Dr. Eggman chuckled as he looked at his monitor. "Oh, that is SO true!"
Orbot yelped as a motobug he was fixing electrocuted him. The force pushed the spherical robot towards Eggman, who glanced at Cubot at the corner of his eye. "Everything okay?"
"Nothing a little solder and a kind word couldn't fix!" Orbot told him.
"Not you, you idiot!" Eggman hissed at Orbot.
"I feel better already." Orbot sighed.
"Quit clanking your bolts! I'm chatting with my new buddy! Who, unlike you, is very intelligent."
Cubot glared at Eggman. "Hey! You told me you forgot the WIFI password! Were you also lying when you said cartoons would rot our... Head... Think... Boxes?"
"Nominatus, meet my hopelessly incompetent robots! Wave at him." Eggman hissed at Orbot and Cubot.
The robots waved at Nominatus.
"Pathetic!" Nominatus hissed, and he and Eggman burst into laughter. "LOL!"
Orbot and Cubot glanced at each other sadly before sulking off.
Orbot filled up a suitecase, adding a baseball cap, a toothbrush, a photo of himself, Dr. Eggman, and Cubot on a roller coaster, and a baguette. He sighed as he pushed the lid down. "I'm sick of being unappreciated. It's time to venture out on our own!"
"Yeah!" Cubot said. "Can we venture on our own together?"
"Of course." Orbot smiled. "We'll make new friends!" He flew over to say goodbye to his robot friends. "Motobug, stay strong. Titanium Bee-Bot, keep buzzing the good buzz. And Robot Crab, see a doctor before that thing spreads. A real doctor, not Dr. Eggman."
...
"...So I said, "reprogram you? I hardly know you!" Eggman laughed.
"That story gets funnier every time you tell it!" Nomanitus laughed.
"I know, right?" Eggman said, and he began typing on his console. "Ooh, ooh, before I forget, I want to show you the schematics for the new lair defense system. Prepare to be impressed!"
Orbot and Cubot fly up hopefully towards Eggman, suitcases in hands. "Goodbye, boss! We're leaving!" Cubot called.
"Don't try to talk us out of it," Orbot said.
Eggman glared at them. "Huh? No, no, I'm fine. No lunch for me." He turned back to his new buddy. "So, uh, where were we? It's all controlled from the central hub."
Cubot sighed, before flying over to Eggman's desk and taking the mug. (how many of you thought he was going to give Eggman a goodbye hug at that part?)
"I painted the access panel purple," Eggman said. "You think it's too much?"
...
Penny hummed as she bit into her hamburger. The sound of whirring caused her to turn around, and to her surprise, Orbot and Cubot were smiling at them.
"Hey, dudes!" Orbot said.
"What are you doing here?" Sonic grumbled.
"We're hoping for service, despite the fact that we have neither shoes nor shirt," Orbot told him.
"What's Eggman up to?" Sonic asked.
"Aw, we're done with Eggman! I swear!" Cubot said.
"We'll prove it! By revealing something Eggman wouldn't want you to know!" Orbot added.
"Yeah, uh, let's see..." Cubot started listing the things Eggman wouldn't want Sonic and the others to know. "He sleeps with an evil night light, he sings in the shower, there's a hole in the lair's defenses below the-"
"Stop." Sonic and Penny said in sync.
"HE'S BALD!" Cubot shrieked.
"They're telling the truth," Sonic said. "I knew about that hole in the lair's defenses."
"And I knew he was bald." Knuckles said. Penny smiled welcomingly at the robots. "Alright, you guys can stay. Welcome aboard!"
"Yes!" Cubot said happily.
"So, who's up for charades?" Orbot asked. He held up three fingers and started a chopping motion with his arm.
Awkward silence.
"Oh, that reminds me, I gotta chop my arm off!"
He zoomed away.
"Sonic!" Penny snapped.
"Sonic, you forgot your ax!" Amy yelled. She picks up a pepper dispenser and runs after him.
"AMY!" Penny hissed. "You two get back here right now..."
"I have to go build traps for when you ultimately betray us all." Sticks said. She too ran off.
Orbot and Cubot turned to Knuckles. "Sorry, guys, I've gotta go think of an excuse not to hang out with you."
"Knuckles! You guys, get back here right now and apologize!" Penny hissed. She sighed, and she and Tails shared a look before realizing that they were the only ones there.
Orbot and Cubot glanced at Tails and Penny hopefully.
"Uh-oh..." Tails gulped.
...
Tails and Penny sat next to each other, feeling uncomfortable as Orbot and Cubot stared at them hopefully. Tails looked down at his wrist. "Oh, look at the time!" Tails said. "Penny and I've gotta do something...somewhere else."
"But what should we do in your absence?" Orbot asked.
"Gee, guys...I thought this would be easy to do, but, sorry, I'm out of ideas." Penny said apologetically.
"It's okay," Cubot said.
"Try this video game!" Tails said, walking up with a computer. "You run, roll, and collect rings as fast as you can!"
"Aw, that sounds terrible!" Cubot complained.
"Suit yourself," Penny said. She and Tails walk out of the door. "I've got to give the others a good talking to..." she muttered.
...
"Now, look, you guys," Penny frowned at her friends as they sat on a picnic table together. "You really should give Orbot and Cubot a chance. I mean, if they really are..."
She was interrupted by yelling, and she turned around.
Orbot and Cubot.
"What's wrong?" Penny asked.
"An evil virus is taking control of Eggman's lair, and he's about to destroy the entire world!" Cubot answered her.
"And why should we believe you?" Sticks hissed.
Cubot pointed up at Dr. Eggman, who flew up to them in his eggmobile, screaming. The genius had his own beebots chasing after him.
"That'll work," Sticks said. Sonic got in front of Penny protectively. Penny watched in amusement as Eggman pushed her away and hid behind Sonic, shuddering.
"How many of these things are there?!" Sonic asked as he smashed them with a homecoming attack. " Too many! We need to go directly after the virus."
"You mean like a cyber-attack?" Penny asked.
"I can do that from my computer! Hold them off as long as you can!" Tails said. He grabbed Penny's arm and pulled her into his workshop, away from the danger. Eggman followed, and soon Orbot and Cubot came.
"So, how do we do this?" Penny asked the science geniuses.
Tails opened up his computer and smiled. "Oh! I got mail!"
"And you're the smart one," Eggman told him.
Tails typed on his computer and frowned, " It's no good! I can't neutralize the virus from outside your firewall!"
"We need to get inside the computer. But there's no way to do that!" Eggman said.
"There is if you have an artificial brain!"
Orbot and Cubot jumped back in surprise.
"They're artificial, but they don't have a brain between them," Eggman said.
Soon, Penny watched as Orbot and Cubot laid down next to each other, wires on their heads. Cubot glanced up curiously. "Is this massage Swedish or deep-circuit?"
He yelped as he felt himself get shocked, and he said, "Ooh, shiatsu!"
Cubot passed out as Tails sent the two robots' brains into the digital world.
When both robots came to, they looked around and at each other. Orbot grinned at Cubot. "Cubot, might I say, you look dashing in sixteen-bit!"
"Actually, it's seventeen-bit!" Cubot corrected him.
A large robotic fish resembling a Chopper comes up to Cubot and snapped at them. Orbot and Cubot ran away with the robot close behind.
...
Knuckles grinned as he punched one of the robotic insects, smashing it to piece. "Next time you should bee more careful!"
"That wasn't funny the first sixty-seven times you said it." Amy huffed at Knuckles as she smashed a crab bot with her hammer. Knuckles smirked. "Next time you should crab more careful!"
"Okay, now you're just trying to annoy me."
...
Back in the digital world, Orbot and Cubot are running through the digital landscape and come across a digital version of Tails's plane.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Orbot asked.
"Yeah!" Cubot exclaimed. "What if the Princess is in another castle?"
Orbot sighed in annoyance. "Get in the plane!"
Orbot pulls Cubot into the digital plane, and it takes off.
Back in the real world, Tails' Plane also takes off.
Orbot and Cubot make the digital plane do a barrel roll. The two mischievous robots did another barrel roll, causing the plane to crash into a tree.
The two hopped out of the plane and move down the path. They soon moved into a digital arcade, which included a bright red button in the center of the room.
"Button!" Cubot exclaimed excitedly.
Orbot pressed the button, and large brick walls appear around Orbot and Cubot and begin closing in. The two robots try to push the walls away but to no avail.
Cubot hopped up and down on the button. As the walls are about to close in on Orbot and Cubot, the two dejectedly attempt to push the walls one final time.
"Any last words, friend?" Orbot asked, pushing the wall.
Cubot nodded. "Yes! Up-up-down-down-left-right-left-right-B-A-start!"
Right at that, the walls stop enclosing on them and a beeping sound is heard. The two let out a startled yell as they fell to the ground. Surprisingly, they were no longer in their pixel shapes.
Hearing evil laughter, Orbot and Cubot turn around to see Nomanitus laughing wickedly.
"I can't fight him!" Cubot said.
"Neither can I!" Orbot added.
The two glared at each other. Cubot glances at Orbot. "Rock-Donut-Thursday?"
They started circling each other, playing the ridiculous game. "Rock! Donut! Thursday-SHOOT!"
Cubot made an "o" shape with his fingers, and Orbot displayed his hand in an open palm. "I win! Donuts are half-price on Thursday!" Cubot exclaims happily. Orbot shook his head. "No, the donut store's closed on Thursday!"
At the same time, Nomanitus watched in confusion, trying to put the pieces of the game together using speech bubbles and emojis. "This game... It makes no sense!"
"Rock, donut, Thursday, shoot!" Both robots yelled. Orbot and Cubot held out their hands again. Orbot performed the "rock" sign while Cubot performed the "Thursday" sign.
"Rock smashes Thursday!" Orbot explained to Nomanitus.
"You can't use Thursday! It's not an object!" Nomanitus pointed out.
"Ooh, nice move! But you forgot about Leap Year!" Orbot smiled.
"Logical reasoning impossible... Game incredibly stupid... Too stupid... Fatal error..." Nominations droned, and his head exploded.
To think that two ordinary robots could use such a stupid game as a weapon. (I was about to call them clumsy but stopped myself...)
...
Dr. Eggman, Tails, and Penny both cry out in joy and hug each other, but quickly remembered that they were rivals. They pushed each other away and walked off, whistling.
Orbot smiled as he sat up. "Once again, I've led us to victory!"
"Hey! There's no "I" in "multiplayer!" Cubot snapped at Orbot. Penny giggled. She, Eggman, Tails, Orbot, and Cubot walked out of the shack. Eggman crosses his arms. "I guess we should fight?"
"Eh, I'm all fight-ed out," Sonic muttered.
"Me too," Eggman said. "I'm going home to prepare a new diabolical plan while you give me a sponge bath!" He told Orbot and Cubot, who both hugged each other, shuddering.
"Poor bots." Penny thought. "No wonder they decided to leave Eggman..."
"As for you, I will destroy you! Mmm... Let's see... How about next week? Does next week work for you?" Eggman asked, flipping through his schedule book.
Sonic hummed, flipping through his. "Yeah, I'm open."
"Great! Destroy you then." Eggman said, and he flew off, followed by Orbot and Cubot.
Next Chapter: How To Succeed In Evil Without Really Trying