Transmissions

By, The Mouse of Anon

Author's Note: Okay, warning, this first chapter isn't really that long, only about four pages, but it should be good.

Sonic: What are you talking about? This isn't good! It's... WEIRD.

Fira: What do you want?! Besides, it's supposed to be strange.

Sonic: You're just insane.

Fira: XP! Bite me.

Sonic: NO! Besides, you probably taste nasty anyway. Crazy mouse...

Fira: Oh bite the dust. Anyway, this story is actually serious as opposed to my other one that I titled Mogwai....

Sonic: You still haven't told me what a mogwai is...

Fira: Oh shut up. Enjoy the fic!

Sonic: ....I'm tempted to quit...

Fira: ^-^;;;

Legal Shtuff: Sonic, the Chaotix, and the Knothole Freedom Fighters are owned by me! So HA! I am SEGA! ...Well actually the almighty Sega lords would sue my butt off if I claimed that, so no, I don't own 'em. What a shocker, ne? As for Manic and Sonia, how I choose to portray them is copyright to me, but the characters don't actually belong to me. Too bad, so sad. Oh yeah, P.S., C&C would be greatly appreciated. Please comment! ^.^;;;

- -Transmission, From 2nd Gen. 3257, To Freedom Fighters of 3240- -

Listen I know this is going to be hard to believe, but you've got to trust me when I say, DON'T GO TO ROBOTROPOLIS! You go in there after- - ...will be betrayed. He'll catch you and turn you over to Ro- - nik, if you do it, S- - will be caught and tortured! Do NOT go in after A- -. - -e'll be able to get out, but just DON'T trust Geof- - ...'ll die. Trust me *explosion in the background* - your only choice. Otherwise the hell we live in here will- - unavoidable. Don't fall for- - ...you'll die! *a loud BOOM is heard* SPRAINT! HOLY SPRAINT! That was the yipping Floating Isla- -! IT JUST FREAKING CR- - ...THE GROUND! Robotnik freaking destroyed the - - Island! BY THE GODDE- -! Don't go into Robotropolis- - ...'ll be driven insane! SPRAINT! Look, I don't have much time- - ...relay this, Sniv- - ...ming this way to kill - -. Just don't let Son- - go into Robotr- - after A- -. This is delivered with the utmost seri- - ...prince of Mobius. Trust me, listen to what I've said. This is Pr- - ...anic Mescromani Memtrakae He- -hog. Good luck to you all. Bye, - -... over and out. – *static*

Sally looked over to her computer. It was midnight and Nicole had been giving her the "you've got a message" beep for quite sometime now. About half an hour to be exact. "Nicole... Shut up," the princess growled from her bed. "You've got mail," Nicole said irritatingly in an immitation of the AOL notification. "I don't care, it's midnight, shut up!," Sally groaned. "The message is marked urgent." The squirrel/fox/chipmunk growled and threw a pillow at the offending computer. "Who upgraded your personality circuits anyway?" "Sir Charles Hedgehog," Nicole retorted infuriatingly, "...got a problem with it?" Sally let out a frustrated sigh before snarling, "FINE! Just play the damn thing!" Nicole obliged, seemingly gleefully. 'Sadistic computer,' Sally thought to herself. Then she listened to the message. Sally did a double take. "Nicole, rewind and play again." "—HOLY SPRAINT! That was the yipping Floating Isla- -! IT JUST FREAKING CR- - ...THE GROUND! Robotnik freaking destroyed the - - Island!"

Sally groped for the com-link on her end table and switched it on. "Guys... You awake?" There were a couple of thumps, some static, then a couple of groans and growls before there was a tired, "Yello," from Sonic. Bunnie yawned as she said into her com-link, "What the hoo-ha's goin' on Sally-girl?" "Hold on a sec, the rest of you awake?," Sally replied. "Mm hm," came Rotor's tired reply. "Oui mon preencees." "Wassup Aunt Sally?" "What's going on?," Amy asked tiredly. "I got a transmission, I can't place from where, and it's really disturbing. Somebody get on the horn and call Knuckles down here." "Wha? Why?," Sonic mumbled almost incoherently. "It concerns the Floating Island, something I think everybody who happens to be a Freedom Fighter in Knothole or a Chaotic on the Floating Island should hear. Now get up and shake a leg, we're going to need to be awake for this."

"What the hell did you call me out of my bed for Princess?," Knuckles growled in irritation. There was no denying it, that particular echidna wasn't happy about being woken up. Knux only ever called Sally "Princess" when he was less than thrilled with her. "This," Sally replied, "Nicole, re-play message." "Yes Sally," the computer said coolly, hiding all traces of her up-grade. 'Tricky.' The small computer then played that terrifying transmission. "IT JUST FREAKING CR- - ...THE GROUND! Robotnik freaking destroyed the - - Island! BY THE GODDE- -! Don't go into Robotropolis- - ...'ll be driven insane! SPRAINT! Look, I don't have much time- - ...relay this, Sniv- - ...ming this way to kill - -. Just don't let Son- - go into Robotr- - after A- -." The eyes of all the others widened in surprise and not a little fear.

"Who.... Who sent this?," Knuckles stammered. "Nicole, can you figure out his name?," Sally questioned. "Of course Sally," the computer responded cheekily. "Searching... 'prince of Mobius' 'Pr- - ...anic Mescromani Memtrakae He- -hog'." "Hey Nicole, could you decrypt the name at all? Get rid of some of the static?," Rotor asked. "Attempting... 'prince of Mobius' 'Prince...' one second..." The group of Chaotix and Freedom Fighters waited impatiently as the computer worked on clearing up the name. "Name found. 'Prince Manic Mescromani Memtrakae Hedgehog'." "What year is this supposed to be from?," Espio asked incredulously. "3257," Sally supplied. "Ya gotta be kidding me...," Espio rolled his eyes. "There's no way that's real. Robotnik's given you a hoax Sal, no way something from that far in the future could come back to here." "How can you be sure Espio?," Mighty asked as he crossed his arms. "Oh come ON! Don't tell me you believe that load!," the chameleon retorted.

Suddenly Nicole beeped. "Incoming transmission Sally," the computer said, stating the obvious. "Open it Nicole." A hologram of a green hedgehog appeared in the air, he looked tattered, injured, he looked like he had been through hell and back. Yet still, there was a proud aire about him that spoke of someone with an inborn pride born out of survival. The hedgehog smirked at the dropped jaws of the mobians of his past, reminding people incredibly of Sonic. "Surprised?," the golden-eyed hedgehog asked as he looked around at them, or the hologram did anyway. He sounded like the person who had sent the first message. "Who are you?," Sonic asked, not quite ready to believe the impossible. The green hedgehog chuckled as he said, "I'm Manic the Hedgehog of course, Prince 'Manic' Mescromani Memtrakae Hedgehog to be specific." He mockingly bowed. "I don't believe it," Espio snorted in disgust.

Those golden/amber eyes turned to look at the chameleon and said, "Doesn't surprise me. Of course, from what I've learned you've always had a hard time trusting anything or anybody." "And you know this.... How?" "Sorry, that's one thing I can't tell you." The chameleon let out a derisive snort and turned his back on the projected hedgehog. Manic shook his head, "From what my sources have found out, my last message didn't come through quite right, too much static." "And who are your sources?," Knuckles asked in suspicion. "Someone in contact with the Chaos Emeralds," the hedgehog replied without hesitation. "Am Ah rahght in assumin' that you're Sally-girl and Sugah-hog's son?," Bunnie asked suddenly. The hedgehog looked surprised by the question before stammering, "Um... Not quite. Related to Sonic, yes, his son... No. I'm not related to Sally." Manic obviously had a hard time saying that, although whether it was because he was their son, or because he was simply hesitant to give them such sensitive information, it wasn't clear.

"What kingdom?," Tails asked, his blue eyes flashing. "The kingdom of ," Manic hesitated for only a moment, almost impossible to notice, "Kaiden." "Kay-den?," the two-tailed fox asked incredulously. Manic nodded. "Kay-den is supposed to have been abandoned about a hundred years ago, during the race wars," the fox pointed out. "It wasn't, my people simply retreated into the mountains and waited until nobody was paying attention to the Castle of Kaiden before relocating into the Hidden Groves. Kaiden still lives." "Then how do you explain being related to Sonic?," the fox asked quickly. "Our families were once the same. There were two brothers that were heir to the throne. One decided to leave and find a life elsewhere. He was Sonic's ancestor. Mine was the one who stayed," Manic replied easily. "So you mean to tell me I'm descended from royalty?," Sonic asked incredulously. The green hedgehog nodded.

"Hard to believe, I know. Then again, ask anybody who doesn't know me what they think of me on first sight, and chances are they'll call me a street-rat or a theif. It seems to run in the family." "Very funny," Sonic retorted. "I still don't trust him," Espio grumbled. Manic let out an exasperated sigh as he turned to the chameleon. "What, you want me to go back to your time to PROVE to you what I've been saying is the truth?!" Espio smirked and said, "Why not? After all, apparently you can transmit through time..." "Alright! Sheesh! Fine, if it'll satisfy you, I'll go back then. Look for me tomorrow at the northern-most look-out tree of Knothole." "Say what?! How would you know about that spot? How would you know where Knothole is?," Mighty queried. Manic let out a derisive snort, "Oh please, you don't honestly think I wouldn't know the place where I grew up- oh spraint."

"You grew up in Knothole?," Tails blurted, automatically latching onto the slip-up. The holographic hedgehog sighed. "Listen, that's not important. I'll give a decent explanation when I get there. I don't trust Loki not to hack this transmission and report it to Robotnik. Fortunately the son of a tick doesn't have the time-travel technology, otherwise... Well, I'm pretty damn sure that I'd be dead, along with the rest of my group. Not to mention a few million other peeps." "If you're there, I might start to trust you," Espio stated before Mighty or Vector could prevent him from speaking. Manic narrowed his eyes, "You're more untrusting than I thought you'd be. Oh well, I'll bring a dagger with me tomorrow. Make sure Knuckles is with those who go there, he'll be able to recognize exactly what the stones are in the hilt. That should prove that I'm the real deal and not some damned 'droid." "We'll see you then," Knuckles stated calmly. Manic nodded before the transmission shut off. "...This is getting weird...," Sonic muttered as Rotor nodded in agreement.

The next day they showed up at the place specified, only to not see him. "See? He didn't show up!," Espio said triumphantly. "You know, the problem with people is that they never look up," they heard a voice say above them. When they looked upward they saw a green hedgehog with golden eyes, a pierced right ear, and a tattered black leather vest with the sleeves ripped off about half-way down his arms. "Manic?," Sally asked in disbelief. The green hedgehog grabbed a branch to gain leverage before he jumped down, nearly running into branches as he did so. To prevent himself from hitting the branches, he'd put out a hand occassionally and easily swung around the branches until he dropped the last twenty feet and landed perfectly on his feet. "The one and only," he said as he bowed sarcastically. "How the heck?," Mighty asked in disbelief. Manic grinned as he said, "That's one of my secrets."

Once he spotted Knuckles he said, "I promised you that I'd show up with this," and handed a dagger (amazingly built) to the echidna. Knuckles looked it over, first in disintrest, then in disbelief as the seven stones in the hilt started to glow and pulsate. "How?! How did you get these?!," the red echidna asked as his violet eyes bored into Manic's golden one. "You know that friend of mine who I mentioned is close to the Chaos Emeralds?," Knux nodded, "The same person." The echidna reluctantly handed the dagger back to the hedgehog, even more surprised when they solidly glowed for almost a full minute when the hedgehog held it. "Mind if I ask ya something Manic?," Sonic queried. "Shoot." "How is it a prince gets his ear pierced, knows how to do that trick you did up in the tree, and dares to look like street trash?," the blue hedgehog asked spitefully.

"Because I felt like it, practice, and do I look like I give a crud what anybody thinks of me?," the green hedgehog retorted back bluntly. Espio started up, "I-" "STILL don't trust me, yeah yeah, we heard it the first hundred times or so!," Manic cut him off. Espio let out a growl, he did NOT like Manic. "And don't tell me you weren't thinking it. I'm a freaking empath. I don't really need all of this krrresk from you right now!" "So how much worse is the future than it is now?," Tails asked, his eyes flashing in suspicion. "About three hundred million times worse. Lessee here... Hm... Well, Robotnik's pretty much taken over most of the world, the Great Forest is almost non-existant, there are robots sent out to hunt down mobians and exterminate them, ya know, pretty much hell on Mobius. Oh yeah, forgot to mention, the S.O.B. also drove my cousin insane at one point. Not a good thing."

There was a moment's silence as the Freedom Fighters and Chaotix took that in. "I've been meaning to ask you something," Tails started. "Yeah? What?" "How is it a hedgehog is in line for the throne of a kingdom that was ruled by foxes?," the orange kitsune asked bluntly. Manic pinched the bridge of his nose as he leaned against the tree and let out an exasperated sigh. "You don't HONESTLY think that the freaking kingdom would have survived if there hadn't been some cross-species breeding do you?!" Tails finally looked satisfied with that information. The other Freedom Fighters looked at Tails in surprise, they hadn't expected him to know something like that. "Of all the krrresk I have to deal with," the green hedgehog muttered under his breath. "So what was it you were trying to warn us of?," Mighty asked.

Manic sighed, "Geoffery St. John is going to betray you all." "What?!," all of the others blurted in surprise. The golden-eyed hedgehog nodded. "In about three weeks he's going to catch Antoine and drag him to Robotropolis to be roboticized. Antoine will be able to get free, but if Sonic goes in after him, he'll be caught," Manic looked pointedly at Sonic, "I've seen it happen. If you get caught you'll be tortured, driven insane, put to a fate worse than death. Albeit, it won't be immediate." "W-what do you mean?," Sonic stammered uncertainly. Manic's golden/amber eyes bored into Sonic's emerald, "At first there might be a minor escape here or there, but you'll always be caught again until you're there for a solid three years. By the time you finally end up getting out of there, with help from the others of course, you'll be a raving lunatic. Four different personalities, most of the time withdrawn from everyone else. Not the most beautiful of futures, I can assure you."

They all stared at the green hedgehog from their future in disbelief, not wanting to believe it. Manic's eyes looked from one to another, "And make no mistake, that will change everyone. Sally... if it comes to pass, you won't be much better. Your morals? Pretty much out the window. Anything goes provided it doesn't hurt those you consider family and it DOES hurt Robotnik. Tails... half out of his mind. Sure there'll be a few moments of sanity here or there, but they'll be few and far between... and they'll get fewer and farther between as time passes. Antoine... Deader than a doornail after trying to protect Bunnie from the U-SWATS. Bunnie... reckless, if anything gets in her way, she goes through it. Regardless if it can kill her nine ways to Sunday or not. Rotor... fighting fire with fire tactics. Not the most reassuring thing to be honest. As for the Chaotix... Well, the Floating Island's crashed, they're homeless, and they're just as violent and reckless as the Knothole Freedom Fighters, if not more so."

"You've GOT to be kidding," Sally said fearfully. Manic shook his head sadly. "With all of you out of commission in my time, the world's gone completely debunk. Robotnik has control of most of the planet. My own family, as well as that of most everybody of the planet, might as well be non-existant. It's bad, bad enough to need changing or it could get worse. And besides," here he smiled wryly, but there was no warmth to it, "I don't care to see any of you losing your minds again." "There's no way. No way I'm gonna believe that!," Espio snorted skeptically. "IDIOT!," Manic snapped as he rounded on the chameleon. "I CAN NOT BELIEVE YOU! I SWEAR! I CAME ALL THE WAY BACK HERE JUST TO WARN YOU ALL SO THAT THE HELL THAT IS MY TIME COULD BE AVOIDED, AND YOU STILL DON'T BELIEVE ME?! WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO?! DRAG YOU TO MY TIME AND PROVE IT TO YOU?!" To say the least there were more than a few surprised expressions at his outburst.

The purple chameleon smirked and replied, "Yeah, pretty much." "You- you... DONGEDE!," Manic snapped as he lost the last of his temper. "If you weren't who you are, so help me I'd pop you one!" "Right," Espio quipped. "Fine," the green hedgehog growled, "...you want proof, you've got it. Anybody want to see what the screwed up future looks like, say 'aye'." Only a few of the group there ended up agreeing that they wanted to go. In all Espio, Sonic, Knuckles, Bunnie, Tails, and Mighty wanted to go. Manic tapped his wrist communicator and said, "Yo Tia, ya there?" "I here you loud and clear, what's up?," was the scratchy, staticky reply. "Well, because of a certain hard-headed chameleon a few of the peeps want some proof," the golden-eyed hedgehog said as he absentmindedly flicked the earrings on his right ear. "AND YOU VOLUNTEERED TO LET THEM COME HERE?! BAKA!," she shrieked over the communicator as Manic's ears went flat against his head. "Al eshta! Al sharl!," he hissed. "You're going to have a lot more than your ears to worry about when I get through with you bro."

The green hedgehog let out a deep-throated growl before muttering, "We can talk about that later. Now do you mind gettin' the seven of us back there?" "Yeah yeah, hold your horses idjit. Who all is coming?" "Sonic, Knuckles, Espio, Tails, Bunnie, and Mighty," Manic replied. "...You're insane, ya know that?," Tia asked. "Just shut up and do it Tia." "Alright, sheesh, give me a break here. ...Okay, right about... NOW!," Tia's voice snapped out over the communicator. With that there was a bright flash of light and the specified seven disappeared. "I hope they're okay," Sally muttered. "We can only hope," Julie-Su agreed. As for the others, their day had just gotten started.