By
Sakura Courage Solo
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Chapter 11
"Unsolved Mysteries of the Past Revealed"
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"Manic..."
Sonia whispered in shock as she looked at him and the obviously pregnant Vanilla, as well as the matching wedding bands the two wore.
"You... and Vanilla... I..."
Manic stepped forward and placed his hands on his Sister's shoulders.
"Sis, calm down!"
He told her, his voice more smooth and adult sounding than before. Sonia shook her head to get her bearings, Sonic just standing there in silent shock, all this a little too much for him to comprehend.
"Manic, you're married! And you're gonna be a Father! But... but how? I thought Vanilla was..."
Sonia blurted. The Pink Fox Girl stepped forward, slowly due to her size as she replied,
"A robot? Well, I was a robot, but I wanted to be more... so with help from the proper people, Manic managed to find and use the proper DNA to make me an organic body, and more or less downloaded my mind and personality into it, so I'm not a robot anymore. I'm flesh and blood like you."
She smiled softly, tail swaying back and forth. Sonia could only nod in silent response, all of this as much too much for her as it was Sonic. Manic could only smile softly at his siblings and pat his wife's pregnant womb.
"Yup, the doctor says she'll be coming any day now."
Vanilla smirked at him and playfully argued,
"HE will be coming any day now. I'm the one carrying, I should know."
Manic simply chuckled and kissed her cheek as he said,
"You also thought Jade was gonna be a boy."
"True, but that was my first time..."
Sonia and Sonic's eyes widened. They looked at each other, then back to Vanilla and Manic as Sonia blurted out,
"You already have one child?"
Manic nodded a bit and pointed down to his feet, where a little Fox Girl that couldn't be over 4 years old hid behind his legs; she had green fur the same shade as Manic's, as well as some Hedgehog quills on the back of her head, not to mention she had a few of Manic's unruly forehead quills. Her eyes were an adorable ice pink colour, and she wore a simple pink, sleeveless shirt, a pair of blue jeans and a pair of pink and white sneakers. She looked up at Sonic and Sonia and tilted her head curiously before looking up at Manic and chirping quietly,
"Daddy, why do Uncle Sonic and Aunt Sonia look wierd? They look littler or something..."
Manic gently reached down and picked the little one up as he said,
"I'll explain that to you as soon as I understand it myself, Jade..."
He then looked to his siblings.
"... you're from the past, aren't you?"
Sonic and Sonia nodded, the Blue Hedgehog adding,
"We found this Time Stone on the Little Planet and got sent here..."
He held up the yellow gemstone. Vanilla took it for a second, examining it.
"Yup, it's the real deal all right... "
She said, handing it back to Sonic. Manic set Jade up on his shoulders and said,
"Come on, let's head to the palace. There are some things that we all need to talk about."
-
Meanwhile, back in the past, in Tidal Tempest Zone, Manic was pretty much backed up to a wall, a weak and frail Sakura in his arms as Sleet, Dingo and several Swatbots stared them down. They were trapped.
Sakura grunted a bit and looked up at Manic,
"Bro... hold your ears back..."
She whispered just loud enough for Manic to hear. The Green Hedgehog nodded and folded his ears back, knowing what his sister was going to do as she reached up to her medallion and summoned her flute.
Sleet and Dingo sweatdropped, immediately ordering the Swatbots to fire. Sakura didn't waste time taking the top part off of her recorder flute; maybe she didn't have enough energy to actually play and create a whirlwind, but she did have enough energy to blow a hard breath into her whistle and cause a loud, long screech that made Sleet and Dingo cover their ears, the Swatbots freezing up since the high-pitched sound interfered with their delicate circuitry.
Manic didn't hesitate to dash forward when he saw his chance, quickly moving past Sleet and Dingo and running away.
Sakura stopped blowing and breathed heavily, that having been a lot on her weak body, but she'd managed. Her flute disappeared back into her medallion and Manic kept running, looking back over his shoulder to see Sleet and Dingo starting to follow them now that the sound was over.
He ducked around a corner and tried to lose them, but in doing so, stepped on a secret switch that looked to the naked eye like an ordinary stone in the floor. A trap door suddenly opened up beneath them and dropped them into a room below, the door then closing itself above their heads just before the enemy turned the corner topside.
"Ow... that's hard on the gludious maximus..."
Manic grumbled as he stood up, Sakura still in his arms.
"At least we lost Sleet and Dumbo though..."
He muttered, glancing around the room they'd fallen into. When he looked across the room, he saw a pedestal meticulously and expertly carved from limestone, atop it sitting a glowing, blue gemstone. Manic quirked an eyebrow and stepped toward it.
"I wonder if this is one of the Time Stones Sonia was talkin' about..."
He managed to hold Sakura with one arm and reached for the Time Stone with the other, gently picking it up. As soon as he did so though, he felt a certain rush of energy, and with a bright flash of blue light, suddenly found himself and Sakura in the middle of what looked like a military camp.
"What the... ?"
Manic blinked his crystal blue eyes in confusion, wondering why and how they'd ended up here.
"Where the heck are we?"
He wondered aloud, then hearing Sakura let out a weak cough. He looked to her pale and now unconcious face.
"Doesn't matter, she needs a doctor..."
He stepped up to one of the small military cabins and knocked on the door. He was answered by a young Hedgehog wearing all camos, his body furred by very light purple fur with much darker and very short purple head fur, his eyes a crystal blue colour. He looked a little surprised at the sight at his door, Manic looking a bit panicky as he said,
"Please, I... my Sister needs medical attention. Is there a doctor around?"
The young man looked over Sakura a moment, then cleared his throat and said in a somewhat disguised-sounding voice,
"Bring her in and lay her on the bed. I'll run and get the doctor."
He opened the door wide and looked back into the cabin at his roommate, Manic a bit shocked when he saw who it was as the young soldier said to the roommate,
"Shadow, this girl's hurt. She needs help. You look after her while I get the doctor."
The young, black Hedgehog nodded and gently took Sakura from Manic's grip as the Purple-furred soldier ran out to find a doctor. Sakura was gently laid down on the bed as she now took short, quick breaths. She was getting worse, and Manic knew it.
"She'll be okay, right?"
He asked shakily, Shadow wetting down a washcloth with cool water and beginning to pat down her forehead with it.
"Hard to say... what happened to her?"
The black Hedgehog asked, Manic swallowing hard before replying,
"She... she almost drowned... she stopped breathing and I couldn't get a heartbeat at first, but I managed to get most of the water out of her and she started breathing and her heart started beating again..."
Shadow nodded a bit, pulling her wet camouflage jacket off and tossing it aside before pulling the covers over her to try and warm her up.
"The Doctor will be here soon. She can probably do something for her."
That's when the door suddenly swung open, the Purple-furred Hedgehog and a White Tiger woman wearing a Doctor's uniform rushing in. Shadow stepped back to give the Doctoress room to work, which she got to immediately.
She gently pressed the bell of her stethoscope against Sakura's chest, listening for a moment.
"Her heartbeat's weak, but there. We'll take her to the clinic. I can do more for her there."
-
A few hours later, Sakura was in stable condition and recovering at the clinic, but she was still unconcious. Manic sat by her bedside, watching her as she slept and thanking the Lord she was okay. He gently took her hand and whispered,
"Sorry I couldn't keep you from getting hurt earlier Sis, but you'll be okay now."
He whispered, gently stroking her slightly more colourful skin.
In the meantime, Shadow and his roommate were returning to their bunk after finding out that Sakura would be all right with some rest. Shadow was the first to step into the bunk, and his roommate behind him. He closed the door behind himself and sighed softly, looking to Shadow and speaking with a female voice,
"I'm glad she's all right, but... there's something odd about those two, yet it somehow seems familiar..."
"I get the same feeling, Aleena."
Shadow replied, taking off his jacket and tossing it aside, onto the foot of his bed.
"... I think some of the other soldiers are starting to think there's something odd about you though. You think you'll be able to keep them thinking you're a man much longer?"
Aleena shrugged slightly.
"I don't know, but I'm going to try. I'm definitely not going home as long as I'm being forced into an unwanted marriage."
"Can't say I blame you... well, your secret's safe with me."
Shadow picked up Sakura's still moist jacket from the floor, looking it over.
"I wonder though how that girl got ahold of one of our military's jackets though. She definitely wasn't a soldier like us. You're proof that our military doesn't allow women in as soldiers."
Aleena took the jacket and looked it over.
"You're right, and this one looks old and worn out... all the ones we have are brand new."
She continued studying the jacket, deciding to check the name on the dog tags in the chest pocket. She opened up the pocket and pulled out the old, rusty looking tags. Her jaw dropped.
"Shadow, these tags have your name on them!"
"Say what?"
Shadow snatched the jacket and looked at the tags.
"But... how? These tags look older than me!"
"I'm not sure Shadow, but I bet our new 'friends' could tell us..."
"Good idea... we'll question them once the girl is well enough."
-
In the meantime, Sonic and Sonia were in awe as Vanilla and Manic led them into the huge and beautiful palace of Mobodoon. It was built anew, huge and expertly articulated from many, many gemstones found throughout Mobius.
"I don't believe it, Sis... this is really the future!"
Sonic exclaimed.
"Look at this place! This must be after we've defeated Robotnik!"
"Yes, and it's so beautiful! Manic, where's Mother?"
Sonia asked, the Green Hedgehog simply smiling and leading them to a lift shaft. They all stepped into the vessel and the door closed, the vessel going up the shafts in a smooth, fluid-like motion.
The floors could be seen going by through the crystalline windows as they went up, the vessel then stopping as they reached the very top. Out a window to the side, they could see all of Mobodoon in an amazing view. Sonic and Sonia didn't really want to leave the elevator, but they did after a few moments of sight seeing and followed Manic and his wife down a hallway. At the end of the hallway was a large pair of Emerald doors, which semed to automatically open before them to reveal a large balcony with an unbelievably more lovely view of Mobodoon than the elevator, and sitting on the balcony were Aleena and Shadow.
Sonic and Sonia almost squealed with childlike delight as they ran to their Mother and practically glomped her, the Queen smiling softly and stroking their quills.
"Sonic and Sonia, my dear Children... how good it is to see you."
She said with a fond smile. Sonic looked up at her and said,
"We missed you, Mom! It's great to finally see you!"
"Yeah! We thought we were never gonna meet you!"
Sonia added, Aleena chuckling and hugging them tight as she said,
"Nothing could keep me from my children forever."
The two young Hedgehogs basked in the glory of having their Mother there for a long while, Sonia then looking to Shadow.
"Shadow, you're not a robot anymore!"
She said with surprise when she realized it, Shadow nodding and replying,
"Yes, your Mother found a way to de-roboticize me a few years back. It's great to be flesh and blood again."
"Where's Sakura? I figured she'd be with you..."
Shadow was silent and looked to the ground, Sonic and Sonia puzzled by his suddenly sad behaviour. Sonic looked to his Mother.
"Mom? Where is Sakura? I figured we would've seen her by now..."
He wondered, Aleena looking down at the floor herself, quiet a moment before replying,
"She passed away... a few years ago..."
Sonic and Sonia's eyes widened in pure shock. Sakura? Dead? Could it be true? Aleena continued,
"I can't tell you how she died... there wouldn't be anything you could do to stop it, and if you tried... history would be changed for the worst. I'm sorry."
The Brother and Sister stood there in their shock a moment more before looking to each other, feeling tears sting their eyes. Sonic finally spoke,
"Saku's gonna... die? But... that... she... I don't get it, why does she have to die? There's gotta be some way we can..."
Aleena shook her head slowly and sadly, Shadow ever so silent as he just continued to sit in silence and stare at the floor. Sonia sniffled a bit and hugged Sonic, who tried to comfort her as she cried, but he was crying himself.
"So... that's why the Oracle said... Council of Four and not... Council of Five..."
The pink quilled Hedgehog sniffled, Sonic not saying a word as he continued trying to comfort her. Aleena gently placed a hand on Sonic's shoulder and said,
"Try not to fret, dear... I know it's sad, but when her time comes, she'll be ready... and happy, knowing she had a family who cared for her so much."
"... thanks, Mom."
Sonic said, his voice cracking a bit with his tears.
-
"Sakura, wake up. Come on..."
Sakura heard someone beckon. She groaned a little and slowly opened her aqua green eyes. Her vision was fuzzy at first, but she could make out the image of Manic standing over her.
"Ugh... Manic?"
She murmured, her Brother nodding as he gently patted down her forehead with a cool cloth.
"Hey, Sis. How you feelin'?"
"... like I got run over by a Reindeer."
She slowly sat up, rubbing her forehead as she added,
"But at least I feel better than I did before I passed out."
"That's good. Um, listen... Shadow and Allen want to talk to you..."
Manic gestured to Shadow and Aleena standing nearby, Allen having been Aleena's male disguise name. Shadow took a few steps toward Sakura and said,
"Sakura, I took a look at your jacket last night, and I'd like some explanations. Why is it exactly like the jackets our military wears, but yet it looks so old instead of new like our jackets do, and furthermore, why does it have dog tags with MY name and info on them?"
"Well, I..."
Sakura was rather quiet, wondering how to answer this. She decided there was no lie she could tell to cover this up, but... she wouldn't tell the WHOLE truth, so as not to disrupt the future by screwing up what was obviously the past to her and replied,
"... Manic and I come from the future. We found a Time Stone and ended up getting shot back into the past... the reason I have your jacket is... well, someone gave it to me, but I can't say who."
Shadow and Aleena looked at each other in surprise, the Princess then speaking,
"A Time Stone? As in... from the Little Planet?"
"That's right."
Manic said, holding up the blue gem for Shadow and Aleena to see. The Black Hedgehog took it and began examining it.
"It's the real deal all right. I can feel it's energy."
"But how in the world did you two attain such a rare and powerful gem?"
'Allen' asked in his masculine disguise voice, Manic taking it upon himself to reply now,
"We were on the Little Planet to stop some thieves who were after the Time Stones for evil purposes. We found that one in some kinda water based Zone, and soon as I touched it, BAM! We were here."
"But then, why haven't you gone back? You have the Stone..."
"We'd love to, but Sakura wasn't in good enough condition, and plus... I have no idea how to work the thing."
"Good points..."
Shadow mumbled, handing the Time Stone back to Manic. Sakura coughed a little and said,
"We need to get back somehow. The others need us."
"Not until your better, Sakura. You're in no condition now to go out fighting."
Her Brother told her, gently placing his hands on her shoulders and laying her back down. Sakura sat right back up.
"Manic, I'm fine now, just a little tired. I can do it if I can get back..."
Manic sighed defeatedly and replied,
"Okay, I know there's no stopping you, but who knows how long it'll be before we find a way to use the Time Stone to get back to our own time?"
Sakura could only nod defeatedly. At the moment, there was nothing any of them could do.
That's when an alarm began wailing outside, Shadow and 'Allen' not hesitating to jump up and run out the door. Sakura sat up again.
"What's going on?"
Manic wondered aloud, placing a hand on Sakura's shoulder to try and get her to lay back down again.
"It must be an attack, or maybe some kind of raid."
The blonde speculated, her Brother unable to keep her laying down as she quickly got up and went to the window to see what was going on.
It was a bloodbath. Furries of all kinds were going at one another's throats and other vital areas with guns, knives, and any other weapon they could find. Sakura growled.
"Manic, we have to go out there and help."
"Saku, we're in the past! We shouldn't interfere or we could screw up the future!"
Sakura wasn't listening, grabbing a nearby rifle and loading it with the ammo that sat with it.
"This is war, Manic! There's no time to think of that sort of thing!"
With that, she dashed out the door, Manic hot on her heels if for nothing else but to keep her from getting herself killed.
They froze once they were outside though... all around the military camp were the dead and injured bodies of soldiers, ally and enemy alike. Manic swallowed hard, the stench of burnt flesh from bullet wounds making him feel the need to throw up.
Sakura remained on guard though; Shadow had trained her well. Even with all the death around her, she was keeping her cool and staying prepared to fight should a living enemy come into sight.
Manic was feeling more uneasy by the second, looking to his Sister and gently laying a hand on her arm as he said,
"Saku... there's nothing we can do... let's get outta here..."
Sakura then held up her hand in a gesture for Manic to be silent... she sensed something close.
A dead silence flowed between the two for the next few moments, Sakura's aqua green eyes slowly and precisionly scanning the area for enemies. The only sound either of them made was Manic swallowing at the lump of tension in his throat.
That's when Sakura suddenly turned to the side in a swift motion, aiming the rifle into the darkness between two nearby cabins... but someone else was quicker, a bullet firing accurately from the shadows and knocking the rifle out of the girl's hands. She grunted in surprise, not noticing the deep burn wound on her hand where the bullet had grazed her or her brother yelling her name in surprise and concern.
She growled in anger, not about to give up just because the enemy got a lucky shot. Sakura quickly darted and ran to the side, starting to go around one of the cabins so she could get out of firing range for the moment, and perhaps later make a sneak attack. Manic wasn't hesitant to follow her.
As soon as they rounded a corner though, they were met with what they were both surprised to see was... a Robian!
"What the heck's a Robian doin' here in the first Mobian war? This shouldn't be happening yet!"
Manic exclaimed, the roboticized Mobian before them lighting up it's electronic, red eyes in glee of the victims it saw before itself as it raised the laser cannon on it's arm.
"I dunno Manic, but it's obviously here and we won't be long if we don't do something!"
Sakura leapt forward, drop kicking the Robian in the chest before it had a chance to fire it's laser. The metallic furry let out a robotic growl and grabbed her arm to throw her, Sakura snarling in a wolf-like manner before being thrown... but grabbing the Robian's arm in the process and taking him with her. The two went into an all out brawl as soon as they hit the ground, Manic backing up a bit from the two combatants. He was actually beginning to find himself scared of Sakura.
The way she fought... Manic had never seen anything or anyone but a Robian or some of Robotnik's built-from-scratch robots fight so fiercely. Sakura had something that Manic hadn't realized she had before, and it scared him; A killer instinct.
A few minutes later, there was nothing left of the Robian but some scrap metal, Manic just standing there in shock as he looked on. Sakura turned to him, her Brother able to see that cold, killer instinct deep in her eyes. She then walked to him and asked,
"Manic, are you all right?"
The Green Hedgehog didn't reply, Sakura quirking an eyebrow in confusion as though she'd done nothing wrong.
"What's the matter, Manic? You look pale..."
"Sakura... you... why did you do that?"
"... Manic, he was gonna kill us... I had to do something to stop it..."
Manic swallowed hard, not really paying what she'd said just now much mind as he continued,
"He was a Robian, Saku... he didn't know what he was doing... and you... you didn't fight to disable, you fought to KILL... "
"Manic, I didn't have a choice..."
"Neither did he when he got roboticized... there's always a chance we may find a way to deroboticize Robians in the future, but he never got the chance! After what you did just now, I... I'm scared of you! I thought you were a Freedom Fighter, but you don't even have the regard for life I thought you did!"
"Manic, please, I..."
Sakura suddenly stopped mid-sentence, wincing a bit in some sort of pain. Manic blinked in confusion, wondering what was wrong, Sakura then losing conciousness and falling to the ground, a tranquilizer dart in her back.
"Sakura!"
Manic called, kneeling down next to her and immediately pulling the dart out. It was a big dosage tranq, so she was going to be sleeping for a good, long while.
Manic quickly looked up to try and see who'd shot the dart... only to soon feel the hard sting of one imbedding itself into his shoulder. He grunted and fall to his knees, quickly pulling it out and looking at it for a second. It was working fast, because already one dart looked like three to him... he'd be unconcious in seconds.
That's when a familiar laugh suddenly flowed through the area, Manic feeling a chill run down his spine and back again as he looked up; just in time to see the form of a younger and somewhat more slim looking Robotnik walking toward them.
"No... can't be... not here... not... now..."
Manic managed to murmur before finally losing conciousness.
-
"Manic... Manic, come on, wake up."
A familiar female voice beckoned, the Hedgehog in question groaning a bit with a massive headache as he felt her gently nudge his shoulder. He reluctantly forced his crystal blue eyes open, his vision blurry at first, but it soon cleared after a few blinks and he could see Sakura sitting over him.
"Saku... ?"
He murmured with a little incoherence, slowly sitting up and shaking his head to get his bearings. He looked around, finding himself and Sakura trapped in a tall, cylindrical glass vessel. Outside the vessel were all the makings of a laboratory, and a familiar one at that.
"Looks like we're in one of Robotnik's labs, but it all looks cleaner and way more new..."
Sakura muttered just as Manic had the same thought, the Green Hedgehog nodding a bit before standing and pressing his hands against the glass, but it didn't give. Sakura sighed.
"I tried everything I knew already, Bro. Nothing's breaking that glass. It's concave from the inside, so it has a lot more structure and stability from in here. It'd take a hit from the convex outside where it's weak to break it."
"But there's gotta be some way outta here..."
Manic said, pondering on the point.
That's when, across the room, the electronic door slid open with a soft hiss of air, the younger and somewhat more slim figure of Dr. Robotnik that Manic had had the displeasure of seeing before stepping in.
Manic and Sakura were silent and unshaken as he walked to their glass prison though, the Doctor chortling a little as he looked at them before saying,
"Yes, you two will make fine guinea pigs to test my new invention."
He gloated, the two simply cutting him their coldest glares. Robotnik seemed to take more interest in Sakura though and tapped the glass like a kid tapping the fish tank in a pet store.
"Yes, very fine guinea pigs indeed. Especially you, young Miss. I'll love seeing how my Roboticizer works on humans."
He chuckled egotistically again, Manic huffing before he retorted,
"There's no way we'll let you turn us into your mindless robotic slaves."
"I don't think you have much of a choice."
Robotnik said with a confident smirk, walking across the room to a large, metallic bin of some kind. It looked like something that might hold small robots, or perhaps small animals waiting to be roboticized.
"Enjoy your time left as living creatures before you're turned to flesh and blood. Right now, I need to make sure my only non-robotic creation is turning out properly."
Sakura and Manic blinked and looked at each other in confusion at his words, wondering what in the world Robotnik would wanna create that wasn't some robot of mass destruction.
The doctor reached down into the bin, grinning deviously before pulling out what to Manic and Sakura's shock was... a baby!
Needless to say, neither of them had any idea what to think, both of them in a total silent shock as they watched Robotnik take the little one over to a table nearby to examine her. Now that they were closer, Manic and Sakura could tell that the child was a girl... with quite a good bit of soft, blonde hair for her age and unique aqua green eyes.
That's when it hit both of them like a ton of bricks;
That child was Sakura.
-
End Chapter 11