Chapter Ten – Paths Intertwined

Sonic was tossing and turning. He was having an nightmare. He could see his friends, screaming and crying. They were being attacked, captured, or knocked unconscious. He could see Tails and Knuckles being surrounded and taken down. Everyone at Vanilla's House being captured. Rouge and Omega in a massive fight but ultimately loosing. Team Chaotix being sunk up on. What was going on? The images in the nightmare were so clear, as if it happening for real. What if they were? Sonic was beginning to panic. He had to help, but he still feared for his own safety. He opened his eyes and sat up incredibly quickly, cold sweat running down his face, panting heavily. He shook himself.

'To hell with that!' he thought and immediately left. He was inside an office building in Robotropolis. He looked around, incredibly dazed. He was in darkness and vaguely recognised where he was but his mind was very much elsewhere. He had to leave. He heard a voice from behind him as he left. But he instinctively running straight down the stairs, and out into the night. Through the city he ran, left then right then left. Did he even know where he was going? He screeched to a halt near a television shop, which had accidentally left a few of its televisions on overnight, in the window. They were showing an image that immediately got Sonic's attention.

Eggman.

It was the first time Sonic had seen him in months. He seemed to be standing addressing the nation. Stood at a podium, like some kind of leader. With the sound turned down, he couldn't quite make out what was being said. But when a general picture of Hedgehogs appeared next to him, with a banned sign across it, and the crowd visibly cheering, Sonic realised that he was in serious trouble.

Whatever Eggman was up to, he was gaining support. Maybe, it was a subtle plan to turn the people of Mobius against all the Hedgehogs. Whatever it was, it was working. When a local group of people spotted him in the city and tried to corner him, he ran. He had to get out, he had no choice. Out into the countryside, he super-sped. What was Eggman up to? To turn Mobius against Hedgehog's was one thing, but he was a Robotnik, which was quite another. Sonic knew that was more going on here. A hidden agenda, but what? He went back to thinking about his nightmare. He cried at the images, but tried to concentrated on the background, trying to identify possible locations.

He screeched to a halt near a random village, not one he knew. What had caught his attention was a small crowd that had gathered in the centre of the village, torches lit, weapons raised. They were gathered around a speaker, who was stood on a box above them, about to make a statement. Sonic hid around the side of a house, out of sight, and listened in on the speaker. Maybe he'd get some answers.

He watched at the badger who raised his hands, to silence the rowdy crowd. He spoke loudly and clearly.

"We all know why your here tonight. You're here on your own time because you care about this village, and you want to know that I care about it as much as you do. We are here to protect our children from the Magic tyranny. This Hedgehog tyranny that has been plaguing our lands and even the great Ivo lost his own wife and child to the terrible evil."

Sonic stared, stunned.

'So thats what it told them!' He thought. Eggman's wife and daugther were not killed by Magic, they died in a fire. Caused by exactly this kind of crowd, and their weren't even any Hedgehogs there back then. He growled, but kept listening.

"We have to protect ourselves. Magic can not be allowed to exist." The badger continued.

Sonic gulped. There was a lot of aggression in that sentence. The badger growled.

"These Hedgehogs can not be allowed to use Magic against us." He shouted. The crowd cheered. "They have been hiding it from us for too long, Well, we're had enough. We are not going to stand for it anymore. Such powers must be contained and we must protect ourselves." He growled. There was more cheering and even more aggression. One of the crowd shouted.

"Kill the Hedgehogs!" He bellowed. Chanting followed. Sonic swore, going very white. Eggman had somehow managed to convince everyone that all Hedgehogs had Magic. Not just him and that they had been maliciously hiding him it for evil plots. Sonic was now very frightened. He'd never been so frightened in his life. If it was like that in every village, town and city. He and the others just didn't stand a chance. He could run, but now, he had nowhere to hide. To win, he'd always needed the people of Mobius on his side. Now they were against him. He had no idea how to rectify this. He backed away, but was spotted and was forced to move on, incredibly fast. He fled. As he ran, he felt incredibly lightheaded. He had been feeling like this ever since he left Robotropolis. But he shook it off, there other things on his mind.

Eggman had all of the evidence he needed to prove his case. The footage from the Grand Prix of Sonic's and Manic's escapades would have been enough, despite the fact that they saved everyone. But considering it was Sonic's own fault that were forced into that position. By loosing control, Hyper-Blasting and calling the Starship Troopers in the first place, Eggman had every right to use it.

As he ran from the village, he cried. He'd done this. He had reignited The Purge, and now his friends were going pay the price as a result. That was not going to happen. If anyone was going to die, it was him. He'd started it. He was the Sorcerer. He alone should perish. He friends had nothing to do with it. Not even his brother. Sonic's thoughts turned to Manic. He didn't even have Magic, heck, he didn't even wield Chaos. But the people of Mobius won't caring. It was different and therefore dangerous. Therefore Magic!

He growled. They couldn't be more wrong. Eggman had lied to them. Actually, he'd twisted the truth for his own gain, which was even more perilous. He had to find his friends and fast.

He thought back to his nightmare. It made for upsetting memories. He hated seeing his friends being captured and caged. But he tried to concentrate on the background again. There were near a forest or wooded area. Not very helpful. That could be anywhere. Among the screaming, he could hear noises of what sounded like a city in the background. Still unhelpful, there must half a dozen large cities on the planet. It did narrow it down. How many of them were near to a forest. Thankfully, Sonic had been to them all, and could only think of one that matched that description.

Central City.

He hated Central City. It was considered the dump of the entire planet. Drugs, violence, prostitution, brothels, all ran rife here. The term illegal didn't exist here. You could literally get absolutely anything you wanted here and he hated it. He'd only visited once, and once was enough. But it did leave him confused. Of all places, why there? He had no idea, as he swiftly turned and run full speed towards the city.

It wasn't a road he'd regularly trodden. He barely knew Central City or the area around it. The city's reputation alone was enough to put him well off.

It was night by the time Sonic arrived, and he heard a huge amount of commotion in the forest nearby. Sonic slowly crept through the trees, quite slowly, making a little noise as possible. He heard a large amount of noise from a clearing near the centre. A crowd were incredibly rowdy and round the edge of the clearing, there were cages, just like in the Robotropolis Underground. Staying out of sight, he looked through the cages, he recognised his friends. He was right. Tails, Rouge, Charmy, Espio, Big the Cat were there. He was relieved they were alright, but where were the others? But then he recognised another person, also in cages, that made him immediately call for backup. Someone he'd only recently met. Someone highly trusted by...his brother.

It was the Lion, Cyrus. Sonic needed help. Now!

{MANIC!}

Manic was devouring through Eggman's territory. Destroying robot after robot, Base after Base, in the search for that revolting human. He was getting more and more frustrated, unable to find his quarry. For hours and hours he searched, until...he heard it.

A voice.

Over the ether, calling his name. He screeched to a halt, panting. Very confused and worried. The voice was extremely distance and yet, very loud. It sounded panicked and incredibly urgent. A voice that Manic could never ignore, ever, the only voice who could speak to him like that.

Sonic!

His brother was calling him, out of shear desperation. Sonic had never done that before, which meant he needed him. But where? He couldn't pinpoint his brother's location. He could be anywhere. This was the first time he'd heard Sonic over the ether and not immediately seen him.

Manic knew that Sonic's powers were growing fast. But he needed something more.

'C'mon, bro!' He thought. 'Where are you?' He asked, trying to send a very strong confused emotion back down the line, in an attempt to try and ask for his location.

{Manic!}

He heard Sonic call again, but no further forwards as to location. He sent another strong emotion, desperately trying to ask where he was.

Finally it worked. He got an answer.

{Central City!}

Whoa!

Sonic was calling from the other side of the planet. To be able to Magically project his voice over such a vast distance was seriously impressive. But it worried Manic still further. The more Sonic used his Chaos Sorcery, the more it was killing him. But Silver was right, it was just too powerful and too controlling for him not to use. Best to spend as much time with his brother as possible while he was still around.

He looked straight down where he stood. He was both exhilarated and very frightened as what he was about to do. Test his Chi Earth Bending skills to the limit and burrow straight through the planet. It was fast then going round. He wasn't his brother.

He stamped the ground. A hole opened up in the Earth ahead of him. He ran for it, and taking a deep breath, dived into it. Kicking his feet, hard, he burrowed straight down into the planet. The planet accommodated his every move, allowing for him to pass. Manic had to work with the planet, not against it. He felt the temperature rise, as he got deeper and deeper. Yet it didn't burn him. Through the planet's crust, he burrowed, and into the mantle. Burrowing though the molten rock, was like swimming through thick treacle, and was extremely tiring. It seemed to last forever, as he forced himself forwards.

Despite the fact that the heat didn't really harm him. He could really feel it now. All of a sudden, the burrowing got easier and it actually turned into swimming, as he reached the liquid inner core. Overwhelmed with the thrill of it all, he surged forwards, continuing straight down until he hit something extremely hard. Almost knocking himself out. He stopped, extremely dizzy, treading the liquid inner core, until he got his senses back. He could barely see through the liquid rock, but he could make out ahead of him, something glowing white hot and solid. The inner core. Made of iron-nickel alloy and some other elements, there was no way Manic was burrowing through that. However, he could have forced his way through with his ability to bend metal, but what untold damage would that done? Up until now, the planet had been repairing itself after Manic burrowing, the inner core might be too much.

He decided to go round. Now he seriously had to make sure he didn't loose his bearings. Everything looked the same down here. How would he know going around the inner core, where the half way point was? Looking left and right, he had no way of knowing. Still treading the liquid of the outer core, he slapped his hand into his fist out of shear frustrated, and felt a shockwave explode from him. Surprised, he watched it expand out from him. To his total amazement, the shockwave bounced back to him, giving him an image. He was there for a split second, but Manic understood it instantly.

Sonar, but with seismic shockwaves instead of sound. If Manic could create a seismic shockwave large enough, he could potentially seen the entire planet from exactly were he was. But what was big enough to do that? Then he saw it next to him. The solid inner core. It he hit it hard, enough. (Not too hard, he didn't want to shatter it.) He could create the shockwaves he needed. He faced the inner core, closed his fist and punched It. It vibrated, creating shockwaves out in all directions. They travelled up through the mantel and to the planet crust, where they bounced back and hit Manic. They gave him a perfect picture of the entire planet. He couldn't make out specific details but could see populated areas. Highly populated area. Cities, and there was one directly the other side of the inner core.

Central City!

It had to be. From here, there was no way of knowing which city was which, that he would have to learn. But at least he now had some bearings.

He began burrowing. Around the inner core, and back into the mantel. The thick treacle-like mantel made it hard going. Manic hoped this would be easier next time. With experience, now, it would be, and into the crust. He knew the city was now directly above him. But Manic decided that better not emerge in the middle of the city, as he could cause serious alarm. He flattened out and move through the ground, towards the edge of the city, before heading back towards the surface.

The rock and Earth all around him were shaking with his movements, but he didn't care. With one last swift kick of his feet, he exploded out of the Earth and into the air. He saw the ground and landed perfectly on his feet.

The he felt it.

Before Manic could even digest where he was, he felt something, cold, hard and metallic thwacked him on the back of head. It wasn't excessively hard, but it was by someone who had intimate knowledge of Hedgehog anatomy. He immediately felt extremely dizzy and crashed to the ground, his head spinning, before passing out cold.

He was down.