Manic and Rin had fallen asleep on each other's shoulder when a soft riff played.
Immediately their heads snapped up, accidentally knocking into the other.
Rin hissed softly and rubbed her head. Manic grunted.
"Did you hear that?" Rin asked, hoping she had not imagined it.
"Yeah," Manic mumbled.
It was a new thing for them; hearing music that they didn't play.
Saying that Robotnik disliked music was an understatement.
He absolutely despised it.
They looked at each other.
"Remember how I said we should go out more often?" Rin grinned.
"Must you ask?" Manic smirked.
The only trace that showed they'd been there was the heated spots where they'd sat and the black hoodies left behind.
Sonia was walking with her fiance, Bartleby, in an alley trying to find a club.
"Good grief, Sonia!" Bartleby complained. "What kind of place have you brought us to?"
"Hush, Bartleby!" she silenced him. "I know that there's a club around here somewhere, and I heard that the music really rocks!"
Suddenly, a soft guitar solo played; the same one she had heard before.
"I know that song!" she gasped as she ran off, leaving a very confused Bartleby behind.
Sonic reached the pub in a Sonic Second (Which is to say, faster than the speed of light).
He made his way to the stage.
A drum set, a microphone, and a piano (He believed it was electric) waited for someone, anyone, to come up and use them.
He jumped up on stage. He hadn't even played a full measure when a voice said, "Mind if I sit in?"
He looked down to see two hedgehogs, a female, and a male.
The green one jumped up, attempting to drag the black one with, but failed, and sat down at the drum set. He played a few times before another hedgehog said, "You guys are great!"
A pink hedgehog somersaulted up and plopped down at the piano. Her nimble fingers flew up and down the keys.
Soon, they were all playing in harmony, and maybe it was pure coincidence, the same song.
Rin herself was enjoying the music.
Until a strange presence lurked outside a wall.
Panicking, she whipped around to Manic.
"Manic, we gotta-"
She didn't finish her sentence as an army of SWAT bots broke down a wall.
"Who are you guys?" Sonia asked the green and blue hedgehogs before it was too late.
"We're your brothers!" Sonic clarified hurriedly.
"We are?" Manic asked, confused.
Rin quickly read Sonic's mind and hopped up beside Manic.
If he really was that fast...
"I'll get you outta here! Meet me in the public square in two hours, I'll fill ya in!"
He grabbed Sonia's wrist, who in return grabbed Manic. Manic and Rin grabbed each other, desperate for a familiar touch.
And like that, they were gone in the blink of an eye, a dust trail dissipating in their wake.
Later, after saying goodbye, Rin and Manic hurried back to their sewer.
After walking for a while, they realized something.
It was quiet.
Too quiet for a bunch of animals, anyways.
They ran the rest of the way.
"Farell?" Manic called worriedly once they reached the 'lobby' as they called it.
"Aiko?" Rin started to panic a bit as she searched for the light blue mouse. "Jamal?"
No response from the white tiger.
"R-Rin?" a quiet voice stuttered. "Ma-Manic?"
They stared at each other worriedly before rushing towards the source of the sound.
Adler lay there, one wing buried under a pile of rocks.
"Adler!" They ran towards the hawk.
They began pulling apart the pile, until there was none left.
"What happened!" Rin asked, trying to steady his wing as fast and carefully as she could.
"SWAT bots," Adler moaned, carefully cradling his broken wing.
"Did anyone escape?" Manic asked, white faced.
"Aiko and Jamal and a few others," he responded. "Think they went to join the resistance."
Rin placed a hand on Adler's shoulder.
"Adler, we need you to go to the resistance, they can heal your arm. Forget you ever saw us, and tell Aiko and Jamal and the others we're alright."
He nodded weakly, and stumbled off into the darkness.
Both hedgehogs stood there, silent.
"So I guess we're on our own now," Manic croaked.
Something clicked in Rin's mind.
"Not quite."
Sonia had been looking at her reflection in her vanity when she heard Lady Windemere struggling.
She looked out her door.
Lady Windemere was being held by both arms by a SWAT bot and an orange...thing.
"Sonia, run!" Lady Windemere yelled to her.
The orange creature look over. "Oh, pretty."
Sonia snorted in disgust and somersaulted out her window.
"After her!" she heard someone yell as she ran into the night.
As promised, they met up with Sonic in the town square.
They told him about how Farrel and Lady Windemere had been take that night.
"And they got my Uncle Chuck!" Sonic added.
"We need to get them back," Rin muttered.
"Yeah, we do," Sonic grinned. "Team?"
Sonia and Manic placed their hands on his, Rin following rather reluctantly.
Sonic prepared to run-
A bolt of green light hit them, knocking them backwards.
"Ugh," Rin sat up and rubbed her head. "What the heck?"
All four hedgehogs looked up to see the Oracle standing there.
"I'm afraid you're too late, young hedgehogs," he said remorsefully. He waved his hands, and green smoke formed the image of a roboticized Farrell, Lady Windermere, and Uncle Chuck.
"No!" Sonic cried.
"Farrel!"
"It can't be!"
Rin stood by, staring at the image, tears pricking her eyes. "Oh no..."
The Oracle continued on. "It's time for you to explore the power of your medallions."
Sonia looked down at hers and fingered it absently. "I always wondered why I had this."
Manic nodded in agreement. "Yeah! And why I couldn't bear to take it off!"
Rin took out hers from her pocket. "Then why...?"
Manic looked over at her, and gave her a look that said 'We'll talk about it later'. Rin nodded and slipped hers back in her pocket.
"Are you ready to begin your journey?"
"Journey?" Sonic looked confused. "What journey? We have to fight Robuttnik-"
"And to fight him, you must make this journey of discovery and bonding! You have powers within you!"
"We do?" Manic asked.
The Oracle ignored him. "Powers which you will need to fulfill your quest." He handed them a map, which Sonic took. "Follow this map, and remember: you must learn to work with each other. The fate of Mobius is in your hands!"
And then he vanished into the night.
"Who was that guy?" Sonia asked to no one in particular.
Sonic rolled up the map and slung an arm over Manic and Sonia's shoulders. Manic threw and arm around Rin and dragged her with him. "Come on, we've got a long way to go."
As they walked into the distance, Sonia croaked, "I'm all alone now."
Sonic gave her a look. "Not a chance, sis."