Disclaimer: All non-original characters are property of SEGA or their respective creators.
Act 2: Get in the Ring
"Had enough?" asked Cyrus, leaning in close enough for Lanolin to hear him.
The ewe struggled to see the lion — dutifully playing the role of referee — through half-open eyes. The glare of the lights above the wrestling ring wasn't making it easy. Nor were Sonia's hands cupped under her chin.
"Take the out," urged the purple hedgehog straddling her back, barely audible over the hubbub inside the Babylon Enterprises Arena, "You've done okay."
Lanolin cast a sideward glance at ring's red ropes to her right, tantalizingly just out of her reach. Moments ago, she might very well have given in — a hot tub and minibar awaited back at the hotel — but Sonia's faint praise had roused her pride.
She was always destined to lose this match. Five thousand Mobians hadn't paid to watch the Queen of the Ring get upstaged by a secretary. The fact was, they'd actually paid to watch Sonia wrestle Honey. Unforeseen circumstances had left Manic scrambling for a last-minute replacement, and his assistant's few weeks as a Freedom Fighter field operative had been enough to get her the gig.
She hadn't expected Sonia to go easy on her, but she hadn't expected to be tossed about like an unloved plushie either. Was letting the newbie land an easy blow too much to ask?
"You ready to—"
"Back off!" snapped Lanolin, cutting Cyrus off.
Gritting her teeth, she threw out an arm towards the ropes. Sonia intensified her submission hold. Lanolin persevered, stretching out her fingers as she wriggled. The spirited resistance soon had some in the largely pro-Sonia crowd reconsidering their loyalties.
Just then, a collective gasp rippled through the crowd. Feeling Sonia's hold ease slightly, Lanolin opened her eyes. The words 'Nazo' and 'Scourge' flashed in garish fonts on the arena's jumbotron. Through the ropes, the ewe glimpsed two hedgehogs standing at the top of the entrance ramp.
One was easily identifiable as Manic, albeit with slicked-back green quills, a black leather jacket and red-framed sunglasses. His partner, however, was clad head-to-toe in silver spandex. White mesh concealed telltale green eyes.
The newcomers charged down the ramp. Lanolin flopped face-down on the mat as the arena booed the interruption. Sonia rose to face the interlopers. Sonic and Manic slid into the ring under the bottom rope and floored their sister with synchronized dropkicks.
Lanolin scrambled out of the ring as Sonic pulled Sonia upright by her back-combed quills. Manic swooped in, clotheslining her into the ropes. Keeping her feet, the purple hedgehog rebounded off the ropes and launched herself at Manic.
"The hell are you doing?" she spat as they grappled.
"Keeping things interesting," grinned Manic, peering over his shades.
The green hedgehog landed on his front as he was hurled across the ring, almost faceplanting the turnbuckle.
"Thanks for the bailout, boss," said Lanolin, peeping over the ring apron.
"Any…time," wheezed Manic, straightening his askew sunglasses, "Sorry to keep you waiting."
"Sonia looks pretty pissed."
"Eh. She just hates surprises."
Still winded, Manic rolled lethargically onto his back. Meanwhile, his brother and sister squared off, twitchily avoiding each other's attempts to initiate a grapple. It soon struck Lanolin how much louder the cheers were for Sonia's lunges and feints.
She knew from monitoring the official All-Mobian Pro Wrestling forum that a significant minority of their fanbase genuinely seemed to believe Nazo wasn't Sonic. Theories about the masked hedgehog ranged from a glorified impersonator to a hitherto unknown fourth sibling. Most simply weren't prepared to accept the blue hedgehog could fight without resorting on speed.
Just then, Sonic got the drop on Sonia. Manic sprang to his feet as Sonia was shoved his way. After a brief struggle, the purple hedgehog found herself in an armlock.
"Bastard cheated!" she hissed.
"Duh," murmured Manic, "He's the bad guy, remember?"
Sonia sneered as across the ring, Sonic assumed a familiar stance.
"Seriously?" she groaned, bracing for impact.
〜
"He…he can't do that!" spluttered Tangle, jumping up off the couch in Shadow and Amy's apartment. On the television, Nazo had just bowled Sonia over with what she could only describe as a slow-motion Spin Attack.
"Huh?" uttered Amy, looking up from the Princess Blaze fanfic on her cellphone, "What can't he do?"
"That!" spat the lemur, stabbing a finger at the TV, "That's one of Sonic's moves!"
The pink hedgehog furrowed her brow. "I thought that was Sonic, isn't it?"
"It can't be!" snapped Tangle, with the conviction of a Mobian who'd argued the same point a dozen times, "How could he do that to his own sister? It's gotta be some wannabe they dug up—"
"It's Sonic."
The teenagers both looked at Shadow, surprised to learn he'd even been paying attention.
"What makes you so sure?" the lemur demanded.
"Experience," said the black hedgehog, snapping a cold pizza crust and feeding it to Omega.
"But Sonia's his sister…" said Tangle lamely.
"Manic's there, too," Amy piped up, "Maybe it's just, like, a family thing?"
The lemur sank back onto the couch as she digested the thought.
"Huh," she uttered, smoothing out her pleated gray skirt, "If that's what having brothers is like, maybe being an only child ain't so bad after all."
Amy smirked, leaning her head on her girlfriend's shoulder. "Don't try telling Tails that."
〜
"Geez, guys," murmured Tails, glimpsing Sonic and Manic double-team Sonia on the locker room's TV.
"Finished," said Knuckles, stepping away from the stooped fox, "Tall enough for you?"
Straightening up, the ten-year-old turned to the locker room's mirror. His blue eyes widened as he beheld the mohawk Knuckles had shaped out of the fur between his ears.
"That is tall," he marveled, delicately patting the crest of gelled fur. It almost matched his ears for height
"You're a hairy guy."
Tails smiled bashfully. "Not that hairy."
Knuckles grinned as he put on his hat. On the TV, Sonic and Manic were climbing turnbuckles. Sonia was on her back in the middle of the ring.
"Let's go," he said. Tails nodded in agreement. They bumped fists and raced out the locker room.
Out in the ring, the brothers had their sister pinned. Cyrus's hand was raised, about to slap the canvas a second time, when Knuckles came tearing down the ramp. The bottom rope caught his hat as he slid underneath it and jumped on the triplets.
Tails climbed the ropes themselves to watch the ensuing tussle. Sonia was the first to crawl clear. Sonic was next, staggering to his feet right in front of the onlooking fox.
Tails pounced, straddling Sonic's shoulders as he tried to pull over the silver mask. Half the arena reached for their cellphones, just in case. The other half watched Knuckles ram Manic's face into a turnbuckle pad.
Broken sunglasses fell away as the green hedgehog slumped to the mat. The echidna hauled him back up, then whipped him with his dreadlocks. Manic went down flat on his back. Sonia swooped, lying across him with one arm raised in the air. She counted on her fingers as Cyrus slapped the mat once, twice, thrice.
Ding-ding-ding!
The breathless Knuckles leant back on the ropes as the crowd rendered his and everyone else's thoughts inaudible.
"Still undisputed Queen of the Ring…Sonia!" boomed the arena's PA.
The overwhelming adulation was accompanied by an undercurrent of opprobrium. Tails watched in dismay as Sonic and Manic limped up the ramp through a gauntlet of jeering fans. There was much jostling behind the steel barriers as they vied for their chance to hurl insults at the beaten hedgehogs.
The fox bit his lip. He didn't quite understand everything they were yelling, but he understood enough to know repeating it at school might get him expelled. He gripped the top rope, fighting the urge to fly over and unmask Sonic, just so everyone knew who they were really insulting.
"Hang in there, Sonic," he whispered.
〜
Profane and abusive echoes followed Sonic and Manic done the tunnel, all the way to the locker room.
"Never imagined I'd hear a kid call me that," remarked the green hedgehog, shouldering the door open.
The moment the door closed, Sonic tore off his silver mask. He grabbed a bottle of water and emptied it over his head.
"D'you wanna maybe take the rest of it off first?" asked Manic, seeing his brother reach for a second bottle.
Sonic shrugged and peeled the spandex off as far as his waist.
"Sweet Solaris!" blurted the green hedgehog, holding his nose, "I take it back. Pour it all on!"
"I'm good," said the blue hedgehog, stepping out of the suit. He quickly stuffed it into a black duffel bag.
"You're gonna have to slap a biohazard sticker on that thing," said Manic.
"Sure, and I'll bet that thing smells like frickin' sunflowers," countered Sonic, eyeing his brother's leather jacket.
Manic sniffed inside the jacket and wretched.
"Yeah, okay, point taken. We're getting new outfits made before we suffocate someone."
"Will that mean begging Tiara for more money?" asked Sonic, perching on the locker room's only bench.
"Did you see an empty seat out there? 'Cos I sure didn't. It'll be me writing her a check for once."
Sonic nodded passively. "Err, congrats, I guess."
Manic chuckled. "What do you care? 'Sides, you've got those sweet Acorn bucks—"
He stopped short as the door flew open. He tensed, ready to repel an overzealous selfie-hunter…or worse.
"Pixel brain?" said Sonic as Tails closed the locker room door.
"Didn't feel like signing any autographs, little guy?" asked Manic.
The fox shook his head.
"Sonia said it was okay to go," he said, twiddling his thumbs, "I had to see if Sonic was okay."
The blue hedgehog tilted his head. "You do?"
The ten-year-old nodded. "I heard all that mean stuff they yelled at you guys."
Hearing his cue, Manic tactfully retreated to the showers.
"Y'know, it wasn't really me they were cussing out," said Sonic, getting up off the bench, "Hell, some of them don't believe I'm even here."
"I know, I know. Nazo and that," mumbled Tails, "But still…you've got feelings, too."
Sonic went to hug the fox. Mindful of his fragrance, he settled for ruffling the kid's mohawk.
"Aren't you forgetting what we used to say?"
Tails took a deep breath and recounted the rhyme they'd composed in the Knothole days:
"Words might hurt me,
Badniks sure do;
But I'll be okay,
So long as I have you."
"That's the one," said Sonic, ruffling the mohawk a little more, "What do I care what some cranky Holoskan thinks of Nazo when my little brother's in town?"
Tails cracked a shy smile. "You mean it?"
"I'll always mean it, pixel brain," said Sonic, nudging the fox towards the showers, "Now, let's get that gunk out of your fur."
Tails nudged him back. "Hey, you're the one who smells worse than Big's fish gumbo."
〜
"What up, Cy?"
Cyrus looked up from his cellphone to see Manic stepping out of the locker room, his quills restored to their usual unruly mess.
"Did those local guys get paid alright?" asked the green hedgehog.
"Sure did."
"Great. Any problems?"
"Just the usual grumbles about having a separate locker room."
Manic scoffed. "You should tell them we're doing them a favor."
"That bad, huh?" said Cyrus, eyeing the black duffel bag under the hedgehog's arm.
"You bet. Say, any idea if this place has its own incinerator?" asked Manic, looking about the corridor as if in search of one, "Uh-oh…watch out, there's a queen about."
Cyrus turned his head. Sonia and Lanolin were approaching.
"That's weird," said the lion, "She said they'd meet us outside."
"Yo, sis, you get bored of signing autographs or what?" hollered Manic.
"Actually, uh, there was one of Mayor Guntiver's people at reception," said Lanolin.
"Oh. Is he waiting for us to come say hi?"
"Actually, he's throwing us a houseparty," said Sonia, "There's a car waiting."
"Sweet. Where's Knux?"
"He's in the car. Where's Sonic?"
"Helping the little guy out with the blowdryer, last I saw."
Sonia smirked. "Then I guess we're waiting."
Wait they did. Eventually, the locker room's door inched open. Sonic stepped out, carrying Tails on his back.
"Sorry, guys," said the blue hedgehog, "Somebody decided to go and crash."
"Shuddup," mumbled the drowsy fox, "I had school today."
The triplets traded smirks.
"Something up?" asked Sonic, noticing Lanolin looking less than relaxed.
"Mayor decided to throw us a surprise party," replied Manic.
"Oh…"
Prompted by a sisterly elbow to the ribs, Manic unzipped his fanny-pack.
"Go on and get outta here, you two," he said, brandishing a set of car keys, "We'll tell the mayor Nazo said hi."