Author Note: Sorry for the short chapter. Just seemed the natural end. Read and Review, please.

Chapter 18

"I think we can all agree that this was an unprecedented disaster." The squirrel said in her native Spanish. The other rebels nodded glumly "We do know something important, however."

"Really." One of the rebels said. "Sounded obvious to me."

"Be quiet. We know who was sent to kill the Mobian royalty, and we can warn them, because they must be in Thran since the assassins are here." She added the last lines hurriedly, before someone could interject again. "And they'll probably be heading towards Spire."

=--------=

"Oh, I remember one time, this is good, I got dared to do a jump over the Rio Grande, which is this big river in the middle of Neworld. The thing's so big, you can't call it anything other than 'the big river', which is what Rio Grande means in Spanish by the way," One of the humans around him quickly wrote it down on a notepad she had inconspicuously acquired in the last city. "But as I was saying, I got this dare and I never turn a dare down, but I knew this would be hard, cause at some points this thing is miles wide-"

"But you jumped the smallest point." Sonic yelled loud enough for everyone to hear. Jet turned and glared at him as fiercely as possible, regretting his lost chance to word it more positively.

"How could you know?" He said.

"'Cause you're a-" Whatever Sonic would have said was silenced by a quick jab from his sister. He turned his head back and sighed.

"Why do you have to be so racist?" Manic said.

"I'm not being-" Sonic started.

"Oh, so it's 'cause he's green, huh? I see how it is."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"I dunno. I'm not the one hating on green people."

"Will you just shut up?" Sonic yelled, Manic broke out laughing and rolled onto his back, while Sonic sighed. This was without a doubt the lamest war in the history of the world, with them spending weeks marching and a sum total of three real battles. Thankfully it seemed that they only had another week of marching before they reached Spire. Also, Knuckles forgot to inform anyone about his master plan, but Sonic could make a pretty clear idea of what it was. Obviously they were trying to find an easier way into Mobius.

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"Now, I want to ask you some questions, and you are going to answer them." Sleet said. "And its clear you can understand what I'm saying, so don't even try to play dumb." The skunk just turned up his nose. First the arrogant bird and the idiot cat sat around fishing all day, now a wolf and… something were basically threatening him.

"I do not believe you have any authority here." The skunk replied.

"Actually, I have the highest in this country." Sleet replied, pulling out a sheaf of papers prepared just for this occasion and handing them to the skunk. The skunk ran his eyes over the lines and finally muttered a few words in French before handing them back to Sleet.

"I can't honestly believe he's hired you ruffians just to hunt down three kids."

"Hey, there's a reason the guy is where he is, and I'm not in a position to argue. Really, he managed to make this whole system by himself; he should know what a few people could do. Anyways, I just want to know where their army went, but if you don't like talking to me my pal here could do it instead." At that moment Dingo happened to be inspecting his shotgun, and pulled it up as he heard himself mentioned. The skunk rolled his eyes.

"They're going to Spire."

"Why thank you." Sleet said before turning and leaving the town with Dingo. When he was well outside of town, he paused and fired at the most likely place for someone to be watching them from, but no one was there. Meanwhile, the watcher barely noticed it as he reviewed what he had learned.

Spire was the former capital of Thran, and still acted as the central fountain from which the Robotnik's law was sent out into the country. From there they could disrupt the functioning of all machines in the country, sending it into chaos and probably cutting off many from the only food source left. It was only one of the many things they might do if not stopped.

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"Woah, that's one big house." Manic said. It had been around a week of marching since the last battle, but hey had finally found some sign of civilization; a giant gated mansion that Jet assured them meant they were near Spire. "Noble?"

"Definitely." Sonic said. "Anyone you know?"

"No." Sonia said. "Even nobles have a hard time traveling under the Robotnik."

"Ah, it must be so hard for them." Manic began, but Sonic jabbed him before a fight could break out.

"We're going in." Knuckles said.

"Looking for some payback? I heard these guys supported the Robotnik's revolution."

"Actually I just need someone who could get us into the palace." Knuckles said. Jet got a dejected look on his face.

"That works too, I guess." He said with a shrug. Knuckles waved in the air to move the freedom fighters forward.

"Come on." The army marched around the walls and to the gate. Knuckles pushed it and found it to be locked. The momentum of the moment disappeared. There was a click and the creaking of un-oiled hinges, leading everyone to look at where Manic had opened a cellar door. "That works too, I guess."

=--------=

The butler walked hurriedly away from the kitchen as an echidna and several hedgehogs burst up from the cellar, holding one of the cooks hostage. The master would not be pleased with this. He walked briskly through the hallways, avoiding the ruffians as they ran around the mansion, continually being told by one of their own not to break or steal anything, which saved him the trouble. He made his way to the second floor lounge, where the master was entertaining one of his friends from Mobius.

"Well, it seems you got out just in time." The master was saying as the butler arrived.

"I know. I can almost see the rebel's point of view." The friend said.

"On that note, sirs, I would like to inform you that the rebels are here."

"In Thran?" The master asked, never the most intelligent. "I think I remember hearing that."

"No. Here, as in they are currently taking this mansion." There was a loud boom as the door to the lounge was rudely kicked open, and several hedgehogs walked in pointing their odd machine guns.

"Hold still and no one gets hurt." A pink one said in rather impressive French. The Mobian friend dropped his mouth and stuttered a few times before saying,

"Sonia?" The pink hedgehog that had been making the demand lowered her gun a small bit and raised an eyebrow.

"Bartleby? What are you doing here?" She said in English.

"Getting out of Mobius. It's a nightmare these days. The Robotnik suddenly started confiscating random nobles' property and moving them into these dismal apartments. And they're being forced to be slaves in his factories." The butler noted how the oldest echidna seemed to be glaring threateningly at most of the rebels by this point. "I was lucky to get out when I could."

"Would… you happen to know what happened to my mother?" Sonia asked, lowering her gun all the way and standing straight.

"As far as I know the same as anyone else who was still in Mobius, nothing out of the ordinary."

"Okay." Sonia said nodding. The room was silent for a few seconds, but the echidna was cut off when she started talking again. "So, why did you forget to mention that we were engaged?" Sonia nearly yelled the last part. No one spoke in reply, and Sonia simply kept talking. "I mean, honestly I might not have minded as much if mother had mentioned she was already looking, but instead she just pushes us together and forgets to say anything, and you didn't say anything either."

"Um, honestly I was just trying to avoid, well, this situation pretty much, not the one with the rebels, of course…" A rather awkward silence fell as Sonia remembered the situation she was in.

"Now that we've gotten past that interesting situation, can we please go back to the matter at hand?" The oldest echidna said, stepping to the front of the rebels. "Where's the owner of this place?" Bartleby quickly pointed at the master. "The wolf?" The echidna asked, raising an eyebrow.

"We had the misfortune to be on vacation when the Robotnik decided to invade." The wolf said in English, while a bird with the rebels nodded appreciatively, probably having had a similar experience.

"I… don't believe Neworld has a nobility." The echidna said.

"Oh, yes, well my father was already rich, so we fit in… somewhat."

"I see. Well, you're going to get us into the castle."

"I'll what?"

"You will be getting us into the castle, preferably without us turning all of Spire into a battlefield." The wolf was beginning to shiver.

"I don't really think I can help you. No one's really able to visit the king anymore, and besides, I think he's currently seeing a guest-"

"A guest?"

"I don't know. I really don't think there's any way I could-" The echidna took a few quick steps forward and was holding the wolf's neck in one hand, the other one raised to punch him.

"You're lying." He yelled. "You just thought of something but won't admit it."

"Um," Bartleby began, glancing hesitantly at Sonia. "I think I might have an idea actually." The echidna took his hands off the wolf and turned to face him.

"What?"