart, what is he doing here?"

Belinda smiled at her husband. "I invited your friend for dinner."

"I'm guessing she doesn't know that her husband was fired from his old job because of Knuckles, right?" Wave guessed.

"Either that, or he just told her out of the blue." Jet guessed.

Charlie looked at his wife. "But honey... We have that thing tonight?"

"I don't recall any thing. If you're trying to imply that you don't want someone here, perhaps you should just say it!"

Milla flinched. "He's just trying to be polite..."

"Even though he doesn't want him here, Charlie doesn't want to be rude to his wife in front of Knuckles." Tails said.

"What are you guys talking about?" Knuckles asked curiously.

"A private conversation that doesn't involve a stranger, who has no manners." Neera deadpan.

Back at the worksite, Knuckles runs over to Charlie, holding a tiny flag. "I wanted to be helpful so I picked up all those tiny flags you carelessly left scattered around in the dirt."

Charlie scowled in annoyance. "Those flags were marking the locations of valuable artifacts. I'm going to have to redo all that work now."

"Aw man, you should probably put flags by those flags so no one picks them up."

"Like you??" Knuckles groused.

"But don't worry, I'll fix it." The echidna placed the flag on one of the artifacts, and it fired a laser, destroying the sight. At the sound, Charlie's boss came running.

Charlie gulped nervously. "Oh no, it's my boss, Mr. Slate."

Mr. Slate snarled at them. "What's the meaning of all this?!"

"But-" Charlie stuttered.

Knuckles frowned. "I'll handle this."

"Oh no." Everyone chorused.

Knuckles turned to Mr. Slate. "You can't talk to Charlie like that. You're not the boss of him!"

Mr. Slate frowned. "Not anymore I'm not. You're fired!"

Amy frowned. "He just lost his job. Again."

"Poor Charlie." Lilac said.

"Poor Charlie?? Poor Knuckles." Spade corrected. "Because he's the one who's gonna feel pain. Physically."

It was pouring when Knuckles and Charlie walked home. Charlie sighed. "How am I going to break this news to my wife?"

"Tell it was the echidna's fault." Shadow said, flatly.

Knuckles grinned. "Ah, don't worry about that, I already called her!"

"YOU DID WHAT?!" Charlie shrilled at Knuckles.

"Or that."

Charlie ran up to his house to find his wife glaring at him at the doorway. "When are you going to stand up for yourself?!" She tossed a suitcase at Charlie's feet and closed the door.

"What's her problem?" Knuckles asked.

"You're the problem!!" Amy shrieked with anger. "You got him fired; twice! You tried to 'help' him, even when he politely states that he doesn't need your help! And now... HIS OWN WIFE HAS LEFT HIM BECAUSE OF YOU!!!"

"You did this, you ruined my life!" Charlie screamed at him.

Knuckles grinned at Charlie, unfazed by his anger. "No worries Charlie, I'm gonna make it up to you! As soon as I finished making up for that other thing I did. Whatever that was."

Charlie hissed at Knuckles. "You're a menace. I'm not gonna let people like you cause problems for me anymore!" He laughs maliciously and runs off.

The scene changes to him at the dig-sight, working on something. "He'll see! They'll all see!" He laughs evilly.

"Ignoring that laugh, I'm actually thrilled to see your twin get the beating of his lifetime, Knuckles."

"Honestly Scourge... I agree."

At Meh Burger, Knuckles, Tails, Amy and Sonic are all sitting at a table together. "I can't help but feel partially responsible.... in an indirect way." The red echidna voice filled with regret.

Knuckles rolled his eyes. "Gee, I wonder why."

Sonic smiled reassuringly at Knuckles. "I'm sure he didn't really mean all the things he said."

"Really?" Sonic asks with a deadpan look

Suddenly, the ground shook and the group looked up to see Charlie in a mech suit. He sneered at the group, mainly at Knuckles. "Knuckles the Echidna, your torment begins now."

Sonic shrugged. "Okay, maybe he meant them a little."

At that, Charlie shot a ray at the group, which froze them.

Tails seemed interested. "Wow, I have never seen a weapon like this before!"

"Your Electroplasmatic Capsulator does the exact same thing!" Amy exclaimed. "And more importantly, why is Charlie attacking ALL of them?!"

Sonic shrugged. "His life was ruined three times. So personally, he's taking out his anger out on Knuckles AND the others."

"That's because it's from the time of the Ancients." Charlie pointed out.

"You stole that stuff from work? Paperclips and sticky notes are one thing but Ancient weaponry? Not cool, Charlie." Knuckles frowned.

Knuckles groaned. Was it a curse that his twin can talk smart and and act dumb at the same time?

Charlie snickered. "Now you will feel my true wrath." He reached his claw out to Knuckles, but the machine didn't even work.

Scourge scoffed. "After all that work, he didn't build it properly."

"Did you try turning it off an back on? Sometimes that fixes it." Knuckles suggested.

"You're not helping." Charlie hissed, pounding his machine.

"Maybe the batteries need a recharge!" Tails said.

Charlie raised his hand. "Hang on, I almost got it.." Charlie slammed a button causing the gang to hit the ground. He laughs and runs away.

"Is that it?" Carol asked confused.

Lilac was also confused. "He freezes them, makes them fall to the ground and leaves??"

"He's acting more like a bully than an actual villain." Cory pointed out.

"How sad. I expected more." Scourge said sarcastically

As the gang got up from the ground, Amy gave them a reassuring look. "I'm sure this will all blow over before you know it."

"No it won't." Fiona said, plainly.

Knuckles is shown ordering a Meh Burger. Just as he pulled out his money, Charlie snatched it away from him. "My lunch money!" He cried.

"It's my lunch money now!" The rat hissed. He glanced at Dave ordering his own meal, with the echidna's money. "I'll take that double Meh Burger!"

Milla frowned. Why can't there be one cartoon without stereotypical bullies?

"Sir, please step aside, this line is for paying customers only." Dave stated, not caring that Knuckles' lunch got stolen.

"Of course you wouldn't care." Amy gestures at the buck-tooth beaver. "You used to side with Eggman."

At the park, Knuckles is sitting on a bench with an ice cream in his hand. Before he could take a bite out of it, Charlie appears, taking the ice cream away from the echidna and spreads it all over his face.

"Now that's just mean." Cosmo mumbled.

Tails sighed. "In all honesty, Cosmo... he kinda deserves it."

Around the Village Center, Knuckles is sneaking through the alleys. Charlie appears behind him, takes the red echidna and jams him into a dust bin. He then kicks it, making Knuckles fall down in front of Sonic and Amy.

"Knuckles, this is going on long enough. You gotta stand up to him." Sonic told him. The echidna shook his head. "No. This is my own fault. I got him fired, remember? And like Soar the Eagle probably says in that book I didn't read, I can't rest until I've made it up to him." "Can you at least stop letting him taking your lunch money?" Amy suggested. "Fine Amy. I'll try to avoid letting Charlie take my lunch money. For you.

Sonic frowned. "Why does he say it like that?"

"Jealous, blue?" Rouge asked, with a teasing look.

"W-what no! If anyone should be jealous, it's you!" Sonic gestures at the screen. "What if they actually get together?!"

Rouge scooted closer to the red echidna, much to his annoyance. "I already have my sweetheart right here. When is your twin and pinky gonna get together? Maybe they'll be together at the end of the episode."

Amy squealed happily. "Oh how I hope!"

Sonic sighed and slumped in his chair.

Back at Meh Burgers, Charlie is in his suit eating a Meh Burger, when suddenly, Knuckles walks up to him. Seeing him, the rat glares at him. "Let's see that lunch money." He demanded, threateningly.

"Charlie, as things aren't going well between you and I," Knuckles began, "I have decided to enlist the help of a to act as a go-between." He gestures to the beaver policeman, who appears. "I think his experience in dealing with tense situations will proof valuable to both of us." Scourge scoffed. "What the hell is a police officer gonna do to a guy in power up tech??"

Charlie stares at the beaver and reaches out his hand to him. The frightened Beaver Policeman complies, handing his money over and leaves.

Fiona chuckled. "That." "Honestly, why bother having the police around if they're not even gonna do anything." Anti-Tails questioned.

"Because he's a flat out coward." Spade pointed out. Charlie reaches out once more to Knuckles and the echidna drops his money too.

The scene changes to Knuckles, sneaking behind Charlie. "Charlie is not letting up, but I can't go back to being counter productive. So, I'll take the high road and stay out of his way until he cools off."

Knuckles tries to walk by casually to avoid Charlie, however, the rat notices him and takes a huge ice cream and smashes it onto Knuckles. The echidna moans in sadness.

Lilac was dumbfounded. "No way did he actually think that Charlie was just gonna let him... walk by without him noticing."

"Obviously. He doesn't have brain cells." Eggman groused.

The next scene shows Knuckles carrying a pie in his hands. "I figured it out. All Charlie really wants is a friend. Yeah, he is practically crying out to me for help."

Knuckles rolled his eyes at that remark. "Yeah, the person, whose life you've ruined, wants to be your friend by tormenting you." He sighed. "Yeah, he definitely wants to be your friend."

"Why doesn't he just defend himself?" Carol questioned. "Why befriend someone whose life is destroyed because of you??"

"If bringing a pie to him is defending himself, then he's gone and lost his mind." Gong retorted.

Knuckles reaches up to Charlie. "Hello pal!" He holds out the pie towards him. "I baked you this pie! Perhaps we can see a movie together and/or enjoy a frosted beverage."

Charlie responded by grabbing the pie from Knuckles and smashing it into his face. He then grabs him and throws him into a dustbin.

Charlie sneered as he slammed the lid on Knuckles. "See the wrath of my supervillain powers!"

With one kick, Knuckles rolled down the hill, screaming. He finally came to a stop in front of Sonic and the gang.

Fiona laughed. "Other than storing garbage, bouncing is what trash cans do best!"

"Great news, Knuckles! I think Charlie just let you off the hook." Tails grinned.

"Did you not just see him get thrown off inside of a trash can by that rat?" Knuckles questioned.

"Really?" Knuckles asked, crawling out of the trash can and throwing off a banana peel. "Because from my perspective it didn't go so well."

"No, what Tails means is that Charlie just called himself a supervillain." Sonic explained.

"We pretty much got that information already, faker." Shadow said, rolling his eyes.

Amy turned the pages to Counter Productive and read aloud. "Page 235 of Counter Productive: "If the person you're trying to make up to turns into a supervillain you can forget all that stuff I said about fixing your past mistakes, in that case knock yourself out."

Amy inwardly asks herself why her twin is still consulting that book.

Knuckles looked determined. "I know what I have to do now!" He ran towards Charlie, with a whole bunch of citizens behind them.

Knuckles glared at Charlie. "Charlie! I'm gonna do what you should have done a long time ago: stand up for myself!"

The sneered at him. "Bring it on, Knucklehead!"

"Hey! Name calling? Not cool!" Knuckles frowned.

"Let's go Charlie!" Eggman cheered. He frowned when no one joined him. "Really? Nothing? Am I the only one on the side of evil here?"

Eggman groaned. Any happiness that his twin wouldn't show up just vanished.

Sonic snickered. "It looks like you've found yourself a new intern, Eggy."

"Go eat a banana, monkey."

The fight starts with Charlie attacking Knuckles first with his tech glowing blue. He charges a laser at the echidna, but he dodges and kicks Charlie, making him fall on the stairs making the civilians cheer in excitement. Charlie gets up and attacks again with his laser, this time hitting him, making the echidna hit the ground on his back.

Belinda appears and cheers her husband on. "Alright Charlie! Crush him!"

"Your husband is about to go to jail. Doesn't she care about that at all?" Milla asked, shock.

"Looks like there's another villain in the family." Carol said.

Charlie sneered at Knuckles. " Let's finish this, Knuckles!"

Knuckles looks around and sees a dustbin. As Charlie attacks again, he takes the cap of the bin and reflects the ray, which freezes Charlie's robot arm. "What the.."

Knuckles destroyed Charlie's arm, making his armor fall down. He throws some dust at Knuckles and earns some cheers from Eggman and Belinda. Charlie attacks Knuckles again with the ray, but he can reach the armor and demolish it, causing the villagers to cheer once more.

Knuckles held his hand up to Charlie. "Truce?"

Belinda shook Knuckles' hand. "Truce."

"Aw, come on! It was just starting to get good!" Eggman complained.

"No it wasn't." Scourge deadpan.

Shadow sighed. "At least it's almost over."

Knuckles nodded in agreement. "Just once more episodes and were out of here."

Sonic grinned. "Great job Knuckles! You stood up for yourself and stopped a supervillain."

Tails raised a brow in confusion. "Didn't already do that with bad luck?"

"He's acting like he hasn't stopped an evil villain before." Amy said. She points at the human genius. "What about Eggman?"

The doctor scoffed. "That guy isn't even close to my superiority."

Knuckles grinned. "Thanks guys. Who's up for some burgers? My treat!" He ran up to Charlie and held out his hand. "Give me all your lunch money!" He laughed. "Just kidding."

"You better be." Amy warned.

The rest of the team laughed and walked off.

"Great job Charlie! You stood up for yourself and got a new job as a supervillain." Belinda smiled at her husband.

Charlie looked at his wife in confusion. "But what about the truce?"

Belinda held out her crossed fingers, and she and Charlie shared evil laughter.

Lilac blinked. "Well that just happened."

"Those two are made for each other." Spade deadpan.

"Where's that cop from earlier?" Cory questioned. "Those two need to be locked up if they're going to become villains."

"Unlike Dave and his mom." Sonic snorted.

"That buck-tooth beaver isn't a real villain." Knuckles protested.

"No kidding." Shadow replied.

"Alright everyone." Theo called out. "Since we're already at the end of the first season-"

"Thank god." Knuckles interrupted.

Theo chuckled at the echidna's rudeness and continued. "-we're gonna have to let a few of you go back to your home."

"Really?" Some of the audience were thrilled while some were confused.

"Cream, Maria and Cosmo; you three will be the only ones to go home."

"What?!" Knuckles shouted annoyed.

"Huh?!?" The three girls said in unison.

Scourge was angry. So those three girls get to leave but he can't?! Why the hell not?!

"But... why??" Cream felt sad that she had to leave before she could see the final episode of Sonic Boom. She couldn't understand why.

"I don't understand why we have to leave already." Maria said, genuinely confused.

Lucy sighed as she knelt down in front of Cream and patted her head. "Trust me when I say this, Cream that you, Maria and Cosmo leaving is a good thing. We just can't... tell you."

The rabbit's ear fell down as she nodded. "O-okay... Can I say goodbye to Mr. Shadow and everyone else, please."

Andy smiled. "Of course, Cream. Take your time."