"Manic? Is it really you? I thought you were dead!"
Manic smiled. "Well, when Eggman's base was going down, I thought I was going to die too. But when you, Sonic and the rest of you guys were waiting at the entrance for me, I dove out the window instead because it was closer.
"So that's what happened," said Sally. "But why did you choose right now to show up?"
"Well, I overheard that you forgot some equipment here at Robotropolis. I didn't expect you to go by yourself so I came with you, without you even knowing. When I saw that you were getting chased by SWATbots, I was a few blocks ahead of you and opened the manhole that you just fell in."
"Well thanks, I guess," said Sally shuffling her feet. "You said that you were looking for Sonic, why?"
"Let's just say that I want to repay him for something he did a long time ago."
Sally wanted to ask Manic what Sonic did, but she didn't want to press him for answers. Instead she asked him this, "I never got my equipment from Eggman's base. Could you help me?"
Manic thought about it for a second. "Sure, I haven't had any action in a while. But can we go to Knothole after?"
"Yeah," said Sally, satisfied.
Manic and Sally climbed out of the manhole and started heading towards Eggman's base. Sally led the way while Manic watched out for anything that might stand in their way.
"We're almost halfway there," said Sally while still looking forward.
Manic was surprised at how far away Sally had run to get away from the SWATbots. He was taking in all the familiar sights that he remembered from a few years back. While he was pondering his thoughts, something caught his ear.
He tapped Sally on the shoulder. "Hey Sally, do you here that?"
Sally strained her ears a little. "Yeah, I do. It sounds like a baby crying. And I think it's coming from over there," Sally pointed to a pile of trash and robotic limbs.
They made their way over to the sound and clawed away the rubble. What they found was a baby puppy doll. Sally picked up the doll and examined every inch of it.
"Hey Manic, Eggman's logo is on this doll," she handed it to Manic.
Manic gave a tiny chuckle. "Eggman plays with dolls?" Manic's expression instantly turned from humored, to suspicious. "Wait a minute."
Manic then put the doll up to his ear and heard a small ticking sound. Manic went wide eyed. "It's a bomb!" Manic then threw the doll as far as he could as soon as the bomb blew up. The force of the explosion sent Manic and Sally flying into a nearby metal wall.
Sally shrieked, "Ughh, son of a-." All of a sudden Sally was grabbed by a hand around her neck.
All she heard next was the sound of Manic's voice.
"Hey, let go of her!"
Sally felt the hand pull away from her neck and knew that Manic had ripped the assailant off of her. When Sally fully regained consciousness, she watched in awe as Manic and the unknown person started fighting.
The figure threw a punch at Manic, which he avoided. Manic then threw a hard right hook at the assailant which sent the figure sailing into a pile of rubble a few feet away. One punch was all it took because the man got up and ran off.
Manic turned to Sally and held out his hand and helped her up. "Manic, what just happened?"
Manic was breathing heavily, "A damn scavenger decided he was gonna try and take you to his shelter or something. He must not have seen me, or else he wouldn't have messed with us."
"You must have punched that guy pretty hard to make him run away in one hit." Sally smiled.
Manic laughed, "Yeah, I guess so. Anyway, let's get to Eggman's base."
Sally and Manic kept heading toward Eggman's base without stopping this time, right up until they both heard the sound of a single engine plane.
Manic cursed, "Not again."
The plane landed maybe 10 yards away from where they were. It was too dark outside to tell what color it was or how many people were in it. But Manic watched as a single figure jumped out of the plane. As he walked closer, Manic could tell who it was right away.
"Hi Sally! Glad to see that you weren't captured," the figure said. He smiled at Sally and looked over at Manic with concern. "Who's this?"
Manic rolled his eyes and turned to Sally, "Has everyone at Knothole forgotten who I am?"
Sally started laughing, "I guess so!"
Manic turned to the kid and went down on one knee so that he was eye level with him. "Come on kid you're smart. You should be able to remember who I am."
He looked at Manic's blue eyes, "I honestly don't know who you are."
Manic was a little disappointed that the smartest person he knew didn't remember him.
"Okay Miles, maybe you'll remember me after this. I'm the only one who ever mechanically helped you work on all your projects, including the Blue Typhoon. I'm also Sonic's brother." Manic was pretty confident that he would jog his memory with that.
Suddenly, Tails remembered.
"You're Manic aren't you? Manic the Hedgehog!" Tails exclaimed.
Manic smiled. "Bingo, kid."