SONIC'S TRIPLE TROUBLE

PART 4

"Welcome, Sonic the Hedgehog!" Robotnik cackled, as the three stood there. "I hope you are prepared for the Atomic Destroyer 5000's laser! I just so needed something to give it infinite power… And thanks to you, Knuckles, I have it!" The echidna growled at the doctor, as he charged at the machine and punched it.

For once, his fists did nothing and Knuckles recoiled. Sonic attempted to attack Robotnik head-on, but even that didn't work. "That emerald is making him invincible! We're gonna have to find it and pull it out of we wanna get to him!" Tails stated, before ducking to avoid the laser.

On the back of the laser cannon, Nack took off the glass casing around the Master Emerald before pulling out a crowbar and attempting to yank it out. "C'mon! I didn't follow these three suckers along for nothing… Just come to papa!" He successfully pulled it out, and began running away.

"I'm ready to put 'em in place, you ready to catch the weasel?" Scratch asked on a headset, holding an unconscious Penguinator by the collar.

"Ready!… Uh, for who again?" Grounder asked, while Coconuts pulled him away around the corner to avoid Nack, who was coming their direction. The weasel halted upon something catching his eye.

Dollar signs formed when he saw it. A moderately sized Robotnik statue made of solid gold. "Aw, score!" Nack didn't even think twice about it as he entered the lone room, ready to grab the statue, until he knocked it over by accident.

He freaked out for a moment, but then saw that it was actually a cardboard cut-out. Nack didn't know what to think, until he backed up into Coconuts and Grounder, then Scratch who shortly caught up with them.

Nack didn't even get to think, as all three robots tackled him.

Meanwhile, the heroes were grabbed by the giant arms attached to the laser cannon. Robotnik laughed, as he had Sonic in his grasp along with the other two. "I have you now, hedgehog! No more will you be a pain in my backside!" Attempting to charge his laser, the cannon only responded with a click.

He stared at it for a moment. "What?" Robotnik then looked over to the back of the laser cannon. "What?!" Penguinator stood there, finally getting up… And holding the doctor's favorite wrench.

Robotnik's teeth cracked upon seeing him, and Chimpo. "Penguinator! Chimpo! What have you done?! Why do you have my favorite wrrrrrench?!" While Penguinator came to his senses, as Chimpo rebooted his systems, not noticing the Master Emerald that Nack had stolen was in his hands now.

"Whoa! Shiny!" Chimpo stared at the Master Emerald, before being smacked away by Penguinator.

"M-master Robotnik, it is not what it looks like, I assure you!" During the banter, Knuckles pulled himself free of the grip the robotic hands had on him, Sonic, and Tails.

"Then what is it supposed to look like?! I was this close… This! Close! To rrrrrrridding of Sonic the Hedgehog, plus that annoying fox and moronic echidna! And now, I see that the monkey has an obsession with shiny objects, and you're willing to let him take the Master Emerald when I'm using it?!"

"I promise it's nothing of the sort!" As Penguinator attempted to reason with his master, Sonic and Tails made their way around, while Knuckles tried to punch the laser cannon again now that there was nothing to keep it invincible.

Shaking for a moment, the whole laser cannon and Dr. Robotnik tipped over to the side before falling off its stand. Sonic spin-dashed into the two badniks, then lifted the Master Emerald. "Let's total this place and get outta here!" He exclaimed, before Knuckles took the green stone out of his hands for protection sake and still lacking trust.

As Sonic and his friends were about to leave since Robotnik was underneath the laser cannon, but they were soon met with several badniks blocking the way. "Hold it right there! Don't think you're getting away!" Coconuts yelled, backed up by nearly everyone.

"You have no chance of gettin' out of this one partner!" Wired Earp followed up. "You'd have to be invincible or somethin'!"

Knuckles just smirked. "Invincible, huh? Well, as guardian of the Master Emerald… I happen to know all its secrets!" He then put it down for a moment, placing only one hand onto the Master Emerald.

His body turned into a whitish color, as if he was glowing. Growing more muscular, much to the shock of Sonic and Tails. "This, is the real power of the Master Emerald, you thieves! Meet Hyper Knuckles!"

The badniks felt their eyes widen in fear. Knuckles didn't hesitate to send them all across the halls and break holes inside the Atomic Destroyer while he was at it.

"Wow! Cool! I want a cool, super strong form like that!" Tails said in awe, while Sonic rolled his eyes, clearly envious.

"Yeah, yeah. I bet anyone could do that with the emerald… Quit stealing the spotlight, enchilada!" Sonic huffed.

"It's echidna! Knuckles the Echidna! And you can use the Master Emerald's power, if you wanna quit being a sour puss!" Knuckles retorted, as he punched Frankly out of the way along with making an escape opening.

Sonic and Tails jumped onto the Master Emerald, both of them turning into a light-blue and yellow color respectively. "Nice!" Sonic flicked up some stars around him, noticing that his spikes had grown. Tails on the other hand, was surrounded by little golden birds.

Needless to say, now the fight was one-sided for the heroes. No matter what all the robots tried, none of them could land a hit on the hedgehog and his friends. Batch Cassidy found his rays did nothing on them, Chassis James began panicking upon seeing his lasers were ineffective, Davy Sprocket was knocked over before he could even fire his rifle.

"I got them!" Dragon Breath and Sir Ffuzzy Logik called out in unison, raising their weapons over Sonic and Tails. Upon striking them both, Ffuzzy Logik found that his sword was dented, while Dragon Breath's club was broken in half.

The two robots were dumbfounded, and soon met with several blue stars striking their bodies, knocking them over. Lucie chuckled at the sight, sweeping up the destroyed parts of badniks and then putting them in a dustpan before she flew over to the heroes. "We meet again, hedgehog… Do not think I had forgotten how you humiliated me, those putting me on sanitation duty!"

Grinning at her, Sonic prepared himself. "I never forget a pretty lady!… Buuuuut in your case…" Lucie went from smug to insulted in mere seconds, furious as she ripped off her maid's uniform. Dynamight whistled at the sudden show, and then spontaneously exploded without anyone even pushing down his plunger.

Lucie lunged at the hedgehog, attempted to grab or claw at him. Sonic just flung more stars at her, which sent her back into a wall, the stars pinning her wings against it. "Looks like you'll all be seeing stars from now on!"

Pecked at by several birds, Skweel attempted to outrun them all, only to run into Grounder by accident which promptly made them both break apart on impact. Scratch, either idiotic or trying to be confident, blocked them all from leaving.

… It didn't take much to get him to move when Hyper Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles sped through him at full force, sending the robotic chicken flying.

All three of them jumped out of the Atomic Destroyer, trying to cut bits of it like they were saws, until the while base started to collapse as they escaped with the Master Emerald in tow.

Dr. Robotnik could only say one thing in response to it all:

"I! HATE! THAT! HEDGEHOG!"

Even though the ruins were gone, Knuckles managed to place the Master Emerald in a new stand. "There! Now hopefully the island remains peaceful!… I uh, couldn't have done it without you two. There were a lot of those metal morons!"

"No problem, what was your name?" Sonic asked.

"I told you earlier! Knuckles the Echidna!" He folded his arms, sitting on top of the Master Emerald. "Sorry I attacked you two, I'm not used to being lied to, I thought Robotnik was being sincere about you being thieving troublemakers!"

"He says a lot of things." Sonic replied, smirking. Tails meanwhile, had an idea.

"Knuckles, why don't you come back to our home and hang out? You were a big help after all! The three of us could make a great team!" He suggested, Sonic being somewhat surprised at the sudden offer.

"No thanks. I gotta watch over the Master Emerald! But if you guys need me, I'll be here." Knuckles laid back and stretched. "Try not to mess anything up on your way out though!" Sonic and Tails nodded, waving goodbye as they went all the way back to find their plane…

On the way back, Tails began thinking as he flew alongside his friend. "Hey Sonic… Is it just me, or did we forget about someone?…"

Dr. Robotnik had spent the past half-hour chewing out Penguinator and Chimpo, until Madmole finally removed himself from the broom closet. "Whew! Are those freaks gone?" The mole's smile faded upon seeing Skweel and Grounder, who had been fixed up by Humpty, all three of them standing there the whole time.

"Ohhhh, look what we have here… Dr. Robotnik! Look who was cowering the whole time!" Skweel snorted, happy to have their revenge against the new robots. Robotnik turned to him, and grabbed Madmole by his fat neck.

"What do you think you are?! You're a mole, not a scaredy cat! Are all thrrrrrree of you so useless that Scratch and Grounder are suddenly more competent?!" Grounder then smiled innocently, followed up by Coconuts and Scratch who were holding a tied up Nack.

"Actually your nastiness! Just before those three messed everything up for you, we caught an intruder! This weasel could have made things much worse! Bahahahaaaa!" Scratch laughed, before tossing Nack over to Davy Sprocket and the Despicable Desperadoes. The weasel gulped as he was being glared at by them.

Coconuts then spoke up next. "Also, that giant emerald made Sonic and those other two weirdos transform! Dr. Robotnik, maybe instead of using it for a laser cannon… You could do the same!" Robotnik felt a new plan forming in his head, and he towered over the usual trio.

"Normally I do not accept any form of failure, especially from you!… But between those other thrrrrree messing up even worse, you all at least making an effort, getting rrrrrrid of a possible hinderance, and telling me such information!… I am promoting you all back onto the S.S.S.S.S. Squad!"

Scratch, Grounder, and Coconuts all cheered. Ffuzzy Logik sighed in relief, while Skweel grinned and Humpty leapt up in joy. Robotnik then tossed all of the cleaning equipment to Penguinator, Chimpo, and Madmole. "You robotic rrrrrejects, get to work and clean up what was destroyed!"

Penguinator groaned, unhappy at the state he was now in. "Surely this ending cannot get worse?"

… Upon that, his monocle cracked, much to his misery.

THE END

((Since AoStH copped out on super forms entirely besides… Super Robotnik, I went ahead and made all the heroes straight into "Hyper" mode, and took liberties with Hyper Sonic in a way.

Now, regarding a question a guest user left on here…

Q: Can you have Sally Acorn join Sonic and Tails?

This is a really tricky thing to me, for the following reasons- Copypasted from a conversation with a friend on Skype.

• She isn't in the AoStH verse at all besides Christmas Blast, with no speaking lines and just as fan-service. Albeit, these take place before Christmas Blast.

• Sonic is… Kind of very much a ladies man in his AoStH incarnation. He has a possible girlfriend/love interest one episode a few times, but then disregards them because of episode reset. That's why when bringing in Amy, I went with her fan-girlish depiction, and Sonic not being used to the tables being turned. So I would have to make Sonic and Sally "only friends for a one-off, possible love interest like Amy".

• I'm afraid I would write her in a way fans wouldn't be pleased with, because I would have to follow AoStH's style. The closest Sally's depictions have gotten with that is early Archie Comics, and her personality bordering on the concepts for SatAM of her not liking Sonic's affections. I feel like that would anger people, since I know Sally's fans don't like her being depicted certain ways… Not all, but some do.

• I only planned five episodes. The next, final one revolves entirely around Tails, and a character we only saw for a small moment in the second episode. I didn't plan on any others after that, so that way I can get to work on a third Mean Bean Machine script/story. It takes a bit of time to plan out how certain stories would go, and with Sally, I feel like it would be difficult to come up with a plot that works her into it.

… That being said, you people, the readers- I humbly ask you to be the ones to decide whether or not I should bring her in. There's interesting ideas I have with her! But if you feel as if it's too risky or "meh", then I'll gladly toss it!))