Apparent Return of the Battle Birds

Sonic hanging out with Tails and Knuckles in Knothole. Tails was working on the Tornado to see how he can give it an upgrade, while Knuckles was kicking back and relaxing he had a bottle of root beer in his hand. Sonic was pacing back and forth.

"Ugh." Sonic groaned.

"What is it Sonic?" Tails asked.

"We've got nothing since we have beaten Eggman." Sonic answered.

"This does give us time to relax." Knuckles commented as he finished his root beer.

"And know I'm bored to death." Sonic replied. "I need to something to do or I'm about to go crazy." Then, Knuckles sprung up from the couch.

"I have an idea." Knuckles proclaimed jumping up from his seat.

"What is it, Knuckles?" Sonic asked.

"Let's take some snowmobiles and drive on the lagoon near Soleanna." Knuckles said.

"Knuckles, that's one of the stupidest ideas I ever heard." Tails rebuked him. "There is no way we could do that." About a half hour later, the three of them were at the lagoon with snowmobiles the engines were already running. The three already had helmets on and Sonic had a life jacket on as well. "I can't believe you talked me into doing this."

"Ready, guys?" Knuckles asked.

"Yeah." Sonic replied.

"Let's go!" Knuckles shouted as he zoomed out onto the water with Sonic and Tails behind him. They were zipping out on the water twisting and turning. Amy and Bunny was walking by when they saw this scene.

"Boys will be boys." Bunny said.

"It does look fun though." Amy replied. The two girls said nothing else as they kept walking towards Soleanna. Sonic while he was driving three cloaked figure dressed in white with a golden medal holding the outfit in place. But was moving so fast he didn't get a good look at them.

Later on, Sonic and his pals headed to Sally's villa to see if there was any missions that the three of them could do.

"I at least enjoyed the ride." Sonic answered.

"I didn't think it would actually be possible." Tails replied.

"Anyway, what's going on with Sal?" Sonic asked the two.

"Well, I did find out that we found one of the chaos emeralds." Knuckles reported to Sonic. "We decided to place it in the royal treasury, so in case we need to hunt for the chaos emeralds again we have a head start."

"Why would we need to look for the emeralds again?" Sonic asked. "Don't they stay with you?"

"No, after the great power is used up. The emeralds scatter in many directions, we were lucky that one ended up in the lagoon." Knuckles added. "It'll be safe with Sally." The communicator came on.

"Sonic, are you there?" Sally stated.

"What is it, Sal?" Sonic asked.

"Thieves broken into the treasury and stole the chaos emerald." Sally said with urgency. "The thieves are heading your direction. They're moving too fast for the militia to handle." The three saw the cloaked figures coming their way seeming to be floating in the air.

Sonic leapt towards them but missed them. The first had passed them, but Knuckles was able to punch the second one to the side. The third one floated to the second one picking it up and flying away. Sonic noticed that the second one dropped what appeared to be a hover board.

"Well, two can play at that game." Sonic thought as he picked up the hover board; he leapt onto it. It slipped from underneath him; he fell down and the board landed on his head. "Okay, let's try this again." He got on the board again and began to pursue them.

Sonic zipped by the other two cloaked figures and approached the first one. It slowed down trying to bump Sonic off of the board. Sonic in turn tried to bump him off as well. He saw that the figure did have the chaos emerald in his hand. He tried to reach for it but ended up grabbing the medal on his cloak instead. The figured tried to jerk away and the medal came off of the outfit.

Sonic looked at the medal and turned back to the adversary; he noticed that the figure was gone.

"Hey, over here." The figure stated. He crashed into Sonic causing the blue hedgehog to wipe out. The figure got in front of him on the board he was on. Sonic could notice the face of a green hawk within the hood of the cloak. "So, you are supposed to be the fastest thing alive?" he asked rhetorically. "What a joke." The figure grabbed the idle board before Sonic could reach it. He and the other two figures got away from Sonic.

"Damn it." Sonic stated to himself as Knuckles and Tails finally caught up with him.

"What happened?" Tails asked.

"They ended up getting away." Sonic remarked.

"Man, what a shame." Knuckles said.

"However, I was able to grab the medal they had on them." Sonic answered. "At least, we can get a clue on who they are." He showed the two the medal. There was what appeared to be a lamp on it, with three licks of flame forming a feather above it. "You know who this would belong to?"

"I don't have any idea." Knuckles answered.

"I've never seen it." Tails added.

"We should head back to Sally and tell this." Sonic replied but was embarrassed about the situation. After he got back to the villa, the princess and Uncle Chuck were there.

"Were you able to get the chaos emerald?" Sally asked.

"I tried what I could." Sonic sighed. "But I wasn't able to get the thieves or the emerald."

"Oh well." Sally replied putting her hand on her forehead. "Were you able to get anything from them?"

"I did." Sonic answered, showing them the medal. "I thought you might be able to identify it." Sally took the medal and looked it over with Uncle Chuck viewing it too.

"I remember seeing anything like this." Sally replied.

"I have…" Charles stated. The others looked at him with intrigue. "But I don't remember where it is." The others moaned over the situation. "But I do know someone who would know the symbol on the medal."

"Who is he?" Sonic asked.

"His name is Bert Who." Charles replied. "I know how to get to him."

"Well, can you take us there?" Tails asked.

"I'll be taking Sonic only." Uncle Chuck answered.

"Alright, I understand." Knuckles said. "Well, go ahead Sonic." He pushed Sonic forward to his uncle.

"What'd you do that for, Knucklehead?" Sonic asked.

"You need some quality time with your old man." Knuckles answered. He just started to get annoyed with his red echidna friend as he went off with Charles.

The two hedgehogs came to the edge of Soleanna where they had come up to a diner; as they entered they saw a black checkered floor. The counter was made of oak with a chrome finish and there was a set of table nearby the dancefloor at the far end with an accompanying jukebox.

"Mobius Corners?" Sonic asked in confusion. "Why are we at a diner, Chuck?"

"We will meet the informant here." The older gold hedgehog said. They came up to the counter where an aqua-colored coypu with a uniform on stood there. He had braces in his teeth.

"Hello…" the beaver said in an annoyed voice. "May I take your order?"

"What would you like, Sonny?" Charles asked.

"I'll take two chili dogs, please." Sonic stated.

"And I'll take a double cheeseburger." Uncle Chuck said.

"Will that be all?" the beaver asked.

"Yeah." Sonic replied. He turned around and spoke into the window behind him.

"We want two chili dogs and a double cheeseburger." He said. Then, a raccoon with a paper hat stuck her head out of the window.

"Oh lighten up, Dave." The raccoon stated to him. "You got to be a little more cheery and peppy."

"You have way too much energy, Roxie." Dave remarked back to her.

"What's the matter with being energetic?" Roxie asked him.

"Can you just get the order all ready?"

"We aren't that busy right now." Roxie continued. "You can talk to them a little bit, get to know them. We're supposed to have a warm, welcoming environment for the customers."

"You call your presence warm and welcoming?" Dave barked back at her.

"I'm also wondering if 'he' is in?" Charles stated.

"And who are you exactly?" Dave asked.

"I'm Sir Charles Hedgehog." Uncle Chuck replied.

"I'll go get the manager. He's in right now." Roxie stated, jumping out of the window. And into the staff room.

"It was my job to do that." Dave remarked. "If you thought she was bad, her little sister is even worse." Then, Roxie came out of the room with the manager. He was a green owl with a black tuff on his head.

"What is it, Roxie?" he said. "It better be important." Roxie pointed to the two hedgehogs and the owl looked at them. Then, he let out a grin. "EH, CHUCKIE! How's it going, man?" He held out his hand and Charles shook it.

"It's good to see you again, Bertie." Chuck replied.

"I didn't expect you to be here." Bert said. "If I knew you were coming, I would had the place tidier than usual." He looked at the younger hedgehog. "Who's the youngster?"

"This is my nephew, Sonic." The gold hedgehog said.

"Wait, THE Sonic the hedgehog?" Bert asked.

"That's me." Sonic answered. The owl just laughed.

"I didn't expect the legendary hero of Mobius to come here." The manager shouted. "You order will be on the house." Dave rolled his eyes.

"Thanks, Bertie." Chuck stated from surprise.

"No problem, Chuckie." The owl answered.

"Oh boy…" Dave thought to himself, rolling his eyes. "He's acting crazy as well."

"I was going to talk to you in private." Charles stated. "I want my nephew in on this as well."

"I'll let you have your fill and then we can talk in my office." Harvey said to them. He turned to the two employees. "Fire up the grills, you two."

"Yes, sir." Roxie stated with her goofy grin.

Uncle Chuck and Sonic sat down at one of the tables and just decided to take in the atmosphere of the place. In one of the tables was an older rabbit in a red dress with her young daughter in an orange skirt with a chao near her. And at another table was Mighty the Armadillo sharing a milkshake with a yellow cat in a red poodle-skirt with black outline. The cat also had big black pigtails.

During this time, an orange raccoon in a green shirt and black pants was on the dancefloor dancing to the music with her friend who was a reddish-orange echidna with bands in her hair and wearing a white shirt and green skirt. And there was a big purple cat sitting by himself in the corner reading the paper. He looked down and noticed something was missing.

"Fwoggy?" he said. "Fwoggy, where are you?" He stood up leaving the paper and left the diner looking for him. The tow hedgehogs looked on with a weird look.

"What's his problem?" Sonic asked.

"I have no idea." Charles answered.

Then, suddenly Omega E-123 entered the diner. The music stopped and everyone was looking at him. Dave was suddenly frightened.

"Excuse me." Omega asked. "I heard of this thing called coffee; people and mobians alike talk about. I wish to try some for myself."

"Would that be all, sir?" Dave asked.

"Yes, please."

"One coffee." Dave said.

"Coming right up." Roxie answered. Omega just took a seat right where the cat was sitting and picked up the paper. Then, the music just picked right up again.

"This situation is like the beginning of a bar joke." Charles commented. "You finished, Sonny?"

"Yeah." Sonic replied.

"Good, let's see Bert." His uncle replied.

"What's important about Bert?" Sonic asked.

"Back during the Great War, he was a member of the Intelligence Agency of West Side Island." Charles explained. "He retired after the conflict and opened up a dinner."

"Okay…" Sonic said. The two headed back to the manager's room and took a seat at Harvey's desk.

"So, what is the thing you wanted to discuss to me about?" Bert asked.

"There was a break-in at the princess's villa." Charles explained. "Sonny, here was able to get something off of the thieves' clothes. We would like to know what it is."

"Show me what the thing is." Bert said. Sonic took out the medal and gave it to the owl. He gasped in complete shock.

"You know what it is?" Sonic asked.

"I definitely know what it is." Bert replied. "It's been a very long time since I've seen that symbol. What you see is the symbol for the Babylon Rouges." Charles was shocked when he heard this.

"The Babylon Rouges? Who are they?" Sonic asked.

"They were the special operations group for the Battle Bird Sultanate." The bird stated.

"And they are?"

"Can I tell him?" Charles asked.

"You may." Harvey answered.

"The Battle Bird Sultanate was the most powerful Mobian faction on the planet at the time of the Great War. And at the beginning of the Third Skrimish, they intended to conquer and unite all the Mobian lands under the sultan's banner." Charles answered. "It took a coalition of West Side Island, South Island, the Wolf Pack nation, the Kingdom of Down Under, and the Knuckles clan of Echidnas to defeat the mighty armada of theirs."

"Whoa…" Sonic stated but that's all that could come out.

"After they were defeated, they retreated to their home on Cocoa Island and no one has heard from them since." Bert stated. "But now, what are the Babylon Rouges doing out here?"

"I'm starting to worry that the Sultanate might be involved in this." Charles explained. "We'll need to inform the princess immediately on the situation and put the militia on high alert. They might be planning something."

"Looks like a new adventure for my team." Sonic said with confidence.

"By the way, Chuckie, I might not be in the right position to ask this." Bert whispered.

"What is it, Bert?" Charles asked.

"Does Sonic know about 'that' issue?" The owl asked.

"What issue?" Sonic asked just happening to overhear.

"There's no issue." Charles stated feeling a little uneasy.

"I don't like this." The blue blur replied. "You're hiding something from me. Tell me what it is."

"I'm not sure how you will react to this." Charles stated with a look of concern on his face.

"Tell me it, Uncle Chuck." Sonic said with a more annoyed look. Uncle Chuck took a deep breath and sighed.

"It's about your parents." Charles explained. "You see, I've lied to you when I said they died in an accident."

"WHAT!?" Sonic answered in shock jerking back. "That's not true; it just can't be."

"What I'm saying is true." Chuck answered. Bert just stood back.

"WHERE ARE THEY!?" Sonic barked at Charles.

"I don't know where your father is, I swear." Uncle Chuck stated. "But I know your mother is alive and well."

"Who is she?" Sonic asked.

"Queen Aleema is your mother, Sonic." Chuck said. "I had to separate you and your siblings…" Sonic was feeling more shock.

"I HAVE SIBLINGS!?" Sonic shouted interrupting Charles.

"You have two of them: Sonia and Manic." Charles explained. "I know that this is…"

"WHY THE HELL DID YOU HOLD SOMETHING LIKE THAT FROM ME!?" Sonic roared in anger, interrupting him. "I HATE YOU! YOU'RE THE WORST UNCLE EVER!"

Then, Sonic turned away from Uncle Chuck ran out the door. Charles now felt very guilty about the whole mess that happened.

"I knew Sonic would get a little upset." Charles said to Bert. "But I didn't think he would get that angry. What should I do, Bert?"

"From what I heard from you he doesn't stay angry for a while." Bert said. "I think you should give him some time alone right now."

Sonic went to his room back in the house in Knothole. He noticed a parcel on his bed; he noticed that there was a note on the package. It was from Uncle Chuck.

"Dear Sonic," the note said. "I know it was rough on you today and I'm sorry for not telling you. You were separated from your parents and siblings because it was the Great War during that time. We couldn't risk you becoming a target for the Battle Birds. I know you will want to find your siblings in this package is a picture with your mother and siblings. You are in the middle, Sonia is on your right and Manic is on your left. I hope you'll forgive me after all this time."

Sonic opened up the package and saw the picture of Queen Aleema with the three hedgehog babies in her arms. On the right was a maroon colored hedgehog who was Sonia, and on the left was a green hedgehog who was Manic.

"I will find you two." Sonic said. "I will see you guys again and my mother as well. I will promise on this now." Sonic stood up and began to look around Soleanna to find them…