The sky sheds its tears.
The weather somehow knew it would need to mourn tonight as a brave soldier of justice was lost. It tried to be strong for the last two days, baring strong sun and gentle breezes, but it finally surrenders on this third evening. The citizens of Knothole still went about their lives, making the best of these days to spend with family and friends and think of how much their loved ones mean to them. Knothole would continue to move on, it's what Uncle Chuck would have wanted. The occupants of Castle Acorn, mournful as they were, decided to do something else with their grief.
Turn it into action.
Sonic and Sally stared at the large screen before them with visible bags underneath their eyes - even Nicole looked exhausted.
"Again." Sally lightly commanded.
Nicole had found a pattern in the misfiring of her security systems and the Royals were hounding every second of the details. There was video footage of security cameras freezing in odd spots minutes before the shooting.
"Nothing Sal." Sonic shakes his head.
"There has to be something." Sally nearly gave up.
"I think we should take a break." Sonic laid his head on the table.
Sally patted Sonic on the shoulder then rubbed his arm. "Hey, we're gonna get through this okay? I love you and I am here for you."
Sonic really appreciated the heartfelt sentiment and couldn't help but hug the queen.
"Thanks Sal." Sonic genuinely smiled then peered into her eyes.
"What?" Sally blushed. Sonic snapped to attention then looked away.
"Anyone else?" Sonic rushed to stand up. "I'm uh… gonna get coffee! Anyone else need coffee."
The others in the room obliged as Sonic briskly walked out of the room.
Sally sighed when Bunnie approached with a warm look on her face. "How ya holdin' up Sally girl?"
Sally stands and walks with her best friend.
"It's so weird without Charles. He was a mentor to me, he pushed me along in so many ways and now we can't even find the people responsible for his death."
"And Sonic?"
"A mess." Sally wipes her face. "He's trying to be strong but I know something is off… although…"
"Although?"
"We just had a little bit of a moment." Sally stated.
"You did?" Antoine butted in.
The others at the table caught wind.
"Did what?" Tails asked. "Find the killer?"
"No no now hush!" Bunnie exclaimed.
"It's okay Bunnie, really." Sally confessed. "Even though this is a complete tragedy and I don't want to undermine anything regarding Charles' life. With that being said, Sonic and I have grown closer these last three days."
Mina was especially happy. "That's so good to hear."
Antoine wasn't worried at all and Rotor cracked a smile. Tails, Amy and Cream all shared an intense look.
"Please don't say anything." Sally looked extremely nervous. "Anyway, anyway… are there any leads?"
Amy snapped to attention and picked up a few papers. "We've been looking through records of the Flicky Island refugees but no one stands out as this much of an extremist."
"The only suspects we could come up with are prisoners of the Devil's Gulag."
Mina asked. "Do prisoners of that hole really have that much of a grudge against Knothole?"
"Well… yes. But how?" Sally questioned. "They'd have to travel the entire continent in less than a day, infiltrate Knothole, smuggle a weapon in, foil Nicole's security, and harm a perfectly good citizen all in less than eighteen hours."
"Something about the timeline doesn't add up." Tails stated. "Queen Sally, are you sure the United Federation is telling the truth about their situation?"
Sally furrowed her brow. "Y-yes. Nicole can pull up their transcripts and emails."
Nicole did just so on the screen. "How can we launch a formal investigation though without any suspects?"
"We should be thinking of how cold this case is being." Antoine stated.
That real fact hit everyone in the stomach.
It had been over forty-eight hours since the shooting and no one was close to making a guess as to who shot Sir Charles. The Knothole Freedom Fighters were coming to their wits end and time had run its course. Their grief turned action would all be for naught.
"I think it's time we suspend this investigation until after the funeral." Sally stated. "We can take a fresh approach, even do some more questioning with witnesses.
Everyone understood the importance of such a reverent event.
"It's tomorrow…" Tails rubs his eyes. "I didn't think it would get here so fast."
Mina hugs her husband. "I agree Queen Sally, lets be respectful of Charles and remember him in a way that honors his life."
The rain continues to pour.
Manic stared out the window.
The rain coming down outside matched the mood. He stared at the night sky not paying attention to anything but simply lost in thought. He had been replaying over and over what happened three days ago, torturing himself for not making the right moves. Manic closed his eyes when Trace entered his room.
"I swear these past few days have been great." Trace announced. He slammed the door and walks over to Manic. "Nobody has been paying attention to the work I do! Everyone is all preoccupied!"
Manic just turned to The Gizoid. "Have some respect!"
Trace couldn't understand.
"Manic he's a robot." Trace sat next to him. "Just rebuild the guy with the junk laying around."
Manic leapt and slammed Trace with a homing attack. The Gizoid tumbled across the room and into the other chair and bookshelf. Tomes and bookends hurdled to the carpet as Manic just stood in worried anger. He huffed in frustration for a second when Trace lifted his hand over the mess and straddled the chair.
"There you are!" Trace dragged himself out of the pile. "I knew my guy was in there… just needed the right push."
Manic just sucked his teeth and turned away.
Trace brushes his shoulder as the door opens. "Did I do it right?"
Trace looks to the shy entrant of the room as Manic furrows his brow to his sister.
"Uh, hey." Sonia said.
Manic exhales and nods. "Hey."
Trace slides his arm over Sonia's shoulder and hugs her. "You see that plan in action?! Bam! We're friends now. Whoa whoa whoa, I mean just friends."
Sonia rolls her eyes and shoves the robot from her side. She steps toward Manic and eyes his arm.
"You okay?"
"It's started to peel." Manic smiled. "It's gonna be a nice scar."
Sonia wanted to roll her eyes at the statement. "Listen, I'm trying to apologize to you."
Manic faced his sister with full attention.
"I'm sorry for coming down so hard on you, I had a million emotions right then and I wanted to do something about it ya know?! Lashing out at you, hurting you, wasn't the way and I'm such an idiot for it."
Sonia expressed that with utmost precision as Manic digested her words. He could tell by how truly heartfelt she is because she would recite those lines in her head to make sure every word was sincere. Manic easily accepted the apology and hugged his sibling.
"I'm sorry too." Manic started. "I should have done something."
Sonia grabs his shoulder. "Hey, relax. Look! Uncle is a great guy, we all know this, but he don't want us to be sittin' around feeling like dopes when we can go out and change the world. Right?"
Manic defeatedly nods. "Right."
Sonia steps to the door and opens it completely. "Manic, follow me. There's some people here who wanna see you."
Manic looked to Trace who shrugged in response then stepped to his sister. She held out her hand to him when he reached for hers. Trace put his in Sonia's hand.
"Is this not a hand holding moment?" Trace looks between them.
Sonia started to boil in anger. "Manic, get ya boy! I swear! Get ya boy!"
The royal siblings with their Gizoid friend leave from their quarters and head toward a familiar place. The Palace itself was trying to maintain an air of calm as paid servants were getting anxious about answers. The looks on their faces could be read like books and the Royal Guard didn't have any answers either. When the prince and princess strolled the halls the eager sense of mystery mixed with respectful distance and the outcome was very strange. Still the trio managed to make it to the ambassador room, a familiar place, where its secret passage lead to secrets revealed. Now today it hosts friends for comfort and congregation.
"Manic!" Skye called.
He flew over in nearly a blink and handshake-hugged the grieved hedgehog.
"Skye? Melody? What are you guys doing here?" Manic showed a huge smile.
"Sonia told us how much you pain you were going through and we thought you could use some company." Melody hugged Manic.
"Also we were with our parents." Skye chimed in.
Sonia took a seat as the others followed her lead to rest among the many regal recliners. There were eight chairs in all with posh red velvet and many books lining the walls. The fireplace was always going and always stocked with wood. The room was cozy and often inviting for anyone to rest in.
"Who are you?" asked Melody.
"An asswipe." Sonia gurgled.
The Gizoid approached Melody and extended his hand. "I'm Trace. Sorry I'm not in my best gear today, I just got off work."
"You guys have a robot?" Skye was extremely excited then popped-up all over the Gizoid.
Trace imitated taking offense. "Uh, not robot, get that straight, I'm a Gizoid. Pfft! Robot... you have me utterly mistaken."
"Oh I love Trace already." Skye smiles.
"That makes two of us." Trace retorted turning to Sonia in the process.
"Forget about it, junk heap." Sonia turned away.
Manic sat down in one of the chairs.
"So do you guys have any clue as to who did this?" Melody pretty much blurted. "Sir Charles? Everyone's uncle."
Manic's brief air of joy was crashing down and Sonia gave Melody a cold glare.
"Melody." Sonia said through gritted teeth. "Maybe we could talk about something else."
"Why?" Melody asked.
"Read the room, Melody, geez!" Sonia exclaimed. Melody shrugs and starts to reach for her phone.
"It's okay Sonia," Manic starts. "This is good… hey maybe you guys could tell us what it's like in Westopolis. I always wanted to go."
"Okay first off, you gotta eat the pizza there! Number one thing! Skye started to list, "After that you go down to Beale Avenue and hit the arcade. It's got thirty machines to play pop-a-shot, then after that you go downtown to the canal."
"No don't go to the canal." Melody smirks. "That's where the pervs and weirdos go."
Skye stares at Melody unamused as Manic and Sonia laughs.
Trace points and imitates laughter. "Because he's a weird pervert? I get it! I get it!"
Skye swipes at Trace. "Robot!"
"Is this where the fun is?" A familiar voice called from the doorway.
Lara-Su pokes her head through the threshold and Sonia instantly goes crazy.
"Lara!" Sonia speeds over to her friend and hugs. "You made it! I didn't think you would—"
Sonia politely shoves her aside when she sees the two others trailing behind her. Sonia gets into her battle stance and stares down each of the siblings.
"Who left this trash in the hallway?" Sonia asked.
Jacques and Belle D'Coolette grace the entry of the ambassador room.
"Sonia!" Lara scolded. "Be nice, I bumped into them in the halls."
Sonia sized up her latest guests and stepped aside. "I guess."
"The place sure seems smaller than I remember." Belle commented.
"Was it always this gaudy?" Jacques asked.
Sonia wanted to hit each of them but the sight of Lara shaking her head no satiated her brief moment of violence.
"Hey Belle. Hey Jacques." Melody typed away on her phone. "What are you guys doing here?"
"Our parents are here trying to figure out who killed Sir Charles." Jacques proudly answered.
"I wish I could be a part of that!" Melody said, a little excited. "I wanted to be a detective when I was a kid, so I'm intrigued ya know."
"My Uncle is not a case." Sonia stated, nearly offended.
"Still, nobody knows anything." Melody responded. "Right?"
Jacques nodded. "Yeah. My parents kicked us out before we could get any info. That's why we're stuck here with Manic and his smell."
Manic flared at Jacques. "Maybe your just smelling your own breath, you know, the food you eat out of the trash."
"Oh my god! Shut up!" Lara yelled. "Y'all need to stop! All I hear is trash this, trash that! Uncle Chuck is dead and still y'all mad at each other?"
"They started it!" Each pair of the siblings pointed to each other.
Lara sits down exhausted already. "I came here to help out some friends, okay, not hear y'all argue. It's been rough for us already okay?"
"Yeah!" Trace chimed in. "I'm sick of y'all!"
Lara just about fell from her chair as Trace hovered just beside her.
"What the heck is that?" Lara started hyperventilating.
Trace extended his hand. "I'm Trace. Sorry I'm not in my best gear today, I just got off work."
Lara looked him up and down. "That things freaky looking. Go away."
"Finally! Someone who agrees." Sonia praised.
"Oh you're Lara!" Trace finally realized. "Manic has a big crush on you!"
Trace was instantly faceplanted and slides to the base of a bookshelf with Manic riding him like a surfboard.
"Uh… heh! Oh man nobody heard that." Manic looked to the room with shifty eyes.
Skye raised his hand and quietly stated. "I did."
Lara pretended like she was oblivious as Jacques started to cough.
"Seriously, Manic, do something about that smell of yours. I know you're grieving and all but mourning does not replace a good shower."
Manic was ready to faceplant Jacques.
"Jacques." Lara rescued the hedgehog. "No more. I'm serious."
"Somebody's gotta be the adult huh?" Melody scoffed. "Or leader I guess."
Everyone was touched by that word.
Uncle Chuck's last bit of encouragement included what it meant to be a leader.
The group held a small moment of silence.
"That's kind of what I wanted to talk about actually." Sonia lowered her head.
"Nobody wants you to lead anything, a team, a nation, none of that." Belle stared at Sonia. Sonia made eye contact with Lara then decided not to rip Belle's hair out her head and shove it down her throat.
"I'm gonna be straight up." Sonia announced. "I wanna find the dude that killed my Uncle Chuck and put him in the dirt. Who wanna help?"
Melody's hand instantly rose. The others were more apprehensive with Manic questionably staring at his sister.
"Sonia…" Manic called.
"I'm trying to ride out on the this dude, Manic." Sonia clapped as she spoke. "Tell me you ain't with it."
"Do you have any suspects?" Melody asked. "What kind of investigation are we leading? Any autopsy information we can get our hands on?"
Sonia holds up both hands to pause. "I don't know all that."
Lara sighs. "Look, your heart's in the right place, I get it, that's your blood, well, he was roboticized so maybe it's oil now? …Anyway! You had something taken away from you and now you want something back."
Sonia nodded. "What's your point?"
Lara exhaled. "You can't go around being vigilantes! I'm sure the King and Queen will find something."
"What if they don't?" Skye asked. "It's been three days. Any chance of catching the guy reduces after what…"
"Forty-eight hours." Melody answers. "Trail goes cold, killer gets away. The only way it works is if this guy has some revolutionary motive."
That word sent Manic back to the classroom as he looks to the others as if possessed. "What did you say?"
"What?" Melody questions.
"Manic what's up?" Skye asked.
Manic approaches the group. "A revolution. The… suspect… said something like this…"
Sonia dashed to her brother. "Whoa, where's this comin' from?"
Manic stepped past her, looking through everything trying to get focus on his memories.
"He was in all black, everything covered, black gloves, black boots, a face mask…"
The group started to grow more interested as Manic was fidgeting trying to make sense of these events.
"All black, but I saw his eyes." Manic clinched his fists. "Cold, lifeless, dead blue eyes that hurt my family!"
Sonia stepped closer to Manic for comfort when he paused her with a gesture.
"I'll never forget those eyes!" Manic confidently stated. The room was silent for a bit, anticipating more to come. Manic calmed down and closed his eyes.
"That's it?" Belle asked, whelmed at the situation.
Manic nodded.
Belle, overly dramatic, sighed at Manic's sheer ineptitude.
"Well what happened after that." Skye asked.
Manic shakes his head. "I tried to attack the guy, but he caught me, threw me into a wall, and stunned me. I'm just now remembering what he said about a revolution just before he…"
"Wait, he caught you?" Jacques asked. "And threw you?"
"Pay attention bottom-feeder!" Sonia screamed.
Jacques actually didn't stoop to her level and approached Manic. He grabbed his own nose then encircled the small hedgehog before him.
"Manic, you stink really bad." he hinted to his sister.
Lara was about to go off. "Boy if you don't—"
Jacques finished his statement. "But that's a good thing. Manic, your jacket."
Jacques had an open palm toward the hedgehog as he looked to the others in question.
"Belle, you wanna tell them what we found?" Jacques turned to his sister.
"No." She folded her arms. The siblings just stared at each other until Belle cracked.
"Alright. Fine." Belle reached in her back pocket and pulled out a locked diary. The group was in complete mystery as Belle approached the center of the room.
"That night, when our parents, the Freedom Fighters, finally managed to get a meeting together. My brother and I went digging around in my parents study. It took a majority of the night to successfully crack open a locked box but boy did we find treasure. Inside, we found five diary's of my mother's handwriting. We took the first one which is what this is."
"We've read this thing from end to end and it details, first of all, details about my parents sex life I did not want to find out, yet juicy intelligence about the Freedom Fighters in the climax of their activity. You see, Knothole wasn't always here, but deep in the forest as a small village. It got attacked by this guy named Shadow with something called Chaos Emeralds. Then something happened with some blimps, more of my parents, then here!"
Belle flipped the pages to the correct spot.
She continued. "Sonic the Hedgehog wakes up from a five year coma. Something called Project: Endgame set up King Sonic as a traitor to Knothole after falsely trying to murder Princess Sally. Apparently, Robotnik had paid some guy to pose as Sonic and I'm getting off topic… Ahem! Anyway! Long story short! Robotnik was behind this betrayal to distract Knothole while he set up something called the Ultimate Annihilator. This massive space laser would wipe Knothole clear from the map. Sonic survives a misdirected shot but is drowned into a coma."
Sonia and Manic share a look.
The missing five years they overheard lines up with Belle and Jacques findings. Sonic was nearly killed because of this Robotnik guy and ostracized even before it. Manic hands the jacket over to Jacques as Belle holds the diary up.
Belle continues. "When King Sonic came back, there was a mission, some friction with Tails of all people, I don't quite understand that part, then here! This is where it gets interesting. Manic and Sonia… did you know Queen Sally wasn't always married to Sonic the Hedgehog?"
"What?" Sonia exclaims.
"Some skunk named Geoffery St. John." Belle couldn't wait to say it. "A former King of Knothole. Apparently he started an uprising here in good old Knothole and killed a civilian before a crowd. They struck it from the history books and buried his details only to be uncovered in this diary. This stinky king challenged Sonic to a fight and was taken away to some far away prison."
"No way." Manic says dumbfounded.
"And what's worst of all." Jacques holds the jacket up for everyone. "The smell of a skunk is on this jacket."
Everyone gasped as if it were a television show.
Manic takes the jacket and clutches it. "You mean, this Geoffery St. John is the one who killed my Uncle?"
Jacques places a hand on his shoulder.
Lara was skeptical. "But how do you know- "
"Cause me and Manic overheard that meeting with the Freedom Fighters." Sonia confirmed. "That prison this skunk was in, was the Devil's Gulag, the far away prison that somehow had all its criminals escape."
"Escape?" Skye questioned.
Sonia nodded. "And you're sure this is the skunk?"
"Positive. My nose is undeniable." the coyote attested.
"Geoffery St. John…" Skye added.
"All I needed was a name." Sonia heads for the door then looks back to her brother. "You comin' Manic."
He wears doubt before he locks eyes with his sister. He could still see Uncle Chuck surrendering before the figure in the class. This shadowed enigma holding a weapon of fear grew opaque as a tangible quality could now be attached. Manic grew bold and stepped with his sister.
"I'm with you." Manic nodded in complete agreement. Sonia and her brother were devoted to the cause of bringing down a madman.
"Hold up." Lara called.
The sultry echidna stood and quickly approached the royal siblings.
"What's your plan?" Lara asked. "I hope it's telling the King and Queen what you know!"
Sonia and Manic looked to each other when she shrugged.
"We can't trust them." Manic started.
The room grew eagerly upset with questions starting to pile up.
"Okay, okay chill!" Sonia explained. "That meeting Manic and me overheard… it wasn't just about the prison."
Sonia and Manic looked to each other and he nodded in approval of their next words.
"We can't trust our parents because they don't trust us. The King and Queen are divorced, been divorced, for six years now. They haven't told us, their kids, anything."
"King and Queen Acorn aren't together?" Belle questioned.
The room was in shock.
"Still, that doesn't change anything." Lara succinctly cut through their reasoning. "Right is right."
"Are you serious right now?" Sonia raised her voiced. "They don't deserve our faith when they can't even trust us, their own flesh and blood. Why should we please them when they can't even owe it to us?"
"I know it's hard, but as kids, there are some things we just don't need to know." Lara reasoned.
"You're taking their side?" Sonia accused.
Lara stayed extremely calm. "No sides. I'm trying to make you see reason."
"L-Lara." Manic chimes in. "I know y-you mean well, but… This is something we have to do. Uncle Chuck wanted us to w-work together as a team and in the wake of his p-passing; here we all are, voluntarily in the same room together."
"Plus Trace." He added.
"Plus Trace!" Manic smiled. "I don't know much about being part of a team but I think we have everything we need right here. I know Uncle Chuck wanted us to be influential all over Mobius and this could be our start. Finding Geoffery St. John."
The others were on board with the notion of taking down a criminal but Lara griped and complained.
"Listen, Sonia, Manic, we've been friends for like ever. I don't want anything to happen to you, to any of you."
Lara stared into the intensity behind the royal sibling's eyes, a deep fire of passion and willpower. Lara had to back down to it.
"But… if anything goes wrong. We come running straight to your parents. Do you understand?"
Sonia couldn't help but hug her.
"Now you're a true leader." Sonia patted her on the shoulder.
Lara immediately questioned what she's done.
"So what do we do now?" Manic asked to no one in particular. Melody stepped forward with phone in hand.
"I'm checking Skylight for that name and no direct match came up."
"That sucks." Skye shakes his head. That revelation nearly killed the momentum of the day.
"But a different match came up." Melody coyly continued. "A Hershey St. John, here in the city."
"Well what do you know, social media to the rescue." Belle smirked.
"Let's go then!" Sonia exclaimed as everyone started for the door.
"Hold on! We all just can't roll up to this chicks house eight deep! This dude is a killer… a killer! We could get shot."
The group understood the gravity of the situation.
"I'm fast enough to stop that bullet and get everyone to safety." Sonia flipped her hair.
Lara wore a defeated expression when she looked to Belle and Jacques who were detailing their bracers. Melody and Skye bumped fists and stepped forward. Manic even looked more confident in himself.
"I guess I'm outnumbered here huh." Lara shakes her head.
"I'd like to help." Trace stepped forward. "Now that I'm officially part of the group…"
"You're not a part of the group." Lara and Sonia both chime in.
"Can you emit a WiFi signal?" Melody asked.
Trace simply nodded.
Melody acutely defended. "He's a part of the group!"
"Okay, Okay…" Lara decided. "We need to be a bit more organized, though…"
Lara surveyed the room and looked to the eight of them in the room. She could see they were all raring to go then she did her best to match personalities. She lifted her finger and pointed to Sonia.
"Princess, you're coming with me." Lara nodded.
Sonia pumped her fists. "Now we're talkin'! Just like old times—"
"And Belle." Lara continued. "Also Melody. Let's make this a girls trip."
Sonia and Belle shared a look.
Lara turned to Jacques. "Jacques, take Skye, Manic and Trace."
"Where?" Skye asked.
Lara blinked - she had no clue. "Uh…"
"They can be on standby." Belle stepped up. "If we're going to this woman's house then we better have a plan. And I've got something in the works…"
Bunnie and Antoine enter the room. "Now ain't this the sweetest thing! What are all ya'll doin' in here?"
Everyone robotically answered. "Nothing."
"Something is telling me to be suspicious." Antoine approached. "Jacques."
The young coyote froze. His gaze met with his fathers and he was starting to pant.
"Uh…" Jacques stammered.
"We we're talking about Sir Charles." Belle interrupted. Antoine looked to his daughter. "Manic and Sonia seemed pretty lost, and hopeless, and utterly depressed about things. We thought we'd be the bigger ones and offer our support."
Antoine ate up his daughters lies. "Aww my Belle is being so sweet."
Meanwhile Bunnie just stared at her daughter with skepticism. "Mmhmm. C'mon ya'll, we best be leavin'. Got a big day for us in the morning."
Lara stepped forward, revealing her phone. "I need everyone's numbers."
The kids all immediately clued in, and revealed their phones.
"Group chat, ya know." Lara smiled.
"You're just a cute little Julie-Su in glasses." Bunnie commented. "How are your parents?"
Lara nearly jumped out of her skin. "They're fine. Never better. I will tell them you asked about them."
Bunnie smiled. "No need honey, I'll see them tomorrow and we can all catch up!"
"T-tomorrow?" Lara asked.
"You should know, they are being here for the funeral." Antoine interjected.
"Uh… no I haven't talked to them since before all this." Lara grew nervous, "They'll be here tomorrow!?"
"Is something wrong Lara?" Sonia asked.
Lara finally adjusted her face. "No. No! I just uh, haven't seen them in a while and I'm already anxious. See, I'm shaking."
"Aww that's so precious." Bunnie smiles.
"Melody, Skye!" Mina called from the hall, nearly singing in the process. "Get your stuff we're leaving."
"C'mon Sugah-Twan, we best be doin' the same."
"Don't being too long." Antoine warned his kids. "Nice seeing you all together. Goodbye."
Melody and Skye approached the door as did Belle and Jacques. They looked to Manic, Sonia, Lara, and Trace and nodded. It was an unspoken trust that the night wasn't exactly over. Lara would connect them all and they could continue what they started.
The kids leave the room.
