A/N: Hello, all!

Sword: Where's Pen? I can't find him.

Probably knows you're going to ask about babies again.

Sword: Phooey. What's wrong with babies?

Pen: They're loud.

Sword: Gotcha!

First, thank you to soul96961 for his review on the last chapter. So this is the second of two presents for TheAndromedaRose's birthday. As always, Sonic and all related material belongs to Sega. The story, Sword, and Pen belong to me. Please do not use without permission. Thank you.

Pen: Get her off of me!

Three Times the Fun

Silver lazily twirled his hand in the air, half-watching the twins in their teal glow spin round and round, giggling and pushing one another. Sonic sat beside him on the park bench, holding Florian, who shuffled his legs at a blinding speed one way, twisted around in his father's hold, and crawled the other way. Sonic held him in the air, avoiding the friction burn.

"But what I don't get," Silver said, "is how to keep them from fighting. I always thought twins got along. And sometimes they do. Other times," he caught his son pulling on his sister's quills. "Perry!" He reached out with his power and pried the cat's hands off. "Leave Pearl alone."

"Kids fight," Sonic said, shrugging and standing Florian up, dangling his legs and swinging him back and forth. "Be glad you're past the nonstop crying."

Long sleepless nights of tears in stereo, surrounding him and ringing throughout the castle. Silver shuddered. No one had slept much in those days, least of all him and Blaze. "Yeah."

"And if you ever forget, look at Tails and Cream."

"It's that bad?"

Sonic passed Florian over to Silver, who lifted him into the spinning circle. "Let me put it this way. Tails invented soundproof headphones that are supposed to cancel all sound. They almost do for her, but you have to be in another room."

"Whew, that is bad." Florian clapped and held out his hands to Periwinkle. He clapped Florian's hands again and again. "Could get Shadow to babysit again."

Sonic picked the tip of his ear. "I don't think that's such a good idea. He was," he tapped his lip, "very specific about bringing Florian over again."

"Yeah. Same with them." He checked a nearby clock on a marquee. "Wonder how much longer they'll be gone."

"You know Amy," Sonic said. "She'll want Blaze to look her best for the dignitaries. And she's been hinting that she needs more maternity clothes. We could go catch a movie if you want."

"Sounds like fun. I'll bring some popcorn." The hedgehogs turned and raised their heads high toward Robotnik, perched on the tippy-top of a two-story robot and shielded by a thick glass cover. The walking machine primed its twin cannons on either arm and they glowed red hot. Two smaller, but equally armed robots flanked his side, hovering with helicopter blades. "Now, both of you—"

"Yeah, yeah," Sonic said, standing and stretching the kinks in his back. "'Surrender now or be destroyed.'" He did a pretty good Robotnik impression and the children cheered him. Sonic winked at his son, but Silver didn't like the look of those cannons. "And let me guess," he puffed out his belly and cheeks and folded his hands over his chest. Then he shook his fake rolls and waddled closer. "'These cannons are fast enough to stop even you in your tracks, Sonic! And can overpower any telekinetic blast!' That about cover it?"

Robotnik's cheeks steamed red and his graying mustache bristled. "Two can play that game. Let me show you what a disintegrated hedgehog looks like!" He fired at Sonic and the bench.

Silver dived out of the way with the children. Sonic jumped aside and raised a dangerous finger. "Don't touch the kids."

"Ooo, did I hit a soft spot? Get the children," he told his robots. "I'll take Sonic."

Silver surrounded the children in a bubble and held it aloft. He waved it right to left, and the flying robot's beady eyes jutted out of their heads and followed it. He pushed the bubble hard to the left, across the bench, and shot forth a blast from each hand. The robots reacted in time and fired lasers back at him. The blasts hit the robots and he floated out of the way of the lasers.

However, one of the robots had been knocked too close to the children. Perry and Pearl huddled under the bench with Florian and the robot followed their whimpers. Silver swooped down, but the second robot cut him off with quick lasers. Silver circled around it, creating giant comet-shaped energy attacks that punched it back and forth. But the thing kept coming.

The first robot pushed the bench over, targeted the children, and opened its chassis. A metal cage sprang out, capturing them. Then it lifted the cage and placed it on its head like a crown.

"Sonic!" Silver called. Sonic saw the children and rushed between Robotnik's legs. He ran up the side of the robot, dodging the flailing arms, and reached for the cage. In a blur, he had one hand on the bars as Robotnik fired at the robot. It burst apart, throwing Sonic and the cage in opposite directions.

The cage headed for Silver. He stretched his mind, slowing its momentum, but a stray laser singed his quills, breaking the concentration. The second robot tried to grab it, but its clumsy arms fumbled the cage, knocking it into the air. It went after the cage until Silver stopped it and threw it at Sonic.

Curling into a sharp, spinning ball, Sonic jumped and cut the robot in half. Silver dashed after the cage as it soared over some buildings, but Robotnik shot at him, separating him from the cage. When Silver tried to duck under the lasers, Robotnik hit a rooftop, blowing out a corner and striking Silver with falling debris. He managed to fly around most, although a couple tiny chunks struck his head.

The stones fell to the concrete below toward some pedestrians. Silver grabbed several pieces, throwing them aside into the park's lake. Sonic pushed any people still in danger out of the way and the rest of the debris crashed into the ground.

Silver started after the direction the cage flew in, but heard a strange hum below. Out of the fallen machines, a couple dozen smaller bee-shaped robots rose from the wreckage. "After them! Find those brats!" Robotnik said to the robots. They darted off, zipping around buildings, into alleys, and overhead. A few fired a volley of smaller, stinging lasers at Silver from their needle tails and he took cover behind a shop sign.

He grabbed one robot with his power, clenched his fist, and crushed it until its engine popped. The rest had joined the search by then.

The hedgehogs turned to Robotnik, but his own robot's legs had tucked themselves into the main body and the knees' panels opened. Jet fire burst out, lifting him higher. "So long, hedgehogs! I'm sure your children will make great test subjects for a new prototype!" He threw his head back and laughed as the legs folded up further so that the knees faced behind him. Then he zoomed off for the cage.

Sonic ran up the side of a building and stopped on the roof next to Silver. "Let's hurry."

"Right."

They found the cage dangling from a flagpole. It was bent and busted open, with the door facing the sidewalk. Silver feared to peek over the edge, but was relieved to see the sidewalk was clear of anything. He figured Perry must've slowed their descent. However, that left the question of where they were.

"Split up?" Sonic asked.

"Sure."

Yet he stopped when he heard a loud crash, followed by a "What was that?!" from the sports bar across the street. They hurried in and found the few patrons quivering behind overturned tables while several bees roamed the bar. The bartender held a broom up, swinging at one of the robots and it shot at him, setting the broom ablaze.

In the corner of the room, Florian crawled past like a mouse escaping a cat. The bees swarmed after him, lasers going off. "Hey! Don't shoot my kid!" Sonic said. One turned on him and he grabbed a drink tray. The laser burned right through the plastic and he threw it at the bee. It wavered in the air, but came right back.

Silver lifted a table and threw his hands over his head. The table's surface flipped and smashed the bee into the wall. That got the others' attention.

Jumping and curling into a ball, Sonic bounced into the bees, one after another. Silver picked up empty bottles and threw them like darts into the robots on the other side of a glass barrier. Crack, crrk, crack, crrk, crack, crrk! All were down for the count.

Sonic found Florian under a table, sniffing a broken bottle and about to lick the little drink left inside. "Whoa, now," he said, picking up Florian and smiling, "your mom would kill me if you drank that." He took a whiff of the bottle as well. "Besides, doesn't smell good anyway."

"I heard that," the bartender said, stamping the flames out of his broom.

Sonic nosed his son's stomach and Florian laughed. "I don't suppose any of you happened to see a pair of twins?" Silver asked the bar. The patrons gave a round of headshakes and he sighed.

"Uh," Sonic tapped his shoulder and pointed at the television in the corner behind the bartender. A news anchor was reporting on an attack at the local aquarium as phone footage submitted to the station played beside him. The footage showed two bees carrying a small hedgehog before two waves of water slapped them away and the hedgehog fell into a water tank. The camera zoomed out and Silver's stomach dropped.

A shark tank.

Sonic may have been the fastest hedgehog alive, but Silver gave him a run for his money as he flew to the aquarium. He blew through the police barrier outside, pushed through the screaming crowd racing for the exit, and into the lobby. Sonic hopped over people's heads and landed beside him, with Florian tugging on his ears.

He scanned the different signs. Manatee, octopus, stingrays, "Sharks!" He ran into the shark hall and went by large cases that gave impressive views of the tanks the sharks lived in.

As he skidded around a corner, he saw a tiny blue-silver figure sitting at the bottom of a tank. He rushed to the glass and banged on it. "Pearl!" The baby sucked her thumb and grinned at her father.

Silver looked around the edge of the window display and inside, wondering if there was some kind of door. He caught sight of a plaque on the side with the shark type on display. Goblin shark? He skimmed a little of the description below and the "highly protrusible jaws" and "nail-like teeth" parts stuck out to him.

Sonic found him as a dark shadow swam above Pearl. A long, ugly snout appeared and then a set of teeth beneath it, like someone had smashed two mismatched shark types of different lengths together, separated by what looked like large gums. It was hideous and it was heading right for Pearl.

Up on the tank's surface, the bees entered the water, shooting lasers at the shark. It turned its tail on Pearl and went after them, its jaws opened wide. It chomped one robot to pieces and the others exchanged one glance with each other and whizzed away. The shark gave chase, snatching more between its teeth.

On some level, logic dictated that Silver find some stairs to the top or some kind of door. But as he looked between the robotic carnage and his baby sitting there, waiting for the shark to finish off Robotnik's drones, desperation overruled. Sonic grabbed his shoulder, trying to stop him, but it was too late. Silver formed a large teal hand before him and drew it back.

Sonic ran out of the hall with Florian as Silver smashed through the glass. Water gushed into the empty hall and he created a bubble around himself. The water broke around him and crashed into the wall behind him with such force that it knocked pieces off, then ran down both ends of the hall.

In the middle of the rush, Pearl rode the waves, forming a disc beneath her. Right behind her was the shark, flailing and splashing in the water. The few robots left whirred and screeched behind it, unable to break out of the waves.

All were coming up fast to Silver's bubble. To catch his daughter, he would have to dissolve his bubble shield, letting in the water, the shark, and the robots if he wasn't careful. Pearl slowed down as she neared him, still sucking her thumb, while the shark seemed to speed up.

Wait for it, Silver told himself. His feet tingled and jitters bounced along his fingers, refusing to let him steady them. He had to time this right.

Pearl was a few feet away. Almost. So was the shark. Almost.

Her disc touched his bubble and threw her forward. He dissolved his shield and caught her as he raised to the roof. The shark and robots crashed into the wall, loosening large chunks out of it. Silver checked Pearl, running fingers through her quills, lifting her limbs, stretching her face until he was satisfied there wasn't a scratch on her.

"Thank goodness," he said, kissing her forehead. She gurgled and nestled into his furry chest.

Below, the shark whipped the robots with its tail and tried to spin around, snapping its teeth. Silver tucked Pearl between his upper arms and held out both his hands. With much concentration, he gathered together the spilled water and pushed it, with the shark and robots, back into the tank. Some was left behind, but there was enough for the shark to survive for now. Then he sealed it with any glass left behind. For any remaining holes, he plugged them with bits of wall.

Sonic returned shortly after, his shoes squishing in the water. "Ugh, I hate wet shoes," he said, shaking his feet. He lifted each, twirling his foot around in circles to dry them. "Any sign of Perry?"

"No," Silver said. "But he can't be far."

Sonic snapped his fingers. "I got an idea. C'mon," he said, heading for the exit. "I'm sure Robotnik's goons will know where he went. We find them, we find Perry."

It sounded solid, so Silver followed him. Pearl twisted in his arms and waved farewell to the shark as it enjoyed its new toys.

Blaze didn't mind shopping. It could be quite relaxing and fun to go out, enjoy some quiet time from the castle, and find new things to buy or browse through. But as she looked at the ever-growing pile of dresses that Amy heaped onto the bench beside the dressing room, she realized she had her limits. And this was the fourth store they had been to.

Amy stopped and dropped the clothes she was carrying and fawned over the red dress Blaze had tried on. "Oh, you will knock them dead in this," she said. "Turn around, turn around." Blaze did so. This was one was very comfortable and it felt like the right length. Not too long to drag on the ground like other queens and their gowns, but not too short either.

She saw a hint of envious longing in Amy's eyes, which is why when Amy shoved a purple one into her hands and said, "Here, try this one next," she held her sigh and agreed. All Amy had bought were sweatpants and a couple of large sweaters and t-shirts. The pink hedgehog had to sit down again, cradling her stomach. "I'll wait out here."

"Okay," Blaze said and entered the dressing room. But she hadn't even removed a strap before she heard a shriek from the middle of the store. Both women stood up on their tip-toes and saw a rack full of jeans fly up in a gust of wind.

A buzzing noise like a gnat rose above the screams and a second later, a flying robot sped toward the disturbance. Another gust of wind blew it backwards and a silver-blue figure slid across the rug, the tiled path separating clothing sections, and toward Blaze.

"Perry?"

The baby stopped at her feet and tilted his head back. "Mah-mah-mah." She picked him up and he shoved his hands into her cheeks.

The robot recovered and flew for Perry. Blaze channeled a quick fireball and blasted it, exploding the robot in mid-air. The fiery shards burned several clothes, but everyone was unhurt.

However, more buzzing bogies entered the store, saw their fallen comrade, and focused on Blaze and Amy. "I think it's time to go," Amy said.

"Yeah."

One of the robots fired its lasers and the others rushed them. "Get going!" Amy said, summoning her hammer. She reflected the lasers off the gold finished ends, stumbling back a bit. But the lasers destroyed two foes. She whacked a third out of the air before she took a knee, sucking air through her teeth.

"Hold him," Blaze said, passing Perry off to her.

"Sure thing."

Blaze threw fireball after fireball at the robots, but they had learned and were dodging them. All she was doing was punching holes in the ceiling and they kept gunning for Perry and Amy. She had to draw their fire.

She hopped onto the top of a clothes rack, perched on the tips of her shoes, and leapt from rack to rack for one robot. It fired at her and backed away. She faked left, it went right, and so did she. She jabbed a fist of flame into its eyes, destroyed the systems within, and a large shard burst outwards at her.

The last three took notice and finally targeted her. Blaze held her hands behind her and expelled a large amount of fire, taking off like a rocket and disintegrating any clothes in the area. She flew straight at the robots, dipping and diving through their gunfire.

She circled them, creating a tight sphere of fire around them, closing it more and more until there was no room left for them to move. Then she blasted through them, burning them in her wake and throwing the robots through her sphere. They plummeted like meteorites and whined as they rolled around on the ground, trying in vain to put out the fire.

Amy had recovered and handed Perry back to Blaze. "Nice job," she said.

"You too," she said, letting Perry tug on her ear. "But you really shouldn't push yourself so hard."

"Amy!"

"Blaze!"

Silver and Sonic skidded to a halt in front of them, both out of breath and sporting a few bruises. Sonic examined Amy and helped her sit down. "Are you okay? What happened?"

Meanwhile, Silver was ecstatic to see Perry. "You're safe!" He took him from Blaze and hugged both of the twins, nuzzling their cheeks. "Thank goodness."

"Yes, he is," Blaze said, cocking an eyebrow. "Mind telling us what's going on?" She soon got her answer when the ground rumbled outside the store.

In the mall's plaza, Robotnik had landed in the middle of the food court and water fountain, scattering the people around it. He leaned forward in his seat, grinding his teeth. "Come out and face me, hedgehog!" he said, grabbing an ice cream vendor's cart and throwing it through a restaurant's window.

"Aw, what's the matter?" Sonic asked, running outside with Silver and Blaze. "Are they all out of Rocky Road?"

He glared daggers at Sonic, but then noticed Blaze. "Wait, you had the children," he said and Silver saw him put two and two together. Sonic did as well and moved quietly closer to the entrance of the store. "Which means we must have the whole family together. Why not let the missus come out, Sonic?"

Robotnik punched through the department store's sign. "Hey! Leave her alone!" Sonic hopped on his long arm and ran along it to the shoulder. Robotnik swatted his elbow, missing Sonic by inches. From below, Amy yelled, "Sonic!" as the robotic arm retracted, throwing more debris around.

"Amy!" He jumped off the arm, curled into a buzz saw ball, and hit the cockpit's cover. It was slow going and would take too long. So he abandoned the cockpit and cut into the retracting arm's wrist. Robotnik clapped his other hand on the wrist, but Sonic broke through the bulky cannons, slicing them at the base so they hung loose and useless. He landed on the ground, panting and wobbly. "Ugh, that smarts."

Distracted and dizzy long enough, Robotnik's large hand swatted him into the store. Silver and Blaze stepped in for him. "Oh, this should be fun," Robotnik said. "You two think you can stop me?"

He fired lasers at them and Silver threw up a reflective shield. The lasers bounced back as Robotnik punched his damaged hand into the ground. The pair jumped aside and Blaze directed flames into the broken cannons, cooking the circuits. The arm twitched and sputtered and Robotnik had to yank it hard from the floor. He tried raising it, but it lifted limply.

"Together we can," Silver said. Blaze conjured a snaking rail of fire that wound round Robotnik's machine while Silver covered it in a teal glow. They hopped on, grinding along the makeshift rail and up, up, curving around the machine until they reached the cockpit.

Silver focused on the sliver Sonic had created and pried it open with all his might. Blaze held the tip of the flame rail at the opening. "Ready to give up?" Blaze asked.

Robotnik couldn't hit the eject button fast enough. He disappeared from view as the flames filled the cockpit, melting everything inside. The doctor popped out of the machine's back in his Eggmobile and hovered high out of their reach.

The robot collapsed into the fountain with a fwoosh! and Silver and Blaze floated back down. Sonic and Amy were waiting for them with all the kids in their arms. A golf ball size welt was growing behind Sonic's ear, although he promised he was fine. "Nothing to it. Just got to get my bearings," he said, sitting on a bench.

Silver and Blaze took the twins, hugging each other and them. "Not too bad," Blaze said.

"Hey!" Robotnik called to them. "Here's a parting gift!" Suddenly, his fallen machine sprang up, swinging its limbs wildly with no clear target.

"Get down!" Sonic yelled.

A large gust of wind knocked the robot backwards, tipping it on one foot back to the fountain. Then a snake-like water strand uncoiled from the fountain waters and struck the cockpit, wiggling deep into the robot. Electricity snapped and jumped around the robot moments later and it collapsed, smoke billowing from its joints.

Robotnik cursed them and jetted off. "Next time! I will get them next time!"

The parents looked from the fountain's geysers sprinkling water on the robot to Perry and Pearl, pushing one another and pulling each other's fur. Behind them, the rest of the store's sign crumbled and crashed in front of the entrance.

"You know," Sonic said to Silver as he separated his twins again, "maybe it's not so bad if they fight."

Pearl giggled and Perry clapped, saying, "Ya-ya-ya-ya."

A/N: Whew! That had a lot of action!

Pen: Yes. Good thing it distracted Sword from babies.

Sword: I wanna have a giant robot battle! Yeah! *steals one and chases after Pen* Get one too, Pen!

As always, thank you for reading and please let us know what you thought of the story. Sword! Watch out!

Sword: En garde, you two! Stomp! Smash!