A/N: *sighs* I can't tell if it got better here or not. I just feel like it got longer. *siiiiigggghhhhssss* You know the drill.
General Rules I hope you can pay attention to:
1. If you're gonna drop me a message or review, please do not use curse words or insult me. I understand if you're joking (or something). It's not that I've exactly got virgin ears (or eyes)- you saw my fandoms list. It's just that, cursing makes you sound poor. I honestly hate it because people can find other ways to express themselves besides cursing. I understand the occasional "Holy Crap!" It's a common exclamation of surprise. But please, don't degrade yourself by swearing. Find other ways to express your feelings.
2. If i use a curse word in my writing, it will almost always be "starred out", like so G*. I only do this because some characters commonly curse, and to make them not curse would be out of character. If a character that usually curses is not cursing, it is probably because they are around children or have deemed cursing inappropriate for the present situation. Please do not call me a hypocrite if I use a curse word in my story and call you out for cursing in a review.
3. I will try to respond to any reviews I do get, but I am a very busy person. Don't flip out if I miss your review and don't reply. I may only respond to a few reviews if I find them especially interesting or thoughtful *hinty hinty*
The Oracle's Stone
Manic was not one for sitting quietly. Boredom came easily to both him and his brother. Sonic did not like being in one place for long periods of time. Together, they were completely impatient at mission informant meetings.
Cyrus had been explaining all the newest equipment available to the Resistance. Before him, there had been other speakers explaining new plans and techniques. The freedom fighters that had been at this informant meeting had been there since four o' clock. It was now currently eight o' clock.
Manic twiddled his thumbs. Sonic paced quietly at the back of the room. Manic pulled out his drumsticks and drummed quietly on chair nearby. Sonic hummed. Manic began to whistle. They both looked at each other, stopped what they were doing and huffed.
"And so," Cyrus finished. "The electron particle excelerator that Robotnik has created is extremely dangerous and must be stopped. Thank you for coming tonight fellow freedom fighters. We appreciate your patience and diligence. Have a good night; you are dismissed." Cyrus walked off the stage.
Sonic came over to Sonia and Manic. Sonia was lecturing Manic.
"You are so impatient! The people around us were completely disturbed by you!" Sonia cried.
"Well sorry that Cyrus is so boring! I know more about the tech than he does anyhow," Manic declared. Sonia rolled her eyes.
"Ok, Sonic. Take us home," Sonia ordered. Sonic picked Manic and her up and was about to get going. Cyrus ran up to them.
"Thank goodness I caught you!" he cried.
"What do you need?" Sonic asked.
"Look at this!" Cyrus cried. He held up a small holoprojection cube. "We got this from intelligence agents after I completed the lecture," Cyrus explained.
He pressed a button, and a holographic image appeared. It was a picture of a purple sphere.
"This is the Stone of the Oracle!" Cyrus explained. The hedgehogs studied the image some more.
"What about it?" Sonia asked.
"Intelligence found out that Robotnik has it! The Stone of the Oracle can be placed in the Prophecy Stone. Then the Prophecy Stone can be read by mortals!" Cyrus explained.
"The Prophecy Stone? Isn't that the huge slab of rock that the Oracle wrote the prophecy on?" Manic asked.
"Yes! I heard that if the Prophecy Stone can only be read by one mortal every five thousand years, and if some mortal reads it then they can change the prophecy!" Cyrus cried.
"Oh no!" Sonia wailed.
"How long has the prophecy even been around?" Manic asked.
"No one really knows! Some say that it has all knowledge engraved on it. Others say that it had all history past, present and future on it! But since no mortal can read it, no one knows what it has on it. I heard that if something happens to the Prophecy Stone, whatever is engraved on it is sealed to be fate for the rest of eternity!" Cyrus cried. (Again.)
The hedgehogs and Cyrus talked about the Stone of the Oracle and the Prophecy Stone for hours. They studied maps and plans. They examined pictures and transfers of ancient texts. The group stayed up late into the hours of the night discussing how to retrieve the Stone of the Oracle from Robotnik.
Eventually, their plan had a flaw. In the plan, someone had to sneak through a small vent into the treasury room. Then they had to disable the alarm systems and open the door for the others. The flaw was that only one of them could fit in the vent. Only two of them could disable the systems and even then only one of them knew how to pick locks to open the door.
That one person was Manic. Sonic was worried about all the troubles that Manic was having recently. Manic's getting sick and vomiting. Manic's concussion and the side effects. Manic was having lots of health issues. Sonic wasn't sure if he should take the mission.
"Manic, it's very risky!" Sonic tried to convince him.
"Oh come on, Sonic! We take risks every day! We take more risks sitting in one place for a few weeks," Manic responded.
"But you've been getting all sick and had a lot of troubles lately. You don't have to do this you know," Sonic worried.
"I know! But those were also Buttnik's fault! I'm perfectly healthy!" Manic assured him.
"I know how you feel, Sonic! But we can't just keep Manic cooped up all day every day! He has to do something; he has to learn to take risks. You do too," Sonia told Sonic. Sonic huffed and nodded.
"Here's how it'll work," Cyrus began to explain the plan. He told the hedgehogs where they would need to be at what time. He told them time limits of Robotnik's security systems and camera shots.
After finishing the final touches on the plan, the hedgehogs returned to their base and went to bed. By then it was already eleven o' clock!
One the day of the plan's execution, Manic dug out his older tech for deflecting laser beams and cutting wires. He switched out his orange everyday fanny pack for a black one. He put on all black clothes and even black shoes.
Sonic went to the Oracle and received a magical bag for protecting the stone. Sonia checked all of their equipment systems. Manic checked the engine on their van. Sonic might have eaten a few chili dogs. Finally, they were up and ready to go.
Cyrus warned them that they might be followed back to their base. He had set up a fake base for them to return to after their mission. It had many secret passages and tunnels in case of emergency. In case of the tunnels being discovered, only one tunnel led back to their actual base. It was a brilliant design.
After the hedgehog went over the plan again, they clambered into the van and parked at their rendezvous point. Cyrus lurked in the shadows nearby. When he saw them, he came out and waved them over.
They went over the plan again just to be one hundred percent certain. Manic practically knew the plan inside out and upside down. Cyrus gave Manic a wrist communication device. Then Manic put it on and hurried off.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Sonic called. Manic nodded and smiled. He waved and gave a thumbs up. He kept going.
Sonic bit his lip in worry. As Manic was running, he tripped. Sonic started to head over to him, but Sonia stopped him. Manic almost fell over, but he caught himself just in time and kept going.
Just outside Robotnik's Lair, Manic glanced around before popping open the "Mouse Job" air ventilation shaft. He crawled inside and pulled the grate closed behind him.
As he crawled, he went over the plan in his head. He imagined the air vent maps that he an Sonic had gone over. He remembered the holographic images that Sonia had informed him about. He also remembered his thief training from when he was a child.
Finally, he reached the small shaft that led into the treasury. He slipped inside and began to slide his way down the vent. He gasped when he reached the treasury. There were moving lasers and all kinds of detection devices. He crawled back up the shaft.
"Sonic! Come in, Sonic!" he called.
"Manic, is everything okay?" Sonic asked quickly.
"Yeah, it's just that the security system is way higher grade than we thought. It might take me a little while to get in. I'll contact you if anything happens," Manic explained. Sonic nodded.
Manic crawled back down the vent and pushed on the grate. It wouldn't budge. He pulled out a small mini laser and cut a hole in the grate. He pulled the loose piece out and set it aside.
He did his best to create a rig that would reflect all of the laser beams back into their projectors. Then he used a rope to lower the rig into place. After he pulled the rope back up, he tied one end of the rope to a section of the shaft grate and the other end around his waist.
Manic slowly lowered himself into the room. He looked around carefully. He pulled out special detection beam spray and sprayed it around the room. Every now and then, a section of the sprayed area would turn green. After finding all of the detection beams, Manic wove carefully through the room to the door.
A panel on the wall near the door was covered with buttons and dials. Manic pulled out a screwdriver and opened the panel. He examined the wires. He removed a pair of wire cutters and a miniature welding tool.
He set to work. He cut a yellow wire. He welded it to a red one. He gently pulled out a green wire. He quickly yanked on a blue wire. He worked carefully until at last the detection beams and lasers turned off.
Manic dismantled his laser deflection rig. He climbed back up the rope, closed the grate, climbed back down and removed the rope from the scene. He grabbed the Stone of the Oracle.
Manic spent little time opening the door. Then he signaled Sonic. Sonic zoomed in and picked him up. They sped out of Robotnik's Lair. Outside, Manic placed the stone in the Oracle's magical containment bag.
"See, Sonic! Nothing happened! Everything went smoothly," Manic reassured him. Sonic huffed and rolled his eyes.
Cyrus went to the fake base with the hedgehogs. They chatted for awhile and eat chili dogs for dinner. Sonia was completely unsatisfied.
After everyone had gone to bed, someone knocked on the fake base's door. Sonic reluctantly got up to see who it was. After he saw who was there, he ran back to the bedroom where everyone was sleeping.
"There are a ton of S.W.A.T. Bots! Cyrus was right!" Sonic whispered. Everyone quickly got out of bed an secured everything. Manic checked the kitchen for any extra food. Sonia checked the bathroom for any missing items. Cyrus checked the living room, and Sonic got the Stone of the Oracle.
After their quick house-wide sweep, the four quickly escaped through one of the tunnels. The S.W.A.T. Bots burst in followed by Sleet and Dingo. They quickly found some of the fake secret tunnels, but they did not find the real tunnel back to the real base.
Sonic, Sonia and Manic personally delivered the Stone of the Oracle back to the Oracle. They were mortified to find out that Robotnik had taken the Prophecy Stone.
They met up again with Cyrus and devised another plan. They were going to get the Prophecy Stone back, but this time the plan was not as simple. The Oracle had told them that the Prophecy Stone was very large.
It took them a very long time to finish the plan. Then they went over it again and again. They corrected flaws and they threw around scenarios. Again, Manic had to go in alone at first.
Sonic was not as worried as before. He even helped Manic wash his "thieving clothes" that Manic had set aside for the mission. Manic had to train for the mission, and during training Sonic gave him advice and encouraged him.
Finally, the time had come for the group to retrieve the Prophecy Stone. Manic suited up. They went over the plan again three times. Then they got in the van and met up with Cyrus.
"If everything goes smoothly, then we should be able to return the Prophecy Stone to the Oracle tomorrow," Cyrus restated.
"Wait just a sonic second! What do you mean if everything goes smoothly?" Sonic asked nervously.
"Well, there might be some unexpected factors like last time. Like the improved security system!" Cyrus explained.
"That's what the training was for Sonic!" Manic told him. Sonic nodded and shrugged.
"Okay, I'm going in!" Manic called. He jumped into the sewage pipe nearby and began to approach Robotnik's Lair.
Robotnik studied the security footage from the treasury during the robbery. He sent a few S.W.A.T. Bots to guard the Prophecy Stone, but Sleet had a better idea.
"You see, Robotnik, I will turn Dingo into a podium. If we place the Prophecy Stone on the podium, then when the sewer rat comes to get it, Dingo can knock it over onto him! Then while he's trapped, we can capture him!" Sleet explained.
"Excellent! Hurry and set it up! We don't know when they're coming," Robotnik ordered. Sleet nodded and hurried away.
Manic pushed open the sewer cover and gazed up at Robotnik's lair. "Phase one complete!" he declared into his wrist communicator.
"Good work! Now for phase two: the ventilation shafts! Good luck," Sonic responded. Manic climbed out, put the cover back on and hurried over to the vent entrance. He popped it open and climbed inside. He pulled it closed again and laughed.
"If only Ferrel could see me now!" he thought. He crawled back through the winding maze of shafts and finally reached the vent to the treasury. He crawled down the vent again and looked at the grate.
"Phase Two complete!" he stated into his communicator.
"Okay, phase three: create an entrance and exit. Are the security systems any different?" Cyrus asked. Manic studied the room carefully. He noticed a red flashing light on the panel near the door.
"I actually think that they're off!" Manic replied very confused.
There was a long silence. Finally, Sonia talked to Manic. "I think Robotnik is expecting us!"
"Or maybe he just is taunting us! Maybe he just thinks that the Prophecy Stone is too big for us to take," Manic suggested.
"Maybe, speaking of which, can you see the stone?" Sonic asked.
Manic looked around the treasury. "Yeah, it's propped up against a wall on top of a podium," Manic stated.
"Let's continue with the plan. Manic, I trust you enough to finish what we have started," Sonic said faithfully.
"Awww! I'm touched! Really I am!" Manic teased. "Okay! Here I go!"
He kicked the grate. It creaked loudly and fell on the floor. Manic hopped down onto the floor next to it. He went to the far wall and placed a large set of explosives. He turned them on and went to study the Prophecy Stone. He gently ran his fingers over the strange writing.
While he was lost in his thoughts, Dingo looked up at him. He tried not to growl. He rocked carefully side to side just enough to push the stone over. The stone teetered and swayed.
"Whoa!" Manic yelped. He started to back up. Dingo pushed one more time and the stone fell over. Manic wailed as the stone broke over him.
It split in two and pinned him against the wall. Dust swirled around him. He coughed and looked into his communicator. He turned it back on.
"Hey guys, small problem," Manic said worriedly.
After Manic explained what had happened, Sonic was outraged. "I told you this would happen!" he screamed. Sonia was more concerned.
"Are you hurt? Can you get out from under it?" she asked calmly.
Manic sighed and said,"No, I tried already. It's starting to get really warm under here. Is that good or bad?"
"I'd say that's bad..." Cyrus said slowly. Manic groaned.
"I knew!" Sonic screamed somewhere nearby. Manic chuckled a little bit. Then he coughed.
"There's a bit of dust under here. It's getting kind of hard to breathe," Manic admitted.
"Hold on! After the explosives go off, we'll come and get you. Try to stay alive," Sonia said.
"Yeah ok. I'll do my best!" Manic laughed. He turned his communicator off and tried to focus on his breathing. It wasn't exactly easy.
He gasped and choked on his breath. When he was just about to pass out, the explosives went off. Sonic and Sonia climbed in.
"Oh Manic!" Sonia gasped. She started trying to lift the stone. Sonic rolled his eyes and helped her. After they lifted the stone off of Manic, Sonic helped him up.
Suddenly, Sleet and a couple of S.W.A.T. Bots came in. Sonia gasped. Sonic leaned Manic against a wall. He quickly attacked the bots causing them to explode and grabbed Sonia and Manic. They sped away and met back up with Cyrus.
Cyrus examined Manic and declared that he would be fine with plenty of rest. Sonic took them home and they all got a good night's sleep.
Queen Aleena laughed. Her echo rang through the Oracle's cave. "So, you gave Robotnik a fake Prophecy Stone? Then to make it seem real, you told my children that he had stolen it and it was the real thing?" she asked.
The Oracle nodded and laughed. "I would have ended Robotnik's days myself if had tried to get the real thing!" Queen Aleena laughed again.
"My children, are they alright?" she asked worriedly looking down at her drink. A small tear ran down her cheek.
"See for yourself! You can even give them a message if you want," the Oracle said kindly gesturing to a small pool of shimmering water.
Queen Aleena stood up and walked over to the pool. As she looked deep inside, she saw Sonic, Sonia and Manic sleeping in their base. She smiled and blew a kiss to each of them.
Almost as if they had felt her air kisses, each child began to smile. Manic's smile was small, but it was there. Sonia's smile was almost from one of her ears to the other. Sonic's smile was cheesy but happy none the less.
Queen Aleena stepped away from the pool and sat down again. The Oracle smiled kindly and said, "Don't forget that you can always come and visit me and my magic pool anytime!" Queen Aleena took a deep breath and nodded.
They continued to chat long after the sun had set. Queen Aleena then gathered her things and went back to her home.
The End
A/N: And I can finally feel some pride towards the ending. Yay! I'm sure it'll get even better soon! *beams, and hides expectantly*