Chapter Three
A few miles away on the same coastline, Robotnik's huge yacht landed on the shore, destroying a dozen tents. All of the beach visitors who had not been in the "accident" ran away into the forest screaming. A few seconds later, a plank was let down, and Ivo himself slid down it gleefully.
"Yes! At last, some quality me time!" he said, and kicking out a folding chair, he collapsed onto it and let out a deep sigh. Then, he snapped his fingers, which called a robot to his side. "You! Bring me an ice-cold strawberry lemonade; extra ice." With another snap, the first bot left, and a second one traded him places. "And you! Start setting everything up. I want it absolutely to perfect by dinnertime. Which reminds me…"
Robotnik was so busy snapping and giving orders that he did not notice a rustle in the overgrowth behind him. A moment later, Sonic and Tails peeped their heads out each side of a huge palm tree.
"Well, there's Robotnik, his freighter, and his retinue…" Sonic scanned the scene to make sure he wasn't missing anything. "But where are Scratch and Grounder?"
"They might still be on the boat," Tails suggested. "Perhaps Robotnik stuck them on dish-cleaning duty for putting the wrong kind of cheese on his sandwich."
But Tails was anything from right. On the other side of the grove, Scratch and Grounder themselves stuck their skulls out from a clump of bushes. Grounder immediately tried to lunge for his master, but his brother quickly pulled him back.
"You stupid idiot!" Scratch yell-whispered. "We can't just jump him; we'll end up tackling ourselves! Haven't you watched our cartoon show? It happens every time!"
"I thought that was only when we were trying to catch Sonic," Grounder countered.
"No! We need to form a sensible, multi-layered plan of attack if we're going to have any shot at capturing him."
"Why would we want to do that? Can't we just count to three and let him have it?"
"It's deeper than that!" Scratch explained. "It's so he learns his lesson. He's spent his entire life putting us in cages or loading us with chores for punishment; now it's time to show him two-or three-can play at that game!"
"Yeah, but why?" Grounder pressed. Scratch slapped his forehead.
Just a few yards away, Sonic tried to lunge at Robotnik to give him a good pounding. Tails, quick and lively as ever, pulled him back by his bruised fin.
"Hey man, not cool!" Sonic whined, caressing the fin. "I was trying to get at him! Can't you let a hedgehog beat up an evil buffoon in peace?"
"But you can't just jump at him; it's too easy. He probably has, like, thirty robot guards in that boat, ready to defend him at the push of a button."
"So what? I could take them all." Sonic punched his fist in the air.
"Listen to me, Sonic. We have to form a sensible, multi-layered plan of attack if we're going to have any shot at capturing him."
Meanwhile, with Scratch and Grounder:
"Since you obviously can't think for yourself, I'll have to form a plan for the both of us." Scratch picked up a nearby stick and a few rocks, and began drawing in the damp sand. "These two figures will represent us. This one is Big Red. Got it?"
"Robotnik should be that big rock over there." Grounder pointed to a big rock over there.
"Alright, fine; he's this one. Now, we wait until his chair is turned on us. Then, on the count of three, we burst out of the bushes and start pelting him with our rocks."
"That's literally exactly what I just suggested!" Grounder realized. "Except you added the rocks!"
"As someone wise once said, 'A plan thought up of by an idiot, even if it is a good plan, will never succeed.'" Scratch tapped his head proudly.
"No one ever said that!"
"Shh! Look!" Scratch pointed to their master, who had just called over a robot to complain about something new. "Now's our chance; get ready!"
Also seeing the opportunity, Sonic nudged Tails. "Alright, Tails, on three, let's juice and jam him! THREE!"
"No, Sonic! It's too dangerous!" Tails said a little too late. Sonic leapt out of the bushes at the same time Scratch did. Grounder and Tails, confused, tried to join them. Rocks flew everywhere. Robotnik, quickly taking account of the situation, cleverly fled to the boat while Sonic zoomed circles in the sand to create a fierce dust devil.
"Grounder, I got him!" Scratch said through the sandstorm.
"You have me, gasket-brain!" Sonic replied.
"Sonic? Didn't know you were here. Well, I guess you're close enough. Let's go- OUCH! WHOHIT ME WITH THE LAWN CHAIR?"
"Where's Robotnik?"
"Where's my head?"
"Ouch! I slipped on it!"
"I WANT AN ANSWER! WHO HIT ME?"
"I'm starting to regret this…"
"Ow!"
"Sorry."
"Who said that?"
"Who hit me in the butt? Someone threw a rock at my butt!"
"WHO HIT ME WITH THE FREAKING LAWN CHAIR?"
Finally, the sand cleared, and the state of development shocked everyone: Scratch and Grounder had each other's legs, Sonic had Scratch in a semi-headlock, Tails' tails were hopelessly entangled in the chair, and everyone had various bruises from rocks; including a particularly nasty one on Grounder's butt. Meanwhile, Robotnik's boat deck was filled to the brim with robots carrying laser guns, as well as a few cannons pointing at them. Robotnik casually walked up to them, took a sip of his strawberry lemonade, and said, "Well, now that we've got that cleared up, why don't we all just surrender and get on the boat?"
And thus was the state of things. Sonic, Tails, Scratch and Grounder were tied to a post on the yacht's deck, with a large cannon sitting dormant right in front of them. Next to the cannon, Ivo was gleefully watching the frightened looks on his captives' faces.
"Ah, I love when everything goes my way!" he exclaimed happily. "I want a relaxing vacation, I get one. I want to dump all my waste in the river without anyone telling me it's bad, and I get away with it. You want to ambush and capture me, I end up capturing you." He laughed as all four of his prisoners snarled. "Talk about the perfect day!" He got up, and walked over to a table nearby to personally mix up another drink. "Well, not quite, I suppose. I still require the perfect ending. And that would be giving my robotic sharks a little snack by walking you four off the plank! HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!"
"You are never, ever going to get away with this!" Scratch spit.
Robotnik clicked his tongue. "Scratch? A member of my own S.S.S.S.S. Squad, doubting my abilities? Fine then, tell me why not. I'd like to see you come up with one mediocre-to-decent reason why not."
"Because Sonic's gonna stop you! He never fails!" Scratch retorted. "I've seen every episode of our cartoon, and just when you think you're going to succeed, Sonic rushes in and foils your plans! I know the routine! He's just playing you up right now; waiting for the perfect opportunity to unleash a well-timed Sonic Spin, or some other brilliant plan. That's exactly what you're going to do, right, Sonic?" He looked over at the blue hero, who hung his head sadly. "Right. He's gonna kick your fat butt, sink your fatter boat, and then… uh, Sonic? You are gonna save us, right?"
"Sorry, Scratch," was the answer he got. "Don't have anything this time."
"Well then, I guess I don't need to waste my voice planning the Robot Revolution of Mobius," Scratch mumbled sheepishly.
"Nope!" Robotnik giggled (yes, giggled,) happily. "You are at a total dead end this time!"
"Not quite!" said another voice. It was not Sonic. It was not Tails, Robotnik, Scratch, or the sporadic appearance of Mad Mike, Da Bear Warrior.
The voice was Grounder's.
"What was that?" Robotnik cupped a hand to his ear, moving closer to the mast.
"We're not lost yet!" Grounder repeated hopefully. "There's one thing you didn't think of! One thing that slipped through your big hands!"
"And… what might that be?"
Grounder's eyes narrowed. "You forgot to remove my accessories."
With that, the roar of a chainsaw cut everyone's bonds. The pop of a dart gun shot a mini-plunger in Robotnik's eye. And the reserve helium tank combined with the automatic bubble gum dispenser produced a large balloon, which all four grabbed on to and used to lift off the boat.
"Ha! Take that!" Grounder unleashed a huge raspberry.
"I can't believe I'm gonna say this," Scratch said, wiping a tear away. "But Grounder just saved us! He's… a HERO!"
"NOT IF I CAN HELP IT!" Ivo roared, ripping the plunger off with a schlump! "ROBOTS! FIRE THAT CANNON, NOW!"
The cannon was quickly aimed and fired. The huge black ball sailed clean over the gang, way into the horizon, and deep into the mainland.
"Ha-ha!" Tails jeered. "Loser!"
"Now, Tails!" Sonic interrupted. "Name-calling isn't okay. Unless it's at Robotnik! SUCKER!"
"YOU SMELL! BAD!"
"YOUR GRANDMA COULDN'T FIND HER WAY OUT OF AN EMPTY ROOM!"
"WOO-HOO! YOU CAN'T CATCH US!"
"WE'LL BE BACK BY YOUR PLACE LATER SO WE CAN HUMBLY REPENT, BUT WE'VE GOTTA CELEBRATE FIRST! OH YEAH!"
Needless to say, Robotnik was mad. The taunts had steamed him up, but there was one last thing he caught Grounder saying before they went out of earshot. It was this: "HEY ROBOTNIK! HOPE YOU LIKE THIS PARTING GIFT!"
Intrigued by this, he looked up at the sky. There was a large anvil plummeting down towards him. He sidestepped, and it crashed into the yacht, making a huge hole. Water began pouring in.
"I hate that hedgehog!" Robotnik yelled furiously. "I hate him, and that fox, and those two robots! I hate them all! I will have revenge! I hate you and I want my mommy!"
