Chapter 4

When Sonic came downstairs in the morning he used a carefully crafted excuse of temporary insomnia and being groggy when he woke up and falling out of bed. Sonia ate breakfast with them as they went through the same rituals as every other family in Mobius, at least those legal ones. They met Manic by a fountain in one of the nicer districts.

"So tell me, do ya' display this social ineptitude to everyone with short tempers, or only the armed ones." Sonic grunted as he splashed lukewarm water over his head. "I won't fault you too much. He's military, though."

"From where?" Sonic asked.

"Here and about fifteen years ago."

"Which means?" Sonia asked impatiently.

"He is Royal Guard." A shared "Uh…"

"The gun was a tracer, which uses super heated bullets. You can't get them anywhere on the black market, and only the Royal Guard still used them around the time of the revolution. It also explains why he destroyed the bots."

"Great, so this means we're on the bad side of some kind of counter-revolutionary terrorist with a weird gun."

"Nah, if he was gonna' kill us, we'd be dead."

"Very comforting."

OOOOOOOOOO

"Let's do something slightly illegal." Yona suggested.

"Why?" Amy replied. Yona being a human, and Amy being a hedgehog, their friendship was a bit odd, not that any one would bother them about it.

"We're fifteen. We'll be sixteen soon. When the year ends we'll be rounded up and sent to work. And that's what we'll do for the rest of our lives."

"So we should get arrested and try to extend our time not working?"

"No, that's why it should be slightly illegal. Probably just going to a bar or something along those lines."

"So instead your suggesting that we, two naïve and innocent young girls, should walk into one of those hives of scum and villainy."

"Oh, I've heard of place, a person told me it's very nice and calm."

"How's that?"

"The bartender has an assault rifle under the counter."

"Very reassuring."

"And signs warning everyone."

"Right."

OOOOOOOOOO

"Okay, so the rifle thing was true, but I still say this was a stupid idea." Amy voiced as they looked wearily at the regular bar patrons.

"I notice you haven't said you don't like it." Yona replied.

"They're two different categories." They sat and listened to the band, most of whom weren't very good, and sang of various unimportant things. Then one band came up. It had three hedgehogs, a green one on drums, a pink one on keyboard, and a surprisingly familiar blue one playing a guitar. She caught the name "Underground" before they started playing.

OOOOOOOOOO

As Amy and Yona snuck back to their homes in a conspicuous manner, Yona continued talking.

"So, which one were you ogling."

"I was not ogling."

"You could have at least blinked. Still, which one was it?"

"Why are we even talking about this?"

"Um, maybe because there's nothing else to talk about. Stop distracting from the topic at hand."

"Fine. What if I say it was the good-looking one."

"I'm human. I have no clue what the difference between a good-looking and an ugly hedgehog is."

"Well, I plan to leave it that way."

"Ahhh…"

"You can be a real airhead at times, you know that, Yona?"

OOOOOOOOOO

About two weeks after Underground started playing gigs at various bars, Manic opened what approximated as the front "door" of his "house" to find a familiar black and grey haired man standing with a nervous look on his face.

"Why, hello, Mr. Jameson." Manic got out groggily, squinting in the sunlight.

"When can you play again?" The bar manager nearly yelled.

"Uhh…"

"Just tell me you can play tonight."

"Why?"

"I'm getting requests, written letters for you guys. I swear one person did, like, a dozen."

"How'd you find me?"

"I worked in newspapers when they existed, I'm used to finding people. Just tell me, are you playing or not?"

"I don't know…"

"I'll pay you. Ten pounds. Each"

"That's interesting."

"Please just…"

"Look, I can't give ya' an answer without talking to my band members first. Don't panic. I'll get back to you."

OOOOOOOOOO

"I've got good news and bad news." Manic began.

"What's the good news?" Sonia asked.

"We're popular."

"What's the bad news?"

"We're popular."

"Wait, what?"

"Well, we're getting paid now, but we also attract the attentions of everyone who we'd rather avoid."

"Oh, be serious, how bad can it get?"

"Well just as I was on my way here…"

"'Ello love."

"Ah, nice to see, well, feel really, your knife being held to my neck again, Lisa."

"I hear you and your band are quite a name about town these days."

"Yes, well that is entirely coincidental."

"Why aren't ya giving any of that nice money to your old friend?"

"Well, that'd be 'cause we aren't getting paid yet. Since you'll probably kill me out of anger, can I ask one question first?"

"What?"

"Who is the handsome looking chap in this here locket of yours?"

"Oh why you little…"

"Language dear. Watch where your swinging that thing, you might hurt someone. You know, this new man could be seriously harmful to our relationship, so far as you trying to kill me hasn't been. Well, I must be off, lovely time talking to ya'."

"Manic," Sonic asked. "Do you find it normal to have people trying to kill you?"

"Seeing as that's how I've spent my entire life, yes. Anyways, I've gotten a specific request for us to play again, and this time they're offering money…"

OOOOOOOOOO

The days began to blur as they rushed from one gig to another, getting barely a day to practice in between each one. The money came, too, and was given to Sonia to handle, much to Manic's disappointment. And the idea of being popular was true. It was very disturbing to see people waving signs of you in crowded bars knocking each other over. Sonic was certain he even saw a sign saying "BLUE IS CUTE". They had taken to leaving by the roof, where after a little encouragement, Sonic and Sonia learned how to jump between houses.

OOOOOOOOOO

Manic squeezed the door shut gently.

"Ah, apprentice, long time, no see."

"A shared sentiment, Ferrel." The greasy human stood up from the shadowy corner he was sitting in.

"Long time, no lesson."

"Ah, well, ya' did say I should be spending time with family."

"But not to de negligence of your apprenticeship, I recall."

"Fine. What's the lesson?"

"Well, let's start with rock, ta' keep your focus. Rock is at its core about revolution, right?"

"Depends on how you view it, but yes, not that I actually plan to start one."

"Well, one's gonna' happen no matter what. What de' you know about the old Robo's system?"

"People wake up at six, go off in iron trolleys by six-thirty, come back at six."

"What do kids do?"

"Learn whatever… manure the Robo thinks is important. Until their fifteen, when they get a year off from doing anything." Ferrel nodded as a question was answered before it was asked.

"A perfect clockwork, uh… orange. Exotic, sweet on the inside, not really attractive on the other."

"You just made that up didn't you?"

"Yeah, but that's besides the point. Now, think for a second: when do they marry?"

"Uhh…"

"Never. And that means no children for them. So as they keep shrinking, we 'filth' get more and more of us, and we go storm the castle when we're all ticked. Either that or we all get harried out and Mobius becomes full of ghost towns."

"The Robotnik's conquering other countries every day."

"But that doesn't fix the actual problem."

"Ah. Well, I guess I should keep that in mind."

"Always should."

OOOOOOOOOO

"… Thank you, thank you very much. We'll be leaving now, so please don't crush us to death." Sonic finished. He threw his guitar over his shoulder on his strap while Sonia did the same with her key board. Manic simply sheathed his drumsticks dagger-style and thanked the manager once again for the loan of a drum set. As they waded through the dense crowd, Sonic tried to comment to Manic.

"What?" was the reply yelled back.

"I said, the bars get a bit too crowded." A pink hedgehog that had just finished elbowing her way through the crowd stopped in front of them, breathing in. She gained the look of someone who suddenly uncertain of whether they really wanted to fight a bear at about the point where it attacked them.

"Uh, uh,um, you… you could have a concert." She blurted out before turning back towards the crowd in embarrassment.

"Of course we will!" Sonic blurted out. Everyone in the bar stopped in dead silence for a few seconds.

"Well, when?" someone asked.

"We'll make sure you find out by eleven by the fountain at Dulcy Square." Manic put in before starting the all-out run to safety.

OOOOOOOOOO

"Sonic, what are you thinking? That probably breaks half a dozen laws." Sonia yelled.

"Sonic, you can't go trying to impress every pretty girl we meet; you need to leave some for me" Manic added mockingly.

"I wasn't trying to impress her." Sonic replied defensively. "And it was a good idea. The bars constantly have to kick people out because they didn't bring money or don't even know what money is. We still want to play, and we can probably find some place less crowded."

"I can help you there. And if any bloke feels they deserve money for it, Sonia can pay him." Manic said.

"Um, I don't have an endless supply, you know." Sonia said.

"But ya' got more than most people would dare ask for. Well, let's get to work."

OOOOOOOOOO

"So, fighting your way through the crowd to declare your undying love didn't quite work."

"Shut up, Yona."

"So instead you suggest a high profile illegal activity. You're quite the radical Amy."

"Stop bugging me."

"I'm not bugging you. I'm just being brutally honest."

"Blargh."

"Well, blargh to you too."

OOOOOOOOOO

The Robotnik leaned back in his throne. This Sonic and his two friends were showing many disturbing tendencies. They frequented bars on a near daily basis, but that wasn't altogether bad in and of its self. The Robotnik tolerated such establishments, knowing that if the oafs got their beer and raucous music they would think they were getting away with something. He evened keyed his Enforcer units to ignore them. But the three were gathering a large following, and-

"Do you remember the three, the ultimate-" The Robotnik forced the song out of his mind. It had been an alleged "Oracle of Rock" who sported a ridiculous vertical hair style and a gold-leafed guitar. But it was that advice which led him to finally start his long planned revolution. The royal family had let the city rot under a system that led only to greed and immorality. Only a single violent thrust could shake the city awake and bring to it a glorious future, and he had been the one to do that.

But back to the matter at hand. Such a large following could be easily manipulated with the proper wording into forming a mob, which would probably over throw his system by weight of numbers and the provocation of other countries who hated what he stood for, particularly Tsarminia. The songs proved their intent: When not talking about dark apocalypses or simple-minded romantics, they sung about bringing utter anarchy with that idiotic word: freedom. Their "Freedom" was nothing but tyranny at the hands of a thousand different forces that never disappeared, an easily used, easily forgotten catch phrase. They had to be dealt with.