Chapter 1
"Miss Sonia, a person at the door for you." The butler said. The pink hedgehog turned from the piano she was playing. She was the only hedgehog in the household, adopted under circumstances her human foster mother told her were "best left unexplored."
"It is a hedgehog boy, a bit of a ruffian, but he seemed decent enough to talk." The butler continued. Sonia got out of the stool and followed the butler down hallways lined with paintings of long dead humans wearing swords they probably never used. When she got to the one entranceway to the Windemere estate, the butler went off to do more important work. Doors made of rare hyper-steel clashed with soft yellow painted walls, but were necessary for safety. The entire floor below was filled with concrete, except for the shaft by which the elevator came up. The doors slid open to reveal the visitor; a green hedgehog boy about as old as herself. Looking up he whistled softly.
"Wooo. Nice deal ya' got here. Pardon my manners. Manic, apprentice to master Ferrel, at your service." He punctuated the remark with a deep bow and a waving of a worn, second hand beret he had been wearing over his untidy head-spikes. She noticed that his right ear was pierced by two golden loops. He wore a brown vest over his otherwise bare chest, and shorts a size to small for him were surrounded by a faded pink fanny pack.
"Hello." Sonia said, giving a small curtsy. "How can I help you?"
"Well," he began rubbing his head-spikes. "dang this'll come out wrong. I've got up some proof you're my sister."
Sonia tried to not show her disappointment. Her mother had warned her about people who would say these kinds of things so they could get money and food.
"I… I'm sorry, but you must be mistaken." She said, shaking her head. As she began to close the door and walk away, she heard Manic call after her,
"Wait, ya' think this is 'bout money don't you. Well, I'm not gunning to be one o' you fat donk-"his voice was cut off abruptly by the doors closing.
OOOOOOOOOO
Manic cursed his luck and fate in general as the elevator slid down a genteel shaft. He really should have known that would happen, but he had at least hoped her interest would have been piqued long enough to hear some of the evidence. Opening his pack, he pulled out a green jewel that was attached to a gold chain. On it were etched the letters: M.N. Ironically his first name did start with "M", but Ferrel might have based it off the carving. He hadn't worn it to the meeting, because any aristocrat's daughter would assume he had stolen such an expensive looking item. He pulled it over his head. If Ferrel was going to force him to dwell in the past he might as well go all out. He would have to try option B.
OOOOOOOOOO
A blue hedgehog in a grey shirt and denim shorts bent down, right hand barely touching the ground, left out behind him. With a grunt he pushed of, running as fast as he could past the bland brick townhouses, his swept back head-spikes flailing behind him. He skidded to a miniscule pause at the end of the street to turn, and began running the other way. Run, skid, turn. Run, skid, turn. A green hedgehog kid about as old as he was walked up and stood watching for no less than a minute.
"Watch ya' doing?" he called out.
"Running." The blue hedgehog replied. He skidded to a halt in front of the green one. "Name's Sonic. The hedgehog, not the famous bard."
"Oh no, you look fairly human to me. I'm Manic. Don't ask." They stared for a few seconds before Manic continued. "Sooo I'm pretty sure we're brothers 'cause of what my master told me 'bout where he found me, the night of the revolution. You probably have one of these," Manic said, waving his green pendant. The blue hedgehog looked at it for a few second before admitting.
"I do." Sonic nodded in confusion, pulling a blue one from under his shirt. "And I am adopted, but Uncle Chuck wouldn't say when, so I guess it makes sense." They stared some more.
"So, what da ya wanna do now?"
OOOOOOOOOO
Sonia sat beside her foster mother, Nalsia Windemere, in the horseless carriage as it went down the streets of Mobius City. Sonia was dressed in her finest clothes, a sparkling red dress that matched her gold chained earrings, alongside her pearl bracelets. Her mother was dressed in swathes of white and blue in a looser fit, not being as slight of frame.
"Mother," she began. "Was I the only child you found that night?" The question had been bothering Sonia since the punk had shown up at the door earlier that day. Her mother bit her lip, pondering how to answer.
"No. There were two boys. One blue and one green."
"Why didn't you take them too?" Sonia asked. Nalsia sighed.
"I didn't want sons. I know I should have but… you'll understand when you're older. And it was the night of the revolution. Anyone crazy enough to leave their children outside in that… I didn't want too much suspicion from any regime that came out of it."
OOOOOOOOOO
Sonic and Manic strolled through the side streets and alleyways of Mobius City, talking about their life as they walked along.
"Here. Here's a good place to perform for money." Sonic would say on a street corner, while Manic might point at a Citizen's Service Cafeteria and say.
"They never get a lot of people; lots of food in their dumpsters." They were turning into an old side street while discussing the merits of old jazz when they met an unruly bunch of teens, some human, most hedgehog, dressed in worn clothes with a spot of bright purple on them somewhere, particularly a girl hedgehog who had purple fur naturally, and didn't wear anything of a different color.
"Hey, Manic." She said off-handedly, inspecting a knock-off amethyst ring on her finger.
"You two know each other?" Sonic asked.
"Oh yes, me and him, we go way back." She said turning to them. "I'm always trying to give him presents, like knives and such, but he never seems to want them." Various kids were beginning to reach into pocket or flicking out switch-blades.
"You're gang filth!" Sonic exclaimed. The girl's eyes narrowed. Manic turned, smiling broadly, and said through his teeth.
"Run, ya' big dumby."
"Kill Him!" the girl yelled, stopping briefly by Manic to add, "We'll get you later." Sonic was already running and screaming his head off.
OOOOOOOOOO
"Sonia, I'd like you to meet this gentleman. His name's Richard Bartleby. His parents and I go far back."
"A pleasure to meet you." Bartleby said bowing. He was a hedgehog also, with a yellow fur from some source, and he was taller than normal, probably three decimeters more at least. "I've heard a lot about you. Shall we dance?"
"Sure." Sonia said giving him his hand. They went off from Nalsia, twirling in a similar monotony as the rest of the hall.
"Parties." Bartleby said. "Never saw the point of them. Money wasn't made by using it." Sonia nodded in agreement. Her mother often took her to these soirées, trying to make her talk to other young men. It was a bit hard since most of the aristocracy was human.
"So, what do you like to do?' she asked him.
"Er… well… hunt. Oh, don't look at me like that. The food in Mobius these days is horrid, and I try to use everything I get. What do you do?"
"Piano mostly, when I'm not being tutored." They danced on through the dull, classic music, occasionally lessened by a decades old jazz song. Neither of them was very good at it, and Bartleby eventually excused himself. He went over to a refreshment table while Sonia wandered off, waiting until Nalsia came up to him.
"What are your thoughts?" she asked.
"She's a bit young, maybe?" Bartleby replied, sipping from a glass of champagne.
"Oh, it wouldn't happen anytime soon. We'd wait until she's ready."
"And there's the age difference. I'm twenty and she's, what, fifteen? Isn't that just a little wrong?"
"Look, your parents and I agreed this is best."
"That doesn't help your case. They're just a bunch of old fogeys partying in Southern Neworld like they're young. It's disturbing just thinking about it." Bartleby put the glass down as he finished it. "Sonia will find out eventually, and she won't be happy. She's a nice girl now, but pretty soon she'll find something to rub against, and then it will be bizarre piercings and loud rock all day long. I know I went through that until I took up hunting."
OOOOOOOOOO
Sonic dared to look behind him as he ran through the streets. He had lost his initial burst of speed, and the gangsters were managing to keep up with him, mostly by knowing little shortcuts. He turned his head in time to stop himself before colliding with a pink hedgehog standing in the streets. Stopping himself a foot short of her face He got out:
"Love to chat but I'm gonna' die" Before he ran off. The hedgehog, Amy Rose, stared at his back shrinking in the distance before going the other way, oblivious to the mob of angry gangsters that came around the turn a second later. He's kind of cute floated into her mind for a brief second before more practical thoughts filled it up again.
OOOOOOOOOO
Manic hit the rooftop with a soft thud. Jumping between rooftops in Mobius City was pretty easy because the townhouses were built so close together. It was crossing streets that really slowed you down, because you had to go down and up two different fire escapes. Really impractical when someone was chasing you, or vice versa. Manic leapt another gap, keeping an eye pealed for Sonic. He's fast. Manic commented to himself again. He'd probably win any footrace you could challenge him to. This didn't make Manic's time any easier, because he was probably on the other side of Mobius City's river bynow. As he ran for the next jump, somebody's leg tripped him. He turned as soon as he hit the ground, ignoring his pain to see his attacker. It was the purple hedgehog from earlier.
"Didn't ya miss me, love?" She said casually.
"Look, Lisa, I'm kinda' in a hurry here, so could you just skip to killing me?"
"Sure." She shrugged, reaching into her pocket. She ruffled her hand, looking down in confusion, and then looked up to glower at Manic, who proudly waved a purple-handled knife in one hand.
"Well, time to go. Ah, there's my brother." He said leaning over the side of the roof. All jovialness dropped from his voice in a second. "No. He wouldn't." Lisa went over to confirm what that meant.
OOOOOOOOOO
Sonic was tired, and his side was killing him, but he had seen the purple metal of a cop-bot going around the corner, and if he could reach it he'd be safe. No gang of any size could take on a squadron of the Robotnik's protectors. He was so close, so close… a person's leg made him trip and sprawl on the hard asphalt. He twisted around to defend himself, but a voice interjected:
"They're gone."
"Manic, what'd you do that for?"
"'Cause you, idiot that you are, was about to set ruthless machines on a bunch of kids."
"They were trying to kill me!"
"Would you return the favor?"
"What are you talking about?"
"You know when the Robotnik takes us 'unregistered' folks off the street and puts into his system? We like to call that 'roboticizing' 'cause its like he's turning us into robots." Manic yelled the last part for emphasis, before dropping his voice again. "Can ya' imagine that, after spending your entire life doing what ya' want and having to make your own decisions? And then having nothing? I hear it drives some kids mad."
"It's to help…"
"That's propaganda. Everyone uses it." A shared silence.
"Lets just go home." Sonic finally said. "By the way, you mentioned being an apprentice. In what exactly?"
"Oh… that's best explained later."
OOOOOOOOOO
Manic entered a run down house, little more than a stable pile of bricks. Something large swept past.
"Hey." It said. It was a large, greasy human, dressed in rough clothes and leaning back against a wall. "How'd it go?"
"Girl thought I was tricking her, boy believed me."
"Good luck. Oh, I got you some…"
"Drumsticks, these ones exactly." Manic said, waving the objects in his off-hand.
"Nice. Figure you could least have half your favorite instrument, seeing as ya' can't go lugging a big drum everywhere."
"Good thievings, master." Manic called as he went to an early bed.