The hedgehog family and Tails were quickly brought brought back to the Floating Island, where Knuckles who appeared greatly troubled greeted them.
"It's as we feared, Manic's condition has gone from bad to worse," he told them. Everyone looked panicked, and they rushed immediately into the medical tent. Sonic gently placed his hands on Tails and looked the young fox straight in the eye.
"Stay with Knuckles," he said before rushing in to join his family. Tails simply looked at Knuckles before grabbing him around the waist and began to cry.
Inside the medical tent, Manic was having a coughing fit. His family came up to him; his parents got on either side of him and gently gripped his hands.
"Manic! It's over! We won! Robuttnik's been defeated! Mobius is ours!" announced Sonic.
"Really? That's great, the planet is free. The Council of Four now rules," Manic replied weakly before coughing again. Sonya and Sonic embraced each other, never taking their eyes off of their brother.
"Manic? Do you know who I am? I'm your dad," said Ragorn. Manic looked at his father weakly.
"I don't know what to say. Cough, cough." Manic slowly closed his eyes, and his entire body went limp. Aleena's eyes watered as she looked at Ragorn, his eyes were watering as well. They covered Manic's body and the four hedgehogs walked out, they saw Knuckles comforting Tails, he looked at them, Sonic simply nodded. That was enough for Knuckles to understand. He picked up Tails and walked with the hedgehog family. News of Manic's passing spread quickly.
A huge crowd gathered in front of a small boat that carried a covered figure. Knukles walked over to the boat and placed Manic's hoverboard over the figure's head. Tails puts a pair of drumsticks on the chest, and tools beneath the feet. Children approached the boat in solemn silence and placed flowers on top of the figure, to the point where it was buried in flowers. Sonic stepped up beside the boat, took a deep breath and addressed the crowd.
"When we first met Manic, he was a total rebel. I mean he was a thief, a computer hacker, a pickpocket, and a lot of lowly things. But, we loved him. Without a lot of his skills, many of our missions would have failed, even though his main power was with his drum set he was indeed one of us, and he was without doubt, a valuable member of our team."
Sonic paused for a moment as he thought about a time long ago when the triplets first met and learned who each other were. In order to sum up the situation, he had said: "We were all born with silver spoons in our mouths and you got to keep yours, Sonya."
"Heh, I had to steal mine," Manic had replied.
"M-Manic was our brother, he was our friend, we will miss him," Sonic concluded before he stepped back down. Sonya came up and gives the boat a gentle push, as it slowly drifted away from the shallows, she ran over to Knuckles, crying, he placed his arms around her. Bartlebee played a farewell song on some bagpipes. Once the boat had gone a considerable distance, Ifucan fired a flare gun; the flare soared in the air and landed on the boat, setting it ablaze. The flames danced upon the water and reflected on the crowd. Tails held Manic's medallion in his hand and sniffled. Sonic came over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. Tails looked at him and saw that they were going through the same emotions. Grief over losing someone they had loved so much.
"What's going to happen to me now?" Tails asked.
"You're one of us now. Don't you remember me saying you're like a little brother to me? That means you're family to all of us. We will always look after you, and never turn our back on you, I promise," Sonic swore to him. Tails nodded, and turned his head to look back at the flames. Meanwhile, Queen Aleena and King Ragorn were holding hands. She had put her hood back on and Ragorn was softly weeping for the son he would now never know. Aleena looked upon the Oracle of Delphius.
"Do you think it's truly over? After all, the one who killed my son is still somewhere out there," she asked him.
"What does your heart tell you?" he asked her. She paused for a moment before answering.
"Mobius is ours once again; Shadow will not trouble us," she said.
A great crowd gathered at the Great Mobius Theatre. There was to be a celebration in honor of Mobius' liberation. Sonic Underground was going to perform, but with a new drummer. Cyrus had volunteered to do the lights.
"You sure you want me to do the drums?" Tails asked Sonic and Sonya.
"Hey Manic selected, you, and like I said, you're one of us, so play those drums like you mean it!" Sonic replied; Tails nodded happily. Knuckles then came up with a saxophone.
"Mind if I jam with you guys?" he asked.
"I told you once before, you're always welcome to play with the band anytime," Sonya replied happily. They were told that they were on in about a minute.
"Let's juice and jam!" announced Sonic. The three with medallions brought out their instruments just as the curtain went up.
"Alright Mobius! We are now going to play a song for you, and we sure hope you love it!" shouted Sonic.
Fifteen years ago,
Robuttnik conquered Mobius!
Triplets were separated, but then reunited!
They had each other and that's what counts!
They just held on,
To their hopes!
They never gave up,
Searching or Fighting!
Whooo Ho!
Robuttnik's gone!
Mobius is free!
Whooo Ho!
In our travels,
We made so many friends!
Helping us in so many ways!
Whooo Ho!
Robuttnik's gone!
Mobius is free!
Whooo Ho!
Never give up, and victory's yours!
Everyone applauded, the band clapped as well; they wanted in on the fun. Knuckles rushed over to Sonya and they kissed; right there in front of everybody.
"Yuck!" stated Tails.
"Yeah, yuck," agreed Sonic.
"Whoo, ho, ho! If he's doing that, he better not have a darkened past!" Ragorn warned while he sat in the audience with Aleena, Uncle Chuck and Athair.
"Ah, don't worry; I'm sure he's a great kid!" replied Uncle Chuck.
"Hey, that's my great-grandson you're talking about!"
Back up onstage, everyone waved, and then Tails pointed up, those onstage looked to where he was pointing. They saw a couple of clouds form Manic's head, a star in the center of his right eye seemed to grow brighter for a quick second as if he was winking. Back onstage, the four of them simply smiled, and continue waving.
Eight years later…
"Way cool Uncle Tails! But tell me, what happened afterwards, what did you guys set out for?" replied young Manic.
"Well, naturally, we went about trying to clean the mess that Dr. Eggman created of the planet. During that time, we erected a statue of your Uncle Manic, whom you are named for, of course," Tails told the child of Sonya and Knuckles. He was babysitting him while his parents were off trying to settle a small dispute. Manic, who resembled like a purplish-pink version of his father always loved this story.
"How did the Council of Four thing work when there were already more than four of you?" Manic then asked.
"Well, your grandparents, your mother and Uncle Sonic were the Council of Four. Your father, myself, Cyrus, his father and even Uncle Chuck served as second-in-commands if you will. The Oracle even elected to move into the palace to serve as an advisor. Ferrell got a job as head of security, and Bartlebee rarely talked to us again after your parent's wedding, I guess he was a little jealous your dad got the girl," Tails answered, filling in a few extra details the young one probably wasn't looking for.
"What about Shadow the Bully? Did you ever see him again?"
"No, the second he jumped out of that window, he was never seen nor heard from again, and that's the way we like it."
"Also, I never understood, what happened to that two-headed robot that was once Dr. Eggman and his henchman Dingo?"
"Cyrus and I took the liberty of turning it off, and it was placed in a secure location under lock and key." It was right about then that Aleena and Ragorn entered; Manic jumped for joy at the sight of them.
"Telling our grandson that story again?" Aleena asked.
"And further details," Tails replied getting up. Ragorn bent down to look at his grandson eye-to eye.
"Now, you just remember what your mother and uncles did for this planet, and always carry your deceased uncle's name with honor," he told Manic.
"I will," promised Manic. Suddenly, he then pulled out two drumsticks and started twirling them around.