FicWad

After the longest ride of their lives, finally arrived at the resistance headquarters.



"Alright, let's get this over with." Sonia said, unbuckling her seatbelt.



"Tell Cyrus to come in here." Manic replied. "I've already been embarrassed enough today."



"Isn't it more embarrassing to get dragged out of the van by Sonia?" Sonic asked.



"Everyone knows she's stronger than both of us." Manic replied.



"Stop being a baby and get out, Manic Hedgehog." Sonia ordered.



Manic didn't budge from his seat.



Sonia marched over, picked up Manic, and carried the sulking hedgehog out. She set him down in front of Cyrus.



"Is that Manic?" Cyrus asked.



Manic groaned. "Yes. Can this be reversed or not?"



"Maybe, but here's the problem." Cyrus said. He pulled up the blueprints on the computer to show them. "We were able to get the original blueprints for the machine. However, we don't know what exactly went wrong with it. So it's possible that even if we can build it, it may roboticize you instead."



Manic held his hands out, metaphorically weighing his options. "Be robotocized and lose my free will or keep my free will and stay stuck like this." He said. The hand he used to symbolize the roboticization seemed to outweigh the other option.



Sonia rolled her eyes.



"Really?" Sonic asked. "You'd rather be a metal zombie? Did that thing fry a few brain cells?"



"No, I really don't." Manic replied. H shrugged. "But still..."





"Can we just break in Robotnik's lab?" Sonia asked. "Maybe he scrapped it or he hasn't had it fixed yet."





"Pretty much the same risks." Cyrus replied. "I'm not sure the risk is worth the reward this time."



Manic leaned against the wall, giving an annoyed stare.



Sonic glanced at Manic. "I don't think he agrees with you."



"That's up to you three." Cyrus said, turning the computer off. "I'll help you get in or fix the machine, but I think this is a bad idea."



"As bad as I hate to say it, I agree." Sonic said. "I don't want to lose you forever, bro."



"Neither do I." Sonia agreed.



Manic sighed. "I guess you're right." He replied. "Thanks anyway, Cyrus."



Sonic and Manic started to head back to the van.



"Wait." Sonia said, grabbing Sonic's shoulder as he reached her. "What about that pendant we got from from the Emerald Peninsula? Maybe it can reverse this."



"You mean that thing that nearly turned you invisible that the fortune teller or whatever she was gave you? Sonic questioned.



"She did say it was safe to use one more time." Sonia replied.



"I'm not sold on using that." Sonic said, shaking his head. "What do you think, Manic?"



"I didn't like that thing after the last tm we used it." Manic said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Which is why I destroyed it a few months ago."



"Not that I blame you, but why?" Sonic asked.



"Had a nightmare about it, freaked out, and then I threw it into a vat of molten metal like in Terminator 2 while you and Sonia were asleep." Manic replied.



Sonia covered her face with her hand and shook her head. "I can't believe that movie gave you nightmares when we pretty much fight robots and cyborgs every day."





"The liquid metal ones are way scary, but that's not what gave me the nightmare." Manic replied. He rubbed his chin. "Let's see... I don't remember much about the movie now, but it had a creepy toy monkey and a fortune teller... or maybe she was a psychic. I can't remember."



"Are you sure you didn't dream that too?" Sonic asked. "That sounds too weird to be real."



"I'm pretty sure." Manic replied.



Sonic patted Manic on the back. "Sorry, bro." He said. "I guess you're stuck like this."



"Maybe it won't be so bad." Manic replied. "I-"



"Wait." Sonia said. "Robotnik keeps his scrapped or failed machines in storage. We can, at least, try to find the machine and see if they did scrap it or hadn't gotten around to finishing it."



"It wouldn't hurt." Cyrus said. "But if you're not sure, we're not experimenting with it."



"Let's go." Manic replied. "Wait. Does anyone know what happened to my hoverboard? Or my phone?"



"I forgot to give this back to you." Sonic said, handing Manic the phone. "Your hoverboard was wrecked and your earbuds were destroyed."



"I can fix the hoverboard for you while you're out." Cyrus said.



Sonic raced back to the van, grabbed what was left of the hoverboard, and ran back. "I don't know if it's worth fixing, but here it is."



Cyrus took the board from him. "I'll see what I can do. No promises."



Manic ran back to the van and blew the horn. "Let's go. I'm-"



"Don't say that; it's my line." Sonic said. He picked up Sonia and ran to the van.
**
The hedgehogs arrived at an old warehouse on the north side of Robotropolis and parked the van in an alley before heading toward the warehouse for scrapped inventions.



Manic picked the lock on one of the warehouses and stepped back as the door opened.



Sonic peered in the door. "No swatbots." He whispered. "Let's go."



Sonic picked up his siblings and ran inside. He set them down as soon as the door closed behind them.



Sonia nudged Sonic's shoulder. "Swatbots."



Manic pried open a hatch. "This way."



Sonic led the way as they crawled through the hatch.



Sonic peered in the door. "No swatbots." He whispered. "Let's go."



They finally made it inside one of the storage rooms. It was so full of machines (damaged or in good condition), they only had an extremely narrow path to walk on.



"Ro-butt-nik sure does give up on his inventions easily." Sonic said, looking around the room.



"That works out well for us." Sonia replied. She pointed to a machine. "Is that it, Manic?"



"Yeah, that's it." Manic said.



Sonia tried to pick it up, but couldn't lift it at all. "How are we gonna carry this home?"



"We can't." Sonic replied.



Manic climbed on the machine. "Start it up."



"It may roboticize you." Sonic said.



"Then why are they throwing it out?" Manic asked.



"Good point." Sonia replied. "Get ready, bro."



Sonic hooked one of the mini generators that Cyrus made to the machine.



Manic took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "Now."



Sonia started it up.



Once again, Manic screamed. The pain was about the same as last time.



Sonic and Sonia glanced nervously at each other.



Sonic activated his medallion and got his guitar/gun ready in case Manic's screams attracted swatbots.



After around twenty minutes, they successfully reversed the effects.



"Alright, we got what we wanted." Sonia said, shutting the machine off.



An unconscious Manic fell off the machine.



Sonic picked Manic up, grabbed Sonia's hand, and raced out.

**

Manic woke up as soon as they reached the van.



"It worked, bro." Sonic said, setting Manic down inside the van.



Manic opened his eyes and looked at himself. "Crashin'!"



Sonia and Sonic hugged Manic.



"Good to have you back to normal, bro." Sonic said.



"I wish I could've gotten more time to dress you up though." Sonia replied. "For real, you were a really pretty girl."



"That wouldn't happen." Manic said. "I don't like dressing up in general."



"We better get back on the road before more swatbots show up." Sonic said, heading to the driver's seat.



The siblings got in the van and drove away.



Sonia checked her phone. "Cyrus fixed your board." She said. "Now, I don't care how much noise you make. I'd rather you stay inside at night instead of going out alone."



"I know, I just didn't want to disturb you." Manic replied. "I'm sorry about all of that."



"I appreciate that and it's okay, but you know we have a buddy system for a reason." Sonia said.



"Why doesn't that apply to Sonic?" Manic asked, leaning against the armrest. "He goes out alone all the time. Just because he has superspeed doesn't mean that nothing could ever happen."



"Yeah, after that whole sonic tonic situation, he has a point." Sonia said. "You're the oldest, Sonic. You are supposed to set an example, you know."



"Okay, fine." Sonic replied. "Just try to keep up."



Manic shook his head. "That'll never happen."



"Alright, fine." Sonic said. "I won't go out alone either."