The room was dark and only the low brightness of some screens illuminated the area. There were a few chairs left by a table with some documents scattered around. Each document was a major event from Sonic's past, dating back all the way to his birth when it all started. Each screen showed the same point of interest from different angles. Past the screens, a large one way mirror was placed on the wall with Sonic staring inside. What he was watching was a man inside a locked room. He was his prisoner and he was going to make sure he stays there for a long time for what he's done. But something just felt off, he felt like the room was still unsecured. He couldn't shake it off, but he kept watching…
Then, he pushed a button on the table which enabled a microphone for him to speak into the room.
"You're getting what you deserve, Robotnik…"
Those words echoed throughout the room and the prisoner snickered in response. It angered Sonic, he was laughing in his imprisonment which was not supposed to be his normal reaction. The snickering turned into laughter and that laughter turned into hysterical laughter. He laughed for minutes at a time and once he calmed down, he finally spoke.
"Don't be so sure, hedgehog…"
What does he mean by that?
Sonic just stood there and continued watching him. He was not going to let him leave.
Ever…
Back at the workshop, Aleena laid silently on a sterile medical bed. There was also quite a lot of medical equipment nearby with a blurry plastic curtain surrounding her. No one was nearby as the medical lights glowed brightly. Everything was normal like an actual operating room. But it seemed familiar, a little too familiar… Slight fear began to manifest all over again, just like when she was…
Amy was the first to walk in and stood next to a table sorting medical tools. She was wearing a surgical mask with clean gloves and did some last minute adjustments to the equipment.
"Excuse me, are you Amy?" Aleena asked with a kind smile.
She turned around to face her with her own smile underneath her mask.
"Yes, I am. It is an honor to meet you, your majesty."
Aleena's smile fell slightly at her royal rank.
"Please, forget the formalities. You can call me Aleena."
Amy's head slightly tilts with her brow raised in confusion.
"But you are a queen, right? Sonic said you used to rule the entire planet. I don't want to show any disrespect."
"How polite of you. But I must persevere."
Amy paused but nodded in agreement. Then, she went back to work going through all of the tools needed for the procedure. The sight of her carefully sterilizing a surgical knife made her sick to her stomach. She tried to brush it off with another question,
"So, h-how long have you known Sonic?"
"I've known Sonic for maybe about 4 years. How we met is kind of a long story…" She replied.
"Well, I'd love to hear it when this is all over. Maybe I could properly meet all your kind friends that stayed with Sonic."
"You will, don't worry." Amy smiled.
"Alright!"
Both hedgehogs turned their heads and saw a small fox with surgeon clothing, ready for an operation.
"It's almost time, Amy. Is everything sterilized?"
"Yes, everything is ready. Are you?" She turned her head back to Aleena.
She nodded in response.
"Good." Tails moved up closer and did some last minute checkups. "Amy, could you get the anesthetic?"
Amy nods and moves behind the table and preps the tank for usage. Tails moved next to Aleena and placed his hand on shoulder catching her attention.
"Don't worry, Everything will be over before you know it." He smiled.
Aleena took comfort in that and relaxed. Then, Amy came around the corner and held a mask up to her face with the sound of slight hissing. It must be the gas. Any moment, she would slowly fall asleep and would pass through the pain.
But the moment never arrived…
Seconds passed as Aleena was still fully conscious under breathing the gas. Amy and Tails were completely lost.
"Amy, are you sure you twisted the valve?"
"Yes, I can hear the gas coming through."
"Are you sure it's the anesthetic and not the oxygen?"
"I'm sure."
He scratched his head and looked back at the tanks. Indeed, the valve was open and was the correct tank. He twisted the valve shut and open again. No change…
"This doesn't make sense…"
The valve was shut once more and he reached over to his M.E. He started running programs and scans across the tanks, making sure to take his time to thoroughly scan. Once it was complete, his brow raised even more.
"What is it, Tails?" Amy asked but he didn't answer.
He walked over to Aleena and began a new scan which revealed even weirder results. But then, it clicked in his head. Something else was caught in the scan as well…
His tails and ears shot up, eyes wide and pupils shrank, and he didn't dare move for a few seconds as the situation changed…
"Tails? What is it?"
He slowly lowered the screen and stared at her with a worried look,
"We have a new problem…"
It was a beautiful day outside. The sky was bright blue and there was no cloud in the sky that could block the shining sun. Despite what happened just a day ago, it was like any other day.
In a nearby park, there were picnic tables spread out along with some mobians walking about the sidewalk or through the bright green grass. At one of the picnic tables, every seat was taken by a whole party. And most of them were from a locally owned detective agency. A crocodile, a chameleon, and a small young bee sat together on one side. The other side had Knuckles, Silver, Blaze, and Cream. They were discussing what the detective agency missed over the past few days…
"You're telling me Sonic had a secret past and now has gone crazy?!" The crocodile yelled.
"That is a very poor summary, Vector. But not entirely inaccurate…" The chameleon added.
"I still think it's crazy, Espio!" The bee screamed. "I mean, Sonic's a prince!? That's awesome! But everything else… not so much…"
"We get it, Charmy." Blaze grunted. "And he hasn't gone crazy. He's… just trying to… cope with everything that happened."
"But all that raw dark power… it was unlike anything I've seen… And I never saw Sonic act like that before…" Knuckles said.
"Speaking of which, where is Sonic?" Espio asked.
Knuckles shook his head.
"We don't know, he disappeared last night and hasn't returned any of our calls."
Vector still seemed a bit skeptical about this whole story. He had his chin resting on his finger as he thought.
"Well, where can we meet this "queen?"
"Now is not a good time to talk to her, Vector." Silver answered this time. "She's… not open to talk at this time…"
The little rabbit sitting next to her friends just kept silent as she held her pet chao close. They both were still affected by the events of last night. But she doesn't want everyone to worry about her. Her mind wouldn't stop thinking about Manic and she wanted to make sure he was alright as well.
In the midst of all the talking, she looked around and saw a familiar green hedgehog walking just outside of the park heading into town. Quietly, she snuck off her seat and ran over to him.
"Mr. Manic!" She called out.
The hedgehog looked around and saw the rabbit closing in. He tried to hide his face with his hand and sped up his pace.
"Mr. Manic! Wait!"
Cream caught up to him and now he had to talk to her.
"Hey, Cream. Now isn't a good time to chat. I have to get somewhere…"
He continued to speed up the pace. But the young rabbit was not having it.
"Then, let me join you. I just wanna make sure you're ok!" She persisted.
"I'm fine, Cream. But I don't think you should be near me right now. I have to visit someone."
"Is it because of what happened last night?"
Manic stopped. He looked both ways to make sure no one was looking at them. Then, he knelt down and looked at Cream's cinnamon eyes.
"Cream, what happened last night was not in my control. I'm still having trouble not going insane from it. But I don't want anyone near me in case it happens again. Now, please… go back. I need to see Sonia."
He began to walk off. But when Cream heard Sonia's name, her worries worsened.
"Ms. Sonia? She's not with you?"
"N-No, She's… Uh… At a mall or something."
He tried to give a smile. But the lie made it quiver into a false one. The little rabbit saw this and pouted, showing skepticism. He sighed and caved in, tired of trying to lie anymore.
"Alright, come on. I'll tell you everything when we get there…"
"What do you mean she is immune to the sedatives?!" Amy exclaimed.
"I mean something in her system is counteracting them! Every time we administer them, they're neutralized!" Tails yelled.
Both Amy and Tails were at a loss for words. How is this possible?! How can the body be immune to heavy doses of any sedative?
Aleena just stayed on the medical table in thought, letting Tails examine her further.
"This doesn't make any sense. How is this possible?" Amy looked confused.
Tails continued his scan over and over until something became visible. His results showed something horrifying.
"I think I found how her system negates the sedative…"
"What is it?" Aleena spoke.
Tails hesitated, unsure of how to deliver this news.
"If these scans are correct, there are tiny nanite machines in her bloodstream. They are so small I almost didn't detect them."
"Nanites?" Amy tilted her head.
"Yes, they are the reason for preventing us from starting." Tails pressed a few buttons which refined his scan even more.
"There's thousands of them everywhere!"
"Is there a way we could stop them?" Amy asked.
"It seems that they're concentrated in her robotic attachments. But we can't shut them down now." Tails said with worry on his face.
"Why not? Isn't that the main goal here?"
"Her body is almost entirely dependent on her mechanical parts now. If we remove them without any anesthetic, she won't survive…"
The room became silent at those words. What were they going to do now? They can't start the procedure without the crucial setup. But if they start anyway, she'll die. Amy tried to think of anything to solve this problem.
"Could we somehow disable the nanites?"
Tails spent a few moments fiddling around with his scanner for possible solutions.
"It's possible but I need time to find out how."
He then saw something that caught his eyes on the screen.
"This is strange…"
"What is it?" Aleena asked.
"A big concentration of the nanites seemed to be located in your arm cannon. Near the plasma barrel. Almost as if…"
His ears and tails shot up as he lowered his screen with wide eyes. This worried the two hedgehogs even more.
"What? What is it?" Amy dared to ask.
"We need to call Manic, NOW."
Meanwhile, Manic and Cream both continued to walk on their journey until their destination came into view. Manic moved towards the entrance which caught Cream off guard.
"The hospital? What happened to Ms. Sonia?"
The vivid memory of seeing his sister shot in the back during the battle flashed in his mind. For a moment, he stood still just inches away from the sliding doors. He looked back at the young rabbit girl and gave another false smile.
"N-Nothing bad. She just got hurt a little bit, that's all!"
Cream didn't buy it at first. But she said nothing as Manic walked inside and followed him.
The hedgehog and rabbit walked down the hallways that were illuminated by fluorescent bulbs. There were many rooms that were either empty or were in use. But the room they were heading to had a guard at the door. A smile grew on the little rabbit as she recognized who the guard was.
"Mr. Shadow!"
"Hm?" The black and red striped hedgehog lifted his head and noticed the two walking their way, especially the green hedgehog prince.
"Oh, it's you." he said with the sound of disdain in his voice.
Manic stopped, still annoyed with the way Shadow acts. He shook his head and sighed.
"Look. Shadow, was it? I know we haven't been on good terms lately. But can we just put that behind us for a while? I just wanna see my sis."
Shadow glared and growled a bit. Not wanting to remember the fight he had with him.
"Please, Mr. Shadow? Can we see Ms. Sonia?" Cream desperately asked.
He looked down at her, almost forgetting that she arrived with him. Her big cinnamon eyes formed a slight frown with her pet chao making the same frown. Shadow gave another sigh.
"I don't have a choice either way…"
He moved out of their way and stood on the other side of the door.
"Thank you, Mr. Shadow!" Cream cheered as she hopped next to him and looked back at Manic.
The green hedgehog gave a small smile and nodded to Shadow. Then, he opened the door and walked in with the little rabbit close behind.
Sonia was still in her hospital bed just like how he saw her last night. She was sitting upright with the TV in front of her. It was on the news channel with news about a certain destroyed village that has been revealed after it's destruction. As she was listening, she heard the door creaking open and looked over to see her brother.
"Hey, Manic." She smiled.
"Hey, sis."
She saw a newcomer visit her behind Manic. A small, young rabbit with a small troubled looking Chao.
"And who is this?" She referenced the rabbit.
"Oh! Uh, this is Cream. She wanted to know if you're alright after… the whole thing…" He vaguely described.
"Oh. Yes, I'm fine."
Manic moved to the other side of the bed next to the window with Cream staying where she was.
"How's your back?" He questioned.
"A bit more stiff than usual. But the doctor said it was normal. Even if it feels like my spine is fused." She chuckled.
Manic chuckled as well, but with a hint of nervousness.
"This just in-"
All eyes turned towards the TV hanging on the wall. On screen, there was a female cat mobian news anchor sitting in front of a camera with a recording of the destruction from just a few days ago.
"We've just received confirmation that the video playing right now is indeed what's left of the town Mobotropolis. A long forgotten capital that was thought to be just rumors among a few mobians has just been found destroyed to ashes. This capital used to be ruled by Queen Aleena Hedgehog. A royal queen who ruled for decades before disappearing without a trace. It is unknown if she is dead or alive. It is also unknown if any potential heir or remnants of the royal family are still alive at this time…"
Sonia sighed with a frown.
"I guess the secret's out…"
Frowns were on everyone's face as the anchor continued with her speech. But then, Manic's phone started to ring. He reached into his pocket and saw the caller ID.
*TAILS*
"I gotta take this, sorry."
"You're fine." Sonia smiled.
Manic began to walk away and she noticed Cream by her side. She still looked a bit troubled, so she tried to begin a conversation.
"Hey, Cream. Do you want to see something amazing?" She whispered.
Cream's eyes widened a bit in wonder along with her chao Cheese. Sonia then placed her hand on her medallion from the nightstand next to her. With one touch, sparks of pink light shot out in the form of musical notes. Each one had its own tune playing over and over. Cream and Cheese were both astonished with wide eyes as they heard the beautiful music. She giggled at the cute response.
All was quiet in the hallway as Shadow kept guard. But the sound of the door opening with a ringtone of a phone got his attention. He looked over and saw Manic leaving the room with his phone out. He didn't say a word as Manic answered it.
"Hello?"
Shadow decided to just listen and not interfere.
"Woah, woah, woah! Tails, calm down!"
That perked his ears up a bit. What could Tails be freaking out about?
"Yeah, I'm with Sonia… W-why? What's going-... Nanites? What are you talking about? What nanites?..."
Before any explanation could be made, the room's alarm and light blared out in front of him and Shadow. They looked at each other for a moment. Then, Shadow rushed through the door and Manic followed behind. What they saw shocked them both…
The alarms were coming from all of the medical equipment with Sonia jerking around on her bed uncontrollably. Her eyes were half closed and her pupils were trying to reach the back of her head.
"Sonia!"
Manic rushed to her side with Cream.
"Hold her down!" Shadow ordered.
He looked over the readings of the medical equipment and saw they were all going haywire. Manic tried his best holding his sister down from hurting herself. Cream and Cheese couldn't do anything and just stood a few steps away. Then, a flood of doctors and nurses rushed in and took over. Both hedgehogs were pushed aside with Shadow holding Manic back as they immediately began moving Sonia out of the room.
"What's going on?!" Manic yelled.
"Just let them do their job, don't do anything stupid." Shadow responded.
Manic tried to get past the hedgehog guard to reach his sister. But the grip on his arm was strong and he couldn't break free.
"Let me go, Shadow!"
"And risk letting you ruin the princess' chance of survival? I don't care if you're the youngest prince or Sonic's secret brother. I'm not letting you hurt her."
Manic paused. Those words echoing in his ears.
I'm not letting you hurt her…
He slowly turned his head around and stared with an offensive look on his face. His anger started to build up inside. His voice began to speak so softly. But it almost sounded like it wasn't his own…
"You think I'm gonna hurt her…?"
He yanked his arm off with impressive strength that caught Shadow off-guard. His eyes began shifting from his own back to crystal white. Sparks of electricity flowed all around his body as the intensity grew.
"You think I'm going to hurt my own SISTER?!" He shouted.
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"
A blast of electricity left the palm of his hand and struck the ultimate lifeform.
Shadow landed hard on the wall and onto the ground. Smoke slightly visible off his fur. He slowly raised his head and his expression showed anger. Now he can finally attack him as Manic was now a threat. He jumped into action and began his assault. He used his air shoes to maneuver around and dodge more lighting attacks. Then, he threw a few chaos spears to try to stop him. But the spears vaporized before they could hit their target. Manic's defenses are too strong.
Cream on the other hand, stayed back and watched in horror. This isn't at all how she thought this day would go. Her pet chao Cheese didn't even want to watch as he hid his face in Cream's dress. Then, she noticed Manic's phone on the floor next to her. It was still connected to his call…
"Manic? Manic, what's going on?"
It was Tails, he was on the other line. Without getting hurt, Cream tried to get the phone and run out of the room with it. After dodging a few stray bolts, she successfully retrieved it and moved out of harm's way. Now she had to explain why she was on the call now…
Tails waited impatiently as he heard all kinds of alarms and screaming in the background. His expression worried the two hedgehogs next to him even more. Something must've happened over there, what is going on?
"Manic? Manic, what's going on?!"
He didn't get a response at first. But then, he heard some kinds of electric discharges and explosions. It worried him even more when he heard the phone being picked up with someone's heavy breathing as if they were having a panic attack. Who was there?
"Hello?"
The frightened voice he heard made his tails shoot up high.
"C-Cream?! What are you doing over there? What happened?!"
He held the phone closer to his face and turned away.
"Cream, listen to me. Everything will be ok, just calm down. I'm on my way!"
He ended the call and started running to a control panel. Completely ignoring the pink hedgehog trying to stop him.
"Tails! What's going on?!"
"No time to explain!"
He slammed a button and a loud ringing sound reverberated throughout the workshop. Then, a wide hatch above everyone opened very fast. Tails started spinning his namesake and began to fly. But he had one last thing to say.
"Just stay with Aleena until I get back!"
Before Amy could refuse, he sped out faster than before. Shortly after he left, the hatch slowly closed as well.
Amy was just lost in confusion. But Aleena's worries intensified. If this happened near Manic, now with his powers unleashed, it could only mean that things have taken a turn for the worst…
She quickly placed her hand gently on Amy's arm and got her attention. Her one good eye showing sadness she pleaded to the pink hedgehog.
"Amy, do you think you could perform this procedure alone?"
"W-What?! Of course not! Didn't you hear what Tails said-?"
"I know what he said! But I need to get to my son. And I can't get to him like this! I fear I know what's happening. But if I tried to help looking like this, it would only make things worse… Please…"
Amy wasn't sure. Normally she would have help when healing others. But Aleena was asking her to do this by herself. Let alone the complications they're having right now!
"Please, Amy… I've handled this before, I can again. Don't hold yourself for it…"
After moments of thinking all the possibilities of how this will go wrong, she finally gave up. She sighed, reached for one of the curtains, and pulled. The small area was now shielded from anyone's view. The only thing visible was the silhouettes of the patient and the surgeon getting ready to operate…
Tails arrived at the hospital to where he noticed smoke rising from the side of the building.
"What is going on?!" He said.
He flew inside where the smoke originated and landed right next to the fire fight.
Bolts of lightning everywhere! Followed by chaos spears! If it wasn't for his quick timing, he would've been roasted by all that energy!
After dodging all the attacks, he finally noticed Manic and Shadow fighting. But his eyes were caught onto Manic who was now floating in the air as he continued to attack with bolts of lightning shooting out of his palm. The eyes were the same as last night…
The eyes…
"Mr. Tails!"
The fox shook his head and looked over to Cream who called his name from the door. He rushed to her and hid behind the wall.
"Cream, what happened!" He yelled over the firefight.
"I don't know! Mr. Shadow said something to Mr. Manic and now he's fighting him!"
A large blast flashes between them and leaves a scorching burn in the wall. The two young mobians looked at each other,
"Sounds about right…" Tails said with fear.
He peaked back into the room and saw the fight continue. He has to figure out a way to stop them before more damage could be done. What could he do?
"Mr. Tails?"
He looked over to see Cream's worried face. She was terrified.
At that moment, everything became clear. He needs to stop the fight between Shadow and Manic. Manic would never fight unless he has to or is provoked. Shadow is more likely to fight. But he needs a reason. So if he puts himself in that fight to try and stop them. They wouldn't attack him. Unless they want to fight Sonic. But he wants to show them that he can handle it on his own.
He rushed in and pulled out a small tool. Cream gasped from his actions to go right into battle. He moved in and fired a few small bursts of energy both at Shadow and Manic. When they hit Manic, they dissipated in what looked like a small shield of energy. He didn't notice at first. But Shadow did when it hit him. Once they both realized who attacked them, they halted their barrage of fire.
"Tails?" Manic spoke, his voice altered. "What are you doing here?"
He lowered his weapon before answering.
"Trying to stop whatever you're trying to do here! What happened to you? Why are you fighting Shadow?!"
"This jerk thinks I would hurt my sister when I was only trying to help!" He pointed to the red striped hedgehog.
"He attacked first…" Shadow grunted.
"That's because I don't need a bodyguard like you or anyone else! I don't need anyone to tell me what I can or can't do. Especially, when it's about… MY… FAMILY!"
"ENOUGH!" Tails shouted.
All eyes fell on the fox boy.
"You guys can't keep fighting like this! If Sonic was here, he would've stopped you both before this even started. BUT HE'S NOT! It seems like without him, everything breaks down. Is this what he would've wanted? For us to be fighting each other?"
Silence was their only response.
Shadow only looked away. He hates admitting when someone was right. Manic on the other hand had nothing to say at all. The thought of Sonic seeing him like this made him rethink everything and it only confused his feelings even more. After a few moments, he suddenly used his powers to fly and an incredible speed out of the building and into the sky. The sudden burst blasted a shockwave of uncontrollable power in their way. Anyone in the shockwave was sent flying into the wall, falling unconscious. Cream was the only one not affected and tried to find help. It was only a matter of time before the rescue teams would find them there…