"Oh, listen... we haven't introduced ourselves yet! I'm Manic Hedgehog. The two others over there are Sonic and Sonia, my siblings. We're all looking for our mother, Queen Aleena. You?" Manic broke the silence again, and held his hand out to shake the girl's hand.
"Jennifer Scott. I'm-" she was cut off by her own gasp, "WAITAMINUTE?! QUEEN ALEENA?! So you're a… PRINCE?!" she almost fell backwards down from the bench, "sorry Your Highness, I didn't..." she fell silent when Manic laid a hand over her mouth.
"Listen, just act natural... we're in the same situation, J." he smiled and removed his hand. Jennifer looked at him, all silent.
"J?" she asked.
"Well... I… uhh… it's shorter!" Manic grinned nervously, and noticed he was blushing. He had already given a nickname to a girl he didn't even know yet. Jennifer smiled.
"It's great... never gotten a nickname before." she said. She then looked at him, "you've got the black belt?" she asked. Manic lifted an eyebrow.
"The... black belt?"
"Yeah, in karate... only the ones with the black belt or higher would be able to do flying kicks like the ones you did in the city! It was very impressive!" Jennifer explained.
Manic looked confused at her for a moment, and then, laughed. "Oh, those! Hey, it's easy enough... but I haven't got any belts or whatever... kicks are the only karate tricks I've learned... but Sonia, my sister, is great at karate." he pointed to Sonia.
"Ok... but... why are you here? People with titles such as prince and princess should be in exile or something someplace!" Jennifer lifted an eyebrow.
"It's pretty tough since Robotnik's invaded the entire planet... our mom, Queen Aleena, the right ruler of the planet, was forced to split us up when we were babies, otherwise, the prophecy about the Council of Four and overthrowing Robotnik wouldn't be fulfilled... so we're looking for her while we're in the resistance." Manic sighed heavily, "it's not all luxury an' that stuff to be royal when such a thing as war breaks out. Believe me." He snorted.
"I... see." she looked up when the van suddenly stopped and Sonic turned to look at them both.
"Listen up bro, first you rescue some Overlander, and then, you give away our entire life story to her! She's supposed to be like Robotnik, Manic!" he frowned. Manic sighed heavily.
"She ain't like Buttnik... why can't you see that?!" he rolled his eyes.
"Because she's an Overlander, Manic! No Overlanders are good! It's obvious! She works for Robotnik, and this time, Robotnik's been more stupid than ever! Ridiculous trick, she's of his own species! Why can't YOU see that!" Sonic almost shouted.
"She's NOT Robotnik!" Manic cried back. Sonic finally fell silent, gritting his teeth.
"Ok, you believe her, I don't! We'll camp here... and if your little girlfriend's going to stay for the night, prepare it all yourselves! I am not gonna help!" he said, coldly, "I'll go for a walk! Think of it in the meantime, Manic!" he got up, and walked out of the van.
"You'd better listen to Sonic... you know what could happen, Manic." Sonia quietly said, walking out too. Manic and Jennifer looked after them.
"Never mind them..." Manic shook his head.
"Listen... I really should leave now. I don't wanna cause trouble..." Jennifer looked down at the floor.
"Don't leave, Buttnik would most likely get you again... and since you were locked up in the panzered cell I'm willing to bet that he won't hesitate to Roboticize you... I could at least teach you how to defend yourself before you leave." he put a hand on her shoulder.
"You're sure your siblings would allow that? I mean... they're pretty upset." she scratched her arm.
"Hey, I just tell them I'm responsible for you and your acts... alright?" Manic asked.
"You're sure about this?"
"Totally."
Jennifer thought for a moment, and then, half smiled.
"Alright... thanks."
-v-v-v-v-
Robotnik looked up when Dingo entered the command tower. "Well?" he watched as the nervous Dingo came closer.
"Sleet told me to give you this, sir... a prisoner has escaped." Dingo handed
some papers to Robotnik. He read them through.
"Cell 52, the panzered cell?! That was the human!" he looked up at Dingo again.
"Yes sir... she was rescued by the hedgehogs and... whooa!" Dingo avoided a metal device, which Robotnik threw after him.
"IDIOT!! You just destroyed my chance to get the first roboticized human in Mobius history!! MORON!! I thought the panzered cell was top guarded while she was in there!" Robotnik threw another metal device at Dingo.
"It... it was. But the hedgehogs got through, we don't know how." Dingo stuttered.
"Find her location! I don't care what it takes! The spacecraft I sent to Earth after her is entirely destroyed and I haven't got the time or the money to build another one! So get that girl or I'll make sure the roboticizer gets work to do! Now, DISMISSED!" he pointed to the door, and Dingo ran off.
-v-v-v-v-
Manic made a well placed flying kick in the chest of the dummy, jumped over it, and kicked it from the back too. Then, he turned to Jennifer who was sitting, watching him on the ground, impressed.
"Well?" he walked over and leaned against the tree beside her, drying the sweat of his forehead. Jennifer half-smiled at him, uncertain.
"Well?" she asked.
"Show me what you can do, dudette!" he laughed. Jennifer looked at the dummy out of the corner of her eye.
"You're sure you wanna see it? I mean, I only had the orange belt in jui-jitsu, my fighting is nowhere CLOSE to yours." She got up.
Manic nodded yes.
"You've gotta learn more than orange jui-jitsu if you wanna defend yourself! Go on, have a try!" he nodded to the dummy.
Jennifer sighed, and nodded yes. Then, she took off her backpack and gave it to Manic.
"Hai, Manic." She smiled, and then, started walking towards the dummy. She stared at it for a split second, and then, ran towards it. Few meters before, she jumped, but missed the dummy and hit the tree it was tied to instead, and fell down, hitting the ground hard.
"Oh my Gawd! J!" Manic threw the backpack away and ran over to Jennifer, helping her to sit up. She rubbed her head.
"I told you I couldn't… its no use." She looked down at the ground, sighing heavily, "I'm sorry, Manic…" she bit in her lip while getting up.
Manic smiled, shaking his head.
"Hey, you don't wanna know what it looked like when I had to learn to fight! Totally humiliating!"
"And what would you call what I just did?"
"Better than my fighting back then! Throwing my own drumsticks at my head, imagine that!" he scratched his neck.
Jennifer laughed.
"Why drumsticks?" she forced herself to stop laughing. Manic pulled his drumsticks out and started swinging them in the air. Then, he threw them. Both of them hit in the middle of the tree, precisely. Jennifer's jaw dropped open in awe. "O-o-ok! I understand!" she walked over to the tree, and had a closer look. Then, she turned to Manic.
"Can I see them?" she pointed to the drumsticks. Manic nodded yes.
"Go on."
Jennifer pulled them out of the tree, and looked at them, twisting and turning them in her hand, "but… these are ordinary drumsticks, what are you doing with them anyways?" she gave them back to Manic, lifting an eyebrow.
"You see my medallion?" Manic pointed to his medallion.
"What's with that?"
"Medallion now, set of drums NOW!" Manic rubbed it. A light appeared, making Jennifer almost fall backwards, covering her eyes from the sharpness of the light. When she looked in front of Manic, a set of drums, very futuristic looking, was there, they appeared out of nowhere. She stopped breathing for a moment.
"How… what… hey, it's incredible!" she started walking around it for a better view, "it's simply… wow! How'd you do it?" she looked at Manic.
"It's my medallion. Sonic and Sonia each have one too. Sonia has a keyboard, Sonic a guitar. They work as weapons as well… mine can shoot lasers and make earthquake." He hit one of the cymbals.
"So you're having a band or something?"
"Yep. The medallions can change to the instruments upon our will, and back, of course!" Manic stepped back, and transformed his set of drums back into his medallion, "hey, how 'bout you? Can you play any instruments?" he asked.
"Well… I played bass-guitar for some years ago, and I've had transverse flute lessons since I was eight, so… yes." Jennifer shrugged her shoulders, smiling. Manic looked at her, stunned for a moment.
"Transverse flute?" he asked, almost in a whisper. Jennifer nodded yes.
"Why?"
"Wait a sec…" Manic opened his fanny pack and started looking for something in it while Jennifer just stood looking at him, confused. He pulled a note out, and hid something in his hand while he started reading the note, looking to Jennifer a couple of times too. Then, he folded the note again, still staring at Jennifer.
"It's you… you're the one she wrote about in that note!" he whispered.
"What do you mean?! Who wrote what about me?! Is-" Jennifer almost yelled.
"Shhh! Sis and bro can hear you!" he cut her off, whispering. Jennifer looked at him, even more confused now. Manic looked at the note. "sorry… it's just that mom wrote that I shouldn't tell sis and bro this before the time came… and since they want you to leave at the moment, I don't think this is the right moment at all!" he looked at the van to make sure neither Sonic nor Sonia were listening.
"Tell them what? Manic, what's going on?" she scratched her head. Manic bit in his lip.
"First, promise me that you won't tell Sonia or Sonic no matter what… and don't show them the thing I'm giving you now to them at all, ok?" he moved closer. Jennifer nodded yes.
"I promise."
"Fine." Manic sighed, "close your eyes, and don't open them before I tell you, ok?"
"Ok!" Jennifer closed her eyes. Manic looked at the medallion in his hand.
"And you can open… now!" he quickly put it in her hand. Jennifer opened her eyes, and when she noticed the medallion, she forced herself not to let out a cry of surprise.
"What… how…. Why… for me?!" she asked, whispering. Manic nodded yes.
"Mom gave me this, and told me to give it to you… read this." He handed the note to Jennifer who started reading it. She read all silent while her mouth dropped open and she seemed to read the note several times before she folded it and gave it back to Manic. He looked at her. She was pale, and just stared out into the air. Inside, she knew what this meant. She wouldn't get home. She had just hoped somebody knew a way to get home, but after what the note said, she couldn't leave. A voice inside her said she had to help these Mobians through the war. But she'd never thought they actually needed her. Now, she knew she'd have to stay and help no matter what. She swallowed the lump she had in her throat, looking at Manic.
"Listen… I… I'd like to be alone for a while." She quickly walked past him. Manic knew something was wrong, he could see it in her eyes. But what?